Before they move forward Somer whispers.
"Someone is casting a spell it sounds like."
"Then we proceed with Caution, Balmir I don't have a way to ward you against spells I am sorry." Derrik admist
"Hmph. Don't need it." Balmir leans to the side for Mouser to go ahead of him. After waiting a few moments he begins down the stairs cautiously.
The stairs descend the shaft in a series of switchbacks. Mouser quietly descends, although the rest of you are not so stealthy, and since you heard spellcasting, there is no surprise here.
About 40 feet down the shaft, the stairs reach a narrow landing before continuing down in the opposite direction. At this point the shaft begins to fill with wisps of web populated by numerous hairy brown spiders. Although the seething webs are unnerving, Mouser recognizes that the spiders are mundane and harmless. As the stairs descend ever deeper, the webs become thicker (hardness 0, DR 5/–, hp 4 per 5-foot square) and the tiny spiders become increasingly active.
At 80 ft down, Mouser then sees her. A strange, dwarvish woman with mandibles for teeth and extra limbs in the form of spider arms.
She hisses at you, "How dare to desecrate this shrine with your presence!"
She casts a spell on a large spider nearby, which twitches are you menacingly.
"Who are you?" Derrik calls out to the woman from the rear
HP 61/61
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 15
Special Attacks channel positive energy 6/6 (DC 15, 3d6)
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 7th; concentration +11)
4th—freedom of movement D, holy smite (DC 18), Open Slot
3rd—beacon of luck , good hope , prayer, remove curseD
2nd—aid, barkskinD, blessing of courage and life APG (DC 16), shield other , weapon of awe APG (DC 16)
1st—bless, liberating command UC, magic weapon , shieldD, shield of faith, Open Slot
0 (at will)— detect magic , guidance, sparkAPG (DC 14), virtue
D Domain spell; Domains Protection (Defense APG subdomain), Liberation
Wand of Cure Light 50/50
Wand of Cure Light 35/50
Healing Kit 18/20
Potion of Remove Sickness 2/2
holy water 2/2
soothe syrup APG 2/2
thunder stone 2/2
Bandages of Rapid Recovery 3/3
Scroll of Bark Skin
Scroll of Bulls Strength 3/3
Scroll of Delay Disease 3/3
Scroll of Grace 3/3
Scroll of Life Pact 3/3
Scroll of Shield of Fortification 3/3
Scroll of Spear of Purity
Wand of remove curse 9/50
Shawl of Life-Keeping (10 HP in it if reduced to negative shawl stabilizes)
what is she
what is she
Ingrahild's eyes go wide as she sees what is has become of her ancestral tomb.
'Shrine! This is my family tomb you half dwarf monster!"
She moves as fast as she can to get down the stairs and ends behind Balmir.
"It is I, Stilgrit, Mother of Spiders, Daughter of Luggra, Granddaughter of Gertid, and Favored of Mazmezz! Now you must be sacrificed."
Stilgrit is clearly an abomination, and likely unique. Your best guess is that she is a half-dwarf half-ettercap with the addition of spider arms. You think it is likely that she is poisonous and can climb walls like a spider, and you know she is a spell caster already. You also believe the giant spider nearby is either a familiar or linked companion of hers.
The two ettercaps climb up the walls to attack. Neither manages to get through the well-armored defenses of their targets.
"Not again. More of these ugly things." Balmir hefts the hammer and swings at the ettercap near him.
Unable to see Somer moves into the room and fires one arrow at the closest creature.
Derrik will hold and attack if that Ettercap comes close.
Balmir hits an ettercap so hard, it not only drives the lifeforce out of it, but also somehow shrinks to the creature's body to a fraction of the normal size!
The spider quickly scurries over to the dwarf and bites at him. But again, the armor of the dwarf defeats the attack.
Mouser, though, gets a close up look and a ferocious monster. Luckily, the agile halfling manages to duck and dodge every attack but one, and clearly that mithral armor has saved him from a nasty bite.
Closer and able to see some Somer calls some ice to his arrows as her fires twice.
I hope this whole place is not like this. Could be a long fight in."
"Can't be the whole thing... I hope. Just the enteracne."
Ingrahild slips around Balmir and attacks with both of her axes at the spider.
"Did you see that? Spider? Did you see what happened to your friend there? Let's see if I can do that again, shall we?" Balmir swings agrimmosh at the spider in front of him.
