Session 13 - Murder on the Riverboat
General Summary
[30 Planting, 498TA]
Waking the next morning to cloudy skies the party began packing up their supplies, ready to get on the road. Denye seemed quite unsettled by the dream and started sorting through the collected treasures. “That troll wasn’t some random encounter, someone sent it to attack us. But how did they know where we were? Have we picked up something that we haven’t identified?”Janora seemed confused, “What do you mean it was sent? Who would be trying to attack us? We haven’t done anything.”
Denye shook her head, “I...I don’t really know. I had a dream last night and someone I trust told me. They said that we were being watched. The most likely answer is that we picked something up that was magical, but didn’t recognize it as such.”
“Maybe there is something on the troll,” suggested Ell. Walking over to look at the foul creature, it was clear that whatever had been magically holding it together had worn off. Already bloated and decomposing rapidly, it was hard to see if the troll had any real markings.
Kneeling down next to, Jilken pointed, “Look I think this thing had a collar. Maybe there is a marking on that.” Cutting the strip of leather away, she wiped it off on the grass before peering at it closely. “Yes. look here, there is a five pointed star stamped into the leather. I think it’s the same as the one we’ve seen before...that Master Dark or whatever he calls himself.”
Hearing this, Janora came walking over to look, “But why would he want to kill us? We haven’t done anything to him yet.”
Denye who had by this point stuffed her head into the bag muttered, “Well we did destroy that tree, maybe he had plans for it. Wait, what’s this? Pulling out a large square bronze coin, she held it up, “Does anyone remember where we got this?”
Jilken’s brow furrowed, “Wasn’t that those bandits? The same one who had my lovely crossbow?”
“I think you are right,” said Denye. “This coin also has the five pointed star. The other side looks like some kind of animal, maybe a wolverine. But it’s definitely magical. Give me a moment and I’ll be able to find out what it does.”
Picking up her spellbook she began flipping pages and drawing diagrams in the dirt while chanting to herself. As the spell faded, she shook herself all over and said, “Well I know what it does, but not who it is connected to. There is definitely a tracking spell woven into the coin. There is also a communication spell of some kind. I can’t get a fix on the other end, but I’m fairly sure that who ever has it can listen in on us...and possibly speak back.”
“Then we should get rid of it,” suggested Jilken.
Ell shook his head, “We shouldn’t do anything hasty, it might come in handy at some point. But you are right, we should see if there is a way to neutralize the magic and make sure it doesn’t hear everything.”
“If there is a way, I don’t know it,” clucked Denye, who was busily stuffing her belongings back into her pack. “But maybe we can find something in Haven. You said it was quite large?”
Ell nodded, “They say it’s the largest city in Ellebore.”
Denye sighed, “Wexwood was already quite large enough. I can’t imagine even more people.” Securing the last of her packs on the horse, she mounted and the team got back onto the road for Port Frost.
The day’s travel was quiet and uneventful, with the single exception that this time the clouds did not burn off. Instead a cold, stinging rain began falling around mid-morning. Most of the team bundled into their cloaks and tried to keep warm as best they could. Jilken just kept staring up at the sky, face bouncing between incredulous confusion and a mild panic.
Finding some shelter a few hours later, the party stopped to light a fire and dry their cloaks out while they ate lunch. While they were eating, Ell asked, “Do we think we should stop here and wait for it to clear?”
Janora just shook their head, “This isn’t going to let up until tomorrow sometime. We can’t be far now, I say press on. I’ll take a few more hours of rain if a soft bed and warm bath are at the end of it.”
The others murmured sounds of agreement. Finishing their meal and donning the half-dry cloaks they made their way back out onto the road. True to Janora’s word, it did not stop raining all afternoon, but about an hour before sundown the walls of the town appeared before them. Entering the gates, the party delivered the horses to the Sleeping Pony, the stable that Connack had mentioned.
Shouldering their packs, the four adventurers made their way deeper into the town. Ell, taking the lead, said, “I know this place pretty well. Should we see about securing a ship before looking for that inn?”
