Adrian: Baldur's Gate

The next day they moved on. Adrian wasn't entirely sure he wanted a party this large, but he appreciated the value of reinforcements. Besides, Coran was by all accounts a good archer, and his membership was, by his own admission, temporary.

Adrian was not stupid, however. He knew Safana wanted to play them off against eachother. Going from his knowing smirk, however, Coran knew it too. It was obvious to the three of them and Viconia that eventually Safana would be on the way out, and Viconia had made her own preferences clear.

Safana had her own plans, once they reached the gate. Adrian would go along with them so long as they gained him riches and experience in combat, but he didn't want to spend too long being sidetracked from hunting down the Throne. Then again, he thought they would be doing odd jobs in the City for a while anyway.

His musings were interrupted by a horde of spiders attacking them! Coran immediately proved his worth by joining Adrian in sniping them down. Kagain and Viconia held them off at a narrow bridge over a waterfall, as they and the wizards struck from afar. Safana periodically darted in with a strike of her own.

Suddenly, from behind the spiders, a young man, a peasant going by his garb, started wildly swinging a club at the arachnids. Had any of the spiders turned to face him, he would've been killed. They continued to face the party, however, and eventually they went down.

"You weren't much help," sneered Edwin to the boy.

"Almost spider fodder!" Xzar agreed, giggling.

"Leave it to the professionals," grunted Kagain.

"Would be my pleasure," gasped the youth. "My brother didn't learn, thought a magic sword could save him.

"Did he now? A magic sword?" said Coran, thoughtfully.

"Aye. He dissapared into the woods with it. If you find him alive, send him home. And by all means take the sword from him."

"Oh we'll take it," Adrian assured him, not bothering to mention it might cost the brother his life, were he not already dead.

The lad nodded his thanks and ran off.

For the third time in less than a tenday, Kagain had a "What is that?" moment. The things comming at them were humanoid and stood at about human hight, but they had strange bristling fur and wide, gaping maws.

"Ettercaps," hissed Edwin.

"Spider-kindred," called Viconia. "Watch for the poison bite!"

There were six of them, but Adrian and Coran had cut their numbers down to four by the time they reached the party.

Kagain, with his amazing healing, stood up front and braved the poison, while Viconia stood behind to heal him as needed, finally having some poision neutralization spells ready. Adrian and Coran continued to snipe away, and the wizards exhausted their magic missiles, not daring to use something more powerful at close range.

But Kagain was faring poorly, getting three poison bites in less than a minute, exhausting Viconia's healing spells shortly after. In desparation, Edwin shouted a Word, and summoned a wolf pack, to give the enemy more targets to deal with. A Wolf managed to take one of the Ettercaps down, and Adrian and Coran shot down the rest.

"This has not been--urk--a good day," grunted Kagain, shivering through the venom. Fortunatlery, most of it had already run it's course, and he would be able to regenerate through the rest himself. He took a weary step forward.

Safana shouted, "No! Watch where you ste--"

Twang

Suddenly the party was covered in sticky webs. All but Adrian and Xzar were trapped.

"The Ettercaps love web traps," said Viconia sullenly, halfway up a tree where the webs had dragged her.

"I didn't have time to look for them," said Safana, ruefully.

"No one's blaming you," said Adrian. "Come on Xzar, let's cut them down."

But it was slow and tiring work. By the time they were finished, the sun was going down, and Adrian and Xzar were completely exhausted. The party camped there for the night without needing to discuss the fact.