Pyzis saw an extended set of spiral stairs rounding a rather large tree. There was a faded sign that pointed up towards some lumbering rounded shape in the tree tops. She couldn't read what it was, but she had finished looking through the carnival and figured this was something a little more interesting. As she ascended the stairs, she looked out over the ghastly caravan below. The rotting wood wagons had rolled in a few weeks ago, and she knew they would be leaving soon. The undead crawled the woods, and it gave Pyzis the creeps. She was a creature of light, life, and rebirth. They weren't here to harm, so she had decided to investigate in case there was anyone who may need her healing expertise. It looked like everyone around her was far beyond that.

When she reached the top of the stairs, there was a man before her. He was transparent and had a whole in his chest where his heart should be. He handed her three vials and ushered her inside with unclear instructions as to what she was doing there. With a cocked eyebrow Pyzis complied. As she entered the round oddly familiar room, she watched as puppy sized spiders scuttled around. With a gasp, she realized that this was a giant Cocoon, and as she peered upward she noticed the lumbering outline of what must be the mother spider. All around her feet the giant spiders always moved. 

She bent down to pick one up and looked at it's mandibles if she placed the vial over one and held the creature still she could collect venom in the flask. As she milked the spider, she got an idea. If the man outside would lend her a few more vials, she may be able to take one home with her and study its properties. After she had finished with one bottle she stepped back outside and asked the man for extra vials since she dropped a few in the darkness. As he handed her two more, she went back inside to continue her task. If she had someone else to hold the little beasts, this would go a lot more smoothly. 

Awake from a dream, Cordura decided to follow a small trail near a stream. He had rest for two nights regaining his strength from his last adventure. "Into the darkness comes adventure I've been told before. Hope its true." And on the trail he went. 

The trail was getting colder and darker as he made his way along the small little trail. The trees around him we're old and full of old spiderwebs and they seemed to grab at his clothes as if trying to stop his way. Every so often he would here a noise coming out from the dark but he know it was nothing to be worried about. 

The woods opened up to a huge field of moist grass that was covered with a dark mist. He could make out shapes in the distance but it was thick were he was. "Maybe a village damned to suffer?" He asked himself quietly not to stir to much attention. He know not what lurked here. This place was different the the trail. 

He moved slowly up towards the structures trying to push through the dense mist to see what would lie ahead. After a good 15 feet he could make out structures. And the mist had lightened up ever so slightly that he could make out a  huge tent. 

"Its a circus I believe" he said as he squinted.

He move forward. He could now make out people slowly moving about. "Nope not a circus but a carnival. Amazing!" He told himself amazed with the mystery's of this new land. 

He made his way to the gate and saw that it no one was really alive here. Each and every person was on there way out of the land of the living. Ghastly shapes moved about the grounds not really ever seeing him stand there. 

He move more to the center where a huge tree stood. The trees was massive and truly magnificent to behold. "This tree has been here for many year. What stories it could tell."

Pyzis grabbed another of the squirming critters and held it under her arm. She ripped the cork out of a vial with her teeth before filling it too with the sickly green ichor. This time, she took the full bottle and slid it into her sack for later use. As she placed it, she felt the piece of wet cloth and shuddered. There was a blackened shriveled heart that was in the sack and Pyzis had been trying not to think about it too hard. She dropped the spider she held and looked around for another but most had moved away from her and up the walls. She was too short to reach any more of the vile beasts. 

She decided holding still would be the best course of action, so long as she didn't attract the attention of the giant mother spider on the roof that eyed her. As she paused the arachnids came closer to her again, she waited patiently but noticed that some of them were spinning the web around her ankles. With a start she tripped and fell to the floor. Two of the baby spiders climbed over her and she was forced to summon flames to her hands, careful that she didn't touch any of them with it. The ghost outside had told her that killing any of them would be a mistake. The small things scuttled away from the fire and went to work burning away the sticky residue on her legs. 

