Shortly thereafter, the party observes rifts in empty space open up, and strange looking spiders step through these rifts. The spiders - as big as men, and pale with glistening fangs, seem to defy all laws of physics. Their legs wrap and contort on themselves, and the heads seem to switch places simultaneously, as if the three-dimensional world means nothing to them. Dzintra immediately screams in horror - her brain unable to comprehend what she has seen.
"That's the weirdest thing I think I've ever seen", Bax points out, unable to look at the creatures directly anymore. "They're giving me a headache just looking at them.*" Merenya attempts to separate the party from the creatures with another wall of flame. And Bax and Rath attempt to soften them up with more spells. Mournax cleaves into the creatures with relative ease. "I don't see what all the fuss is about - they bleed like everything else - see!"
"I will attempt to locate the avatar", Rath says, casting a detect magic. Rath peers about the room and shrieks in pain, falling to his knees. "My eyes!", he shouts, clutching at his eyes. Bax and Merenya rush to his side, "what's wrong, Rath", Bax asks. "Never before have I seen such magic - its strength has blinded me!"** Nytor asks, "can you tell me where he is located?" Rath points in the center of the cave. "Somewhere in the center. I couldn't tell exactly."
Dzintra turns around and stabs Merenya, apparently driven insane by the spiders lack of cartesian geometry. "Ouch!", shrieks Merenya, who instinctively glares at Dzintra with her deep blue eyes, blinding Dzintra.
Nytor looks and finds several wrapped cacoons in the center of the cave. He works to begin opening them up with Mournaxe's help. The first one yields some sort of unidentified beast. The second appears to be a long dead, desecated Slaad, and finally after opening the third cacoon, Nytor reveals a still alive, though quite pale and weak stag. The stag looks into Nytors eyes, and Nytor says, "I found him!". Then Nytor pauses. "What is wrong", asks Mournaxe. "I'm getting a voice in my head.... there is another, it says.", Nytor replies, with a confused look on his face.
Dzintra then takes off into the cavern, and Ivo runs after her. "I'll get her.", he yells, running into the cave. Dzintra, oblivious to her surroundings, runs right through the wall of flame, and Ivo, foolhardedly, follows through it after her. Grabbing her from behind, Dzintra, though blind, punches Ivo, and breaks free, and then runs back towards the party, through the wall of fire once more.
Nytor lays the Stag aside, and digs up another cacoon. Opening it, he finds a human female inside. She is quite pale and weak, and unable to open her eyes. Huge spider bite scars cover her body. Her armor and appearance is not foreign, and she is dressed as anyone might be from the more civilized locations of the world, so her appearance is a curious one. "Who is that", Mournax asks. "I don't know", Nytor replies. "I heard a voice in my head telling me that she was here, and that I needed to rescue her. If you can carry the stag out of here, I can carry her." "Very well", Mournax says, hoisting up the stag onto his shoulders.
"The wall is about to come down", Rath says, poking his hand up against the invisible wall. "We need to act swiftly if we are to escape. "When it comes down, I will clear our path out with yet another wall of fire.", Merenya says.
Ivo grabs Dzintra this time, and though she kicks and screams, she is unable to break free from his grasp. Meanwhile, Mournax and Nytor kill the spiders, and two that remain open up new rifts in empty space, escaping into the unknown void.
Just then, the wall of force comes down, and Merenya unleashes another wall of fire back out to the canyon entrance. "When we are ready, I will lower the wall, and we can escape.", she says, standing by the exit. "I can dimension door myself and another out of here", Bax says. "We need another of that speed magic", Mournax says, referring to the Haste spell that was in effect when they entered the cave. "Yes, of course", Bax replies, casting Haste once more.
Merenya drops the wall of fire, and the party bursts out the door down the cleared path once again. Bax and Rath dimension door out to the entranceway. And once again, a swarm of spiders descend upon them like the oceans waters but stop short once the party reaches the exterior of the canyon, as if some magical force keeps the spiders at bay.
*Non-Euclidian advanced phase spiders (CR 10) - truly nasty.
** The player playing Rath didn't like that I blinded him with a detect magic spell. "That's not in the rules", he said. "Neither are avatars", I said.
