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A few hours pass and they prepare themselves readying for the next day.
Their spells refresh.
A half a day passes and the river has reduced to a stream that cannot be navigated further at a narrow waterfall up. They tether up the barge and then Alzar casts Mass Flight for the party and they’ll fly over local obstacles and up the canyon side.
To continue the area, the party must reach the forests at the top of the canyon. Following the Spider River upstream, they encounter either Spider Falls on the Spider, or Garsh Falls on the Red Sabre River. Both falls are impassable, the canyon must be scaled to continue. Unless they possess fly or levitate spells for the entire party or magical items capable of flying the party to the top, the canyon walls must be climbed. The walls are steep and dangerous, but not unclimbable to those with a will for it. The walls of Spider Canyon near the falls are 600 feet high, but near the entrance to the Valley of Kings, they are a daunting 2,000 feet, but a thief may climb them without equipment. Non-thief characters who follow a thief s directions for climbing the cliffs, may add their Intelligence score to half the thief s climbing ability as their chance on a d% roll to climb the walls without using climbing tackle.
As they near the top
The crumbled rock reveals a titanic human skull. As you watch, the skull takes on ghostly flesh, becoming the face of a lovely woman. She whispers to you and then fades into a skull which shivers into dust and shards. “I speak truth only. Arachne Prime must die for her chaotic crimes. The Spider must return to her primal ooze of Night. Speak her true name to make her vulnerable.”
This is a formerly alive Titan who was in the area trying to find the Peaceful Periapt of Pax and died here.
When the party reaches the cliff top, their presence is noted by a phanaton shaman. Magic is cast and it sees that Feldspar previously passed a challenge where he was willing to be hurt to save phanatons from a spider web. The shaman moves from the trees into the clearing, and motions.
Alzar cannot speak with it (no longer has Selnyr to translate him) but he casts Tongues. As an acknowledgement of Feldspar’s willingness to help the phanaton, the shaman wants to give him a Amulet of Phanaton Friendship as a symbol of that. It’s been magically widened to fit around the Stone Giant’s thick neck.
It warns of a aranea camp a mile away, that has ten phanaton pinned, and asks for aid. Alzar agrees and scries, finding it.
In the clearing ahead, you hear the sounds of battle. You part the thick foliage to see a half dozen furry creatures, no bigger than halflings, fighting desperately against three times their number of giant spiders armed with swords and spears.
Alzar asks the shaman to guard their non-combatant McAlister, while they intercept, and he agrees.
Alzar casts Mass Teleport and puts them in between the Aranea and the phanatons
Time Stop –
Wail of the Banshee
Death Spell
Evard’s Black Tentacles
Result?
17 dead aranea from the first two spells. The others are mostly pinned or damaged from the other.
Spells fly at Alzar and his party, like Magic Missiles. Every aranea is a spellcaster, and thus needed to be hit first.
Battle continues
For the adventure, until their weapons are re-secured, Alzar and Vix are using Vix’s old Spear and Alzar’s generic +4 axe.
8 vs 3
More magical damage heads in, but the 10 phanatons and Feldspar, Vix, and Alzar kill the ones not in tentacles, and then Alzar finishes the bound spider-creatures.
Alzar – 55/92
Vix – 112/152
Feldspar – 51/75
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