Thankfully we were working under the cover of darkness right now. I really wouldn't have wanted to anyone to see my face when I came across THAT THING.
I thought I had my fill of various giant spiders and ettercaps and spider whatevers. When I came across THAT THING while scouting however, I had to hold my own mouth to stop the sound of gasping from escaping. It was maybe 5 meters across and 4 meters in height. It was covered head to toe in chitinous plates, and each of its eight armored legs ended in sharp blades.
Yes, it looked insanely dangerous. And yes, it was absolutely as dangerous as it looked! This was the aptly named sword spider. With their incredible combination of THAC012, 2d6 damage, APR 5, and crazy fast movement speed, these things were basically a huge ball of spinning razor blades. They are worth 2k experience for good reason. One would have to have nerves of steel to stand toe-to-toe with one, and a death wish at that.
---
The sword spider didn't take long at all to react to the first shot in its direction. It sped across the forest floor, its eight legs working like pistons. Eight very furious pistons! We barely got any hits in by before it was nearly upon us. However, Branwen's quick incantation was faster; Command. Would the spell take hold?
The sword spider keeled over and came crashing at our feet. We didn't waste time, and smashed and slashed and tore at the horrible thing with all our might, desperate to put it down for good. The seconds counted down: six, five, four, three, two, one-
And the terrible spider was dead. Just barely, but dead. We made it in time.
---
Thank the gods that sword spiders are level 5! A level more and it would get a save vs the Command spell.
But that was just ONE sword spider.
---
What the party wasn't expecting to see was a giant dome of webbing in the middle of the forest.
Imoen looked up at the giant dome in awe. "Was Chelak REALLY stupid enough to enter a giant spider's nest directly?"
Branwen was staring too. We all were. "Is that normal? Is that a thing spiders, giant spiders, do?" she said, her voice shaky. Even she was unnerved by the prospect of entering such an obvious death trap.
Thankfully it was dark out and dark inside as well, so I snuck in easily enough. I wanted to report as exact numbers as possible to the team.
"There's some obese woman who's commanding the spiders in there. Very odd," I reported back to the rest. "'Round her are two sword spiders, two ettercaps, and two giants spiders, at least. Could be more."
Grim and sullen faces all around. Khalid's teeth were absolutely chattering.
"This, this is too much," Jaheira's voice faltered. "Chelak can't still be alive. How much would we risk for the dead? The natural order applies to us too, you know."
I took a deep breath. "We can do this without significant risk. Not foolhardy about it," I said, my voice confident and strong. "I would say that it is time to upend the natural order."
---
The obese woman who commanded the giant spiders was Centeol. She was so obese that she was literally helpless. Centeol wasn't a threat, but her guardians definitely were. 2 sword spiders, 2 ettercaps, 2 giant spiders, and she summons another 2 giant spiders after you finish talking to her. That's a LOT of spiders. All of those monsters have a great THAC0, between 11 to 13. Spiders are not technically evil, so Protection from Evil will not help protect characters from them.
---
As soon as I entered, Centeol commanded her pets, "Kill the meat, my pets."
I needed to buy time. "Hey, wait! We've come here… to… to benefit from your divine wisdom. Let us speak," I said hurriedly.
"You've come here to learn from my infinite wisdom. Sssspeak quickly!"
Spiders were surrounding me even now. Meanwhile, the rest of the team were quietly sneaking in. Well, kind of quietly.
"How have you come to dwell here, in this dreary abode?" I asked Centeol.
"I am cursssed," she hissed. "The archmage, Jon irenicus, cursed me for indignities done to him and his wife by me."
Wait-wait-wait-what? I used to always ask her why she was so fat to troll her, and I didn't care to remember the name of the mage that cursed her. Really, Jon Irenicus did this? OMG, he's causing problems even all the way back in BG1!
"Wow. This Jon Irenicus guy sounds like a real douchebag. Er, a real jerk. Awful person. Wasn't this curse too extreme? There's a limit how cruel a person can be," I said to her. I meant it too.
There was a strange sound emanating from her. I couldn't quite make it out at first, then I saw her tears and realised she was crying.
"I loved Jon, but now I hate him, as I hate you and everything," she said, sniffing pathetically. "Spiderssss… kill him."
Two more giant spiders rappelled down from the ceiling, surrounding me.
My eyes narrowed. "Let me do you one better. Spiders, burn."
---
I think my strategy should have been pretty obvious. I mean, we were dealing with a literal nest of spiders. There were no innocent bystanders, well, no living innocent bystanders.
I had done some math; Neera's fireball currently does 5d6 damage, Necklace of Missiles does 6d6, an Oil of Fiery Burning does 5d6, altogether that'll do 5+6+5=16d6 damage or an average of 16*3.5= 56 damage. Accounting for how much they save against… eh, good enough.
---
All of a sudden, all around me, there was only fire and heat and fury. Engulfed in a sudden inferno, Centeol screamed, as did the Ettercaps. Even the spiders let out an inhuman shriek of agony. Meanwhile, I casually walked right out of the flames to join the rest of my team, untouched. The potion and Jaheira's magic worked like a charm.
