CH67 Spider Doll
The carriage entered the heavily vegetated town with the telltale ticking that accompanied the clockwork construct. Nymphs, avians and tribes people watched the carriage enter the town. They pulled up by the warehouse and opened some panels to offload the supplies that they had brought from the farm.
Several burly men with cute accessories like hair clips or heart-shaped pens on their hides helped offload the carriage and take things to the warehouse-shaped tree that housed all the supplies for Mignoneville.
There were a few changes to the town. Not much time had passed. But all kinds of cute things here and there were popping up. Luna charged the dormant dungeon under the adventurer’s guild so likely the loot there was themed to suit rewards a goddess of cuteness would provide.
Once everything was unloaded, Alex returned the carriage to its card form. While some farm foodstuffs remained, suitable for travel rations, they wouldn't last. It's better to avoid having surplus food when no trip is imminent. For future journeys, she could always restock as needed.
After bidding farewell to the others, Alex made her way to the adventure guild's shower, constructed by Merumeru, to wash off. Shedding her clothes, she turned the knob and the cold water sprayed over her, instantly waking her up. Though sourced from the river and therefore chilly, the water pressure was far superior to that of the carriage's shower.
“I wish we could have a hot water heater.” She often felt a pang of longing for the simple things she had taken for granted on Earth. This was especially true now, inhabiting a body that felt so alien. Alex couldn't shake the sensation of shrinking. While her harpy form had still echoed her old self, this new form, identical to Yuti, was profoundly strange. Yuti possessed a notably more mature physique. In contrast, Alex's nymph, female, and harpy forms had all retained a somewhat youthful appearance.
Fufi helped Alex get dressed in the crafting outfit with the corset. “So, how does it feel to be back?”
“It is a little weird. Nobody recognizes me. Luckily people can put two and two together and seem to figure it out. I’ve been thinking a bit about what you said and I’ve got to shore up my weaknesses quite a bit. I’ve got that extra level in tailoring on our little adventure and I’m thinking spending some time making some new outfits would be wise as well.” Alex pulled on her skirt.
“You should plan to run the dungeon again as well. Those dancing lessons that the mannequins gave you really saved the day when the ice demon attacked us.” Fufi used her beak to tighten the corset.
“I probably should have been doing that all along. Following randomly acquired treasure maps with little information into danger seems like a bad plan in hindsight.” Alex straightened her clothing, looking sheepish.
“Somehow it worked out in the end.” Fufi said.
“The dungeons have been really tough. But that first demon that we saw. There was no humanity there. It seems the only goal it had was to take anything it wanted and keep anyone under the heel of his boot that wasn’t groveling on the ground.” Alex frowned and looked back at the pink bird.
“They’ll chew this world up and spit it out when there is nothing desirable left.” Fufi gestured around them with a wing.
“First things first, let's see if Ki needs any help then we can find a space to work on some projects.” Alex got up and headed out of the bathroom.
Within the adventurers' guild, glowing floral vines illuminated the main area with a soft orange hue, showcasing plant magic's adaptability. Patrons ate breakfast at stone tables while a waitress nymph served. Another nymph idly played with her leafy hair behind the counter. The guild board, used for Merumeru and Fufi's past adventures, remained.
Alex and Fufi reviewed the current requests, finding them unexpectedly mundane. Lacking were the heroic quests of goblin slaying or rescue missions; even missing cat requests were absent. Instead, the focus was on dungeon-sourced materials, primarily metals. Ingots and ores were in high demand.
“Weird, though I guess it makes sense. We showed them how to make pig iron in a bloomery but it is not like there is a mine around here.” Alex sounded uncertain, not confident that she was qualified to train anyone on how to refine ore.
The receptionist soured a bit at the mention of mining. “Mining is bad for the woods. We don’t really like it when the grounds are disturbed that much.”
“I guess that makes sense. Big mines have lots of tailings with toxic chemicals. Even running a bloomery produces slag.” Alex scratched her head in contemplation. “But metal is needed, people can only go so far with only wood and stone.”
“So what do we do? The dungeon won’t run forever. We don’t have any powerful wizards that know how to recharge it.” Fufi looked concerned.
“Are there any nymphs that can do it?” Alex looked to the receptionist.
She shook her head. “None of my cousins have powers like that. Ki might be able to or know someone. Other than Sakura, she's the oldest of us. But there never was a need for a dungeon.”
“Well, is she in the office?” Alex asked, then added. “Ki, not Sakura, obviously.”
The grass-haired woman nodded. “Yes, head right up. She’s been using the big office you set up before leaving.”
The magical girl and flamingo headed up the stairs and knocked on the door to the main office.
“Come in,” Ki said.
The door opened with a creaking of wood. Alex and Fufi entered. Ki was sitting behind the desk looking all regal.
“Well look at you. A proper baroness of beauty.” Fufi praised the nymph.
Ki smiled. “Yeah, I am trying to look the part. I’ve leveled up a bit. Making the barony cute is the key to advancing the class Luna gifted me.”
“I like the lighting in the common area. I didn’t know flowers could glow like that.” Alex praised the floral decorations.
“Oh, creative use of plant magic and plant breeding techniques sometimes makes for interesting results. One of my cousins who doesn't like to come down from the mountain bred that plant years ago. Nymphs don’t really need light to function in the dark but humans do so we finally found a use for it.” Ki grinned proudly.
“Speaking of uses, I’m a little worried about metal production. Is there any way we can find a wizard to charge the dungeon or a place to mine some iron ore?” Alex asked.
Ki frowned. “Please don’t build any mines in the forest. It is best if the things deep underground stay there. I hope you understand. They are bad for plantlife. As for wizards. I don’t know, there might be some in the lands to the south but even if there are they might just be thralls for some succubus or incubus. It would be best to not poke the demon occupied lands if you don’t have to.”
