1.8: Killing a Spider

**Thud.**

The
body of the dwarf hit the floor as 'the spider' released control of
his mind. He looked dead. We're not sure how it happened- the party
didn't kill him! He died right before he could divulge any useful
information, too! Alongside a tempting offer to 'look for the spider
in the basement,' courtesy of our creepy arachnid brain-stealer
himself, this was shaping up to be one of the creepiest offers the
party had yet heard. Also, apparently the crazy cult was *right*,
which was suspected, but still surprising.

 The party had just recovered from a fight with a number of golems
and now they had to go explore the basement for a mind-controlling
spider. Sheesh! They didn't waste any time going about it, though.
Using a hole in the floor created during the fight, the party
descended into the dark celler. Sajaina and Travize scouted ahead,
searching for threats that might be lurking behind an errant barrel
of wine or wheel of cheese. There were two directions to go, as it
turned out. Or rather, there were two directions to go because they
had come through a hole in the floor instead of, say, taking the
stairs. One path lead back up towards the main floor of the castle
while the other lead deeper into the celler.

 Very suddenly things got interesting, however. The party was
attacked by a golem that had fallen through the floor when Timmeron
used the Wand of Doors during the previous fight. The golem was
joined by two spellcasters, one of which was the totally not dead
dwarf. They sent fire and confuion spells down the hallway which the
party had to evade or overcome. Apparently 'the spider' is very
tricksy. They fell in the end, thanks to the combined talents of the
party. They were all definitely dead this time. There was too much
blood for them not to be.

After
a quick discussion in which it was decided that being given
directions to your enemy's lair *by*
the enemy himself
was altogether too convenient, the party elected to send half of its
members to the roof to investigate sightings of a 'giant spider'
while the other half explored the depths of the celler. This way if
it was a trap they would not all spring it at once.

 Perlapae, Sajaina, Travize and Timmeron ventured further into the
depths, coming upon a door that Timmeron identified as leading the
way towards powerful magic. The door was damaged, dangling from its
hinges as if it had been hit by an explosion that caved it inward.
Perlapae recovered a piece of the door, which appeared to still be
magical. As the party advanced they began to see patches of wall
covered with inky windows of night sky. It was as if some aspect of
void had been painted unto the solid stone, creating a portal to
elsewhere. From beyond the darkness the group began to hear
temptations, promises, and cries for help. The plague of voices
seemed to be tailored to each individual, promising them things they
wanted or impersonating loved ones in their cries. Terrible room
design, really. We think a nice landscape piece with tasteful table
and chairs would have been better. The four managed to resist the
lure until they stumbled upon a room almost entirely overcome with
the splattered void. The voices beset the group from all sides as
they tried to walk down the narrow piece of normal floor along the
center of the room. The begging, pleading, voices were starting to
get to the group, but it was Perlapae who found herself unable to
resist reaching out to help.

 As soon as she touched the darkness she was seized by ghostly hands
that slowly began dragging her life force into the void. They could
see the light of life leaving hr, spindling like a thing of ember and
flame into the darkness as a pale replica of Perlapae herself. It was
only through a combination of her and Timmeron's magic that the group
reversed the process and made their way out of the room and away from
the now frenzied, angry voices and grasping, spectral hands.

 They found themselves in a large chamber set all along the floor,
walls and ceiling with magical glyphs. It was a complex formula and,
as Timmeron judged, the source of the powerful magic he had sensed.
There was some left over power in the center of the ritual, some of
which Timmeron absorbed to be used later if the need arose. They
investigated the ritual which apparently called for blood sacrifices,
as the floor played host to a handful of people who had been bled
out. Perlapae and Travize tried to clear away some of the runes for
the ritual while Sajaina investigated the shadows for hidden people.

 The group that headed upstairs had its own source of troubles.
Grukk, Baygrith, Sal and Caerin found themselves confronted by
corpses hung along the stairs with arrows pointing back down towards
the basement. With this added to the evidence already at hand, it
lead to two inevitable conclusions. 1) 'the spider' has a rather
tacky sense of décor, and 2) whatever waited downstairs was very
probably a trap, what with all the baiting. Naturally, they continued
their way up to the roof.

 Climbing the stairs, the four found themselves on a long bridge-like
extension connecting different parts of the castle. The walls were
made of glass allowing them to overlook the courtyard and look up
towards where the 'giant spider' was sighted. They managed to make
out its general shape in the darkness, but before they could make
much progress, doors at either end of the bridge closed and sealed
shut. They tried to break their way through both doors and class, but
only managed sore fists and slightly chipped swords as a result.
Magically reinforced glass and doors. Add that to the décor list.

 Suddenly, the floor began to spill out a colored gas. A little more
worried, now, they began looking for ways out of the room in earnest.
With some quick thinking and careful prodding, they realized that
there was a hollow space beneath the floor where the gas was leaking
out. They managed to pry up a section of floor and held their breath
as they crept along the channel the gas was being piped through.
Managing to get to the end of the bridge they found their way into
the support structures in the castle walls. Baygrith was momentarily
stuck and temporarily lost feeling in his legs from the gas, but
eventually was pulled free. Making their way along the inside of the
walls accompanied by the looming threat of a long fall if they made a
single misstep and feel from the supports, the group found what they
thought was an outer wall leading into the courtyard. Sal transmuted
part of the wall into paper, allowing the group to push through it
and into the fresh air.

