Ep. 3 - Tuning Up, Mvt. II

Things begin to crescendo as the bards address Wesley's problem, and tap into new magic along the way.

## Plot

Chasing after a startled Wesley, the group heads downstairs to investigate the noise they heard. Before opening the door leading further down, Wesley warns the bards that some of his experiments have gone awry, and he offers them a payment of 6 sapphires up front to take care of the issue. They agree and accept the payment, and bust into the room downstairs, weapons and instruments blazing.

They come across two large Phase Spiders, similar to the one upstairs. The spiders are happily spinning away, and the bards get the jump on them with a surprise round of attacks. Raz’ul attempts to communicate peacefully with the spiders by casting *Speak With Animals*. He does succeed in getting their attention, but quickly realizes that spiders can’t understand him because they don’t have a language to communicate with. Randy pops out from behind Yashee and sneakily shoots the spider on the right. Yashee hits the spider on the ceiling with a *Reckless Attack* using her mallets.

Switching strategies and backing away, Raz’ul casts *Moonbeam* on the spider that Randy struck. Channeling Eddie through his belly button, Randy lifts his shirt and casts a *Fire Bolt*. Yashee attempts another swipe at the spider in front of her, but misses her swing and holds her ground. One of the spiders takes a swipe back at Yashee, and the other does an *Ethereal Jaunt*, and disappears. Raz’ul switches his focus to the other spider, and casts a "careless" *Dissonant Whispe*r. Randy and Yashee both take swings at the visible spider with an *Acid Splash* and maul respectively, but both miss. The spider retorts with another stab at Yashee, and then it too disappears with an *Ethereal Jaunt*. The other disappeared spider phases back in and stabs Randy right in his tummy, but it remains in the material plane. Raz’ul searches the room for something to fend off the spiders, and finding a broom attempts to attack the visible spider. He ends up using the wrong end of the broom, although the spider does receive a poke to one of its eyes. Randy fails to catch the broom after Raz’ul tosses it to him, and casts *Cure Wounds* on himself. Yashee deals the killing blow to the visible spider by squishing it with her mallets. The other spider reappears and stabs at Raz’ul, but the dwarf responds with a lethal smash from Usumptin.

After successfully defeating the two spiders the bards try to go back to let Wesley know, but the door is locked and there is no response from him. With no other option available, they head down through the cave entrance across the room. The tunnel they face is completely dark, so Raz’ul casts *Prestidigitation* to make up for Randy’s lack of *darkvision*. They reach another cavern at the end of the tunnel and find that the floor is covered in spider webbing, with two thicker patches. Randy casts *Mage Hand* to start poking around at the patches, despite Raz’ul’s apprehension. Spiders pop out of the patches when Randy pokes at them, so the bards skirt around them.

Moving along, they come across another even larger cavern. Unfortunately none of the bards notice the traps laid out in front of them, and Raz’ul is struck in the face with a spider web net. They continue through the cavern, and upon seeing the two paths at the end, choose the one on the left. The room they enter to the left is littered with cages and, to the groups surprise, Wesley is there as well, clutching a scepter with a spider at the tip. At first the man welcomes them back, but the group realizes something is very wrong when he asks them to lock themselves into the cages and submit to being his experiments. When they refuse Wesley, he summons an *Ettercap*, which wraps a spider silken noose around Yashees neck, thus grappling her. They group begins to fight once more.

The *Ettercap* takes a swing at a suffocating Yashee, and Raz’ul clambers up to help her down. Randy notices that all of their instruments have begun to glow again, and suggests to the rest of the party that they should see what their magically imbued tools of trade are capable of. The *Ettercap* tries to intervene before the bards can begin, but it misses and the group begins to play. They perform a song about squishing the spiders and as they do, a magical case appears in the air around the *Ettercap*, capturing it and completely obliterating it. Wesley rambles in frustration at this, mentioning the name Delarim. When Raz'ul asks about Delarim, Wesley ignores him, reads off of a spell scroll, and exits through a magical door, leaving the bards alone in the cavern.

## Song - "Catch 'Em Up"

*Catch ‘em up, snatch ‘em up, latch ‘em up,

The little spider we gonn

Mash ‘em up, slash ‘em up, smash ‘em up,

And then into the fire.

Turn it up, burn it up, urn it up,

And send it to your mother, ahhhhh!

Catch ‘em up, snatch ‘em up, latch ‘em up,

The little spider we gonn

Mash ‘em up, slash ‘em up, smash ‘em up,

And then into the fire.

Turn it up, burn it up, urn it up,

And send it to your ma!*