Maybe this would be a little harder than she thought. Pyzis cursed as she stood and let the flames die from her fingers. She reached out and grabbed another small spider milking its fangs quickly. The faster she made it out of her the less likely she was to be eaten.  As she dropped it next one she stuffed a second vial into her sack, making sure to fill five instead of the allotted three the Ghost had asked for. Pyzis was hoping it had some sort of Alchemical value, though she didn't have high hopes for healing properties. 

A giant stair case lay before him going up the tree. Circling many time before it reached, what could only be a platform, at the top. "The view from the top could still even the restless of hearts" He started up one stair at a time counting each step he took. "One.. Two.. Three.."

He made it to 50 steps then looked up. "These are steps not made by man." The steps were not normal steps he would find in a tavern or a library but they looked different. They were skinny and varied in length. He squatted down to look closer and they weren't made out of wood but of flesh. "Man. The steps are made of man!?" He was shocked. "What could do this?"

He looked up and saw a dim light come on then was out. "There is something up there." He began up the stairs again still counting but was uneasy at what he had discovered. 

He had gotten to the top of the stair. "276 stairs and some evil that uses man as steps."

He looked and saw a man standing at the top of the stairs. The man was dead he knew for he saw through him. There was wonderfully sewn suit on him and he had a hole in his chest where his heart lay years ago. The man moaned but spoke something he could not understand. He raised his hands and in them was three vials. The vials were plain and empty but the dead man handed them to Cordura all the same and pointed towards the entrance. 

"Why are the stairs people!?" Cordura demanded but all he got was the dead man putting a finger to his lips to silence him. It made cordura stop cold in his tracks. He could feel something wrong with this place. But he had to find that light. 

The dead man pointed at the entrance again and cordura went in. He had to crouch down for he was much bigger than the door. The whole room went black and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He could see nothing in front of him but he could here movement all around. 

Pyzis saw a bit of light as a huge shadow stepped into the cocoon it was a man more than a foot taller than her and at least twice as wide. He was all muscle and had shoulder length blonde hair. He lumbered into the darkness finding his way into the middle of the spider stricken room. The walls seemed to move as the baby spiders clung and rippled in groups. From the ceiling, some of them were dangling trying to catch Pyzis with their webs. She had gotten three vials so far, two for herself and one for the ghost man outside. This time with someone else here she would have to work smarter. With a jump, she grabbed one of the creatures hanging from the roof. She pinned it under her arm and milked this one quickly before releasing it. Pyzis sidestepped one of the little things as it tried to plow through her.

The strangers eyes flashed in the darkness and Pyzis realized it was Cordura, the man she had walked the cursed forest with. He had proven to be a useful ally when killing the Banshees. "Cordura?" she asked. It was hard to see in the dim lighting. Pyzis slowly approached the man confirming that it was the story telling barbarian. 

"Cordura! Don't kill any of the baby spiders, we need to milk them. Will you hold them so I could get the venom easier? It's hard to do it one handed." she said with a wide smile. Cordura had almost sunk into the swamps last she saw him. Thankfully they had both escaped with their lives and Pyzis hadn't had to touch more than one of the cursed trees. With his help she could get the vials filled in no time and help him fill his. 

His eyes adjusted to the lack of light. He could see a small little girl. "Pyzis, thank goodness a friend." His eyes widen with joy. Finally seeing some hope in the darkness. "There is something very evil afoot here and must be stopped." Cordura looked in her eyes with shock. "The stairs coming up here, did you look at them closely? They were people looked suck dry." 

The spiders around the cocoon started to stir again. Coming down and trying to ensnare both of them in there webs. But they were slow and clumsy. But more of them coming down from the ceiling noticing that they were safe to come down. 

"We need to leave soon before something happens to us. I'm sorry to rush you but its not safe at all here." He looked up and saw the giant matriarch. She was stirring but hasn't quite noticed them at the bottom. 

"How many more vials do you need?" Cordura picked one up one of the spiders and held it in front of Pyzis to milk. The spider scurried off after Cordura dropped it back to the ground. "I got three vials to but this could end bad. Let's get this over with."

He handed her his three vials. Picked up another of the encroaching spiders. And held it still for Pyzis. 