“We just got here,” said Jilken, looking a little green. “Surely you don’t want to leave again right away.”
“Not right away, no,” said Ell, “but we are kind of in a hurry. I would hate to miss the last ride. We might be weeks sitting here waiting.”
Leading them down to the docks and directly to the harbormaster’s office, the young man ushered them all inside. What they found was a large open room and several desks behind a low counter/wall. Seated at one was an older halfling with a ring of grey hair and deep set eyes. Looking up he spotted the party, “Oh, hello there...how can I be of assistance. Ahh, Master Darnet..I had heard you had left town.”
“I did,” smiled Ell, “and now I’m back, although not for long. Can you tell me if there are any ships heading for Haven? My friends and I are in need of some transport.”
“Ta Haven you say?” said the man. “Weelll, only two of your family ships are in dock right now, but both of them are deep-keelers. They’ll be bound for Dreford and beyond, via the Windy Beck.” The halfling stopped for a moment and scratched his nose. “Iffin it be Haven you want, your best bet is to speak to Lonlos Truwater. He skippers the Kilmallock and I just scheduled his delivery of barges for noon tomorrow.”
Getting directions to the correct slip, Ell thanked the halfling and led the others to the boat. Denye, walking beside him said, “I didn’t know your family owned ships.”
Ell shrugged and in a half-bored voice said “Yeah, they do some shipping and trade.” Luckily, before he had to say more, the group arrived at the Kilmallock.
The ship appeared to be a large barge, maybe 60x200ft, with a two story structure built on it, festooned with colorful ribbons and banners, and a large red paddlewheel at the back. A short gnome with black, bushy hair and a similar beard, his eyes and nose just peeking out, wearing a dark brown shirt and pants with a flaming yellow and red scarf tied around his neck was coiling rope on the deck.
Stepping up to the side of the dock, Ell cleared his throat loudly and asked, “Is Captain Truwater aboard?” The gnome looked up and gave a large grin, flashing two gold teeth. There was more gold in his ears, two large golden hoops in each and the right ear has an additional 4 smaller gold hoops along the outer edge. “Aye, I be Captain Truwater, how may I be of assistance.”
Flashing his own smile Ell said, “We are looking to go to Haven and heard you might be able to help us get there.”
“Oh aye,” nodded the captain, “We’ll be leaving around noon tomorrow and I do have a pair of rooms still open.”
“Excellent,” said Ell, “and how much do you charge for this wonderful service?”
The gnome chuckled, “Well, a one-way ticket is usually 40gp each, four of you would be 160gp....let’s just call it 150gp.” Ell nodded and was about to say something but was cut off as Lonlos went on, “On the other hand, you all look like you have dealt with a thing or two, especially Ms Pointy Bits over there. Might be that I could give you free passage if you help me out with a little problem.”
Janora’s eyes narrowed a bit and suspiciously they asked, “And exactly what kind of problem would that be?”
“Well ya see,” started the captain, “I recently heard from my brother that there was some kinda new beastie that has set up home in the Cleft It attacked him and his crew, almost killed one of ‘em. So I be thinking that if something does try to attack us and you fight it off, well that should be worth your passage.”
“Oh that could be fun,” said Jilken, now looking a little better. “Do you know what it was?”
Lonlos shook his head, “Not much a’one, he said it kept disappearing. Just that it was blue and white and the bite was poisonous.”
Jilken shrugged at the response, “I’m pretty sure we can handle it. Sounds like a square deal to me.” The rest of the group agreed, with varying levels of enthusiasm.
After making plans to come down in the morning, Ell led the party back up into town towards the wall. “Let’s go get dry,” he said, “I know a very nice inn where they’ll take good care of us.”
Eventually reaching one of the nicer residential areas, the young man led them to the Radiant Nest. A modest sized two-story stone building, surrounded by gardens and tall hedges. Leaning against the wall next to the door was a scruffy Tabaxi with mauled ears and multiple scars across his tiger-like face. He merely dipped his head to Ell as the young man pulled open the door and ushered everyone inside.
