Bedlam pretends not to notice.
Tragershen also pretends that Anzath didn't just say what she said via sign language. He starts to consider casting a defensive spell, but does not; he wouldn't want it to serve as an acknowledgement of their presence or a sign of aggression.
The watchers approach the party. Chases Moonlight awkwardly hails Aurora and Tragershen. "Tragershen?! Aurora?! What are you doing so deep in the Wolf Queen's lands? Who are those people?"
... Or, maybe it is good ol' Chases Moonlight. Aurora perks up, "It's been so long! These are our new friends, ah, Anzath here wanted to find some mithral, and we heard that the Fey out this way could be a potential source."
Keeping her hand on the handle of her new maul and simply waiting to see if violence is the way things is going to go.
"We didn't know these to be anyone's lands other than the fey. Who is the Wolf Queen?"
"I AM" calls out the other woman. "The woods are full of trespassers and interlopers. Between the spiders and you horrid people, my packs are dwindling. I will now destroy you."
But Chases Moonlight intervenes, "NO! These are good people, following the moon in their own way! They brought me here! They would never hurt a wolf, they got along fine with Bites Ears! And maybe they can help..." She turns to you all. "Can you help? Gods, tell me you can help...
"We have! Just the other day, we slew half a dozen giant spiders on the road west of here." He gestures at Tal's torso and adds "You can still see where his armor was mended after one of them nearly killed him with its venom."
"Greetings, Wolf Queen, and also friend of Aurora and Tragershen. It is true, the spider venom very nearly felled me, even after we struck them down."
Aurora bows her head to the Wolf Queen, "Yes, I am sure we can find some way by which to help. Our primary goal in this place is to tend to the deep magics of Rappan Athuk, and ensure its evil is contained or purged before it spills out into the rest of the world; we are simply taking some time to ensure our expedition is properly equipped. If there is anything we can do to prove our good intentions here, or to assist you..."
Bedlam smiles (pain seems to be developing).
As a diplomatic gesture, Anzath lowers her crossbow. She watches the Wolf Queen from beneath her hood.
The wolf queen frowns. A wolf approaches her and whines. She casts a spell , and howls back. "Some of your friends smell like known wolfslayers. And yet you vouch for them. I am skeptical. I trust wolves over even you, Chases Moonlight."
"But I will give them this chance to expiate their sins. You must go to where the spiders are breeding out of control. Destroy them, and if you can't destroy them, bring me back knowledge of what has upset the balance in that region."
She gestures to a nearby wolf. "This is Aroo, and she will be your guide. You will be watched by the birds and any treachery will be reported to me. Follow Aroo to the spider's den, clear it, and return. If you do this for me, I will give you safe conduct in the future, and I will introduce you to the Fey of the Fethine."
Chases Moonlight looks very concerned, and says seriously, "Take her offer. Take it. She is far more powerful than you are, than I am, than anything else in these woods. And I will take her side in all things."
Tragershen blanches at the request. He pulls out his journal, with its detailed ink drawing of Tal getting bitten by one of the spiders they faced. He shows it to Chases Moonlight, and the Wolf Queen if she is willing. "Are these the type of spiders that are there? Six nearly slaughtered us. If this is their breeding ground... How will we be able to tell what has upset the balance?"
Talathel pales slightly at the request, but weighs the words.
"I believe that we should accept this offer. We can bring back word of victory, or useful observations."
Bedlam grins.
Anzath counts the wolves she sees, and knows theres more she can't see.
"Ve have no choice."
"Of course."
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Keeping silent in the exchange and simply observing. Delightful. Die her and be wolf food or die later and be dined on by overgrown spiders. These people are like magnets for problems.
Nodding and speaking in monotone, "This should be fun."
Chases Moonlight gives Aurora an amulet. "This will allow you to speak with Aroo. I don't really need it anymore, I understand the wolves and they understand me. But it'd be great if you could bring it back when you're done, I'll need it someday..."
You set off at an oblique angle from the direction you'd hoped to be traveling. Instead of moving generally from the inland river town of Zelkor's Ferry towards the coast and Rappan Athuk, you head south. Deeper and darker grow the woods as you trail behind Aroo.
Aroo turns to Aurora and says, "Here."
You see a shadowy vale dropping down from the level of the forest floor, the canopy roughly at your eye level, full of tendrils of mist. A dull, drizzling rain falls.
Do it be knowing how far in be da spiders?
The cleric nods to Chases Moonlight, "I will do my utmost."
As they arrive at the vale, Aurora will go ahead and use Magical Epiphany to prepare communal delay poison and turns a look over the group, "Alright. I can temporarily protect up to five of us from the effects of the venom for the next hour, although exposure will still be dangerous and may take effect once the spell wears off. Does anyone want to volunteer to not be protected, or are we going to have to draw lots?"
The wolf sniffs around and says (to Aurora), "Lots. Fresh spider poop near. In the vale."
Bedlam prepares for their forray into the spider's den.
Tragershen looks across the canopy. He says to Anzath "How far across is it, do you reckon?"
To the group in general, he says "I think we should all go in together. If we let one person scout, they could be easily overwhelmed if discovered and we'd be no closer to solving this."
