The Shifting Tides Act 1

Session 13 - The Root of the Problem

The party’s rest in the underground hallway was uneasy. During the night, something massive stirred in the dark—a spider, but not an ordinary one. Its body was covered in a stony carapace, nearly blending into the tunnel walls. It crept past the Tiny Hut, ignoring the occupants inside, and continued down the corridor.

Later, it returned, looming in silence. The party member on watch held their nerve, choosing not to engage. They watched as the spider reached the end of the hallway, placed its legs on the stone, and melted through it—shaping the rock like clay—before vanishing into the wall, which sealed shut behind it.

The rest of the night passed without incident.

In the morning, the party resumed their exploration of the vast chamber. Two additional passages—northwest and northeast—led to smaller offshoots. The northwest passage opened into a room carved with built-in shelving along the far wall. Resting on these shelves were dozens of heartwood cores, each pulsing faintly with hidden magic. Along the opposite wall stood several wooden sarcophagi—most empty.

One, however, held the missing foreman, his body tangled in tendrils sprouting from a single heartwood core embedded in his chest.

They set the coffin ablaze. The flames consumed the foreman’s body, but the coffin and the core were untouched. Carefully, the party recovered the remaining cores from the shelves—over twenty in total.

The northeast passage led to a chamber in ruin. It had been ravaged—walls cracked, furniture splintered, shelves shattered. Scattered among the debris were pages from a tome. The content detailed the creation of something called the “Wild Borne” and instructions for activating a teleportation circle in the room. However, the notes were written entirely in idiom-laced code, making interpretation difficult.

At the center of the room stood the modified teleportation circle—its runes unfamiliar and twisted. With careful study, they determined it could serve as both a destination for teleportation and as a violent method of banishment to another plane.

On a nearby pedestal, they uncovered a final item: a Scroll of Preservation, a rare and potent tool capable of freezing something—or someone—in perfect stasis forever.

Their search complete, the party began their ascent back to the surface. Along the way, they discovered a hidden compartment in the wall containing a sealed box, which they retrieved.

But before they could climb farther, they noticed more of the strange, discolored stone—signs of the spider’s presence. Rather than let it stalk them again, they turned around to confront it.

The battle was fierce. The creature’s webs were laced with razor-edged stone, like barbed wire, cutting deep with every entanglement. But through coordination and firepower, they brought the spider down.

With the path cleared once more, the party took a moment to breathe—bloodied, burned, and victorious—before continuing toward the light above.