Once upon a time there was a great warlord. Desiring to be king this man made a pact with the savage tribes that inhabited the outskirts of the realm. He promised them help against the tricks of civilized men in exchange for their loyalty in battle. Given arms and armor of iron these barbarians were near unstoppable. Id did not take long for the warlord to crush all those who had opposed him and reign undisputed as king. - Fragment of an old folktale.

Di had never ridden in a boat before. Truth be told it was not exactly the most pleasant of experiences. His arms - so much weaker than that of his dragon state ached with the exertion of moving the oars back and forth. Across from Di on the little boat sat a girl of maybe sixteen summers. Petite and pale with dark hair she could easily have been related to Di, if it were not for the fact that Di was not in the least bit human. Then again, Di had his suspicions that she was not either.

He had first met the girl in a small fishing town in Kiri. She in conversation with a pair of guardsmen. Di's sharp senses allowed him to overhear the dialogue between both parties and his natural curiosity overrode the faux pas of eavesdropping. Apparently the girls older brother and his friend had gone out to drink by the beach three days ago and never returned. The guards had been sympathetic up until the point where the girl mentioned that she lived on a particular island just off Kiri's coast.

After that point both men had become surly, warning the waif that if she continued to pester them she would earn a swift meeting with the business end of their truncheons. Wishing to avoid seeing a presumably harmless girl receive a beating at the hands of civil servants Di stepped in and offered to help solve the girls problem himself.

"Well girl you are in luck. I just so happen to be a detective myself and this sort of missing persons case appears to be right up my alley" The guards had shot the girl dark looks and loped off to patrol somewhere else.Almost in tears the youth confided to Di that she had no money and couldn't pay him for his work. While earning a bit of ryo sometime soon wouldn't hurt Di was not in this for the lucre and instantly bade her not to worry about such trifling matters.

They had gone to the girls boat - which turned out to be a small dinghy that had clearly seen better days. Di offered to row and the girl accepted tears glistening in her eyes.On their way across to the island Di had spotted several albatross and even passed an old woman who was seemingly traveling to bring supplies to the islands inhabitants. Di had called out to her asking if she needed assistance but the grandmotherly figure waved him away whist smiling a toothless grin.

An indeterminate time later and Di stood with the girl on the sands of Spider Island. While the young native reached into the boat to retrieve her satchel Di cleared his throat.

"Ahem - While I though it was rather impractical to bring this up whilst confined in such a small space I feel I must point something out. The average person blinks exactly fifteen to twenty times per minute. I have been observing you miss Chise and in a span of two minutes your average count was seven blinks. Whist unusual this would not be enough to raise concern in and of itself but several times during the trip you appeared to openly cry during which the tears which would no doubt leave marks on your kimono. While your garment  does have patches of wetness these were caused by the sea spray and not your tears."

Di took a breath as the girl Chise turned to face him.

"My conclusion is that you are not in fact human but rather something assuming the guise of humanity under false pretenses. Possibly you are a kitsune, tanuki or even a nekomata out to deceive me for a prank. I assure you that this is a most unwise course of action so please reveal your true self to me so we can have a conversation in earnest."

And with that the girl simply melted away. Her once human countenance replaced by that of a monstrous spider roughly the size of a tosa fighting dog. This was not what Di had been expecting and as he looked upon the creature one thought kept flashing through his mind. It looks like I know where the island earned it's name now.

The spiders mandibles began to clack and a voice not unlike what Chise had used when appearing as human came wafting out of her maw.

"I'm sorry I hid what I was from you. But my story is true, my brother and his friend really did go missing and I do need your help please."

Di's mind was racing with this new information. Was everyone on this island an arachnid? Could this eight legged ambush predator be trusted to keep her hungers in check? Di didn't know but he was keen to find out.

(889 Words)

The new king now held the land tight in a grip of iron. His first act as monarch was to declare that he would hold the greatest banquet the world had ever seen in honor of the barbarian troops who had fought with him. Countless pigs , bulls and sheep were slaughtered and their meat roasted over spits that lined the grand kitchen of his palace. On the night of the banquet the barbarians drank and ate their fill toasting the monarch for his generosity. Little did they know that for many of them it was to be their last night on earth. The king had had the meat poisoned for he feared that the barbarians would grow tired of his reign and depose him later. Many were killed outright red froth bubbling at their mouths. Others were slaughtered by a group of mercenary cutthroats the king had hired with his vast wealth. Of an entire people less than a thousand survived fleeing into the night. - Fragment of an old folktale


A good detective can quickly factor any surprises into his calculations. Di strengthened his resolve and pressed on.

