The day is clear and cold. You head generally northwest, following a small stream. You pass the time speaking with Cirieo, learning about the Rangers (what he will tell you, at least) and telling him about what has happened over the past month and a half. He spends most of the time riding in the sling on Mac's back, but occasionally gets down to stretch his legs.
It is during one of these breaks for Mac's back when it happens. You begin to see large webs and desiccated corpses of rabbits, squirrels, even a badger. You all know enough to expect spiders, but even despite your vigilance, the spiders' skill at hiding is superior.
Webs shoot out of the tree canopy overhead. The first barely misses hitting Cirieo, but the second hits Trjega and entangles her in its sticky fibers. You look up and see the spiders around 20' overhead, hanging from threads.
The spiders continue to press the advantage of their surprise, dropping to the ground. As they do, you notice that these are not mere giant spiders; rather, each is the cracked, pocked exoskeleton of a giant spider, filled with and surrounded by hundreds or thousands of smaller spiders, skittering in and out of the host.
These are deathwebs. They are indeed the skeletons of giant spiders, animated by foul necromancy and controlled by the hive mind of spiders that occupy them. They have the usual undead traits. They hit extremely hard, with access to the power attack, cleave, vital strike, and awesome blow feats.
The gaggle of small spiders act like a swarm, surrounding the deathweb to a radius of 5', causing distraction and poison. An AoE effect that does 10 or more damage to the deathweb destroys this infestation aura for 3 rounds.
#1 drops to the ground adjacent to Cirieo. The small spiders surrounding the larger one immediately begin crawling all over him, up his legs and into his clothing . He yelps, slapping at himself in a futile effort to get them off. #2 drops next to Trjega (who is currently tangled up in a web) and she also becomes infested .
Cirieo is fine, but Trjega begins vomiting immediately.
#1 strikes Cirieo with an absolutely vicious bite, nearly killing the halfling in a single attack . He reels and barely stays on his feet. #2 tries to bite Trjega, who should be easy to hit while caught in the web, but it misses terribly
Cirieo hobbles away on his crutch, putting Grevayne and Mac between him and the spiders, spilling blood in a long trail behind him.
Spider 1 (0 damage)
Spider 2 (0 damage)
Cirieo (5/49 hp)
Mac (77/77 hp)
Grevayne (69/69 hp)
Freyja (72/72 hp)
Trjega (49/52 hp, 4 str damage, entangled, nauseated [1 round], poisoned [6 rounds])
Bold may act.
Grevayne settles into Dragon Stance, then utters an incantation as more Grevaynes pop into existence. All five of them stride forward to move around #1 the long way, into a quasi-flanking position with Mac.
Grevayne's eyes narrow as he studies the creatures while striding forward, then spits a curse under his breath in Tien. "Deathwebs!" he calls to the others. "They hit hard, as the Ranger can attest. The only way to get rid of those swarms of smaller spiders is to harm the husk."
With a snarl, Mac leaps at the first giant spider, transforming into a Dire Wolf in mid-air, to bite viciously at the creature.
Freyja reaches out and touches Trjega. She feels the poison coursing through the lynx's veins. With a squint of concentration, she wills the poison to stop its effects . Then she points at Cirieo and screams "DEFEND!", before moving into a more advantageous position for filling these ugly things full of arrows.
Trjega feels terrible, but her master's touch makes her feel ... well, slightly less terrible. The command to defend the hairy short one is a welcome one, but she can't quite get all the way there, what with the sticky crud all over her and, oh yeah, the constant vomiting.
Mac gets hold of one of the deathweb's forelegs and tears it clean off of its body. If the beast had innards to be torn out, they would have come out too.
The tiny spiders crawl up Mac's legs and into his fur. Dozens of tiny bites threaten to overcome his senses. #2 steps up to Grevayne, its retinue of escorts happily investigating the strange creature that smells ... strangely familiar to them.
Mac is able to overcome the revulsion of his situation, but the poison takes hold. Grevayne is having a real, real bad day.
Things aren't all bad, though! #1's balance is thrown off by its missing leg and its bite misses Mac. #2 hits one of Grevayne's images, which says "Oh god that would have been 37 damage if I was real!" as it blinks out of existence.
Cirieo pulls a potion off of his belt and drinks it.
Spider 1 (47 damage)
Spider 2 (0 damage)
Cirieo (22/49 hp)
Mac (77+7/77 hp, 2 str damage, +4 AC [1 round], poisoned [5 rounds])
Grevayne (69/69 hp, 3 images, 3 str damage, nauseated, poisoned [5 rounds])
Freyja (72/72 hp)
Trjega (49/52 hp, 4 str damage, entangled)
Bold may act.
