Striders

## Description

Striders (staple-spiders) are the "staple" monster in The Office Space. They are the first appearing enemies in the dungeon (first seen in chapter 1), and are responsible for the discovery of Skill Orbs, and as such are a great contributor to James' consistent travelling to the dungeon.

They consist of a black heavy-duty office stapler as the base body, and have many legs consisting of jointed ballpoint pens. On the front face of the strider, there is a small yellow cat-like eye. This can open and close like a normal eye; however, it is unknown whether the material making up the eye is hard or soft. Unique striders also appear commonly with markings or tattoos along their sides.

Upon being ripped open, they do appear to contain organic muscles, though they also contain staples, and their blood is ink.

## Abilities

Despite being the weakest monster within The Office Space by far, they appear to be one of the more sapient, making them a threat to be reckoned with when armed with other dungeon items.

The greatest threat of these creatures is their number, making guns and other loud weapons hazardous to use, as they can draw a swarm. Even teams of experienced delvers find it best to retreat from endless numbers.

Their main form of attack comes in their small stapler fangs, which are capable of driving a staple down to the bone. It is recommended to avoid sticking your hand in one's mouth.

## Behaviour

In terms of behaviour, they are opportunistic hunters, waiting for the time that their numbers or the prey's weakness (or inattention) displays itself to a great enough extent to risk an attack. However in terms of actual combat, they are the most amiable of all the creatures, expressing fear and wariness in combat, unlike creatures like the Tumblefeed.

When unobserved, they appear to produce webs out of linked paperclips, in some areas making traversing difficult, and allowing for easier ambushes. These webs are attached to walls in a way that defies physics, so they cannot simply be charged through.

They also appear to produce strange "eggs" through the same mechanism. It is unknown whether these tight clumps of staples actually result in strider births, and if so, what that means for the dungeon; however, it is possible.

Despite a complete lack of hearing, they appear to have complete understanding of what people say to them. Argus has been quoted saying, "They don't understand English, more they understand meaning." This suggests an inherent capacity to observe "ideas".

They can also perform basic tasks, like a Strider in chapter 48 struggling to open a backpack to release a vortex to defend it from a Tumblefeed.

## Forms

There are several forms of strider encountered:

* The most common normal striders, attacking simply by leaping at the enemy and trying to 'bite' them.
* Streamlined striders, which are visibly sleeker and more well structured than their "lesser" twins, and express greater instinctive intelligence.
* The 'royal' striders, with executive pens and fancier bodies. Only seen atop a Shellaxy.
* Heavy striders, which prefer ambushing the enemy by jumping onto them.
* More intelligent striders. These were only seen in a unit of six that attacked quickly and retreated before they could be killed, and only left upon being bribed with orbs.
* Aged striders, with solid steel bodies. Can hit harder than most other striders.

All drop yellow skill orbs, with only a small notable difference in size. The exception to this is the intelligent striders, which have never been killed.

## Trivia

* James initially assumed they were stapler crabs.
* Anesh was the first character to name the striders, and note the fact that they were, in fact, spiders.
* Striders are the first observed species besides humans in the dungeon to use ambushes as a method of defeating an enemy.
* Striders are the first observed dungeon creature to create Memes.
* No streamlined striders have been observed displaying the same sentience as that of the common striders.
* Striders have been known to attack Tumblefeed when provoked.