SA: Wing Ceremony Part II - Faron Woods Team

"I still can't get over the size of these plants!" Sofia exclaimed, brushing her hand across one of many tree roots that had burrowed their way through the dungeon walls.

"Ugh, nobody cares about the plants..." Marrilyn groaned.

"I care about plants," Krane, who had taken to the back to watch everyone, said matter-of-factly, looking down at Marrilyn.  Scowling, Marrilyn clutched her broken arm, now hanging in a makeshift sailcloth sling, and withdrew from him.

"Come on guys!  It can't be that much further," Runi said cheerfully, waving everyone along through another seemingly empty room of this overgrown dungeon.

It was odd how they had all ended up  just outside of the dungeon, and it hadn't taken long for them to scout the immediate area of the woods to realize they were the only ones around.  Runi was worried about the others, of course, and Sam especially.  He hadn't seen her since he'd asked her since they split up back at Skyloft.  He just had to hope everything was okay.  He felt that the other students were looking up to him, so he had to put on a brave face for them, even if he didn't feel like it.

"How do you know that?" Rahkali, another one of the outspoken students, asked.  It took Runi a moment to gather up his thoughts and register the question.  Apparently his puzzled look was not lost on Rahkali, as he repeated, "How do you know it won't be much further?"

"Uh..." Runi began, trying to put together his reasoning.  It had seemed like the obvious course of action to him at the time, and everyone seemed to agree.  Now that they were down in the dungeon, however, there were cracks forming in the group, and Rahkali was certainly the biggest one.  Sure, Marrilyn complained a lot, but it was obvious she was unnerved about something, and all she did was annoy the other students.

"I-Is it some kind of dungeon sense that you get when you become a knight?" A'laa, who had basically avoided eye contact with Runi since the moment they had met, asked.  There was a sparkle in his eye; a wonderlust that Runi could appreciate.

"...No," Runi said flatly, and A'laa visibly deflated, "but that would be really awesome," Runi quickly added with all seriousness.  Because, really, that would be awesome.

"See?  He doesn't even know," Rahkali said, crossing his arms defiantly.

"He could be leading us into a trap for all any of us know," Kiina said, and it appeared she was taking sides with Rahkali at that point.

"Why are we even following him?  Who decided he was in charge?" Rahkali asked, emboldened by Kiina's support.

"Because he outranks all of us," Camille said firmly, and the look on her face was one of surprise and horror that anyone would dare question authority.  "He's a grey knight."

"So because he has a sword we just have to listen to him?!" Rahkali argued, shoving his arm towards Runi's sword as if unimpressed.

Their ranks were quickly dissolving into petty fighting, with students taking different sides, and all of it was because of his supposed ineptitude.  Certainly Runi wasn't the best knight.  He had never led anyone before.  But Camille was right, he was the highest ranking knight, and so if anything happened to the students under his watch, it would be his responsibility.  He had to step in and do something...

He smiled at Rahkali and draped an arm over his shoulders, "No," he said with a laugh, and then leaned in closer.  "It means, friend, that if you lead any of my fellow students into danger and they get hurt, I'll cut you."  Despite the threatening tone in Runi's voice, he never stopped smiling.

"And I'll help," Mushi added.  Runi appreciated her support.  As the only other knight in the group, Runi was actually relying a lot more on Mushi than she realized.

"Yeah, and she'll help," Runi said, his eyes going wild.

Rahkali recoiled from Runi, clearly off-put by his tone and creepy smile.  "Fine geez," he said, pushing Runi away from him.  "And I'm not your friend!"

Runi laughed at that and turned back to the front.  "Alrighty, then!  Off we go!"

Runi hadn't always paid much attention in class, but he did remember a few things about ancient temples and the like.  These places were said to be filled with traps and monsters to turn away would-be looters.  And yet... Runi hadn't seen anything more than the occasional creepy crawly, and certainly nothing that could be called a "trap", except that one hole in the ground Petra had managed to fall in, but she had run ahead without looking, and it was really just a spot where the floor had sunken in.  Either something was odd about this dungeon, or his ideas of "dungeon" were completely wrong.  The other students seemed to get the same feeling.  He could see it in their expressions as they looked around.  The place was dark and broken, but the most eerie part was the silence...

