Adventurers
- Harlin Winklevos (Fighter 3)
- Mandras (Thief 5)
- Rarder (Dwarf 4)
- Tyrion (Elf 1)
The adventurers’ priority, after assessing where there might be more magical webs to collect, was to get out and return to the elves at the Tower of Sylaire. Their ascent back up through the tight corkscrew tunnel and across the chute near the entrance was, fortunately undisturbed. On their way back through the woods, however, they were brought up short by a voice speaking to them first as a whisper by their ear and then by a substantial voice coming from all around them.
It enticed them with the promise of being able to grant their dearest wish. Mandras responded guardedly, noticing a pair of eyes gleaming in the shadows ahead, that he might be interested in returning to his dwarven form, or getting back to the familiar Yeoldelands, emphasised the might, and asked about the speaker. The voice merely named itself the Stag, and offered an exchange: if the adventurers were keen on getting back to Yeoldelands then they wouldn’t be too invested in what happened back here, so it could grant them passage home if they were to incite a war between Ximes and Vyonnes. The adventurers promised they would think about it and passed warily on, seeing around the eyes from the shape of an otherwise normal stag with a very broad grin across its features, before it bounded off into the trees.
The elves received the party and took the six slabs of magical webs already collected, using the arcane power to reincarnate Rarder as a dwarf, though the gremlin curse still lingered, leaving him completely hairless. They also provided two antidotes to hopefully offset the effect of venomous spider bites in the collection of the rest of the webs and what bodies the party could find of the initial elven expedition.
Upon their return to the spider lair, the adventurers and their mercenary force spent several hours constructing rudimentary ladders for the higher up webs and transporting them across the deep shaft. They then started transferring the arcane webbing from the cave walls onto their slabs.
This initial webcrafting session was interrupted by several enormous spiders, including one that appeared capable of casting spells, but after they had been dealt with the party made their way down the corkscrew passage, forced to abandon their ladders by the tight fit. Back down in the depths they made efficient work of the magical webs they’d passed before, using the revitalised flight-granting Sword of Sylaire and Harlin donating some of his blood to coating the Ring of Bloody Flight, and thus gaining temporary levitation.
Curious about an unwebbed hole in the ceiling, Rarder flew up with the Sword and utilised his new infravision to have an explore. He fought off another of the spider-like bipeds and unearthed some jewellery in a cavern full of corpses but no further magical webs.
There remained a tunnel apparently blockaded from the other direction by bits of wood, and another tunnel in the ceiling obstructed by webbing, but the adventurers opted to return once again to the lair entrance to drop of their collected webs, perhaps rest to renew their magical weapons, and to ponder their next steps to get Konrad reincarnated without queueing anyone up behind him.