The party descended the tunnel on all fours, corkscrewing ever downwards until they reached a 10-foot drop. Mandras turned into a cat and leapt down to explore the tunnel leading left and right. He reported back to the party, who also dropped down and proceeded to the right, where 2 webs awaited them and a third large web at the end, beneath a vent, and holding a cocooned elf.
Mandras, back in human form, drank a climbing potion and scuttled almost 20 feet up the wall to cut down the first web, while Koko went to work on the one at ground level. As Mandras started on the huge web, that contained a desiccated elf, the party on the ground was put upon by an Ettercap. The creature evaded caltrops and burning oil and started climbing the wall. Koko managed to kill it, but not before he was poisoned. Hats had to amputate Koko’s blackening left arm below the elbow.
While the party was catching its breath, two giant spiders came down the vent next to Mandras. Hiding in the shadows and staying still, the spiders went past him and attacked the party. As Koko flew up to engage them, Mandras attempted to backstab the nearest spider but failed due to his precarious position. Both were luckily killed by Koko’s sword and a timely oil flask from Ulric. The timing was good as Mandras’ potion ran out and he fell to the ground injuring himself and wrecking the web.
After a short breather, they went to the other room, which contained 4 glowing webs and a precarious large normal web that seemed to be blocking another upwards vent. The party split up into work teams and managed to cut enough to accumulate 7 of the 12 web boards they needed to fill. It was time to head back to the surface, rest and hopefully recover one of our two colleagues.