The two swarms of smaller wasps vanish under the latest rain of stones; but the larger wasps are above the lithic storm.
A wasp falls to the archer's volley, and another in the dog-fight in the sky.
Caillus and Arioch strike at the giant spider!
Caillus' strike severs a leg, but Arioch's is deflected.
The enormous spider seems to let out a shriek so high pitched it can barely be heard, only felt. It rears up and snaps down on Caillus.
... but misses him by a few inches.
The wounds on its body visibly start healing.
The wasps in the sky dart back towards the tree.
Seeing the wasps retreat, Grey redirects his own swarm before they could follow.
"Let them go. Focus on the spider."
Grey himself stepped up behind one of his archers, sending a surge of bolstering energy into it.
The zomBees raise up, and then come down on the spider from above!
Grey's bolstering has great effect, as that is the only skeleton to successfully hit... but even that arrow shivers to nothing against the exoskeleton of the enormous spider.
On the other hand four of the attacking ZomBees strike home, albeit to less effect than one would expect.
Denat raises his hand and unleashes a bolt of acid on the spider.
The acid hits and starts to dissolve the spider.
Anglon steps forward and strikes at the spider.
Simon Tries to Fires at the spider again
Ranged touch "Kindness"
Angling around the others to gain a clearer line of attack against the spider, Arioch lashes at it with his whip.
Simon easily hits the spider, but the tiny piece of lead does no appreciable damage.
Anglon's strike misses as the cdreature suddenly blurs into motion to dodge it.
Arioch's whip is unable to penetrate the thick exoskeleton of the Spider
Taerine takes advantage of the spider's distraction to cast Haste
haste
Caillus also strikes - but to no avail. His second strike - with the aid of Taerine's magic - strikes home.
Under the influence of Taerine's spell and inspired by Arioch Thkrull throws himself on the giant spider, biting clawing and savaging in a fury.
Fragments of exoskeleton are ripped apart, whole limbs torn asunder, and slowly Thkrull burrows into the underside of the spider's body. The spider jerks convulsively, falls to the side and its remaining legs clutch reflexively together.
The statue atop the spider detaches - presumably shaken loose in the convulsions - and falls to the ground between Grey and the spider.
Appraise
Perception
Religion
It looks like a statue of a demon. Something related to Jubilex I suspect. Also look at the cracks along the torso (pointing). They look like spider webs.
Players are up.
Turning to Pikmik, Arioch points to the statue, querying. "האם ש הישן Sharptooth?"
Coming out from cover the ambassador looks at the statue carefully.
"זה נראה כמו שיניים שארפ ישנות ... אבל גדול יותר.
הרבה יותר גדול."
"It looks like Old Sharp Tooth... but bigger.
Much bigger."
"I'm confused. Is that the statue we're after or not?"
Denat looks at the statue and then at Molly.
"The ambassador says it looks like the statue we are looking for but much bigger. So is the statue growing bigger ? or is that another one ? I can't say which idea I find the most disturbing... "
"If the statue itself is growing, it should possess some manner of dweomer about it." Arioch posits, frowning intently as he examines the object in question.
Grey takes a moment to adjust the formation of his undead troops, setting them in a line, with the bees above, to protect the living.
For the moment he let the others hypothesize about the nature of the statue. He didn't have enough information yet to advise them.
You have seen something like this before - you know you have. It was in an historical lesson about the Geb-Nex wars.
Aha! Geb turned an entire army into statues. Neither dead nor alive they cannot be raised or reincarnated, yet they are no threat. It seems some variation on that spell has been used, probably with a secondary effect to shrink the resultant item for easy storage.
The item likely is not a statue of a demon as much as it is a demon.
And if damaged sufficiently it is quite possible whatever is inside it will be trying to destroy the spell as you stand here...
Arioch's eyes grow wide in alarm. "Whatever you do, don't endanger that statue!" He cautions, urgently.
Hmm - sorry was not clear.
If the spell has already been damaged sufficiently that aspects of it have started to fail then Currently whatever is inside might be trying to break out.
It did just go through several rains of stone.
How your mind recognises the deformed being well enough to identify it from the plethora of demonic bestiraries you aren't sure, but this you identify as Hasathorex, lesser spawn of Jubilex. Hasathorex is a deformed humanoid reminiscent of an Ettercap, rumoured to be relatively physically weak but extraordinarily talented in sorcerous arts - especially the warping of insects and plagues.
Hasathorex vanished nearly a thousand years ago.
Gun in hand, Simon Says, "For $%^&*'s sake, What now?"
"It's not a statue of a Demon." Arioch replies as he cracks his whip, taking a guard stance directed toward the statue. "It's an actual demon. The dweomer containing it is failing!"
"Any chance we can repair it? Failing that, can we destroy it without releasing whatever is inside that thing?"
"I fear that wishful thinking has sufficed to render me unclear in my statement. It's the Herald of a Demon Lord & "
"I fear that wishful thinking has sufficed to render me unclear in my statement. It's the Herald of a Demon Lord & "
"Great. So we try to blast it and if we can't run away. Sounds like a plan to me."
Denat stays silent, listening to the others.
"Maybe we should get rid of those wasps first. I don't think we want to see insects near that thing if.. when it breaks free."
