Not wasting a moment after their less than graceful entry the The Leilon...Some? proceeded farther into the keep. Idris at the forefront, he swung the door open and moved in only to find himself in a large chamber, it's walls and ceilings covered in spider webs. Carefully exploring the room the party saw there were egg sacs attached to walls and when Idris swatted one with his sword it burst and thousands of tiny spiders skittered around. Some of the egg sacs were pulsing with a pinkish purple glow. Oddly the floor was completely bare of web, Nundro Rockseeker theorising that it might be a way to avoid attracting too much attention by grabbing too much prey.
Siax's keen senses eventually found an eerie sight. Outside of the castle a spider the size of a small horse clung upon the wall. It glowed with the same light the egg sacs were and it's legs seemed to phase in and out of the stonework, as if it was feeling the vibrations within. Meanwhile as Idris walke further in, massive spiders, these ones larger than the other but not glowing approached slowly.
Pine seemed conflicted, thinking that if these spiders were part of his test some effort should be made to make peace with them. Alas his words fell on deaf ears (or no ears at all as spiders can only hear vibrations.) and the creatures attacked, one of them spitting web at Idris who was immobilized. Another spider rushed in and bite him and while his paladin powers neutralised the poison, the spider teeth rend his armour. Nundro Rockseeker was able to free Idris and then the battle was truly joined.
Getting ready to fire an arrow, Siax was aghast when the spider on the wall vanished, leaving no trace. He brought to bear all his tracking skills and it was as if the spider had seesed existing. That was not the case as it shortly reappered behind Koraliki Verque, landing a grievous blow. Dazed and already panicked she activated the cloak Pine had given her and escaped the confines of the fortress leaving the others behind. The blast singed Factoré and Pine but thankfully set the spider next to her on fire.
Taking inspiration, Pine grabbed a lit torch and threw it at where the webbing was at it's thickest. It caught alarmingly fast and started spreading. The party retreated in the small room with the chimney and closed the door hoping the flames would deal with the spiders. However one of the Phase Spiders warped in the room with them and attacked Pine. It was not able to retreat before being taken out by the party thankfully.
Blocking the door so no smoke would enter, the party waited a few minutes. When they emerged the webs had all burnt away, the egg sacs reduced to ash clumps in the floor. Of the remaining spiders there was no sign. Peculiarly there was a body that was not a spider but a dwarf. Pine was certain that this corpse was not present in the room beforehand and it seemed to have some odd mutations such as sharp canines. On it he found a voice crystal. Returning to the group he played it.
Devastations! That scream was unearthly blood streamed from my ears and I almost collapsed. It seems others have not been as hardy and have turned feral. They are biting others and the affliction seems to spread from person to person. I'm going to try and make a break for it.
Trying to piece together what had happened here Idris explored to the east, finding a tunnel that went far deeper than the party could see. They assumed the spiders had arrived and fled from here as unlike the rest of the fortress it wasn't shaped and carved. Seeing as the room they were in was some sort of defensive bastion, oil jars ready to pour down at invaders. Glancing at a window, Pine could see a courtyard in the lower level of Axeholm. Approaching quietly he saw a translucent figure with a feminine form and possibly Elven. But as Idris approached it vanished through the stonework.
Proceeding carefully the group wandered downstairs and found themselves in the western bulwark, a room filled with ballista's pointing out arrow slits and a winch that seemed connected to the opening mechanisms of this place. Idris turned it and they could all hear the portcullis rising. Going up the stairs again they descended on the eastern bulwark which looked identical. This winch opened the main gates to the keep. Axeholm was open to the world, for the first time in centuries. Siax decided to explore a side passage that went out of this room as he wanted to double back and exit the keep to retrieve Koraliki Verque but as he made his way his hand brushed against a tile that recceded inwards. Freezing in place Siax understood he had missed a trap and if he took his hand off it it would trigger. Idris approached carefully to help the ranger but it was then that another figure joined them. From the gloom it emerged, a dwarf but made monstrous. Sharp teeth and rotten flesh, the creaturem oved in an nateural way. It shrieked a decaying cry and launched itself at Siax, driving it's claws into the man. Unable to get around to help Idris lend his aid and then retreated to give space for the ranger to hopefully leap clear of the trap. More and more of the creatures rushed in, summoned by the shriek of the first and while they bashed into Siax the ranger amazingly did not move his hand. When he was ready he sprung backwards and let go, the spring loaded floor swallowing one of the creatures instead of him. Running back into the bulwark the others helped him dispatch the remaining creatures.
On one of the creatures, one that wore decaying scale armor, they found another one of the crystals, seemingly a report made by a guard of this place.
Report! 450 Day of Gold - Elven woman approached and claimed to be the mother of the prisoner however she brought no information of the location of arc stone. She was turned away but no sooner than we tried to close the gate that Graheet and Sorhan were reduced into flaming heaps. The elven woman attacked us and it was clear she was a druid of some power. We eventually overcame her and secured her.
Battered and bruised as was their wont the party barricaded themselves in the eastern bulwark and rested for a short while. The depths of the keep beckoned and while this place was more dangerous than bargained for it still had to be cleared for the ever approaching townsfolk of Phandalin.