Corwin Benedict
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Risha Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2025-04-19 08:00:09 +0000 UTCGoblin army? Goblin King, Hah! Hahahaa, you could’ve called him that, yes. But his puny sticks broke easily against the axes of our great chiefs. A Death Bringer and his men cut through that goblin army, like my blade would through your throat. We didn’t even need a Mystic to cut off the silly Goblin King’s head.
Do not look so scared, tiny creature. Your people are weak. It is only natural that you fall before the might of your greater evolution. If you are lucky, you too will become one of us.
-Orc Warrior of the Kol Clan
***
The goblins quickly got to work on butchering the bear. It was decided that there would be a big feast that night.
Risha watched everyone work with a feral smile. She’d proved to herself that it was possible, that they could win.
Risha suddenly felt a strange calling, and realized that it was her skill [Council of Grandmas].
She made her way to her pit, then activated the skill.
Risha found herself in a cavernous hall lit by torches. She recognized that the stone above her was all earth, and it dawned on her that she must be under the earth somewhere.
Maya, the dark elf sat comfortably on top of the corpse of a creature with over a hundred legs.
“Hello, youngling.” Maya said with a sharp smile. “I’ve spent some time consulting my children, and I have ideas for your war.”
Risha blinked a few times in surprise, slightly intimidated by the powerful woman in front of her. Risha gulped as she answered. “Risha is- I am thankful.”
“As you should be.” Maya laughed slightly to herself. “You have never fought in a war, correct?”
Risha nodded.
“Unfortunate, but we’ll make do. The first thing you must know are your advantages and disadvantages.” Maya stood up, getting off the corpse of the many legged creature. A table appeared in front of her, and a large piece of parchment lay on top of it. “Your first advantage is that you will be defending your own territory, a defensive battle is much easier than an aggressive one. Please draw the layout of your territory, as much as you can.”
Risha walked over to Maya, and Maya handed her a piece of chalk. Risha had never used chalk before, and it took some explanation for Risha to understand how to use it. Then it was several tries before she managed to draw an accurate layout of her village and the surrounding lands.
Then Risha explained how they hoped to get the other villages to join them. Maya nodded as she listened, then started to draw and explain several defensive strategies to deter and delay an invading force. At the mention of tunnels and pits, Risha brightened and mentioned that she could have the spiders dig those.
Maya stood stock still at the mention of spiders, then laughed. “You have been holding back, Risha. You didn’t tell me your biggest advantage! Web spinners in a battle against an invading force. Hah.”
Maya completely shifted the topic of conversation, instead discussing the many pitfalls and traps they could make with webs.
At one point, another woman joined in, the one that had worn a scarf covering her features. She listened in for a moment before saying one word. “Poison.”
Maya’s eyes brightened. “Brilliant idea Cala. If you can gather the venom from your spiders, then apply it to all your weapons. Those orcs won’t stand a chance.”
Risha slowly nodded her head. Spider venom didn’t last long after being separated from the spider, but if they could apply it to the weapons right before battle, it might work.
Clara nodded in agreement, then said “Armor.”
Maya looked confused, “What do you mean?”
Clara pointed at the dead many legged creature. “Spider. Armor.”
“Use the chitin as armor?” Risha was surprised that the idea had never occurred to her before.
The orcs did not use the chitin as armor, instead taking the metal and leather armor from those they slayed in battle. Chitin was also not easy to mold or shape, but that didn’t mean it was impossible.
Another hour passed as they discussed defensive strategies. Then Maya looked to the side as if listening to something. “I have to go.” was all she said before she disappeared.
The woman covered in a scarf nodded “I go. Fair well, little goblin.”
Then she disappeared and Risha was left alone in a void of stars.
Risha discontinued the skill and opened her eyes to the pit of her spiders. Her discussion with the two women had told her how much work she had to go before her people would be ready.
She looked over her spiderlings and noticed that two of them were watching her. She motioned for them to come closer. They happily came over, snuggling up to the tall goblin.
“Would you like to evolve?” she whispered to them.
“Yes!” They easily answered, their legs tapping in excitement.
She didn’t know why she could, considering that the both of them were still not fully grown yet, but she accessed the screen easily.
Analyzing Wolf-Spider Sks’s feats
Possible Evolutions:
Daughter of Risha
Analyzing Wolf-Spider Kla’s Feats
Possible Evolutions:
Son of Risha
She activated her skill on each, her words wrapping around the two spiders and changing them. They shifted, the claws on their feet sharpening, while the hairs on their body turned a dark purple. Both of them grew slightly larger, although they stayed in their adolescent stage of life. Their eyes glowed purple, much like Risha’s.
They chittered in excitement at the changes, the both of them examining each other.
Risha stood up. She couldn’t evolve the spiderlings that slept, but she would as soon as they awoke. For now, she had to seek out the other spiders who weren’t yet hibernating for the winter.
Risha found Roa, the spider-tamer, in the pit with the Spider Queen. Roa was able to direct her to all of the spiders that were still awake. Each one was a mother, and capable of evolution.
The first one she evolved into a War Spider, creating the largest spider she’d ever seen, even larger than the spider queen. She was incredibly happy with her transformation, her dancing shaking all of her webs.
The next two spiders evolved into Trap Weavers. They actually shrunk slightly, although their abdomens grew in size, and their legs strengthened.