The first floor was a common room full of richly upholstered seating made for all sorts of people. Tables for gaming or dining were scattered about amidst conversation pits. Two separate bars with shining countertops and elegant stools. Three fireplaces, and fine oil lanterns with glass panels in a variety of colors hanging from every conceivable place. Every shadow danced and flickered in a dozen reflections of itself.
Most of the tables were full, and the buzz of conversation filled the air. Some were laughing and talking, others conducting business of various sorts. Several tables appeared to be in the midst of a romantic tete’a’tete. All of them however were quite richly dressed.
Looking around, Jilken said, “I’m feeling a bit underdressed.”
“Yeah,” said Denye, “Are you sure this is the right place?”
At that, a deep rolling voice behind them said, “Nonsense my dears, everyone is welcome at my Nest...so long as you have the gold.” The last was followed with a throaty chuckle.
Denye turned around and let out a small squeak, then looked up and up into the face of an enormous Tabaxi woman. She was easily twice Denye’s height, and her shoulders seemed almost as broad. Muscles showed under what was clearly a generous amount of softer tissue. In short, she was a unit. Her longish fur was striped golden, black, and ash gray, and it rippled along her round tiger's face and bunched up under the collar of the emerald sleeveless robe she wore.
Spotting Ell, the Tabaxi said, “Master Ell, it is quite good to see you again and you brought friends. Will you be staying long?”
Smiling Ell stepped forward for an air-kiss, “Whisper, so good to see you, lovely as ever. Sadly no, we are bound for Haven in morning. But we are in desperate need of your shelter for the night.”
This sally earned another deep chuckle/purr. “Silver-tongued as ever. But of course, you must come to me. Now, what is it you need? From the looks of you I would say a warm bath, a hot meal, and a good bed.”
“That sounds heavenly,” smiled Ell, “I think that is exactly what we need.” The rest of the party agreed and Whisper herself led them upstairs and to their rooms. Leaving them to get settled, she promised that someone would be along shortly with hot water.
The rest of the evening passed in warm comfort as the hot bath and filling meal did much to restore the adventurers. But it was the soft pillow like beds that completed their restorations.
[31 Planting, 498 TA]
The next morning the party received breakfast in bed, and after meeting up in the common room made their way down to the Kilmallock, where Captain Lonlos was overseeing a couple of longshoremen carrying supplies onboard.Seeing the team he waved a hand in greeting, “Good timing, we’re actually a little ahead of schedule. Give me a moment to finish with these gentlemen and I’ll give you the tour.” In short order, the supplies were stowed and the laborers headed back to the next job. Lonlos clapped his hands and after rubbing them together for a moment and said “Now, let’s get you settled onto the ‘lock. I’ll give you the quick tour and show you to your rooms.”
The small gnome proceeded to do just that. He introduced the party to his wife, Cladniss and their two children, Gemdie and Duwikem. Showing the team the “engine room” they also met engineer/beastmaster Riktai Waverunner, a wiry half-orc in charge of the two dyralls that powered the paddlewheel.
Eventually leading them up to the second floor he showed them to their rooms, rather plain, cramped affairs, but would do. Leaving everyone to get settled he said, “Head on down to the common room if you get hungry, Now that everyone is onboard, I’m going to see about getting us into position for the barges and we’ll be on our way to Haven. Should take us most of the afternoon to skirt the edge of the Basin. We’ll stop for the night on the lake, and then tomorrow morning we will be in the Cleft.”
“And that’s where you think there will be trouble?” asked Jilken.
“Aye, leastwise that was where me brother said he got attacked,” agreed the small gnome. “But that will be tomorrow’s problem.” And with a laugh he disappeared into the cabin to finish his preparations. Within minutes the craft was pulling away from the dock and the additional barges were connected.
The afternoon passed peacefully and the party whiled away the time. They did eventually meet two of the other passengers at dinner that evening. One was an older human man, who introduced himself as Reylant Balrich. Dressed in priestly robes of bright red, with a large seven-rayed sun in gold upon his chest.