After wandering through several chambers, and hearing a few more exclamations from Sofia about a certain flower or another, the students found themselves moving down a long tunnel.  The further along they went, the more and more broken up by invasive roots the hallway became.  Several times they had to climb or crawl over the obstructions.  And then came the spider webs.  Lots and lots of spider webs!  Fortunately, some of the students had candles, and so they were able to not only light their way, but burn through any particularly hairy webbing.  

Eventually, the hallway opened into a sort of hub of three other hallways.  That was unfortunate, Runi thought.  Up to that point they had had a fairly obvious trail to follow, but now they had to make a choice.  The best course of action would be send students down each tunnel to scout ahead.  But the size and frequency of webs around this portion of the dungeon had Runi on edge.  Those webs were natural, which meant there were probably monsters lurking about.

"Okay everyone...I'm going to need some volunteers," Runi said, turning around to face the group.

"Oh, oh oh!  Pick me!" Petra blurted, throwing her hand up in the air.

"I'll go," Kiina chimed in.

Camille said nothing, but raised her hand anyways, a determined look on her face.

"Okay...let's do the buddy system," Runi said, hoping that would help make things safer.  "Mushi, you're with Petra.  Take that tunnel on the left.  Kiina, take Krane with you.  You guys take the middle.  And Veron..." he started to point a finger, but the silent Veron stepped behind Sofia.  Runi wasn't about to force someone to do something they didn't want to do.  "Faruin!" he said, and the tiny pale girl perked up in surprise.  "Do you mind going with Camille?"

Faruin's eyes widened a bit, and she looked around uncertainly, as if surprised he had even bothered to pick her.  "...okay?"

"Great!  You two take the path on the right," Runi said, clapping his hands together.  "Now everyone stick with their buddy, and keep your eyes and ears peeled for danger!  Just go down a bit and see where it leads.  If you run into danger, get back here immediately."

There was a long, awkward silence in the hub with the rest of the students as they waited for the scouts to report back.  It occurred to Runi that he really didn't know many of the students in the group beyond their names, which was a shame.  Once they were under better circumstances, he was sure to remedy that.  His thoughts began to wander back to Sam and the other people of Skyloft.  What was happening?  Where there others trapped on the surface?  How were they going to get back?  It was a lot to think of, and Runi felt a lot of pressure put on him.  He wasn't sure if he cared much for 'responsibility'.  

"I bet they're all dead..." Marrilyn said dryly.

"I will poke you in the arm if you don't stop that," Runi replied tiredly.

Suddenly there was screaming from the right, the hallway that Camille and Faruin had taken.  Runi's stomach  turned.  They were in danger!  He stepped towards the hallway, and out came Faruin, who immediately jumped behind Runi and pushed him towards the hallway.  Camille came shortly thereafter, her candle casually bobbing in the darkness.  And then a sea of tiny spiders poured out of the hallway, in the the hub, and dispersed down the other paths.  By the time they'd passed, Faruin was basically crawling on Runi's back.

Camille came out of the hallway, an annoyed look on her face.

"Is everything okay?  What happened?" Runi asked.

"It was just...a bunch of spiders..." Camille said, giving Faruin the stink eye for running away.

"But it was a lot of them," Faruin said defensively, finally climbing down Runi's back.

Runi let out a sigh of relief, which quickly turned into a full-on laugh.  "Oh, that's great!" He said, wiping a tear from his eye.  "So I take it you two didn't find anything?"

"Nothing to report," Camille said, saluting Runi, which gave him a mixture of pride and discomfort.  

Shortly thereafter came Kiina and Krane.  They had also found a dead end, but less spiders as it were.  Finally, Petra came back by herself.  

"Is everything okay?" Runi asked.

"Yep!  I think we found a way out of here," Petra said happily.

"Where's Mushi?" Krane asked.

"Huh?  Oh, she fell down into the room we found.  She's too short to get back up!" Petra explained with a laugh.  "So she told me to come back and get help."

Runi shrugged and headed down the path on the left with Petra in the lead.  Eventually, the hallway broke down into a series of tree roots that snarled what structure was left and seemed to make its own path.  Suddenly there was a drop, which opened up into a large chamber, and down below sat Mushi.

One by one, the students went down into the room with the help of others.  When at last they were all in the chamber, they noticed that Mushi wasn't sitting on a rock, but a spider-- a big spider.  It was bigger than her, and its abdomen was shaped like a skull.  It was quite dead, it seemed, from the sword wounds across its body.

