Horrible Spiders

Hikawera and Ana felt awful.  They got too ripped "judging" others attempting the slackline walking for the previous day's Fulcrum celebration, and drank far more wine than was healthy.  Moreover when Hikawera, still drunk, stumbled into the privy at 2am, he got Dryali's voice calling out "Good morning, sunshine!" at his ass again.

Ondar, despite an Ondar-sized epic tavern crawl, was not hungover.  He was being entertained by Osric trying to describe what it was like trying to walk a slackline as a goat, while Tai and Cathance enjoyed listening to the two of them.

But, they were all restless, and went to Arnari's office to find out what work there was to be done.  As they all chose seats, Hikawera hesitated more than usual, then sat.  He glared at everyone as if daring them to say anything.

Arnari's expressive face was more impassive than usual, when she said, "Right.  Missions."

• House Aldous still wants hippogryph eggs, 100gp/egg or 10 eggs for a hippogryph gelding.  They will pay 120gp for destrier hippogryph eggs.
• House Liona is offering a similar deal for gryphon eggs; 150gp/egg or 12 eggs for a trained gryphon.
• I need a team to check out Pirates Dream river.  Is there still pollution or corrupted animals to clear?  I'm starting to think this one will become a periodic thing; it's too late.
• Taleisin and Fuifui of Orderly Stones… [here, Arnai looked at her papers] … Khalid, Torinn, and Glesni extrapolated these attacks, and found spiders.  So there's two missions:
  • Destroy spider nest
  • Find the kobolds

A discussion ensued between the cranky Freelancers.  Well, Arnari wasn't cranky.

Tai:  find, or destroy?

Arnari:  find; they might be too much.

Cathance:  Ondar is too little!

Ondar:  Ondar's self-esteem is too high to rise to this.

Hikawera:  on the one hand, spiders.  On the other hand, euw.

Cathance:  how big are these spiders?

Arnari:  very big!

Cathance:  big enough to eat me?

Osric:  spiders don't eat their prey; they generally drink them.

<Cathance snapped her fingers and prestidigitation gave Osric a hot foot.>

Arnari:  Glesni says giant spiders.

Tai:  do we have access to antitoxin?

Arnari:  yes.

Tai:  I'm good to kill spiders.

Ana <dismayed>: any other missions?

Arnari:  no, that's it.

Cathance:  if we want to burn giant spiders, I'm staying on Jigsaw!!!

Tai:  spiders seem fine with me, but sooner or later we should check pollution.

Ana:  don't the Orderly Stones problems overlap?

Hikawera:  no, one is a specific target; the other is find the source.

Cathance:  I still think pollution.

But, the group decided on going after the spiders, to Cathance's and Ana's dismay.  They left Arnari's office and swung by the quartermaster; Osric got a sturdy wooden shield, and Tai, Ondar, and Ana all bought antitoxin.  Cathance felt bad.  She should have been learning how to make it, but had been studying the dragonchess problems again since returning from Stormhaven.

Ondar and Osric lacked flying mounts, but Osric had a bag of holding.  So they stashed all their backpacks and saddlebags in the bag of holding, and Osric wild shaped a small creature and rode with Cathance, while Ondar took turns riding with Tai, then Hikawera on their pegasi.  

The weather was unsettled, but not too unpleasant; over Duquesne it was clear and breezy, but with their flying height they had amazing visibility, and saw clouds and lightning flashes to the east, beyond the boundary of the leading edge.  Despite that impressive view, chatter on the way there was a robust speculation of where did Osric's bag of holding actually go, when he used wild shape.

The extra weight slowed the mounts down a little, but not too much; the Freelancers arrived at Orderly Stones in the early evening.  They were admitted to the courtyard where multiple monks greeted them, including Taleisin and Fuifui.  Lanterns had been lit at regular intervals around the courtyard, which Cathance found quite soothing.  Some monks took the mounts and led them to the stables, promising all kinds of treats.

Fuifui:  haaayyyyy, so good to see you!
Hikawera <bitterly, as he was still hungover>:  someone's glad to see us.
Fuifui:  are you here to find the kobolds, or spiders?
Tai:  spiders.
Hikawera:  fuck spiders!
Ondar:  Ondar is not here to fuck spiders.
Cathance:  have you tried to find the kobolds yourself?
Fuifui:  noooOOoo, I dunno where they're coming from!  We' been too busy with lions, and bears, and cats, and then other cats, and then these spiders!
Cathance:  that's too bad.

