The siblings feel the spider toxin course through their bodies, but are able to suppress the effects. The scout searches the cave and finds two pouches underneath a web: one with three hundred gold pieces and the other with two beautiful gems. The black opal and the topaz must be worth at least a thousand gold pieces! A mighty composite short bow is also part of the loot.

Amalica

Then Phaedra hears the fading sound of heavy boots. Amalica is getting away! She approaches the wall where the bebiliths first appeared and sticks her head through without hesitation. When spiders can walk through walls, so can she. On the other side, the Despana female -her face contorted with hatred- makes an exit. Spiderwebs and junk litter the area.

Suddenly sobbing fills the silence.

“This sucks!”

It sounds like a woman in distress.

Jharrath strides to the other side of the illusionary wall. A female drow is pounding the floor, hitting it with frustration. Her clothes are nondescript, a rapier next to her. With tears in her eyes, she sobs:

“I’m betrayed on all sides.”

“What is wrong, milady?”

the drow asks, but the crying only gets worse.

When Lilith steps through the wall to join the wizard, she almost gets stuck in a web. Jharrath looks up and from the corner of his eye sees a humanoid form dangling from the ceiling. His eyes widen in alarm: it’s an aranea! All pretense is gone, and while the spider-like foe jumps down towards Lilith and attacks her with its rapier, the ‘woman’ -tears dried- changes into her spider form and lashes out towards the male drow. Jharrath conjures an elemental and counterattacks, while the cleric hits the aranea repeatedly and successful with her flail. She manages to evade the creature’s weapon and bite. Her brother is not that fortunate and takes a nasty bite in the shoulder. To prevent any further damage, he casts a spell which makes his contours blurry.

Alvra, also caught in the web that’s covering the entrance, manages to cut himself loose and witnesses how the aranea -wounded by the cleric- flees the cave in full retreat. His reflexes kick in and he swings his sword towards the creature, while his sister puts her flail to good work. A javelin sails after it as a parting gift.

The second aranea, hit by the wizard’s ray of clumsiness, Lilith’s flail and the elemental’s pounding, also climbs towards safety and together the creatures disappear. Jharrath is feeling weaker by the minute. The party moves back to the first cave to tend to their wounds and the drow decide to spend the night under Phaedra’s watchful eyes.