“So no magic academies?” Alex tried.
“There used to be one in the capital for the kingdom but I can’t imagine that the demons did anything other than loot it and enslave or kill anyone that got in their way. It has been a long time. You’d have to talk to the nereids for more info. The capital is a port city so they can get information better than us tree nymphs can.” Ki crossed her arms over her chest.
“So, if we build a mine outside the forest would that be okay?” Alex wanted to make sure this wouldn’t be stepping on toes.
“Yes, some of the high places used to be the home to subterranean races. The kingdom would trade with them from time to time. Dwarves and gnomes had cities deep in the mountains but when the demons came they barricaded themselves away.” Ki pointed northwest. “I think there was a gnomish trading settlement on an island chain off the coast a day or so too, hopefully they are okay. The demons would have gone right by there when they attacked the Hero’s forces.”
Seeing that they had just come back from the northwest, any entrance to those races' homes was very well hidden or completely removed.
“I just hope things don’t fall apart when the dungeon runs out of energy.” Alex voiced her worries.
“I hope so too. Some humans from other tribes have trickled in. Even that Handverk guy showed back up the other day,” Ki said.
“Ugh, he was annoying.” Fufi grumbled.
“Anyway, thank you for letting us know that stuff about the area. I’m going to do some weaving and tailoring and see if I can create some better outfits.” Alex waved.
Leaving the guild hall, Fufi and Alex went to the enormous warehouse, a creation of the nymphs for supply storage. They secured a spinning wheel and loom, gathered wool, and prepared flax to begin their task.
An hour later, Alex had a few spools of flax and wool thread. However, the progress barely made an impact on the warehouse's vast supplies. Utilizing the three dolls while dancing kept a consistent rhythm, but Alex, recalling Earth's textile mills, felt they could achieve more.
Alex then jumped onto the carriage's workbench and sketched plans for a larger doll.
The design depicted a doll resembling a hybrid of human and spider, constructed primarily from wood with fabric and leather accents, due to material limitations. Its hollow thorax housed spinning wheels, while its tail featured multiple thread-spinning devices, designed to exchange full and empty spools efficiently with precise gear alignment. An additional spring was desired, but for initial operation, Alex intended to utilize dancing magic for control. Replicating the second dungeon's board, a fusion of magic and mechanics, was deemed unfeasible.
After consulting reference materials for accurate gearing, Alex presented the design to Ki, who assigned a nymph to assemble a team for component creation. The resulting arachne doll stood slightly shorter than a typical person.
With assistance from human crafters and the assigned nymphs, the doll was fully assembled by day's end. The experience showed Alex that her toymaking skill wasn’t up to creating a doll of that size just yet but with help from others it was possible.
“She’s a bit scary but has a woodsy cuteness. What’s her name?” Fufi asked.
Alex finished off a dark linnen blouse and put it over the human top half. “Hmm, the only spider I know of was named Charlotte. Let's go with that.”
Alex meticulously sculpted the new doll, carefully gluing hair and carving its face with precision tools. Eyes were painted, lips reddened, resulting in a static yet pleasant neutral expression.
Activating her dance skill, Alex animated Charlotte, and the doll began to move.
A spider-doll suddenly skittered towards shelves laden with treated flax, prompting onlookers to retreat. Its movements produced a whirring, mechanical sound akin to a mill's wooden gears and spinning wheels within its thorax.
With wooden hands, the doll swiftly grasped flax from the shelves, guiding it with lower legs into the spinning wheel. Back legs carefully wound the spun thread onto a spool, creating linen thread.
Satisfied with the progress, Alex decided to enhance the doll's efficiency. Employing an [empower doll] skill, the spider-doll's gathering and spinning speed more than doubled. Additional wheels within its thorax began to spin, and its numerous hands and legs allowed it to manage multiple clumps of linen concurrently. When the skill's duration ended, they had three full spools of linen thread and an entirely emptied rack of flax.
“Hey, that worked really well. You are a great doll maker Alex.” Fufi flapped her wings and pranced around.
“Hopefully it works well with wool too.” Alex stopped dancing and cleaned off the stray flax from the wheels in Charlotte's thorax.
Following a check of the mechanical parts for any damage, Alex resumed dancing.
Charlotte busied herself in another section of the warehouse, gathering the cleaned and carded wool. The process, without the empower doll skill, consumed about an hour to process the entire shelf of wool. This effort resulted in a quantity of wool thread similar to the previously obtained linen thread.
Creating the doll and conducting its trial run occupied the entire day. Both Alex and Fufi felt the weariness of the day and growing hunger.
They unsummoned the carriage, returning it to its card form. Charlotte, being the largest doll Alex had ever crafted, was too big to fit and had to be left in the warehouse. After a brief stroll along the verdant streets, they arrived back at the adventurer’s guild. Joining the others, they settled down for a meal in what had evolved into a communal dining space rather than the boisterous adventurer gathering place it once was a long time ago.
Fufi munched on a cooked fish from the plate in front of her. “That went well.”
“She can spin thread, but I wonder if she can operate a loom as well.” Alex considered the design of Charlotte in her head.
“She’s got full motion for her arms and legs.” Fufi had been watching the smooth movements of the arachne. “She only has to try to find out.”
“Oh, mostly, a good deal of that is magic. Some of the cogs could break off if she tried to extend a leg too high. The moving parts are all leather cords and wood gearing so she’s not the most sturdy doll. It would be better with metal but I don't want to put out a request when there already seems to be a shortage” Alex paused from her meal to explain.
“Does the name Charlotte have any significance?” Fufi asked with a beak full of fish.
“Just a spider in a children’s story.” Alex drank some juice from a clay cup. “I can tell you about it later.”