While they were chatting, Fuifui was leading them across the courtyard to the dining hall.  Taleisin left them to organize rooms for the Freelancers.

Dinner ended up talking about the pollution, and after dinner, Cathance showed Fuifui the vial of weird water she'd gotten from Gwidion, the cause of all that woe.  They walked out into the courtyard, and Cathance used prestidigitation to make the lamps match the colours.  "Wooowww, that's so cool!" Fuifui enthused.

The next morning, the clouds had arrived; it was breezy but not raining.  Hikawera and Ana were feeling considerably better.  Cathance got a map from Taleisin showing where the spiders were, and the Freelancers tried to plan.

Hikawera:  should we fly over?
Tai:  not likely to see what we need.
Hikawera:  we should establish if they are in a cave or a forest.
Tai:  should scout on the ground, since that is where we will be fighting.
Cathance:  no.
Tai:  yes.
Cathance:  in the air, Ana out front with burning hands.

An argument immediately burst out, several Freelancers at once crying out that they were worried about a forest fire.  "Terrance would be disappointed," someone said.  The argument devolved into an esoteric discussion regarding the temperature of burning hands, and the relative flammability of spider webs and trees.

Since there was no agreement beyond "find the spiders," the Freelancers mounted up and flew to where the other Freelancers had said the spiders were.  Ondar flew with Tai on Spencer Thundersparks, and Osric wild shaped into a chipmunk and flew with Hikawera.

Cathance gave Tai the guidance of the Tortoise, and despite flying Tai did not have any difficulty locating the place of spiders as described by Glesni, Torinn, and Khalid.  They found a steep hillside, not quite a cliff, with a rather large opening.  Webs were on the ground leading up to the cave.  In the surrounding trees, they also saw some vertical webbing.

Cathance and Jigsaw peered closely at the trees below, as they circled above.  Did the vertical webs look like they came from the same spiders as on the ground?  She didn't figure that out because what she saw instead was a horrible giant spider, big enough to eat her, near the edge of the trees, its brown colouring helping it blend in.

Osric also tried to figure this out, but failed, as his primary conclusion was spiders are horrible.

Hikawera still wanted to establish if the spiders were in a cave or the forest.  He flew over the main webs and dropped a handful of coppers on the webs to see if the spider reacted.  The horrible spider that Cathance had seen ran to the spot.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Cathance shrieked, and sent a chromatic orb at the creature.  She missed the spider, but the 5" ball of fire did hit the web, which ignited, burning the creature anyhow.  The fire started to spread.

The horrible spider ran through the fire into the cave, out of sight from the Freelancers.

Cathance looked around for more horrible spiders, and saw another one under the trees to the southwest.  It too was brownish and had spider-hair.  She sent another chromatic orb at that spider, again missing and igniting the web, burning the spider.

• • "There's another one!" she shrieked.
  • This fire also started to spread.
• Osric came out of his wild shape, then said to Hikawera, "If we get lower, I'll dismount when the fire goes out."  Hikawera replied, "I was planning on doing that, so okay."
• Ondar, riding pillion behind Tai, pulled out his longbow, and twisting, shot this new horrible spider from above.
• Ana flew Pelorus slightly closer to the burning spider, and cast flaming sphere.  It too lit the web on fire, which started to spread.
• Tai drank some antitoxin, then flew Spencer Thundersparks right next to the burning giant spider, and slashed it with his great axe.
• Hikawera flew Allegro close to the ground where Cathance had sent her initial chromatic orb, but did not land in the fire.  He peered into the cave, but wasn't sure of what he saw.  So he cast shatter.  The cave mouth shook, and pebbles skittered, but even though dust rose, it did not collapse.
  • He clasped Osric on the shoulder.  "Good fucking luck," Hikawera said, giving the Holder dwarf bardic inspiration.

The burning spider reared up on its hind legs like some horrible demented tick and tried to bite Tai with its chelicerae.  It missed, no doubt thrown off by the pegasus' wings.

• The spider Cathance saw initially ran back out of the cave, and skittered at the base of the hillside into the woods to the west.
• An entirely new horrible spider also ran out of the cave, skittering at the base of the hillside into the woods to the east.  It was even bigger, and black.
  
