The spider dismisses Vladimir's blade as little threat, and springs toward Hrafen. It lands a dozen feet from him, and scrambles toward him. Still maintaining the lulling sound from its mouth, it rears up looming over the halfling on the dog.
Hrafen gulps as the overgrown arachnid closes with him.
"Umm.... A little help, here!"
Hrafen backs Archibald away from the spider , and throws a trio of force missiles into it at point blank range.
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Glenrenil lets loose another arrow, hoping this time it finds its mark.
Again Glenrenil misses her target. Terror grips her as she sees Hrafen in danger. She cries "Rook attack." with no avail. She moves closer to the spider. If she had to she would take the spider on herself. Nothing would hurt her friend. Not if she could help it.
With no better option at the moment, Coramus levels his crossbow and fires into the melee, hoping for the best.
With it's attention focused on Hrafen, Vorik moves up to attack the spider from the rear. Unfortunately, the arachnid feels his presence and easily steps aside to avoid the blow.
Round 2
Vladimir carefully moves around and in toward the spider, slashing at the arachnid as he reaches his destination.
The spider's lulling sound stops as it winces from Hrafen's second barrage, and advances on him. This time the creature bites.
You feel "pins and needles" in your muscles with just simple movement... as if your body is "going to sleep".
Coramus drops his crossbow and moves closer to the fight and the injured Halfling. He draws his mace as he moves.
Starting to look pale and woozy, Hrafen nonetheless manages to urge Archibald to back away , and fires another volley of force missiles into the creature!
"Someone else please hit the damn thing; I am not a fly, and don't intend to be a spider's evening snack!"
"I assure you, Hrafen, that is what we are trying to do...just not with a lot of success." he says taking another swing at the spider.
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Glenrenil screams "Wake up Rook" as she runs to the fray. True anger grips her as she sees her friend bitten by the spider. Her heart stood still for a moment at the sight of Hrafen's blood. It was dark and thick. A massive wound. She would not loose him. this spider must die.
She sees an opening and lets loose one last arrow before entering combat.
Another miss. She was failing to protect her friends. This could not happen. This will not happen. If it meant her life she would kill this thing. All this runs thru her mind in the blink of an eye.
Cursing under his breath, Vorik sets his feet and again tries to land a solid blow on the elusive spider.
Vladimir's blade scores a wound which is hard for the spider to ignore. It takes a moment before deciding to envenom him as well.
It shrugs off Rook's bites as it turns toward Vladimir, but Vorik's hammer catches it with a grazing blow.
The strike tears a mandible and attached matter free.
The spider twitches for a few seconds before dropping.
Hrafen breathes a sigh of relief, before wondering aloud:
"Do you think it ambushed other travellers? If so, should we spend some time digging around in this area?"
Once ensured that the spider is indeed dead, Coramus will channel the power of his deity to heal his injured companions.
Vladimir exhales, releasing the tension in his muscles as he was preparing for the spider's bit. "Nice timing, Vorik, most appreciated."
"Hrafen, are you alright?" the swordsman asks, concerned for the health of the sorcerer and a nod of appreciation toward Coramus for healing energies.
"I suspect that is the case, Hrafen, particularly with the drag marks back this direction. I imagine if we search the thicket a bit more carefully we may find a few of the creature's victims."
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Glenrenil goes to Hrafen's side. Seeing Coramus heal him eases her mind. She sheepishly says "Hrafen do you need more healing? I am so glad you are alright. Does anyone else need healing?" She turns to Coramus "Thank you Coramus." Feeling ashamed because of her uselessness she moves to the spider. Glenrenil examines the remains to determine what type of spider it was, hoping to gain some insight into its social habits. She does not want to run into another one unprepared.
"My pleasure. Keeping everyone tip top is in my best interest, as well." Coramus gives Glenrenil a thin smile. He was kidding, right? Well, mostly.
It appears similar to a trapdoor spider which can burrow - though usually in more arid areas. Their lairs consist of an open hole usually constructed in areas where the ground is just firm enough to support some type of cover... a "trapdoor" to prevent debris from filling the lair, and to hide.
They are usually solitary... the larger they are, the more likely that is to be the case.
This breed seems particularly crafty. The now-crumbling entrance to its lair was very well disguised. The soil under the surface of the dry thicket looks like it was masticated then packed firm into walls with (essentially) a pit trap above.
The dry loose earth around the thicket has spilled into the now slightly discernible underground lair - like a small sinkhole in the shape of a "U" - the still-green bush in the center.
Hrafen and Glenrenil can see a bit of the unlit, caved-in area... the floor of the lair is about 12-15' down.
Vorik smiles at Vlad, "I just finished it off. You and Hrafen did most of the work." The paladin moves to the edge of the sinkhole and starts to ready his rope. "It looks like we'll need to climb a bit to search this creature's nest."
He works carefully to secure the rope and slowly drops into the spiders lair.
