Session C18 — Kefkas's Master

Summary

The session resumed mid-combat with The Scarlet Widow, picking up exactly where C17 left off. Doof Mudknuckle charged blindly into the darkness, rolling double natural 20s on disadvantage — though her armor negated the critical. The Scarlet Widow's Aura of Creeping Ruin pulsed poison through the cavern. Phase spiders emerged from the ethereal plane, targeting Selene with repeated bites that left her poisoned with a ligament injury. Kefkas scooped Blackrazor into his Bag of Holding mid-combat via Sleight of Hand. Haldak obliterated a phase spider attacking Kavu with a 3rd-level Magic Missile — fangs lodging in Kavu's shield before phasing away. Then Othorion attacked the Scarlet Widow with a sneak attack and ended his turn within 11 feet of her — triggering a swarm of shadow spiders that poured from beneath her body and devoured Blip Blop alive. Nothing remained but fishbones, a net, a spear, and a shield. The Scarlet Widow looked as horrified as the party. She grabbed Othorion and held him as a human shield until Lireal ripped him free with a Thunder Step. Kavu hurled a Fireball at the drider and two phase spiders — the spiders died but she took zero damage. Then, using a legendary action, the Scarlet Widow hurled a candlestick she had stolen from Othorion at Kefkas, striking him in the head. Kefkas froze — he recognized the gesture from his childhood training. He ordered the party to stand down. Kavu called for a ceasefire. The drider whispered "Kefkas... mine, forever," then retreated up the cavern wall and vanished. Kefkas revealed she had been his master from the House of Oblodra — the woman who trained him and covered his escape, who he had believed was dead. The party harvested the behir corpse, looted the dead in the cavern below, and set out toward Neverlight Grove to return Stool to his people.

Key Events

The Blind Pugilist — Doof vs. Darkness

Combat resumed in the behir cavern with the Scarlet Widow on the ground after Selene shot the web strand she was descending on in C17. Doof Mudknuckle, lacking darkvision entirely, could see nothing but the faint glow of nearby mushrooms and the flash of Selene's last spell.

He released Othorion from the grapple that had restrained him during the Blackrazor episode and charged into the darkness, accidentally colliding with and dragging Othorion's prone body along the way. When he found the Scarlet Widow — by walking into her — he swung blind.

Both dice came up natural 20. On disadvantage.

The table erupted. Unfortunately, the Scarlet Widow's armor negated critical hits entirely, reducing the double-crit to ordinary damage: 8 points. She responded with a Lunging Strike — 13 bludgeoning damage, absorbed entirely by Doof's temporary hit points. The grung's toxic skin couldn't penetrate her Constitution save of 28.

Doof punched again. And again. A hasted bonus action punch. None of them mattered against her defenses, but Doof didn't care. He was in the fight. That was enough.

Aura of Creeping Ruin

At the start of Othorion's turn, the Scarlet Widow's presence warped the air around her. A pulse of necrotic poison radiated outward — the Aura of Creeping Ruin, forcing Constitution saves from every creature within range.

10 poison damage to those who failed, 5 on a success. Doof alone was untouched — his grung physiology rendered him immune to poison entirely.

Phase Spiders and Selene Under Fire

Phase spiders emerged from the ethereal plane in waves — appearing without warning, striking, then vanishing back into the ether. They targeted Selene specifically, all acting on the same initiative. She was bit repeatedly — 9 damage on the first hit with a ligament injury and the poisoned condition, 7 damage on the second with nausea. Haldak held actions to respond to the spider attacks.

The Scarlet Widow, inexplicably, was firing Darkfire Bolts at phase spiders in the corners of the cavern — attacking creatures that should have been her allies. The party noticed but had no time to process the contradiction.

Kefkas Secures Blackrazor

Mid-combat, with the drider watching him, Kefkas made his move. He rolled a Sleight of Hand check — DC 12 — and scooped Blackrazor off the cavern floor into his Bag of Holding without touching the blade directly. The Scarlet Widow watched the entire time, her expression like an insane mother watching a child play in a field. She opened all arms and front legs with pincers, murmuring "come to me"

Kefkas ran, then used his Echo Knight swap to reposition away from the drider. The sword was contained — for now.

Haldak's Magic Missile — Fangs in Kavu's Shield

A phase spider phased in and attacked Kavu directly. Haldak responded with overwhelming force: a 3rd-level Magic Missile, all darts concentrated on the single spider at point-blank range. The creature disintegrated — the DM described it being destroyed "butt-first" as each dart struck in sequence.

The fangs remained embedded in Kavu's shield, along with a piece of the spider's head. Then they phased back into the ethereal plane and vanished.

"Still in the shield," Kavu noted. "With a little bit of the head there."

The Death of Blip Blop

Othorion pushed through his injuries and attacked the Scarlet Widow directly — landing a sneak attack that bit deep. He pressed the assault and ended his turn with 11 feet of her.

It was the last thing Blip Blop ever saw.

The shadow spiders poured from beneath the Scarlet Widow's abdomen — thousands of them, tiny and black and swarming with a purpose that was not her own. They spread across the cavern floor like a tide of living darkness, triggered by the violence against their host.