• The center of the fires from Cathance's chromatic orbs burned out, leaving a space clear of fire or webs. 

 Cathance cast chill touch at the burning spider, but somehow missed.

• Osric dismounted from Allegro into the burned out area, tweaking his ankles a little.  He summoned an eagle spirit to do a flyby attack on the spider to the east, but it missed.
• Ondar vaulted into the cleared spot next to the burning spider, which looked pretty cool.  He swung his longsword at it, dramatically, but the sword skidded off the chitin.
  • "Ondar will aim for the eyes next time!" he declared, and taunted it.
• Ana rammed her flaming sphere into the burning spider, burning it slightly.  She sent a firebolt at it too, but the bolt fizzled out in the arachnid's horrible hair.
• Tai raged, and a bolt of light shot out from his chest at the burning spider, its radiance blinding it.  He then whiffed with his axe.
• Hikawera flew west on Allegro and cast bane on the burning spider and the one that had fled the cave.  He then flew back over Osric.

The big black spider to the east saw Osric and dashed through the fire to attack him, but missed.

• The brown spider to the west dashed through the fire, then reared up on its hind legs, and bit Allegro, piercing the pegasus and also giving him a bit of poison.
• The hairy burning spider again missed Tai, but burned even more from burning sphere.
• The fires spread out more.

Cathance, seeing the two horrible spiders near Osric, invoked tides of chaos to send a chaos bolt at the nearest one.  The smoky black bolt settled into acid before it struck the brown spider.  She felt pretty immortal after that, but not enough:  she flew up higher.

• Osric cast thunderwave at the two horrible spiders, the boom echoing off the hillside.  The black spider was pushed back, but the brown one was not.
  • The eagle spirit attacked, killing the brown spider.  Cathance screamed, "Die!  Die!" at it.
• Ondar swung his longsword at the blinded, burning, hairy spider in front of him, and missed.  His adrenaline surged and he did it again.
• Ana again rammed her flaming sphere into the burning spider, burning it slightly.  She turned and cast chromatic orb on the big black spider menacing Osric, but she missed.  The orb settled on lightning, and blasted the ground between the spider and Osric.  Ana flew up next to Cathance.
• Tai sent another bolt of light from his chest at the hairy burning spider, keeping it blinded.  "And now, an axe!" he announced, as he whiffed with his axe.
• Hikawera had Allegro disengage from the black spider, and flew up to circle where Cathance and Ana were.  He case cure wounds on Allegro, then said "Good idea with ball of fire!  How about clearing out that cave?!" to Ana, giving her bardic inspiration.

The burning spider attacked Tai, this time piercing his Silver dragonskin with its horrible chelicerae, which is a word I just learned writing up this fight, so I'm using it again. Tai shrugged off most of the pain because of his rage.  The burning sphere continued to wound the spider.

• The big black spider bit Osric twice, ouch!  He made good use of his bardic inspiration to keep his spirit eagle up.
• A shiny black spider attacked the spirit eagle from the trees!  It bit the eagle twice with its poison fangs, and the spirit eagle winked out, as Cathance cried, "Guys!!! There's another spider!!!"
• The burned out/cleared section of the webs grew bigger, but all the spiders were standing in flames.  The burning spider finally succumbed to the flames and died.

Cathance could not deal.  She again invoked tides of chaos and sent an uplevel'd chromatic orb at this new horribleness that materialized out of the woods, chanting "Die Die Die Die" as it turned into fire and struck.  The spider did not die, but Cathance's skin reacted to all the chaos, and fluxed into a blue colour.  "I'm turning into Tahu!" she cried out, but the colour kept changing, until she was as brilliant a blue as the colour in her vial of weird water.

• Osric raised the horn whistle around his neck to his lips and blew.  A unicorn spirit galloped in and reared on its hind legs, surrounded by an aura with a hint of sparkles.  He then cast cure wounds on himself, and the sparkles became stronger, also healing Allegro above.
• Ondar assessed the burning webs between them, then jumped and dashed over to Osric.
• Ana moved the flaming sphere towards the shiny black spider.  She cast a chromatic orb at the arachnid, which settled on lightning before it struck.
• Tai moved himself to the shiny black spider, and another beam of light emerged from the raging dragonborn to burn and blind its eyes with radiance.  His axe, however, skidded off the horrible carapace.  Tai made sure to put himself between the spider and Osric.
• Hikawera called down to the big black spider attacking Osric, "I thought dancing with two left feet was bad, but you have four and are moving with eight!"  The vicious mockery took its toll on the creature, somehow.