"Are you alright?" Krane asked.

"Yeah, this dumb thing tried to sneak up on me, so I stabbed it..." Mushi said casually, trying to sound tough.

"It's a skulltula," Kit said, poking the dead spider.  Everyone looked at him, surprised that he had finally spoken, and also surprised that he was getting so close to the thing.  "Uhh...someone told me about it once.  I've seen them in Crescent Reservoir before," he explained.  Despite his hesitation, the explanation seemed sound enough.  After all, it's bad did look like a skull.

"I think...we were supposed to read about these in class one day?" Runi said, rubbing his chin.  He must have been daydreaming when that lecture happened, but the name sounded familiar.

"He's right," Mushi confirmed.

"Wow..." Rahkali said, sarcasm dripping from his lips.

"You said you found a way out of here?" Kiina asked Petra.

"Well, we felt a draft coming from this direction, so there's probably a way out..." Petra said with a shrug.

"It's coming from there," A'laa said, pointing to a portion of the ceiling that had fallen through, revealing sunlight in the chamber and casting shadows in every corner.

"What now, fearless leader?" Rahkali said, his attitude returned twofold.  "Where are we supposed to go?"

"Let's look around and see if there isn't another way out.  But everybody stay close, and be alert.  If there was one skulltula here, I wouldn't be surprised if there were others lurking about," Runi said, stepping forward into the chamber.

The room, massive in comparison to the rest of the dungeon, was filled with trees that had grown down into the space from the forest above.  And, more notably, the entire place was surrounded by massive spider webs.  They were in the trees, on the floor, along the walls.  They were everywhere.

"It must have taken a lot of spiders to make all these webs..." Kiina pointed out, her head on a swivel like the other students.

"Or a really big spider..." Kit said with an uncomfortable frown.

"Don't be ridiculous.  It would take a massive spider to make all these webs," Rahkali argued.

Runi was worried he would have to break up another fight when suddenly he heard something.  A rustle.  A twang.  And the air seemed to move in a different direction.  It was subtle, but enough that he held up his hand and silenced everyone with a shush.   "Did you guys hear that?" he asked, his hand reaching for his sword hilt.  Something was near-- possibly another skulltula.

"Wait, where's Veron?" Sofia blurted.

Everyone turned to her, and it was clear that Veron was no longer in the group.

"He was just here!  I looked away for a second and now he's gone!" Sofia said, a panic in her voice.

"Something must have got him..." Petra said, getting tense.

"We need to spread out and search for--" Krane began to suggested.

"No," Runi interrupted sternly.  "We need to stick together.  Whatever got Veron will want to pick us off one by one."  Runi had noticed that Veron never spoke, which was probably how he'd been taken so quietly.

The rustle got louder.  And the air grew thicker.  He could feel eyes on him.  The hairs on the back of his neck were rising.  He turned to the group and was about to warn them when he noticed the alarmed, and for some terrified, expressions on their faces.

"It's right behind me, isn't it?" he said with a helpless laugh.

Runi turned around, his hand tightening around the hilt of his sword.  He was greeted by a massive skull suspended by a web.  A giant skulltula, it seemed.  He wasn't too surprised at that, considering the massive webs surrounding the chamber.  He was surprised, however, when a humanoid torso twisted itself up from under the skull and its face right in front of him.  It had feminine features, but its face was wrapped in heavy bandages.  Its mouth seemed odd, as if it were too large for the face.  She had no arms, but instead had sharp, teeth-like growths from her shoulders, and a single, massive growth at the center of her chest.  The creature, whatever it was, simply hung there in front of Runi for a long moment.

"It's okay, everyone... I don't think she can see us.  Look, her eyes are covered," Runi said, taking a step back but trying to sound reassuring to the group.  Despite its seeming docility, the creature's size was simply intimidating.

As if in response to Runi's claims, the growth on the woman's chest opened, revealing a large, bulbous  eye.  Its mouth also opened, slowly and jittery, and a loud, screech-like shrill spilled forth, forcing Runi and the others to cover their ears.

"Just kidding!  It has a giant, creepy eye!!" Runi said, taking a few more steps back.  He could practically feel the terror emanating from the students behind him.  Some of them shuffled, turning to run.  "Everybody stay close!  Don't.  Move."