His companion, a young halfling man was dressed in a similar style, but his robes were a heathered grey with red trim. Introducing himself as Zendack Duskhill, the halfling explained that they were Sunpriests out of Caisia and were on their way back to Sunhame after meeting with the Low Queen of the Mountain.
Conversation was interrupted as Lonlos came in after securing the boat and everyone sat down to enjoy some of Cladniss’ delicious cooking.
Sometime later, settled into their rooms for the night, Ell decided he wanted to do some reading before bed. Pulling out the Treasures of the Firelords, a book he had taken from Belak’s library he opened it to the first page. Seeing that the page was blank, he turned to the next page and triggered a hidden glyph of warding. An arcane wave of cold energy burst from the book striking Ell in the face and spreading all the way across the hall into the other room where Denye was sitting on her bed.
Ell let out a cry of pain, followed a moment later by Denye’s shriek. Jilken, unsure of what was happening leapt off the bed and into the hall. Not seeing any danger, she opened the door of the other room and found Ell on the bed, stunned and shivering with Janora looking on confusedly. A moment later Denye pushed past the elf saying, “Ell, are you okay? I heard your cry. What was that, some kind of cold spell?”
“Yeah, it was me,” said Ell, “I’m sorry, everything is fine. I just triggered a trap on this book. The damn thing is blank too.”
“Oh okay,” Denye replied, “I guess that makes sense. We should do a better job of checking treasures.”
Zendack came running up, “Is everyone okay, I heard the noise.”
“Yes, Father,” replied Jilken, “just a trap spell on a book.”
“Well, was anyone injured?”
“Very,” said Ell from between chattering teeth. “Do you think there is a place onboard where I can burn this stupid book?”
Zendack smiled, “I couldn’t say. I suspect if nothing else you could use the stove in the main room. But here, let me see if this helps.” Pressing his palms together they began to glow with a soft golden light. Placing one hand on Ell and the other on Denye, he cast Cure Wounds on them both as a feeling like warm sunlight began to spread throughout their bodies. Both Ell and Denye quickly crawled into bed with the others soon following and the rest of the night passed in peace.
[32 Planting, 498 TA]
The next morning the party woke and made their way downstairs where they found both Lonlos and Cladniss already in the kitchen and making breakfast. Giving his wife one last kiss on the cheek, the gnome captain took his coffee and headed up to the bridge to get them moving again.As folks were gathered around the table, Zendack burst into the room, “Something’s happened to Master Reylant...I think he’s dead.”
Jilken looked up suspiciously, “Did he fall into the lake?”
The distressed halfling shook his head, “No, he’s in our room. But his chest is all slashed up and he’s not breathing. Maybe….maybe a beast got on board somehow?”
Jilken shook her head at that statement, “I don’t think so, I was patrolling the boat most of the night...but I was on the lower level.”
“I mean,” started Zendack, “I was asleep in the other bed and I didn’t hear a thing.”
Janora sighed and stood, “Well, we should take a look. Just let me stop in my room for my med kit and we’ll go take a look.”
The rest of the party followed them out of the common area and up the ladder to the top deck. Arriving at the Sunpriests’ room, Jannora was the first through the door. As the young halfling had said, the old man lay sprawled across his bed, his face and chest slashed and bloody, his skin a blueish grey. Moving up to him, Janora began a careful examination of the body. Finishing, they turned to the others and said, “So the cause of death seems fairly clear, he would have lost a lot of blood from those scratch marks. It’s hard to say what did it, I get an impression of claws. I also found this.” Holding out their hand they displayed a small piece of blacked nail.”
Zendack just started shaking, “I don’t know what happened. We came up to our room after dinner, I spent some time reading from the Writ and Reylant check on the package the Low Queen gifted the Son of the Sun. We went to bed and everything was fine. Then this happened...but who could have gotten on the ship?”
Jilken’s head shot up, “Did his belongings look ransacked? Have you looked to see if the package is missing.”
