Session 8: Spider Skirmish

General Summary

My master, the Black Spider, wants you dead.

— Orc Shapechanger

After finishing a long rest at the decrepit tavern in Conyberry, the Hat Gang waded through the corpses of slaughtered woodland creatures and into the Conyberry Woods in search of Auglathla's Lair. They discover a path and quickly came across an old, run-down cottage, and asked the crows perched on the roof if this is the lair of Auglathla the Banshee. The crows told them that it is, that she's "always in", and that she will only give information if she's given a gift. The door opened on its own when Dymera knocked.
Auglathla showed herself when Nissany called out, the fire in the fireplace turning blue as the banshee emerged from within. Nissany gave her six of the gemstones that she found at the dwarven excavation site, which Auglathla accepted, and asked what the party would like to know. They first asked about the location of Bowgentle's Spellbook, as Sister Roland had asked them to, and Auglathla told them that she once had the book, but she gave it away to a mage named Umorth, a bald human man adorned with black tattoos who wore red robes. As she could not provide them with the book, Auglathla gave them a comb that Umorth gave her and agreed to answer any more questions they may have.
The party also asked Auglathla if she had seen any dragons in the area, she told them that she sensed a white dragon nearby recently, she heard it had settled atop Icespire Peak, she had also heard of another dragon, a young green dragon, that had been sighted in the area recently. Auglathla had heard of Cragmaw Castle but did not know its exact whereabouts and she did not know the ingredients of Greta's muffins, to Boston's disappointment. When asked if she had seen a squirrel recently, she told the party that a squirrel came by recently, asking her if she'd seen his friends but when she told him she hadn't, he asked where he could find orcs nearby and Auglathla directed him to the Shrine of Savras.
Saying goodbye to Auglathla, the party traveled back through the woods, where Elernya heard three orcs nearby, followed by what sounded like a young girl screaming. The party rushed to aid the girl, and found two bloodied orcs, ten feet away from a small human child. Nissany cast Message on the girl, who told her that the orcs wanted to eat her and ran into the nearby ruins. The Hat Gang made quick work of the orcs, killing them both, and Dymera ran after the child, only to witness her transform into a male drow who sneak attacked her and slinked into the shadows.
Dymera found the drow again and tried to negotiate with him, but he revealed that he worked for The Black Spider, who sent the shapechanger to capture the party, only so that he could kill them himself. The drow produced a small cage containing a swarm of spiders, that swarmed Dymera and poisoned her, before he dashed away and hid again. The party began bonking spiders left and right, however, the shapechanger remained elusive. When the two elves spotted the drow again they attacked him, only for him to run away again and unleash more spiders.
As the spider bonking continued, Boston chased after the drow, goading him into a duel, Nissany aiding him by casting Cloud of Daggers and Dymera sneak attacked the drow from afar with her shortbow. Yuri and the allied orc began burning the spiders with fire from their torches, which proved quite effective, however, Jensen told everyone to move out of the way before he used Thunderwave, as Elernya moved out of the way she hit the drow with an arrow, severely wounding him. Jensen's shockwave kills all but one of the spiders, which Kellogg's ate.
Wounded by the daggers, the drow disengaged from the party, morphing into the orc captain who spared their life at the orc camp, and dashed away. The party had a short rest, planning to return to the Shrine of Savras afterwards to rescue Markus and perhaps find Mr. Squirrel.

Character(s) interacted with

Auglathla the Banshee and the shapechanger who assumed the forms of a young girl, a male drow, and the orc captain. The allied orc is also still following the party.

In-Game Date
4th of Nightal

Report Date

03 Jul 2020

Secondary Location

Auglathla's Lair

Kill child.

— Nissany, basically

by Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

Auglathla the Banshee