Is bemused the right word? Knowing you’ve been had, but not particularly minding it? Whatever it’s called, I’d say that describes Tiny’s feelings on having been defeated by the kids’ puppydog eyes. They’re pretty good at it, and shameless in using it, too, heh.

I split my attention between the kids and Vernew, with the former refining their plan for how to catch the latter, and the latter obviously getting more excited by the idea of killing some time with Tiny. It looks like Freddie won’t be even trying to use an improvised club or anything in the upcoming fight, opting to focus on his shield and grabs/punches. His hatchet could hurt Vernew, and even a club could accidentally crush Queen. So can his hands and shield, but the kids are pretty sure it will be safer all around if he doesn’t use an actual weapon.

Vernew and Queen, meanwhile, are just enjoying looking around as they wander the yard. Queen’s ants were and are important to keeping the various herbalism nodes healthy and growing, but she herself hasn’t had much chance to actually see the fruits and herbs of their labor. Vernew has been to the surface a few times before, but I think this is her first time up here in the day, not counting any time she may have spent on sign duty before becoming a spiderkin.

She earns a few curious looks from the various delvers, but nobody tries to stop or talk with her. People are busy with their own stuff, and a new spiderkin doesn’t even register on their scale of oddities around here anymore, I guess. I wonder if I should do something classic and play it fully straight, just to keep them guessing. If you only ever do weird stuff, it stops being so weird, right?

My own musings aside, Vernew grins as she sees the hedge maze, her legs shuffling a little in excitement. I’m not sure if Queen is physically capable of rolling her eyes, but Vernew at least catches the scent, and laughs as she starts to climb the hedge.

“Maybe you’ll understand it better once the Weaver gets an ant enclave. Antkin? Whatever they are, they’ll want to get some of your time, or just watch you doing your thing. Heh, they’ll probably see you as even more mysterious and wise than we do the Reader. He has a pretty public domain, and you don’t.”

I can practically smell the “Hrmph!” through the bond, and I’m pretty sure the pheromone she releases means the same thing, as Vernew just laughs again. Over at Freddie and Rhonda, their eyes widen a little as they hear new laughter in the distance. They try to subtly look around the web-covered trees, looking for the source, and it actually takes Fiona tapping Freddie’s shoulder and pointing for them to spot their target.

Vernew strides forward, confident as she twirls an empty spear haft. The kids aren’t the only ones who needed to adjust their usual setup for this. I don’t think she’s noticed them yet, but it’s hard to say. She might be able to feel through the web like Tiny can. Even if she can, though, I don’t think she knows how the top web is supposed to feel without two kids and their spiders on it.

Her eyes almost sparkle as she sees Tiny through the dense covering over his central lair. I can tell he glances at where the kids are, but he doesn’t directly rat them out as he stands and walks towards Vernew. Rhonda and Freddie drink their potions and start to carefully advance as Vernew gives my spider scion a respectful bow.

“Reader of the Web! I hope I’m not intruding on your duties?” she asks, fidgeting a little as she realizes she’s kinda barged in on his work place. He waves a foreleg lazily, dismissing her concern.

“Oh, good! I was uh…” she tapers off as she realizes she didn’t have much of a plan to talk with him. An amused scent wafts from Queen, and Vernew glares at her for a moment, which only makes Queen laugh harder in her own way.

“I was hoping for some wisdom? Or maybe just to see you work? The Weaver has given me a task, and-” she stops as Tiny moves a little, and I can feel a bit of Fate magic reaching out to Vernew. She looks a bit defensive as the magic fades. “I am doing it! I’m supposed to test the two green children by forcing them to catch me! It’s not my fault they’re not…!”

“Ensnaring Gale!” shouts Rhonda as Fiona hurls a large web at Vernew. The summoned wind accelerates and widens it as it flies at their foe, but the Mistress of the Hunt is not so easily captured. She leaps into the air without looking backward, though she turns in air and lands to face the two with a look of shock and budding respect on her face. She even spares an accusing glance down towards Tiny.

“You helped them!” Tiny doesn’t look even the least bit chastised as he relaxes to watch the ensuing battle. Vernew’s attention is forced back to the fight on her hands as Freddie charges, and she catches his shield with a cross block. “Right, first rule of any hunt: don’t get distracted!” she says before grinning.

She kicks out at Freddie’s feet to try to trip him up, but he keeps his balance. The moment of solidifying his stance gives her a chance to slip away, and the two sides enjoy a small standoff.

“And here I thought it’d be a boring hunt with you two! Er, four,” she corrects as the spiders chitter at her. She holds her empty spear like it still has the head on it, and Freddie keeps his shield up to catch any attack from her. He also keeps himself between her and Rhonda. She could jump over him, but he’s not so far away that even something like that would give her more than a few moments with Rhonda and Lucas.

After a few moments, she grins and turns to flee, hopping up onto one of the taller web-coated trees and forcing the kids to chase her. They’re no fools, though, and stay close as they pursue her, not giving her the satisfaction of breaking their formation and giving her an opening.

“They’re good. I see why the Weaver likes them. Alright Queen, which one was the distraction?” she asks as she watches the kids approach. My ant scion taps at the back of her neck and she nods, letting one of her secondary hands grab a small sealed jar from her belt.

She’s not the only one who was preparing, though. Lucas maneuvers his legs as Rhonda channels a spell, helping her keep the magic correct as she focuses more on movement. As they get closer, she takes over the spell and points her wand. “Black Ice!” The webbing and tree around Vernew quickly are coated with incredibly-slick ice, and even the Mistress of the Hunt loses her footing. Freddie jumps and quickly climbs, closing the distance between them and Vernew.

The dweller tries to entangle him with some of her own webbing, but he brings his shield up and the ensnarement finds no purchase. She bites back a curse as she tosses the jar up into the air. “You waxed his shield?! Fine, deal with this!”

She jumps after the jar and shatters it with her staff, and within moments the area is covered in thick smoke. It looks like it’s not difficult to breathe in, but visibility is basically nil in there. I can see Vernew grin as she slowly stalks towards the kids as they put their backs together after a few words, their spiders running around on the webbing beneath them.

“Who is the hunted now, hmm?” she says as she slowly circles them, using their movements on the webbing to guide her. “I didn’t think I’d need this one, either, so consider me impressed, kids.” She stops as she prepares to leap at them. “But there was only one way this hunt could have gone.” She leaps forward, only to find Freddie’s shield directly in her way. “How?!”

“You’re not the only one with some alchemical help. Now!” responds Freddie before the webbing beneath them all collapses. Shouts of struggle and complaints drift from the cloud of smoke until it clears a minute or two later and reveals the result.

The entire group is tangled up in webbing, mostly of Tiny’s make, though Lucas and Fiona contributed to help actually use the larger spider’s work to entrap their prey. And themselves. The entire group awkwardly turns as one whole, limbs and faces sticking out of a big mess of silk.

“No, really: How!?” repeats Vernew, struggling against the tough silk around them all.

“Perception and agility potions,” answers Rhonda. “We could hear you talking through the smoke. We knew you’d be just as blind as us, so we set a trap. We uh… we weren’t supposed to get caught too, though.” Lucas and Fiona chitter apologies.

Tiny smiles in his way at the scene as he gets up, and Vernew looks quite a bit embarrassed to be in this kind of situation where he can see. He turns the mess so Rhonda and Freddie can see him, and the aspiring paladin speaks up.

“This counts as catching her, right?”