“I...I haven’t checked,” sobbed Zendack. Moving over to the bed, he pulled a small case from underneath. Kneeling down and opening it, he spent a few moments rummaging inside before looking up in astonishment . “It’s gone...how did you...but who would have wanted it? Or known that we had it?”
Janora asked, “What kind of gift was it?”
“We had been sent to finalize some trade negotiations,” Zendack said. “Queen Gemris Rhyshammer presented Master Reylant with a small gold statue for the Son. It seemed finely crafted, like most dwarven goods. I do recall that it had the most beautiful yellow topaz set into a Sun in Glory.”
“Sounds expensive,” Denye chirped, “That alone may have been the reason.”
Zendack shrugged, “Perhaps, likely for the materials themselves. There were also some papers; trade notes, contracts, things like that. We put them in the box with the statue to keep it all safe.”
Denye brightened, “Oh, that is interesting. Maybe someone is trying to disrupt your trade deals. Do you have any enemies? Or perhaps enemies of this Low Queen?”
“I can’t really say for the dwarves. For that matter, I can’t really say for the Sunpriests either. I’m just an acolyte. But we aren’t at war with anyone. Maybe something connected with the Wall? Hard to say. But that still doesn’t answer the question of how they got on the boat to kill him.”
Janora snapped their fingers, “What if they were already on the boat? I know there is supposed to be another passenger onboard, but I haven’t seen them?
“Maybe we should go get Lonlos and ask him to do a search of the ship,” Ell suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” said Janora, “He’s the one in charge. We’re just passengers on this boat afterall. You all search the boat, Zendack and I will take care of the body.”
Stepping out of the room Ell and Jilken loitered in the hall while Denye headed off to the bridge to find Captain Lonlos. After hearing about the situation, the gnome got quite somber and agreed that searching the ship was a good idea. He called his wife up to keep an eye on the wheel.
Heading back, they discovered that Jilken had knocked on the other door. A dark half-elven woman with long black hair and charcoal ashy skin answered it but claimed to have no knowledge of anything happening during the previous night.
When the captain and Denye got back the young wizard directed Zendack to repeat his tale, sparing no details.The halfling did so, tho his voice quavered.
“I’m terrible sorry for your loss son,” said Captain Truwater, “Well, this is quite a fine mess. But why do you think it is someone on the ship?
Jilken, who had been leaning against a wall staring at the dark half-elf, spoke up, ”I was patrolling the boat last night and nothing came onboard. So whoever did this must have already been here.”
“Captain, may I suggest that we get everyone on the ship together in one room,” said Janora. “I believe that we should give everyone a chance to tell their stories.”
“Well,” said Lonlos, “we are almost to the Cleft...but this does seem important. Give me a moment to cut the wheel and drop the anchor. Yes, if everyone could gather in the living room, perhaps we can get to the bottom of this.”
In short order everyone made their way into the common room. Zendack began by relating the sad story.
“It seems to me,” said Denye, “that our best hope of figuring out what happened is while we’re here on this boat. We have a dead body as well as missing cargo. I believe that at least warrants an investigation.”
“We should look for the statue,” added Ell, “presumably it will be here somewhere. If someone stole it, I can’t believe they would have gotten rid of it.”
Scowling, Janora asked “Is this everyone on the boat?” Lonlos nodded, “All except for the two children. I thought it best to have them play in their rooms while we discussed adult things.”
Janora scowled deeper, “Can you bring them in here? If something is on the boat, they shouldn’t be alone.” Cladniss and Denye left to retrieve them and when they returned Janora had stepped into the center of the room. Trying to be subtle about it, the witch cast Detect Magic. There was quite a bit more of it than they had expected. Besides the gear that they and their companions carried, all four of the Truwaters glowed with the golden light of transmutation. The dark half-elf in the corner also radiated magic, but her aura was the deep purple of Illusion.
Janora whispered this information to the party while they were discussing what to do next. Hearing this Ell stood up, walked up into the room halfway between Lonlos and Zistra, “Okay, clearly just about everyone is hiding something on this boat. Let’s get it out there.” Turning to point at the gnome captain he went on, “Starting with you, Captain Truwater. You were quite eager for us to come on this trip….and now we have a dead body.”