Freyja sees how poorly things are going and desperately fires three arrows at the one that Mac f!&&ed up.
Trjega finishes retreating and tries to free herself from the webs.
Mac rips into the spider-thing in front of it, trying to rend it out of existence.
Grevayne stumbles back, vomiting profusely as spiders crawl over him.
Mac and Grevayne try to fight the poison in their systems.
Mac is successfully shaking it off but not out of the woods yet. Grevayne continues to suffer as his strength is sapped away.
Freyja's first and third shot bring the deathweb to the brink, then Mac tears its head from its thorax. It falls and its spiderlings scatter, disappearing into the forest.
#2 steps up to Grevayne, and the spiders overtake him once again .
Things are getting bad for Grevayne. Then they get worse, as the spider correctly guesses which Grevayne is Grevayne, and clamps down hard on his shoulder, the mandibles reaching bone .
Cirieo loads and fires his sling staff twice at #2.
Both bullets fall short as Cirieo tries to adjust to using his weapon while leaning on a crutch.
Spider 1 (88 damage, dead)
Spider 2 (0 damage)
Cirieo (22/49 hp)
Mac (77+7/77 hp, 2 str damage, poisoned [4 rounds, 1 pass])
Grevayne (20/69 hp, 3 images, 5 str damage, poisoned [6 rounds, DC19])
Freyja (72/72 hp)
Trjega (49/52 hp, 4 str damage)
Bold may act.
Freyja watches Grevayne nearly get eaten and swears. She points and orders Trjega back in the fight, then fires three more arrows.
Trjega hesitates at Freyja's command, having no interest in putting herself in that pile of spiders again. But then something, some instinct or intuition, tells her that she is immune to their poison.
Sure, but am I immune to the kill-you-in-one-shot bite?
Nevertheless, she sprints back at #2 and launches herself at it. Maybe some of Freyja's new training is paying off already, because she finds herself in a flanking position with Grevayne .
Panicking now, Grevayne stumbles away from the giant undead spider, vomiting and raking at the tiny fiends skittering over his body, foggy brain swimming as he tries to think.
Heh. You are half-undead, and you are going to get killed by undead. Ironic. I think. Is that irony? Or poetic? I do not remember.
He pukes again as he stumbles away.
Mac risks the attack of opportunity to flank with Trjega, then bites hard at the deathweb.
Mac and Grevayne try to fight the poison in their systems.
Freyja, Trjega, and Mac combine to put a major hurt on the spider. It is still up but looking rough.
The spider snaps at Grevayne as he retreats but, even as diminished as he is, he is too quick for the lumbering beast. Mac is able to get in position without the spider attacking, but its next attack lands hard, eliciting a yelp of agony from Mac .
The spiders do their thing on Mac and Trjega .
Mac is not nauseated but he takes another dose of the poison.
Cirieo steps around Freyja and fires two more bullets at the spider.
The first finds a gap in its exoskeleton and tears through dozens of the tiny spiders.
Spider 1 (88 damage, dead)
Spider 2 (59 damage)
Cirieo (22/49 hp)
Mac (44/77 hp, 5 str damage, poisoned [4 rounds, DC19])
Grevayne (20/69 hp, 3 images, 9 str damage, poisoned [5 rounds, DC19])
Freyja (72/72 hp)
Trjega (48/52 hp, 4 str damage)
Bold may act.
Freyja knows they have supplies that can help Grevayne and Mac with their poison, but they need to kill this thing first. She fires again, praying that she can finish it off.
"I have an antitoxin! And there are some in the pack!"
Freyja's first arrow kills the beast. Now it's a race against time with this poison.
Spider 1 (88 damage, dead)
Spider 2 (73 damage, dead)
Cirieo (22/49 hp)
Mac (44/77 hp, 5 str damage, poisoned [4 rounds, DC19])
Grevayne (20/69 hp, 3 images, 9 str damage, poisoned [5 rounds, DC19])
Freyja (72/72 hp)
Trjega (48/52 hp, 4 str damage)
Bold may act.
Grevayne, still woozy and sick, waves a finger vaguely in Mac's direction, indicating she should give her antitoxin to him. He then starts digging around in the bags for one of his own to use.
Mac pads over to Freyja, then his wolf body warps and crunches painfully as it changes back to human form. He stands next to the ranger clutching his bloody abdomen, mumbling with a small moan in Hallit.
