Web of Deception
After engaging in battle with a fierce Spider Dragon, the Vanguard manage to lose it's treasure and a crucial key into the abyss, but Naoki and Beans manage to recover it while discovering the dragon’s corpse. Valerie and Emelyne find a cursed, talking gold skull that won’t leave Valerie alone, and the group heads back to the city, encountering Professor Leorcin along the way. He reveals the skull’s curse can only be broken by a Djinn and dismisses Craum’s sought-after professor as a fraud.
Deep inside the cavern, the party confronted a massive Spider Dragon suspended on a web above a precipice alongside treasure, flanked by smaller spiderlings. When the creature demanded two party members as a sacrifice, Valerie threw Dust of Disappearance into the air, turning the entire party and the nearby spiderlings invisible for seven minutes. Initiating combat with his echo, Renatus attacked just as the Spider Dragon unleashed its devastating spiderling breath, dropping Valerie, Craum, and Emelyne while leaving the others critically wounded. A giant spiderling dragged Craum onto the webbing before Naoki restored Emelyne, who cast Burning Hands on the webs. The flames consumed the webbing and singed the dragon, sending the creature, the spiderlings, Craum, and the treasure chest—which contained the second half of Casmir's key—plunging into the abyss below. Emelyne cast Feather Fall on Craum as he fell, saving his life and allowing him to climb back up.
While resting near the edge, Naoki used Speak with Animals on their charmed spider guide, Beans, and wildshaped into a spider to descend into the chasm alongside it. Deep in the cavern, past the dead Spider Dragon impaled on a stalactite, they discovered a lush underground sanctuary filled with bioluminescent moss. Reverting to human form among the broken treasure, Naoki recovered 60 gold pieces, a gemstone ring, and a damaged cerulean blue stone that was consumed by spores when he extracted the key piece from a mushroom, causing him to briefly hallucinate a gigantic spider leg.
Meanwhile, at the upper cavern level, Emelyne and Valerie searched the scorched bodies of previous victims, finding 320 gold pieces, a gold-leafed box with stone animal figurines, and a gold skull with emerald eyes. When Valerie picked up the skull, its eyes ignited, and it began floating, delivering arrogant insults and threatening to follow her forever. Reconnecting with Naoki as he emerged from the pit, the skull suddenly devoured the blue gemstone Naoki presented before falling limp, allowing Valerie to safely stow the chatty artifact in their Bag of Holding before they set off toward the city with Beans in tow.
During night watches on the return journey, Craum and Naoki discussed Underdark flora and planned a future night of drinking, while Thalia and Renatus shared a quiet watch where they noted Thalia needed a warmer cloak. On the final watch, Diablo entertained the group with a wild tale of disguising himself as a baby bison to infiltrate a bandit camp, reasserting his claim that he was born from a drop of sunlight and raised by a lioness. Searching for a squirrel in the brush, Emelyne encountered a halfling named Professor Leorcin from the College of Magical and Academic Studies in Myradorn. After Valerie attempted an intimidating shoulder massage that caused Leorcin's illusion to dissipate, the real professor revealed himself and identified their golden skull as the Skull of Sulthakenon—an indestructible, cursed court jester slain by a Sorcerer King who craves gold and can only be freed by a Djinn from the Elemental Plane of Air. Dismissing Craum's mention of a rival academic as a hack, Leorcin demonstrated his magic before conversing with the party as the night drew to a close.