Webs stretch across cleft on the edge of an enormous chasm in the shadowed mirror dimension of the fifth level of the Tomb, from every rocky outcropping on each wall across to the far side, anchored to the floor and ceiling. This is the lair of Ekhnati, queen of the spiders that dwell in the Tomb.
The bounty her webs have brought her, insects and bats, mourners and pilgrims, lost ghosts, and even sometimes the goblins and trolls sent to retrieve them as they remain in the web, drained of blood and ichor yet undying because to die would be to continue on the journey their webs bind them against, combined with her great wisdom and her faculty for spellcraft, has allowed her to reach her full potential size, so large that her exoskeleton can barely carry her. She moves within her webs with the help of animated strands of webbing which move at her command because of a spell cast upon them, when she must move; she does what she can simply by directing those animated strands
Her web reaches from the shadowy side into the light; its reflection in the light mirror is invisible, though it does cast a shadow. It can be banished by bright light, such as by holding a torch directly to it or shining a bullseye lantern on it from a pace or two away, but returns (if nothing occupying the area prevents it) when the light is removed. Even the smooth strands are coated in a slime that makes them unlikely to catch fire, even if a flame is held to them in the shadow realm where they are more substantial. Even the insubstantial strands can catch an unwary adventurer. Attempting to get free of this invisible trap by thrashing gets more difficult with each failure as more and more of the trapped person’s body becomes captured by the strands. Cutting someone so trapped free may work, but some of the trap strands are bound in tension so that one wrong cut (4-in-6 chance, lower if the cutter is familiar with the trap) flings the victim deeper into the web, pulling them into the shadow mirror if they are in the light. Attempting to climb along the “safe” strands in total or near-total darkness will allow their companions to follow them, although such a climb has a chance of binding each follower (perhaps 3-in-6, 1-in-6 if they contrive a way to know where someone who has made the traversal safely has touched before and attempt to follow exactly in their step)
Ekhnati herself has a body the size of a large cottage, surrounded by legs like bridge-piles and covered in prickly crimson fur, which contrasts against the ghostly-white color her webs shine in under bright light (under candlelight, or at a distance under torchlight, they are invisible). Her eyes glow in the dark, like violet flames.
Sometimes wailing can be heard from her catch as she feeds. When they are drained and yet to recover, they lack the strength; when they are hale, most quickly learn to play dead to prolong their moments of health.
Strands taken from her web can be used as rope, or perhaps even woven into cloth. They reflect into parallel dimensions where possible; they do not retain their power of invisibility or immunity to flame unless well-maintained (likely impossible without the slime Ekhnati secretes). Additionally, one of her webs is a spellbook of her own creation. A mage trapped in a position that allows them to see it, with adequate light, could perhaps make a study of it, though Ekhnati’s draining first of blood and then of ichor would doubtless be a painful distraction. A trade could also, perhaps, be arranged, if her desires can be divined.
She has a rivalry, sometimes an enmity, with the trolls and goblins, with the Foremost Bat, indeed with every other force on this level barring the Treant. Though she understands her place in the cycle of death and the trolls’ place as well, she still contends with them regarding how long she should be allowed to keep her catches. Since the closing of the Gate, the trolls allow her catches to remain caught for a long time indeed. The Foremost Bat despises her for eating her kin. Supposedly, the sun-spider that haunts a grove on this level and Ha’voliek who stalks the lava city court her, to no known avail so far. Perhaps also she retains a correspondence with the Withering Eye or her coven.
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Ten Leagues Beneath the Earth 