Trjega wishes she had opposable thumbs.
Mac once again begins to fight off the effects of the poison. Grevayne suffers alone, dozens of feet from the party.
Cirieo pulls out his healer's kit and goes to work on Mac.
Spider 1 (88 damage, dead)
Spider 2 (73 damage, dead)
Cirieo (22/49 hp)
Mac (44/77 hp, 5 str damage, poisoned [3 rounds, DC19, 1 save])
Grevayne (20/69 hp, 3 images, 10 str damage, poisoned [4 rounds, DC19])
Freyja (72/72 hp)
Trjega (48/52 hp, 4 str damage)
Bold may act.
Freyja pulls the antitoxin out of her haversack and hands it to Mac. Then she begins running toward Grevayne. Maybe she can administer first aid that will help him?
Trjega begins grooming herself, removing dead spiders from her fur, while the two-legs run around like crazy.
Grevayne finally pulls out the antitoxin and drinks it, then begins stumbling feebly toward Freyja. "I am... not well..." He almost vomits up the antitoxin but swallows hard to keep it down.
Mac drinks the antitoxin and begins moving in Grevayne's direction. Even outside of wolf form, he can practically smell the venom coursing through Mal-Skend's body.
With the help that comes outside of the heat of battle, Mac fully recovers from the poison and Grevayne takes the first step.
Cirieo begins hobbling toward Grevayne as quickly as his crutch will let him.
Spider 1 (88 damage, dead)
Spider 2 (73 damage, dead)
Cirieo (22/49 hp)
Mac (44/77 hp, 5 str damage)
Grevayne (20/69 hp, 3 images, 10 str damage, poisoned [3 rounds, DC19, 1 save])
Freyja (72/72 hp)
Trjega (48/52 hp, 4 str damage)
Bold may act.
Freyja finishes making her way to Grevayne. She is not as studied on poisons as Cirieo but she does what she can for the man.
Trjega finds a grasshopper among the spiders. How did that get in there?
Seeing Freyja is having no luck, Grevayne hobbles over to Cirieo, hoping the halfling will have better luck.
Grevayne reaches the halfling just as he feels his body's defenses trying to attack the poison again.
He falls to the ground, utterly spent, barely able to hold his own head up. He turns his head to the side and vomits again, then begins to breathe normally. His muscles relax and he knows he is in the clear.
But the damage was done.
Cirieo (22/49 hp)
Mac (44/77 hp, 5 str damage)
Grevayne (20/69 hp, 3 images, 10 str damage)
Freyja (72/72 hp)
Trjega (48/52 hp, 4 str damage)
Freyja kneels amidst her damaged, broken companions. "We must rest here. This will delay us but you are all in no shape to continue. I have some knowledge of druidic magic and can prepare a spell to return some of your strength. I've never used it before but I know I can do it."
She turns to Cirieo. "The spell I cast on Trjega only delayed the poison. It still courses through her veins; she will be fighting it off sometime tonight. Can you help treat her when the time comes?"
Cirieo nods. "Of course. This is a relatively mild poison, meaning no offense to you, Master Grevayne. What I mean to say is, it's easy to treat when you don't have horrific zombie spider beasts attacking you."
"Minor," Grevayne says mildly, staring up at the canopy far above. "Yes. Agreed." He promptly turns to the side and coughs up a small glob of bile before returning to his back. "Resting sounds superb."
Mac sits near Grevayne and says in Sylvan, "You smell worse now. Impressed."
Grevayne doesn't even bother trying to retort. He just lies on his back and works very hard not to move. "Anyone have a create water spell? I do believe I am covered in vomit."
Freyja grabs a couple of pots and fills them in a nearby stream, then helps Grevayne to clean himself off. She takes a step back to look at everyone, then shakes her head. "You all look like s&+&. Wait here and rest. I'll gather some firewood and make camp, then we'll see about getting you healed up." She stands and gestures for Trjega to follow her.
Fifteen minutes later, she returns with a bundle of firewood, three rabbits, and some potatoes. "I'm making rabbit stew. It won't heal you, but you at least won't feel so bad for a short while."
She makes camp, swatting away any attempts by the others at helping her. As she does, she thinks out loud. "The enemies we face are getting stronger. I can kill dozens of hobs from a distance if you keep them off me, but I'm much less effective against basically anything else, and you are all paying the price. I need to find someone who can enchant my bow. But where are we going to find that out here?" She pauses as she sits to skin the rabbits. "I wonder if it's something that I could learn to do. Do you know anything about how that works, Grevayne?"
