Yirrik and Perfire burn enough webs that Wymond is freed.
Hmmm...
Seeing no other way to help, Ilya opens the door in front of her, revealing a long corridor.
Massive black iron gates bar the corridor, fashioned out of twisted, angular vertical bars that have sharp edges and are about a handspan apart, linked by welded crossbars. The gates have massive hinges set deep into the walls, and a heavy lock inside a welded box secures sliding bars that run into sockets in the floor and ceiling at the center of the corridor. Moreover, a black iron chain with links as thick as a human thumb wraps around the gates where they meet above and below the lockbox.
The chain’s ends disappear into holes in the lockbox.
The spider scuttles down into view and lunges at Yirrick, sinking its fangs into his arm.
INITIATIVE ORDER:
Perfire
Spider
Wymond
Yirrik (6 damage, poisoned?)
Ilya
Wymond takes a mighty swing at the spider with his bardiche! And only succeeds in taking a chunk out of the corner wall!
;
Perfire draws and loads his sling, deciding that the risk of hitting his allies with fire was too high.
Yirrik tries to back away from the spider, but it was too quick, and once again he feel the sharp fangs sink into his flesh and the too familiar burning of the venom coursing into his arm...
"GAH!!!" he exclaims, "Not again! "
He shakes his arm violently, then swings his sword and the arachnid..
"I told you these things aren't cute puppies, Yirrik! Stop treatin' 'em like 'em!" Wymond says.
While Yirrik loads his sling, his three companions all attack the huge spider. It dodges away from both Yirrik's and Wymond's attack but runs smack into Ilya's slashing falcata. Piping and whistling in anger, the thing tries to bite the Abadarian priestess but she nimbly dances back out of its reach.
INITIATIVE ORDER:
Perfire
Spider (4 damage)
Wymond
Yirrik (6 damage, -1 STR, poisoned)
Ilya
Perfire sets his sling to whirring, attempting to take careful aim at the 8-legged attacker.
Wymond takes another swing at the spider.
;
His sword feeling a little bit heavier as the spider's venom does it's work, Yirrik grimaces at Wymond's gibe, "I never said they were like puppies!!" he hisses through clenched teeth, swinging his blade at dangerous but still fascinating arachnid.
Yirrik slices his blade across one of the exposed forelimbs of the spider, severing a claw. The creature twists out of the way of Ilya's attack, then bites down on Ilya's shoulder.
INITIATIVE ORDER:
Perfire
Spider (7 damage)
Wymond
Yirrik (6 damage, -1 STR, poisoned)
Ilya (3 damage, -1 STR, poisoned)
'Sorry!' Perfire shouts as his slingstone bounces off of the wall next to Yirrik's head. He loads another stone and takes his time to line his shot up.
Wymond takes another crack at hitting the spider.
;
Yirrik grins as his blade strikes true, but he couldn't put any strength behind the blow.
Drawing his sword back, he gives his arm a good shake,the rush of blood seems to put off any further effects of the poison.
Emboldened, Yirrik dances forward to strike again!
With a storm of blades and stone, the team attacks the huge spider. Yirrik and Perfire each wound it slightly and it tries to seize Wymond in its poisonous jaws but fails.
INITIATIVE ORDER:
Perfire
Spider (11 damage)
Wymond
Yirrik (6 damage, -1 STR)
Ilya (3 damage, -1 STR)
Wymond tries to land a hit on the spider AGAIN!
;
Perfire whirls and looses another stone at the spider.
Giving his arm another shake, trying to liven it's deadened flesh, Yirrik bounds forward to strike at the spider once again...
With a mighty heave, Wymond slams home his bardiche into neck of the great spider, cleaving its ugly head from its abdomen. It fell wetly to the ground, drumming its legs on the stone for several seconds before it curled up and was still.
COMBAT OVER
'I've had just about enough of spiders. Anyone feel like going toe to toe with grulk again?' Perfire reattaches his sling to his belt.
Yirrik leans against the nearby wall, and slides down to sit on the floor. Letting out a deep breath he looks sideways at Perfire, "Not really." he says with a smile.
"How're ye holdin' up, Yirrik? You've had some nasty luck with these things lately."
He shoulders his bardiche and grimaces, his mustache bristling.
"I think I've had about enough of this place," says Ilya. She then prays to Abadar to heal your wounds. Obedient to the commands of the Judge of the gods, your wounds close and your bruises heal.
INITIATIVE ORDER:
Perfire
Spider (1 damage)
Wymond
Yirrik (-1 STR)
Ilya (-1 STR)
Yirrik sighs as Ilya's healing washes over him, holding his arm out and watching as the blotches skin and twin fang marks fade.
He winces as he gets back up, "Better...thanks, Ilya, but not whole."
He rolls his shoulder and neck, working a few kinks out, the lets out a breath, "Let's not venture down that hole just yet, we've got a crazy wizard to take care of."
He steps to the entrance of the new passage, "Come let's not tarry..", and set of slowly, checking for any more of those nasty pits...
"Lead the way, Yirrik. An' don't pet any spiders," Wymond says, smirking a bit at his own joke before Triath admonishes him with a curt grunt.
'And hopefully we can find something I can be of more help with. I have trouble with spiders and other mindless beasts.' Perfire retrieves his torch and waves it around burning a bit more webbing for good measure.
Aaaand that's when the next spider rushes out of the mass of webs to the south and attacks!
Initiative Order
Yirrik
Wymond
Perfire
Spider
Ilya
Remembering his vision earlier, and having a clear shot, Perfire digs out an alchemist's fire and takes aim at the spider. He steps forwards and hurls the flask at the arachnid.
