Talathel nods.
"Then we must work out a plan to drive them out. Or to withdraw ourselves. I suggest the former, starting with a great deal of fire.", he replies, looking at Bedlam expectantly.
Bedlam retrieves his heavy pick from the spider--gooed foliage.
"Burning down the forest is likely not going to make us friends."
“Ve should stand back to back,” says Anzath suddenly, preparing another Alchemist’s Fire, “Kasterz stand in middle.”
"The web I created can help guard our flank for the better part of an hour yet. How close are they?"
Anzath's paranoia notwithstanding, the forest's peace is undisturbed.
As you stalk carefully forwards, back to back with casters in the center, you keep your eyes and ears open:
And with so many capable pairs of eyes and ears, you make steady progress without spotting anything too strange, relatively speaking; after all, you're still choosing your steps carefully to avoid the webbed forest floor.
Soon those floor webs peter out a bit. Then, they pick up again. You're smart enough to take extra care, and, peering forward through the gloom, you see--the nest.
An enormous oak, at least four or five hundred years old, stands alone in the center of a clearing. It is almost completely enshrouded with webs. You see the forms of many spiders wandering in the depths of its fell canopy, including a few larger beasts, the size of the ones you encountered on the road.
You also see dangling forms on strings--the five-foot, six-foot version of the wrapped insects in an orb weaver's snare.
They don't seem to have noticed you, yet, but with their hundreds and hundreds of eyes sweeping the woods, someone is bound to see you soon...
Bedlam drinks a second Enlarge Person Extract.
Content to circle around the casters and move as quietly as possible.
Anzath had totally expected to be completely surrounded and ambushed by the spiders, but now, it seems it could be the other way around.
“Vhat If ve burn just one tree?” she supposes to the group.
Making sure to whisper to to Vael and drow sign to the others, Tragershen says "Perhaps fire would work. But we have no idea how far the fire would carry, and what it would destroy. Maybe as a last resort?"
Then he adds "We could advance and try to take them by surprise. If our earlier fight didn't alert them, they may not be on guard here. I could cast a web spell around the trunk of the tree from the ground to the lowest branches; it may ensnare some and slow others, giving us a better chance. They may not even see it amongst their own webbing."
Tragershen sees that many of the larger webbed forms in the tree are indeed humanoid--and he sees that some of them seem to be struggling against the cords of silk.
Mumbling, "I agree about the fire. All I can do is make it darker or run out and get their attention."
"Perhaps hit and run attacks could be effective...if we withdraw swiftly enough. But the terrain favours the arachnids."
"There are living victims in those cocoons. We must act."
Bedlam takes an Alchemists Fire, applies it to his heavy pick, and takes a look at distance to a big one.
Anzath whispers into her bracelet, “Deuz eks draconia.”
She takes one last look at Talathel, then takes aim on the biggest spider form she can find.
Aurora goes ahead and reloads her crossbow in anticipation.
Anzath sorts through all of her potential targets: many, many smaller spiders. A few large ones, like on the road. But peering in through the many strands of webbing, she sees a dark and towering shape that she hopes is just a weird outgrowth of the oak. Sometimes, if a tree loses a branch when young but reaches advanced age, it grows in just such a thick profusion of boughs. But when the cluster moves, she lets all of the air out of her lungs. This is no sigh of fear. The slayer knows that the breathless have the truest aim.
[ooc] Take the shot if you'd like, Anzath! Or tell your friends that you see a single Huge spider at the center of the tree and plan accordingly. [/oooc]
Bedlam would very much like to get close and personal with the Huge Fella!
Anzath exhales, "Hold on to your buttz."
Initiative
Haste crackles across the party--Anzath looses her quarrel--combat begins!
And it's a good thing she waited, as Haste's heightening of her combat abilities allows her to place the shot right on target...
...even though she can't quite make out her foe among the branches, her intuition serves her well.
Three of the smaller spiders scuttle over to see what the commotion's all about. They watch you from their perch on the tree, clearly anticipating some action...
If the Dwarfhulk can get within 10' of the Huge Momma, the smiling dwarf swings his large heavy pick at it!
Talathel meets Anzath's gaze with his own as he draws his longbow and readies himself to skewer spiders.