Blip Blop was standing in their path.

The beacon of his people. The hope of Sloopbludop. The kuotoa who had traveled with the party through the Underdark with nothing but fury and pride and a net and a spear. He stood there, watching the swarm approach, and then the swarm reached him.

They devoured him. Thousands upon thousands of shadow spiders, climbing and biting and consuming. Blip Blop did not run. He could not. By the time the swarm passed, there was nothing left but fishbones, a net, a spear, and a shield.

The Scarlet Widow looked down at where Blip Blop had been. Her expression — visible even through the alien geometry of her drider face — was horror. She had not commanded this. The shadow spiders had acted on instinct, or hunger, or some compulsion deeper than her control.

The party stared. The cavern was silent except for the clicking of tiny legs retreating back beneath the drider's body.

The Scarlet Widow Takes a Shield

In the chaos after Blip Blop's death, the Scarlet Widow grasped at Othorion — still standing next to her from his attack. Her claws raked into him for 10 damage. She grabbed him, lifted him bodily, and held him up as a human shield. Othorion was grappled again, battered and bleeding, while the drider used him as cover against the party's ranged attacks.

Lireal's Thunder Step

Lireal saw Othorion trapped in the drider's grasp and acted. She cast Thunder Step — teleporting to Othorion's position and pulling him free in a crack of thunder that ripped him from the Scarlet Widow's claws. The two of them materialized away from the drider, Othorion gasping but free.

Kavu's Fireball

With Othorion clear, Kavu hurled a Fireball directly at the Scarlet Widow and two phase spiders that flanked around her. She succeeded on her saving throw — and she uncanilly dodged the effect. Zero. She walked through the flames untouched.

Kavu watched the fire kill the phase spiders, but dissipate around her and said nothing.

The Candlestick

The moment that changed everything came as a legendary action at the start of Kefkas's turn.

The Scarlet Widow pulled out a candlestick — one she had stolen from Othorion's belongings while grappling him. She turned and hurled it across the cavern at Kefkas.

Attack roll: 21. It hit. The candlestick struck Kefkas in the side of the head.

Kefkas staggered. Not from the damage. From the recognition.

He knew that throw. He knew the weight of a candlestick flung with that exact trajectory, that exact contempt, that exact message: pay attention. He had been hit with candlesticks hundreds of times as a child, during training, when his master decided his footwork was sloppy or his guard was down or he had simply looked at her incorrectly.

"Hold off on attacking her," Kefkas said, his voice tight. "I think... she may have been the one who saved me."

The table went quiet.

"Take care of the phase spiders," Kefkas continued, controlling his voice. "And then we'll deal with this. Just don't antagonize her."

Ceasefire and Retreat

Kavu was the first to move. He raised his shield and his voice.

"OK. Hold up, hold up. We'll stop if you stop. Just tell us what you want."

The Scarlet Widow did not answer. She stared at Kefkas.

The Scarlet Widow opened her mouth. What came out was barely language — fragmented, obsessive, a voice that had been talking to itself in the dark for far too long.

"Kefkas... Kefkas, yes... mine, forever..."

She looked at Kefkas one final time. Then she turned, skittered to the cavern wall, and climbed. Stool and Prince Derendil, watching from the upper passages, saw her pass them on the wall — ascending into the darkness above without looking back.

She was gone.

Kefkas's Revelation

The silence after the Scarlet Widow's departure lasted a long time.

Kefkas was still holding the candlestick. He looked at it — at the dent where it had struck his temple, at the familiar weight of it in his hand.

"It has been a long time," he said. "But I believe she was my master. From the House of Oblodra."

He paused. The party waited.

"She covered my escape. When I left. I truly believed she had perished doing so." Another pause. "But she was most definitely not like that when I last saw her."

"A drider. And she was never this... scatterbrained." He turned the candlestick over in his hands. "She used to throw these at me during training. When my footwork was wrong. When I wasn't paying attention. That's where I learned it — that's why I throw them at Othorion."

The connection settled over the party like a weight. The Scarlet Widow had been tracking them since C16. She had stalked them through the tunnels. She had waited through the grick fight, the behir fight, the Blackrazor crisis. She had waited until the exact moment of greatest vulnerability — and then she had descended not to kill them, but to reach Kefkas.

Harvest, Salvage, and Doof's Bad Decisions

Selene led the behir harvest — performing nature checks. DC 10 for scales, DC 15 for the horn, DC 20 for the complete harvest including the lightning sack. She cleared every threshold, recovering 25 pounds of magical behir scales, the horn, and the lightning sack — the electrical organ prized by drow hunting parties from Menzoberranzan. The scales could be crafted by an armorer into +2 Scale Armor of Lightning Resistance.

Doof, ever practical, ate a phase spider. He failed a DC 15 Constitution save and ingested the venom sack — his tongue immediately began phasing in and out of the ethereal plane, sometimes visible, sometimes not, garbling his speech mid-sentence. He then succeeded on a DC 20 Strength save to bite through the spider's spinneret, silk threads gumming up his mouth before he snapped them apart. The DM described it as disgusting.

