The Slaying of Ungolaregh

AK510-40 Dark Autumn Start Week 1 [Charon Watching, Shale Watching, Cycles Guiding]

Cogaday (morning)

To fulfil Ethan's promise, they prepared to slay Ungolaregh. The plotting and planning went on well into the night. There would be no SWANT this time. The Kobold Bromjorix was a dangerous assassin and he had fled Ungolaregh several times. The spider was colossal he claimed. Even if he was exaggerating, the spider must still be a potent foe. They rested overnight and in the morning they prepared spells and weapons for battle. Appleby prepared flames to burn her webs and wards against venom to counter her paralysing bite. Jo coated many arrows with a strange alchemical substance he had invented. This substance would stop wounds from closing, he explained to Bob Charmer who wasn't listening, until he heard that it could be applied to arrows. A target of any size would bleed to death quite quickly he claimed. Bob eagerly accepted the coated arrows once he knew how effective they would be in battle.

The made their way with little stealth to the creatures lair and slew a few minor arachnids along the way. When they arrived at her lair, Ungolaregh was uninterested in venturing forth to meet them. Spiders always favour a fight within their own lair. Many kobold spies had died to discover that her lair was fed from many smaller chambers which contained her many thousands of offspring. Appleby had faced one of her children only recently and was in no doubt that arachnid reinforcements would prove very unwelcome. She waited with eternal patience, couched in her thick webs.

The battle was fierce and swift. The colossal spider inched into view concealed by her webs then spewed a fountain of her webbing ooze over Ethan. He was perfectly immobilised as the goo dried to iron hardness in an instant. That was her first mistake decided the druid as he summoned the power of flames and created an inferno around her enormous body. Ungolaregh was as staggeringly enormous as the assassin had promised. Her body could have crushed the Charon arena in Woodhaven or covered the entire main square. The creatures size was no concern to the Druid as his control over summoned flame was great enough to allow him to surround several creatures of such magnitude. The flames burned the spider and her webs. It sealed off the other chambers and left her with only one escape route, towards her attackers.

Todd, Jo and Bob, launched a volley of arrows over the flames and thanks to the creatures enormous bulk they all struck true. Through luck, skill and instinct both Bob and Todd found vulnerable areas. Jo's substance caused fountains of black blood to belch forth from her wounds and the spider was enraged. From under a small hill of sticky webbing Ethan Namer sang to rouse his allies. His voice was severely distorted by the web strands forcing his mouth shut but his implacable courage in the face of arachnid death impressed his companions.

She charged into them and the were hurled back by her bulk. She struck out at both Todd and Bob with vicious bites coated in vile globs of stinking venom. Bob managed to dodge to the side to prevent his head from being sliced off by her reeking mandibles. The impact of her enormous yellow teeth ripped the flesh off the top of his skull as he darted away. Bob had been wounded many times and knew that this injury would heal and the pain could be borne. But he would always be left with the memory of the putrid stench of her appalling breath. That would leave a scar. Todd had to laugh at Bob's expression when the smell hit them. It was bad Todd agreed, but if you had worked in a tannery and sneaked through the sewers beneath, you knew all about bad smells. This rated only a factor seven on the Stuffitt scale.

Ungolaregh's assault relented for a brief moment as she waited for her poison to paralyse the two archers. They had wounded her so very painfully and she would savour those little morsels, piece by piece. But her poison was no match for the druid's magic and they stood before her undaunted. That was mistake number two thought the druid as his crackling staff almost broke one of the hairy black pillars she used for legs. He casually directed a small fire elemental to free the trapped bard and waited for the archers to strike again.

More missiles were shot from the three archers and with Jo's alchemy powering them they ended the conflict rapidly. Bob's last two sonic arrows punched through her eyes and exploded in her brain.

"Nice shot" Jo understated.

Todd was already darting through the sticky webs looking for valuables as the colossal carcass thunderously slammed into the ground. Dust rained down over the victors as they stood back in satisfaction.

From under the web mountain came the wise and inspiring voice of the bard, "Err... could somebody get me out of here!?"