“What would I know of a dead body. Most of our trips are peaceful. And I wanted the lot of ya onboard to deal with the beasties in the Cleft.”
“Most?” asked Ell with a raised eyebrow. “Do you often get into fights on the river?”
Lonlos shrugged, “Not always, but there are the occasional bandits who block the river or harpies attacking from the hills. Only had one fight between passengers….and they was married.”
“I see,” sneered Ell, “Then why all the magic?”
“Ohh,” Lonlos’ face fell, “That is a, ahh, family trait shall we say.”
“Is it?” was the sharp reply.
Lonlos’ jaw muscles tightened slightly, “Yes. I’d rather not go into more detail in such a large group. I promise you it has nothing to do with a dead priest.”
“Of course it doesn’t,” laughed Ell.
From the far side of the table, Denye spoke up, “It’s alright, I believe him.” While this whole exchange had been happening Denye had been staring at Lonlos and his young daughter, half-hidden behind him. From the man it was hard to read anything, but the daughter was much easier. While watching her, the Corva actually caught the girl changing her hand into a paw and back. There was also a quick glance, more a suggestion really, of a tail. That had been enough for her to realize that the Truwaters were some sort of otter selkies.
Ell looked at Denye like she was out of her mind, but shrugged, “I suppose we can put a pin in it for the moment.” Turning on the glowering half-elf, Ell pointed and said, “How about you? You’ve been very quiet. Why are you here?”
“My business is my own,” was her snide reply, “I needed to get to Haven and this was the first ship leaving.” Throwing up his hands and turning to look at the room, Ell asked,“Well, then is there anyone or anything else on this boat?”
Riktai grunted, “The dyralls.”
Ell sighed, “Well, I can’t really see how they would get up the ladders.”
“Not to mention that they couldn’t have made those marks,” added Denye, helpfully.
“Right, so this isn’t getting us anywhere,” said Ell, “I think it’s time to search the ship.
Jilken just grunted, since that was what she had been going to do when Janora stopped her. Captain Lonlos nodded his head, “Well then, can we get moving again? Surely we can search while we sail...none of us will be getting off the boat for a couple more days.”
Reluctantly Ell agreed, “Yes we don’t want to stop for too long, otherwise we’ll be late getting to Haven. So why don’t you head on up to the bridge, Lonlos, and get us underway. Jilken can search the ship and the rest of us can just sit right here. Any objections?”
The gnome captain frowned, “I need Riktai in the back to get the dyralls moving again.”
Arching an eyebrow, Ell asked, “You can work with those stupid animals?”
The half-orc only grunted, “Show food, they walk. But make sure it the only food they see.”
“Fair enough,” said Ell. “Fine, the two of you go do boat things.”
Jilken smiled, “I might as well start at that end of the boat. I’ll walk back with you. I’d love to see your technique.”
The “engine” room was noisy, hot, and most of all stank. There were bales of hay stacked up where the dyrall could see, but not reach. The dyrall themselves stood on long belts with feed troughs directly in front of each. The other end of the L shaped room was a workbench with various leather straps laying next to large cog wheels.
Moving on, Jilken found Riktai’s room but discovered nothing suspicious. The bedroom across the hall clearly belonged to someone, but it wasn’t anyone they had been introduced too. It was in the storage room however that Jilken hit the jackpot...sort of. Tucked in among the bags was an ornate wooden box. Pulling it out excitedly, the Aiel elf was disappointed to find it empty.
After more searching of the storage room turned up nothing, Jilken moved on to the Truwater’s rooms. Both of the kid's rooms were adorable, but messy. The parents room was neat and tidy, but also turned up nothing.
Jilken started to head upstairs when a loud bell ringing from the bridge made her stop. Lonlos opened the door and shouted, “Looks like we might have some company.”
