Session 11: Hunting the Widow of the Wood

As the morning mist began to burn away, the group prepared to set out to track the Frostweaver Spider. Tonibore’s account of his previous misadventure served as their starting point.   Decisions were made before leaving; Danyar, Gordon, Elara, Ren, and Tashi would stay behind at the lodge. Over the past few days, Elara had become less maudlin, although she was still clearly traumatized by the events at Krezko and her memories as a war orphan. Danyar, while sensitive, seemed remarkably unphased by the recent events. He often tried to show off when Elara was around, but Ren seemed oblivious to this.   The group set out, using Tonibore’s prior encounter to guide them. Their path led them away from the wagon path towards the pass, though only by a half day or so. The forest presented a significant challenge due to its density and lack of paths. They often had to hack their way through or navigate around thorn bushes and rock flows. The only sounds were the rustling leaves and distant bird calls. This forest, though not as vast as the Shadowood or the Arrowoods, was dense with old growth, untouched by logging. The brisk weather hinted at the approaching winter or perhaps the presence of the looming mountains to the west. As they tracked the Frostweaver, a light, cold rain began to fall, making their journey even more difficult.   After several hours of traveling in the intermittent rain, they found the outer extent of the Frostweaver’s hunting domain. Zenscha inspected a chunk of webbing and its fluid coating using her alchemical skills. She determined it was flammable but not easily so, and the poison was paralytic, dissociative, and anesthetic. She also noted that the webbing seemed to conduct "mental energies," potentially linked with the Frostweaver’s ability to send pulses of light or sense throughout the web. The group pondered how intelligent a spider could be.   Almost simultaneously, Orian impulsively reached out with his telepathic abilities through the webbing network. Initially, he felt an intensely unpleasant echo, where his thoughts were amplified back at him. Adjusting his approach, he sensed a dark form lurking at the center of the webbing, like the center of a labyrinth, calling to him. He informed the others that the entity was female, causing some concern about his mental state.   Using Orian's intuition and their combined survival skills, they continued tracking the spider while trying to avoid getting caught in its invisible webs. They found a dead boar ensnared in the webbing, which appeared uneaten. Tonibore mused about the spider’s intelligence. The forest here felt almost otherworldly. The air was colder and denser, the trees thicker and ancient, their branches weaving a canopy that cast dappled shadows on the forest floor. This seemed like it might be the place, or close to it.   They paused at the top of a ridgeline, with a small valley below. Orian reached out again through the webbing, believing they were closer to the nest. He heard a voice, initially seeming like the rustling of dry leaves, whispering, “Rest here, where the stars kiss the earth, and let me wrap you in the lullaby of the forest’s breath. Fear not the whispering winds. My webs are spun from the dreams of those who wandered too far, those who left and never returned... but not you. You I will protect as I bring you into the wisdom of your ancestors. Come closer now.”   Orian felt a mind reaching out, alien yet intelligent. He engaged in a mental contest against the broodmother. They ended in a tie, with Orian seeing his deceased mother before him, beckoning him forward. Recognizing the illusion, he maintained his composure.   In the distance, they saw a small hill with the crumbling remains of an ancient ruin, a small wall, and a courtyard with a ziggurat-like structure at its center. The ruins were partly obscured by overgrowth, though vines didn’t grow on the stone surface as much as expected for something so ancient.   Normally, they knew the spider would be hiding within the confines of the ruins during the day. However, Orian's psychic attack enraged the broodmother, and she emerged from the staircase to the lower level. She was far larger than they had imagined, with a body the size of a hippopotamus and great spindly legs. Her bloated thorax heaved as she moved, yet she did so with remarkable speed and dexterity.   Desmond gave the child-sized Orian a heave to get up onto the crumbling walls, while the others tried to take positions. The broodmother leapt onto the wall and rushed towards Orian, recognizing him as the source of her despair. She bit at him, but he managed to turn aside.   Rolandus executed a perfectly timed acrobatic leap, positioning himself to jab with his slender sword. Though he found her carapace unyielding, he managed to score a tangible hit.   Tonibore swung upward with his chain, but she sidestepped, avoiding being ensnared.   Desmond scrambled up the wall and found himself face to face with the abomination. He steeled himself, resisting a potential breaking point, and lashed out with his dagger, though her hide mostly turned it aside.   Rolandus scored another hit, this time lopping off one of her two poison-dripping fangs.   She squealed with a horrifying high-pitched sound. Enraged, she sank her remaining fang into Orian, who was immediately overwhelmed with dissociative bliss as his body went rigid.   Quick as a fisher yanking a fish from the water, she snatched up Orian’s little body and started spinning a binding web, backing towards the entrance of her nest. In horror, the others gave pursuit, repeatedly lashing out shanking the beast with daggers or even their bare fists in a desperate attempt to keep her from absconding with their companion.   The broodmother began to extract fluids from Orian’s body as she continued her cautious retreat. Orian saw the ground open up and an ocean of stars floating beneath their feet.   Rolandus leapt forward and delivered the killing blow, driving his blade through one of her eyes. The broodmother swayed, dropped Orian like a fish to the dock, and fell on her side. Desmond tried to cut Orian free but got some of the paralytic on himself, realizing the substance had a mildly euphoric effect. He became entirely fixated on this discovery, goading Zenscha to work as quickly as possible.   Rolandus and Tonibore assisted in preparing the broodmother’s body for Zenscha's extraction and alchemical process. While they worked, Orian’s sensations returned, although he was considerably injured and weakened from his ordeal. The first thing he said, still in a half-delirious state of ecstasy, was, "The children of the stars... the children of the stars were here, before they went to the South..."   The group harvested valuable materials from the Frostweaver Spider. Cold resistance fluids were extracted from the spider’s glands, and the paralytic venom was refined into 12 doses of a powerful anesthetic. Zenscha’s remarkable crafting skills were evident in her success, as well as her equally remarkable luck. The fluid from the spider’s glowing web was prepared to create a fluid that would emit light for up to a month, enhancing telepathic abilities.   These were prepared in basic extract form and will need to be recrafted (basic roll) to be made into palatable food. However, Frostweaver extracts of this potency are strong enough to be used as is, as well.   The session ended with the group preparing for their next steps, various degrees of exhausted and injured. But the ancient ruins hint at deeper mysteries yet to be explored...