Vorik finds solid ground about fifteen feet down. There is enough debris crumbling from above to cover everything, but it can be be brushed aside enough to see what lies underneath with not too much effort.
There is room for a couple more down there to help searching if needed.
On both ends of the U-shaped lair, there are piles of bones and dirt-covered detritus pushed up against the walls. The bones which poke through the fallen earth are large enough to be human or from a creature of similar size.
At the bottom of the "U" there is a wide shallow alcove - a wide shelf which is flush with the floor. The cave wall angles outward directly above (like an eave) to prevent debris from falling in. It is difficult to see clearly at first (bringing light low enough), but you see a corpse in a dark robe lying prone.
Nothing is moving... other than a bit more loose dirt settling.
A quick search should take a few minutes.
"Easy there, big man, no need to go it alone." Vladimir says following the paladin down into the spider's lair.
Reaching the bottom, Vladimir casts a light spell. "What do we have here?" he asks, noticing the robbed body.
Coramus glances nervously at the giant spider corpse lying nearby, sweeping his eyes over the horizon to look for any eight-legged friends of the beast.
You can see the robed corpse easily with light. You see what isn't covered, and what can be seen through the threadbare garb, is a body in several pieces... placed together as if whole. A well crafted fighting staff lies by its side.
The only noteworthy thing visible - among the piles of dirt, filth, and bone, is a fair quality quiver with the same fletching as the arrows you have been seeing.
This area appears to have been made for this person in the same way the spider has strengthened the walls of its lair.
This type of behavior is not natural.
There is a wrapped bundle nearby.
>Inside the bundle...
A water-damaged spellbook,
a wand
A belt-pouch style coin purse - (the leather loops have been sliced.)
>Stuffed inside that...
20gp, a silver ring and a decomposed finger
A silver and gold compass with an asymmetrical cracked mustard-yellow gem embedded.
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"Perhaphs a druid or some other nature inclined person. Poor soul. Certainly dead now." Glenrenil takes the quiver and slings it over her shoulder and grabs the wrapped bundle. "Vlad take the staff if you see any value in it. And let us see our spoils in the sun, leave this one to his tomb." With that she attempts to ascend the rope.
Not finding anything else of interest, Vorik follows the others back out of the cavern after saying a short prayer for the robed victim of the spider.
"Well," He says turning to the others while dusting his breeches, "I hope those creatures aren't common to the area, but I guess we'll soon find out. Shall we continue on our way?"
Coramus nods to Vorik, eager to be away from the foul den of the arachnid.
"Yes, please, let's continue on our way. I sincerely hope that these things are not common to the area!"
>Inside the bundle...
A water-damaged spellbook,
a wand
A belt-pouch style coin purse - (the leather loops have been sliced.)
>Stuffed inside that...
20gp, a silver ring and a decomposed finger
A silver and gold compass with an asymmetrical cracked mustard-yellow gem embedded.
After climbing out of the spider's lair, Vladimir looks over the items as requested, casting a magical detection spell to aid him.
While studying the items, Vladimir remarks, "The compass is a wayfinder and it seems our friend was a Pathfinder or at ran across one or two over the years. Nearly every member of the Pathfinder Society carries one, or at least that is what I remember from my time in Absalom in my youth."
He pauses a few minutes looking closely at the wand, "The real shame is the cracked stone in the wayfinder. Ioun stones can be quite useful."
Only the wand and ioun stone are magic. You are unsure of the wand... it displays an aura of the Enchantment school of magic.
The cracked Ioun stone provides immunity to spider venom (Resonant power: +2 to saves vs disease if stone kept within the wayfinder)
The staff is masterwork.
You can't tell for certain if the ring is valuable or well-made costume jewelry, but it is not magic.
"Let's have a look." the swordsman says casting his spell again.
"As far as the other items go, I am having a bit of trouble with the wand. It contains an enchantment spell of some sort, I simply can not determine which one. The ioun stone, ironically enough, provides immunity to spider venom. If left mounted within the wayfinder, it will provide some resistance to disease."
"Anyone else want to have a look at the wand in hopes of identifying it?"
Coramus will accept the wand, attempting to discern its secrets.
Coramus shakes his head, handing it back to Vladimir.
"Agreed." Coramus remounts his horse, looking to finish exploring this area before night falls.
Vladimir nods in agreement, ready to continue on.
The nearby camp appears to have not seen use for a couple weeks at the vary least... New growth is reclaiming the fire-ring.
You finish the remainder of today's planned exploration within a couple hours, and are able to make camp and eat before dusk north of the boulder-strewn fields.
Visibility is excellent all night in the cloudless starlit plains. Morning comes without incident.
Hrafen looks quite content.
"That was a remarkably pleasant evening. It is nice to not have something attack and/or try to eat you in the middle of the night..."
"That remark is something I can wholeheartedly agree with. Let's carry on and continue taming these wild lands!"