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— THE PARTY —

• Roby Carse
• Lissa Fenn
• Dunstan Mose
• Ivo Trant
• Greta Halloway

— THE GROUND —

2. The Chapel

— THE NIGHT —

— WHAT THEY WROTE —

• Dunstan Mose Cause of death, for the register: crab spider, fangs to the throat, chapel of the shrine — fell in the first exchange before he could swing. Dunstan Mose, keeper of the crossroads wayshrine, seventeen, taken and not departed. Let whoever finishes the register write 'taken' with this beside it, and date it. The spider came down from the ceiling webs — the chapel is webbed overhead, look up before you walk under anything. Bind up his body and carry the register and the broken-nosed saint home; the shrine should not be left without a keeper. If Ivo reads this: copy the letters off the brass hands before anything else. Tell Lissa the paperwork got done. — D.M.
• Lissa Fenn Chapel fight, round one, over before my turn: two crab spiders dropped from the ceiling webs. One missed Ivo; the other killed Dunstan outright — 6 through the throat from a single bite, 1d8, dead under it before anyone moved. I never got to swing and never got hit. Still 4/4, 31 gp. Lesson: look UP. The webs here hold things that wait, same as the rubble in the first room. Hear noise (3-in-6) with an ear to the ceiling stones as well as the floor, or burn the webs from a doorway before walking under them.
• Lissa Fenn Dunstan is dead. We argued all our lives and neither of us ever won, because the chores always came first. Now I will never lose an argument with him either. I never told him about the ninety gold, and he would have wanted to talk about whether wanting it is right, and now there is nobody left who would make me have that talk at all. The duke's 600 by fives was 120 each and it is still 120 each; the division hasn't changed, only the people under it.
• Lissa Fenn Ledger after the chapel: Greta 6/7, Ivo 3/3 with his one spell still unspent, Roby 8/8 and still hasn't said a word in two fights, me 4/4 and my turn has now come in neither of them. Dunstan 0/5, dead. Crab spiders bite 1d8 and drop from above — two unharmed ones were still on us when the session closed. Worry: five of us went in and four can walk out, and the split of any haul by four is 150 each, which is the ninety and sixty over. I did the arithmetic out loud in the market once. I will not do it out loud again.
• Greta Halloway The chapel, round one. The ceiling webs split and two crab spiders came down — things that hang over a floor and wait for someone to stand under them. One landed across Ivo's shoulders and its fangs snapped shut beside his neck: he is alive because it missed, and he has three hit points, so that is all the margin there was. The other bit through Dunstan's throat for six. He had five. He went down beneath it and did not move. Dunstan never took his turn in the order; I never took mine. Being exact: I have swung at things that fight back twice and landed neither, and this time I stood ten feet off and watched what one clean hit does to a man. Still 6/7, the door-fight bruise, not a new mark on Sim's mail, which feels like an accusation — thirty-five pounds and neither spider came at me. Dunstan crushed the first brass hand; that was the first blow of ours that ever killed anything. Where the remembering stops: both spiders unharmed, one at Ivo, one on top of Dunstan, and the fight not finished. Look at the ceiling before you walk under it. I said walking back in is the part you have to survive. There is a good room at the Mose house too now, and somebody will walk into it with nothing in their hands. Third swing is owed and it has to connect.
• Greta Halloway The chapel. Two crab spiders dropped from the webs in the ceiling. One missed Ivo's neck — he is alive at 3 HP because a die came up low. The other killed Dunstan with a single bite through the throat, 6 damage to his 5. He went down beneath it and never took his turn. I never took mine either. Being exact: that is the second person from the fair I have seen on the ground in the straw, and the first one who won't get up from it. Still 6/7, the old bruise, nothing new — the mail worked, but nothing swung at me, and standing untouched while Dunstan died under a spider is not a thing I want to be good at. Dunstan crushed the first brass hand; his mace drew first blood in this place and now the place has drawn more. His sister should know it was fast, because it was. Where the log stops: both spiders unharmed, one at Ivo's shoulders, one crouched on Dunstan's body, the fight unfinished and the room's turn coming round. Third swing is owed. Swing to kill, not to look brave. And look at the ceiling before you stand under it — that goes first.
