Marionette Spider

Brigit had wandered too far off the path. She managed to get herself lost in the woods and night was falling. She knew that the forest would become very hostile quite quickly. She needed to find shelter or get back to the caravan.
In the waning light the forest started to become far more sinister. It began to feel like the forest around her was closing in. She felt as if thousands of eyes were staring at her, waiting to pounce the moment she wasn't looking. Her footsteps became rushed as she felt the sensation of being followed. The creaking of the branches feeling like they were closing in around her to snag her up.
Then see saw a figure, a bipedal individual! It looked like they were clothed in armor too! It appeared to stop walking and look closer, as if they were trying to identify what they were seeing. Finally the figure straightened and waved its arm. She could hear a slight shout toward her.
She ran towards the figure, relieved to have found someone instead of falling victim to some feral beast. She was nearly to the man in armor when he turned and started to walk in the opposite direction.
"The rest are this way," she heard him say.
She continued to follow him. Suddenly he fell limp to the ground. What could have caused that? He must of passed out! Brigit ran to the fallen soldier, getting down on her knees to see if he was okay. To her horror she did not find a man in armor, but a corpse!
Its skin was cracked and shriveled, the eyeballs completely gone. She didn't notice the grim features in the darkness. She pulled back to get away from the corpse but realized too late that her hand had stuck to the surface of the corpse. Something sticky covered it.
She looked about the corpse and noticed the near invisible strands that intricately came off of the corpse. Her eyes followed them up where her gaze saw the eight thin, black legs, contrasted by the bulbous black body of a massive spider. It loomed over her, its eight eyes while all black as pitch she could feel it staring at her. Its movements were slow, almost too slow for her to notice and it didn't make a sound.
Brigit let out a terrible shriek, but it was all but muffled as the spider lunged from its position and bit down into her. The venom paralyzed the poor lost girl as the aracnid slowly pulled her limp corpse into the webs above where so many other poor souls had been captured by the clever trap.
A week later a small group of adventurers trekked into the forest, following the reports of several people that have gone missing. Among them a girl roughly in her twenties having traveled not long ago, her noble father granting a reward for any soul that could find his daughter. They pressed on into the forest.
As night began to fall, the party was about to call it a day when lo and behold they found a young woman standing in the forest, waving to get their attention.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Marionette Spider has a physiology normal to most spider only far larger. The exception to this is their ability to produce several strands of silk similtaneously and move them all while attached to it. This has led to them being able to control several fine threads that they attach to other creatures or object and can move them with incredible precision. Unlike most spiders they are capable of reproducing speech, however it is limited to phrases that the spider has heard.

Genetics and Reproduction

The reproduction rate of Marionette Spiders is slightly longer than that of a normal giant spider. They lay their eggs in a host, sometimes one that they will use as a puppet so if the puppet is attacked with a slashing weapon, thousands of baby Marionette Spiders will erupt from the corpse and have a fresh meal.

Growth Rate & Stages

A Marionette Spider can grow into a full sized adult in roughly 4 months assuming it catches enough prey.

Ecology and Habitats

Marionette Spiders prefer to live in dense forests where their webs can attach to many different surfaces, giving them more areas to set their bait and to manipulate it.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Marionette Spiders are carniverous and can catch and eat other large insects and mammals like regular giant spiders. However their preferred meal is that of humanoids. They do this by attaching several strands of silk to the corpse of an animal or previous victim to attempt to draw in other people. Before hand it has covered the corpse in an incredibly fine and difficult to see web that is incredibly sticky to anything but itself so when something else touches it, it has become trapped.
Once it has captured a prey, it pulls it up into its web where it liquifies the inside of the creature, and replacing the inside with a more rigid silk to help keep the body's form. It then uses the corpse as a puppet. Marionette Spiders keep puppets as long as possible, using various venoms to preserve the remainder of the body.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Many part of the spider are useful for spells and basical tools. The number of silks they are able to produce is the widest use however the process of collecting it is difficult. The application of Universal Solvent makes harvesting easier although many merchants argue the return of investment using such an item.
The various venoms of the spider are also incredibly useful for various poisons and beauty products. One of the venoms is even useful in the process of embalming.

Average Intelligence

These creatures are surprisingly intelligent, capable of replicating languages that it hears and mimicing animal movements through their puppeteering.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Aside from the incredibly delicate sense that a spider normally has, the Marionette Spider is capable of feeling the slightest change in pressure on any of the webs that it is touching.

Average Height

Abdomin roughly 5 feet in diameter

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The exoskeleton is a jet black with a vertical lined patter of browns and tans.