Central Core Leather satchel Staircase Empty room Bridge Crumpled figure Construct with sign Entrace Unexplored Tower #9

Chapter 10: The Tangled Web We Weave

"Moil (n) - 1. the Rabbi who performs the circumcision at a Bris."

T he dragon roared its impotent rage as the party retreated down the bridge, silver key in hand. This was the first of three items from Acerak's poem. The group immediately set out for the tower containing the riddle-box, the second item which Rosvenir's Dream spell had also located. Reaching the riddle-box required retracing steps back through the tower of the casino and down to its lower level, where a second bridge was secured.
Tower #9   The upper level of the casino was exactly as it was left, though the smoldering black fire of the destroyed Winter Wight had finally extinguished. The party descended to the lower level. The staircase terminated at a doorway, beside which lay a satchel covered in frost. Zem poked carefully at it with his broadsword, slicing the leather cleanly open. Inside was a large collection of glass vials, mostly unmarked. The glue of the labels had frozen, leaving a pile of paper slips at the bottom of the pouch. Only one vial could be extracted with its label still attached, which read "Corpse Dust, Acerak." Obviously the satchel had been carried by someone from the Prime Material Plane, presumably Desatysso. The remaining vials contained various dried animal parts, and perhaps a few of human origin as well, all apparently for use as spell components.
  The door was not trapped. It opened onto a hallway with several doors on either side. The group turned left and strode into a large room. There were two bizarre humanoid metal constructs, one crumpled in a heap and the other still standing. This one held a stone tablet with a partial message which read, "and by which token you are accounted guests in the Tower of Chance." Obviously it was a continuation of a message begun on the destroyed tablet of the first construct. The party did not let this trivial mystery distract them, and left the Tower of Chance.
  From the outside the next tower looked the same as many of the others in Moil, constructed of a mixture of stone and metal. Over the lintel were embedded several gold and platinum pieces: the party had finally found the Treasury! To their dismay the inside of the tower was completely hollow, not even a bridge leading across to the opposite archway. The Moilian treasury, with what surely had been a vast collection of wealth, was irrevocably gone. The adventurers cast various magics allowing flight and crossed to the other side.

  A short span led to the next tower, which also appeared to be empty at first. Peering inside revealed a greenish glow emanating from below. An extensive web made of what looked like emerald was spun across the width of the tower. The web glowed with a sickly green light, casting eerie shadows across the walls. Strands of the web were secreted to the wall of the tower at numerous places about its circumference, approximately level with the entrance. The whole mass sloped downwards until at its center the web was nearly fifty feet below its zenith.
  Rosvenir's Presence spell detected fourteen minds. They were spread out throughout the web, with the deepest being more than one hundred feet down. A Mind Typing on that one identified it as another Winter Wight. The rest were some sort of arachnid. A bit of rubble dredged from the depths of the Bag of Holding and thrown into the center of the web drew several of the spiders out. They were enormous, nearly four feet across, with scarlet eyes completely encircling their head. Their whole body was somewhat insubstantial, fading to nothingness in the legs. Endira identified them as a Wraith Spider, a form of Undead arachnid.
  One of the spiders which emerged was quickly dispatched by a spell from Mystical. The rest of the party cast various magics to prepare for battle. Feeling confident, Kurik cast Fly and maneuvered out to the exact center of the web. Touching down, he prepared to draw the spiders out. Of course, the moment he touched the web he was affected by its magic and paralyzed. Twelve spiders scurried forth, planning to make a meal of the paladin.

Mystical
  I'm not sure but I think Kurik was dumbstruck by the size or speed of the spiders dashing towards him, or maybe it was something about the web. Anyhow, he just wasn't moving. My Firebolt and Rosvenir's Starbolt fried two of them. At the time it didn't appear that more conventional weaponry was hurting these creatures. There were just too many of them, and they washed over Kurik. Rosvenir took to the air, which seemed like a good idea so we could get a closer shot, so Zem and I followed. Still they clustered around Kurik, biting him with their mandibles. In desperation Rosvenir activated the Wand of Days. The chamber lit up bright as day. And nothing happened. Nothing at all, the Wand didn't phase the spiders in the slightest.
  With Kurik in the mix we had to call our shots carefully. I hit a couple of them with Firebolts, while Zem flew low and hacked with his broadsword. Rosvenir distracted about five of them away from Kurik, and then peppered those five with Starbolts. They couldn't take damage as well as they could dish it out, and quickly turned into crispy critters.

