Eight adventurers, Ruu Dawnhammer, Almalexia, Sauroff, Silvermoon, Koravhik Agu-Vakanu, Squirrelly, Cressidien, and Cernan had been exploring the Lost Mine of Phandelver with their employer,
Gundren Rockseeker. After traversing the old mine tunnels by following wall-markings left by the Black Spider, they found a ruined temple to the dwarven god of mining,
Dumathoin. Entering the temple, they saw several orcs on raised platforms are the far end, and a female drow reclining on the altar.
The drow called out a greeting to the adventurers "I see we have our first visitors from the surface world. I am the Back Spider, and I welcome you to Phandelver, the latest outpost of the Drow Empire! Have you come to negotiate a trade agreement?" Some of the party tried to feign interest in a trade agreement as they began to inch closer to the altar. However, other party members were less convincing, and the Black Spider grew suspicious. When she recognized the glass staff that Ruu wielded (formerly owned by one of her associates), she confirmed that the party would not agree to a peaceful settlement, and cast a web spell on the party. The battle for Phandelver had begun!
Many of the party were able to quickly extricate themselves from the Spider's web, and pressed onward in the attack. Others, however, remained trapped for much of the battle. Squirrely chose to hang back and protect their employer, and thus did not engage the enemy. Silvermoon scored the first significant damage on the Black Spider with her magical longbow. As a result, the Spider quickly hid herself and her personal guards in a sphere of magical darkness.
Cressidien could apparently see through this eldritch night, but it was impenetrable to the other party members. As a result, those with ranged attacks concentrated their efforts initially on the orcs outside the darkness, with both incapacitating and damaging abilities. Cernan made his way up on the altar platforms to side of the temple. Once there, he could apparently sense the enemies who were in melee range of him, even though he could not see them.
Koravhik used his skill in "working the pole" to quickly clamber up to altar directly in front of the darkness field. However, the Black Spider proved equally adept at using her magical blasts to knock down onto the lower floor of the temple, which was now cloaked in a second web spell. As Cressidien closed into melee range of the Spider, she revealed to him that she was also a skilled martial artist, managing to knock him out a second time in this fight. The Spider's personal guard seemed to see as well in the magical darkness as she did. They were able to land several blows on party members who penetrated the darkness, stopping them in their tracks.
Another orc, hidden for much of the battle, clambered around on the ceiling above the altar. He fired magic missiles from a wand at some of the party, but otherwise seemed to try stay out of sight throughout the battle. He was eventually skewered from below, his body falling with a satisfying thud on the upper platform.
Eventually the party was able to whittle down the Black Spider's forces, with Cernan landing the killing blow on the Spider herself. As she fell, so did the darkness field around her. Cernan noticed a necklace around her neck flashed briefly when she drew her last breath, the red gem in the center of the necklace shattering. The party deduced that it was probably a magic item enchanted specifically for the Spider, and when she died the attunement caused the enchantment to shatter.
At the sight of their dead leader, the two remaining orcs drew their blades and killed themselves. A quick search of the bodies in the temple gained the party 20 gold in Pharesian coins. Most of the orcs had the typical hide armor of local tribes. However, the orcs who formed the Spider's personal guard had well-made armor, overlaid with crude skins to make it look like that of the other orcs. The guard's weapons were also of better quality. A magical staff was recovered from the Black Spider, while the orc who was clambering on the ceiling was armed with a magical wand which seemed a perfect fit for the wand sheath the party had found in the mine tunnels earlier.
Finding the two missing Rockseeker brothers in chambers at either side of the main altar, the party then retreated to a storage room off the main temple floor to rest and recuperate.
During the night, Almalexia once again had her dreams visited by a rasping female voice. This time the voice offered to find a homeland for her people, fey fleeing a conflict in the Feywild. The voice said that the gods were already carving up the mortal realm for their humanoid followers, leaving no land for her people. However, the voice promised to find a home for Almalexia and her people, if she helped the voice oppose the gods. Almalexia told the voice that she would consider it.
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