The spider might be just what they needed. Richter had been planning to summon a saproling as well, but he realized that in this case, less was more. It wasn’t worth the two Earth creatures possibly exceeding his control. He quickly told Sion about the creature’s capabilities, and the sprite agreed that it should jump into the middle of the patrol once the fighting started and release its spores. Richter accessed the faint light in his mind that showed his Psi Bond with the spider. He tested a few commands and was pleased to see that it moved as he directed it. The best surprise was it could scale the walls and attack from above. Richter had it climb the ravine wall several feet away from the switchback and wait.
Looking at the spider, Richter realized that he couldn’t assume that higher level creatures were necessarily better than his lower level creatures. The arachnid’s main attack involved getting its prey to breathe poisonous spores. That meant the spider was only useful against corporeal creatures that, well, breathed. Against undead enemies, the spider might be next to useless. His saproling however, could probably go toe to toe with zombies of the same level.
On the other hand, even a patrol of goblin scouts had been enough to overwhelm his saproling in the past. His new spider, though, might make short work of such a squad if they all inhaled its chokespores. It was just another example that in The Land, it was the correct application of power that mattered, not power in and of itself.
As he prepared to cast his next spell, he drank a mana potion. It was a luxury having a surplus of the blue solutions, and he spared a moment to think fondly of his Dragon’s Cauldron and Tabia. Then he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. His mana bar began to replenish, restoring the three hundred and twenty-seven magic points he had lost dual casting Summon Minor Chokespore Arachnid. Thankfully, his next spell was not nearly as mana intensive.
A guttural word of Power flowed over Richter’s lips as he cast Summon Weak Bile Rats. A purple-black disc appeared on the ground, and five rats rose from the portal before it disappeared. Each of the rats was a sickly yellow color, despite the fact that their bodies were fat and thick. They were each level five or six. Richter put them through their paces as well and was satisfied that they would follow his commands. He wasn’t able to command each rat individually. It was more like he was psychically commanding a hive mind and they all obeyed. Richter was tense for a moment, this being the first time he had successfully summoned two creatures at once, but both the rats and the spider remained completely under his control. Whether because of the ring or because they were from different elements, his creatures, remained obedient.
*The stinky ones approach, master,* Alma sent.
*We’re ready love. Psi Blast any of them that don’t immediately go down, even if Sion or I get trapped in the blast.* Richter hadn’t told his friend about that last part. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come up, and if it did, he was sure the sprite would get over it. Eventually.
Sion and Richter cast a series of spell buffs. Then the sprite hid himself and Richter did the same. The trap was set, so Richter sent the bait. From what he had seen in the past, goblins were not picky eaters. They seemed to think that rats were a particularly tasty treat. Richter sent the rats forward, around the switchback and towards the goblin patrol. Once the goblins saw the rats, one gave an excited whoop, and the rest squealed in delight. They started speaking quickly in goblin-speak, “Get them.” “Get them!” “I was just thinking I was hungry.” “Those elf-loving bastards scraped the cook pots clean before I even got any dinner!”
Richter ordered the rats to flee back towards him, and through Alma’s eyes, he saw them run after the rats. Not wanting to be confused by dual images, he shut down the visual feed Alma was sending and prepared for battle. The first goblin came around the corner. Then the next, and then the next. None of them spared a glance towards where Sion hid on the left side of the canyon. Neither did they see Richter along the right side, hidden by cloak, stealth and the dark of night.
As soon as the last one passed Sion, the meidon sprite attacked. The sides of his cape fell back, and he drew his already nocked bow. He exhaled and released. The arrow, point brown from being covered in poison, flew true. Its broadhead point entered the back of a goblin fighter’s head, and the green-skinned creature pitched forward. Sion was already sighting on his next target before the first began to drop.
The shale adder, nearly indistinguishable from the rocky makeup of the ravine, shot forward. The first thing the goblin fighter saw of the creature that would end his life was a gaping maw moving towards his face. The snake downed its prey and began coiling its body around the goblin. The fighter managed a short, shrill scream, but the sound only went down the pet’s throat. The adder began squeezing.
The goblins started to turn back, and Richter attacked. What the goblins had just taken to be a patch of rock revealed itself as a deadly enemy. The chaos seed extended his hand, and his fingers formed the tactile portion of the spellform while a guttural word of Power spilled from his lips. Only two seconds after Sion launched his arrow, Richter cast Troubled Sleep.
Two scouts dropped to the ground immediately. The spell’s five-foot area of effect also let him hit the third scout and the fighter trailing them. The two goblins resisted the spell and started turning towards Richter. The chaos seed didn’t give them time to respond. Richter raised his other hand and released the spell stored in his Ring of Spell Holding. This time, both the fighter and scout dropped.
The remaining three goblins started to shout, and one still had a horn on his belt. They knew they probably wouldn’t make it out of the ravine alive, but seeing their racial enemy whipped them into a fury. Even if their lives would end, they would sound the alarm out of loyalty and spite, sure that their fellows would chase down the sprite that had killed them. That was the plan anyway.
Sion’s second arrow took another goblin fighter in the chest, missing an instant kill due to the goblin dodging to the side. The goblin with the horn was raising it to his mouth, and the last had raised his sword to attack, when the chokespore arachnid entered the fray. The spider jumped off of the wall it had been hanging on and landed in the middle of the three goblins. Both Richter and Sion pulled back. They intentionally breathed out, resisting the reflex of inhaling while they held their breath. The spider landed, and thousands of tiny spores shot out from its abdomen with a soft pfft. To Richter and Sion, it looked like a sphere of brown dust just suddenly appeared around the summoned creature The goblin Sion had wounded went down first. He was in the process of starting to scream, and he took a large breath of the spores. His throat immediately became inflamed and swollen. A spasm caused the fighter’s already narrowed airway to momentarily snap shut. The goblin dropped to his knees, clawing at his own throat.