Spider Woman 2013-03-06

[Wdot]

This one looks hard. Lots of levels and maybe jumping. Mario Kat?

[Julie]

So the good news is that they aren't buried alive. Also good news is that it appears they cam climb some of the spider carving structure. Bad news? The climbable parts don't seem to extend all the way to the top. Is this when Atsali gives up the human form in order to fly them out...or maybe down?

[Fairportfan]

Our girls are safe in The Godmother's Web, just as i suspected!

[kingklash]

That is a big spider!

[Fairportfan]

Looks like the way to go is down the spider hole.

@DilyV, if you can edit the thread title, the date should go after the name

I don't think I can edit the title...

You can edit the title on your own post; don't know if it changes the thread title (but apparently something did.)

[Lee M]

"Benevo-what?"

Yeah, Atsali isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the hardware warehouse, is she?

[Fairportfan]

"Benevo-what?"

Yeah, Atsali isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the hardware warehouse, is she?

She's fifteen.

Which, given that she's apparently an immortal, might well be equivalent to five or six in a human.

In Steven Brust's "Taltos" books, the equivalent age to a human age of fifteen or so in Dragaerans, who routinely live thousands of years, appears to be somewhere around fifty or sixty years, if i recall correctly.

[bmonk]

I called it!!! The entry way further into somewhere is in the hourglass.

They are at the lower end of the spider and it exactly looks like the one on the vase. Didn't expect the whole place to collapse that way though. MIB eyes in the sky can see this easily. Expect visitors soon,

Maybe even a pair of MIB vampires who need a new assignment?

I don't think they're going to be able to hide that hole in the ceiling. That little mine cart sure did do a heap of damage...

Suspect the mine cart only started the reaction. As to what it is. Haven't you heard of trapdoor spiders?? A big hole covered up with a spider hiding under it?? A hole that size needs a really big spider.

And once again, I have to sing. In the immortal words of Riff Raff:

Leo G. Caroll, was over a barrel
When Tar-an-tu-la took to the hills...

I just knew the one they burned at the end of the movie wasn't the only one...

Shelob was nowhere near this big. Ungoliant maybe?

. . .
Looks like we're leading up to the birth of yet another protector. We'll have quite a superhero team by the time it's all finished; all guardians of one sort or another. Super(natural) team count off! ... Monica! Fire! ... Shelly! Force! ... Kath! Shield! ... Nudge! uhh ... Comic Relief! NUDGE! For the last time! Comedy is not a super power! And get rid of that silly cape. The window looks lopsided with half of the drapes missing.

To quote Carol Burnett's Scarlet O'Hara, "Thank you. I saw it in the window, and I just couldn't resist it."

[txmystic]

I believe we'll find out soon that Katherine is somehow descended from (or is an incarnation of) said spider woman...

Seriously, you GOTTA try these nachos...

[txmystic]

@bmonk

ungoliant would never be confused with something protecting anything...she was the extreme example of a consumer in every sense of the word...

[Opus the Poet]

Seriously, you GOTTA try these nachos...

What, now they have nachos in the Confusion Corner? Gimme. I have a long bike ride ahead of me to deliver this GPS to Kat and birdbrain.

[Graybeard]

A mesa results from an upthrust of harder rock is inside a layer of softer rock. Over time the softer rock wears away leaving the harder rock. It can be volcanic but the strata shown it the picture makes me doubt it. The large lava beds in that area are further south. The ledge they are on should be stable.

"Not necessarily" to all of the above. The mesa that I live on top of wasn't made by an upthrust, but rather by deposition and subsequent welding of volcanic ash, with the canyon separating it from the next highland to the south being a big tectonic structure. It actually has been filled in by erosion, rather than deepened. Other canyons in the vicinity are erosional but generally controlled by pre-existing topography that the ash was laid down on top of. There are plenty of lava beds in the Four Corners area, extending well into Utah and Colorado. And with any of the above, I wouldn't want to linger on a ledge like that one for very long; even "solid" rock is not very solid in most places.

The structural geology of the American Southwest is exceptionally complex, with volcanic, tectonic/non-eruptive, depositional, and erosional landforms all coexisting within very short distances of each other, sometimes literally tens of feet apart. For purposes of this story it's probably best just to say "there's a hole in the ground" and not worry too much about how it got there.

[freehand]

Hmm..

Suddenly realized something: kat's a specialist in old clothing and fibers, weaving and such.... What is a material that's used very often in clothing of very wealthy ancient people?
The fact that it's a caterpillar that produces silk, doesn't change the fact that it's still silk... as in s.....silk. In Kat's passion lies another hint, planted years before.....

I could be grasping here. though.

Mebbe someone else already made that link. I might have missed it.

Hmmm. I might have mentioned something along those lines a few days ago...

Re: Hello 2013-02-27
Yes, she is Anansi, or Anansi's daughter, or her third cousin on the left.

What is Kat's specialty? Fabrics and textiles!

[DilyV]

Looks like the way to go is down the spider hole.

@DilyV, if you can edit the thread title, the date should go after the name

I don't think I can edit the title...

You can edit the title on your own post; don't know if it changes the thread title (but apparently something did.)

I was able to change it in edit on the first post... it didin't change the title in posts that had already been posted though... I went back and changed mine.

[sheik]

That is a big spider!

It's just my opinion, but despite the hourglass motif and all the pots the real thing reminds me more of a tick.

[Dave]

It does seem to be the week for unusual spiders...

[MerchManDan]

The question remains, though: Why would the original builders hide the enormous carving?
Another question is raised: Are there MORE of these pit-structures, scattered around the desert?

[Wyvern]

So the good news is that they aren't buried alive. Also good news is that it appears they cam climb some of the spider carving structure. Bad news? The climbable parts don't seem to extend all the way to the top. Is this when Atsali gives up the human form in order to fly them out...or maybe down?

Look more closely at the spider carving. See how the upper part of the hourglass is black and about the size of a door? Climbing doesn't seem to be a big problem; they're not going that far.

[zachariah]

A mesa results from an upthrust of harder rock is inside a layer of softer rock. Over time the softer rock wears away leaving the harder rock. It can be volcanic but the strata shown it the picture makes me doubt it. The large lava beds in that area are further south. The ledge they are on should be stable.

"Not necessarily" to all of the above. The mesa that I live on top of wasn't made by an upthrust, but rather by deposition and subsequent welding of volcanic ash, with the canyon separating it from the next highland to the south being a big tectonic structure. It actually has been filled in by erosion, rather than deepened. Other canyons in the vicinity are erosional but generally controlled by pre-existing topography that the ash was laid down on top of. There are plenty of lava beds in the Four Corners area, extending well into Utah and Colorado. And with any of the above, I wouldn't want to linger on a ledge like that one for very long; even "solid" rock is not very solid in most places.

The structural geology of the American Southwest is exceptionally complex, with volcanic, tectonic/non-eruptive, depositional, and erosional landforms all coexisting within very short distances of each other, sometimes literally tens of feet apart. For purposes of this story it's probably best just to say "there's a hole in the ground" and not worry too much about how it got there.

Agreed. Welcome to the google geology club. We all become instant experts. lol.

[zachariah]

That is a big spider!

It's just my opinion, but despite the hourglass motif and all the pots the real thing reminds me more of a tick.

I hope not. After all this build up to find out that would tick off everyone.