Tales of Jahe Chapter 2: The Bigger the Area, the Stranger its Inhabitants

[Elminster_Amaur]

Faint talking dragged at Tim's conciousness. As Tim's mind swam toward the voices that were nagging him, he found that he couldn't get any closer. He tried circling around them, but he couldn't get any closer. He felt a warm sensation and thought he saw a fire. He was on fire. Tim opened his mouth and screamed a scream of terror, and sat bolt upright. Nearby, the mages that had fought the rhino men were staring at him. "Ahem...sorry."

[Dragonsbane]

"'Wrong place, wrong time?' damn...seems like everyone else caught a bit of my bad luck." Naerzul sighed, leaning up against a cave wall. Il'rashna stopped rooting among the rocks, ambling over to sit next to him. Naerzul patted the badger's ribs as if it was a living animal, "So...this is all just a matter of the Church flexing its muscles? I mean, it seems a bit extreme for something like that!"

[Ganurath]

"They've already established to the other regions they can hold their own. This flexing is agressive. Didn't you hear what that man talking to Job said while we were trapped? He hoped the Church would declare war on my people to gain territory and followers. If they're willing to wage war with their greatest and most loyal ally, imagine what they'd do to their foes."

[Dragonsbane]

"I know all too well what they do to their foes..." Naerzul's expression was dark, and his eyes angry as he glared at the Lupos shaman, "Personally, I don't consider any 'allies' of theirs much better..."

[My Lead Airbag]

"I thought the whole thing sounded strange too, hence the rescuing. It would seem that the High Priestess has something big planned, hell if I could guess what, and she just needed breathing room, thats how my father painted it." Job said. His arm was still stiff, but he could at least use it. He got up and went to one of the holes, sipping his fill of the water. It tasted strange, and he saw a thin outline covering the hole. He brushed it away, the gosamer web covering his hand. As he began to wipe it away, and freakish cry erupted from the hole, followed by a spider the size of a dinner plate that crawled over his hand headed to his face until he grasped it and threw it against the wall.

"God I hate bugs...hey, eer, Howling Call, whats with all the light?" Job said. The room had become awash in a green glow, and it was only until he followed his companions arms that he saw the giant spiders crawling over the wall, gem-like things on their backs emitting a sickish light. "Aww damnit..."

[Dragonsbane]

Naerzul saw his earlier prediction about arachnids come true, in abundant measure. Giant spiders were crawling everywhere on the walls, some moving onto the floor, but all drawing closer...he sighed, at least he had predicted this, "Any of you ever see these before?"

There was a swift blow, thick claws knocking a spider aside as Crawlbone moved to defend its master. It growled silently at the spiders, snapping up another one of the creatures in its teeth, powerful jaws tossing it away also.

Naerzul's eyes narrowed, "Interesting...wonder if there's a nest here?"

[Kazastankas]

"There's no need to animate too much, I believe," said Firecall as his magical fire turned into streaks of red light, as his still-pumping adrenaline performed their work. Firecall swatted one of the spiders aside with a mighty swing of the flaming mace, and brought it down after the upswing on another giant spider, causing a large crunch sound to be heard. He pushed hard, driving the blunt weapon through the spider's carapace, and flung the carcass into a mass of climbing spiders, disrupting their progress. He then returned to the attack, the mace section of his staff becoming a flaming blur.

[Dragonsbane]

"Don't kill any more of them, barbarian...something is controlling them, I think." the necromancer looked at the gem-things on their backs, noting how they pulsed at the same rate and time, "If so, lets find out what it wants."

[My Lead Airbag]

Job brought his sword out and slashed the air in front of him, mostly in warning, although it didn't help much, since the smaller spiders (those who who could be crushed) took no notice, and the larger ones (the ones who would probably be stepping on you) seemed to laugh at the sword. He alternated between kicking away smaller ones and striking at the bigguns. He managed to cut off a few legs, but he was too tired to stab the agile bugs.

"Yeah, I think I know whats controlling them, we're meat and they're hungry."

[Ganurath]

Howling Call grasped his staff and focused his energy, brightening the glow to a brightness slightly greater than that of the sun. Ignoring the light as best he could, he swung his staff along the ground in an arc to knock back the smaller spiders approaching him, then brought it up to jab a large one in the eye. "Let's see if they live outside of sunlight for a reason!"