Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 165

February 16, 2026

Adventurers

Character	Race	Class	Description
Syd Grundy	Human	Ranger level 1	Tall, middle aged and scruffy looking man of the wilderness.
Ambros	Human	Cleric level 6	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus	Elf	Fighter level 4 / magic-user level 5	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Foxglove	Human	Thief level 6	A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time.
Tikatu	Human	Druid level 4	A dirty little man with dark and dirty skin, wearing loincloth with no back. “What will be, will be” is his favourite aphorism.
Kenso San	Human	Fighter level 3	An arrogant and self-assured sellsword wandering Wilderlands to prove he can best anyone.

Harvestime 8th, Airday

Ignaeus listened with bathed breath. An elven mating tune softly reverberated from the tunnel the party had arrived from minutes ago.

Foxglove, Nifft, Sieghart, Thelaryn and Ambros were deeper west, down the wide tunnel plugged with with hardened webs. There they were working on slashing through an open wedge, trying to reach two spiderfolk they had previously paralysed.

Ignaeus and the others were more worried about the tune. Doubly so since just hundred feet eastwards was a massive spiderpolis, hanging suspended in large cave. It was teeming with life. Life that adventurers did not want to spot them.

Thus, brave Ignaeus led the way down the tunnel north. He was soon stopped by a whispering voice others could not understand at all. This went on for some time, with elf pausing the conversation at moments to summarise to his allies what is being discussed.

This voice from darkness was an “elf cousin” living in the Woelands. They offered a deal of “mutual benefit.” They would catch three creatures of the Woelands that the party needs, and in exchange the adventurers would tell them where do tunnels around the Spiderpolis lead to.

Unwilling to aggravate the voice from darkness, party offered to return and collaborate a bit later. After all, they had two living specimen—or soon at least, once they cut them loose from the webbing—and two dead specimen.

Voice from the darkness agreed.

Adventurers took nearly an hour to cut through hardened webs that two spidermen were paralysed in. The monsters' bodies were roughly hobbit sized. They had six appendages, all double jointed. Their heads were akin to squished chubby human baby with protruding mandibles on the lower side, and two large yellowish eyes. They were covered with spindly hair.

Paralysed and stiff, they were not particularly heavy, so each was carried by a single adventurer. By the time they arrived in the chamber with spiral staircase leading up, the effects of paralysation had worn off. Creatures began screaming and shrilling, but were quickly wrestled, subdued, tied and sacked.

Adventurers ascended one by one. Open, nearly freestanding spiral staircase led upwards for sixty or so feet, before entering the ceiling and leading into the dungeon above. Ambros was first to go up, in order to check if there were any surprises. Kenso was last to go. Before he was able to enter the ceiling he was struck by two bolts. He felt stinging pain, and then he tumbled, asleep.

Sensing that something is off, Ignaeus returned, only to see Kenso sleeping on the stairwell. He quickly dragged him up and then slapped him awake.

Now everyone wast stuffed in a dungeon chamber some twenty by teen feet. Listening at the only doors leading out did not reveal much beyond a low, rumbling cacophony of speech. Adventurers forced the doors open, and charged out, turning hard left.

Alas! There was nothing that way. But now they could all hear maddening gibbering at the highest volume. Syd and Kenso were flabbergasted by the noise. Ambros and Ignaeus were driven to mad rage, seeking the source of it.

And they did not have to search far. Just behind them, at the archway leading into the circular chamber, a dark mass covered with eyes and mouths blobbed. It chittered, it howled, it gibbered, it reverberated throughout. Cleric and elf rushed it, slashing, failing to injure it.

The noise continued, provoking Tikatu. Ignaeus and Foxglove assaulted allies in their confusion, wounding Ambros and Kenso. Abomination latched one mouth to Ignaeus. Next round Kenso attacked and ally, Ambros, Foxglove and Syd were driven to mad rage, and Ignaeus had a total of three mouths attached to him.

Great tragedy stuck the following round. Syd and Tikatu were aggravated greatly, rushing to vanquish the monster, Ambros and Ignaeus were baffled and too confounded to act, while Foxglove backstabbed an ally in his confusion. The thief slashed Syd's neck while the ranger tried to pass him. He stumbled to the ground, gurgling blood. Four mouths were now attached to Ignaeus, chewing him up.

As the maddening mouthing continued, Tikatu and Ignaeus were stupefied, but Kenso and Ambros managed to separate the elf from the monsters many mouths. Alas, the abominable mass soon had two mouth reattached to Ignaeus. The elf was being chewed alive.

Thelaryn, Nifft, and Sieghart rushed to grab dying Syd. They bandaged his wound and dragged him eastwards, heading towards the dungeon exit. They didn't really care if the ranger was alive or not, for as long as Ambros lives, anyone can be brought back to life.

Kenso, Tikatu, and Ignaeus were flabbergasted once more, unable to act cohesively, while Foxglove was aggravated so much he began throwing daggers into melee, not caring whom he hits. One mouth attached to Ambros. Next round both Kenso and Ambros assaulted their allies.

By this time the adventurers had stuck the monstrosity many times, but failed to do significant damage. All of them were wounded, some quite badly, mostly from hurting each other. The abomination gnawed at their sanity as well as their flesh. It was time to flee, and they knew it.

They all managed to break away, except poor Tikatu. Five mouth attached to him, chewing and biting off pygmy's foul but tasty flesh. Kenso, whom had fled the furthest, suddenly turned around and attacked Ambros. Cleric failed at wrestling him down. Kenso pulled his broadsword with great speed, and nearly cut off Ambros's head.

Many mouths chattered and chittered, baffling Kenso, Ambros, and Ignaeus. They were forced to watch as Tikatu was pulled underneath the mass. They were forced to listen pygmy's desperate screams as he was eaten alive by dozens of tiny mouths.

Kenso remained stupefied, Ignaeus struck Foxglove, and abomination caught up, leaving a bloody trail of crying Tikatu, attaching two mouths to the thief. Foxglove was driven mad, throwing himself at the monster, slashing across its thick, viscous surface. Ignaeus stood there, dumbly. Three more mouths attached to Foxglove.

Ambros, Ignaeus, and Kenso fled as Foxglove's screams and pleas echoed behind them.

Harvestime 10th, Spiritday

Survivors—Ambros, Ignaeus, Syd (now with a nice scar), Sieghart, Nifft, Thelaryn, and Kenso—returned to Ironburg by noon. Old Crus was delighted by the specimen they had brought him. As promised, he allowed Ignaeus access to his library of third level spells.

Elf understood the following spells: rope trick, water breathing, invisibility with ten foot radius, and fire ball.

Attronarch's Athenaeum