The final mother spider that was still awake evolved into a Snow Spider. Her fur turned a stark white, and the claws at the ends of her legs changed shape while her body grew flatter, her legs reaching higher than her head. She thought she’d become exceedingly beautiful, and she kept nuzzling Risha with her head as Risha attempted to head out of her pit.
The rest of the spiders were adolescents or hibernating, so Risha continued to her next task.
Risha quickly found Glo running twelve goblins through drills with their new spears. Glo quickly noticed her off to the side, and ran over to her with a large smile.
“Everyone’s impressed with your latest hunt!” Glo lifted his arm, showing off his muscles. “I’ll have to hunt a bear, so that everyone can be impressed with Glo!”
Risha couldn’t stop herself from smiling at her friend. “Then Risha will hunt a bigger bear!”
The two goblins broke into laughter.
“Glo, I need your help.” Glo quickly sobered at Risha’s words and stood up straight, his spear ready. “I need you to gather the Elders in Roa’s spider pit. I have war plans.”
Glo nodded his head, then called out to several other goblins who took off running.
Risha tilted her head in surprise, then shrugged. She motioned for Glo to follow her and made her way towards the Queen Spider.
Once Risha was in the pit, she borrowed Glo’s spear and started drawing a layout of the village into the dirt. Then she added many of the fortifications that the other Grand Mothers had recommended. The Queen Spider and other elders watched curiously, but no one interrupted her as she finished up.
Once Risha was finished, she was surprised to see Glo looking over the drawing with the most curiosity.
Risha cleared her throat before starting. “Our biggest advantage right now is that the ugly orcs don’t know we are preparing for them. But we’ll lose that advantage quickly, and we’ll need to be ready when we do.” she took many of the words that Maya had told her when she had spoken with her. “When the orcs come, we want to trick or force them into using the path we want.” Risha drew a line with Glo’s spear, following the path that the orcs tended to use on their way. “We can use webs to force them out of the forest and onto the road, then have our own people ready and collapse from all directions. If the spiders could create tunnels for our people, we could maybe use those?”
The Spider Queen spoke, and Roa translated her words for those who couldn’t understand her. “The idea is not a bad one.The orc war party will have their own spiders that can traverse our webs or dig their own tunnels. Some of them will be evolved as well.”
Glo was the one to respond. “We’ll have to have our own spiders prepared to meet them and guard our flank.”
The elders added their own input as everyone discussed how to filter the orcs onto the path that they wanted and the discussion turned to what kind of fortifications could be built in a short amount of time. After that, Risha spoke with Milo about the possibilities of armor made from Chitin.
Milo was excited about the idea and after the meeting was finished, hurried to speak to the builders and craftsman about their plans.
The first weeks of winter passed quickly, as every day was spent preparing the forest around them while still allowing space for the other goblins they hoped to have join them.
***
Snow covered the ground, and light flakes fell all around.
Risha was talking with Sook, one of the elders who’d gained the hunter evolution, when loud sounds of surprise spread through the village.
One of the hunters, a young goblin known as Moko ran up to them, gasping for breath. “The Overseer is coming.” He said between breaths.
Risha and Sook shared a glance, then both of them went running. Risha hurried to the pit where the war spider was happily feeding on a large boar. The spider recognized the urgency of Risha and allowed her to climb on top of it as it climbed out of the pit.
Glo and his party of Goblins outfitted with chitinous armor met Risha and the war spider in the center of the village. Eight of them hurried to climb onto the monstrous spider and they set off. Another eight followed behind on foot, led by Glo.
The spider moved dexterously through the forest, far faster than the goblins could’ve hoped to travel on their own.
One of the goblin warriors handed Risha chitin armor, webbing connecting the various pieces. She carefully put it on while doing her best to stay on top of the fast moving creature. The craftsman had found that melting and reshaping the shed exoskeletons was a good way to create the armor, but it still kept much of its former look, making the goblins look almost like four legged spiders.
They quickly made their way to a preplanned spot. The river on one side and a hill of thick underbrush made a natural choke point.
The goblins got off of the spider, and it made its way up one of the larger trees while all of the goblins hid in the underbrush.
Risha gripped her bow tight as they waited, an arrow nocked. It was another thirty minutes before Glo slipped into the bush next to her, telling her that the other eight goblins were ready over the ridge.
The Overseer usually only brought four orcs and a chained spider with him on his winter checkups, but the goblins had decided to not underestimate the strength of the evolution designed for war. An even larger goblin party was preparing themselves at the village and would be right behind them in case they needed the reinforcements for some reason.
And as the Overseer came into view, it became clear that their preparations were made for good reason. Two wolf spiders crested the hill, each one ridden by orcs. The spiders were bloodied by the chain harnesses that were used to control them, their scarred chitin showing plenty of experience in war. The Overseer himself rode on a palanquin carried by four orcs, and he was surrounded on both sides by four orcs carrying spears, while a slightly smaller orc holding a staff ambled along easily next to them. The spears that they carried were covered in blood, and several small injuries were visible on them. There were twelve orcs in total.
Risha had never seen such a large party for an overseer visit, but Glo’s eyes widened in recognition.
The two goblins shared a glance, their faces hard. Glo nodded to Risha, and she drew back her arrow, the other goblins in hiding doing the same. She aimed her arrow at the orc with the staff, something about him screaming danger.
Glo raised his hand, then lowered it sharply.
Eight bows sounded as they released their first barrage.
