Lifeforms · Fauna · Underground
Skittering Steel
Spindly, steel spiders, spinning silk so sharp. (100-word sub)
Deep within the mines they began. Originally, those who mined the earth thought they'd struck odd deposits of metal, but the jagged chunks of metal unfurled themselves and spiders of steel and copper, bronze and silver skittered free when the earth imprisoning them turned to rubble. Fangs penetrated the miners' flesh, injecting poisonous mercury into their blood.
Now they haunt those mines, spinning webs of steel which, if walked into haphazardly, can cause potentially fatal slices and gashes.
To destroy them they must be crushed. Their scrap value makes hunting them worthwile - especially if you find a golden Arachnid!
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What the score says. However, I really wish you would de-100 this sub. Seems like their creation story would be an interesting one.
i already have a few thoughts about expanding this, Moon :) Perhaps in the coming week or two i'll beef it up.
I just wanted to get something out because I feel like I haven't managed to put anything up in too long! the 100-challenge is a good way to do that!
Ah, good to hear your plans for this sub. Personally, I always use the 100 word format for 'abandoned ideas' or sth that came to me on-the-fly and didn't fit into the more serious stream of pieces that I write. But I know what you mean by getting sth out first.
Quite flavorful, and I would also like to see the expansion. Just wondering aloud, but wouldn't iron be more appropriate as opposed to 'worked' steel? Anyhoo, these critters capture the imagination!
The most colourful 100-word I have read so far!
These should be a bigger submission.
It's a 100 word challenge, which I assume means 100 words or less to fully develop an idea.
Fantastic seed idea! I really want to see more about these guys. They remind me of the Silverfish you find in Minecraft -- terrifying little creatures that live in stone and swarm out in packs once you break the rock open. I can imagine a party of adventurers, desperate to escape an underground cave system, being entirely too unwary of where they try to dig their way out . . .
I like that they inject mercury, a very flavorful idea. I think this makes a good 100 word sub because I don't really need more explanation - they're spiders made of metal. Pretty sweet.
This is quite interesting - I like the picture speed-painted with the words here.
Could one be domesticated?
reproducing treasure!
Love it!
4.5
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