1.05 Along came a Spider Report
General Summary
The Low Bar, having successfully mowed down the wandering plant life outside the Blighted Den, are now free to enter the wolves home. Kal transforms into a cricket and descends into the warren. Below the earth he finds a hollow, low ceiling and thick hanging roots, large enough for a pack of wolves. A shimmering pool of luminescent ground water glows faintly in the corner, next to which is an enormous wolf now dead a few days. Even in cricket form, Kal has also tripped a predator's senses. Two mutated wolves turn eyeless heads in his direction and snarl. The druid backs out of the cave and lets the others know. A trap is laid and the Wolves take the bait. Lucky trips one of the wolves with his whip while Kreck slices at it. Rehana attempts to throw bombs but can't seem to get the distance right, then switches to poisioned crossbow bolts. Veerefel dazes a wolf and attempts to intimidate the lupine. Most of the fighting, however, centers around Kalzium and Dog the bear. Dog takes a frontline stance, but is brought down quickly by the wolf's tearing attacks. Kal battlemeds him back and starts taking attacks himself as Lucky ducks behind him. The wolves do fall but not without taking their pound of flesh. After the fight, Noala and the rest inspect the pool of water. Kal and Lucky study the water and determine there are chemicals in it. Rehana is brought in and further learns that mutagens are in the groundwater. Noala suggests that the best way to clear this up is to find the source. Lucky suggests they follow on to The Pen where Vilree was at one time. The group opt to travel on to Breachill as it is closer and larger than Etran's Folly, but first they will rest the night. Watch is set and a rotation is picked. Lucky breezes through his, but at the tail end of Rehana's watch she hears an owl suddenly stop hooting. She wakes Kreck and lucky and the three go to investigate. 200 yards into the forest they find an old road. on the side of the road stood a single large spider in sentry mode. This was no normal spider for instead of 8 legs it hand hundreds. But there wasn't time to waste on how or why as a cry calls out from the sleeping party. The rest of the party were awoken by the screams of Gunnar discovering he and his friends were covered with a carpet of migrating spiders. Thousands of them covered the forest floor. These too were mutant spiders with hundreds of legs. Kreck attempted to step on some and burned his feet with acid from their blood. Noala rallied the troop back to the cart and Gunnar calmed strudel enough to head out. But something followed. In the trees beyond their vision something large moved their way. A clutch successfully nature check by Gunnar to Command Animal allowed the team to escape the forest before they ever learned what hunted them. A quick decision to press on to Breachill overnite, the party arrives haggard at the gates of the walled city. Guards question them but mostly to learn of the horrors they have seen in the woods beyond. Seems stories of the strangeness of the Valley's animals are frequently reaching Breachill these few days. They let the party in and direct them to Wizard's Grace where they may rest for the evening and regroup
Rewards Granted
XP
- Clearing the Blighted Den - 160xp everyone
- Discovering the corrupted groundwater - 40xp everyone
- Tripping a Wolf - 10xp Lucky
- Glove's First Blood - 10xp Kreck
- Battlemending Dog - 10xp Kal
- Evading the Spiderpede - 50xp everyone
- Clutch Command Animal - 25xp Gunnar
Notes
I am sorry if last night's game was felt a bit rough. I normally do a bunch of prep the day of on where I know the party is going and, for some reason, I completely forgot that Breachill was a place you likely would go. So I apologize for being less than on point when you got there. Also, I hadn't planned on a random encounter, but when I rolled the nat 20 on the die for Rehana's watch I figured wth and rolled with it. I am both overjoyed and a little sad that you escaped the Spiderpede I whipped up for you, but that's how the dice fell :) I did want to impress upon you how messed up the natural world was becoming in the valley, and it sounds like by your reactions that I was successful :) As for Jimmy's question regarding taking downtime in the middle of a quest, I would say treat it like any video game RPG. The main quest will wait for the heroes. I would rather the party leave Breachill after some downtime to do all the shopping, crafting, and trading you want while here. It will help the party better deal with what's to come. Reminder. we are doing Fast Leveling until level 5. Level at 800xp
