[hider=QUOTE]
[quote=@shadowsaint007]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FM92P8l.png[/img]
[h1][color=ed145b]Sarah[/color][/h1][/center]

Sarah continues cutting away at the spiderling horde attacking her, managing to cut another in half when she saw something dance in her peripheral vision. She's half-tempted to ignore it as yet another hallucination, but something makes her turn around and notice in horror as the spiderling queen is coming down hard - and aiming for Pip, who is too busy snarling and snapping at a couple spiderlings to notice. For a second, it seems as though everything was floating in water, a moment suspended in time. It takes every inch of will and strength for Sarah to force her whole body to move, trying to cover Pip before he gets fatally skewered.

[color=ed145b]"NO!"[/color]

By some miracle, she manages to block the tip of the spiky foreleg with the flat of her sword, placing herself between an angry spiderling queen and a surprised Pip who yelps and jumps back. However, by doing so, she left her back exposed, and one spiderling stabs her in the calf with a claw. Giving a pained grunt, Sarah tries to push back, but is slowly driven to her knees by the force of the queen's push, spiderleg scratching against unbreakable ancient steel.

[color=orangered]Pip, mortified that his carelessness caused New Master to get hurt, turns around in a snarl and goes after the spiderling that just hurt New Master's leg. He bites but misses, the spiderlings falling back to avoid his wrath. This time, Pip doesn't pursue, trying to cover Sarah's back while she struggles with the queen.[/color]

For a moment, Sarah feels as though she'll be smacked down the ground, unable to keep up the effort against the queen's pressing leg. However, she takes a deep breath, and takes a gamble by changing the sword grip, causing the leg to slip off to the side, allowing Sarah to force the queen off balance with a twist of the sword. With the sword free, Sarah takes her moment to strike. She charges the sword with the biogenic power of lightning, lighting the cave around her with a brilliant azure flash, and swung as hard as she can at the queen in an upwards stroke.
[/quote]

[/hider]
[center][h1][b][i][color=92278f]Urgrapth's Lair[/color][/i][/b][/h1]
[color=92278f]Sarah[/color][/center]

    Urgrapth was moving with animal passion and instinct alone. She had no thought of strategy or cleverness, she moved only to strike, for that is all she knew. When Sarah tipped her blade, shifted her weight, and swung the lightning charged sword Urgrapth's only thought was to move into it. The blade bit deep into the thick, black flesh and for a moment she felt the pain and heat from the bite. The heat grew in intensity until [color=0054a6][b]KRAKABOOM!![/b][/color] the sword ignited its lightning power and exploded inside of Urgrapth's abdomen. Black gore was splashed all over Pip, all over Sarah, and all over the walls. The humanoid top half of the spider queen flailed its arms and its mouth opened to scream but there was no air. 

    The spiderlings, frightened by the lightning bolt and the death of their mother, lost their will to fight and fled into the various holes in the cavern. For a moment, Sarah and Pip were alone in the dark room, covered in black, sticky viscera and breathing hard. A blue light blinked on a panel upon the wall. Pip trotted up to it and was able to reach it by standing on its hind legs; he pressed the button and the cover blocking the top of the mountain and the entrance to the cave opened. 

[hider=SYNOPSIS]
You defeated the Spider Queen! Pip has pushed the button to open the caves, and your next work is to free villagers. Kensu will be joining you soon and can help. Good job and grab a shower, let me know when you're all cleaned up.[/hider]