Before Runi could fully draw his sword, he heard Rahkali shout, "Nope!" and then the boy was gone, running back towards the entrance.  Runi cursed and turned to yell, but the massive spider was faster.  It lurched back, swinging its girth by its web, and the flung itself forward, knocking Runi and several of the students over as she swung by.  The spider crashed onto the ground with needle-like limbs and bolted for Rahkali.

"After them!" Runi heard someone shout.  

Before he knew it, everyone was back on their feet rushing after the spider.  But they were too slow.  She cornered Rahkali, who was unable to climb back up the tree root they'd used to jump down into the chamber.  Two of the spider's limbs were already working a web around Rahkali.  When the spider noticed the others approaching, she hissed angrily and, with the flick of one of her legs, flung a half-spun Rahkali at the students.  He slammed into Krane, dropping both of them.  Marrilyn darted out of the way as they fell, but Kiina slid to a stop to help them.  Runi had his sword drawn and ran to the front as the others slowed with hesitation.  An arrow whizzed past him, sticking into the spider's shoulder.  Another arrow clipped the tree behind her.  It was Mushi, Runi realized.  She was the only one of the group who had a bow.  The massive spider gave one more hiss of protest and shimmied up the wall, into her webs, and disappeared into the shadows.

"Mushi, keep an eye out for her," Runi said as he and the others crowded around Rahkali and Krane.  "Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, I think so..." Krane said, rubbing his head.  It seemed that he'd taken the brunt of the fall.

Rahkali, however, was shaken, his eyes wide with confusion.  Kiina was trying to break the webbing around him with her boomerang, but he pushed her away.  "I don't need help.  I can do it on my own..." he grumbled, pulling at the webbing with his hands.  When that didn't work, he sighed with resignation and said, "Fine... cut me free..."

"Has anyone seen Sofia?  Now she's missing too!" Camille pointed out.

"Did the spider get her too?!" Petra said.

"Over here!" came a voice.  Moving in their direction from a collection of trees and spiderwebs was Sofia, and she had Veron with her.  "I found Veron!"  The quiet boy seemed fine--shaken up a bit like Rahkali, and he still had some spider webs matted in his messy hair.  "I noticed him when we moved this way," she explained.

"Okay, it looks like we've got everyone, and we're all in good shape...for the most part," Runi said, looking around.  "Time to take stock while that thing is hiding..."  He waved everyone together and inspected what everyone was carrying.  Most students had at least one ranged weapon, a boomerang or slingshot, which was great.  That way, they could attack from afar without getting in range of the spiders legs, which were clearly razor sharp from the scratch marks they left all over the floor of the dungeon.  Only Faruin, Camille, and Marrilyn didn't have any weapon, so he'd make sure they paired off with someone who did.

"Uh guys..." Mushi said warily.  "I think I saw her moving..."

"Just keep an eye on her and let us know if she comes back," Runi said, somewhat distracted as he discussed with the students who would be pairing off.

"Okay, she's definitely on the ground now..." Mushi said, her tone getting sharper.

"Distract her for us," Runi said, not looking up.

He heard Mushi mutter something, and then the spider was hissing.

"Hit and run is our best option," Runi told everyone.  "Don't stay in one place too long, and don't let her get close to you.  Stay with each other, and keep your eyes peeled for her if she goes back into the shadows.  If you see her crowding in on another student, try to catch her attention with your ranged weapon.  I'm not sure how much damage blunt weapons will do to her, but Mushi's arrow stuck in her, so at least we know she's not invincible," he explained.  And just to ease the mounting tension on everyone's face, he laughed and added, "We can do this, everyone!"

"We should give her a name," A'laa suggested.  When some of the others looked at him curiously, he defended his statement by saying, "S-so she isn't just 'the spider'.  She's more than that."

"Drhoma..." Camille said to herself, and then again to everyone else when they looked at her.  "I saw the word Drhoma written on some of the walls.  It was in a version of script similar to the one I saw in our studies, but that word didn't really fit with the rest.  I bet it's a name."

"It's a dumb name if you ask me," Marrilyn said.

"Well, I like it," Krane said in support.  "Drhoma," he echoed with a smile.

"Spider...Drhoma... whatever.  Let's just kill it, yeah?" Rahkali said anxiously as he pulled out his boomerang.