"So you are one of the spiders that live on this island then. It would follow that your brother and his friend were also spiders able to assume human form. And aside from that everything was true... I must ask were they out to hunt at the time? If they were trying to prey on a unsuspecting human who got the jump on them I can still find who did it but since it was clear self defense I will not act against them."

The spider girl fidgeted as the detective spoke , her mandibles clicking and clacking in what may be interpreted as a nervous gesture.

"No Mr detective sir. They weren't off hunting at the time. We had just eaten in the cave I live in so they were both full and wouldn't have to eat anything for at least a few days. Oh and it wasn't people either it was just a pig that we had caught in our webs. Just so you know"

Di's brow creased in thought. This was turning out to be a rather unique puzzle put before him. Two youths gone missing while they were out together. Were the genders reversed Di might consider this to be a potential kidnapping leading to sexual abuse. But these two were males and in addition they were giant spiders who could trap targets the size of a wild boar in their threads.But wait Di was thinking about this all wrong. Both humans and dragons possessed sexual dimorphism which led to the males of the species being larger and more physically powerful than the females. This was not the case in the spider world where the female spiders tended to grow larger and physically dominate their male counterparts even sometimes devouring them after coupling

So attack might be sexual in nature after all. That meant that there was a distinctive chance that the two spiders were being held captive somewhere. Di wasted no time in recommencing his questioning as time was now of the essence.

"I have reason to suspect that the gender of the attacker might be relevant in the case. How many female spiders of mating age are there on the island?"

It took a few seconds for the female spider to answer as it seemed she was wracking her brains.

"Well I have a lot of sisters but none of them would be old enough to mate with big brother and mother told us that it was a forbidden anyways."

While that seemed to put a crack in that theory Di wasn't about to give up on that line of thought just yet. But as he opened his mouth a loud bang could be heard from the direction of the forest. It sounded very much to Di as if some kind of bomb tag or possibly even a blackpowder grenade of some sort.

"Get down" Di yelled to the spider girl as he began to run swiftly towards the treeline. It was dangerous but if he could get a look at their assailant then it was likely that he could wrap the case up then and there.

The first blast had occurred not two far from Nova's positon however it seemed that the bomb was caught in a depression of the earth thus mitigating the effect of the explosive. By Nova's feet another lit bomb hit the ground it's fuse burning swiftly down to it's explosive payload. The ninja would have to act fast before the device detonated peppering the area with flames and shrapnel. Were Nova to turn she would catch the faintest glimpse of a humanoid figure darting past her and away to the left further down the forest edge.

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The survivors of the massacre fled from the kings mercenaries. Those who could not run fast enough were caught and either hung from gibbets or crucified upon the castle walls. Unable to find succor among the kingdoms subjects the tribes-people were forced to hide in the deepest caves and crannies. Unwilling to call off his pursuit till all were killed the king sent more and more men to look for the remaining fugitives. Deeper and deeper into the veins of the earth the survivors fled. As they remembered their lost love ones the survivors moaned and wailed with anguish. So deep had they tunneled that these cries reached the ears of the the dead goddess Izanami. - Fragment of an old Folk Tale

As Di sprinted towards the treeline his ears rang from the explosions. Sand permeated the air leaving a grainy taste in the detectives mouth and causing his eyes to sting. This obscuring cloud dulled Di's normally sharp senses enough that he almost collided with the large mechanical spider being piloted by Nova. Di had never seen something quite like it. Fashioned from wood and painted with black lacquer it was an amazing creation. While it's fangs looked to be merley decorative Di had no idea what tricks it might conceal within it's frame. Uncertain which part the puppet spider had to play in this particular drama Di held off on any particularly rash actions.His restraint was rewarded when a feminine voice emerged from he depths of the puppet.

It would seem that spider island was far from the lonely place Di had first taken it for.  Raising his hands to show that he wasn't going to attack either he replied to the women in the strange contraption.

" I'm afraid I couldn't' tell you the identity of our mystery assailant. I'm not sure if you heard what the spider girl and myself were discussing but it is highly likely that whoever attacked us has some part to play in a kidnapping that occurred on this island. I'm a detective - Di's my name and I'm here to try to make some sense of the entire matter. Are you another visitor or as your mechanical arachnid contraption would suggest do you live here?"