(Misty said join so I figured I may as well)

After the banshee incident, Icarus found himself being talked into yet another of these sideshow challenges.  He wanted to leave now that the imminent threat had been dealt with and found himself actively attempting to flee at the mention of spiders.  He hated them with a passion that teetered toward the insane.  Yet, it was not without good reason that a man of such logic could hold such an illogical, impassioned disposition toward them.

Despite his attempts to flee, the cloud that had initially brought him to this caravan against his will once again served to propel him forward.  He clutched at the ground, shouting obscenities the whole way as the cloud wrapped around his ankle and dragged him along toward this new destination.  Even after it left, he shook his fist angrily at the sky toward which the cloud had departed.  

It didn't take him long before he came across two others that were in the midst of attempting to "milk" the spiders.  He thought of how idiotic this entire task was and the warning that said not to kill the spiders in the process.  Personally, he'd rather just kill them all with fire and walk away, but he also didn't want to face stupid consequences that likely would follow it.  It seemed the entire caravan had its own set of rules pertaining to each of these contests that pitted contestants, willing and otherwise, against the games themselves.  

"So… I personally would rather not be involved with this, but I'd like to ask for help," he declared upon his arrival.  

One of the smaller spiders crawled up his leg and it took all his force of will to grab it carefully without crushing its body in hand.  Taking one of the vials at his hip, he brought the head of the spider toward it, allowing it to sink its fangs into the canvas cover of it to extract venom.  When the vial was full, Icarus set the spider on the ground and gave it a light push forward with his hand.  

"Go on…" he said.  Burn in the Hells you were spawned from, he actually thought.  

Pyzis gaped at Cordura as he mentioned the stairs. She was shocked that there was such a thing but after a moment it seemed the Carnival had gone out of hand. He urged her to leave, but she wanted as much extra venom as she could. With enough bottles, Pyzis was positive she could come up with an antidote or at least use the paralysis properties for surgery purposes. If she combined it with a pain blocker, it would make it much easier to help those in agony from their wounds. She knew it wasn't safe within the Cocoon, but if she had an opportunity to help others with it, then she would ride out the cursed thing.

She nodded to Cordura as he held one of the spiders in his large hands. Milking the thing was so much easier when she wasn't trying to hold down eight squirming legs! Light streamed in as Cordura made for another of the beasts and Pyzis saw a man walk in. He looked a little older than she with dark hair brushing down to his eyebrows. She could see tension etched across his entire body. He asked for assistance and Pyzis ushered him over. 

"Come over here, if you hold the damn things I will milk them. That is the fastest way I've found to collect the ichor. I'm Pyzis by the way, and this is Cordura" she instructed. Maybe if she distracted him by talking the man wouldn't be as tense as his seemed. If any of them made the mistake of killing a spider she was sure the mother would devour them all in an instant. Pyzis cursed as she took the last two vials from Cordura. You can do this, two more then help the stranger and you are done she thought. With a deep breath, Pyzis straightened her back, correcting her posture and squaring her shoulders in determination. This was the first time she had deliberately gone into danger and she was succeeding! Pride swelled in her chest as she shook another of the bugs off of her calf and waited for either of the men to hold a spider up for her. 

"Hurray a new person to be in this evil place." Cordura said to himself. Pyzis was on her last vials and the new man was coming up to both of them. "Welcome to the fun I found this little alchemist in. I hope she knows what she is doing cuz this could turn from great to even better and we could be stuck here forever." He said with a little laugh in his voice.  

He reached up his great hands and plucked one of the small spiders that was trying to land on his head. This one was different then the rest of the spiders. It was smooth to the touch. No hair for cordura to grab on. "Quick milk this one and let this be done." Cordura said as he held the body ever so gently to make sure not to pop the abdomen of this spider. Its legs scurried about as he held it. It was trying to scurry away but could not find anything to hold on to. 

"I believe more spiders are waking up little one." He looked up and saw that more little black hairy spiders were moving down the walls of the cocoon to see what all the movement was. Each time one of the spiders was dropped the whole cocoon shock ever so slightly and each step that anyone took did the same. 

"How many vials have you filled good sir we are done. Give her your vials and we will help then out of this place we must go." He took a step towards the new man with a hand reached out to take the rest of his vials from him.