Spiders

As it turns out, the Hand had quite a number of tasks for us to do, and so Daari and I spent the better part of a month up in Bloodmyst, every once in a while making the relatively short flight back to the Exodar for resupply. But today was new... from what we were told, all the hand would ask of us was one final mission, before we'd done all we could do for them. With the help of a demolitions expert (which really excited Daari), we were to go and eliminate the blood elves who were infesting it.

Actually, though, it turned out to be two final missions.

The other mission was a bit simpler, and got tacked on at the last minute. Some spiders were threatening an expedition, and we were to get rid of them.

Now, I've seen spiders before. They were tiny little things, smaller than my hand, that skittered about and made sticky nets in corners. So I didn't really understand how they'd be a huge threat to the expedition... maybe an annoyance if there were a lot of them, but not a threat.

When I found out why they were a threat, I squirmed. These spiders were bigger than I was.

I've fought beasts bigger than I am before, but the spiders just really bothered me. It was the legs. They were superficial in a sense, since there were so many of them; striking one of them would not kill the spider. The part that I did have to hit was surrounded by the spindly legs... so if I ever had to fight one up close, I'd have to actually go between the legs to fight, and that would leave me vulnerable. I was involuntarily shivering and squirming the whole time we were there. I'm sure the effects were psychosomatic, but I was actually physically uncomfortable — it was as if my body were trying to tell me that it was a bad idea to be here.

I was very glad when we finally left the hills the spiders were in; the experience was bad enough that I actually needed somewhat of a break before we went on to do our final task.

Remarkably, it went off without too much trouble. There were plenty of elves, but they only attacked a few at a time, and they were no match for me, Daari, our two cats, and the demolitionist.

When we returned to Blood Watch, they saw fit to honor us with a small ceremony, honoring us for all we'd done... they even gave each of us a tabard indicating our affiliation with the Hand. It was neat to have all that attention on us, but at the same time, I felt very flustered!

Anyhow, the Hand has formally decided that we've done more than enough for them... so tomorrow, Daari and I are going to leave the Isles and venture out to Azeroth proper. She suggested we start at Stormwind, and with no good reason to say no, I agreed with her.

It's time, then, to make one final visit to the Exodar (and my father) before I head out for what could be a very long time!