The Spider Queen

This is a synopsis of one of the story lines of our intrepid band of adventurers in the Fantasy Trip. Originally five adventurers were thrown together in a small town on the Isle of Bridonia. They included a female rogue, a fighter, a wizard, a dwarf warrior, and a halfling merchant, healer, and mechanician. Over time the dwarf was killed, eaten by giant frogs, and the wizard became a hermit because he blamed himself. The party got a new wizard and has been roaming the countryside looking for adventure and fortune.

The town of East Riding's main export was apple cider made from the apples in the orchard behind the manor house of the local lord. It was a thriving community until the orchard became overrun with spiders of all sizes, ranging from small up to the size of a large pig. The orchard had become a dark, foreboding place that none would enter.

A brave, and often foolish, party of adventurers had been asked to help to clear the orchard of these nuisances. They discovered quickly that there was more than it seemed in the woods. They had used their wizard's bear illusion to hunt a large spider and it was quickly disbelieved by some intelligence in the darkness. They retreated and moved on. They had other quests before them.

The adventurers returned to the town again in a fortnight. They had not forgotten their promise. This time they entered the orchard with an ogre they had befriended. In the darkness of the grove they faced many large spiders and one ogre-sized spider. They fought mightily and took many wounds from the dark creatures of evil. Together with their ogre they defeated the giant spider in a battle where their friend was gravely injured. The fight was not over. A voice in the darkness taunted them and promised to defeat them with more of her minions. The adventurers gathered their wounded and departed to fight another day.

Another couple of weeks pass. The party of adventurers were preparing to return to the orchard one more time. Although their friend, the ogre, was not fully healed, they helped him obtain armor to use in the coming fight. They prepared themselves with molotails, torches, and poison for the spiders. A traveling knight appears in the town and announces that he plans to clear the orchard. The adventurers convince him to work together in the enterprise. He will enter from the east while they start fires on the west side of the orchard to drive the spiders towards him.

As the fight begins, they hear screams from the direction of the knight and his party as they engage the spiders. The adventurers advance deeper into the wood and discover the lair of a great giant spider queen and her remaining minions. She is in the middle of her huge web and directs her other spiders to attack. Fire is a good weapon. The wizard in the party uses illusionary fire to burn one spider. The halfling throws a molotail at the queen. It misses, but she leaves her burning web to advance. The rogue archer has been knocked down by a blast of dark force cast by the queen. The fighter is down, covered in spider bites from a swarm of small spiders. The lord of the town is also engaged with the persistent small arachnids.

Finally in a last ditch effort, the halfling throws another molotail and hits the queen. That is just enough to distract her as the archer readies an arrow dipped in poison. The halfling is in the way, but the archer shoots. The arrow flies past the halfling's ear and pierces the giant spider's abdomen, injecting her full of poison. She lets loose and horrible scream and vanishes in a dark cloud of smoke. Her remaining minions vanish as well. Within seconds there is no evidence of the spiders at all in the orchard.

The lord calls on the townsfolk to help as they fight to put out the fires they started. About half of the orchard is damaged by the flames before it is put out. The knight survives although the rest of his party died in the battle. There are still questions to be answered. Why did the spider queen invade the orchard? What did she have to do with the deaths of the two previous lords? For now the town is at peace and celebrating their victory.