"Are you OK, Aiyana," Daehalya asks with concern. "That was bright even for me, so if you need a few moments to recover..."
"No...I...I...I'm fine..." Aiyana waves away Daehalya's concern, still shading her eyes with her hand. Even as she pulls back, it's clear that the caligni doesn't quite have her bearings, nearly stumbling as she blindly tries to follow everyone past the stone guardians and to the precipice of the secret door. "What is it? What do you see on the other side?"
"Does anyone know what kind of creatures those are?....It could give us an idea of how powerful the Reborn are."
Crossing the doorway and entering the room, Ailis kneels down closer to the withered, contorted bodies of the spiders. To her trained eye, they appear to be nothing more than giant vermin, a common enough threat in any number of tombs and dark caverns which she's explored over the years. These appear to have died as a result of some kind of intense surge of planar energies, possibly a wave of extreme cold drawn from the Plane of Shadow.
Somewhere in the dark, beyond the reach of your feeble light sources, everyone hears a sound that can only be described as skittering...as if dozens of tiny creatures caused a small landslide of dirt and rock rustling and shifting together. And, almost in response, another similar sound echoes from elsewhere in the dark. And then, another...possibly from...overhead? Strained silence follows.
Lesska nods to Bastian's suggestion for a possible redoubt, a grim smile on her face.
"And what made those noises I wonder...?!?" hisses Lesska, her eyes scanning the ceiling, where the noises most lately emanated.
I’d rather not stay to find out...let’s move.
"Agreed," Daehalya says. "Hopefully our light keeps whatever's making that noise away from us..."
More rustling sounds echo across the chamber, but nothing has yet appeared within the dim nimbus of light you carry with you. The only obvious exit...i.e., the one unimpeded by any kind of webbing like the niches further south and east...is a single hallway to the west.
"Should we go that way?" Aiyana asks, her vision finally clearing enough for her to see into the room better. "I don't like the looks of anything else here. Those dead spiders are...aaaccckkk!!!"
::thwiiip!::
The caligni's speech is interrupted as a strand of webbing is fired at her from somewhere above, covering her head, face, and shoulders...and muffling her high-pitched curses. Perhaps even more alarming, she's lifted partially into the air, just a few feet off the floor, as if something hiding in the shadows above is attempting to pull her up.
At the same time, a true horror finally shuffles into the light, closing on Ailis. It appears to be the desiccated husk of another giant spider, but with thousands of smaller ones already spilling from its body and crawling over, under, and around it...many of them already scuttling across the dwarven Pathfinder's boots. More of the tiny vermin also fall among the party, dropping from above...and some even scramble along the strand of webbing that binds Aiyana in an effort to reach her!
HP 41
AC 25, touch 20, flat-footed 22, CMD 22
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +7; +2 vs. enchantment
Effects: mage armor
Magic; arcane bond 0/1; blinding darkness 1/8
4th--resilient sphere (DC 19) [x], shadow conjuration (DC 20) [], shadow dragon aspect (DC 20) [], shadowform (DC 21) []
3rd--communal resist energy [x], daylight [], dispel magic [], major image (DC 19) [], slow (DC 18) [x]
2nd-- glitterdust (DC 18) [x], darkvision [x][x], tenebrous searching shadows (DC 20) [], umbral weapon []
1st--color spray (DC 17) [], feather fall [], grease (DC 17) [], mage armor [x], shadow trap (DC 18) [], tenebrous shadow trap (DC 19) [x], shadowfade []
0 (at will)—flare (DC 15), dancing lights, detect magic, read magic, ghost sound
"Look out," Daehalya calls as she realizes the horror is there and tries to figure out what it is.
Retreating away from it , she casts a spell, a spray of glittering dust coating the arachnid.
Bastian looks towards the ceiling, scanning for the hidden foe.
Though the air shimmers with dazzling particles of dust, the spider seems undeterred and its mandibles continue to reach for Ailis.
Daehalya:
Bastian looks towards the ceiling, scanning for the hidden foe.
Bastian:
Meanwhile, Zyler draws back from the fray, his eyes wide as he sees the horror menacing Ailis. He draws forth a wand and mumbles a magical phrase of self-preservation, slowly fading from sight as he turns invisible.