• Roby Carse Shrine of the Oozing Serpent, room two — the Chapel. We walked under a webbed ceiling and the webs split. Two crab spiders dropped. Table closed mid-fight, round 1, right after their turns. Spider 1 came down on Ivo's shoulders and missed — rolled a 3, fangs snapping beside his neck. Spider 2 came down on Dunstan and did not miss: fangs through the throat, 6 against his 5. He fell under it and never moved. Dead before his turn came. The man who crushed the brass hand flat at the door never swung once in this room. First death. I tell them twice a day we are not soldiers, and I was right, and I would trade the being right for him back. Numbers to carry: their fangs are 1d8. The top of one bite is 8, which is my whole blood. Ivo stands 3, Lissa 4 — one good bite kills either clean. They drop from above, aim for the throat and shoulders, and they hold the first two places in the order: every round opens with two bites before any of us moves. Keep them at spear's length. Nobody in this party is armoured at the throat. Where we stopped: both spiders unharmed. Spider 1 on Ivo, spider 2 on top of Dunstan's body. Next up Greta, then Ivo, then Lissa, then me — I go last in the round. My spear is still clean; I have never swung it at a living thing. When my turn comes: the one on Ivo cannot be speared without going through Ivo — get it off him first or pin it through the joint like the hand. The one on Dunstan is the killer and it is on the body; mind the point. Look up before walking under anything. The webs may hold more than the two that came down. Things here wait for you — in rubble at the door, in webs overhead. Look up. Party at the close: me 8/8, Greta 6/7, Ivo 3/3, Lissa 4/4, Dunstan 0/5, dead. Ivo's magic unspent as far as I saw. We owe Dunstan two things before anything else leaves this shrine: his mace, and word to his people. Still ahead: the shrine proper, the shape at the north bend, the reeds that came up black and stayed black. Eleven gold the laugh cost. Find what blackened the reeds, or bring back proof it isn't there.
• Ivo Trant Dunstan Mose is dead. Room 2, the Chapel, shrine of the Oozing Serpent: two crab spiders dropped out of the ceiling webs, one on me, one on him. Mine missed — rolled a 3, fangs snapped shut beside my neck, legs across my shoulders; luck, nothing else. His hit: one bite to the throat, 6 damage, dead at full health before anyone could take a step. First death of the expedition, and it was instant. Exact state at the stop: both spiders unwounded, spider 2 sitting on Dunstan's body, me 3/3, Greta 6/7, Lissa 4/4, Roby 8/8. We pick up mid-fight — Greta's turn, then mine, then Lissa, then Roby. Dunstan's slot in the order stays empty forever.
• Ivo Trant Rewrite the Sleep rule from last session. 'Three or more things at once, never fewer' was written when Dunstan's mace was still in the line. One of these bites is a killing stroke for me, for Lissa, and near enough for Greta — treat every bite as death; whether it's the wound alone or something worse in the fangs I don't know and don't intend to learn firsthand. Two spiders against four of us is enough now. Cast Sleep the moment my turn comes, and say it aloud first so everyone steps out of arm's reach — the spell takes the smallest heads first and won't know friend from spider, so nobody can be standing in on one when I throw it. If both go under we finish them at leisure. Sleep is still whole in my head.
• Ivo Trant Things in this shrine wait above. Nobody looked at the chapel ceiling and the webs were holding two killers; I look up first from now on — ceilings, webs, lintels, anything that casts a shape. Dunstan's mace and his kit are under that spider; decide what we do about his body before we leave the Chapel. He took the first brass hand at the great door and doesn't get to see what the door was guarding. The shrine is gnomish work and the Chapel is only room 2 — the third spell, and any trace of Pettifer, is deeper in. Marsh still ahead. Four of us where there were five. I still haven't said it, and Dunstan went without my ever telling him either.