It’s the most unexpected swerve ever! The Evergreenest Forest was on the back of a giant spider all along!*
Of course, this fact would have had zero impact on the plot if it had been revealed earlier…well, aside from a certain amount of unease on the part of some of the characters. But it justifies, retroactively, all of the hyping I’ve done with regards to giant spiders inhabiting the Evergreenest Forest. Which, otherwise, might have been a complete red herring. Which is, of course, something that I’d never ever do. >_> You can trust me on that.
Which leaves the question how that group of trick and treaters the Elder talked about ended up in cocoons like that. Well, either they ran into some Preservers which Winnowill had sent away from Blue Mountain…or, if you aren’t into Elfquest, the whole thing was just a myth, or a true story which has become distorted beyond recognition as it was handed down through the generations.
Spider fans still don’t have any reason to complain, I think. We had some actual giant spiders in that dungeon early on in the chapter, we’ve got that way-beyond-just-giant-spider here, and in between there was the cute, little spider. I reckon that’s plenty of spiders, given how I’m not actually terribly fond of spiders to begin with.
More on Monday.
* Which just wasn’t properly reflected in drawn maps of the region, since cartographers often suffer from arachnophobia. Often from a young age, which might be exactly why they turn into the kind of indoorsy guy who becomes a cartographer later. See? It all makes sense.