The adventure continues in the city of West Haven, where as Faris seeks employment after spending most of her hard-earned coin in part 5.
The next morning, I sought out Rufus regarding the job opportunity he had mentioned. He provided some background information, including those giant rats I had encountered, and sent me to investigate a shut-down church. My goal was to finds its missing clergy, with a reward of five gold for each, and five for the task itself. He refused to give me an advance on the payment.
I decided to seek some help for this job, visiting a local guild hall to see if anybody with suitable skills was available. Perhaps if I had continued gambling, I could have afforded one of those fine companions. Instead I continued on my own, approaching the church at dusk. I tried picking a lock to get in, but again, it’s not on of my strong points, so I smashed down the door instead.
The place was creepy – poorly lit and cold, and something brushed my leg soon after entering. I reached for a weapon and realized I was stuck in a large spider web. I tried to untangle myself, then tried wrenching free, and finally just grabbed a torch and burned the webbing.
I hoped all of this webbing was from one spider, but immediately noticed three as they swarmed me. I killed two, and the third scrambled away after biting me. Even the stairs were covered in webbing, and there was a dead half-elf stuck to the stairwell wall in a web sack. There were more sacks upstairs, I cut them all down, hoping to find someone still alive. Most had desiccated corpses, except for one dwarf who was so weak, I had to carry him outside. I stomped all over the spider eggs I found in another sack.
Stomping disturbed another batch of spiders, they seemed to come in threes. I shot two before they got close, but the third one bit me. I climbed up to the bell tower, which seemed to have no spiders, despite an abundance of webs and another desiccated corpse. The bell was coated in black slime that shimmered in the moonlight. Another massive spider crawled out of the bell. I shot it multiple times, evading its attacks, but it kept coming and blocked the stairwell. With no other option, I climbed out the window onto the roof. Well, jumped a bit, fell a bit… the drop was farther than I expected, and a little on the painful side.
And the spider followed me out! It smashed me with those massive legs and bit me, but I managed to kill the beast. With the beast dead, I climbed back into the church, hoping to find some survivors. I found a worship room with a small altar and offering table, with rotting food except for an apple I tucked away, along with a bottle of aged wine, and a healing potion I quaffed immediately. I also noticed a large religious tome, with the church’s symbol on it.