"Also, we cannot assume they are the same type of spider that ambushed us on the road, though it would make sense given the proximity of this nest. But be on the lookout for other arachnid tactics, such as trapdoors, just in case it is a different species."
From where you're standing, it's hard to tell precisely how deep the vale goes, but it's not particularly wide. Someone on either side would be within earshot of someone on the other, and they'd even be able to see each other from time to time. The floor of the vale drops from where you're standing, and a creek seems to be bubbling up from a spring nearby.
Tragershen remembers the map from the Ferry. Using his keen sense of place and dead reckoning, he estimates that a little tributary heading in the direction of this creek would have to reach one of the bigger branches of the main river in a mile or two. The spider valley would take less than an hour to cross, if you were walking briskly, and if there were no spiders in it.
The drop off of the vale is pretty extreme as mentioned before--if you walked along the top of either side, you'd be at the level of the canopy of the trees in the vale itself.
"She asked us to destroy them, or bring back news of what is causing the imbalance in this region. Before we go down, does anyone see any signs of some kind of predator that may be encroaching on their territory."
Tragershen will look. If he sees anything odd, he'll ask Anzath to look at it more closely.
Aid another (survival) for Anzath .
"Do we want to walk the perimeter of the vale before we go down?"
Bedlam searches the area for tracks.
Bedlam finds many of the stubby spider tracks, but more importantly, he notices thick threads of spider silk tucked underneath the underbrush of the valley edge and extending some distance beyond. Much like a normal spiderweb, but on the ground. They are increasingly dense toward Spiders' Vale, but it seems like someone who knew they were there could move around slowly by stepping in the gaps.
Bedlam points out the webbing to the group.
The Alchemist also takes a minute to brew an Extract of Invisibility.
Can Tragershen tell anything about these spiders based on the tracks and webs he is seeing? Are they the same as ambushed them before? Bigger or smaller?
Knowledge (nature)
Before they start down, Tragershen will cast mage armor on himself. He will drink a dose of antitoxin. Then he'll smear a batch of vermin repellent on himself; it may not stop the huge spiders from attacking him, but it may make him a lower priority when the time comes.
Between the two of you, you figure out that many of these spiders are significantly smaller than the monsters that confronted you on the road to the Mouth of Doom. Makes sense--the nest would hold the babies. Among thousands of insignificant footprints are many that would correspond to man-sized spiders (the babies), and just a few of the pony-sized ones mixed in.
Anzath drinks an Antitoxin and begins navigating a path towards the spiders.
Anzath keeps flickering her eyes from her feet to the filmy mist that seems to thicken as she enters the vale. With each step, she and Bedlam mark the safe spots, with the party following behind like children stepping into footprints in the snow.
But the mist can't hide the first spiders from Anzath's keen gaze--the mist soothes the subterranean half-drow's sore eyes. She spots a tree laden with (medium) spiders. She counts four in the branches, and one rustling in the underbrush below.
Anzath turns to Bedlam, "Vhat if ve just burn diz vhole vale down?"
Bedlam shakes his head.
Dat be bringing da bunch, me tinks.
"Or it might cause them to flee out the other side of the vale, making them even more active in the Wolf Queen's land."
"If we can work out their likely escape routes, perhaps we could kill them that way after such a conflagration.", muses Talathel openly.
"We haven't the means to keep such a thing from getting out of hand. I don't think the Wolf Queen or the fey would approve of that as a tactic. That being said, if we do get cornered and have no other way..." The pragmatic elf leaves off, suggesting he has little concern about the impacts beyond diplomatic entanglements.
"We should take on the first group we find, as long as they don't outnumber us. Watch for any that may seem to be fleeing back to the nest, though predators like this are unlikely to do so instinctively. Let's see how they fight and if we can adopt better tactics against them."
Anzath nods then motions for the group to spread out around the tree. When the moment to strike is right she looses a bolt at the ground spider.
Talathel draws the string of his longbow, and takes a moment to channel every scrap of lore - and distaste - that he possesses on the larger vermin.
He looses an arrow.
Martial flexibility for Dedicated Adversary - giant spider
Now that he's seen the species of spiders they are up against, Tragershen recalls what he can about them.
Knowledge (nature)
While part of his mind works on that, he watches his allies attacks on the spiders, then hopes to finish one off with arcane missiles.
Trag is watching the others' attacks, then casting magic missiles. He'll target the one that appears to him most grievously wounded. If it falls before he expends all three magic missiles, he'll move on to the next.
Missile one
Missile two
Missile three
Bedlam tosses a Tanglefoot Bomb at the grouping in the trees.
Talathel, Anzath, and two of Tragershen's missiles finish the spider on the ground before it has a chance to register what exactly is happening.
Bedlam's bomb blasts through the silent vale, its echoes dulled by the mist...
The spider that was directly hit dies after Tragershen's final missile arcs into its already wounded carapace.
The others each take some damage, but they avoid the sticky grossness of the tanglemuck.
Tragershen recognizes standard giant spiders, "babies" of the monstrously large ones you fought on the road. Their main weapon is their poisonous bite.
Aurora lofts her holy symbol and utters a prayer to bless her group.
Keeping quiet though the trip and opting to simply listen to others plan. Burning everything down seems like a valid idea though controlling a fire of that size seems like a impossible task... But that is a lot of spiders.