"What do you need Mouser?" Derrik calls out.
Tam chunks a small bolt into the ettercap in front of Somer.
Mouser disappears from sight just before the spider-woman attacks.
Balmir delays to watch Ingrahild attack. She misses with the first axe by a hair, but lodges the second attack deep in the spider's head, killing it. Acknowledging the kill, Balmir moves toward the mother of spiders.
Somer puts two arrows into the blue ettercap's side, but it doesn't quite cause it to fall.
The ettercap swings at Derrik.
Tam follows up by putting a small crossbow bolt into it.
Derrik is up.
Derrik returns the swing to the Ettercap.
The mother continues to try and destroy Mouser, but it is no easy task.
Somer cannot believe the blue spider thing is still alive. All there is to do is keep shooting it it seems. He again calls forth some ice around his arrows.
Planting her feet Ingrahild unleashes her full furry on the spider.
Well at least she tries to.
Seeing that the mother of spiders is still up, Balmir swings his hammer at her again.
The team works together to dispatch the remaining foes, with some bone-crunching hits.
Gear found includes amulet of mighty fists +1, holly and mistletoe, spell component pouch
Once you regroup and continue, you make your way to the bottom of the shaft.
Webs stretch between the walls of the chamber at the bottom of the shaft, supporting two large, webbed cocoons hanging a few feet above the floor. A large circular stone disk stands in the eastern wall of the room, surrounded by a circle of Dwarven runes. Three more runes are carved on the face of the disk. The great disk is flush with the wall and has no visible hinges or handles.
Written in Dwarven, the runes around the perimeter of the disk read, “Rest here until mine sons touch upon thy blessings.” The runes in the center of the disk are Dwarven symbols for “loyalty,” “duty,” and “strength.”
Ingrahild reads the dwarven script out loud to the group and smiles. She glances at the cocoons and decides not to get closer though she does adjust her grip on her axes.
"Milani knit the wounds of my allies so we can push the evil from this place." Derrik says as he holds his right hand up high and holy energy pulses out of it. "More than we though was here, she was who exactly? DO you know Ingrahild?" Derrik asks.
|
When Mouser finally appears to view and Tam's spell has worn off, the halfling is smiling broadly. And hugging Tam.
"That spell is AMAZING!!! I can't wait to try it again!"
As they continue their exploration, he says "So this looks like some kind of shrine for the dwarves--I don't think they wanted that spider lady desecrating it."
"Agreed. These creatures must have invaded at some point over the years and made a home. It seems any unguarded tomb or hole in the ground becomes the home for some evil."
He looks at the cocoons trying to work out if they are threat or a wrapped up victim.
"Well. We've taken care of it now. But what about these things?" He points at the cocoons. "Is there something in them?"
Derrik Looks at the Cocoons in the magical spectrum to see if there is anything inside of them.
The webbed cocoons hold two mummified corpses of dwarven women, one older, and the younger showing some aspects of a spider, but no where near the amount exhibited by the woman you just killed. Strangely, the webs leave the bodies’ bellies and mouths exposed.
You also recognize signs that the disk has religious references to Torag, and that Torag’s three
children and the values they identify with are Grundinnar (loyalty), Kols (duty), and Trudd (strength).
"The cacoons are an obedience for the demon lord Mazmezz. I think that Mazmezz is a tangles of insect legs or some such. Unpleasant for sure."
He looks at the disks. "Torag. The values are for his sons Grundinnar (loyalty), Kols (duty), and Trudd (strength). Seems an odd phrasing to me though, hard to tell. At least the cacoons do not seam to be a threat and we can see if the disk opens."
"This Mazmezz sounds awful. But I don't care. How do we open the disk?"
"Does it spin?" Derrik asks as he moves to the disks trying to slide or spin them.
Mouser takes a look and nothing seems obvious, and then as Derrik tries to move the disk, he feels a searing pain on his forehead!
Derrik's faith is just enough to prevent the divine-natured trap from branding him a thief. There must be a safer way to open this vault.
"Maybe it needs to be a dwarf? No that doesn't make sense. Is it arcane in nature? Probably should have done this before."
Somer casts detect magic and focuses on the 'door'.
"Do we have to touch the Symbols? We have 3 Dwarves maybe they can do it?" Derrik says.
The three symbols do glow with magic for Somer to detect.