I apologize for the gap, holidays got away from me so I am finally getting back into the routine. JCL
Chapter 20 – Spiders - Day 49
"Ewwwwwww. I hate spiders. I really do."
Imoen eyed the carcass of the giant spider at her feet and kicked the carcass with a purple leather boot. Blood and ichor oozed out of a half dozen wounds as the creature bled out into the grass. The arrows sticking out of the corpse made it look like a many legged pin cushion. The body of the spider was the size of a large dog, with legs that were each as tall as a halfling. The eight legged beast was fearsome to view, even in death.
"Well Tiber said he and his brother were overwhelmed by a hoard of them right around here so I suspect this is the first of many. The webbing in the trees gets thicker the deeper we go. Guess their plan to leave the farm and be adventurers went bad pretty quickly."
Jeral felt bad for the brothers and their situation but he quickly focused on watching the surrounding woods for threats. He rolled his shoulders and again marveled at the light weight of his new armor. Imoen had returned from Beregost bearing a suit of lightly enchanted chain mail for him. At half the weight of his previous forty plus pound mail Jeral felt energized for no longer was he worn down at the end of a day's long march. Wearing enchanted armor, wielding an enchanted short sword and an enchanted long bow, Jeral felt ready to take on anything they would find in the woods. He had no idea how Imoen could possibly afford the armor but also knew better than to explicitly ask. Imoen would never lie to him but he also knew not to ask a question when he would probably not enjoy the answer. And if Ajantis heard that Imoen stole it then there would definitely be a problem.
Ajantis, as was his preference, led the way through the forest. Jeral and Imoen were close behind him ready to aid him with their bows. Minsc and Dynaheir brought up the rear of the group and the large man hovered protectively near the mage. Their reduced numbers, and the ever present threat of venomous spiders, forced them to travel tightly packed without someone roaming their flanks. Jeral wished they had someone who was more suitable to serve as a scout than Ajantis but he was the best option available.
The tension was still there between Jeral and the paladin. Ajantis was still angry about Viconia's temporary association with the group and he blamed Jeral for her presence. However, the Helmite did have the good grace to not speak about it. When he returned to the Friendly Arm Inn and learned that she was gone the overt hostility was gone, but the after affects still lingered. The party was four days into the Cloakwood and they had encountered very little save a few small packs of gibberlings and hobgoblins. Each was quickly dispatched with a minimum of excitement. Jeral smiled grimly at the memory of how a sole gibberling almost killed him less than two short months ago. How fast things can change when you are on the run from assassins and fighting for your life, he mused.
"Ajantis, stop!" Imoen's cried out. Her sharp eyes had spied a potential pressure trigger for a web trap and the paladin's foot had just landed on it. Ajantis turned to look back and lifted his armored foot from the ground as he did so. "What is it my lady?" As the paladin turned, a spray of spider webs shot out of the surrounding trees and enveloped the immediate area around him.
"BACK! Fall Back!" Jeral screamed, grabbed Imoen, and hastily backed away from the spreading mass of webs. Minsc and Dynaheir also quickly pulled back from the web trap. Ajantis started to run backwards but more and more of the webbing was coating his armor and slowing his movement. After a hasty retreat the group noticed a ten yard wide mass of webbing with the paladin securely trapped inside of it. Drawn by the noise, and the paladin's struggles to free himself, a half dozen giant spiders descended from trees and started to approach the trapped Paladin.
Jeral knocked an arrow and started barking orders.
"Minsc, cut him free! Imoen, we have to keep the spiders off of him, he cannot defend himself immobilized like that." Minsc started hacking at the webbing with his massive great sword. The large blade was not terribly sharp after ages of heavy use so he tore roughly through the webs instead of slicing smoothly through them. Jeral walked forward to the edge of the webs and started firing arrows as fast as he could loose, draw, and aim. Imoen quickly stood at his side and started shooting as fast as she could. She was a blur of purple as her arms moved her bow from target to target.
Three spiders quickly fell to the pair of archers. Another two fell to a pair of magic missile spells from Dynaheir. The sixth continued to close on Ajantis. The paladin struggled against the webbing until Minsc bulled through and grabbed him in a bear hug. He then walked backwards dragging Ajantis out of the webbing. Jeral and Imoen managed to dispatch the final spider with a few well placed arrows and it died with a final shudder mere inches from the still helpless paladin.
Imoen and Dynaheir started pulling webbing and twigs off of the paladin's armor. Once Ajantis could finally move his arms he pulled his helmet off and ran his hands through his greasy sweaty hair. Imoen and Dynaheir both paused to stare at the handsome man as he ran his hands through his sweaty light brown hair and continued to pick twigs and webbing off his ankheg armor.
"I thank all of you for the assistance. My lady, how did you know the webbing was there?"
Imoen tore her gaze from the Paladin and had to take a deep breath before she could frame a reply. "Well there was a small white mass of webbing on the ground with a handful of very fine web strands leading to a bunch of trees. I am sorry I did not see it sooner but I saw it at the very last minute when you stepped on it."