Bedlam rushes forwards--but the huge spider is still in the enormous oak, so he finds himself at the foot of the tree, facing a wall of webs--he can push through them, but they are difficult terrain for you folks.
The spiders note his approach, and a swarm of the smaller ones gather 'round to try to Web the doughty alchemist. They gather in the tree about 30 feet away (and up):
One of the spiders now has Bedlam on a string--he's entangled, to boot. Literally. There are webs all over his boots.
Anzath begins picking off the smaller ones in Bedlam’s way.
“S%!*!”
Bedlam calmly takes out another vial and begins applying it.
Source PZO9410
This vile-smelling white paste keeps vermin at bay if spread on the skin. Normal-sized (Fine) vermin avoid you. Swarms of vermin must make a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw in order to enter your square. Once applied, vermin repellent remains effective for 4 hours or until you spend 1 round washing it off.
Tragershen sees the huge spider lurking in the tree and closing in. He uses a spell to make sure it hits without hitting any of the riggling cocoons.
Magic missiles, damage
Vael moves into position behind Bedlam, but her longer gait takes her up to the edge of the web in one quick motion. She readies an attack against any spider that should happen to approach.
Huge Momma picks her way through the webs and branches with the grace of an acrobat. Seemingly unconcerned by the assault on her home, she stops to give a quick look at an egg sac's general health before firing a much, much nastier web at Vael. Dinner!
Vael is now as entangled as her companion.
Now that the intruders who have wandered close to the tree are webbed, the rest of the smaller spiders surge forward and down, descending on pearly strands of webbing, fangs ready to inject their prey with deadly poison...
Vael probably lashes out when her readied action triggers... I think she'd swing her new hammer...
Vael's swing misses, alas.
Bedlam and Vael are now surrounded by three medium spiders apiece, though some, coming from around the tree , are out of movement.
Despite the hindering strands, the veteran warriors easily parry these smaller spiders. They've had plenty of time to master the technique, after all.
Aurora takes aim for Big Momma, triggering the lever of her crossbow to send a bolt through the sky.
Aurora proceeds with reloading.
Huge Momma is starting to feel her many injuries...
Two of her progeny slide down from the branches and head towards the the entangled warriors
They position themselves nearby on the ground, but they don't quite have the speed to attack, and I believe that the rest of you are out of their 50 ft web range...
"We shouldn't let them separate us!"
Glaring at the massive spider before swinging at one of the smaller ones.
Talathel switches longbow for branched spear, and resumes slaughtering spiders speedily.
Talathel skewers a medium spider, but it is not dead yet. He places himself strategically to maximize his chances to get AOOs from any bugs that might head his way (other than the one that he just stabbed).
Three horse-sized spiders similar to the ones you fought on the road move to attack the heroes. One heads towards each. Tal's spear flashes in an attack of opportunity, wounding the one that rears above him, a familiar, awful feeling...
Then, they bite.
The rest of the babies gather around in the tree above and, noticing that he is not yet webbed, they shower Talathel with sticky doom from 20 feet away and up in the branches:
The elf twists and turns through the fusillade of silken strands, slapping some aside with his spear, dodging others--but eventually, one snares him.
The rest scramble forward to the attack
Everyone in melee gets an additional medium spider in their laps. Tal gets two.
Talathel feels the familiar sensation of being bit by a spider. Venom flows into his bloodstream.
[ooc] Bedlam may act, and if the action above was your action, I'll keep the game rolling soon! Gotta go work a bit.
Bites! Bites for all the good folk in melee! Five bites, this time Tal gets the extra bite off. But he also gets to stab that mofo.
Tal gets yet another AOO:
...yeah, that one is toast! Yay! A spider is dead! It also means we can disregard the bite vs. Tal above.
Vael is less lucky: a bite gets through.
She fends off the poison with the power of faith in fiery vengeance.
Anzath tells Aurora and Tragershen to keep shooting the big ones before she charges into the mass of spiders.
Anzath lashes out at the spider confronting Talathel, wounding it with the violet violence of Kritfisher.
Much as she wants to be free of the webbing that would leave Bedlam and Talathel alone in the swarm of spiders. "Do we all want to stay here and leave the other three out there?"
[dice=2d6+4[/dice]