"Indeed!" Runi said with a laugh.  "Everyone remember your roles.  Let's do this!"

They all jumped up and looked over to see Mushi running in a desperate circle around the room with Drhoma right on her heels.  "Somebody help, please!" she cried out.

"I got this!" Rahkali said, throwing his boomerang at the spider.  The weapon whirled sidelong into the room and disappeared into the shadows.  "...oh"

"Nice one," Kit said with a scoff.

"Hey, there are more skulltulas coming out of the webs!" Petra warned, pointing her finger at one of the spider beasts.

"We'll have to take care of them along the way.  Drhoma is our priority," Krane said, already moving to take out one of the skulltula.

The students all took off around the chamber.  Runi took a straight line for Drhoma.  He knew it wasn't smart to go at her head-on, but he'd lost his slingshot during the attack on Skyloft, so his only weapon was his sword.  Suddenly, Rahkali's boomerang returned from the shadows, nearly hitting Runi in the head.  He heard a crack as it hit one of the students behind him, but he didn't turn to see who it was.  There was a delay, and then a quick "Sorry!" from wherever Rahkali was.

All of the noise had distracted Drhoma long enough for Mushi to scramble away, and now she was making her way towards Kit and A'laa.  A seed clipped her on the head, and she turned away from Kit and A'laa, moving towards the source of the attack.  She wasn't even paying attention to Runi as he came up behind her.  His sword at the ready, he came up fast on Drhoma's flank and sliced down on one of her needle-legs.  The sword dug in to the limb, but failed to sever it.  Drhoma hissed in pain and turned away from Sofia, who had been the source of the seed shot.  Now, both Sofia and Veron were peppering Drhoma with their slingshots.  Some of the seeds came dangerously close to the eye on her chest, but she closed it and whirled around.

Webbing shot from her abdomen and stuck to a tree limb, drawing a line between her body and the two students shooting at her.  As she turned, that web tightened like clothesline, knocking both Sofia and Veron from their perch.  As she turned, she made a slicing motion with a few of her limbs at Runi, who dodged one and slapped another away with his blade.  Now her eye was open again, and she bombarded Runi with jabs from her forward legs.  He parried what he could and avoided the others, but a few quick cuts did make their way through.  Fortunately, the chain shirt under his tunic blocked most of the blows.  

A boomerang struck Drhoma in the back, causing her torso to lurch forward.  She ceased her attack on Runi and turned towards Krane and Kiina just as the boomerang returned to Kiina's hand.  Drhoma locked her gaze on Kiina, who smiled and laughed nervously.  Krane stepped between Kiina and the spider, preparing to throw his own boomerang.  Runi took that moment of distraction to move back to Drhoma's wounded leg and struck it again, this time holding his sword with both hands.  The limb split free, sending a spray of blue blood over Runi.  Drhoma's hiss was loud and shrill!  Krane threw his boomerang and conked her on the head for good measure.  In a fit of pain and rage, the massive spider flailed a few of her other legs, breaking several tree limbs around her before crawling back into the shadows.

Runi, covered in blue blood, sat on the ground for a moment, staring at his sword, and the severed limb next to him.  He smiled widely and jumped back to his feet, feeling empowered by his successful attack.  "Did you guys see that???" he asked Kiina and Krane.

"Psh yeah!"  Kiina said, equally energized by helping wound Drhoma.

"Can you do that eight more times?" Krane asked with a smile.

"Woah!!" came a shout across the chamber.  It was Rahkali and Marrilyn as they fled from Drhoma.  Apparently she had managed to sneak up on them.

Before the spider boss could even get close to them, however, Kit and A'laa were distracting Drhoma with their ranged attacks.  Both had managed to climb up into a tree, and so they had a great vantage to attack down on the spider.  Or so they thought, because all it took was one needle leg slice to send the tree, and them along with it, tumbling to the ground.  Now Kit and A'laa were the ones being hunted, but poor Kit had his leg pinned under a tree branch and couldn't move.  A'laa sucked down his fears and stood between Drhoma and Kit.  He tossed his boomerang, but the spider easily knocked it aside with one of her legs.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Petra charged by yelling to get the spider's attention.  Or rather, she was being chased by skulltulas and just happened to be passing by.  Regardless, she saw Kit and A'laa in danger and threw her boomerang at Drhoma, but missed horribly.

