Game log 17 September, 3 December, 31 December 2023: Sticky fingers

Personae dramatis

Honsou, thief and item smasher
Tonfa Guy, doesn't speak or have a name but has a tonfa
Felcanis, elven cleric
Grignok, handsome orc druid
Augustus, human cleric

Quid occurrit

Nothing happens that evening. Grignok leads them through the woods, getting thicker with each step. After a couple of hours, they find a bunch of bones from some kind of big animal, bigger than Bill. Felcanis tries to figure out what killed it. She cannot, though she realizes it has been dead awhile, and can still see some dried blood on nearby rocks. The skeleton is still intact. Grignok has no idea what kind of animals these are. Big quadruped of some kind.

They make it to the tree about midday. Dénnos looks up. "So, is that the nest? Good gravy!"

Grignok nods. "We went up there before, we can get up there again."

Felcanis tries to climb, gets midway up, then gets back down, as falling is almost assuredly fatal at this level. She makes it down safely. All others slowly make it to the top.

Now, up there, there is a woven wall of webbing They see where Mateo had burned a hole, and it has been webbed-over. Grignok casts Shapeshifting (Panther), then they rest about a half-hour before Grignok's nose leads them to where the smell of weird spidery stuff is greatest. Two branches split here, showing a hidden gap about 3 yards wide in the solid walls of webbing around the tree. Unlike most of the woven wall, this spot of the web is not sticky; dust and leaves are on the floor, making a path. It narrows inside, and after a few yards, the floor starts to get sticky again.

Grignok-cat points out the floor. For all anyone can tell, the kitty is probing at the floor. It's all sticky ahead when they look for a dusty path. Grignok finds the walls sticky. Honsou can lights a torch and starts burning the webbing

The webbing burns slowly. After burning a few yards of webbing, Honsou is amazed to see an ogre-like being with a spider's head and two bulbous black eyes. It has two long, slender arms that end in claws.

Tonfa Guy shoots the ettercap but misses, and the ettercap shoots webbing at Honsou!

Grignok moves towards Honsou, and Dénnos moves behind Grignok. Tonfa Guy whips out his knife and moves into position, but gets stuck on the webbing. The ettercap lobs its web at the nearby Tonfa Guy, who dodges.

Grignok moves into the webbing but doesn't get stuck. Dénnos is for some reason being brave, at least a bit, and carries the rear. Tonfa Guy tries to break free, and wiggles out a little, but is still stuck. Honsou shoots the ettercap, but misses. The ettercap lobs a web at Grignok, who steps aside, and the webbing goes flying past Dénnos.

Grignok steps towards the ettercap, but gets stuck in the webbing. Dénnos pulls out a torch. Tonfa Guy gets himself out of the webbing and he steps back to stand next to Dénnos. Honsou whips out an arrow and shoots the ettercap, who steps aside. The ettercap lobs its web at Honsou and steps back, and the webbing binds Honsou.

The panther tries to break free but does not. Dénnos lights a torch. Tonfa Guy gets out his knife. Honsou tries to get out but does not get out. The ettercap lobs his web at the Grignok, who dodges before breaking free and stepping forward.

Dénnos burns some webbing. Tonfa Guy steps back. Honsou tries to break free but again fails. The ettercap throws a web at Grignok, but it hits the wall. Grignok pounces at the ettercap, but it steps aside, and he lands right beside it.

Dénnos burns more webbing. Honsou wiggles a little out of the webbing, but still has it on him. The ettercap steps back. Grignok swipes a claw at the ettercap, but just misses

The sage steps and burns yet another hex, and the Tonfa Guy steps. Honsou keeps struggling against the webbing. The ettercap steps back again. Grignok steps and tries to claw the ettercap, but cannot touch it.

Dénnos burns even more webbing. The Tonfa Guy sheathes his tonfa and whips out his knife. Honsou cannot get out of the webbing. The ettercap steps back. Grignok steps and again tries to claw the ettercap, but cannot touch it.

Dénnos keeps burning webbing. The Tonfa Guy gets his knife out and starts to cut the webbing on Honsou. The ettercap steps back. Grignok steps and again tries to claw the ettercap, but cannot touch it, and Dénnos steps and burns more webbing.

The Tonfa Guy cuts the webbing off Honsou, who readies his bow. The ettercap turns a little and moves farther.

Grignok steps, still doesn't see anything, and Dénnos burns more webbing. The Tonfa Guy steps up and points at Honsou's coin purse as soon as he is freed from the webbing. Everybody but Grignok can see the ettercap fleeing through the gloaming. Grignok's whiskers sense the ettercap and pounces on the ettercap's back, clawing it and grappling it.

Dénnos keeps burning webbing while the Tonfa Guy steps back and keeps looking at Honsou's pouches. The ettercap tries to break free. It wiggles a little but still grappled. Grignok claws the ettercap again, but it still struggles onward while Dénnos again burns webbing.

Honsou sees the Tonfa Guy making a move on his pouches. The ettercap wiggles out, but  Grignok keeps clawing it from behind, dropping it so it oozes fluid all over the place.

After this, they wait almost an hour and a half.

