Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Spider people

We jumped right into the action as Solid ran straight into some owlbears around a corner. Somehow, we managed to roll very high on initiative and took them both out before they had a chance to act.

I questioned the wizard Xayide as we continued our march upwards. She was the sole survivor of an adventuring party attacked and destroyed by demons. She had been sitting in the dark with nothing but her trustworthy frog as a companion to talk to. And yes, she was quite insane. A successful medicine check revealed that a Greater Restoration spell can cure such conditions. I decided to invest into a visit to a temple[1] as my explanations regarding "the greater family that protects us from demons" were not believed by the woman.[2] Restored to sanity, she was adamant in not joining[3] but at least she sat tight for a day as I perused her spellbook to learn some new spells. Not very useful ones I might add. Not worth the overall investment. Oh well, at least we might get some free beers in Triboar at some point. We let her return to Urgala.

On returning to the dungeon, I checked in at the goblin market to see that my protegees - the goblins armed with forks and ladles - had reached their new home in safety. Well, at least some things do work out.

Now back to the action. We progressed into territory heavily overgrown with spider webs, and the skeletons marching ahead and cutting a path triggered a trap as well. Rocks fell on the hapless undead, who were then relegated to crossbow duty in the back. Luckily, Tari noticed the next trap in time, and shot the strands holding the rocks in place, triggering the fall from a safe distance.

Next up: giant spiders. And driders as well, but we couldn't spot them in their hiding places at first.

I summoned a Barlgura for fun, and proceeded to take turns as long as the rest of the party combined. I'm liking this summoner build more and more.

Through some miracle, the demon remained under control for most of the fight, and our combined might took out the monsters one by one.

Finally, as the Barlgura was climbing across the ceiling after the final remaining drider, I lost concentration[4], but some clever positioning ensured that the we were safe until the last possible moment.

Solid and his mirror image, looking good and confusing enemies.

The demon charged towards us and dropped on us from the ceiling, but was then annihilated in turn.

As the fighting destroyed most of the spider webs in the room, I could distinguish a poem written in undercommon on the ceiling:

My Queen of Spiders,
Diamond of the Abyss,
Snare me in your web.

[1] As I was a returning customer, we got a discount.

[2] Yes, I intended to induct her into the Zhentarim - a wizard sitting at the headquarters could have been all kinds of useful.

[3] Apparently, Zhentarim are not well seen in some parts. Who would have thought.

[4] Taking one too many hit from poisoned bolts.