The battle over, we carry the soldiers’ bodies into the house and cover them up respectfully.
Outside the farmhouse, the dog is still in sight up past the small fields, just hanging about. Rhun cuts some meat from the dead cow in the barn and carries it toward the dog who stands nearly 100 yards off. The dog does not come forward, but as Rhun approaches it, he recognizes it as Legs. Ariza attempts to sneak around to the side through the pumpkins to creep up on the dog. Liadan, reflecting on names seen in the journal, calls to Legs, “Hey Dilla!” No reaction. “Hey Oxalla!” No reaction. Rhun gets within 30 yards, and the dog turns and runs over the top of the hill.
Rem’e, not liking the tactical situation he sees developing, stands up from the porch where he was cleaning his gun, and heads up toward Rhun. Liadan is not liking this either, watching Rhun step to the top of the rise, clearly visible from a distance in all directions.
Rhun looks over the hill to see the dog about 100 yards away on the far side. Rhun turns back towards the house, and the dog starts barking. Rhun turns back to look over the ridge at the dog, and it stops barking. It stands, almost expectantly, looking at Rhun. He calls to the others, “I think we should follow the dog.” Ariza agrees. Liadan and Rem’e roll their eyes, but agree as well.
We wander over farmlands for a while. After a time, the dog is not seen, but we come to what appears to be a trail. Rem’e sees that it’s possibly a game trail but discerns that it has been used by people. Liadan examines the scrub land around us. She sees that the trail runs West/NorthWest in the general direction of Boulderham. She sees that no animals are near. Rhun and Ariza, caught up in the mission of forging ahead, are less insightful.
We stop and discuss what to do. Knowing that Cronen is still missing and with Dilla on the loose, we decide to continue forward – but being spell spent, we search out a secluded spot in a copse of trees and make camp. After eating simple rations and settling in, we read the Journal of Dilla (part 1, part 2).
Ariza takes first watch, and the night goes smoothly. In the morning we break camp, examine the area, and all seems well.
Heading down the trail with a sense of urgency, we now travel as quickly as we can. The day is quiet. We are very certain that we are heading to Boulderham and are getting close. As the day progresses, we hear the sound of significant running water and come upon a creek bisecting our path. It’s not deep, but on the other side we see a small structure, a shack. The shack has one small window covered with a hide.
Ariza notices a small geometric shape among overgrown weeds near the structure – almost certainly a prospector’s pan. Liadan senses no magic here. Ariza skips across the creek, dancing over the stones. Rem’e follows, followed by Liadan and Rhun.
Ariza: “Hello, anyone around?” No answer. Rem’e approaches. Ariza sees no traps. Rhun detects no evil, and Ariza approaches the door and knocks – no answer. “Going in!” Liadan steps up to the side of the shack, hidden from view.
Ariza opens the door and heads in. There’s very little here. A decaying sheet on top of moldy hay shows that once there was some bedding. There’s a table that is toppled. It’s clear the structure has been abandoned for a long time. Ariza notices a lot of writing on the wall however – but before she can start to read it, something large materializes in front of her directly in the shack.
The creature, a huge spider-like monstrosity, strikes at a surprised Ariza biting her and filling the bite with poison. The creature has a strange human-like face. Ariza curses loudly in gnomish and stumbles backwards out of the house.
From outside the shack, Rem’e sees the creature’s ugly face, steps to the side, and shoots past Ariza hitting the monster soundly but doing only glancing damage.
The monster vanishes!
Liadan recognizes the creature as a phase spider and alerts us. She takes a quick swig from her flask of water.
Rhun runs forward and touches Ariza, healing her wounds from the bite. The poison continues to pulse in her but she shrugs off the pain. The wound stops festering.
Ariza looks for magical traps but finds none.
Rem’e rapid reloads and holds an action to shoot, keeping an eye out for shimmering or anything moving inside the shack. As he’s doing that – the air behind Liadan shimmers and the spider appears behind her. Rem’e takes the shot and hits the beast with a glancing blow.
The monster lunges forward giving Liadan a nasty bite, poisoning her.
Liadan, in pain, steps back and casts glitterdust on the phase spider, covering it with a golden, glittering dust, hoping to track it when it vanishes.
Rhun calls on the Dawnflower’s power and sends a spirtual scimitar against the beast, but the weapon cannot pierce it.
Rem’e fires into the spider and smashes it again! Then the spider vanishes without a trace … no golden dust is seen in the air.
Liadan can’t shake off the spider poison and weakens. Though feeling unwell, she readies a magic missile.
Rhun readies burning hands and runs up next to Liadan.
Ariza preps a tanglefoot bag and steps off to the side.
Rem’e readies his Dragon Pistol and loads an entangling shot, and we wait.
Suddenly, the phase spider materializes next to Rem’e – Liadan releases her magic missiles, Rhun’s spiritual weapon flies forward but does not hit, Ariza throws the tanglefoot bag and misses, and Rem’e fires and hits for a bit of damage, but the creature avoids getting entangled and lands a bite on Rem’e.
Liadan blasts it with a scorching ray!
Rhun runs forward, but the spirtual weapon, finally finding its mark, drops the beast! It crumples to the ground.
Rem’e fights off the spider bite, but Liadan feels sicker as the poison courses through her body. Liadan weakens, sitting down, and Rhun, Ariza, and Rem’e rush to her. She is clearly growing sicker. All three companions attend to Liadan, anxious as she grows pale and ill. After much effort and sucking the poison out of Liadan’s wound she stops weakening but is left very sickly. (Phase spider = 1600xp, 400 apiece)
As Liadan catches her breath, we explore the area, and all seems quiet. Rem’e and Rhun go into the shack. Inside, Rem’e sees the ruins and the writing on the wall. He looks at the floor checking for marks and more signs of monsters. Rhun reads the writing….
Rhun ab Elad: See how the chosen of our god honor you. The secrets of beast and poison and the ether are only a tithe of your due if you but embrace the path of your ancestors.
Everyone realizes that Rhun is not in the least hurt and the spider never attacked him.
We camp quietly. In the morning after oblations, Rhun calls on the light of Sarenrae to restore Liadan’s constitution. The morning dawns before us, cold, windy, and cloudy. Most leaves are off the trees. It’s a black day.