AiME S1E5 Webbed Friends

"Dangers in Dale" (1x05) is Fabled42's fifth episode of the "Adventures in Middle Earth" campaign. Heda, Iorwyn, and Oldhin escaped the clutches of a massive spider named Tauler, but at a cost - Berenor and Turin, two of their companions, were both poisoned and cocooned! Unwilling to abandon their friends to such a fate, they muster their strength for a daring rescue mission…

### Synopsis

The companions are in grave peril and the fate of Turin and Berenor is unknown. Carried off by the mighty spider demon known as Taula, whom they perhaps foolishly thought they could best in combat. Oldhin’s sacrifice of his new artifact is the only reason some of the companions have been able to escape the fate that now awaits their friends.

As Oldhin, Iorwyn and their new companion Heda shake themselves off on the muddy road, they begin to make sense of what they have just encountered. None of them have ever encountered such a beast, something so powerful and ancient. Iorwyn recalls some lore that she had learned under the tutelage of Radagast, and describes to the pair how some spiders store their food in a state of death or undeath, keeping them between worlds for some nefarious reason before they are consumed.

As they stand in the rain, Iorwyn notes that there are some tracks a while back where some large trees against a hillside will shelter them from the torrential rain. Heda has a great knowledge of the wilderness and makes a mention to the group that there is a place they can travel to, a settlement where they will be safe for a time. As they heal, a little cold and wet, unable to find any dry wood for a fire, Iorwyn tends to Heda’s injuries. Heda gifts Oldhin use of her greatbow and a quiver of arrows to replenish his stock.

The rain lets up as Iorwyn scavenges for herbs to replace her stock. The companions think that they have a couple of days before the giant arachnid will consume her prey.

After a short journey the companions arrive at Elothiere, a small settlement in the Dale. The Settlement is fortified with wooden stakes surrounding the farmsteads and within thatched roofed cottages keep the occupants warm from the weather of the valley.

Approaching a villager, Oldhin asks to speak to the village chief and is referred to the great hall. Isthin, a small man, sits on a chair with a friend, playing a game next to a fire pit. Isthin appears bemused that Oldhin asks him for aid. Amongst the men of the Dale, there is no need for such formality. He shoos them off and points them toward an elderly lady who may be able to help house them. The group are invited to a feast, where the elf can tell his stories to the amusement of all.

The old lady appears to be a little senile and with the sort of back issues that come with hard work and old age. The basic ailments of bones are known to Iorwyn and she is able to work the woman’s spine around so that she recovers mobility in her shoulder. Oldhin asks if the group may stay at her farmstead and is shunned by the old hag. It appears she believes elves took her husband when he travelled through Mirkwood. The woman has a change of heart and allows them to stay in a small haystack kept in a small barn.

As the group recover their strength they discuss the best time to stealth into the spider’s lair. Heda has a skill which allows her to check on her friends, to make sure that they still live. The old lady brings cake, for what grandmother doesn’t keep cake in her pantry? They consume their feast as the sun sets over the Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains. Heda dreams of a great fire. This flame consumes the Wastelands before travelling onward to burn down the Mirkwood, eating all in its path.

Next morning the companions are awakened by the sound of horses outside. Oldhin asks the traveller if he is moving west, which he is. He agrees to help them, which could be a great boon in the saving of their friends. With the ruined tower being a day away by foot, the ride within a cart allows them to make time. As noon approaches, they thank the traveller for sharing his ride and set off with new determination. Soaring high above them an eagle lets out a call. A symbol of good fortune, they each feel much better suddenly about the task they are about to commit to.

A wind blows through the camp as a breeze picks up around them. Only Iorwyn and her hound appear to notice it at first. It is an ill wind, and upon it nothing good can be found. Heda puts her head to the ground and listens. A skill which seems amazing to her watching friends. She senses something is coming, but is unable to make out the nature of that which approaches out of the darkening shadow. The Tower looms nearby and surely that is no coincidence.

