World of Rathbone

Down the Chute

The hole is webbed off at the top, but seems clear inside. Boy does it drop a long distance into the darkness.

The chute is easily climbable as it is only 4’ wide and the surface is quite rocky (DC 15 athletics). It is too irregular for anything but a tiny creature to fly down. There are lots of rocks around the top to tie a rope to. The chute goes down 50’ and spills out along the back wall of a cave (A). When the first person starts climbing read the following:

As you descend you notice that there are small caves along the sides, some of them are completely webbed up and others are filled with little piles of bones.

Inside the first webbed up cave is a raccoon, happy to be free he will bolt out of the hole and up the chute to safety. Inside the next three holes are Halfling captives. Their names are Kip, Little Foot, and Randy. They are traders from the Halfling village and were captured a few days back. Kip has a dagger in his boot and both Little Foot and Randy have slings tied around their arms. They can be convinced to help the party if they know that they are the faerie champions and that they were sent by Hilda Highboots. They will begin by thanking the party for rescuing them, but want the party to take them up and out of the hole to escape. If questioned they will tell the party that it was large spiders that brought them to this place and webbed them in. Those spiders breathed fire on their cart with all their trade goods, they will be quite sad about that. But they are more afraid of the bigger spider that seems to come from below. If asked about a dragon spider they will say this must be the mother of all dragon spiders! If they do come along with the party, they will stay at the back and Kip will ask if someone can loan him a sling to use.

Lair of the Fire Spider

The air smells sulphurous here, broken webs cling to the falls and floor. The occasional scorch mark on the wall spells trouble for any who dare spend too long in this terrible pit.

The party climbs out at A and the big spider gets to try and detect the party. If they had a conversation in the chute, then the spider will be hiding and alert. Otherwise she is just hiding. She has babies with her, they will attack if the party moves beyond a burst 1 area centered on the chute opening. If they can’t subdue the party in three rounds the mother will come out of hiding. She could be spotted beforehand, so use her passive stealth (DC 16). 1 Fire Spider Mother (M), 1d4 each round (maximum 8 at any given time)Spiderlings will come from (S) (these stop coming when the mother is dead), and 2 Fire Spider Swarms (SW).

The mother spider has her treasure in a pile of cherished bones. It includes Arcanists glasses (AV 138), Hunting Beast +1 Hide Armour (PHB2 201), 1 potion of healing, 60gp.

Back at the Village

If you return to Hilda with proof you have killed the beast (either its head or the rescued Halflings as witnesses) then she will reward you with a pair of wavestrider boots (PHB 246) and 130gp. She will also give each party member a medallion that proves they are friends of the Halflings, all Halflings will recognize these medallions and give you a +5 reaction bonus. These can be worn without taking up an equipment slot.

After another fine meal Hilda will happily tell the champions about another adventure – the Blue Hill.