Hardly amused, Drhoma grabbed some web from her abdomen, snapped it out, and caught Petra by the foot.  With a flick of her leg, she jerked Petra off her feet and flung her around, knocking out all of the skulltulas in the process, before sending the poor girl colliding with A'laa.  Runi realized the situation was falling apart, and he was already heading that way to help, but he knew he wouldn't make it there in time.  Another arrow struck Drhoma in the side of her abdomen.  Runi wasn't sure where Mushi was, but he was glad she had such good aim!  The hesitation was all Sofia and Veron needed to swoop in on Kit, Al'aa and Petra.  Veron peppered the spider with his slingshot while Sofia pulled A'laa and Petra to their feet.  Then, the three of them helped free Kit, and they were out of there.  

Another arrow dug into Drhoma's side as Runi drew close to her.  She hissed and began to climb up the webs beside her.  Not wanting to give her another opportunity to slink away, Runi scurried up a fallen tree and moved up one of its branches.  With his sword leading, he leapt from the branch at Drhoma.  Apparently the spider had better reflexes than that, however, for she quickly retracted from the web and snapped up a leg to slap Runi to the ground, tearing a large gash in the front of his tunic and breaking a few links in his chain shirt.  He hit the ground and skidded as Drhoma dropped her skull-like abdomen onto the ground, the teeth-like spikes on her rear just barely missing him.

Thinking quickly, Runi rolled back onto his feet and lifted his sword...or would have except it wasn't in his hands anymore.  Drhoma turned around and chattered at him.  Obviously, she recognized him as the one who cut off her leg, and now she was happy to return the favor.  Veron showed up out of the corner of Runi's eye.  Apparently he'd returned to help, and Runi's sword was near him!

"Veron!" Runi shouted.  The young man stiffened when he heard his name.  "The sword!  Pick it up!" Runi instructed, pointing at his sword while he backed away from the approaching Drhoma.

Veron picked up the sword as if it were a foreign object, and even fumbled with it in his hands before steeling his grip.  He looked to Runi for more instructions, his eyes wide.

"Stab her!" Runi said, waving his hands at the spider drawing closer.  Drhoma stabbed down at Runi with a needle-like leg, but he moved out of the way.  Another, and then another, but he was getting better at predicting his movements.  Still backing up, Runi bumped into a fallen tree and quickly vaulted over it to put more space between him and the massive spider.  Unimpressed, Drhoma slammed a leg down onto the tree...only to get it snagged.  She pulled and hissed in protest, before stabbing at the tree with more of her limbs.  

Runi's sword flew by and clattered onto the ground near him.  He looked  over at Veron, who shrugged and ran back towards Sofia, who was now shooting her slingshot again.  Runi gladly picked up his sword and stalked forward to take a whack at another leg.  Agitated that she was now being hit with seeds, Drhoma's thrashing intensified, until finally the portion of the tree her leg was stuck in broke free, and she swung it upward like a club.  Runi dodged it and slapped away one of her legs, but he wasn't able to move out of the way as she swung the piece of tree back again.  It smashed down on Runi, dropping him to the ground.  He couldn't see, but he felt Drhoma's webbing wrap around his leg as she started to drag him, and the tree stuck around him, up into the webs.  Something hit the webbing, however, breaking it free and sending Runi crashing back down to the ground again.  More hissing from Drhoma, but then he heard her scurry away.

It took a few moments for Sofia, Veron, and Petra to liberate Runi from the mess.  Meanwhile, Kit and A'laa moved back towards Kiina and Krane, who had spotted Drhoma approaching and were trying to keep their distance.  Seemingly growing tired of the cat and mouse chase, Drhoma leapt from the webs at the students, landing on the chamber floor in a spin, her spikes and legs digging through the stonework of the dungeon.  Krane and Kiina just managed to get out of the spinning mess, but now Drhoma was right on top of them!  A'laa's boomerang knocked Drhoma to the side, and Kit's seeds kept her on the defensive.  And there was Mushi, stepped into range with her bow.  She fired off another arrow, which struck Drhoma in the stomach of her humanoid torso.  The spider hissed in pain and leapt at Mushi, ignoring the attacks of the other students trying to distract her.  

