The Ninth Adventure

[mushgnome]

OOC: These spiders have a lot of hit points! They could probably survive multiple direct hits from flaming arrows, and torches/oil are no threat at all. Killing them will not be so trivial as the little baby spiders on Dungeon Level 1.

[rredmond]

OOC: I was just thinking that the sticky bits of the web were the flammable bits.
Sometimes the climby bits aren’t the sticky bits, was my thinking.
OOOC: Can y’all tell I’m a social worker and not a spiderologist?

[kipper]

"A helpful suggestion, but we don't have any arrows." Dame Simonetta replies to Noh.

"Try burning more threads nearby, maybe it will flush one of them out," she suggests to Kiplyn.

She is watching the webs carefully, especially wary of any spider which may drop from above.

[dtspurrier]

bilfur thinks for a second and wonders if these webs will work with an entangle spell and keeps a eye out for the spiders

[mushgnome]

bilfur thinks for a second and wonders if these webs will work with an entangle spell and keeps a eye out for the spiders

No, the Entangle spell works only on plants and (house rule) fungi.

OOC: I was just thinking that the sticky bits of the web were the flammable bits.
Sometimes the climby bits aren’t the sticky bits, was my thinking.
OOOC: Can y’all tell I’m a social worker and not a spiderologist?

Good thinking! Personally, I'm coming at this from a game design perspective rather than as a spiderologist: IMHO, allowing the party to defeat an "heroic tier" monster with an ordinary torch would trivialize the encounter. Dungeon Level 3 encounters are supposed to be more challenging than Dungeon Level 1 encounters, so tactics that may have worked well in the past might not be as effective now. In Chainmail terminology, you're fighting on the Fantasy Combat Table now.

I do recall from watching an episode of Hoarders that spider webs are a huge fire hazard, but it's actually the dust (not the silk itself) that is highly flammable.

Just realized, I don't think any of this party uses arrows.

If it's more fun for the players to use a wider variety of weapons, I would be open-minded to house-ruling that Hobbets get their to-hit bonus with all missile weapons, not just slings.

[Bastet1002]

"We could wrap rocks in cloth, and set fire to it," said Robur. "Then shoot the flaming rocks with our slings..."

[mushgnome]

"We could wrap rocks in cloth, and set fire to it," said Robur. "Then shoot the flaming rocks with our slings..."

OOC: I don't see any "blind fighting" rules in Delving Deeper, so I would rule that the sling stones automatically miss vs. the unseen targets.

[mgtremaine]

Kipyln would continue to burn any low hanging strands and generally clear an area around the entrance... "We need more light, see if we can wedge some torches in the walls."

[dtspurrier]

OOC: a magicuser with the spell burning hands would also do the trick

Bilfur will help burn some webs. He is after al carrying 12 torches.

[mushgnome]

The party spends 1 turn destroying all the strands of the spider web they can reach without climbing, within a 30' radius. The upper strands of the web dangle and sway just out of reach.

The extra light has two effects:

1. You are able to see a bit further into the cavern. It becomes obvious you are at the edge of a vast cavern, one of the largest spaces you have explored to-date. You can't see the other side, or the ceiling. From the echo, you can tell the cavern is at least 100' across, likely more.

2. The light and smoke force a wandering monster check...

The party is approached by a carrion crawler coming from the north. This wandering scavenger looks like a giant centipede with 8 tentacles sticking out of its face. Reflections of the party's torchlight glint, reflected in the monster's segmented bug-eyes!

Neither side is surprised; what do you do?