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The second 8th to the second 9th day of Dros, 250 AD

The Spider's Game

by Tink Coppertail

The Traveler said his goodbyes and walked back into the room we found him in. A flash came out from under the door and he disappeared. I looked at the vial some more as Kniana came round the corner. We talked a bit and what happened to Hellena and The Traveler. Apparently he is a greater contract devil from what Hellena told Kniana. Just accepting items is some contract or something. Perhaps I will study this vial more before I decide to use it... Eval's contract is strange I guess as he killed his master. The contract itself is between Eval, the bow, and Pharasma. Eval also had a gauntlet now and when he said "Vishnu" the very fancy bow appeared. He said it was another name for Pharasma or something while testing the tension with some light arrow that appeared. He then handed me an arrow he called a Phoenix Arrow and asked me to look at it. It was hard to tell as far as arrow individuality but I'd place it to be about 6k gp. Quite the price for a singular shot. On further look, and a bit of teeth scraping, I found that there was a metal coated Frestine crystal for the head! I kindly asked him to never point it at me down bow. Skrel made a point to say that we are likely important now with the gods talking to us and all. Then they started discussing about rest and our next steps.
They ended up deciding on a rest for the day, and started to move the ghoul bodies for some reason. They ended up dumping them all outside the doors to the courtyard area. What made it especially horrifying was seeing them all strung up not minutes later in webbing... I sat up my text away from that door as I'd rather take my chances with the ghouls if something were to come after us. Kniana on the otherhand went about stringing up a net of bells around each doorway as an alert. Lily even placed her immovable grapplehook on the main doors as another precaution of the spider. Kniana ended up saying that the spider was upset about the stench of the dead bodies and that further cemented my local decision. Skrel even asked to use my Campfire Bead for the evening. With that I attempted to get some sleep and get to work finishing the Quiver that I had put off.
 
While the others rested I pulled the magics outta those life alchemy necklaces and infused it into a Quiver of Endless Ammunition. Afterwards I had just enough time to apply some of my dwindling supply of Bitterleaf Oil, and even sip some rather bitter tea form the Tengu Drinking Jug. I have got to find some sweetener... I handed Eval his new quiver and gave the usual spiel of how it works and whatnot. I also suggested he keep a few arrows as the ones this makes are temporary in nature. He told me of his various arrows and there uses and even had me look over a few to help him identify them. Strange that he had some Elf and Human bane ones. The interesting ones were the Seeking ones. They more or less function like Magic Missile but they still need to be aimed at a spot. I told him they were about 160 gp an arrow or 8k gp a quiver. Eval also showed me a five pound black opal. It had several odd things about it. First up was the voices I'd hear after focusing long enough. After using Detect Magic I was able to see a strong necromantic aura trapped inside the thing. The spell Orb of the Void was in there. When cast it's a 1ft ball of pure negative energy. [Heals undead, negative levels that could be permeant otherwise] There was other magics in there, but I couldn't quite make it out with how prominent the one was. He gave me the opal to pack away into safekeeping after hearing all that. With that I packed up Maki's tent just as Kniana de-netted all the doors.
After we all got packed up and ready to continue, it was discovered that the doors had been stuck in the night. The thought was that we were webbed in. Tamebrass ended up just ripping the doors open with brute strength. On the floor just outside the door was a giant dusty web. Kniana started to talk to the spider and it replied in Draconic? Well everyone seemed to understand it, so my guess is magics. It waid that It was the only "non-prey". It also commented that if we were trying to feed it, it wanted living flesh not undead. It apparently lets some things through it's liar as it only needs to eat so much. That is that we had to play a game to pass. We'd each have to leave with an object that we hadn't entered with. If we picked right we would be free to go and the bodies we had drug in where the things to choose from as it laughed.
The laugh was unsettling and I made sure to try and stay close to somebody as I went and searched a ghoul. I ended up finding a Topaz that I'd guess was worth 650gp. No sooner than I found it, a branch my size that was held back with web slammed into me. "Fun game is it not?" the thing taunted as it walked over me on 30ft high legs and disappeared into the darkness. If I didn't fear getting eaten I'd have burned this place down already... Skrel got me back up to health after that debacle and we met with Eval trying to air-feel a body. Mr. Clean couldn't touch it so I just Mage-Handed to try to shake something loose. That little jostling was enough to set off another trap. Giant wooden spikes got launched off of a tree into the ground in front of me and around Skrel and Eval. Luckily, they were nimble enough to not get hit. Skrel still ended up finding a mace buried up to the handle in one ghoul and even pulled a topaz for Eval. I kept close to them as the massive spider descended with strange blue eyes.
A unsettling as the eyes were, I recognized the same effect as from Maki's goggles as Arcane Sight. Basically a complete upgrade to Detect magic I use for mine. Hell, it could even tell if you had spells and abilities and the most powerful ones. Well, I knew there was no hiding for us with that kind of magic spotting us. Kniana went to I guess harvest some webbing only to get snagged in a net on the ground much like what we avoided just outside the door. The spider declared her the "first victim". I made the argument that we never carried her in and asked if we could carry her out as a chosen item. The spider thought a moment before saying "finish the game and we'd get her back". Lily apparently managed to kill a not-yet-a-corpse looking for more stuff and Tamebrass also got himself into a trap of sorts. Kniana had not been incapacitated I guess as the spider warned her against freeing herself. At some point someone asked the spider for a name and it seemed very interested in getting one and the power that comes with it so Eval started to tread lightly and I just zipped it.
After what felt like too long we all came back together to take our items formally. Lily had managed to find some bombs. Skrell wondered about them and I told him they were like a manual Fireball that were less destructive, but could do more damage potentially. Weall listed out our loot and Eval started to over think a bit. Either way Tamebrass cut into the cocoon that Kniana was in to give her a pearl. He then cut her free and left some tusk in the tree for the spider. The spider then showed us which way to go anD asked for us to send it more. Whoever we point to here for that shield and construct had better be good...

