Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

Somehow, the matriarch was able to participate in two separate conversations at once, speaking out loud to Taiven and her two friends as she spoke telepathically to Zorian. Zorian himself was not similarly blessed, and mostly tuned out her explanation to Taiven in order to absorb what she was telling him mentally. Finally, she seemed to realize this and cut her telepathic communication with him short, allowing him to pay attention to what she had been saying to Taiven.

«…so I’m not sure what the device is for, but it’s clearly a magical item of some sort,» the matriarch said out loud. «It’s useless for us aranea, but we are well familiar with the concept of trade. We were hoping to trade it to some of our human contacts for something we can actually use, but since it’s our dear friend Zorian that’s asking for it, I guess we’ll give it to you as a favor. I’m sure Zorian will make it up to us… eventually.»

«Uhh…» fumbled Taiven, looking at him uncertainly. «Is… that okay, Roach? Are you…?»

«Yeah, I’m fine with that,» Zorian shrugged. Although as far as he was concerned he didn’t really owe any favors to the matriarch for this.

[I only said that for appearances sake,] the matriarch told him telepathically. [It would be weird if we just gave it up for no reason. Besides, as far as I’m concerned, you will repay my generosity by helping me track down your employer so we can wring him for information.]

«Fang of Victory will go and retrieve the bauble,» the matriarch said out loud, causing one of the two visible honor guards to suddenly skitter off into the darkness. «I’d ask you to warn your employer against further aggression against us, but it’s probably best if you keep quiet about talking to us.»

«Why did he attack you anyway?» asked Taiven. «You seem nice enough to me.»

«Most places will kill sentient monsters as a matter of course, if they find them within their borders,» Grunt said. He and Mumble were both pretty quiet thus far, so it was a bit startling to hear him speak up all of the sudden. Taiven gave him a dirty look for his remark. «What? I’m just saying he didn’t need a reason. Their presence would be offense enough for some people.»

«It’s a little more complex than that,» the matriarch said. «Humans clash with other sentient races, that is true, but that’s because most of them are highly territorial, murderous, view humans as food or all three. On occasions where that wasn’t the case, humans have shown themselves willing to make exceptions and take a more… nuanced approach. There are several dragons that deal with humans in a peaceful manner, the lizardmen of Blantyrre have long been a trading partner for human nations, and many of the splinter states bordering the wilderness have made secret or not so secret pacts with various spirits and monster clans living within their nominal borders.»

«You’ve thought about this a lot,» Zorian remarked.

«Though not well known, we have been peacefully interacting with humanity for quite a long time now», the matriarch said. «The aranea have been living in the deeper levels of the dungeon for as long as this city has existed. When the foundations were being laid, several campaigns were launched into the local sections of the dungeon to clear out the threats lurking inside it. However, this power vacuum also allowed weaker races like aranea to move into the place. The dungeon around the Hole is prime real estate for magical creatures of all breeds, as you probably know, and the competition was fierce. Fortunately, while we aranea lacked the brute strength or destructive magical abilities of some of our competitors, we were far more willing to cooperate with humans to our mutual benefit. We contacted some of the humans that were willing to cooperate with us and gave them information about our mutual enemies — their strengths and weaknesses, where they lived, the timing of their attacks and movements… everything they needed to wipe them out, or at least weaken them to the point where we could finish the job. Information gathering has always been our specialty.»

Zorian found himself fascinated by the story, and more than a little surprised that the matriarch was willing to say all this in front of Taiven and her friends. Then again, Zorian never told them that aranea were mind readers, so their minds were completely unshielded — the matriarch probably had a pretty good picture of how likely they were to cause trouble for her. And they weren’t going to remember anything about this when this loop ended, either.