The Narrator
  Two spiders managed to bite Zem. He felt extreme cold from the wound, the opposite of Kurik (who suffered burn damage). Soon enough Kurik's paralysis wore off, and he flew upwards out of range. Mystical then began throwing Fireballs at the creatures, while Zem and Rosvenir sent additional bolts of energy at them until only six badly damaged arachnids remained. Those six dove for cover in the web.
  Mystical flew down close and began to hack away at the web itself. This enraged the remaining spiders, which flew from their hiding places and managed to bite her severely. The party killed one of them with a volley of missile weapons, and the rest retreated. After healing his wounds Kurik flew back to the web to begin hacking at the hole Mystical had started. The five remaining spiders crept in close, but did not attack. One spider lost its footing and tried to stabilize itself with two of its legs. Unfortunately it chose the two legs which had been whacked off in the battle, and tumbled end over end before impaling itself on Kurik's axe. Having had enough punishment for one day, the remaining arachnids retreated deep into the strands and were not seen again.
  Kurik cut his way down sixty, seventy, and finally eighty feet before breaking through the bottom most layer of the emerald webbing. Zem, Mystical, and Rosvenir joined him before passing through to the other side. Several thick strands extended from the underside of the web to attach to a large box nearly fifty feet below. Flying lower, the group spotted the Winter Wight standing below the box. That is, it stood on the bottom side of the box as though it didn't know the meaning of the word "gravity." The Wight straightened and began to walk, still upside down, through the air towards the adventurers. Rosvenir spotted a golden ring on the Wight's finger. Focussing his concentration, he managed to cast Long Door Item to teleport the ring into his own pocket. The ring was later identified as a Ring of Universal Movement, and the lack of it caused the Wight to suddenly learn the definition of gravity. It also got to learn the meaning of "velocity" before plunging into the mists below.

  The riddle box was nearly ten feet on a side, and painted with red symbols. It did not sound hollow when rapped on, and the thick webs securing it implied it was quite heavy. There was an inscription in the Common tongue on the bottom of the box:

Many tails have I, or, many a beginning. If I fail people sigh, wails mark their passing.
Beneath the riddle were three plaques, each engraved with a picture: Discussing the choices at some length, eventually the third plaque was chosen. The rope image disappeared from the button when pushed, but there was no other effect.
  The party left the tower of the spiders, and returned to the lower level of the Tower of Chance. Choosing a small room beside the staircase, Mystical fortified the window and doors with a Wall of Stone and the group got a few hours of much-needed sleep. Rosvenir cast Dream to know of four things:
  1. How did pushing the rope button help us?
  2. Where is the Phantom?
  3. Where is the Sand of Time?
  4. What is the Darkweaver's weakness?

Rosvenir's Dream
  A creature... unlike anything I've seen. It is the only one of its kind. Its huge, and somehow squished into a room too small to encompass it. Huge wings folded up along its sides... protubances on the front (arms?) are chained to the walls with golden manacles.
  The vision pulls back down a hallway barred with three portcullises in red, blue, and green. The red bars flow and form into the shape of a rope, then dissipate.
  The vision continues to pull back until it is outside in the mist. The tower is not cylindrical, but rectangular. The tower dissolves into dust which rebuilds itself into a cylindrical tower with rings around its girth and a single bridge leading to it, an off-center spike gracing its top.
  The vision backs away and into darkness. The sound of scurrying feet is all around. I can't see. I must see. Fumbling to light the torch, flint striking against steel. The shuffling feet scurry away at the sound.

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