Style Quest: Faedin Picnic Date

As he stepped out of the portal, the heavy scent of mushroom spores hit Varick’s nose. Right behind the blonde Clydesdale was his significant other, Raine. Spores tickled their nose, making the blue and green spotted snow leopard sneeze. Their form shifted to a slightly feminine one shorter than Varick’s.

 

    “I already don’t like this place,” Raine complained as Varick walked them out of the guild hall. Usually, the horse tailor did supply runs on his own, but the snow leopard wanted to make it a date. Varick handed them an enchanted cloth face mask after putting one on himself.

 

    “It’ll filter the spores and protect you from any hallucinogenic effects,” the brown horse smiled as he quickly checked his map. They would go for a nice romantic walk in the bioluminescent mushroom forests, have a nice picnic, scavenge a special moss that Varick could have made into a waterproof, fire-resistant cloth, and then check into a hotel for the evening. “I researched Faedin before coming here, so I made plenty of extras just in case.”

 

    Finding the glowing mushroom woods was easy. After a short walk, Raine made Varick pose like an explorer with some fungi for a drawing to be made into a painting later. All the colors of glowing mushrooms had inspired the leopard artist. Several pages of their sketchbook were filled with pictures of Varick in various poses and fungi species before they continued their walk while holding hands.

 

    The horse produced a blanket from his bag and a picnic basket as the sunset. Raine was a little resistant to the idea of taking off their mask to eat, but Varick assured them that the wind would take the spores away from them. At their spot overlooking a cliff, they could see multitudes of multicolored flying manta-like creatures native to Faedin, known as Kag Mantas. Once again inspired to draw, Raine almost forgot to eat as they were too distracted by the animals. Varick finally convinced them to eat and enjoy a bottle of autumn wine with him as the flock of Kag Manta moved on for the night. A shift in the wind brought a cloud of hallucinogenic spores to the pair before they could get their masks back on.

 

    “Hold your-,” Varick sneezes before he can finish his sentences. Glowing colors fill the horse’s eyes as he stumbles around. His body felt fuzzy as he stumbled around, trying to return to town. Someone shouted at him, but Varick couldn’t understand what they said. The Clydesdale’s brain was too far taken by the spores to do little more than follow the sparkling colors.

 

    Something felt soft and sticky as Varick awoke with a severe headache. His vision blurred as the brown horse opened his eyes. When they did manage to focus, Varick found himself in some cave on a massive spider web. With all the might he could muster, the equine tailor tried to pull himself free, but to no avail. At least this spider silk was a soft bed until he gathered enough energy to burn himself free. The only real problem was that Varick needed to find out where Raine was, which was worrying.

 

    “Well, looks like my newest morsel has come back to the world of the waking,” a female voice called with a laugh from behind the mahogany Clydesdale. Slowly, a white-haired, elven-looking woman was wearing a black dress that draped loosely around her arms and walked into view. Eight red eyes offset her almost translucent skin. “You’d think that guild of yours would warn about wandering into the realm of the Spider Queen. Have you come for my silk as well?”

 

    “Silk… yes… thats why I came,” Varick lied as he tried to figure out the best course of action. Using one of the enchantments in his clothes to cut himself free probably wasn’t a good idea. “I’m sorry I arrived in such an informal manner your majesty but once I am free I can pay for such fine materials.” None of the tailor’s research on Faedin mentioned anything about a Spider Queen or her silk, but if it was as soft as the webbing, perhaps Varick could negotiate his way out of this one.

 

    “I don’t like when people lie to me,” the Spider Queen shouted as each of her eight eyes lit up in turn. “You didn’t come here for me! I can see your lies!” Webs covered Varick as the white-haired woman yelled. Soon, the horse was encased in the webbing and only had one choice.

 

    “What I seek is purging flames,” Varick shouted from within his web tomb. Blue and purple flames incinerated his prison, allowing the brown Clydesdale to escape his confinement. He hit the ground and rolled to his feet with several needles in his hands. “Look, I’m a tailor and can use your silk to make clothes and cut you in on the profit if you want. I’m sorry about lying before, but maybe we can still do business.”

 

    “A crafty one, aren’t you,” the spider queen laughs as she draws a set of daggers from her sleeves. Venomous black ooze coated the curved silver blades. “I’mI can’t do business with someone who would lie to me.” Needles flew from Varick’s hands as the spider queen launched at him. Unfortunately, none of the projectiles struck their target and thudded into the cave walls. Immediately, the moss and web-covered walls lit up with blue and purple flames.

 

    “We don’t have to fight,” Varick shouted as he used the scissors from his talisman sewing kit to block an attack. A quick dodge bought the blonde Clydesdale enough time to hit the immediate release and split his scissors into two makeshift daggers. Each weapon glowed with Varick’s signature blue and purple flames.

 

    “We don’t have to, but I do like when my prey is seasoned with fear,” the Spider Queen cackled as she dodged an attempted counter. Her daggers almost found purchase in Varick’s gut but were stopped by the armor under the horse’s clothes. Seizing the moment, the tailor dropped his weapons and grabbed his attacker’s wrists. Sky and fire spell threads ignited to send lightning magic through Varick’s palms and into the Spider Queen. Shocked and smoking slightly, the woman fell to the ground once the mahogany horse relaxed his grip.

 

    “I have more tricks if you want to keep playing but it would be ill advised,” Varick laughed as he retrieved and reassembled his scissors. As he turned to walk away, the equine tailor stopped and fell to a knee.

 

    “Kill her and seize her throne! Make her regret her transgressions,” a voice called from within Varick’s head. “Claim the power that should rightfully be yours.” Visions of the horse brutally dismembering the spider queen and devouring her. Images of blood filled his eyes as Varick slumped to the floor.

 

    “Nope, not time to sleep,” Raine called as they picked up the Clydesdale into their arms. The blue and green spotted snow leopard had shifted to an incredibly muscular, tall, masculine form. Raine’s body appeared coated in black ichor and pieces of spiders. “Sorry, got detoured by a bunch of large spiders.” Raine carried Varick out of the burning cave and into the bioluminescent fungal forests.

 

    Still carrying the equine tailor in their arms, the snow leopard ran through the woods as the forest floor split beneath them. A massive black and red spider covered in thin white hair emerged from the caves. The shaking ground caused Raine to drop Varick, who hit the ground hard, but that hit brought him back to his senses.

 

    “You just made yourself easier to hit,” the blonde Clydesdale shouted as he struggled. Needles burning with blue and purple flames flew from his hands as the horse’s mane and tail lit up with similar fire. Most of the needles struck their target this time, causing the massive spider to reel in pain. “That’s fifty-two needles! Back down and let us free or I’ll activate all the spells at once and bring your reign to an end!”

 

    “Never return,” the spider chittered after a tense moment. Raine watched in amazement as the arachnid matriarch retreated back underground. All it left behind was a broken box overflowing with white silk.

 

    “Were you actually going incinerate that thing,” Raine asked as they helped Varick load all the silk into his bag.

 

    “Probably not, but since she let slip that she could detect lies, I just believed really hard that I could for a moment,” the horse smiled weakly. “Just a bit of a bluff. So much for a romantic picnic.” Once the pair gathered the silk, Raine helped Varick return to the spaceport.

 

    “I think we can save the date after we get back to the hotel and help each other clean off,” the snow leopard tells Varick with a smirk on their face. “There’s just something about watching my boyfriend face down the Spider Queen of Faedin that I find simply irresistible.”