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Wed 21st Aug 2019 09:11

Buzzing bees, crawling spiders and a boat trip

by Duldar Coppergrip

With our mission clear, we headed on our way. We had to retrieve one jug of honey and two jug of spider webs. We were told we could find bee hives in the forest south of town. The spider webs could be found south west in caves. We decided to go get the honey first, as it was on the way to the caves anyway.
Along the way we talked about our age. Not surprisingly, I’m the oldest of the group. Though, to my surprise Skrik is only three years old and his name was actually the place where he was born. I love Castleinn, but I wouldn’t want to be called that, besides, it would get confusing.
When we got into the forest, Skrik started looking for bees with the help of Voron. They followed the bees at a flower patch back to their hive. The hive was big and should contain more than enough honey to fill a jug, the only problem was getting it out. Voron wanted to try and convince the bees in giving us the honey, I don’t think they understood him since nothing happened except a bit more buzzing. We decided to only take a piece of the hive so that they would still have enough honey to survive. Voron wanted to be the first to try and cut a piece of the hive, the bees seemed more relaxed around him. The hive turned out to be sturdier than we thought, Voron’s hit didn’t go trough. Valstrax decided to give it a go, the bees were calmer around Voron, but enough hits on the hive will set them off no matter who was hitting it. Valstrax’s hit slit right through the bottom part of the hive and it fell to the ground. The bees weren’t very happy with their home being damaged, three swarms of bees appeared out of the hive and started to attack us. Since Voron and Valstrax were closest to the hive, the bees swarmed around them. They were swatting them quite well, but getting stung less is a good thing, so we helped them as best we could. I thought of using my hammer to swat some, but there was a chance I’d hit Valstrax or Voron instead. I decided to use the powers that were granted to me to me to deal direct damage to the bees, but they didn’t seem very impacted by it. Meanwhile Janey was charring bees by shooting firebolts and Skrik was incredibly accurate with his darts, killing multiple bees per dart. During the battle, I saw Valstrax touch his amulet, it seemed to fill him with power. Eventually the bees were dead and we filled the jug with of honey. There was still some left, so we decided to take some for ourselves in an empty waterskin.
Next we had to get spiderweb, which could be found in the caves south west. We hiked that direction until the forest gave way to a rocky slope. Skrik was able to find a promising cave entrance and we all entered it. There weren’t many webs at the entrance of the cave so we went in deeper. The cave split in two tunnels; the left tunnel didn’t seem to have any spiderwebs but the right one had a thick layer. Skrik didn’t trust the left tunnel, Janey decided to place Miri on watch, just in case. Avoiding the left tunnel, we snuck over to the right one. We started collecting spiderwebs, using some sticks we took with us from outside. Skrik noticed movements in the darkness further down the tunnel, we made ready for a fight. Two large spiders appeared and tried to web us, but we were ready for them and avoided it. Janey created an orb of fire in between the two spiders, the air around it seemed incredibly hot. These weren’t the only spiders who had noticed our intrusion, from the left an even larger spider with two heads and huge fangs moved towards us. On the cave wall to besides it, we could also see swarms of spiders heading towards us. Valstrax, Voron and I were keeping the spiders from moving further into our part of the tunnel while Janey and Skrik shot at them from range. Janey started hitting the orb she created into the nearest spiders, burning any who touched it. I summoned a spiritual warhammer to help us in battle, this one would be able to reach the spiders further in the cave without getting stuck in the webs. When the swarms of spiders started crawling all over Valstrax, Voron and I, Skrik ran up to me and stabbed the last two spiders on me before they could crawl into my beard. After a fierce battle, all the spiders lay dead. No more spiders were coming from the tunnels so we finished collecting the two jugs worth of spiderweb. Skrik investigated the spider corpses to see if he could get anything of worth from them. He was able to harvest their fangs and some of their venom sacks.
Having collected the honey and webs, we traveled back to town. It was starting to get dark when we got there so we hurried back to The Sickly Respite to deliver the materials. Skrik told us he was going to try and sell the spider components while we collected the reward. We received 50 gold for the honey and 50 gold for the spiderweb. When we stepped out of the building Skrik was back, he couldn’t sell the fangs but wondered if any of us could make a weapon out of them. I told him I would try, once we had some time to spare.
Later, while we were having dinner, Skrik told us how his home was destroyed. He told us some shadowy figure attacked his home town and was able to disintegrate the anyone with ease, but for some reason he didn’t kill Skrik. The survivors cast him out after that, they said he brought bad luck. I sure hope that shadowy figure doesn’t show up while we’re around.
After finishing our food, Janey pointed out that Skrik still had a lot of web in his fur, and that he should take a bath. Skrik asked if she could help him with that, and I didn’t know Tieflings could become that red! Being so embarrassed, she refused. Later though, Skrik made a bit of a scene when he came back after his bath, completely naked. The bar roared in laughter, but Janey was all red again. After that, we got some rest.
After we had breakfast, I showed Skrik how my crossbow worked. He was thinking of getting his own. Since he was helping us out, I told him he could lend it from me, as I wasn’t really using it. He gave me some darts in return.
After that we got everyone on the boat to Slowbell. I was an impressed by the ship, it a ballista and a catapult. I would’ve loved to take a close look, but the captain made it very clear that we were not to touch anything, he had crew for that. The crossing went very smooth, not much happened. Valstrax did seem to have some difficulty getting traction on the deck, he was wrapped around a mast for most of the trip.
Finally, we arrived in Slowbell, but it was getting dark. The elf brothers offered to pay our stay at the local inn called the Marsh Inn. Tomorrow we’ll talk to their uncle and complete the caravan mission. I hope we’ll find some useful information in town too, maybe even something about these weird weapons.

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  1. Buzzing bees, crawling spiders and a boat trip
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