Sara doubles down, stepping forth uncertainly.
"Your lands are fertile and ripe, and your settlements are prosperous. You should be proud, Baron."
She glances at the others, silently wishing for Zileska to heal her if this comes to blows.
Zileska pushily takes the time to check on Sara's wounds.
"With that potion there's not too much for me to do other than clean up these punctures," she says as she expertly applies a few bandages to Sara's injuries. "Let me help to revitalize you."
Her gentle touch is simply two fingers lightly running down Sara's wounded skin, leaving uncloven flesh in her wake with a slight tingling sensation.
"Lord Baron, surely you won't leave your guests in the dark and unable to pay heed to you in person?" she says in a sultry voice.
"Ah, that is good to hear, my delectable morsel," the voice says in response to Sara. To Zileska, it replies, "Of course. I'll be right down!"
As the voice continues to speak, you detect a strange echo about it. It appears to be illusory.
With their enhanced eyesight, Maria, Melodie, and Zileska can see a large web covering the ceiling between the four central pillars, thirty feet off the ground. And concealed within the webs is a horrid creature that appears to be half-man, half-spider. His form is blurry and indistinct, but he seems to be gesturing as if casting a spell!
The mention of "delicious" citizens - and the extreme abundance of spider webs - already had her thinking of a few possibilities as to what happened. The Baron's appearance confirmed what happened.
In any case, she was glad that she had her alchemist's fire in one hand and her sword ready in the other (with the scabbard for the latter grasped in her tail so she wouldn't lose it).
Sara grips her spider leg tightly, unable to properly see their foe. Recognizing that her attempts at parlay were placed aside in favor of more aggressive negotiations, she produces her potion of bull's strength and drinks it all.
The spider-barom completes his spell, and a swaem of spiders appears, raining down on Sara and Zileska. They skitter through the women's clothes, biting and causing a nuisance.
Not seeing the rain of spiders, Zhi charges across the room and stabs at the cursed Baron.
Carefully, Maria shifted the Alchemist's Fire to her sword hand for a moment as she retrieved and downed one of her extracts, shifting the flask back into her off-hand afterwards.
Sara gathers her strength, ignoring the feeling of spiders climbing all over her and swallowing down the surge of revulsion present she takes a moment to focus on the figure above her, gripping the spider leg in both hands.
With a powerful throw, she sends the thick leg hurtling thirty feet above her and into the Baron, where it breaks across him.
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Melodie doesn't quite scream at the sight of the 'baron' although she can't help but let out a disgusted sound as he pelts Sara and Zhi with spiders.
She claps her hands sharply and particles of gold burst right above the spider-man creature, lighting it up and making it, somehow, even more ugly than it was before!
Baron Telus resists Melodie's spell, but the glitterdust still illuminates him, negating his blur spell.
As Maria downs an extract and Zhi quietly bolsters herself, Sara hurls the severed spider leg up towards the ceiling. It impales Telus in the chest, breaking in half with the force of the impact. He screeches in rage as blood pours from the wound. "Insolent wench! I'll eat you first!"
Zileska gives Sara a brief touch of luck in hopes that this will aid her confrontation with the Baron.
The spiders' poison weakens Zileska, but she fights down her revulsion long enough to lend Sara a bit of Calistria's own luck.
As the spiders continue to crawl and bite the two women, Telus casts another spell, filling the entry to the hall with sticky webs!
This time Melodie does scream as she gets caught up in the sticky webs the creature expels. As she struggles she tries hard to fight down the panic and concentrate!
Her form blurs for a moment as other Melodie's appear, dodging in and out of the webbing strands.
Managing to recall what her father had learnt about how the web spell formed and how it decided where to anchor the webs, where they intersected and overlapped and so-on, Maria barely avoided getting caught in the strands.
Retaliating, Maria launched her flask of incendiary material at the baron, the magic of her extract letting her see a few seconds into the baron's future and giving her a prime target.
At the sound of Melodie screaming, Zhi looks over to the rest of the group.
She takes in the huge expanse of webs and the swarms of spiders crawling over them and almost drops her weapons.
Spiders. Crawling. I can't do this. Gotta run.
Her panicked eyes seek out any other exit from the room. Seeing nothing but walled up windows and doors, she begins to shake.
Oh gods, just don't look at me. Please don't look at me with those eyes.
She carefully stows her weapons and pulls her bow. With soundless steps, she moves away from the swarming spiders but towards the Baron.
Dodging the webbing through Zileska's granted luck more than anything else, Sara reaches beside her to pick up the long bench, hurling it upward as part of the same action.
"Come down here and fight, Baron!" she shouts, genuinely angry at the Baron's cowardice and cheap tactics.
Zileska struggles helplessly and uselessly.
Telus snarls as Maria's aim is true, the alchemist's fire burning him. He avoids catching ablaze, but he does catch Sara's hurled bench to the face! He screeches in anger as blood drips from his maw.
"Here I come!" he shouts, dropping from the ceiling on a strand of webbing, He casts a spell as he descends, electricity crackling on his fingertips as he reaches for Sara. He stumbles at the last second, failing to touch her!
The summoned spiders disappear.
Don't look at me with those eyes. Don't look at me with those eyes.
Zhi drops her bow and moves forward over/around the couch and pulls her swords.
Zileska attempts to carefully unwind her wrists and legs and free herself from the webs.
Undaunted, Sara reaches into her bag and produces the last of the ornate table legs from under the Senate floor, smacking it across Telus's head, hoping to either frighten him or drop him unconscious.
All five versions of Melodie tug desperately at the webbing, trying to pull free.
Melodie and Zileska pull themselves out of the sticky webs and push through them until they are free. Zhi moves in to attack, but fails to land a good strike,
Telus groans as Sara bashes him on the head, He stumbles a bit, Melodie's screaming amplifying his pain. Then he slumps to the floor, unconscious.