Heda begins to chew on an herb and meditate. A spirit bear begins to manifest from her chest and lumber off toward the tower. The group watches over Heda as she travels through the brush in this new form. Heda the Bear has sharp senses and she notices a skittering in the distance. Definitely spiders. Attached to a wall inside the tower she notices a single cocoon, and shadow after shadow crawling across the surface of the ruin. Looking up, she senses something other than spiders further inside the tower. Horrified, a single cocoon lays torn open upon some stairs. Further along, a pile of bones with spiders crawling across the remains. Heda roars and charges at the spiders to disperse them but is suddenly deafened by the chilling scream of the spider demon as it senses the intruder and calls forth its kin to attack. She has but a moment to return to her physical body before the party are once more fighting for their lives.

Taula rallies its brood. The spiders awaken. Hordes of spiders descend upon the heroes. A horrible crunching noise is heard throughout the tower as the group sneak in and try to remain hidden from the spiders within. So many spiders skitter around from shadow to shadow and then suddenly it comes into view, stepping from the wall of webbing.

Iorwyn grabs some sap from the tree she has climbed and prepares to set it alight later, to hurl into the spider hordes, disperse them if possible. From within there is more crunching and Iorwyn feels that Tauler is eating one of her friends. Worried she may be right, Oldhin rushes toward the stairs in front of him, toward the cocoon attached to the wall, hoping one of his friends is still alive within.

Iorwyn launches an arrow coated with sap into the skittering critters and sets several on fire. They scream and run amongst their kin, causing panic and setting others aflame. As the fire burns, Heda is covered in spiders and bitten many, many, many times. Oldhin fares only a little better. As he runs toward the cocoon he is attacked by the huge demon beast. A huge spider arm swings down and strikes him a vicious clubbing blow. As he shakes himself, Oldhin notices that within its maw Tauler has a cocoon and within that he can see the arm of one of his friends. Time grows short for the fellowship!

Oldhin, desperate, leaps heroically toward the walled cocoon, dagger out. As he hits, he pierces the webbing with his blade and using his weight, tears open the casing, before falling to the floor, Turin’s lifeless form knocking the wind out of him as they land. Turin is dragged up by the elf, who, with supreme effort, manages to run his friend to relative safety toward Iorwyn who is waiting, hidden in a tree outside.

In the maw of the demon, Berenor is being eaten now, his arm almost severed by the spider’s teeth. He is not the only one to be eaten. Heda finally succumbs to the horde or chittering arachnids swarming over her and falls. She has bought time for her comrades to escape with Turin’s body. In their minds thousands of voices scream “Consume! Feast!”

Iorwyn feeds the concoction she had prepared earlier to the dwarf. Immediately the poison seems to lift from his body but he does not wake. Her hound is dispatched to drag Heda back towards her, hopefully. She is swiftly overwhelmed by the spiders and yelps in pain as her skin is bitten and her flesh consumed. However, almost as if by miracle, the dogs fur as it brushes against Heda, rubs salve upon her. Heda calls up her strength and leaps up to strike the cocoon from the maw of the beast.

Berenor’s lifeless body slums to the floor, one of his hands missing, the stump not bleeding out, but rather steaming with the poison that courses through his veins. The demon strikes out at Heda but she is too quick for it. Without mercy, the spiderlings around her swarm once more and bring her down. Iorwyn cannot believe what she sees. Almost out of her mind she begins to slowly drag the dwarf further from the tower, scared to do anything else.  Her loyal hound however begins to drag Heda to safety.

As all seems lost a piercing bright light brings forth screams from the demon and its horde. Holding aloft his staff, Gandalf chants a spell and forces all of the spiders back into the shadows. The heroes have little time to act, but with a great deal of effort they manage to get everyone to safety. Turin comes around and helps the group out. Iorwyn begs for further help from the elusive Grey Wizard. The fellowship are together again once more, battered, bruised and badly hurt but together as they flee the tower and the threat of the spider demon Taula.