Roland and Stool descended into the lower caverns and found bodies — old kills from the behir, electrocuted and partially consumed, humanoid skeletons stripped of flesh. They recovered coin and supplies from the dead.

Toward Neverlight Grove

With the Scarlet Widow gone and the cavern cleared, the party took stock. Stool's home — Neverlight Grove — was close. The myconid was eager to return.

Kefkas cautioned against sending scouts ahead: "Why would we need to scout it out? I would imagine this is going to be a rather welcoming reunion for Stool."

Kavu disagreed: "We go in as a party. None of us can outscout a drow in their territory."

The party set out together, aware that the Drow hunting party was still behind them and that Xynnia Vandree knew exactly where they were going, and would be waiting for them.

NPCs Encountered

Loot / Discoveries

Party Notes

• Roland: Still at 5 levels of exhaustion; descended into lower caverns with Stool to investigate bodies; recovered supplies from the dead; physically struggling but directing the party
• Othorion: Rose from prone; refused to touch Blackrazor; landed a sneak attack on the Scarlet Widow (triggering the shadow spider swarm that killed Blip Blop); grabbed by the drider and used as a human shield; freed by Lireal's Thunder Step; candlestick stolen from his belongings; survived but battered
• Kavu: Cast Fireball at the Scarlet Widow (zero damage — super saver); phase spider fangs briefly embedded in his shield before phasing away; initiated the ceasefire; pushed the party toward Neverlight Grove as a group
• Haldak: Obliterated a phase spider attacking Kavu with 3rd-level Magic Missile; held actions to counter phase spider attacks throughout the fight
• Kefkas: Central figure of the session — retrieved Blackrazor into Bag of Holding mid-combat via Sleight of Hand; recognized the Scarlet Widow as his former master from House Oblodra; called ceasefire; revealed backstory; deeply shaken by the encounter
• Doof: Rolled double nat 20s on disadvantage (negated by crit immunity); fought blind in the darkness; immune to the Scarlet Widow's poison aura; ate a phase spider — failed DC 15 Con save (tongue now phases in and out of ethereal plane), succeeded DC 20 Str save to bite through spinneret
• Selene: Targeted repeatedly by phase spiders — poisoned with ligament injury; performed all behir harvesting nature checks; heard the Scarlet Widow's whisper ("Kefkas, mine, forever")
• Lireal: Cast Thunder Step to rip Othorion free from the Scarlet Widow's grasp; clutch play that allowed the party to resume attacking

Threads Opened / Advanced

NEW THREADS OPENED

• Kefkas's Master: The Scarlet Widow is Kefkas's former master from House Oblodra — the woman who trained him and covered his escape. She is now a drider, more powerful but less stable than she was. She is obsessed with reclaiming Kefkas. What transformed her? Why did she come for him now?

• The Shadow Spiders: The Scarlet Widow appeared horrified when her shadow spiders devoured Blip Blop. She may not fully control the creatures spawned from her drider form. What does this mean for future encounters?

• Doof's Ethereal Tongue: The grung ate a phase spider venom sack and now has a tongue that phases between planes. Cosmetic? Or consequential?

ADVANCED THREADS

• Blip Blop's Death: The beacon of Sloop Ladop is gone. The party carries his net, spear, and shield — and the knowledge of how to find his people.

• Blackrazor Containment: RESOLVED (temporary) — Kefkas retrieved the sword without touching it and placed it in his Bag of Holding. Contained but not destroyed. The sword is patient.

• The Scarlet Widow: Identity confirmed as Kefkas's former master. She retreated willingly after the ceasefire. She knows the party's direction of travel. She will be back.

• Neverlight Grove: The party is heading there now to return Stool. Kefkas expects a warm reception. Kavu insists on caution.

• Roland's Exhaustion Crisis: Still at 5 levels. No improvement this session. Every action costs him.

Session Summary

A session that began as a chaotic combat encounter and ended with a devastating personal revelation. The Scarlet Widow fight was defined less by damage dealt than by what was discovered: Kefkas's recognition of his former master, transformed into a drider and obsessed with reclaiming him. The candlestick throw — a callback to childhood training — was the key that unlocked the connection. Blip Blop's death at the hands (legs?) of uncontrollable shadow spiders added genuine loss to the session and raised questions about the Scarlet Widow's control over her own form. Doof Mudknuckle continued to be a force of chaotic good, rolling impossible dice and eating things he shouldn't. The party now carries Blackrazor in a Bag of Holding, Blip Blop's remains in their memory, and Kefkas's secret in the open. Neverlight Grove awaits.

Key Milestone: The Scarlet Widow identified as Kefkas's former master from House Oblodra.
Key Loss: Blip Blop — devoured by shadow spiders. The beacon of Sloop Ladop is extinguished.
Key Resolution: Blackrazor secured in Bag of Holding. No longer loose on the cavern floor.
Status Heading Forward: Party moving toward Neverlight Grove; Scarlet Widow alive and tracking; Kefkas's backstory now in play; Roland still at 5