GRAB HER! Cut the web before she gets pulled up! Bastian cries out and surges forward to grasp Aiyana with a strong arm.
Lydia starts as the webbing ensanres Aiyana and starts to yank her up. The inquisitor boldly presents her holy symbol of Desna. "Song of the Spheres, grant your freedom unto us!" Dazzling motes of starlight appear around the half-elf!
A starry reflection of the power of Lydia's patron, the goddess Desna, envelops Aiyana. Small lights twinkle like tiny stars across the webbing coating the caligni's face, peeling away the strands until she falls loosely back to the ground. Caught off balance, she tumbles and lands on her backside, but seems clearly relieved to be free.
In the meantime, the oncoming spider snaps at Ailis...
The creature's mandibles bite deeply through the dwarf's armor and a multitude of tiny spiders crawl from its maw and onto her, as well, attempting to swarm over her.
From above, another hulking shape pulls itself free of the web-filled niche, frustrated that its prey has somehow escaped. It scurries down the back wall of the chamber to come alongside Bastian where he's attempting to help Aiyana up. In his moment of distraction, it too moves in for a bite.
Its mandibles close around his midsection, squeezing the breath from him as a similar swarm of spiders begins to crawl over him. Some even fall down upon Aiyana and she kicks and slaps at them in an effort to pull away.
Lastly, a third figure pulls its bulk out of a web-filled niche from the southeast side of the room, drawn to the sounds of combat. Its desiccated body trembles on spindly legs as it heaves itself along, nearly dragging across the chamber's uneven floor. Sighting Daehalya, it spits a strand of webbing her way.
The sticky string strikes her with a wet smack, knocking her back a foot or so before it pulls taut. The multiple undead eyes of the spider look dispassionately at her as the creature's forelimbs begin gathering up the strand in preparation for hauling her in...but then the residual power of Lydia's divine plea takes effect and the webbing falls away, freeing the elf before she faces a grisly fate.
Lesska sees Ailis attacked, then Bastian ambushed from above and finally Daehalya pulled toward a third dead spider before the elf is released by Lydia's magicks, even as their new companion Zyler disappears. Torn between her loyalty to her firmest friend, assisting the brave warrior or negating the further threat Lesska decides she wants to see no further party members stolen, charging at the far spider.
[+8 BAB, +3 Str, +1 weapon focus +1 close at hand, +3 charge due to Banner]
[+ 4 THF Str]
Back, you filthy beast. Chew on this... Bastian snarls and hammers the spider that attacked him with a couple of solid strikes.
Suetonius draws a wand, and prays to his Goddess.
"May the Blessings of Black Butterfly be upon us, in our time of need."
With no one supporting her, Ailis tumbles away from the horrible creature that she is engaged with, doing a sort of leap-into-a-roll, ending up nearer to Bastian. In the name of focused fire, she brings her maulaxe to bear against the same spider that he fights...
Rather than draw the attacking spider's attention by standing up next to Bastian and Ailis, Aiyana starts crawling away from the horrific creature.
"Aaaaghhh! Get them off me! Get'em off!" she screams as more spiders rain down across her back.
She swats and smashes some of them crawling alongside her as she moves back to the secret door. Then, upon regaining her feet, she starts searching through her belongings for something to aid everyone, still slapping away the occasional spider clinging to her.
"This way!" she calls out, trying to shade her eyes within the greenish glare of the room where the Gozreh statues stand guard, "Lure them in here!"
Lesska avoids the spider Ailis left behind and, confident Bastian and her friend can handle the one by the door, she charges the new one that appeared across the room. Her blow is successful, carving a meager line of damage across the desiccated exoskeleton. Bastian and Ailis inflict a bit more damage on the spider that had threatened Aiyana, smashing and slashing with great effect. All three warriors, however, find the tinier spiders are starting to swarm over them.
The sensation of the spiders crawling over everyone (and under their armor) threatens to overwhelm the senses, leaving you sick to your stomachs. At the same time, the stinging bites begin to have an immediate weakening effect on Lesska and Ailis as poison begins to race through them.
GM Notes:
"Desna!" Lydia cries, infusing her weapon with holy energy. She moves to flank the most damaged deathweb and slashes with her blade!