Di not a slow speaker by any stretch of the imagination had barley uttered these words before the spider puppet shot off to a side. Turning as fast as his measly two legs would carry him Di followed with all due haste. In the chaotic shifting foliage Di just managed to see the spider puppet launch a wire net from it's thorax. There was the sound of a crash and then loud cursing from the forest ahead. Though the voice was female the language being used was anything but ladylike.

Advancing to get a better view of their attacker, Di saw that the one who had launched the unprovoked assault upon them was none other than the old woman he had seen with the supplies when he was rowing to the island. Remarkably spry for one of her age she had been running through the forest carrying a large backpack. Nova's wire net had struck her feet - effectively binding them as the the cutting wires prevented any further movement.

The contents of the backpack were spilling onto the ground. Di could see several small metal grenados, no doubt more of the weapons which the woman had utilized against them before. More surprising was the large slabs of raw meat that were dripping red trails across the ground. It looked like a hefty load, far more than a single elderly woman would need on a small journey.

It was time to begin the questioning.

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Feeling pity in stir in the putrid organ that had once been her heart Izanami let her power flow out to the cowering figures. What had once been human were now transformed by the power of the lady of the underworld into grotesque figures part spider and part human. Filled with unholy might these horrors crawled out from their holes turning upon the soldiers that would so fervently hunt them.

Arrows and steel proved no match for the ferocity of the attack and man after man fell to the fangs and claws of these beasts. Soon the kingdom itself lay under siege and within ten days of the attack the once rulers corpse could be seen hanging grotesquely bloated with poison from the countless bites he had suffered. The monstrous arachnids now called tsuchigumo by the lands remaining inhabitants slunk away to the dark corners of the earth. However it is whispered that one of low birth by reciting certain blasphemous prayers and making offerings might call such a beast forth to wreak terrible vengeance upon anyone of royal blood. - Final fragment of an old folk tale

Di now had a good view of both the assailant and his new ally. Nova as she had introduced herself was a pretty girl, who Di gauged to be about sixteen summers old.  Her dyed hair and the way she wore her kimono suggested that she was something of a free spirit. This coupled with her infformal manner of speech led Di to assume that while she might be a ninja she was certainly not a stickler for strict authority. A pronounced limp was also present which upon closer inspection revealed that much of her left leg was a mechanical prosthetic. Perhaps this was why she had adopted the spider like craft for travel. Eight legs were surely superior to one and a half. This kind of ingenuity was fascinating to Di – had Nova built the arachnid machine herself? If so then she was an accomplished mechanic at such a tender age.

Just like his friend Kirei, Nova had displayed talents so early. Was that natural? Di couldn't remember anything in the history books about children with such skills. The great inventors and visionaries of the ancient times were all well into their third decade before they crafted such works. It was possible of course that such prodigies could be ignored for proprieties sake. Di vowed he would record events as objectively as possible. He wanted those who read of his exploits to know the truth or at least as close a facsimile as he could pen. Looking to Nova Di spoke

“Thank you for the assistance and the warning  I appreciate both. I did hear something about the island being looked over by some kind of master, though I assumed since the little spider girl came to me for help he was occupied with matters elsewhere.”

The little spider girl in question now having assumed her human state popped her head from some foliage and started to walk cautiously towards the trio eyeing the old woman with great wearyness.

“It seems our little friend is back. I had better go and question the elderly attacker and possibly put her into some more mobile restraints. By the way if you are ever on the Kiri mainland I would love to hear more about your automaton. It truly is a remarkable piece of machinery and whomever fashioned it was a skilled artisan indeed.”

Di produced two think but strong cords from his coat as he began to walk towards the old woman. As he strode he spoke in a calm clear voice addressing the ill tempered hag.

“Now I would like to know exactly why you attacked us and what you have to do with the missing youths. I doubt you could easily abduct two spiders each larger than a Tosa fighting dog. It's clear that you have some sort of accomplice working with you and it would be best for everyone to disclose their identity and what motives you shared that led to the attack.”

By now the old woman was looking utterly defeated. Unable to escape the restraining nets without badly cutting herself she wailed in a cracked and saddened voice.

“It's not my fault. It's those damn Yuki that run Kiri now. I was just a humble ice paddler who kept everyone’s meat and fish from going off. It wasn't a wealthy business but it kept me and my husband afloat. Then there was that event that destroyed the snow village and Kiri became flooded with Yuki ninja. How could my little ice business survive when there were a whole clan of people who could create ice at will? I was ruined. My husband left me and became a drunkard and I thought of throwing myself into the sea.