"Well I will be more careful and look out for any more such traps moving forward." Imoen and Jeral walked amongst the spider corpses reclaiming as many of their undamaged arrows as they could recover. Both archers were starting to run short on arrows the deeper they went into the woods. With an extended stay away from civilization likely they had to make the most of every arrow in their quivers.
Ajantis adjusted the grip on his shield, drew his sword and resumed the march. Picking his way carefully forward, weaving through the woods, Ajantis steadily moved ahead with the other four following closely behind. He stopped at the edge of a clearing and stared upwards silently. The other four quickly flanked Ajantis and they all stopped and wordlessly stared upwards. In the center of the clearing a large brown hive like structure loomed over forty feet high. Comprised of mud, sticks and masses of webbing it clearly was a nest for a large number of spiders. Weapons at the ready the group circled the structure looking for an entrance. Boo squeaked twice and Minsc raised a large plate clad arm towards the sky.
"Boo says the opening is at near the top of the nest."
Jeral squinted and saw a small well concealed opening in the side of the nest about thirty feet off the ground.
"Well that will not work. Even if I can reach the opening with a grappling hook and the walls could hold the weight there is no way we can get Minsc and Ajantis up there. Plate clad fighting men make lousy climbers and there is no way we can go in there without them."
"Not all of us can hang back and shoot arrows, some of us must get close to our enemies and fight with honor." Ajantis turned and glared at Jeral. Jeral bit back the apology that was on his lips and felt an angry heat rise up his neck. He flushed and slid a hand to the hilt of his sword. Before things could progress any further between the two men the ranger took the initiative and moved between them and walked confidently to the side of the hive.
"Well if Minsc cannot go to the door the door must come to Minsc." Minsc grasped his great sword with both hands and took a massive horizontal swing into the side of the hive. His sword smashed through the wall of the hive like it was made of paper. Taking a lead from the large ranger Ajantis also started hacking at the side of the hive. Working together the two men quickly cut a rough opening into the hive and entered. Jeral, Imoen and Dynaheir quickly followed.
Ajantis cried to for protection from Helm when his eyes took in his surroundings.
The ground was littered with bones and corpses of dozens of animals and a webbed bundles that looked like people. Sitting in the middle of it all on a crude throne was a grotesquely fat, naked woman who stared at them with a look of amused disdain on her face. Hundreds of tiny spiders crawled all over her body, their web filled nests perched in her hair and in any crevice that could hold them. Even more disturbing were the thousands of spider eggs clearly visible in large oozing sores that dotted her massive legs. The infant spiders apparently depended on their host's body for both food and shelter. The woman raised a meaty arm and pointed at the party. Jeral was momentarily mesmerized from the fat jiggling down from her arm as it swayed back and forth like a flesh colored pendulum. Fighting down a wave of nausea Jeral dropped his bow and started scrabbling for a pouch at his side.
"While your entrance was both rude and unwelcome it is very convenient when the fresh meat comes directly to us. This makes feeding so much easier without any of the trouble of the hunt. My children can just go right to the kill."
Looking upwards, the woman screamed, "TIME TO FEED MY LOVELIES! OBEY YOUR QUEEN!"
Looking upwards into a solid mass of webs the group could see dozens of large spiders working their way down through the webbing.
"Ajantis, Minsc, stay close and kill anything that gets near. Keep the spiders away from us and buy us time. Dynaheir, we need fire now and lots of it!"
Imoen was firing arrows into the spider queen. At close range she could hardly miss the gelatinous mass. Arrow after arrow tore into the queen as she screamed in rage. Her tremendous bulk prevented her from moving at all, yet that same bulk seemed to protect her from suffering any real damage from all the arrow strikes.
Jeral unrolled a scroll, stretched out a hand towards the spider queen and quickly chanted the incantation, "inferiem actacio!" A solid jet of fire poured out from Jeral's extended hand. The spider queen and all of the spiders roaming her body were quickly burned to a crisp, The cries of the woman were terrible to hear as she burned to death. Strangely, Jeral could swear that the woman was pleased to die, and that a look of contentment had crossed her face right before it melted off her skull. Fire slowly started to travel up the webs nearest the throne. The inferno also caused the spiders descending the webs to pause and wait for the flames to die down before continuing their attack.
Minsc, reacting to some unseen threat, raced forward into the inferno and was lost from view.
"What is he doing?" Imoen screamed.
"I know not what he does, but I have faith that my protector will return. Now be quiet and let me concentrate."
"We need to leave this place for we will soon be overwhelmed for many spiders are looming close overhead!" The paladin held his shield out over Imoen's head and looked upwards with increasing concern.
Dynaheir raised her hands and started rubbing one hand over the other as if she was cold. Mumbling under her breath a small ball of flame soon appeared in her hands. No larger than an apple it seemed to grow hotter and hotter as she caressed it lovingly. The flame changed from red to orange and then to almost white. Jeral was forced to place a hand up to shield himself from the intense heat as she watched the mage conjure her spell.