HP 41
AC 25, touch 20, flat-footed 22, CMD 22
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +7; +2 vs. enchantment
Effects: mage armor
Magic; arcane bond 0/1; binding darkness 2/8
4th--resilient sphere (DC 19) [x], shadow conjuration (DC 20) [], shadow dragon aspect (DC 20) [], shadowform (DC 21) []
3rd--communal resist energy [x], daylight [], dispel magic [], major image (DC 19) [], slow (DC 18) [x]
2nd-- glitterdust (DC 18) [x], darkvision [x][x], tenebrous searching shadows (DC 20) [], umbral weapon []
1st--color spray (DC 17) [], feather fall [], grease (DC 17) [], mage armor [x], shadow trap (DC 18) [], tenebrous shadow trap (DC 19) [x], shadowfade []
0 (at will)—flare (DC 15), dancing lights, detect magic, read magic, ghost sound
"This way!" Daehalya calls, echoing Aiyana's calls.
Trying to slow her foes, she targets the farthest she can reach with her binding darkness and retreats into the other room.
As a standard action, you cast a weave of shadows at any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The shadows entangle your foe for 1 round plus 1 additional round for every five wizard levels you possess. In conditions of bright light, this duration is halved (minimum 1 round). A creature entangled by your shadows has concealment from those without darkvision or the ability to see in darkness, and other creatures likewise have concealment relative to it. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.
Daehalya draws upon the power of shadow and seeks to help Lesska who's battling the most distant spider inside the chamber. The darkness seems to close around it like grasping arms, clinging and dragging it down. Unfortunately, the roiling cloud obscures it just as well.
Meanwhile, Lydia manages to circle around the spider attacking Ailis and Bastian. Though somewhat off-balance while trying to avoid the swarming spiders underfoot, she manages to take advantage of an opening offered by her flanking companions and plunges her curve blade deep into the creature's husk. The blow draws its attention as it swings around to snap back at her.
Its mandibles lock down with piercing efficiency, grinding and squeezing to inflict a grievous wound.
The spider which Lesska skirted in order to reach the newcomer also swings around to draw up behind her.
It too locks onto its prey, piercing the Kellid's armor as its dead legs try to grasp her shoulders so it can feed. Dozens of tiny spiders begin to scramble across her head, some falling to the floor around her.
GM Notes:
Lesska tries to maintain her composure as the tiny dead spiders swarm over her, their bites combining to sap her strength and make her feel very very ill. Even as she danger she is in, and how she has underestimated her foe the large arachnid bites hard, mandibles piercing her midsection.
"Augh!!!" she cries, attempting to rip out of the pincer grip and track back to her allies.
Ailis brushes spiders off of her arms, shoulders, and face with one hand while she leaps away from the deathweb, trying to tuck into a small enough ball that it cannot retributively strike at her.
Suetonius moves to a position he can harm both, and then calls upon Black Butterfly.
"Goddess, please help to send these poor benighted vermin to their rest..."
Head spinning and blood flowing freely from his midsection, Bastian feels tempted to turn and run. But his veteran instincts and military disciplin prevail. Keeping his guard up, he stumbles back a few steps and quickly paints a crude version of Gozreh’s holy symbol on his armor, using his own blood from the wound in his abdomen.
Lesska:
Her stomach lurching as tiny spiders continue crawling over and under her armor, Lesska stumbles away from her opponents. Before she can fully escape their reach, however, the monstrous undead husks snap after her.
In their eagerness to reach the vulnerable daughter of the horselords, both spiders crash into one another, temporarily leaving her an open path to move beyond them.
Perhaps to cover Lesska's retreat, and also to aid his friends against the overwhelming onslaught, Suetonius then calls upon his patron, Black Butterfly. A ripple of divine energy races outward from him, blasting all three of the spiders and killing the one closest to the doorway.
With the spider attacking Bastian and Ailis now defeated, both the military veteran and the dwarven Pathfinder are able to freely pull back and guard the secret door leading to the brightly-lit chamber, urging Lesska to hurry and join them. To keep the path clear for her, Aiyana launches an arrow at the other spiders to distract them.
