[center][h1][color=#c0392b]The Gauntlet[/color][/h1][/center]

	A cold breeze. A hard surface. You slowly open your eyes.

	Lying uncomfortably upon a cold, uneven floor made of dark stone, you slowly wake. You question how you were even able to sleep in such conditions in the first place. Then it becomes quite apparent that this was not where you were in the first place. You’re not even sure if you went to bed before arriving at this new location. Wide awake now, you quickly take to your feet looking around to gage just where you are.

	The room you find yourself in is large ranging almost endlessly to any of the walls that surround you. You look up to see that the room reaches several meters into the air, meeting at the vaulted ceiling. Along each wall are columns that jut halfway out of them, separating it into segments. Carved into each frame are various battles of unknown faction or origin. The room is surprisingly well lit despite lacking any obvious light source. You spin suddenly when a cough echoes throughout the massive chamber.

	You become aware that you are not alone. Lying on the floor around you are various other people, dressed in both familiar and drastically foreign attire. They begin to stir, waking up equally confused as you are. Many of them begin to murmur, question and group up trying to make sense of the situation. You join them but before any conversation could take place, the room is filling with another sound that seemingly originated from the ceiling. You collectively look upward to search for the source of the sound only to revolt against the sight.

[center]~~~~~[/center]

	A fiendish sight rested upon the above the champions’ heads. A spider in shape equipped with long slender legs, and large abdomen, its near black color almost blended in with the dull grey that was the stone ceiling. With webs reaching each corner of the room, it was clear that this chamber seemingly without doors was this monster’s home. Quickly, the creature descended along a series of thin threaded webs reaching the ground facing the newly awoken challengers.

	This spider was more than what could be seen when above. Its body towered over the champions’ almost doubling their height. Its body and legs were covered with hairs resembling long needles with sharpened points. The spider was fiendish enough, but sprouting from the between the monster’s eyes was the torso of a female, horrendously malformed, and slightly larger than that of a normal human’s. The body was the female was long, lanky, and colored grey much, lighter than the arachnid body. Each of her arms was abnormally long, almost twice as long as her human body, each hand equipped with long fingers and nails resembling claws. From her head grew very long coarse hair that covered her face and body. The hair made it impossible to see her face, but that was not necessary to sense the malice it held towards the champions. Who or whatever made this thing had a strange sense of propriety.

	The spider screeched from its human mouth. If the warriors were not prepared for battle now, there wasn’t much time left to steel them. With a few steps forward, it raised its long front legs higher over the warriors who were still grouped together. In an instant, it slammed them down, seemingly without target. If the champion’s were not sure before, it was clear now of the hostility before them. The creature continued to screech as it swung its legs to its right knocking whoever in their path away. Not only that, but the hairs that protruded from its legs acted liked swords, slashing at and slicing through anything soft that came into their path.

	After its initial swipe through the group, it had managed to scatter them well enough. Screeching one more time, the spider charged at the first pocket of warriors that remained standing in front of her. No matter who intruded on who’s domain, it was a battle between spider and man. Left with no options other than to fight, perhaps the defeat of this strange spider abomination would provide answers to how they had come to be in this place.