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The party is in Almathriel seeking Sonina Mooncrest, an elven ranger who is crafting a weapon against dragons. They have gotten word that she can be found at the Red Dragon Inn—the very inn in which the party is staying.

They find Sonina and make a deal with her—she needs to procure the venom from the great spider Sheeltielle. The party will help for the sum of 300 gold pieces and a Quiver of Dragonsbane—the weapon that Sonina is making.

After making the deal, the party has a good dinner and a round of Highland Whiskey all around. They then head to bed, except for Tag who goes to play dice. Unfortunately for the halfling, he loses most of the time. He returns to the room and talks with Regna, wondering why Lenoria is mad at him. They come to no conclusions.

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The party heads out of Almathriel to the lair of the Spider Queen Sheeltielle. Regna gives Lenoria the “stink eye” for most of the journey. Tag apologizes to Lenoria if he offended her goddess. Lenoria accepts his apology. Other than that, the day passes without incident.

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As the party travels, Sonina reveals that her village was wiped out by a green dragon—fueling her desire to make a weapon. Tag says that his uncle, Joaxen Relicshine, saw such a dragon outside of Almathriel once.

Tag gets into a discussion with Lenoria about family. Tavayne joins in. The bard has three brothers and two sisters back in Glofthall. Lenoria has a sister and her mother and father still live in Sianae. She bears her family no ill will but had to leave due to issues with her faith. Tag asks Rhain if he has a big family—the barbarian responds, “Family’s dead. Shut up.”

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The discussion of family continues. Tag thinks they should visit each other’s homes. He reveals that his father is a turnip farmer, among other things. Lenoria’s mother was a seamstress. Tag wants to Lenoria write a letter to her family. Tag continues to talk to Sonina of his exploits.

They also talk about Sheeltielle, the Spider Queen. She comes from a race of intelligent spiders—maybe she can be reasoned with. They decide to try this first rather than use force.

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Sonina discovers the entrance to the spiders’ territory. Soon after, they are attacked by spider sentinels. They finally defeat the creatures, with Tag climbing over and flipping over one of the beasts to flank it and get a kill-shot. Rhain kills the other, and points out to the others that no one tried to talk first. So their path is probably more violence.

Sonina tracks the creatures back to the heart of spiders’ enclave. There they see the mighty Sheeltielle and a phalanx of spider warriors.

Lenoria casts tongues so that she might understand the creatures an d translate for the group.

“Who dares to approach the enclave of Sheeltielle?” the mighty queen asks in Sylvan.

“What tribute do you bring to the great queen?” one of her fellows asks.

Lenoria looks to Tag for an answer. “The gift of song,” he says.

The spiders allow the party to come forward, but force them to leave the horses behind.

Tag introduces Tavayne as a great bard of land who will gift the queen a great song. Sheeltielle scoffs and says she only wants a song of screams. But finally she says “I will hear this song.”

Tavayne sings a well-wrought improvised song of Sheeltielle’s greatness and majesty. Tag vows to spread this song across the lands, in return for some of the great queen’s venom. Sheeltielle acquiesces.

The venom is deposited in the special bag that Sonina has prepared for it and then the spiders start to gather round, closing in on the group. They run for their horses and ride out of the enclave as fast as they can. Regna casts stone call, raining stones down on their pursuers to cover their escape.

The party runs until they are an hour away from Sheeltielle’s lair. There they finally slow down and then settle in for the night, confident that they have eluded their pursuers.

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Today is Tag’s birthday. As the party makes its way back to Almathriel, Regna gives the halfling a paper hat in celebration.

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The party arrives at Almathriel at sundown. Sonina heads home to begin work on the quiver. The party all head to the Mithral Dagger. The proprietor casts prestidigitation on the party to clean them up from the road. They all order baths and rooms. In the common room, Tag orders baijiu for everyone to have celebratory shots. Lenoria gets directions to Sonina’s house and the local Postal Guild.

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The party heads over to the Ivory Orc to drink. Regna buys Tag a hat for his birthday. Tag gets into a drinking contest with baijiu with a half-elf named Anodel and a human named Varis and wins.