Roga will spur his horse towards the massive arachnid, bringing his lance to bear.
Sergei dismounts from the horse and grabs the reins tightly. He curses, and holds his fire since he can't shoot without the risk of hitting Nerath.
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Inuki's voice rings in your ears, inspiring you to new heights.
Roga nearly drops his lance as he moves to strike the Spider. Jutmon's Magical missile flies true as always, but its effects appear minimal.
The spider rears and turns, charging at the only person who was able to harm him.
Sticky webs fly from the spinnerets, entangling .
Cursing as he rides past the arachnid, Roga wheels midnight about and charges the spider, lowering his lance to impale it as he approaches.
Sergei didn't have much of choice. He moved in close enough to make the pistol the most effective while he drew out his throwing axe. He took aim against the spider and hoped for the best.
Continuing his rousing speech, Inuki draws his rapier and charges at the spider.
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Nareth the priest lashes out at the spider who caused him such trouble with his spiked chain. The savage spikes tearing visciously throught the glossy black carapace. The savage wound provides some solace (Fort. ) though the feat is slightly diminished by the continuance of the foul poison. Sergei moves swiftly ten feet closer to the giant spider, drawing his axe in one fluid movement as the levels his pistol and fires. The multi tasking proves to be efficient, however; connects, the molten lead ball leaving the stench of sulfur and a black smoke in its wake.
As the Spider crumples the the ground the fearless bard charges in with his rapier, . The carapice, damaged as it is, proves too solid for the light blade, and the rapier flexes slightly before glancing up and off the spider. Roga wheels his horse around, and charges in the tip of his lance gleaming in the early afternoon light. . Sadly the glare from the bright white snow and the unsure icy footing proves too much for the noble steed, and the horse is unable to wheel and get within range.
As the party regroups to continue the fight, it becomes apparent that the spider has made its last hinting attempt, the long legs twitching in the snow.
Thirty feet the the west lies the opening to the spider's nest.
You are almost certain that this type of spider is a solo hunter, and male. Therefore there is little to no chance that a mate, being well outside of breeding season, or brood, because it is a male, be inside its nest. There is a decent chance that any remains of the creatures past hunting attempt's will be inside the nest.
Jutmon sighs with relief. Stuck in the sticky mass of webs, he would have been an easy target for the spider's venomous mandibles.
Now he struggles to break free. A little help here, please.
Roga will ride over and cut away the webbing from Jutmon with the tip of his lance. "There ya go buddy."
Inuki, ears still ringing from the pistol blast, checks if anyone is seriously injured before going to investiate the spider's lair (in kitsune form).
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Inuki emerges from the lair, grateful to be back in the fresh air, with a short sword, another stag amulet, and 10 gold. "I guess these bandits are not immune to spiders. Anybody need a sword?"
Jutmon saves a few scraps of the webbing for his component pouch. "That went well, all things considered.
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As you prepare to leave, a swarm of thousands of small skittering spiders erupt from the spiders lair. Moving slowly like a black carpet approximately ten feet across, the wave of tiny creatures begin scuttling your direction.
"Hey, there's a scroll in those spiders!"
Sergei almost jumped back as the spider's erupted. "I hate spiders! He only had one option as he held tight to the reins of his horse he grab the alchemist fire from his belt. "Move back." He gives the vial of volatile material a toss at the spider swarm.
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The vial flies wide, landing with a small plop sound as the vial impacts the soft snow. The vial remains perfectly intact as it sinks into a small snow drift.
The carpet of spiders continues its jerky, awkward, and silent advance.
Sergei blinks several times as he watches the spiders, "I am not certain we are seeing things correctly. Be cautious but I think magic is at play. I can hear that same mirthful laughter as in the woods. I think someone is talking to someone and playing with us..."
"We know your spiders aren't real. May as well show yourself!"
Jutmon looks around trying to spot their tormentors. He tries to understand the illusion as well. A scroll carried on the back of illusion seems to be a rather exotic sort of magic. Of course, Jutmon is intrigued.
