<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Mechanics</div><div class="spoiler_body">Slight perspective shift! A little bit of Ace offscreen time, at least.<br/><br/>You haven't actually been transplanted into a text adventure, it's just that most other ways of introducing the perspective shift felt (even more) odd and out of place. :x</div></div><br/><strong>Welcome to SpiderQuest!</strong><br/><br/>You are Silvia Atel, also known as the Silver Spider, Classy Purloiner of Extraordinarily Valuable and Curious Goods and Also Muffins. Yesterday, you aspired to have more fun than any human or near-human had right to. Today, you aspire to be the world's greatest hero. All your knowledge of how that might work is second-hand, primarily from the many heroes you've fought over the years, or from the tremendous amount of hero-related hearsay you've garnered from your villainous friends. There is no possible way this could go wrong.<br/><br/>You are currently many miles below the Earth's surface, in a tunneling machine that was used to extract you from your shitty-ass prison (albeit with a fine-ass cellmate). Your lab-sister Jean/Jhanrae/Arachne is busy fighting your out-of-control former patron, and your current patron/hero/sponsor(/squeeze?/superpowered sugar momma?) has decided to help. Being invincible must help<em>so much</em>with being heroic.<br/><br/>You, on the other hand, are decidedly less than invincible. You have your gear, traps and web grenades and all, your arachnid-pattern genetic modifications, that thing you drank that one time to find out what it tasted like that lets you make claws, and Ace's helmet. And a misspent youth/even more misspent adulthood honing your skills to a razor edge. And puns. People always underestimate the practical and tactical value of puns.<em>And</em>your dashing good looks. It's actually almost unfair how well-equipped you are, come to think.<br/><br/>Your mission, such as it is, is getting the crew to safety. This might not actually be that hard! You know the type of teleporter that Jean spoke of - you stole the prototype from the late Sorceress Supreme (well, you nicked it after she had gone and blown herself up, anyway) and Recluse strong-armed a wizard into replicating it: it is ensorcelled to send the user somewhere safe. For the crew, that's liable to be a pleasant meadow or a home base, depending on their inclinations. Ace would probably go... well basically everywhere is safe for Ace, isn't it? You, on the other hand, have<em>no idea</em>where you'd end up. You just faced down the closest thing you had to an ally among villains and flipped them the bird; even though you have plenty of friends of nefarious bent, how many of them would go to bat for you against Arachnos?<br/><br/>It's probably not many.<em>Totally</em>worth it, though. The look on that horrible bitch's face before she exploded...<br/><br/>You easily pick the lock on the dining room/mess that was serving as a makeshift holding cell, which is excellent timing because now Ace can stop covering your escape; you already hear the sounds of battle and explosions behind you. You are now in a common area. There are two crewmembers here who have hurried to respond to the sound of alarms. They are armed, and looking to you for an explanation. The engine room is LEFT. The cockpit is RIGHT. A short ways away is a staircase DOWN, which leads to the cargo hold, which may actually contain goodies, now that you think of it. You know that there are six members of the crew. One will be with the engines, at least one in the cockpit. Two are in front of you. You aren't sure where the last two are.