The party rushed to the bow of the ship just in time to see one giant blue and white spider shimmer out of sight as a second one began crawling down the canyon wall toward the passing boat.
Jilken whipped out her crossbow and fired a bolt glowing with a sickly white light. Striking the spider deep in the thorax, it spasmed and almost lost its grip on the wall. Denye tried to follow it up with a Guiding Bolt, but her aim was high, and it struck the canyon wall above it.
Ell stepped up and raised a hand, casting Eldritch Blast, the beam of deep blue energy crackling out from his finger. The bolt hit the creature right between its eyes, stunning it for a moment.
In response the enormous blue spider shimmered out of sight as two more spiders appeared at the top of the cliff wall and began climbing down toward the boat.. Janora sent out a quick spray of magical energy that caused spiked plants to grow on the rock, vines wrapping around that spider’s feet.
Jilken quick-climbed the ladder and ran across the passage, before taking careful aim and shooting one of the legs off the spider that Janora had trapped. She called out, “Unbalance them, we should be able to make them drop into the water."
Denye flapped her wing, sending out a bolt of bright arcane light. It hit the fresh spider squarely in its face. Shocked, the spider stopped for a moment, and then continued down the wall, now glowing brightly.
Ell swung around to face the one that Jilken had damaged, throwing another Eldrich Blast as he completed the turn. Sadly it was moments too soon and the arcing energy struck the stone beside the beast.
One of the visible spiders jumped onto the roof of the boat as Jilken ducked back inside The third spider vanished, as the original spider reappeared on the boat wall behind Denye and tried to go for a bite. But the small bird wizard had heard the thump as it landed and a wall of wind sprung up around Denye as she cast Shield to protect herself.
Janora whirled around and seeing this gigantic blue and white spider hanging on side of the boat behind their companion, they raised their staff. A huge, ghostly, skeletal dog paw, made of black and purple energies grew out of the staff and took a swipe at the monster, knocking it to the deck as the legs curled in death.
Jilken dropped out of the passageway onto the deck and fired a heavy crossbow bolt up at the remaining spider on the boat, hitting it deep in its thorax. In a burst of adrenaline, she pulled out the Rainbow Reaper, and kissing the engraving of the sword, shot a second bolt at the beast. The shot burst into flames as it left the bow and buried itself in the creature’s head before exploding as the phase spider fell onto the deck. It would have gone overboard had Jilken not grabbed hold and leveraged it back on.
Seeing that Ell shuddered, “Ewww, you touched it.”
Looking over her shoulder Jilken laughed, “It’s dinner.”
“I’m not eating that,” swore Ell, “that is disgusting.”
“Where is that other spider?” asked Denye, a glowing red ball of flame in her hand. “There was a third one somewhere.” At that moment, it appeared, hanging on the wall about to shoot a web at them. Denye’s hand flew up and the ball of flame lanced into the creature's face, before the spider dropped, falling into the river as the boat sailed past.
“What the hell are these things?” asked Ell peering at the dead beast, but being very careful not to touch it. “I think I’ve read about them before...Underdark creatures I believe. I recognized the disappearing act.”
Janora who had also come up and was examining the body, murmured distractedly, “I believe that you will find they are called phase spiders. The disappearing comes from an innate ability to shift between the Material and Ethereal Planes.” They were most interested in examining the feet. It was unlikely that they would have had anything to do with the death of the priest. But it never hurt to be cautious. Always the thrifty witch, Janora harvested 2 vials of spider venom from the creature.
Jilken meanwhile was already butchering the other dead spider and collected roughly 40lbs of meat. Wrapping the meat in her cloak, she took it up to the front, and showed it to the others. “Well, at least we have dinner.”
Janora looked appalled, “You aren’t actually planning on eating that disgusting creature are you?”
In a bit of a stony voice Jilken replied, “I killed it, now I’m going to eat it.”
All the rest of the party thought this seemed absolutely gross, but in the end Jilken could do as she liked...so long as no one else had to eat spider steaks. After pushing both carcasses overboard and some more short discussion, the party members returned to the living room to find chaos and disarray.