"Oh BLAST it, here we go again!" Wymond complains as the new spider emerges and he prepares for battle again.
He clomps forward, pushing past Yirrik and Perfire to swing his bardiche at the bugger silently praying to Erastil that he wouldn't be such an embarrassment as in the last fight.
;
Perfire hurls the alchemist's fire, which splashes all over the spider, burning merrily. Then Wymond slashes his bardiche across the monster's fleshy undercarriage.
Careful to avoid Wymond's bardiche, Yirrick darts forward with sword and axe....
The moon spider's foray into the room was short-lived as Wymond, Perfire and Yirrik slash, stab and burn it to death before it can even react to their presence.
The quartet of heroes look at each other, listening for more attackers, but hear none.
”FINALLY I make myself useful!” Wymond says gruffly.
”I think that’s the last of ‘em. Shall we take a loot around the room now that we’ve cleared it proper?”
'We're getting better at killing them, at least.' Perfire retrieves a torch and begins clearing webbing.
You hear a muffled sound somewhere nearby...somewhere just above your heads.
The webs shudder and shake as the muffled sound gets louder...
Wymond barely pays attention to the sound, but Triath immediately squeals loudly and points his snout at the webs on the ceiling.
"Deadeye's bodkins, really?!" Wymond exclaims.
He looks where his pig is pointing and cups his hands around his mouth.
"OI! If ye can hear me, hold still! I'm gonna try an' cut ye down!"
He grips his bardiche and attempts to cut the webbing in a way that avoids hurting whoever is up there, and so they can hopefully get down without falling and getting hurt.
Lilika strains her hearing through the webs to try to figure out what's being said...
The webs stop moving in response to Wymond's shouting.
Please don't miss, please don't miss, please don't miss...
Lilika holds very still as the webs begin to shake and a blade starts to cut her down.
Hold still, hold still, hold still...
Getting stabbed is better than suffocating and being eaten by spiders.... I hope...
Perfire watches as Wymond works at the webbing, absentmindedly floating the torch around the area burning webs away from the trapped person.
'I could try to burn them out.'
Wymond pulls and tugs at the cocoon, but the strands won't separate. He sawsat the silk with his knife and manages to get a grip on a hank of webbing he manages to wrench away, revealing the face of a woman. She doesn't look terribly healthy, but she is alive. Her face looks puffy and pale and she gasps for air.
Freeing her requires another several minutes of joint effort.
Lilika gasps for air, drawing in deep, greedy breaths. Her skin has a grey pallor, her hair is stark white and her eyes are wide and pale blue. Her pointed ears reveal her to be a half-elf.
"Help... me... out..." she wheezes between gasps.
As she finally falls free from the webbing, she lands on the ground with a loud THUMP! She coughs for a while, then groans and rolls over, looking up at her saviours from the ground.
"Thank you," she says--voice still raw from being suffocated in the spiderwebs.
The woman stands and brushes the webs off of herself, then pats her body in a panic. "It's gone!" she exclaims. "My things are all gone." Suddenly she winces in pain and clutches at her head.
She looks in confusion at the spider webs for a moment, muttering to herself before finally exclaiming: "Bandits! I remember bandits! THEY robbed me... not the spider. The bandits and then..." She holds her hand to her head for a bit, seemingly in pain. "They took me underground.... and I fled up... up to the spiders..." She looks around slowly then nods.
"Yes. That's it. Sorry. I was a bit confused there for a while... But I... I remember now." She clears her throat and holds out a hand to the group, starting with Wymond.
"I'm Lilika. Thank you all for saving me. I owe you."
"Where, uh... Where are we?"
Wymond listens and nods as Lilika describes her circumstances, then extends a handshake.
”Ye owe me nothin’, Lilika. I’d do the same fer anyone stuck down here needin’ help. My name’s Wymond, Wymond Dwerryhouse. I’m a hedge knight in Erastil’s service.”
Then Triath trots up and snuffles Lilika’s hand gently.
”And this ‘ere’s Triath. You’ll not find a wiser pig in the whole of the River Kingdoms! As for where we are, we’re underneath the Emerald Spire. Us lot came down here to explore the place.”
He takes out his waterskin and offers it to her with a warm smile.
”I got some dried meat in my pack too, if’n yer hungry.”
"We're IN the Emerald Spire?" she asks.
Suddenly her eyes widen. "We're in the Emerald Spire!" she repeats more forcefully.
A smile makes its way across her face.
"Good."
She nods at Wymond and then Triath, seemingly not treating the pig any different than she does Wymond. She thinks for a while, eventually saying "Pleased to meet you."
At the offer of food Lilika nods gratefully. "Oh, yes!" Lilika drinks greedily from the waterskin and shoves the dried meat into her mouth, chewing frantically.
"Mmm," she mutters through her full mouth. "Fank oo!"
As she finishes the food--in record time--she wipes a hand across her mouth and repeats. "Thank you," much more clearly this time.
Lilika turns and starts digging around through the webs. Eventually she comes up with a dirty looking shortsword. She gives it a swing and shrugs. "It'll do."
After the others introduce themselves, Lilika asks:
"What are you doing in the Emerald Spire? I hear it is a much feared place."
Wymond waits for Lilika to finish before taking his pack and waterskin back.
"Well, I'm here mainly to keep these folks from getting eaten by whatever gribbly monsters we find down here, and make sure said gribbly monsters don't get up to cause trouble for innocent folk on the surface. Yirrik's kinda the leader here, since he's the one most interested in the Spire, an' it sounds like the two of you'll get along, since you seem pretty interested in it too."