View source for Need More Lumber, Need Less Spiders

{{Infobox expedition log
| title = Need More Lumber, Need Less Spiders
| date = 1/31/26
| storyteller = Slayzo
| tier_of_play = Master
| player_characters = [[Quill]], [[Boophis Bright-Eyed]], [[Rinazomi]]
| rewards = 350 exp, Spider Satchel (Greater), Spider Gun (Greater), Spider Chair, Spider Root, 2 brand new boat designs
| result = Success
| author = [[Quill]]
| downtime_days = 6
}}

==Log==

The rats in Onadbyr are oddly industrious. The one who calls himself the Craftrat is building a special dock to build ships, but the lumber company he has contracted with has a spider problem. Spiders are an easily solved pest problem, but apparently these ones are much larger than normal spiders. Unfortunately typical that they couldn't have given us any more details about the problem at hand.

The human who calls himself a frog made himself immediately useful by giving us alchemical supplies to help us move and resist the poisons the spiders would surely have. The lumber yard in question is a typical operation, nothing particularly stood out about it. Near the tracks were wisps of spider silk. We cautiously search the area, and nearly get ambushed by two wooden spiders. The foolish Oni rushes off on her own to attack one on the roof of the building, making claims that she would eat it after she kills it. The heathen's blade of cold found itself dull, as eventually their fight would tumble off the roof and the spider would escape our grasp. My blade burnt hot with Her Unyielding fury, and despite its best efforts to eat Boophis, I kept him alive and ensured its own death, goading it onto the roof where I laid awaiting its approach. The remaining wood spider attempted to stall our approach but eventually made the intelligent decision to run off, as it would move faster than both myself and the Oni. Boophis could catch up to it with his magic spells, but his prospects before we arrived would likely be... poor.

We regrouped to treat our battle injuries as the Oni attempted to eat a creature made entirely of wood. I'll admit this - her strength vastly eclipses her intelligence. Boophis and the Oni identify the presence of some kind of spider that originates from the Dreamlands. Apparently a predator of the nightmare realm that can manifest in the real world, including in the Oni's homeland. It being a foul creature that need not exist here wasn't enough, it is also a slaver. All the more reason to find it and end it. We follow its traces and come across a foul fey, who explains that while it was trying to create a portal to the first world, it instead created a portal that expelled spiders. Finding this portal and disabling it would end the spider infestation. The trail eventually led us to some lumberjacks, in the middle of the woods. An illusion of lies that hid the fact that the portal was near and they were there to try to turn us around. A futile effort.

We eventually emerged in a clearing where the fey had created a portal. The translucent webs canopied above us, and we were able to identify a large spider up in the web, the wooden spider that fled earlier, and the spider of Leng. It taunted us ineffectively, before activating the portal and calling forth a scorpion. Notably not a spider. The Leng Spider seemed to think highly of itself, despite being an insect. Were it not for the hostile scorpion who immediately nearly killed Boophis, I would have decorated the clearing with its insides. In an effort to keep him alive, I blessed Boophis with Her Unyielding mercy, but the poison coursing through his system would have to be up to his own constitution. From here on, I was on pest control duty, and both Boophis and I were ensuring that the Oni would stay alive. Her propensity for violence was only matched by her being sturdy enough to take some hits from the multiple arachnids. The scorpion proved a tough opponent, but like most things, prefer to have its insides not turned into its outsides. In the chaos, the nightmare spider ordered the wood spider to take the enslaved lumberjacks through the portal to who-knows-where. The Oni kept enough wherewithal to intercept her former 'prey', and I was able to kill the goliath spider with the blessings granted to me in the form of Her Unyielding vengeance sapping its very life force. I arrived in time to see the Oni finally kill the wood spider that eluded her before, but not in time to prevent the nightmare from escaping to its own realm. 

The fey arrived shortly after, with the intent to turn the portal to its original purpose. At least there won't be predatory spiders in the area, assuming that nightmare spider isn't capable of re-opening a portal in the area to his nightmare realm. The laborers seemed to regain their wits shortly after we freed them from their restraints. The Oni ate another mouthful of splinters, and Boophis laid claim to the goliath spider, apparently a delicacy where he's from. A stew made of the scorpion I slayed was quite the treat, however.