Itsy Bitsy Spider
radio tower
trapdoor spider
In the morning, they decide to take the radio and return to Tavor. It's the most valuable and irreplaceable piece of equipment there and they have found nothing of the crew. They think they can do nothing more here. Eldur, as the strongest, starts by carrying down the radio. Belkelel gathers up the personal belongings of the crew and then goes to help Arvo collect all the spare parts for the radio stored on the top floor. Eldur returns and carries the generator down, followed by Arvo and Belkelel.
Belkelel has just turned away from the room when he hears the door sound again. He looks round and sees a spider coming towards him, easily the size of a large dog. The sound was a slab of wall opening, like a trapdoor. Before he can react, it snatches his leg with its mouthparts and starts crushing it. He screams in pain, alerting Arvo to the danger. Arvo drops what he's carrying and attack the spider with his knife. It's so intent on capturing Belkelel that he can stick the knife into its body without problems. Blueish fluid starts dripping from the wound and the spider lets go of Belkelel, turning towards Arvo with its front legs raised. Arvo drops the knife and attacks again with his nunchakus, for greater reach. With a crunching sound, the nunchakus hit the spider's body and it retreats in the face of just too many opponents.
It swiftly closes the trapdoor and if they hadn't seen where it has vanished, they wouldn't know the door was there, it's so well camouflaged by the cobwebs. The spider seems to scuttle downwards. Eldur has run back to the top floor again and is met by Arvo and Belkelel who want nothing more than to leave. So they retreat and while Arvo takes care of Belkelel's leg where the spider has left a nasty wound, they come up with a plan. They have already taken anything of value out of the tower, so they can torch it and so kill the spider and its youngs, they hope.
They spread oil from their lamps on all three floors. With some searching, they find another trapdoor on the second floor and open it carefully. A quick look shows a tunnel filled with cobwebs and they can hear the spider moving above. Eldur sets fire to the oil, using matches, and they watch the tower burn for hours. Eventually, Eldur calls up rain to drench the flames and in the morning, they investigate.
The spider is on the top floor, it seems to have died from the heat. The body is charred, but not burned and they decide to take it with them. They have no way of knowing if all the spiderlings have died in the fire as well, but they hope so. Now they also find a third trapdoor on the outer wall of the tower and assume that this is where the spider entered.
Arvo repairs the radio and sets it up in the barn. They reach the town and are told to wait until they can be relieved. It takes four days for two men on horseback to arrive who will guard the tower until normal operations can be resumed. Arvo, Eldur and Belkelel return to Tavor. The spider is admired by the farmer and townfolks and the three get a very warm welcome. They are taken to the council as soon as they arrive and while the council regrets that the crew could not be saved, they are satisfied with the fact that the tower is once again safe.
Antero keeps quiet this time, but he's still not happy to see Belkelel. The librarian Retro offers to buy the spider's corpse from them and they accept, although Eldur refuses the money because he thinks he just did his duty. He has made a couple of sketches of the small spiders and Retro is interested in those as well. He invites Eldur to the library because he has a supply of coloured pencils and he would like coloured sketches of the spiders.
Outside the town hall, they are met by Gedia who asks them about her son Kanya. Belkelel has tried a few more times to take a look at the tower's past and he knows that Kanya is dead. He tells her as gently as possible and gives her Kanya's personal belongings. She thanks them for trying to help and turns away before she cannot hold back her tears any longer.
Behind the scenes-view here
Last Update: October 23, 2012 11:46
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