Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«Since you apparently think you’re good enough to walk around the Dungeon all by your lonesome, meeting sentient monsters and gods know what else, I would like to test your skills a little,» Taiven told him. «Plus, it doesn’t hurt to know what your actual combat skills are if you’re going to accompany me and my team into a potentially dangerous situation. You do know some combat skills, don’t you?»

«Plenty,» Zorian assured her.

«Good, so come to my place tomorrow at noon so I can test you,» Taiven said. «You’re sure they’re going to hand us the clock if we ask nicely?»

«If they have it,» said Zorian. «That guy who gave you the job doesn’t sound all that reliable to me. I don’t believe for a second that he didn’t know what the aranea are, yet he still sent you go get a pocket watch from them. Either he’s trying to get you all killed or… hell, I don’t know what his game is there.»

«If the watch is something very valuable or very illegal he might not want to send someone who could recognize what they are holding,» Taiven frowned. «Just how dangerous are these spiders of yours? I mean, even if sentient, they’re still bound to be vulnerable to burning and such. Maybe he thought we would just bulldoze through them without talking?»

«Aranea are all mages,» Zorian said. It wasn’t strictly true, as only a small minority of aranea was armed with a true spellcasting system, but psychic powers were versatile enough to count as a sort of specialized spellcasting system. «They are especially fond of mind magic, illusions and stealth. And they have a telepathic link to one another so they will know and remember you if you massacre some of their outposts. And then you’d have a bunch of magical spiders with a grudge looking to ambush you or lure you into a trap the next time you descend into the dungeon.»

«Shit,» Taiven said. He felt a spike of anger from her before she reined it in and forced herself to calm down. «That asshole better have been ignorant of the danger or I’m reporting him to the nearest police station I find. That’s practically a murder attempt!»

«Let’s talk to the aranea first and see what they have to say,» Zorian quickly said. He didn’t want Taiven to confront the man and then cancel the whole thing. «I guarantee they won’t attack you so long as you have me with you.»

Taiven gave him a long, unreadable look.

«What?» he asked.

«Nothing,» Taiven said. «it’s just that… I thought I knew you, but now it turns out you have this whole secret life I’ve never known about until now. It’s a bit unreal.»

«Yeah!» Kirielle suddenly piped in. She had been silent throughout their discussion, but apparently she had been listening to everything with rapt attention. «How come you never told your own sister any of this!?»

«Oh that one is easy,» Zorian replied smoothly. «I didn’t want mother and father to find out, so telling you would have been foolish. Do you have any idea how many times you’ve gotten me in trouble by spilling my secrets in front of our parents?»

«Oh come on!» Kirielle whined. «I was a little baby! I didn’t know anything! You can’t possibly still be angry about that?»

«No, of course not,» Zorian mumbled uncomfortably. «I did just tell Taiven about the aranea right in front of you, didn’t I?»

Taiven shook her head sadly, rising from her seat. «You keep too many secrets, Roach. I feel a little hurt that you felt you couldn’t confide in me but I was never one to hold a grudge so I’ll let it go. Just don’t expect this to be the end of it — I’m going to pester you endlessly until I get the whole story. See you tomorrow.»

«Wait,» Zorian said. «Actually… yeah, there is something I need to tell you. All of you. Miss Kuroshka, I know you’ve been eavesdropping on us for a while now so you might as well sit down for this.»

Imaya whirled around from where she was fiddling with the cutlery and placed her hands on her hips, giving him an angry look.

«I was not doing any such thing,» she told him, «I was simply minding my own business, and in my own kitchen no less. If you didn’t want me overhearing your conversation you should have taken it elsewhere.»

«My mistake,» Zorian agreed easily. He was pretty sure she had finished whatever she had come into the kitchen to do for a while now and was simply hanging around to hear them talk, but whatever. «Kiri, do you remember how I promised to teach you spellcasting in exchange for a favor back in the train?»

«Yeah?» Kirielle confirmed hesitantly.

«Right, a little background first. I am what is commonly known as an empath — a person who can sense other people’s emotions. Unfortunately, up until recently, my powers have been kind of running amok. There was nobody I could turn to for help… at least not on the human side of things.»

«The spiders,» Imaya surmised.