Chapter Six: The Muster of Caltlikrath

The woodpecker was gone too quickly for Leth to make any specific observations about it.

Leth follows his nose to the north a bit. When he reaches the source of the smell, he nearly steps in it: a small pool of brownish-red slime on the ground. Its has a smooth consistency and smells like rot and death.

To Felor, it looks like the semi-liquefied remains of something that was recently alive.

Leth has never seen anything quite like this, and can only surmise that the black beast -- whatever is creating these webs -- is the source of this excreta. As to Domarc's question, Leth has no answer.

Several thick strands of webbing connect the trunks of trees to the southwest, offering the only clue Leth can see for which direction to proceed in.

The party continues onward, heading southwest. The canopy grows thicker here, and the forest grows darker and darker is the party delves deeper within it. The sightings of webbing remain sporadic, but where they are seen, there are more strands, crisscrossing larger areas, and at several points the part has to back up and find a path around them. The forest is quiet...too quiet. At one point the party comes across a fallen tree trunk that has some of the same rotten blood slurry spattered across it, but it seems drier, less fresh than the puddle they encountered earlier. A little further on, the party finds a dead bird caught in the end of a broken strand of web, swinging from a high branch like a pendulum.

Several miles into the woods, the party reaches a massive shambolic structure of gray, fallen tree trunks and piled branches leaning against each other, forming a sort of hut or shelter with one obvious, wide opening to the interior. There is webbing all over the structure and the surrounding area -- not just the thick webbing of the "black beast," but regular patches of cobwebbing as well. The way inside, however, is clear.

There is a sickening, vinegary stench to this place.

It's a triangular opening about 10' high and wide.