Dynaheir was clearly unaffected by the inferno she created and with a final thrust of her hands the ball of fire left her hands and quickly rose upwards. As it moved upwards it steadily grew in size and intensity and turned everything it touched to ash. Spiders chittered in agony as they were roasted alive in seconds. Jeral watched awestruck as the globe continued to grow and rise until it reached the top of the hive. Once it touched the roof of the hive it exploded and a wall of flame roared out in every direction. The hive was blown apart and the five party members flung themselves to the floor as a wave of heat washed over them; followed by bits of hive and charred spiders that rained down on top of them.
Jeral picked himself off the floor and brushed off chunks of spider, webbing and hive. Looking around he spotted Ajantis helping Dynaheir get unsteadily to her feet. "That was rather impressive Dynaheir. I have never heard of any mage working with a fireball spell like you just did. Even Gorion would have been impressed by that sight. I think we would have been finished without that spell. "
She wearily nodded her thanks. "I have always had a bit of a gift with fire, and added my own special twists to the spell to make it my own. However, as you can see it does take a bit out of me. Ajantis led her out of the ruins of the spider hive while Jeral started searching for Imoen and Minsc. Jeral found Imoen and Minsc kneeling over a web wrapped corpse. Imoen looked over at Jeral and nodded sadly at the corpse at her feet.
"This is probably Tiber's brother. It looks like they were saving him for their next meal, poor kid. At least we can return him to his brother and their parents." Minsc hefted the corpse to his shoulder and started to head outside the hive. Imoen wordlessly turned to follow him. Jeral took one last look around the mass of bones and spider corpses and was turning to leave when a glint of medal caught his eye. Jeral walked over to the spot he noted and kicked some wreckage out of the way with his boot. A large sword pommel stuck out from the wreckage.
Jeral knealt down and grasped the pommel. Coming to his feet he shook the weapon free from the mess and raised it up to examine it. Rolling the blade from one side to the other he examined the runes while walking out into the daylight. The handle and pommel were decorated with runes and gilt work of platinum while a large green emerald was seated at the base of the pommel. He ran his thumb over the blade and gasped as the lightest touch on the blade drew blood. This was clearly a special weapon.
"I think we found something interesting here." Imoen waved off Jeral as the four were marching back the way they came. Jeral grabbed the blade and moved to catch up with the others.
"Well bring it with you Jeral. We must get Tiber his brother's corpse and rest there for the night. We can go no further today." Ajantis extended an arm to Dynaheir and headed southwards towards Tiber's makeshift campsite.
The group made it safely back to the young man's campsite without any further issue. The boy wordlessly loaded his brother's corpse into his handcart and trudged back home, his dreams for adventure shattered by the brutal realities of the real adventuring life. Jeral hoped that the small pouch of gold he surreptitiously tossed in the hand cart would make life a bit easier for Tiber and his parents.
Dynaheir curled into a ball and was asleep within seconds, her body needing recovery time from her spell casting in the hive. Jeral volunteered for the first watch and spent long hours examining the great sword he recovered from the spider's lair. Smiling he stood up and took a few practice swings with the blade. Despite the size of the blade it felt like a much smaller weapon while in his grasp.
While Jeral was recognized the power of such a weapon he also know he was ill suited to weild it. With a blade of three and a half feet in length and a two handed pommel a foot long with was a true great sword and as such was ill suited for one of Jeral's stature. Jeral quietly motioned for Minsc to join him and reverently held the blade out to the ranger hilt first. He laid the flat of the blade across his forearm and formally presented it to the large.
"Minsc, this is truly an incredible weapon. I actually read about this blade years ago. It is one of the most well known weapons in the realms. It is called Spider's Bane. It was create by the high elves centuries ago for the first Lord of Baldur's Gate. It was thought over a hundred years ago. I have no idea how it ended up here or how long it has lain in that foul lair. This blade is heavily enchanted and also protects the wielder from spider webs and other efforts to restrict movement. Also, unlike typical weapons of this type it has a razors edge and will always retain it if well tended."
Minsc reached out and grasped the blade. Stepping back from Jeral he took hold of the sword and took a few practice swings. A huge grin spread over his face as he held the blade at arms length. Watching the massive warrior wield such a blade while wearing his suit of full plate armor made Jeral almost feel pity for any who would cross their path. Ajantis was a strong, well equipped warrior but with this blade Minsc would now be near unstoppable. Jeral looked down at his lightly enchanted chain, small enchanted buckler and enchanted short sword and felt he came up short when measured against the two real warriors. Sighing in resignation Jeral looked up and cheered at the sight of Minsc continuing to grin from ear to ear. Even Boo appeared to be smiling, although that must have been a trick of the evening shadows and the firelight.
"Boo says this weapon will help Minsc protect his witch from all enemies and help Jeral vanquish evil on his noble quest." He propped his old two handed sword gently against a tree and slid Spider's Bane into the scabbard strapped across his back.