Because we were so stingy with our firebombing, an Ettercap and a giant spider somehow survived the triple inferno, if just barely. Weakened that far, it hardly mattered. We finished off the spider things without much issue. Unbelievably, Centeol survived the flames as well. Maybe it was all the layers of fat.
This allowed the rest of the party to regard Centeol properly. Centeol was obese to the point of complete helplessness, completely naked, filthy and covered in sores from umpteen years of un-wash, burned, still burning actually.
The women in my party were all experienced with battle, blood and death and gore by now. But this was too much for them. Imoen looked away, and Neera was already retching from the sight. Khalid was holding Jaheira to support her, and she held him as well. Even Branwen was shaking with a mix of revulsion and pity.
Centeol looked up at us weakly. Tears streamed down her face. "K-kill me," she pleaded. "Without the spiders, I will die of starvation."
The fury of the battle left me almost inclined to leave her to die slowly, suffer an agonizing death. I doubted that Chelak's life was the only one she had taken over the years. Yet, looking at her now, I wasn't really feeling it.
I pointed at Centeol with my quarterstaff and addressed the team. "Any objections?"
There were none. I walked up to Centeol, and struck down in one quick but powerful blow.
---
Area of effect damage is particularly effective against large groups of enemies. 8 significantly powerful enemies was a very good place to break out the fire-bombs. Having said that, there are plenty of viable alternatives which don't involve fire-bombing. For example, most of the damage from the ettercaps and giant spiders will come from poison rather than direct damage. So using a scroll of Protection from Poison will shut down a large chunk of most of the damage from them, though I would rather save those scrolls for creatures we will face quite soon. Bringing in another skeleton warrior would work well too. As for the two sword spiders, casting Command on each will be effective.
One can also limit how many enemies they tackle at once by just heading back out of the spider nest and fighting at range in a more open area like we did with the ghasts, though across Grease instead of Web since spiders are immune to the Web spell.
---
Tiber wasn't particularly happy when we brought back Chelak's remains to him. He was on his knees, holding the body in his arms. "Are you, are you sure this is him?"
Unfortunately, Chelak's body was burnt quite badly during the inferno. My bad.
"We were hoping you could recognise him based on his build, in spite of the burns," I said apologetically. I placed some items in front of Tiber, including a characteristic two-handed sword. "We found this body with these items. The hands were still grasping this sword."
The blood drained from Tiber's face. "That's… that's the Spider's Bane. Oh gods, this really is Chelak," he said, his voice shaking as he turned his gaze back to the burned face. He cried out, "Chelak! Oh, Chelak. How will I ever tell my mother? I was so stupid! I should have stopped this stupid idea."
We gave him some time to mourn before offering to help bury Chelak. Chelak was well built which helped explain his confidence, I suppose. Point being, we doubted Tiber could carry Chelak all the way back out the forest safely.
Branwen, as usual, performed funeral rites for Chelak. She chose to give him a dignified funeral for the warrior who had fallen in battle.
Heart-broken, Tiber left the sword with us. He never wanted to see it again.
---
Notable loot and gains from Centeol encounter: 8900 experience
Wand of Frost (unidentified),
A cursed ring (unidentified),
Spider's Bane +2 (two-handed sword, Freedom of movement)
---
On a peninsular south-east from where we met Tiber, we also found another a scimitar (scimitar+2, unidentified) and a ring (cursed, unidentified) together with a set of leather armour. The remains of the victim these items once belonged to we nowhere in sight, so we assumed it was consumed by voracious spiders.
---
There are numerous Phase Spiders around the map. I personally consider them free experience since they aren't all that dangerous yet give good experience. Neera didn't really agree with that sentiment since she was the one running from phase spiders targeting her all the time, ha.
---
We walked practically the whole day before we came upon anyone else. Along the way, Jaheira filled us in on the Shadow Druids.
"We coming into their territory now, the Shadow Druids," Jaheira warned. "As Seniyad had said, they are a splinter group of the main druid circle here which holds extreme views on how nature should be protected."
"I thought Seniyad's group was already pretty strict," Neera said. "How extreme are we talking about?"
Jaheira's eyes narrowed. "Seniyad's circle, the main circle, is very reasonable. Only take what you need from nature. Maintain the balance so that nature can continue to thrive," Jaheira explained. "The Shadow Druids, they believe there cannot be co-existence between nature and civilisation. Civilisation cannot survive without nature anyway, so is civilisation must be destroyed. With violence."
The rest of the party gawked. Branwen spoke up with her arms crossed and brows furrowed. "What type of lunatic philosophy is that? They really want to kill people to save nature? Aren't people a part of nature too?"
"They do. And people are. The Shadow Druids see it as a culling of excess lives to restore balance," Jaheira responded while pushing aside a branch in the way of her path. "Also, they will recognise me and all main-circle druid on sight. They consider us traitors for not supporting their cause. So be very wary."