Continue reading...

  1. Fest Day One
  2. The library scuffle
  3. The party meets
  4. The Shop and the Competition
  5. Afternoon Events
  6. Dawn of Fest Day 2
  7. End of the Fest
  8. Meeting Gina
    The first 8th day of Myr, 250 AD
  9. First Week On the Road
    The first 8th day of Myr, 250 AD to the 2nd 8th
  10. The Wildflower Forest: Post Combat
    The second 8th day of Myr, 250 AD
  11. The Blinkdogs and the Ambush
    The second 9th day of Myr, 250 AD to the third 7th day
  12. The Ambush
    The third 7th day of Myr, 250 AD
  13. Forest Fey Party
    The third 8th day of Myr, 250 AD to the 1th 8th day of Dros
  14. The Town of Brentwood: Day 1
    The first 8th day of Dros, 250 AD
  15. The Town of Brentwood: Day 2
    The first 9th day of Dros, 250 AD
  16. The Town of Brentwood: Day 3
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  17. Wedding Bashers
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  18. Wedding: Aftermath
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  19. Dragonfall
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD to the 2nd 3rd?
  20. Plans of Inaction
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  21. Split Decisions
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD to the 2nd 1st
  22. Raiding Requests
    The second 1st day of Dros, 250 AD to the second 3rd day.
  23. Crystal Caverns
    The second 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD to the second 4th day
  24. Crystal Kobolds
    The second 4th day of Dros, 250 AD
  25. Even the Slimes are Crystal
    The second 4th day of Dros, 250 AD
  26. The Crystals are Spirits?
    The second 4th day of Dros, 250 AD
  27. Skull Jelly
    The second 5th day of Dros, 250 AD
  28. I am but a Humble Merchant
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  29. Trust is a Fleeting Resource
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  30. The Lure of Adventure
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  31. Grab and Go
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  32. The Runes and Return
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  33. Maki and the Cursed
    The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD
  34. United Plans
    The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD
  35. Ghoulish Light
    The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD
  36. Weapons of Old
    The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD
  37. CAN Y'ALL JUST LET ME MAKE ONE THING
    The second 7th to the second 8th day of Dros, 250 AD
  38. Hot and Cold
    The second 8th day of Dros, 250 AD
  39. Trades of The Traveler
    The second 8th day of Dros, 250 AD
  40. The Spider's Game
    The second 8th to the second 9th day of Dros, 250 AD
  41. And Out
    The second 9th day of Dros, 250 AD
  42. Beat Feet in the Heat
    The second 9th to the second 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  43. Five Hours a Minute
    The second 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  44. Silky In-greed-ients
    The second 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  45. Crafting Elsewhere During a Lore Dump
    The second 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  46. Split Decisions 2 Tink 2 Handle
    The Third 1st day of Dros, 250 AD
  47. Running Colors
    The Third 1st day of Dros, 250 AD
  48. Who's Who in Life and Death
    The Third 2nd day of Dros, 250 AD
  49. The Scorpion Squad
    The Third 2nd to the 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  50. Calistria's spit, SPITE
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  51. The Damned Redeemed
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  52. Arms in Sleeves, Not Sheathes
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  53. The Nap and the Necromancer
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  54. The Return of a King
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD

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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.045 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 17:13, May 22 2025