Having cleaned himself off as best he could, Grevayne sits by the fire tapping himself with one of his wands of inflict light wounds. He looks up at Freyja and shakes his head. "I do not, no. I could learn though, I think, given time. I have the power to enhance my fists with magic, but it is temporary. I never really thought about it, but I think given some time to study, I could learn to harness it into a more permanent enhancement on things other than my fists."
Mac eats rabbit and listens to the gobbledygook from the others. The magic from Mal-Skend's wand smells as bad as he does, but he looks much better now so that's good.
Freyja sits thoughtfully for a minute, eating her stew. "Maybe Aubrin and Kining know something about it. It needs to happen soon. I'm not killing things as quickly as I used to."
Her stew finished, she pulls out one of the new healing wands and uses it on Mac and Cirieo.
She looks at the wand in disgust and smacks it a few times.
She looks about ready to break the wand in half in frustration. Cirieo raises his hand with a smile. "That is plenty, dear. A rest will do me good."
Freyja nods and turns to Mac.
That's better.
She stows the wand, then sits with the others. "I will be able to restore some of your strength in the morning. I can cast the spell three times, but it is not a very powerful spell, so I don't think I will be able to bring you all the way back. Let's see how it goes and we can stay here another day if we need to. Something tells me we will need to be at our best when we get to Nunder."
Then she grabs the party pack and begins rooting through it, occasionally pulling out vials and bandages until she has a small pile at her feet. Once done, she distributes them. "We have these things that can help us; it is stupid for us to not have them on our person. Keep them close and maybe this won't ever happen again." Then she hands one bandage to Grevayne and Mac. "Wrap these over your wounds. They are magical and will help you recover your strength faster. Do not take them off until you have recovered fully." She kneels next to Trjega and applies one to her as well.
Once satisfied that everyone is well taken care of, she excuses herself and Trjega and continues their flank training.
Mac laughs raucously as he's healed, then turns to Cirieo.
"Wand likes me better, tiny man!"
Grevayne chuckles at the shifter, then stops abruptly and blinks at him. "I understood that. I think I have been hanging around the dog too long."
To Freyja, he says, "With the bandages and a couple of your spells, I am sure I will be feeling much better. But yes, an extra day is probably worth the wait, if for no other reason than you can prepare more spells for the upcoming battles."
He frowns, pulls out his spellbook and an inkpen, and begins scribbling furiously, grumbling to himself in Tien. Even someone who could speak the language would likely be lost, but the word "fire" can be heard multiple times.
The group sits around the fire, talking later than they would normally stay up. Perhaps the shared near-death experience has bonded them just a bit more. Eventually the conversation dies down, the watches are set, and you get your rest.
The first of Neth brings with it the first snowfall, a minor dusting that melts immediately once the sun comes up.
Freyja spends some time recalling the strange druidic magic, then approaches Grevayne, hoping against hope that she doesn't harm him. She reaches for his arm, then stops, hand just short of touching, and looks at him for permission. At his nod, she continues, resting her hand on him.
She chants the druidic words phonetically, having no idea what they actually mean. It takes her a few tries, but eventually her hand begins to glow with warm white energy, and that energy flows into Grevayne, restoring just a fraction of what he lost to the spiders.
Freyja beams. She had doubted she could do this at all, but this success is beyond all her expectations. She immediately tries again.
That's more like it.
"I have one left. Who gets it?"
Grevayne shrugs. "I am no expert, but Trjega and Mac seem to be at roughly the same state. I would say Mac; his attacks rely on physical power moreso than the lynx."
He goes about doing his morning meditations and practicing forms, followed by a thorough reading of his spellbook. He decides to memorize one of his new spells in hopes of venting some aggression on something for the dizzying amount of physical agony he was in yesterday. Even today, he feels as if he's suffering from a particularly nasty bout of the flu; achy, stiff, weak limbs and back, swimmy head, churning stomach. He skips breakfast, though he still takes a cup of coffee.
Afterward, he sighs. [b]"I think I have enough strength returned to continue on. We will need to proceed with caution, but I feel we can at least reach Nunder and reconnoiter the area. We need not enter, if you do not think it wise, but we can at least see what condition the area is in.
Cirieo nods. "We can travel today, but we are still two days away, so we will be fully recovered by the time we arrive at Nunder. Unless we run into more trouble today. Are we decided then?"
Freyja shrugs. "Trjega should be fully recovered by tomorrow. We can go now."
She pauses to restore Mac's strength, then begins packing up the camp.