While the arrow fails to strike either of the monsters, it does manage to sail between them and skitter across the chamber's uneven floor before lodging between a pair of upraised flagstones.
GM Notes:
HP 41
AC 25, touch 20, flat-footed 22, CMD 22
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +7; +2 vs. enchantment
Effects: mage armor
Magic; arcane bond 0/1; binding darkness 2/8
4th--resilient sphere (DC 19) [x], shadow conjuration (DC 20) [], shadow dragon aspect (DC 20) [], shadowform (DC 21) []
3rd--communal resist energy [x], daylight [], dispel magic [], major image (DC 19) [], slow (DC 18) [x]
2nd-- glitterdust (DC 18) [x], darkvision [x][x], tenebrous searching shadows (DC 20) [], umbral weapon []
1st--silent image [x], feather fall [], grease (DC 17) [], mage armor [x], shadow trap (DC 18) [], tenebrous shadow trap (DC 19) [x], shadowfade []
0 (at will)—flare (DC 15), dancing lights, detect magic, read magic, ghost sound
Making sure there's enough room in the lit chamber for the others, Daehalya sheathes her sword and pulls her bow. Her magic, she realizes, isn't intended for the dead.
Letting the freedom aura fade, Lydia darts towards the closest spider and slices it open!
As Daehalya retreats further into the brightly-lit chamber, she hears the sound of great pieces of stone once again grinding against one another as the large guardians come to life and begin to move.
"You tread upon corrupted ground," she hears their familiar greeting, "Turn back now, unless you come before us with the sacred sign of whispering wind and rippling waves in hand."
Standing next to Daehalya with her bow nocked and readied, Aiyana turns to look behind them at the approaching stone guardians. "Hurry!" she shouts to the rest of the team, "Or we'll be caught between two enemies!"
But, rather than retreat, Lydia dashes forward into the darkened room once more, moving past Ailis and Bastian as they guard the door so she can attack the nearest spider. Her blade cuts deep! A huge gash is ripped across the husk's abdomen, spilling hundreds, if not thousands, of more tiny spiders across her feet. The vermin swarm outward in every direction, scrabbling over one another in an angry wave.
In retaliation for Lydia's strike, the host spider rises up and snaps down at her, still very much...alive? The other one also moves forward, coming up alongside its companion so it too can strike at her.
Both spiders latch onto the half-elf, biting deep through her armor and almost engaging in a tug-of-war in an attempt to tear her apart. Perhaps even more alarming, a veritable carpet of tiny spiders crawls all around her now, many starting to find purchase on her booted feet and legs, inching their way up in an attempt to cover and overwhelm her.
GM Notes:
With most if the group back in the secret chamber, Bastian regains his composure. Someone, draw a symbol of Gozreh before the statues attack!
Unwilling to leave Lydia to face both deadly spider husks alone, he strides forward and brings his flail crashing down on the most injured spider.
With expert skill, he uses the momentum of the flail head to spin it around and strike again.
Unwilling to abandon his compatriots, Suetonius gently touches Arha, feeling the soothing calm that he associates with Black Butterfly suffusing him.
"These abominations cannot be allowed to continue to exist!"
Steeling his resolve, he strides forward, ready to render aid to Lydia.
Ailis charges back into melee combat, hoping to get into a flanking position across from Lydia. She brings her axe to bear against the horrible creature, screaming, "Aylalalalalala!"
Though in some considerable pain, and beginning to feel the effects of the two bites' doses of poison Lesska sees the half-elf nigh torn apart and rushes to aid her:
[+8 BAB, +1 Str, +1 close at hand, +1 enhancement, +1 bless]
[+1 Str, +1 enhancement]
[+3 BAB, +1 Str, +1 close at hand, +1 enhancement]
[+1 Str, +1 enhancement]
Though no longer nauseous, Lesska still feels incredibly weakened by the poison coursing through her veins. Nevertheless, the Kellid warrior moves back into the fray in an attempt to help Lydia. Her spear strikes true, plunging into the body of the most wounded spider. In retaliation, several tiny vermin emerge from the husk, scurrying up the haft in an attempt to reach her.