It could be Hasathorex, lesser spawn of Jubilex. Hasathorex is a deformed humanoid reminiscent of an Ettercap, rumoured to be relatively physically weak but extraordinarily talented in sorcerous arts - especially the warping of insects and plagues.
Hasathorex vanished nearly a thousand years ago.
"I say we deal with this here and now." Simon points his revolver at the statue, but does not fire. Instead he looks to his companions for signs that they agree or disagree.
"Agreed."
Never one to need much encouragement Simon pulls the trigger.
As Simon's shot rings out the statue shivers, flakes exploding off it but disintegrating as they fly till a few feet away only gritty dust strikes Simon.
Within the statue is a human-sized cocoon of silk, wrapped around a body. Instantly the statue is destroyed it starts moving as thousands - millions - of tiny spiders crawl over it.
"AREA SPELLS!" Simon Yells then casts Flaming Sphere
+50% = 13 DMG
Swarm Subtype
A swarm is a collection of Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creatures that acts as a single creature. A swarm has the characteristics of its type, except as noted here. A swarm has a single pool of Hit Dice and hit points, a single initiative modifier, a single speed, and a single Armor Class. A swarm makes saving throws as a single creature. A single swarm occupies a square (if it is made up of nonflying creatures) or a cube (of flying creatures) 10 feet on a side, but its reach is 0 feet, like its component creatures. In order to attack, it moves into an opponent’s space, which provokes an attack of opportunity. A swarm can occupy the same space as a creature of any size, since it crawls all over its prey. A swarm can move through squares occupied by enemies and vice versa without impediment, although the swarm provokes an attack of opportunity if it does so. A swarm can move through cracks or holes large enough for its component creatures.
A swarm of Tiny creatures consists of 300 nonflying creatures or 1,000 flying creatures. A swarm of Diminutive creatures consists of 1,500 nonflying creatures or 5,000 flying creatures. A swarm of Fine creatures consists of 10,000 creatures, whether they are flying or not. Swarms of nonflying creatures include many more creatures than could normally fit in a 10-foot square based on their normal space, because creatures in a swarm are packed tightly together and generally crawl over each other and their prey when moving or attacking. Larger swarms are represented by multiples of single swarms. The area occupied by a large swarm is completely shapeable, though the swarm usually remains in contiguous squares.
Traits: A swarm has no clear front or back and no discernible anatomy, so it is not subject to critical hits or flanking. A swarm made up of Tiny creatures takes half damage from slashing and piercing weapons. A swarm composed of Fine or Diminutive creatures is immune to all weapon damage. Reducing a swarm to 0 hit points or less causes it to break up, though damage taken until that point does not degrade its ability to attack or resist attack. Swarms are never staggered or reduced to a dying state by damage. Also, they cannot be tripped, grappled, or bull rushed, and they cannot grapple an opponent.
A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms) if the swarm has an Intelligence score and a hive mind. A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells.
Swarms made up of Diminutive or Fine creatures are susceptible to high winds, such as those created by a gust of wind spell. For purposes of determining the effects of wind on a swarm, treat the swarm as a creature of the same size as its constituent creatures. A swarm rendered unconscious by means of nonlethal damage becomes disorganized and dispersed, and does not reform until its hit points exceed its nonlethal damage.
Table: Swarm Damage by Size
Swarm HD Swarm Base Damage
1–5 1d6
6–10 2d6
11–15 3d6
16–20 4d6
21 or more 5d6
Swarm Attack: creatures with the swarm subtype don’t make standard melee attacks. Instead, they deal automatic damage to any creature whose space they occupy at the end of their move, with no attack roll needed. Swarm attacks are not subject to a miss chance for concealment or cover. A swarm’s stat block has “swarm” in the Melee entries, with no attack bonus given.
The amount of damage a swarm deals is based on its Hit Dice, as shown on Table: Swarm Damage by Size.
A swarm’s attacks are nonmagical, unless the swarm’s description states otherwise. Damage reduction sufficient to reduce a swarm attack’s damage to 0, being incorporeal, or other Special Abilities usually give a creature immunity (or at least resistance) to damage from a swarm. Some swarms also have acid, blood drain, poison, or other special attacks in addition to normal damage.
Swarms do not threaten creatures, and do not make attacks of opportunity with their swarm attack. However, they distract foes whose squares they occupy, as described below.
Swarms possess the distraction ability. Spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a caster level check (DC 20 + spell level). Using skills that involve patience and concentration requires a DC 20 Will save.
Grey was a bit concerned. He was rather unprepared for dealing with demons. Luckily some spells were quite versatile. He stepped back and began casting, giving only a quiet "Kill that." command to his skeletal minions.
Denat winks at Grey.
"Better ask them to fall back for a while"
After that, he opens a pit lined with pikes under the cocoon.
Simon's fireball engulfs the coocoon which burns away. Spiders still trapped in the cocoon seem to shriek as their lives are extinguished.
Insider the cocoon is a single figure - human in height but proportioned like a dwarf, multiple spider-like legs as well as almost normal-looking arms. The head bears 8 eyes. Other detail is covered as a few hundred still remaining insects of various types swarm over its body - seeming to bud off the repulsive creature.
Two arrows hit the now-revealed creature, but it does not seem unduly bothered. The melee skeleton charges in and is ignored.
Suddenly the ground drops away, and the creature, flame ball and skeleton vanish downward.