Strands in a Web

345MoStIAWe

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Dragged away in silken bonds

The party were conscious throughout the entire ordeal. Their weapons and a few items were bound to their sides but their backpacks were left somewhere where they were captured. The ettercaps were ruthless ambushers and almost like a trained squad of assassins they had lunged forward and garrotted the party with a silken rope. A drider hung near by and watched the ettercaps bind each of the party, but it looked down at them like they were subjects of interest rather than threats. Like its eyes were not its own. Clearly the ambush and the illusionary spiders were party of a plan by a more powerful entity. One that was calling all the shots and pulling all the strings.

The party were conscious throughout the entire ordeal. Their weapons and a few items were bound to their sides but their backpacks were left somewhere where they were captured. The ettercaps were ruthless ambushers and almost like a trained squad of assassins they had lunged forward and garrotted the party with a silken rope. A drider hung nearby and watched the ettercaps bind each of the party, but it looked down at them like they were subjects of interest rather than threats. Like its eyes were not its own. Clearly the ambush and the illusionary spiders were part of a plan by a more powerful entity. One that was calling all the shots and pulling all the strings.

As they moved across the silken walkways the ettercaps hauled the party members one by one, dumping them on jagged rocks at the edge of one of the web-bridges. As the party lay there in the dark a rock or discarded blade jabbed into their side painfully, deep enough to hit armour and cut skin. But it also cuts at their web bindings.

A potential opportunity for an escape, a glimmer of hope but when was the right moment to use it. As the party member was then picked up and carried across the web bridge the cocoon came into better sight. Rows of people; drow, duergar, deep gnome (or svirfneblin), and some surface races were bound and lined up against what appeared to be giant cocoons suspended by webs throughout the cavern.

Each person was conscious, some were in pain and making noise but others were listless, barely holding onto whatever drove them to fight. But the party didn’t have long to notice Viktira, Morali and Qistra all appeared before them lined up against the wall before they were unceremoniously discarded a few cocoons down from them.

A presence hung about them like the sensation of a thousand cicadas buzzing in a muggy evening, the presence was almost over bearing and a shape. A large mass of darkness given a monstrous form moved somewhere nearby. Something that dwarfed driders and made Ettercaps look like mice. The puppet master had revealed itself and it studied them for a moment before disappearing back into the voice beyond.

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The Silken Path

344MoTSiPa

The driders and ettercaps were not hard to track. The creatures lay great paths of webs as they moved back through the hidden tunnels below Kalehgrul. Their prisoners, the first wave of residents bound in webs and occasionally, feasted upon by the monstrosities that held them captive. The silk itself was strong, light and durable. Those entangled by it would not be able to break out in a hurry and with the venom that the ettercaps injected into the strongest of the prisoners there was no hope of escape.

And in the dark tunnels where no light could be seen from even glowing mushrooms or other flora and fauna there was no hope of a rescue. Along the way those that the abominations deemed too sick, frail or weak were left bound along the path to die surrounded by their silken bonds. Lost amongst the dark, cold and at mercy to be preyed upon by what other nightmares haunted these tunnels.

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The path led on for days of travel. The party had met some of the other residents of the tunnels but they fled when the true power of the party was revealed. Although the tunnels were bare from game or really edible material there were supplies and goods that had been with those taken from Kalehgrul that the party were able to find along the way. However by the Third day of travel the amount of webs on the ceiling, walls and floor of the tunnel decreased and a draft could be felt coming from up ahead.

As the party continued down the passageway the source of the draft was revealed. A large orb-like Cavern filled with webs and cocoons, and in the centre lay a inky-black pit. Something that seemed to drink in all light. The deep dark lay waiting before them.

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Butchers Hill

343MoBuHi

History of Ravencreek

The town of Ravencreek is a small town with a few hundred residents of a variety of races but they are predominantly half-elven. However the land wasn’t always so and a few hundred years ago, or more, there was a village of elves that called the shady pines, bubbling brooks and meadows of Ravencreek home. When the few humans moved in they worked with the elves to understand the woods, plants and animals that called the area home. As the numbers of humans increased their connection to nature only increased and several elves mingled with the humans.

This was a joyous union of the two races and Ravencreek began to blossom into something more, a place for nature, the wilds and life to be celebrated. That was until the elven warlord returned from his hundred year war to find a new blossoming human village. When the warlord questioned the elders of his village why they had permitted the humans to live in these elven lands the reply was not what he wanted.

Furthermore the discovery of half-elven children in the town drove the warlord man and he, followed by some zealous warriors, flew into a rage. Riding through the street they murdered many people, elves and humans alike over the course of a week. The warlord quickly became known as the Butcher as his brutality was only matched by his skill with his blade.

The elven and human guards eventually captured many of the elven warriors while the warlord, Dokalvar, retreated to the elven tower. A joint force of elves and humans stormed the tower and as they set fire to the building the warlord cursed the town, its people and the land. Before he even left the balcony from where he cursed and spat two arrows pierced his chest – Launched from both the elven elder and a human elder.

The body of Dokalvar fell screaming into the burning tower and was never found, nor was it sought out. The people of the land, elves and humans alike founded the town in Ravencreek and left the ruins of the Elven tower to be a reminder of the darkness that threatens peace.

Currently

Every year as the town of Ravencreek gets ready to give thanks to the land and the animals just as spring blooms. The town’s bond to nature is still strong and its people have forgotten the hatred that ruined the elven village. The town celebrates for a full week beginning with a ceremony that gives thanks to the moon and the respects given to the dead and closing with a celebration of the sun and the thanks given to the living.

As the village gathers for their first celebration the people the elves, humans and half-elves link hands and begin to give thanks to the dead and the moon. But a piercing cry interrupts their singing and the distorted sound of horse hooves on stone can be heard moving towards the centre of the town.

A shadowy figure atop a black mare made from smoke storms down the road. The people panic and scream as they run for their houses but the figure ignores them all. As the man on beast races down the road they rush toward the centre of the town where the mayor, a half-elf woman, was commencing the city’s ritual. As the rider reached the woman an axe flashed in the moonlight and separated her head from shoulders. The swift retreat of hooves revealed the body of the mayor, headless, laying at the platform where in giving thanks to the dead she joined them.

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