Day 6 Jorogumo
"Don't go into the forest."
That's what the elders always said.
"If you do never stay for longer than you had to especially at night when the monsters were most active. They all live for only one purpose and that's to hunt humans and take out women. So never go alone. Never stay for too long. Trust nothing inside. And whatever you do, don't go at night."
There was disappearances of course to back up these claims. Last month a young girl went into the woods to fetch some medicinal herbs for her sick grandmother. When she didn't come back for a few hours her brother went to go find her but then he too didn't come back. When the sun went down their father decided he'd waited enough and rounded up a few townsmen to go look for his missing children. However they were no where to be found. The only traces of the siblings was a basket the girl had been carrying to get the herbs in found destroyed amongst some bushes.
Since then no one has dared set food in the nearby woods and the townspeople had reinforced the walls around their village, trained more guard dogs, and some have been taking turn patrolling the edge of the territory. You however were just passing through with a few other travelers and had stopped by to hopefully sell some of your homemade jewelry and rest for a few days before moving on to the next town. However the townspeople warned you and your companies about the dangers of the local woods.
"You're a young beautiful woman," a man told you while you were allowing his sister to look at some bracelets. "Are you really gonna be traveling all by yourself?"
"No. I'm not going to be by myself until we have to split up." You and your companions were traveling together until you split up because you were headed to two completely different cities. "Until then we're sticking together."
"Girls shouldn't be traveling like that. They should be at home tending to their families and getting married." He then smiled at you. "I'm currently looking for a wife. I have a good farm and I'm more than capable of looking after you. How's about settling down with me?"
You gave him a blank look . "...So would you like the one with the pink quartz or small diamonds?" You turned back to his sister completely ignoring him.
You managed to sell a pair of bracelets and one necklace that night and spent the rest of your two day stay there at the inn until you left with the two men you were traveling with despite the multiple warnings the townspeople had given to you three. But you knew what you were dealing with. You've encountered a few non-human beings before on your travels. Selling jewelry meant a lot of different customers from a wide variety of people. Dragonborn people and merfolk were some of your best customers! Dragons LOVED treasure or anything shiny for their wealth and merfolk adored jewelry to adorn themselves or their partners in. They were much nicer than a lot of humans you used to know. You've even met a few elves, orcs, and on one occasion a goblin at a festival who wanted to trade you a good luck charm made from unicorn hair for a pretty ring. You didn't know if it was real but you didn't mind trading it. After all some good luck never hurt nobody.
The days traveling weren't eventful at all. You spent four days riding in the back of a wagon with a smile swapping stories with the husbands until you both hit the fork in the road on the map. At which point you split up, bidding the couple good bye and a thank you for the ride, the three of you split ways with their wagon going down the right path and you started on foot. The forest was pretty beautiful this of year. Flowers were blooming and filled the air with a sweet aroma you breathed in and sighed out. You continued to walk and walk until you stopped at a few particular flowers that looked beautiful so you stopped by to look at them. Picking a few before continuing on your way.
At first it seemed fine. The path became steeper because of the mountain making it so you had to take a break every so often hindering the tine it took to get past the mountain. But that wasn't the only thing you've noticed.
The webs.
There was spider webs everywhere. It started out with just small webs here and there in a random tree branch of on a bush but as you got farther and farther inside, they became more and more numerous. And more and more BIGGER. To the point that they literally covered everything from the spaces between the trees to the smallest blade of grass. The only thing that wasn't covered in webs was the road that you continued to travel upon. You had to admit IT WAS pretty scary but you didn't see anything..which might've been even more scary. What kind of beast could be capable of making these?
You slowed down as soon as a giant web blocked the pathway and you were forced to stop.
Now you were stuck. You couldn't go around it because the thick webs covered the entire brush between the forest on both sides and you didn't have wings to fly over it. You'd probably have to turn back and cut through the woods that wasn't covered in webs to get over it. Sighing in defeat, you turned around-
Only to freeze as you came face to face with a..stomach??