Now in a frenzy for some reason, Drhoma slashed and stabbed at Mushi, who continued to keep her distance but refused to run away outright.  Runi and the others with him moved in to help out.  Mushi shot another arrow at point blank range but missed.  Drhoma launched a web that caught her bow and proceeded to rip it from her hands and sending tumbling into the shadows.  Mushi pulled out her sword, but Drhoma pegged her in the face with her stump-leg, blinding the knight with her blue blood, before shooting another web at Mushi and flinging her into a wall, where she slumped motionless.

"Mushi!" Runi yelled, changing his course towards his fellow knight.

Satisfied with her work, and clearly getting annoyed by all the boomerangs and seeds hitting her, Drhoma hurried back into the shadows.

Runi slid to a halt next to Mushi and grabbed her hand.  "Mushi!  Are you alright?"  He couldn't see any visible wounds on her, but she had hit the wall pretty hard.

Mushi opened her eyes slightly and looked at Runi.  With her free hand, she clutched at his tattered tunic and said in a horse voice, "...I'm not going to make it..."

"What's wrong?  How are you hurt?" Runi asked desperately.

Mushi looked down at herself for a moment, blinked, and then looked back at Runi.  "Oh...I guess I'm fine, actually..."  With Runi's help, she stood back up and dusted herself off.  "Hmm hmm, stupid spider can't stop me!"

"That's the spirit!" Runi said, relieved to see his friend was okay.

More shouting signaled Drhoma's return.  She'd managed to corner several of the students in the moment Runi had taken with Mushi.

"I'm going to find my bow," Mushi said.  "Go help them!"

Runi nodded his agreement and took off after Drhoma.  He wracked his mind trying to think of a way to stop the beast.  So far, cutting her limbs had seemed like the best option, but she had learned that trick already.  She seemed to be rather protective of her eye, so maybe that was her weak spot?  But how could they get to it when she was always blocking it?

Krane was standing in front of the other students as they all tried to slip past Drhoma, but it was no use.  She skipped in front of them no matter which way they went.  But there was someone else sneaking up on her.  Someone Runi hadn't seen the entire fight.  It was Camille!  And she was carrying...something he couldn't make out.  With a determined look on her face, Camille rushed up to Drhoma and stabbed the bottom of her abdomen.  As Runi drew closer, he noticed it was the severed limb he'd cut from Drhoma!

Drhoma shrieked and whirled on Camille.  The girl lost her grip on the limb and fell backwards.  A bright flash filled the chamber, and Drhoma hissed and fell backwards on her haunches, her bulbous eye wide and shaking.  It was the light, Runi realized.  She couldn't stand the light!

"That's it!  That's her weakness!" Runi shouted to no one in particular as he closed in on Drhoma.

Krane and Kiina grabbed on Camille and hurried away as the other students fled in the opposite direction.  Runi readied his sword to strike at the eye, but he was too slow!  Drhoma recovered from her stunned state and quickly made her way up the webs and into the shadows.  Runi cursed to himself and moved towards Camille.

"What caused that flash?" he asked.

"My pictograph box must have gone off when I fell over," Camille said, taking in deep breaths.

"Camille, you're a genius!  The flash from the pictobox stunned her.  That's how we get to her eye," Runi said, pointing to his eye to emphasis the point.

"I am?" Camille said, not sure how to take the compliment.

"Oh, and using her own limb against her?  Brilliant!" Runi added with a laugh.

"Yeah, I was going around the room trying to find a way to be useful, and that's when I found the limb and realized, 'hey, I can stab her with this'.  So I did," Camille explained.

"Great work!  Now we have an objective!" Runi said, punching his open palm.  "If anyone has a pictograph box or a candle, anything with a bright light, get it out!  We can stun her with it, and then we need to hit her in the eye."

A'laa, Camille, and Marrilyn all pulled out their pictograph boxes.  Runi had everyone split into groups again, trying to space out the pictograph boxes to get the best effect.  Everyone moved out to their posts and waiting for Drhoma to show again.  Runi scanned the room for Mushi, but couldn't find her.  He started to move on when a flash of pink caught his eye.  Startled, he jumped aside and let out a yelp.

"Hi," Faruin said, peeking out from behind a tree.

"Faruin!  Have you been hiding behind that tree this whole time?" Runi asked.

"Yes," she replied sheepishly.

"You've got a pictobox, right?"  He said.

The pale girl looked around several times and finally answered, "Yes" with a smile.