Suetonius then appears alongside Lydia and Lesska, as well, his heavy lantern-staff leading the way. And, with one swift blow, he crushes the desiccated corpse into the ground, releasing the rest of the swarming spiders in a spray that quickly scuttles away.
Seeing the tide of battle finally starting to turn, Bastian runs to join his friends, intent on taking down the last remaining adversary. His flail strikes a heavy blow, as well, hammering into the spider, but unlike Suetonius' attack, it fails to bring it down.
Ailis then does her best to join the fray, crushing tiny spiders under her booted feet as she reaches the melee. Her axe finds the mark, as well, shoring off a sizeable chunk of the beasts hide and sending it flying through the air. But still the creature continues to menace the warriors arrayed before it.
And, lastly, in an effort to help, Aiyana looses another arrow to continue harrying the enemy...
GM Notes:
Gritting her teeth through the pain, Lydia hacks at the final deathweb, trying to finish it off.
She fails miserably.
"The statues are moving," Daehlaya warns. "Back into the other room, Aiyana!"
She puts actions to word once again, moving back into the room with the deathwebs as she lets an arrow fly, trying to make sure she doesn't hit her companions.
HP 41
AC 25, touch 20, flat-footed 22, CMD 22
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +7; +2 vs. enchantment
Effects: mage armor
Magic; arcane bond 0/1; binding darkness 2/8
4th--resilient sphere (DC 19) [x], shadow conjuration (DC 20) [], shadow dragon aspect (DC 20) [], shadowform (DC 21) []
3rd--communal resist energy [x], daylight [], dispel magic [], major image (DC 19) [], slow (DC 18) [x]
2nd-- glitterdust (DC 18) [x], darkvision [x][x], tenebrous searching shadows (DC 20) [], umbral weapon []
1st--silent image [x], feather fall [], grease (DC 17) [], mage armor [x], shadow trap (DC 18) [], tenebrous shadow trap (DC 19) [x], shadowfade []
0 (at will)—flare (DC 15), dancing lights, detect magic, read magic, ghost sound
Bastian presses his attack, bringing down his flail with shattering force until the last foe is destroyed.
Daehalya's shot just misses her quarry, and Lydia's weakened strike fails to get past the spider's flailing limbs. As it bears down on the half-elf inquisitor, the smaller spiders swarming underfoot begin to engulf her and the others gathered around it.
The blow is enough to batter Lydia to the ground where she falls unconscious...and, as the others come to grips with the possible loss of one of their companions, the small spiders begin to swarm over her.
Thankfully, Bastian is able to endure the onslaught better than anyone, stepping past the carpet of crawling vermin to smash his flail through the last remaining giant spider husk. It collapses to the ground, its undead existence finally at an end. With Daehalya and Aiyana rejoining everyone, the statues in the brightly lit chamber go back to their guard positions, a single beacon of light stretching from the open doorway into the dark chamber that was once the spiders' lair.
With the danger finally at an end, Zyler reappears from his invisible state. "I thought those things would be the death of us!" he tells everyone, shooing away a cluster of spiders still crawling across the rocks near him, "I didn't know how to help. Nothing among my possessions would have made any difference against such creatures...but, I may be able to help with your wounds and the poison..." The dark dancer retrieves a healer's kit from his belongings and offers it to those who are injured.
Ailis' hardy dwarven body shakes off the poison at last, although she is suffering from a lot of pain from it. She doubles over, dropping her axe on the ground and gripping her palms and wrists. "Ughhh," she mumbles, crawling over to Lydia to pour healing energy from a wand into the unconscious half-elf.
"It nearly was the death of us, Zyler. What would you have done if we had died, run?" she asks, irate at the cowardly dark dancer.
Barely has the last spider collapsed before Bastian releases his grip on his weapon and rips a small vial from his bandolier pouch. Seeing Ailis’ dwarven constitution finally begin to work in her advantage, he thrusts the vial at the sickly-looking Lesska.
Quickly, drink this! It will neutralize the poison.
Lydia groans as she slowly regains consciousness. She remains prone for a few moments, catching her breath while Ailis heals her. Eventually, she climbs to her feet and recovers her sword. "Thank you, my friend. Desna truly smiled upon us to see us through that grueling battle without casualties."