Episode 17

With Kaldur and Mera safely back home and Galhaphé saving the life of Lorus, the party takes time to rest and clean up at the Sleepy Hollow Inn. Here they learn that their efforts to aid the town has earned them free food and lodging, but drinks are still on them. Nok-Nok purchases two gallons of Grinlok Special and relaxes a bit before heading to bed. Taman takes the first shift on the western flank.

The rest of the party's watches go without incident. During Galhaphé's watch, she becomes distracted with the whistle language used by the militia. On returning early morning, Cade finds Zaren sitting at their usual table. He looks tired and is waiting for Mary to serve his breakfast. They greet each other and as the rest of the party makes their way down, they all gather around the table talking about the latest adventures. Zaren explains that there seems to be a commander in control of every group stationed outside the village and notes that he is aware of four groups which hold the western to the southern side of town. He also explains that the driders don't seem to send all the spiders in at once. It is as though they are keeping some reserves and only send them when the first line of defense has fallen. Once out of spiders to send the commanders seem to retreat back towards the south or south west before returning some time later with more spiders and retaking their position. Nok-Nok is not happy about the possibility of an organised group of spiders. The party explains their adventure to Zaren and informs him of Lilith's decision to stay behind and study the runes. With their breakfast done and information shared, Zaren excuses himself to get some rest.

Hearing that Taman accepted the task of rallying the militia, the party come up with a extravagant plan to inspire them. Taman heads over to the morning meet along with Nok-Nok whilst Cade and Galhaphé head over to the barn. After a short introduction by Burk, Taman addresses the militia. He manages to capture their attention and signals for Cade and Galhaphé to make their entrance. Galhaphé transforms int an giant owl* and Cade rides on her back from the barn roof swooping down over the militia. As soon as Cade is in range of the crowd, he lets loose a thundering sound in form of and illusion spell, this also immediately triggers the misty step spell he had stored in his dagger, sending him falling from a height of 30 feet towards the front off the militia. Nok-Nok realizes that Cade has made a mistake and rushes over to catch him in a heroic slide. They both manage to hurt themselves in the act, but the effect is extraordinary. Standing there with the giant owl* swooping above them, the militia roars with applause and excitement. They all seem to be inspired by such a daring act.

With the almost failure of a display out of the way, Nok-Nok and Taman head to Burk to discuss their plan to capture a spider. Cade and Galhaphé use her giant owl form* to travel high above the ground searching for a potential spider that can be separated from it's group. They find a group which has the potential north east of town and also manage to spot the commanding drider. They memorize his pattern and find a five minute gap in which the drider is not with the group of spiders they wish to target. Nok-Nok and Taman explain their plan to Burk who then sends them to Jared Stonegill to acquire some large fishing nets to aid in the capturing of their target. Nok-Nok and Taman find Jared repairing fishing nets and he points to a pile of fixed nets which they can take as many as they need. Nok-Nok and Taman heads to the north east of town to meet up with Cade and Galhaphé.

Cade and Galhaphé inform Nok-Nok and Taman of their target and the time frame they have to capture a spider. Galhaphé leads the way as she knows where they are located. Stealthily the party approach from two sides of the the spiders and wait for the drider to disappear before starting to push closer. Two minutes later an opportunity presents itself. Galhaphé entangles a spider and Nok-Nok immediately throws a fishing net over it. With the sudden noise made by the party, Galhaphé decides to transform into a spider with the same coloring as the one they just captured and heads over to the other spiders in attempt to convince them that the noise they heard was her falling out of a tree. Somehow this seems to work and while she keeps the spiders occupied, Cade forcefully feeds the captured spider his draught of sleep. Taman aids Nok-Nok in dragging the spider away and Galhaphé sneaks out of the group of spiders to join up with her new friends. She notes that the big commanding spider they saw does not seem to be a drider.

Once back in town, they take the spider to a prison cell and tie its legs together in pairs with ropes and anchor them to the prison bars. When the spider wakes up, Galhaphé notices its distress and tries to calm it down. She speaks to it trough magic means and explains the situation. Galhaphé learns that the spider has no recollection of the past four weeks and that her last memory is being in a spiders nest south west of Wharram. She also learns that the spider is a mother of quite a number of offspring and that she is very worried about them with the information Galhaphé has shared with her. Galhaphé promises the party will help save her children without discussing it with Nok-Nok, who on learning of her promise is upset with her choice. Galhaphé convinces the spider to join the others in Lover's Cove until they figure out how to approach the situation. The spider agrees.

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