"Well get out here and take some pictures with me!  We've got a spider to stun!" Runi roared, waving his hand for Faruin to move.

Faruin pouted a bit, but stepped out and stood unnecessarily close to Runi.  "Okay," she said, holding her pictograph box very carefully.

Flashes across the room caught Runi's attention.  Camille had apparently spotted Drhoma sneaking up on them, but the flash scared her back into the shadows.  Runi crept along the side of the room, his eyes searching every shadow, as Faruin followed along closely.  Another flash, this time from A'laa, and Drhoma fell out of the webs hissing.  Rahkali rushed towards the spider with his slingshot at the ready and shouted "I've got this!", but she got up before he could reach her, and he quickly scampered back into cover shouting "I don't got this!"  Camille flashed at her again, but Drhoma managed to shield her eye and flee back into the shadows.  

Runi felt like they were finally making progress.  Now they had Drhoma on the run, which boosted his confidence.  All they had to do was stun her long enough for him to stab her in the eye.  But the spider boss knew this as well, and she was being far more cautious because of it.

A scream of surprise, and then a half-webbed Petra was thrown into the middle of the chamber.  Next came Drhoma, crashing through a set of trees and sending several students sprawling.  She stormed across the dungeon floor, her legs working more furiously than before.  She was dragging another along behind her-- Sofia from what Runi could see.  He grabbed Faruin's hand and ran towards Drhoma.

"Be ready to take a picture when you see her eye!" he said.  Faruin only bobbed her head in agreement.

Petra, both of her arms still free from the web, was dragging herself away from Drhoma, but her pace was desperately too slow, and in no time the spider was on top of her.  And then out stepped Marrilyn, her pictograph box in one hand.  She stood right in front of Drhoma, dangerously close, as if she simply didn't care.  The spider reeled up, several legs poised to strike, and casually Marrilyn lifted her pictograph box and snapped a picture.  The flash caused Drhoma to roll over backwards, just missing the still trapped Sofia.

"Hit her eye!"  Runi yelled, still running.  Poor Faruin had long lost pace with him and was only just skipping across the ground every few steps.

Kiina threw her boomerang, hitting Drhoma in the eye.  The pain from the strike caused her to leap back to her feet and spin around jerkily.  She staggered backwards and turned to flee, but there was Runi and Faruin to meet her.  Runi skidded to a stop, causing Faruin to bump into him.

"Take the picture!" Runi said, turning to Faruin.

"Ooooookay," Faruin said, snapping the pictograph box right in Runi's face, blinding him.  Drhoma was also caught by the flash, causing her to fall forward until she slid to a stop.  

"Hey guys!  I found my bow!" Mushi said from across the room.

"Shoot her!  Shoot her in the eye!" Runi heard several of the students yell as he rubbed his eyes.

"Huh?  Oh!"  Mushi said with surprise.  There was a clatter, and then a "Dang it!" wherein she dropped what sounded like her arrows.

The students kept shouting, and Runi finally managed to blink his eyes a few times and see through the spots that now invaded his vision.  He looked up just in time to see an arrow pierce through Drhoma's eye.  The spider shrieked and lifted up on the tips of all seven legs before jittering and collapsing in a heap.

There was a cheer among the students as they all came together around the fallen Drhoma.

"Are we sure she's dead?" Rahkali asked, not wanting to stand too close.

"I'm pretty sure she's dead," Kit said soundly.

"Stab her in the eye just in case," Camille told Runi.

Still trying to blink the spots out of his eyes, Runi stepped up to Drhoma, lifted his sword, and drove it down into the eye with a disgusting slosh!  One of her legs twitched and everyone stiffened up.  Runi pulled his sword out, and another leg twitched, and a few people gasped.  Curious, Runi gently slid the sword back down into the eye, and one the legs kicked furious.  He pulled out out again, quicker, and one leg just barely twitched.

"Will you quit that!!" Mushi snapped.

Runi laughed and dropped his sword down one more time just because, but he felt it hit something hard that time.  Intrigued by what it could be, he pulled his sword aside and reached into Drhoma's eye.

"Ew, did he just shove his hand in that thing?" Petra said with a laugh.

Runi grabbed hold of what felt like a rock and pulled it out.  He held in his hand a green, square shaped emerald.  It caught the light of the room and gleamed, revealing text carefully trailing its sides.

"This looks important..." Runi said, shaking the stone.