The process of freeing the glands and separating the smaller pockets within them and getting them safely contained in inventory took most of the morning. I was extremely careful, cutting away each pocket. checking it for leaks, then entering it into my inventory. There was one near accident when the system interrupted me to tell me my skinning ability had gone up one rank. I grinned grimly and kept on working.

  Now that the creature was dead, My guide could to give me useful directions on how to capture and store the materials. I could even create a sponge-like pouch in which an arrow point could be dipped. The quiver and the magic arrows resisted the effects of both the paralytic and the acid. But the arrows carried both on the tip to great effect.

  “This should help me with getting Cassana back,” I thought.

  * * *

  I scouted the bandit camp carefully from a distance. There were many more men than I expected. They had set up in the clearing near where I had first appeared.

  It was a haphazard collection of tents and a couple lean-to structures. Near the center of the camp were two larger tents. While I watched a huge man emerged from one of them, chewing on the leg of some beast. He wore heavy leather pads and metal breastplate. He was laughing at some remark told by a thinner man in long dark robes who emerged after him.

  They walked away before I could hear anything they were saying.

  I moved closer to two guards who were supposed to be watching the camp. One had a thin reedy voice, and he was complaining to the other.

  “Camping a spawn point is against the…”

  A loud crackling sounded in my ear and I looked around but saw nothing.

  “Yeah, but with the stone missing who’s gonna know?”

  I wanted to get closer, but it was clear I would need to get rid of some people who were guarding the camp.

  I only saw a few guards, and most were far from vigilant. They clearly thought that their camp was safe and undiscovered. There were at least twenty of the bandits remaining, and while I might slip into the camp, I was unlikely to go completely undetected. There were simply too many people wandering around.

  I was certain I could not get rid of all twenty bandits before Cassana’s sacrifice.

  I faded into the woods to come up with a plan. As I slipped through the trees, I saw glistening tendrils hanging from a giant tree. I gazed up and saw a huge silken ball in the center of the tree. It was twisting and writhing black mass. I stopped and used my “Identify” spell.

  Dust Spider Egg Sack, Ready to hatch!

  I considered making a fire arrow to burn the entire mass before the creatures could hatch. I had gathered a cloth and was just getting ready to pour oil on it when a crazy plan formed in my mind. The cloth went back into inventory along with the oil. It would take some time to set up, but I had most of the afternoon to get ready.

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  “I’ll need a long coil of rope and large bush.” I thought.

  “You have several coils of rope in your inventory,” said my guide.

  I checked and sure enough there were several long ropes.

  “Excellent! Now to set up my distraction.”