A Web of Deceit

After Blurb had harvested what he could from the dead spider, the party returned to the myconids to tell them that the deed had been done and they would no longer be troubled by the giant arachnid. The myconid leader gave his thanks and, when asked if they could do anything else for them, merely replied that fertiliser was always wanted. Nathia debated about the feasibility of re-directing the Fort's waste system down into the tunnels, but realised they were too far, even as the crow flies, for that to be feasible. So, she promised them bodies aplenty, if they ran into any troublesome things.

The party explored on and soon came across more spiders--giant, swarms, and additional J'ba Fofi as well as the ape-like creatures they had seen tracks of -- quaggoth. But far from being friendly, as the myconids had indicated, the quaggoth (and the spiders) immediately attacked. 

Blurb immediately responded with a well-placed moonbeam spell, and Greeba with javelins. Wisteria, once she got a look at them, could immediately tell that the spiders were not behaving naturally. The quaggoth seemed to be controlling them; two in particular.

In fact, one of the two cast a spell upon Arnor's armour -- heat metal. He shrugged it off, but it still caused him damage. He misty stepped past the spiders, aiming to stop the creature from concentrating on the spell. Stoic as ever, the heat was uncomfortable.

Wisteria and Joell concentrated on the spiders and the paladin managed to take down the J'ba Fofi. But, as it fell with a squish, the roar of some reptilian beast came from deeper within the tunnels. Did the quaggoth have control over some other type of beast?

As Arnor kept attacking the giant spiders to fight his way towards the quaggoth, who were falling back, Tiffany activated the daylight spell on the drift globe she had been carrying. The quaggoth's moaned in agony at the bright light, and Arnor, being ShadowFey, blinked against it as well. Happily, Blurb was able to dispell the heat metal spell that had been chipping away at Arnor's health. As Gorlock blasted the ape-creatures with eldritch blasts, Wisteria healed Arnor. He nodded his thanks.

The battle continued on, javelins being tossed left and right, and Eamon charging directly into the fray. Things took a bad turn when one of the quaggoths leapt up and smashed the drift globe--the tunnels fell into darkness, the only light from Greeba's flamesword and a bonfire that Blurb had lit under one of the enemies. But, Wisteria's spirit guardians spell was working its magic; dark energies swirled around her, damaging all who stayed within reach.

Nathia kills one of the quaggoth, a bit frantic as Arnor had been taking hit after hit. He had soaked up so much damage already that, even with the healing, she wasn't sure how he was still standing. They seemed to have an immediate hatred of him. The stoic giant even took the time to drink a healing potion, something she had never seen him do before.

Their steady attacks were having some success, however. They were steadily whittling them down. No more spiders stood, but the thing approaching from the south was definitely nearer. But then, even more quaggoths appeared and one again cast heat metal upon Arnor. This time, worn down by so many hits, he groaned under the heat. Tiffany, concerned, snatched a healing potion from Nathia's belt and chased after the tall ShadowFey, trying to get him to down it.

Happily, Blurb managed to dispell the quaggoth's spell once again and just in time as a Hook Horror revealed itself and joined the attack. The party spread out in different direction, Gorlock locating some more quaggoths and Greeba finding some matron quaggoths herding their young away. Nathia managed to fell the hook horror with two successive blows as Wisteria tended to Arnor (and Tiffany yammered away at him to just drink the potion already).

The party charged after the remaining warrior quaggoths, who were running like cowards. Fresh from killing the beast, Nathia roared intimidatingly at them, "Your mother was a hook horror!" Insulted, that caused them to turn back, though they looked doubtful at their chances of success. In fact, they were soon felled, so they were right to worry.

They surrounded the survivors -- all women and children -- who cowered in front of them. Not sharing a common language, the did their best to convince them that would not kill children and nor did they want to take slaves, as the quaggoth seemed to expect. Even resorting to drawing rough images on the floor, they tried to explain that they'd rather the survivors work for them as mushroom farmers in the former derro hideout. They seemed particularly terrified of any of elven blood, doubly so of Arnor, even when he kneeled down to be closer to their level. They even attempted to give one of their children to him, presumably expecting him to eat it, but he merely uncomfortably patted it on its head. Finally, with the help of the myconids, they were able to get the quaggoths to understand enough of what they intended -- for them to be farmers and work for the good of the Fort and provide mushroom harvests for Blurb and Lyssa to make potions with. 

Greeba was also quick to examine an old, battered chest they found filled with assorted gemstones totally 2,400 gp (342gp, 8s, 5c each). A magical marble column that seemed to provide a fresh breeze they reluctantly had to leave behind for the moment, deeming it a difficult and heavy thing to move, but they made note of the location. 

Successful, but battered, they head back to the Fort, with just 11 days left before Arnor had to leave. Given the new experiences, he trained Nathia during that remaining time, neither of them mentioning the impending deadline. Instead, they worked almost silently together, taking comfort and companionship in the physical exertion of the training exercises. Sometimes, it was far easier not to talk.

But, every night, after a hot bath, Nathia went outside to look at the trajectory of the moon. It continued its way across the sky, inexorable.