Inuki backs away as quickly as possible, trying to stay out of reach of the swarm.
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The paper bears a simple drawing of a claw-shaped dead tree atop an otherwise barren hill, with an “X” in blood scrawled by the tree’s roots.
A strong north wind begins kicking up as you continue your south westerly trek. Large wet flakes fall from the low hanging grey sky throughout the day, slowing your progress considerably as those on foot have to push through knee deep snow. Although the horse can take the lead, and break trail, even the cavalier's beloved mount quickly grows weary and tired.
Darkness begins to fall, and it becomes necessary to make camp.
Sergei and Roga are able to dig into the snow deeply enough to keep away all but the worst of the wind. The face of the rocky crag gives way to a dark cave, approximately thirty feet in diameter. Stretching several green pine boughs across the entrance keeps the majority of the snow out, and a cheery fire provides much needed warmth. The walls seem to twinkle and glow in the dim firelight.
Sitting near the fire, Inuki tells a fanciful tale of a daring thief who was searching for a cave of wonders. When he discovered it, the walls were sparkling with gold and it was full of treasure. Inuki grandly gestures around the cave. "There are no treasures here but I do believe those are flecks of gold. Perhaps we might find a concentrated seam that would be feasible for mining in the future?"
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Watch 2
Watch 1
Watch 2
Watch 3
Watch 1
vs.
Watch 1
Watch 2
Watch 3
Waking to take the third and final watch, Roga is startled to note that the skin tones of the party are slightly different than when everyone went to sleep last night. Inuki is now a near fluorescent yellow, Jutmon is hot pink in color, Nareth is a deep violet, and Sergei is bright red. Looking around, he manages to notice a small cricket like being with a humanoid torso. The gold skinned silver haired "woman" is rolling around laughing hysterically. As he looks down at his own hand, Roga realizes that he is now a vivid shade of orange, nearly glowing in the fire light.
Not realizing yet that she has been spotted, the grig begins casting another spell. Before your eyes, Inuki's skin color changes again, this time to a deep midnight black, causing the grig to again burst into peels of laughter.
Roga clears his throat loudly. "Excuse me, I'll admit that's quite funny." he says trying not to laugh, "But could you please leave us alone?"
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The grig looks up at you, taking a moment to figure out how to respond, "Sorry, it has been.. eighty or so cycles since I last spoke common, so forgive me if I am a little slow. I could leave you alone, but what would that get me? I am happy to trick your friends, they never see anything. Maybe you have a shiny, or something pretty to trade for me to leave you? Maybe I follow you and bring luck. It depends. Winter is cold and boring."
To Nareth: "You are right of course. Yet, my research into matters, arcane, is a costly one. It needs funding, not with happy thoughts, but with cold, hard cash."
Later: Jutmon is wakened by Roga and the grig's voices. Slightly groggy, he takes a moment to realize what is the matter. Then he notices his rainbow hued companions, and bursts out laughing. "Nareth my friend, I do believe you are a fine shade of purple."
Jutmon wheezes and catches his breath. "Ah, priceless."
The pink hued Wizard grows serious as he wonders what sort of trinket might satisfy the mischievous fey. the really don't have that many shiny items, that can be spared. Perhaps one of the Stag Lord amulets.
"Do you like gold?"
Inuki is roused by the laughter and talk and takes a minute to figure out what is going on. He is curious about the strange being. "Do you know any stories or songs? I would trade you this stag amulet for a new story or song."
Sergei wakes up for a moment and grumbles about it not being his watch before he rolls back over. Just a few minutes and he is snoozing away again as if the existence of the grig didn't register with him...
Inuki grins and claps along, trying to fuly take in the wondrous music.
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Looking incredulously at Nareth, the small fey fidgets too and fro for a moment.
Seeming to sense the lack of joy or amusement, the Grig vanishes.
(+16 base, +20 Invisibility).
Perception DC 15, 20, 37
Peeking around the cave, you spot no sign of the small creature.