The Age of Worms / Flood Season pt. 17 / Galen the 26th, 3592 CE / 1-17-21

Not By Choice has come to the Ulat-Kini ruins deep in the dormant volcano beneath the town of Cauldron seeking the Sacred Wands of Water which will stop the rising flood waters which threaten to engulf the town. Here they have tangled with forces of the cult known as the Ebon Triad, having encountered each faction leader in turn; Triel Eldurast, the treacherous warrior, Tarkilar, the mad necromancer, and Skaven Umbermead, the secretic scholar. It is Skaven who has lead them into a cavern inhabited by spiders and ettercaps to retrieve one of the wands, but the party quickly learns to their dismay that Skaven's held an unwarranted belief in the spiders' loyalty, as he is impaled on the leg of the swarm's master, a massive armored harpoon spider, the same spider which holds one of the wands they seek. Despite Milton and Scrimshander's attempts at diplomacy, it quickly becomes apparent that the harpoon spider and its minions intend for all the party to meet a similar fate, and the battle is engaged. As they beat back the harpoon spider with spell, sword and claw, Lulu attempts to drag Skaven to safety, even enduring a poisonous bite from the enemy in her desperate attempt to retain the company of another who may understand her mysterious patron. Though she manages to slip Skaven from the harpoon spider as it collapses from Nari's hideous laughter spell, the halfling's wounds are mortal, and he expires after telling the distraught oracle where to find the cipher for his notes, warning her to "watch out for the snake." Within moments Scrimshander has delivered a killing blow to the harpoon spider and Milton presses his advantage, forcing back the monster's minions. As Lulu begins to succumb to the harpoon spider's poison, Marrow uses her skills as a physician to treat the ailing oracle. Meanwhile, Nari spies an alcove where the spiders kept their loot and begins the webs which secure it. As Scrimshander aids Milton, the omdura finds himself the victim of two different poisonous bites. With poison now racing through the veins of both Lulu and Scrimshander, the party hurries to finish off their enemies.