Round 5 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Kragnor-acted
Kali-acted
Eva-acted
Melody-acted
Senja-acted
Asvald
Spider
Kragnor hits, but doesn't quite take the spider down.
The last spider backs out of the kill zone and bites Kali .
Party up!
Round 6 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Kragnor-acted
Kali-moved; holding
Eva-
Melody-acted
Senja
Asvald
Spiders
The wounded spider is unable to capitalize on Kali's distraction, being occupied with dodging Kragnor's blow (which misses). Kali can take her flanking shot now, and Eva, Senja, and Asvald can act.
Kali's attack hits, but doesn't quite put the spider out of the fight!
The remaining spider bites Kali again Then it uses its move to open the door and takes a 5' step through it.
Senja manages to wriggle free of the webs!
-Posted with Wayfinder
Asvald is unable to connect with the spider because the doorframe got in the way.
At its action, the spider executes a strategic retreat. Senja, you see it come through the door to the south.
Round 7:
Initiative order
Kragnor-
Kali-
Eva-
Melody-
Senja-
Asvald
Spider
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Unable to keep track of which spiders he has hurled hexes at, Senja takes a shot at the one appearing around the corner. His hands moving in a blur, he forms a long, shadowy pole, then another, and joins them with a number of short bars. He then throws this ladder-like shape down the hall, forcing the approaching spider to move under it.
Once this is done, he calls out in a voice that might be the slightest bit panicked, "It's out here now! It's coming toward me!" He then darts through the door to join his companions.
Senja's startled shout alerts Eva, who heads out into the hall and punches the spider between its many eyes. It falls and does not move.
At best, the double dose of spider venom leaves Kali in no shape to carry any of her gear up. At worst, she has to be carried out herself . However, there's nothing left down here to fight, and the spiders are waiting to ambush you from the darkness on the next level up have apparently fled the Spire, leaving you free to make your way back to Fort Inevitable.
A few days in Fort Inevitable, waiting for shipments of items and sampling the nightlife (virtually nonexistent, as one might expect from a town run by Hellknights), and you're ready to get back to adventuring. Morvius Eruthiel is also packing up on the morning you prepare to return. "I'm, I'm going back to Absa--Absalom. There's a, another Pathfinder here...she came by last night with a couple of guards, and she said she was going to check out the Spire." As he mounts up, he gives a quick uncomfortable smile. "Be nice to her...sh-she's family."
On reaching the Spire, you all notice a small pile of rubble below the old main door. As you're heading around to the more accessible entrance, you see a human in armor come up to the edge with a wheelbarrow full of chunks of the glassy substance of the outer tower. With a rattle, the apparent guard dumps the load onto the pile from above. He gives you a wave and goes back inside.
It's immediately clear to you that something has changed...the gloom effect inside of the building is gone. It's been replaced by a somewhat disquieting greenish illumination, the result of the sun shining through the walls of the Spire. You're approached by an elf in a chain shirt as you enter. She gives you a warm smile; there may be something a little odd about her eyes, but being as she's an elf it's hard to tell. "Welcome, Pathfinders! I'm Cynara, and I'll be taking over for my little brother for a while. The town isn't really to my liking, but this place will do for now."
Cynara shakes her head. "There've been a few monsters appearing in the clearing, or so the boys tell me, but nothing we couldn't handle. Oh--if you need healing when you come out, I can cast lesser restoration and some basic cures." The elf looks a little rueful. "I'm afraid I'll have to charge you the going rate for casting, though. Rules."
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It takes a moment for Senja’s eyes to discern the difference in the light within the ruins. Once he realizes what’s happened, he asks the elf curiously, ”How’d you get rid of the gloom inside? I rather liked it, but it wasn’t convenient for everyone, I understand. And what’re you building with the rubble? Is it an art project?”
She laughs. "I had done some research before coming here, and it sounded like the gloom was to keep the place dark at night. Otherwise, the walls are translucent, and when the moon is up the guards tell me it gets pretty bright in here. So with that in mind, well--" She claps her hands sharply, twice in a row, and the darkness returns. There's a shout from near the main entrance. "Hey, give us some warning before you do that!" She claps twice again and the gloom is gone. "Sorry about that! No art project, it's just to make it easier to get around up here."
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"I, for one, simply love what you've done with the place." Kali says with a smile as she takes a long look around, "Nice to meet you, Cynara and it's great to have you as backup."
"Oh, can anyone do that?" She asks with excitement as Cynara turns the darkness on and off, double clapping a few times to test if she has the ability to do it.
It takes a few tries before Kali gets the hang of it, as there's a trick of concentration in addition to the clapping. The elf gives her an impish smile. "As nearly as I can determine, this should work on a room-by-room basis; that part of it is still broken, though, and it'll probably take some time to even figure out how to fix it. I'd rather spend the time clearing the floor and fortifying the stairs in case something down there decides to come up for a little visit."
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"Ah, interesting," Senja comments as Cynara demonstrates the way to turn the darkness effect on and off. "It's sort of the opposite of something I've read about. I believe one could do something similar, but turning lights on and off rather than darkness, in the mountain retreat of a sage known only as The Kuh-Lappir."
Turning to his companions, he says, "Shall we see what other unpleasantness lies below?"
The six of you make your way to the stairs leading down around the spire core. You notice that some of the rubble has found its way here, to be made into a defensive wall against anyone--or anything--coming up from the depths. There are another two humans in breastplates here, armed with spears. The Glyph of the Open Road on their surcoats indicates their allegiance, and both salute you as you pass. "Good luck, Pathfinders!" And down you go.
You pass through the cellars lately occupied by moon spiders and the bone priest (and who set it there? What was it doing? Where did it get the symbol marked "6?" Questions remaining to be answered below, perhaps). The webbing in the pit has begun to deteriorate, and a few minutes of work suffices to clear enough of it away to allow easy descent down the iron ladder. The ladder's shaft ends in a wide staircase descending into darkness, though a faint emerald gleam from further down suggests that at some point it reaches the spire core again. On the floor at the top of the stairs is the body of a dead moon spider, legs drawn up and curled in something like rigor mortis. A couple of legs have been severed, and traces of an unpleasant rotting reek emanate from a sunken hole in its abdomen. One of you pushes it over to see if there's anything beneath it, and a wash of decomposing slime spills out of the hole. Glints in the slime, though, are three bloodstones.
The stairs lead down another few hundred feet, with the green glow becoming progressively brighter as you descend. It eventually debouches onto a landing .
The stairs open into the small irregularly-shaped chamber seen on the map. There are a few oil lamps, shedding dim light . To the east, a short flight of steps leads up to a solid-looking door flanked by arrow slits in the wall to either side. To the north, a wide gate of iron bars blocks an archway leading to a larger chamber; through the bars you can see the glowing spire core.
Kragnor notices a concealed door on the short landing, as shown.