Session 28 -- There was a spider, but it's gone now

Not long after the party was once again on the move, their wight swords began glowing and humming quietly. They realized that it portended an undead ambush. Looking around, they realized that they had been surrounded by wights and wraiths. As the undead crept along the rocky outcroppings above them, the party realized that they could actually surprise their would-be surprisers since they didn't yet know they had been spotted. The party split up and charged in multiple directions at once, each isolating one or two of the wights. Once the battle was joined, the wights descended to meet them while the wraiths swooped down from the heights.

It did not take long for the party to be victorious and with barely a scratch. Upon searching the re-dead, they find a bone amulet inscribed with the Lich Queen’s sigil: a skull with a crown of thorns. Tiv recognized this as a tracking charm, meaning the Lich Queen knew their location and may send more hunters.  The party wisely decided not to take it with them, but they didn't bother destroying it, either. They just left it on a wraith and made haste toward the ferry point Ceangal had indicated was the nearest.

They reached the stone watchtower nestled in the mountains without further incident. The halfling who ran the ferry charged them much more than they had been accustomed to paying, but Ceangal reminded the party that this area was very dangerous, and this was one of the few ferry points still in operation.

Once on the other side of the southern reach of the Alu Lhorb (the Spider Sea) and safely out of the Lich Queen's domain of undeath, the party started making its way toward Qu'ellar. It didn't take too long before they were stopped by a Qu'ellar elf patrol. While Ceangal's presence caused great concern at first, when the party tendered the letter of introduction from the Phalar elves, the scouts were soothed and brought the party to meet the Qu'ellar leader, Aeloria Veyl. She said that she would honor the Phalar request to grant the party safe passage and permission to use the Shrine of the Woods to return to Hibernia once they retrieved the children, but she demanded a favor in return. She said that the Shrine of the Woods required the sacrifice of a Moonpetal -- a delicate flower with petals that shimmer like moonlight, glowing with a soft silver hue that evokes the fairy-touched beauty of the Feywild. Its scent is a mix of wildflowers and mist.  To activate the shrine, the moonpetal must be placed on the shrine’s altar and crushed underfoot while invoking the spirits of the forest. In the Feywild, these moonpetals bloom in moonlit clearings where fairies dance, often guarded by pixies.   In the Shadowfell, they grow in shadowed groves where the light of the moon is a distant memory, often near sorrowful spirits. The Qu’ellar elves would provide one, but they needed the party to retrieve a magical amulet first.

The Qu'ellar elves, in alliace with the Xunderbrok dwarves, guard Sanarek Ath Tel'Quarvalsharess (the Cave of The Goddess). It is there that the Drow believe their evil spider-goddess, Lolth, to reside. In fact, the entrance to her hellish domain is indeed down there, but the Qu'ellar and Xunderbrok maintain control over the cave, using magical enchantments to keep her and her minions trapped and contained there, believing that if she were to escape, she would attempt to take over the Shadowfell, followed by Earth. Ceangal added that the Drow are participating in the kidnapping plot because Malak, thorugh his minions, has told them that he has imprisoned Lolth in Hell and is torturing her. He will refrain from destroying her as long as they play their part.  

Aeloria explains that a Qu’ellar priestess, Sylvara, ventured into the cave to reinforce Lolth’s bindings but was overwhelmed by spiders. She had with her a Star Sapphire Amulet (a relic that stabilizes the prison’s wards). The PCs must retrieve it, as the Qu’ellar rarely enter the cave and lack knowledge of its layout. Aeloria promises a Moonpetal and safe passage through Qu’ellar territory upon success. The cave’s dangers stem from Lolth’s influence, the Qu'ellar's magical traps, and Lolth's spider minions.

When the party agreed to help, the Qu'ellar agreed to sell them potions and escort them safely to the cave. Not liking their price, Vedica successfully bargained a deal.  The party also bought vials of oil with the intention of using them as molotov cocktails.

When the party entered the cave, Tiv lit up her mace and Vegvisir lit a torch (in case they needed to lob the oil. Dwårfy led the way with his infravision and Vedica checked for traps. They found some traps and didn't find others, but their attention was mostly drawn by the giant black widow they stumbled across. She was hard to ignore once she trapped four party members in a web, blocking the narrow passage for the rest of the party. Knowing that most of those trapped were wearing the red dragon scale armor (and thus had fire resistance), Vegvisir set the web alight to burn them free while those trapped (the only party members who could see the giant spider) let loose with missile attacks.

