Ah spiders. Who doesn’t like spiders. Wait no that doesn’t sound right.

How about “Nobody doesn’t like 4934 dead spiders.”?
It goes double when a few of them are the size of an armchair. And double again when they’re all poisonous. But who’s counting!!

So yes, spiders. Spiders poured out of dark places. Spiders crawled up and out of the everywhere. Innumerable small ones, and a couple great big terrifying ones.
Neil was unfazed, He said he’d seen this before and that if we just ignored them, they would go away. His theory remains untested.

Esmerelda sent a screaming rainbow bolt against a swarm of them.
cue Reginald Oakley, danger-seeker: “I also enjoy rainbows, as well as long walks on the beach.”

But it wasn’t all rainbows and ill-advised walks on the beach.
In fact in just a few blinks of several thousand eyes we were getting our asses seriously kicked. Which is to say, our asses swarmed and repeatedly bitten.
Neil’s healing skills were tested and passed with flying colors. He even knew when not to heal us.

Neil, to Splug “Wait, you like being bloodied, don’t you?”
Esmerelda, darkly: “I also like him being bloodied,”
wtf?

Neil also did some strange business whereby he kept unpoisoning us. With music? It was all too much to remember clearly I’m afraid. And not helping was the fact that I was teleporting every few seconds. Have Bamf, will Gtfo. What can I say.

I do remember that Reginald and Klajdu were repeatedly swarmed. Or rather, Reginald and Klajdu kept transforming into fuzzy humanoid shapes made of wriggling spiders and showing a penchant for screaming.

Reginald: “Ahhh! Get them off! Wait that came out wrong!!!!”

All the stops were pulled out. Klajdu pulled off a Great Cleave, I used the black boiling death magic curse, I think we each used almost everything we had.
Esmerelda took the cake though, or I should say the Unexpected Dessert Item. She used what in hindsight must have been immensely dangerous magic. I say this because when it missed and hit the ground the entire section of ground turned into Fudge. Magical rainbow fudge, but quite recognizable and redolent fudge. It’s one thing to say make a wall of fire, or to conjure an army of farting pixies, but to simply turn a large area of unsuspecting ground into rainbow-colored fudge…. it gives one pause.

Somehow, the spiders did eventually die. Well I shouldn’t say somehow. It was mostly by axes, flaming mauls, rainbow bolts, teleportation magic, taunting, singing and axes again.
After, we all spent a while trying to stop freaking out. Neil no doubt sang a song. We were mentally unhinged. One of us got up and started to clean the frescoes on the wall. Clearly mad. Then another and another. I gave them a piece of my mind about the apparent mission creep, but hell why not. I also cleaned the frescoes. Do what makes you feel good.
Why not just give in to the crazy.

Esmerelda: “I’ll send my bat down to map out the area!”