But then I heard about a strange island off the coast were there lived a number of giant spiders. I thought to myself possibly these were the tsuchigumo from legend. Now that the Yuki have even instated one of their members – Ayakashi as the kage they are basically royalty so mabey the tsuchigumo would help me get my revenge. So selling my home and what little I had left, I came to the island in the dead of night and looked around. There were strange spiders here but not the mythical tsuchigumo. So I despaired and prayed to Izanami the goddess of death to either aid me or drag me to her dark domain yomi.

Somehow she heard me and from the ground a real tsuchigumo emerged. I told her my story and she nodded and said she would help me on two conditions. First that I led her too some of the male spiders on this island because it had been long since she had mated and if she was going to attack the Yuki she would need an army. Secondly was that I kept her and her offspring to be fed with fresh meat.”

As bizarre as it was this was all beginning to fall into place for Di. The old woman had invited another type of spider to the island which had abducted the local inhabitants for mating purposes. This had gotten urgent as some sorts of female spiders had a habit of consuming their mates after the act was done.

Di never made it to the old woman. From the ground beneath her a rumbling noise could be heard. Struggling to keep his feet Di bore witness to a humanoid torso bursting from the soil beneath them. Feminine in appearance and wearing a ragged kimono the woman that emerged had long claw like nails and spider like fangs that protruded disturbingly from her mouth. Like Nova's the womans kimono was worn open though underneath she wore nothing allowing her to display a heavily swollen belly in the late stages of pregnancy. The most disturbing feature of all though was her lower body which instead of the normal human legs was a bulbous thorax complete with eight spider legs each tipped by wicked spikes.

The old woman had no time to scream as one leg shot out lighting quick impaling her.

“You didn't bring food fast enough for my babies” The spider yokai hissed in fury. Before turning her acid gaze upon Nova and Di.

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Nova's arachnid puppet fired the web at the enraged Tsuchigumo and things started to happen in rapid succession. Furiously the mother spider did her best to remove the lacerating wires but even as she did the metal edges slashed and gouged at her flesh. Di seeing that he would have no better chance than what was presented before him went on the offensive. Dashing forward and moved into a savage upwards kick slamming into the tsuchigumo's bulbous stomach. The creature howled as countless tiny globes within her egg filled belly bust into embryonic jelly.  

Cruel to end the life of those tiny creatures to be sure but when it came to either a monstrous brood of arachnid nightmares or the citizens of Kirigakure Di knew damn well which party took priority. Reaching up with one of her taloned legs the spider-woman ripped the razor web from herself by hooking it with a chitin talon. By the time the net had come loose Di was already pummeling into her torso with numerous rapid fire punches. A savage backhand caught Di in the chin for his efforts and he slid backwards across the sandy expanse of the beach.

When the projectile vomited venom flew through the air towards him Di was hardley surprised. He had faced a sea serpent who had employed similar tactics via the projection of toxic oil from it's mouth. Darting to the side Di saw that the tsuchigumo was already raising one giant leg in an effort to impale him as she had done to the foolish old woman who had called her here. That might work on the infirm but Di wasn't going to be taken down by a trick that had already been revealed. As the leg struck the ground where he had been Di pivoted onto the spider woman’s back.

This antagonised the murderous yokai greatly and her entire form shook and trembled as she tried in vain to displace the detective. Grabbing the hem of her kimono in one hand Di placed punch after punch into the back of her head. Though she was clearly stronger than any normal human the centaur like nature of her body made it difficult to harm someone directly behind her perched as Di was on her thorax. Di felt the strain of lactic acid burning through his muscles as he rode the beast but still he refused to let go. It was now clear that while his blows were painful for the creature it wouldn't put her down enough to properly incapacitate her.

So instead Di wrapped his arms around her all too human throat and began to exert pressure squeezing shut the flow of oxygen to her brian. Slowly almost gently the spider woman began to slump to the ground. Di was too exhausted to do much more than roll off the body and wait for some vestige of strength to return to his limbs. It had seemed that the little spider girl had called for some of her friends as to Di's horror a tide of smaller spiders flowed across the ground towards the tsuchigumo.

Totally ignoring Di the arachnids swarmed over the Tsuchigumo woman biting and sucking till there remained little but a hollow shell. Even through his almost total paralysis Di shuddered. He didn't like the justice of the spider world. Compared to that of humans and dragons it was macabre in the extreme. Motioning for Nova to help him up Di vowed to get some distance between himself and anything with eight legs. Di was sure that he would have nightmares about this place. Time to go home and fumigate his office.

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