The big black spider tried to bite Ondar, but missed because of the aftereffects of vicious mockery, so it turned and bit Osric instead, getting itself out of the burning web in the process.  The Holder dwarf's heritage helped him resist its poison.

• The shiny black spider of course bit Tai twice.  Hikawera tried to use cutting words to reduce the effectiveness of its chelicerae, but Cathance's ongoing screaming prevented it.  No matter, as Tai's rage allowed him to shrug off half the injury.
• By this time the entirety of the remaining web was engulfed in flames.

Since the big black spider was now directly under her, Cathance cast chill touch on it, and a skeletal hand grasped it, spreading necrosis along its pedicel.  Jigsaw circled a little so as not to be directly above any horrible spider.  What if they could jump?

• Osric cast faerie fire somewhat underground, trying to catch the spiders in it without his fellow Freelancers.  The shiny black spider stayed out of it, but the big black spider was lit up.  He also cast healing word on himself, triggering the unicorn's healing sparkles.
• Ondar slashed the big black spider with his longsword.

Ana rammed the shiny black spider with the burning sphere, which crisped it.  She sent a chromatic orb at the big black spider and with the help of bardic inspiration it struck the arachnid with lightning, and the big black spider died.

Cathance's not-so-internal screaming stopped, and she cried, "You did it!!! I'm so proud of you!!!"

Ana was still shuddering.  "I don't like nature, and it doesn't like me," she retorted.  Cathance frowned and said to her, "This isn't natural."

Ana didn't reply, but without landing, she moved the burning sphere to the cave.  Osric, just in case, moved his unicorn spirit totem to the mouth of the cave.  As he did so, enough of the webs had burned off that Pelorus could land.  Moving cautiously forward, Ana moved the burning sphere around the cave, igniting all the webs within.  A noxious smoke came out the front.

Hikawera, not one to be left out of flames, had Allegro land and he too started throwing fire into the cave via produce flame.  "We need to get the eggs!" he exclaimed.  Ondar crossed his arms and declared, "Ondar is not here to stop the spiders from fucking."

Once the cave was cleansed, Tai checked it out.  He possibly found what used to be a shrine to The Snake; apparently, the spiders had been trained to bring shiny things to it, and it had a lot of shiny things:

• 139 cp, 247 sp, 142 gp
• Single silver earring with 2 obsidian (each worth 10gp) - circle and dangly drop
• Hair pin made from bone with turquoise (10g) at the head of the pin
• Silver bracelet with snake scales
• Bronze arm band with a sleeping honey badger in copper and silver
• Small mirror set in a wooden frame carved and painted like ivy
• Scimitar - skull w/small garnet eyes for a pommel
• Necklace - golden torq with coral inset along it
• Cloak - mossy green, hooded cloak

Cathance, meanwhile, continued to circle overhead on Jigsaw, ready to use ray of frost on any persistent fire trying to spread to the forest.  However, it was okay: the fire burned out with the web.

Ondar checked the number of burned nests that were in the cave against the number of dead horrible spiders.  They were the same, and he relaxed a little.  Once she realized what he was doing, Cathance checked the surrounding forest for more spiders, but found nothing.  She did not land.

The Freelancers did not linger, but took off in short order for Orderly Stones.  Once they arrived, Fuifui stared at Cathance, who was still blue, to her intense discomfiture.  "You look like… a sagani," he said, hesitantly.

Hikawera cast identify on the scimitar, necklace, and cloak, while the others relayed to Taleisin what had happened.  Taleisin barely heard it, staring at the very blue Cathance.  He paid them 150gp each and agreed to check the items for curses, because of The Snake.

Nothing was cursed, and Hikawera identified a +1 vicious scimitar, a necklace of adaptation, and Nature's cloak.  Ondar claimed the scimitar, Osric the cloak, and Hikawera took the necklace.

The Freelancers stayed at Orderly Stones monastery that night, then flew back to Cliffshadow the next morning.

• Hikawera → lvl5!
• Ondar → lvl3 Rune Knight!