You blinked again at it before stepping back and freezing up at the sight of a body. A very BIG and white fuzzy body as right legs shifted quietly about. ...Oh no. A cold feeling like you were dipped in eyes suddenly courses through your veins. A lump formed in your throat as you slowly looked up and were petrified at what you saw.
Blue slitted eyes smiled down at you in hunger. "Well it looks like dinner waltzed in delivery style!" A tongue eagerly ran over her fangs. "Ha! I didn't even have to lift a finger this time."
Oh did gods.
It was a freaking JORŌGUMO!!
Spider people known for eating anything that gets caught in their webs! Sometimes they'd even lure in unsuspecting victims by their otherworldly looks before pouncing. This wasn't good. And unfortunately you had just walked right into one's next like a spider trapping a fly. Immediately you backed away another step wondering how such a big beast could suddenly appear quietly behind you when you remembered the giant sticky web behind you. Shit! If you backed up into the web then you'd be a goner.
"W-Wait!" You immediately held up your hands to her. "You don't want to eat me!"
In response she threw her head of long white hair back and laughed loudly at your pathetic excuse. "Is that really all prey can say? Do you know how many times I've heard that sentence? If I had a jewel for every time I heard that, I'd be richer than the dragons to the east."
Jewels..Hey. Wait a moment. That gave you an idea!
"W-Well if you give me a moment I can give you a reason to not eat me!," you quickly added.
That hunger in her eyes didn't go away but she crossed her arms and leaned closer clearly amused. "Usually I would just kill prey by now and suck out their insides..Bur you've amused me so I'll give you five seconds to give me a reason starting now. Two. Three. Fou-"
"I HAVE JEWELRY!!"
Her smile faded, slit pupils blinking at the loud volume. "..What?"
"Jewelry! I have lots of jewelry!" You quickly said before she could respond. "I'll trade you some if you let me go!"
He continued to stare at you blankly before her brow rose at you. "Jewelry?" You immediately nodded. "Let me see it then."
You didn't waste any time. She leered over you watching as you yanked off your bag, tearing it open, and frantically digging through it all until your hands hit the familiar feel of metal. Without thinking you grasped it and pulled it out thrusting it up to the spider woman's eyes as she blinked.
"H-Here! All I have! Aren't they pretty?!" You hoped they were pretty enough to save your skin.
She blinked at the limited jewelry in your hands(just a little ruby necklace and a few bracelets that you weren't able to sell) but her eyes widened at them. "Rubies!"
"A-And diamonds!" Small diamonds but you didn't add that part. "They're all yours if you let me go!"
She hummed. "Now what's stopping me from just eating you and taking these myself?"
"Because I know spirits take deals seriously. So if I offer to exchange them for my life, the least you could do is humbly consider my offer." It was a short grasp sprinkled in with some flattery. You had no idea of shell spare you but if you could get her to consider it you might just be lucky enough to get let out of here with your life.
She didn't say anything or even look at you, just the jewelry. ".....Give me it and I won't eat you."
"Or kill or wound me!" You knew enough that you had to be specific with these creatures so they wouldn't have loopholes.
Her eyes rolled. "Deal."
You nearly had a heart attack when she just yanked them from your hand hard enough to leave your wrist sore from it. Her attention was solely on the jewelry now already scrambling to put it on herself and admire. Thank the gods you didn't manage to sell all of it in the last town. With a sigh of relief, you began to scoot around the giant spider lady towards the pathway back the way you came.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" You froze as her head snapped back around to you. "I didn't say you could leave!"
"Hey! You agreed not to eat or harm me!" You pointed a hand at her. "You gave me your word!"
"I did but you leaving wasn't a part of the deal." You had no idea how but she was so fast moving despite her body being so big and soon she was looking over you again. "After all I can't just have a human running around warning other flies about my trap."
"S-So what are you going to do? Keep me prisoner?!"
That .. genuinely caught her off guard as she hummed. Brows furrowing as she looked you up and down in thought. The thought of keeping anyone sounded too bothersome and she never planned on keeping pets. Then a thought hit her.
"No. I have legitimately no use for you since I can't use you for food. However my brother is always complaining of pretty women like you ignoring him." Her smile widened. "I'm sure he'll be happy just to have a pretty girl all to himself."