Chapter Text
Tav didn't want to spend any longer in this place than she had to. The sooner she finished surveying Moonrise Tower, the sooner she could leave. Wildshaped as a rat, she traversed as many parts of the building as she could, looking for entry and egress points that would be important in the battles ahead. Suddenly, she heard a whimpering, like a creature in pain.
Slipping into stealth, she traced it to a small empty cobwebbed room. A moonlantern was leaning on the wall, barely illuminating the corner, where she saw a large curled up form. Kas'niss, the Drider who had led her to Moonrise Tower. He was clearly in pain, and despite the risk, she decided to approach him. She transformed back into her true form, a Seldarine Drow.
"Hello," she said softly, emerging into the moonlantern light.
"Go away," he hissed at her, pain and anger evident in his voice.
"I am a druid, I can help you," she replied, trying to look as non threatening as possible.
"NO" he snapped, "She will protect us, She must."
He was curled up, surrounded by bits and pieces of what looked like a shell. Some of his legs were free, others appeared stuck inside the shell. Worse, she noted, the main body of the shell was cracked and seemed lodged into the spider part of his abdomen. He was molting off his exoskeleton, and it was going horribly wrong.
It would make sense to leave Kar'niss to die, but when she'd first called him out of the darkness with the lyre, their minds had connected. She had never seen a drider before, though of course she knew what they were. That the wretched Lolth would punish insufficiently devoted followers by turning them into what looked like spider and man hybrids. They were outcasts in Lolth drow society. In his mind were nothing but fractures, but there were pieces of his former self there, the same way he still had parts of his handsome drow body.
As her mind reached out to him again, all she found was excruciating pain. He had been broken by Lolth and genuinely thought he was finally finding salvation in the Absolute. But here he was, alone again, dying.
"She sent me to help you," she said, hoping he'd believe her.
"Is this true?" Kar'niss replied, looking up at her.
"Yes, please let me help you.
"If she wills it, then they will help, True Soul"
"May I," she said, gesturing to one of his legs. He nodded. The shed exoskeleton was very dry, a consequence of the fetid atmosphere of the Shadow-Cursed Lands, she supposed. His new exoskeleton underneath was soft, softer than drow skin. The dry cracked exoskeleton could easily pierce him if he moved incorrectly or if anyone tried to remove it with sharp tools. Or, even worse, the exoskeleton could dry out further and squeeze him to death.
Tav would have to remove it very carefully. The removal process would take much longer than she wanted to spend there in that miserable dark room. But looking up at his dark, pain stricken eyes, she resolved to do it.
"I'm going to have to check your entire body by feeling you," she said, warning him before moving closer. She had to figure out just exactly how this whole spider and man fusion thing worked.
"They would touch me?" he replied. She wondered if he'd ever been touched since becoming a drider.
"Yes, of course, I need to, to help you, for Her Majesty"
"Yes, then of course," he replied, his face softening.
Tentatively, she pressed a hand on his chest, which she noted, was absolutely perfectly sculpted, almost as the spider shell framed his lovely drow form. At least his lungs are in this part, she said to herself as she listened to his breath, he won't suffocate. Leaning in closer, she put her ear to his chest. It was strange to be this close to someone who might kill you, but she heard the sound of his heart beating. It sounded like the average drow heart. She parted from him and he looked up at her expectantly.
"So, what do you eat?" she asked.
"Eat? I do not eat," he declared, "I bite." She concluded that he consumed fluids, so his digestive organs must be in his spider abdomen. And reproductive organs, if he had any.
"Here, suck on this while I work," she said, handing him some myconid flesh soaked in water, "I will try my best to be gentle and if it hurts please tell me," she said, moving to take his leg. He nodded.
Tav tenderly massaged the area where the exoskeleton needed to peel off his front leg. Kar'niss silently watched her as she worked, his face a mixture of curiosity and confusion. As soon as she got a piece free, she delicately worked her hands under it, encouraging it to break free. Soon she had one leg completely out. Only seven more, she said to herself, plus the body. She'd be here awhile.
"She does not speak to me, will her Majesty speak to me again?" he suddenly said, as she worked on the second leg. Looking up, it pained her to see the grief in his eyes.
"Yes, she will," she lied, hoping to provide some comfort.
"This cursed form, wrong, abomination! the false god!" he replied angrily, "Her Majesty must save us."
"I know it wasn't your choice to become this way," Tav replied, "but for what it's worth, I don't think you're an abomination. Spiders are lovely, in their own way. I often transform into one."
"True Soul, you honor me," he replied, the anger gone from his voice.
Tav worked in silence after that. It must have been hours. The last leg unfortunately was giving her the most trouble and as she pried the shell off, she realized he was bleeding underneath it. A crack in the shell had cut into him. There was no way to save this leg. Luckily, spiders could live if they lost just a few legs, though he'd be less agile. She stood up and approached him.
"Have you lost a leg before?" she asked.
"No," he replied.
"You are bleeding, I will need to remove this leg, you may regrow it in future molts."
"Molts? What is molt?"
"What is happening now, the shedding of your old skin." Of course, she thought to herself, it probably wasn't like Lolth to give her newly cursed followers a spider-education manual or something.
"She will provide, it will regrow."
"This will hurt," she said, taking out a dagger. Cut exactly at the right spot, the wound sealed itself up instantly. He was silent throughout the process but when she looked up, he was doubled down in pain, his claw like fingers pressing into his palms.
"No, no," she said, taking his hand, "this skin is still delicate, you need to be careful."
"Careful, yes," he nodded, looking down at where she was holding his hand and uncurling it, to hold hers.
"You should be able to get out of the curl and get blood flowing to your legs, but do not do too much, just rise," she said, standing up and wrapping her arms around his torso, "hold on to me."
Kar'niss gingerly wrapped an arm around her and rose, supported by Tav.
"Her Majesty has saved us," he said, smiling. She found his smile unsettling, tinged with madness and enthrallment.
"It's not over," Tav replied, "I still need to get the rest of it off. Can you lower yourself a bit?"
The last part, the abdomen required her to navigate around him, carefully working the edges off. This was the most dangerous step. Spiders could afford to lose a leg, even regrow them after molting, but the abdomen had vital organs. Moving closer to him for the front part, Tav couldn't help but get close to his chest, their bodies pressed together. As their minds met, she felt his pain had subsided though it was less there. She tried her best to radiate calmness and care towards him. This was an intimate process, requiring trust, and he gave it to her. She wondered if any of that was because of her and not because of misguided devotion to The Absolute.
Finally it was done. Pieces of shell surrounded them as he rose, free of his old skin.
"You need to rest until you are no longer soft and drink water, lots of it," she said as she handed him a bottle of water from her bag.
"Will They stay?," he asked. She had not planned to, but she found herself wanting to.
"Yes," Tav replied, taking his hand again. He lowered himself down to get close to her, as she sat, leaning against the wall, exhausted from working.
They sat there for what seemed like a half day, mostly in silence. Occasionally she would check his skin, to see if it had hardened.
She wondered if she would regret healing a potential enemy, but for now it felt right.