 Finally free of the stuffy walls of the keep, the four climbed the
walls of the castle to arrive on the roof. They hurried to look for
the spider, encountering not a flesh and blood monstrosity, but a
mechanical device that seemed pretty innocuous. No gnashing teeth or
poisonous fangs, just long metal legs with a sphere embedded at the
top. Some investigation reveled that the device was a scrying
mechanism of sorts, collecting visions from the various recording
networks set throughout the Elvan lands. The four took turns touching
the sphere, receiving some rather incriminating visions of the Earl
in the ritual room in the basement. Once they could get no more
information, Baygrith smashed the sphere, prompting a wall of metal
to begin rising around the group. Grukk, Sal and Caerin made it out,
but Baygrith was trapped inside a sphere of metal that began sinking
into the castle. Faced with either leaving Baygrith or jumping in
after him, his three friends leaped atop the sphere and rode it down
into the castle's depths. Que the gloating speech of the Earl of Linn
who suddenly began speaking as if from the air as the sphere entered
the ritual chamber.

 You see, The Earl had found a Key and used it to free Dr. Finean McLauren, the mage ascendant who specialized in mind control. Finean
mentioned to him that the group had Wrynn, and the Earl devised a
strategy to steal her from us. The whole 'go to the castle and blah
blah blah the king blah blah' was a ploy so he could lure the party
into the basement and mind control them into giving up Wrynn so that
the Earl could be doubly powerful. Well damn. The Earl ordered Finean
to trigger his mind control spell, forcing the party to become silent
spectators to their own body's deeds. He made them cut themselves,
cut each other, walk, speak, and gesture, each a test of the degree
and stability of control. The party was trapped.

 Things would have been awful if not for the heroic efforts of Wrynn
who managed to counteract the control and allow the party to act in
their own defense, though she exhausted herself doing so. Baygrith
immediately began jury-rigging a 'puncherator' to drill himself out
of his prison. The fight commenced with the party taking every option
at their disposal to track the Earl, the idea being that Finean would
stop casting spells if they could disable the Earl. They employed
Wrynn's rose-tinted glasses to see things as they are, Perlapae's
magic to locate living things, and Travize's snake-formed senses to
locate thermal presences. Coordinating, they managed to pinpoint the
Earl and strike at him, with Sajaina and Grukk taking their cues from
those party members capable of eeing the invisible Earl. It was at
this time, because the Earl is an ass, that golems began joining the
fight. On his side, naturally. As if this wasn't enough, Finean
continued trying to interfere with the minds of those present. He
made the party attack each other, made them wrestle for control over
their own perceptions, generally doing his best to finish his mind
dominating ritual. He seemed to be enjoying himself and the pain he
inflicted a little too much. We think he might qualify as a sex
offender. Except, you know, mentally.

 As if the fight weren't chaotic enough, the Earl kept teleporting
around using an enchanted bracer, harrying the party with small
efforts of his own and a *lot* of shouted instructions to
Finean. Like to hear yourself talk, eh, Mr. Earl? It was with no
small effort that the man was eventually brought down through a
combination of every means at the party's disposal. Everything from
Sal and Perlapae's healing, life draining magic and super-sonic
lute-riffs, backstabs slashes and feints courtesy of Sajaina, Caerin
and Grukk, spider and snake bites from Travize, puncherating from
Baygrith, and some quick-witted magical trickery from Timmeron was al
thrown at the problem. The final scene: the Earl of Linn lies dead
from horrible toxins and a deep gut wound. Dismantled golems litter
the floor alongside blood and spoiled runes. Finean McLauren is held
above a pit of that dark, beckoning void by Timmeron who is fighting
to keep him there with everything he has. The party debates what to
do with Finean. Let's be honest, shall we? There was never a chance
he'd be anything other than a psychotic self-obsessed, mind-raper,
and even the party members arguing for his possible future utility
against the Dragon Wings did so with audible distaste. In steps a
haggard looking Bagel who lays his hand on Timmeron's arm, lending
him magical might. Down McLauren goes, into that inky void top-full
of grasping spirits. The decision made, for better or worse, by the
mysterious ancient wizard. Apparently, by the way, he'd been tortured
and escaped due to his prodigious cunning. We hope he's O.K..

 Taking a few moments to recover from their wounds the party quickly
cases the room for any last-minute utilities, like the Earl's
teleportation bracer, and then high-tails it out of there. As they
hurry through the void-shrouded room, Finean makes his vengeance
known. Reaching out with his full might from beyond the darkness, he
casts a haze of confusion upon the party. Grukk and Perlapae are hit
the hardest by it and lash out at the party, momentarily convinced
that they are surrounded by their worst enemies. Perlapae tosses the
party about with wind, threatening to drive everyone into the waiting
arms of the void. Some quick time magic and flight spells from
Timmeron and Bagel see everyone to safety, but Sal and Timmeron are
unable to shake Grukk's mind free of the enchantment before he
strikes at what he believes is a void-spawn.

 This 'void spawn' is actually Travize, who is dealt such a severe
blow by Grukk that not only does his heart stop, but his leg goes
flying off his body. There is a hush, a silence, the creeping of time
as if it were honey rather than its customary air. Travize climbs
from his body, looking down upon it, shock joining sadness, anger and
relief in the quicksilver war within him. The silence, then, broken
by a jovial drawl.

 The Keeper, the Shepherd, the Reaper. Steve, in a flannel shirt and
wide brimmed hat come to carry away a soul. Unless... A dialogue. An
offer. A shaking of hands. One beat. Another. Time moves forwards
again. Perlapae calls up the might of Viti to please, *please*,
fix what is broken. Not a god's choice to make, but then the bargain
had already been struck. A heart goes on as Perlapae channels Viti's
power to reattach Travize's leg. Sal manages to break Grukk from
Finean's spell and the party rushes from the room, sealing the doors
behind them.