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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NoOneofConsequence" data-source="post: 660359" data-attributes="member: 5400">Test of the Demonweb – Part VReturning to the main complex, we continued our search of the various chambers. To the south of the gem room we found a chamber covered in a rust coloured powder which it didn’t take us long to determine was in fact the blood of some long dead being. The blood was sprayed about the room, as though someone had been torn apart in an act of the most savage frenzy. We were encouraged when Harmony declared that the blood was probably several years old, and therefore did not belong to any members of the Golden Band.Beyond the blood room, connected by a short southward passage, we came to a very large rectangular chamber. Mark brought us up short at the entry, pointing at the floor which was covered in sticky white webbing. Forewarned, we quickly scanned the entire room for the certain ambush that awaited us within. In the shadows of the far corners I was able to make out two figures, pressed high up into the join between the two walls and the ceiling, one in each corner. Their bodies were bulbous, seeming bloated and fat, but their limbs were thin and spindly, making the creatures seem misshapen. Having spotted them, I fired upon the one to the left with my musket, while calling the location to my comrades. Mark took aim on the creature in the right hand corner with his crossbow. Firing into the shadows, I misjudged my shot and missed, the ball striking sparks and dust from the rock wall near my target. Mark’s eyes were better suited to the darkness and his target squealed as his quarrel hit home.The two creatures began to slide down the walls to the floor, and they spat great gobs of the same webbing that covered the floor. Most of the webbing harmlessly struck the walls to either side of the entryway, but one globule hit Mark with full force, exploding like a grenade, to cover him in thick, sticky strands. Pinned in place by the webbing, he could neither move nor fight. He struggled to work his way free, and had almost succeeded when a second gob of webbing struck, pinning him even more securely.In the meantime, Harmony had used her druidic powers to conjure a sphere of flame and she was rolling it along the floor in front of us to clear a path through the webbing already spread around the doorway. Realising that we would be at a significant disadvantage if we continued to trade missile fire in this fashion, Pax and I resolved to take the fight to our foes. While Harmony manoeuvred the flaming sphere out of our path, the two of us ran full pelt down the burned path and threw ourselves headlong over the remaining webbing, hoping to clear it in a single desperate leap. Pax’s foot touched down right at the edge of the webbing, clearing it by a cat’s whisker. My leap was stronger, clearing the webbing by a full foot, but as soon as I had touched down I was struck by a spit of webbing from the nearest ettercap – for we had realised that that was what these creatures were. The webbing stuck me fast, causing me to come to a wrenching halt.Pax roared past me, calling out her eerie battle cry, now lost in a battle rage. Trapped as I was I knew that my danger was acute. Seeing no alternative, I conceived of a mad plan to get myself free in time. “Harmony,” I called. “Use the sphere to burn me free.”“But you’ll burn too,” she objected.“Better that than eaten alive! Just do it woman!”In spite of her misgivings, Harmony did as I asked. The roiling ball of fire scorched my agonised flesh and choked on a savage cry of pain. Nonetheless, the sphere did its job and in short order I was free. I stepped up beside Pax, who was already engaged with the nearer ettercap, and with my sword drawn struck the beast down in a single furious blow. The second ettercap had been charging to engage us as well, but seeing its fellow fall, turned to flee. It had nowhere to run though. Pax brought it down with a whip of her spiked chain and I fell upon it, hacking its body to pieces. With my body still smouldering from Harmony’s flames, I felt that I had well and truly earned my battle name, Prentice Ash.</blockquote>

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