Once the spider was dispatched, the party continued down the narrow corridor. They came upon a chamber with a narrow gravel bed terminating in a small pool against the wall. It was evident that water would occasionally flow here. As them party crossed the gravel, Dwårfy, Vegvisir, and Vedica were attacked by swarms of tiny spiders that flowed up and out from the soft, broken ground. The party fought them off by smashing and burning, and eventually got rid of all the swarms.

Continuing onward, Dwårfy saw a large, crystalline spider in an upcoming chamber. He called back a warning to the party lined up in the narrow corridor behind him, but it was too late. The crystalline spider moved forward and used a crystal spray to catch the entire party in its attack. Murchad and Dwårfy charged forward to attack it while the rest of the party used missile weapons while Tiv quickly healed Vedica. Murchad's wraith sword triggered spectral chains that trapped the spider.  As the party hadn't moved out of the narrow corridor, and Murchad and Dwårfy were still in that same line, a second crystal spray attack was unleashed.

As the party landed its second round of attacks,  Murchad suddenly was struck with the realization that what they were doing was terribly, terribly wrong. He knew he had to keep the party from turning down the junction to the chamber just east of the room they were currently fighting in.  He turned on Dwårfy and tried to wrestle him to the ground. Seeing this happening right in front of the spider as combat was still going on, Tiv recognized that Murchad was charmed. She cast dispel magic, and he let go of Dwårfy.  The crystal spider was shattered with a magic arrow from Vedica.

As the party began to move again, Murchad again started imploring the party to turn back and go another way. As the party was questioning why the dispel magic didn't work, Tiv decided to charge past him, eastward. Murchad tried to restrain her, and as she protested, Tiv suddenly dropped to the ground, fast asleep.

With that, a silver-haired female elf emerged from the chamber to their east.  When they saw that she was wearing a blue amulet, they were relieved that they had found Sylvara alive and well.  They asked her if she was alright. She didn't answer with words, but put her finger to her lips and pointed back down the corridor the way they had come. After the party tried a few more times to get her to answer a question (always just getting the same hush and pointing), the elf walked through the party in the direction she indicated, motioning for them to follow her. Dwårfy picked up Tiv and the party followed.

She led them almost back to the entrance the way they had come, but she took a different turn and ushered them into a side chamber with seven stone columns. Once the party had filed in past her, they were attacked by two phase spiders. While they were fighting them, the aranea dropped its shapeshift and appeared in its spider form, attacking them from the rear.  Vedica was badly wounded. Vegvisir also dropped his shapeshift and lobbed a fireball at the aranea, killing it. The phase spiders continued to teleport around the chamber, but they were eventually killed, too.

The party barricaded themselves in the chamber to heal and wait for Tiv to wake up from the sleep spell.

After retracing their steps a second time, the party made it back to the eastern chamber where the aranea had been. There, they found some gold and a spellbook containing sleep, charm, and invisibility spells.

The party headed down a long, winding corridor, in which it was attacked by another phase spider, before finding it terminated in a dead end with a small pool of water. They were able to determine that the water was enchanted by the elves as a trap, so Tiv cast dispel magic on it. Dwårfy dove into the water and found a passage below the surface. The party went through to the other side.

In the larger chamber on the other side, they found a larger pool of water at the far end, and in a little alcove was a body of a dead female elf. They found the real Sylvara!  As Dwårfy checked her body for the Star Sapphire Amulet, a massive and hideous spider-creature emerged from the waters of the large pool. In the fight that ensued, several good hits were landed and another fireball was hurled, ending the battle on the first round. In its clutches, they found the Star Sapphire Amulet.

The party scooped it and the body of Sylvara up and made their way back out of the cave and were escorted back to Qu'ellar. Aeloria was so grateful for the return not only of the amulet but also the body of the high priestess that she agreed to replace the party's healing potions and torches free of charge. After healing, the party was then ferried to the far side of the northern reach of the Spider Sea.

They are now set to enter the domain of the Dark Elves, hopefully soon to finally rescue the kidnapped children.