In reply to DM Heath (msg # 57):

With her back to the wall Renakaris quietly casts Comprehend Languages to try and read the sctoll.

Rathyl finds that the vial has two doses.

Ranakaris casts a spell to read the message. It reads:


The dragon with eight legs. It lives in harmony with the spiders of the ethereal world. But its breath is poison and its magic is webs. It is instinctive and mad, not to be reasoned with. We think it was brought here from the other plane. It sees and senses all. Our weapons were lost on it. If you see it, run. Run! Do not look back.

In reply to DM Heath (msg # 59):

Renakaris translates it for her companions. "Hmmm sounds like a basilisk-type creature. Sounds like maybe it's got a sticky hide and weapons get stuck to it. What do you guys think? And do we have anything that combats poison?"

Rathyl says, "I once encountered a rust monster and carrion crawler. One of those might fit the description too. I don't have anything that combats poison, but I think that vial cures poison, and it has two doses. The way the body is configured with the vial in his hand, I'm guessing he may have been trying to drink it because he was poisoned."

Rathyl checks out the body for signs of poison and the positioning of it to see if his conclusion might be accurate or if anything seems to weigh against it.

In reply to Rathyl Dragonbone (msg # 61):

Renakaris stays on guard while Rathyl tries to confiirm that the death was from poisoning. She whispers, "Honestly, I'd say it's virtually certain. Spiders, bigger spiders and a big leggy reptile, all poisoners." Nonetheless, when he's finished she gets Rathyl to stand guard while she medically evaluates the fallen fellow, still favouring keeping her back to the wall.

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OOC: Assuming no modifiers, failed in Herbalism but succeeded on Healing skill check by 5!
11:10, Today: Renakaris rolled 5,19 using 1d20,1d20.  Poison diagnosis: Healing 10, Herbalism 17.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:12, Fri 29 Oct 2021.

The body has been there for at least a few weeks and is too decomposed to tell if it has been poisoned. It does look like the hand was being held back by webbing to prevent him drinking. There are also two puncture marks in the neck with purplish discoloration compared with the grayness of the rest of the corpse.

Your conclusion is that he most likely was poisoned by some sort of giant spider after or before being stuck in the webbing.

The word "we" in the note also catches your attention. This means he was not alone, though there does not seem to be any other bodies in this area.

In reply to DM Heath (msg # 63):

"So if he's no alone, there are others. Maybe the arachnids have such a bedroom, or larder, each. And the webs seem to be what did for this explorer. Be wary though: some spiders can throw or spit webs. Now, if you want point, fine. But first who do you want to have possession of this Neutralise Poison potion? And now, if you're ready, I'm going to set fire to the next batch of webbing," monologs Renakaris, indifferent to whether or not she's being a boor.

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OOC: When the others are ready to continue, unless stopped, she plans to burn off the small bunch of webs to the west and then, if things remain uneventful, to set fire to the eastern webbing (essentially aiming to clear all webbing from the currently shown map-tiles).

For clarification, I was talking about the dead adventurer you found, not the spiders.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:40, Tue 02 Nov 2021.

In reply to DM Heath (msg # 65):

OOC: Yes, multiple adventuerers. NP. Speculation was that the spiders bagged an adventurer each and had their own areas...

Rathyl nods at Renakaris' deductions. He will wait in the western corridor, guarding and ready to move west when Renakaris is ready.

In reply to Rathyl Dragonbone (msg # 67):

With a nod the drow sets fire to the western webbing, then equipping her sword.

If nothing emerges and the place remains quiet she again takes up the torch and sets the more prolific eastern webbing ablaze, then again reverting to sword.

You set the webbing on fire, but nothing else appears to be hidden beneath.

In reply to DM Heath (msg # 69):

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OOC: So the area visible to both west and east are now clear of webbing?

OOC: Shortly, I plan to add another player to this group. I think you need more here.

Yes, the area is clear of webbing.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:34, Fri 05 Nov 2021.

In reply to DM Heath (msg # 71):

Sword readied, the dark elf nods for Rathyl to take point again and explore westwards.

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OOC: Ok, new player would be very welcome
This message was last edited by the player at 08:21, Mon 08 Nov 2021.

Now that the webs are cleared in both firections, Renakaris peers westwards to see what can be seen. She glances at Rathyl and gestures to see if he wants to continue to lead the way. If not, she will.

 [Private to GM: I only just realised Rathyl was an NPC. Not sure how you want to do this, either lots of bits of map in which nothing much happens or the "...you go 170' west and then you see..." and new map segment, approach. I'm fine with either.]

Rathyl will be changed to PC status soon.

Just a little delay as we get our new players in the game.

To the west, you see that the cave is dark and continues around toward the southwest. There is another large spiderweb blocking the path about 80 feet in front of you as it curves.

The dark elf takes the lead and advances along the right hand wall, slowly and silently as only a creature of the underdark may. Her objective is to set fire to the next set of webbing. Again she tries keeping her back turned towards the wall.

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OOC: OK, thanks. Good to know.

Vegren will be joining this group. He is a straight human warrior.

Vegren: You can start posting here.

(Although a little awkward, we can do introductions and then jump into the actions of Renakaris below. We will assume Vegren has been with the group since the beginning.)

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OOC: Welcome!

Rathyl will also be switching from NPC. Sariel is still up in the air for the moment.

Renakaris glances back over her shoulder and smile at Vegren, hoping that he's ready.

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OOC: Hey Vegren! gald to have you on board. Come on down!! Could get difficult soon, fighting phase spiders that we need to capture alive.

[Private to GM: Hey GM! I know the former player of Sariel a bit and there's a story behind the disappearance. I don't want o break confidences but let's say there's a tale of RL issues there that seem to be being worked through but might take some time. I'd be happy to run the character if you want me to do that. I won't abuse the character nor the privilege and would seek to play them as two totally separate beings although I couldn't match Sariell's actual persona.

Reason for offering that is that I love what you've doine here and I want to play in your world! lol]

He's doing some final character adjustments.

OOC:

Hello, dear players!
I'm happy to finally join your adventure! Please note that I have no experience in participating in ADnD 2e adventures (in fact I'm new to playing DnD in general), but I wanted to play it with real people long enough :)
Thank you for having me and I hope we'll have nice time and fun together!

Here is some info about Vegren.

Born in the village at the shore of a bay in southern province.
Being an orphan, he was raised by a harsh man from the mercenaries league in the nearest town.
He’s tall, in a good physical shape, strong and healthy and surprisingly not so clumsy. You could quickly distinguish an intellect behind his bright eyes although you could quickly say he's not a genius. The general positive impression is spoiled by the numbers of ugly scars over his head and face so often he appears quite repulsive and, if it’s dark, even scary to other people.


I've also put my Character's stats into my profile: Link back to this game
This message was last edited by the player at 21:27, Thu 25 Nov 2021.

Renakaris thinks back to an eariler conversation she'd had [OOC: Retcon]) with Vegren. She'd said, "Hello Vegren! I abhor followers of Lolth or Selvetarn and their ilk and, struggle though it is, I strive to follow in the steps of the fair surface elves. I have skill* with the blade and some mastery of arcane spells. I've been told that I'm an amazing cook and passable singer. Now, please tell me of your skill set and aspiration?"

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OOC: *about a century of trainign with a single blade