Augustus is wandering through the woods, trying to learn how to be an alchemist or herbalist. The priest/druid telling him to do this has told him that a rare fungus grows from the bodies of those killed by giant spiders and he has to gather it, so therefore he went to Bóllā, hit by giant spiders, and is wandering through the woods from there.

Augustus makes it to a spot in the woods where there are ropes of spider webbing. He makes it to a tree with a big throng of spider webs about a hundred feet up in it, and there is an elf woman, obviously a cleric of Saundīvós from her rainment, standing at the base of it, kinda looking up. This, of course, is Felcanis.

Augustus and Felcanis banter about the fungus and Felcanis's inability to climb.

Augustus asks, "Why do you wanna climb a tree into a hive of giant spiders?"

Felcanis says, "To kill them?"

Augustus grabs some sticky webbing and starts to try to climb the tree, and Felcanis tells Augustus not to go up there! Someone drops Felcanis's rope to bring her up. She ties the rope around her, and Grignok pulls her up with his teeth.

Honsou grabs the rope, then goes down to meet Augustus. Honsou ties the rope around Augustus before climbing up himself, then Grignok pulls up Augustus.

Augustus looks around the bones in the den and cannot find the fungus. He realizes these bones have bite marks on them. Weird bite marks, not human. It could be the ettercap or it could be a giant spider. Who knows? Maybe the ettercap shared a snack with the giant spider.

Grignok moves into the darkness to the left of where they came into the den, as they hear a little din from there. Honsou steps out, then gets stuck. Augustus readies a torch. Dénnos burns some webbing. Felcanis pulls out her mace, which speaks ettercap.

Honsou wiggles out a little, but is still grappled, while Grignok keeps waiting. Felcanis moves to the edge of the burnt webbing. Dénnos steps and burns more webbing. Honsou tries to get out of the webbing but cannot. Felcanis moves but gets stuck in the webbing. After a short struggle, Augustus burns away the webbing on Honsou as Dénnos burns the webbing on the ground.

Grignok moves, but gets stuck. Felcanis tries to get out, and Dénnos burns the webbing to free her. Honsou steps and readies his bow. The Tonfa Guy sees the creature at the edge of the light and swings, giving the ettercap a good whack, knocking it down.

Felcanis moves but again gets stuck in the webbing. Augustus moves towards Felcanis. Dénnos steps and burns more webbing. Honsou steps. The Tonfa Guy swings at the downed ettercap. It tries to stop the blow with its claws, but instead the blow lands, and the ettercap passes out.

Game log 2 July 2023: Along came an ettercap

Personae dramatis

Mateo de Leon Garcia, stylish red wizard

Grignok, orc druid often in panther shape
Felcanis, elf cleric
Honsou, larcenous bowman

Quid occurrit

The next day, they wake up, and Grignok tracks the giant spider. He points to the broken branches in the trees. "It came through the trees." At about mid-morning, they reach a thick patch of trees where the tracks stock. The trees have big slashing marks on the bark that go up. Grignok says the irregular slash marks are obviously from the giant spiders.

Grignok sticks his head the grove. "I don't see much. The trees here must be really thick up top."

Honsou climbs up the tree. After several minutes, he sees some webbing in the trees. He can stand on a branch up. He cuts a window into the webbing, and sees a passage inside. He calls down, and Grignok and Mateo make it up. Grignok points out the webbing is sticky and they will go through slowly unless he turns into slime.

Suddenly, a long, slender arm ending in a two-finger claw comes out and tries to grab Mateo but he gets out of the way. Honsou whips out his bow and quickly loads an arrow, and points it at the hole, while Mateo casts a small fireball. The claw comes out and just gets a grip on Mateo, and Honsou shoots it, but the arrow bounces off harmlessly. Grignok will try to grab the hand right back, but it pulls its claw away. Mateo lobs the Fireball inside, and the claw pulls back.

Mateo casts Ignite Fire and Shape Fire and starts burning a hole through the webbing. The look through and do not see the ettercap. Grignok asks, "Why are you trying to destroy Nature? We can kill the Ettercap, it is not Nature, but we do not want a forest fire."

The climb down, and Felcanis asks, "Did you take care of whatever was up there?" They rest, then start back to the village.

Along the way, they pass under some trees, and two man-sized spiders drop on Bill. Honsou and Mateo shoot but miss, while Grignok casts Beast Speech. "Do not harm the mule, for he did not harm you!" The spiders start to step back. Honsou shoots one of the spiders, and Mateo is drops his crossbow whips out his longsword. Grignok kicks the spider and it falls. The other one flees as Honsou shoots the foot of the hurt one, stapling it to the ground. Grignok kicks the spider again and it passes out. Felcanis casts healing spells on Bill while the others kill the spider.

That night, they eat on twigs from Felcanis's Create Food spell. The next day, there are storm clouds overhead. They set forth, then after some walking, they hear some growls behind them. They turn to look, and see a pack of six wolves. Grignok casts Beast Speech, and after some barking, finds the wolves want the heroes to stay away.

At the end of the day, they make it back to Bóllā. Nobody seems to care much about the heroes and Lady Savendótē lets them stay at her manor. Honsou tries to steal a cow for some reason, but it makes a loud moo when he tries. A serf calls Honsou, "Stupid like a shoe," and, "A ball-less imp."

After that, they walk for a day and make it back to town.