"I hope this works," Zileska murmurs as she steps forward and intones a complex, sibilant prayer. Then she gently lays a hand upon the Baron's head.
Unfortunately, Zileska's spell has no effect. Baron Telus remains a half-spider monstrosity.
As the magical webs dissipate, you can see five armed men standing in the entry foyer. Their leader gasps in horror and points his sword st you. "Halt! What do you think you are doing? Leave him alone!"
Maria stood over the Baron, ready to strike if he woke up after Zileska tried to lift his curse, when the new individuals arrived.
"We came to see what had happened to Baron Telus and now we're trying to lift the curse from him. Who are you?"
Flush with relief over seeing foes that have only two eyes and two legs each, Zhi advances to stand between the men and Melodie, holding her swords in an en garde position.
Her breathing is still ragged and her weapons betray the tremor in her hands.
"I am Master Frater Mosle, the baron's former game warden and now his keeper. It doesn't look like you're curing him," the man says dubiously, eyeing the bloody and beaten baron. He takes a wary step closer, sword still raised.
Sara momentarily ignores the game warden as she ties up the Baron with his own webbing.
"Frankly, we needed him to stop trying to eat us first. Now hopefully our priestess here can do it, or else we will find another way to rescue his soul."
"This is the Lady d'Valois," Zhi says with a minor movement of one of her swords. "We're here on her authority."
"If we just wanted the Baron dead, he'd be dead," she continues, her nerves causing her voice to carry a tremor.
"Some might say that should be his punishment," she continues, her voice becoming firmer. "How many people has he killed, Master Mosle? Would you share in his punishment, Sir? How much have you contributed to this ... this ... nightmare?"
Zhi says the last word with almost a shriek.
Frater winces but lowers his blade. "Araig wasn't always like this. We grew up together. Sure, he could be arrogant and thoughtless at times, but I got to see his curiosity, generosity, and ingenuity as well. He's not a bad man. He didn't deserve...this.
"I did everything I could to undo the curse, but the witch's magic has always proven too powerful. All I could do was keep him locked in here to prevent him from wandering too far. We bring him animals to eat and treasure to keep his greedy side satisfied, and we keep him from hurting people. It isn't easy, but he is my friend, and I will not see him merely executed for something that he has no control over."
"Well, the witch's curse is resisting my spells," says Zileska. She shrugs elegantly. "Magic can be fickle. But with time I can always try again."
She turns and puts a hand on her hip. "We're certainly not trying to execute the Baron. We're not some dolled-up brute squad. We're following up on the stories of the curse and we're here to help."
"Okay. I'm inclined to believe you." Frater finally sheathes his sword, and the other four follow suit. "He's strong. Those webs might not hold him when he wakes up. How can we help you?"
"How about rope?" Zhi says. "I've got some silk rope in my bag. If he's tied up and gagged he should be harmless enough until morning when Zileska can try again."
"Aye, that should do the trick."
Looking guardedly at the armed men, Zhi lowers her swords and walks over and picks up her bag from where she dropped it. She then walks back over to where the Baron lies unconscious.
She pulls from the bag a coil of silk rope and takes quite a few deep breathes to steady herself. She clinches and then unclinches her hands before beginning to tie up the monstrosity.
Less gentle then she might have been, the Baron seems quite securely bound once she's done.
"Remember to gag him," she says as, still shuddering, she makes her way back to the entrance room.
"Is there somewhere we can sleep until morning? she asks.
"We are not 'merely going to execute' him." Melodie says firmly as she finally extracts herself from the webs. "As my companions said, our priestess here is attempting to break the curse as we speak. Hopefully we will restore him at once - if not, then we will restrain him until Zileska can make another attempt. His life in no danger if we can avoid it."
"Baron Vort sent us." She adds as an afterthought. "He said we should show this if need be. Hopefully it proves our good intentions."
"Ah, good old Vort. Glad to hear he's still around." Frater seems to relax more once he sees the amulet.
He leads you to the side chambers of the estate, where a few bedrooms remain serviceable, if a little worn. "You can sleep here. We'll watch Araig until morning."
The next morning, Zileska uses both of her spells to try to remove the baron's curse. Even with Calistria's luck, the tenacious curse remains in place. Telus snarls and spits against his gag, thrashing as he attempts to break free of his bindings.
"No good, as I feared," Frater says sadly.
"So what are you prepared to accept as an alternative?" Zhi says coldly.
"Keeping him in here is not the solution. That's already failed. We saw the bones outside. Some of those are human bones."
"He does escape. From time to time," Frater says quietly. "I'm not sure what to do."
More powerful magic might have more success against the curse--break enchantment, heal, limited wish, or miracle, perhaps. Some curses have a specific method by which they can be undone. Divination might reveal how to reverse this curse.
As you discuss options, Frater's men bring out a pile of treasure from an adjoining library. "This is all the tribute we gathered for the baron. Maybe you could sell some of it to help finance a cure?"
"We're taking him to Lotheedar," Zhi tells Frater. "We're hoping to find a priest there that can cure him."
"If we're successful, we'll send him back with the wagon. If not ... "
She frowns.
"We'll send back the wagon."
"Allow me to accompany you. I want to ensure that Araig is treated fairly. And if you have to put him down... I should be the one to do it," Frater says.
"He's apparently the victim of a curse. We don't know the whys and wherefores. Maybe he deserved it, maybe he didn't, but in this form he'll just cause trouble for people, and he's in no condition to explain. So we have to get him cured before we can make any final decisions, I think," says Zileska. She cranes her head slowly to the side to glance at Melodie. "My lady? The Church of the Sacred Sting can, in this instance, fund the costs of his cure."