Into the Giant Spider's Nest
Found throughout the wild and abandoned places of the world, giant spiders dwell both above and below ground. They attack any creature disturbing their nests and are aggressive predators. Although essentially unintelligent, they are adept at using their webs and poison to immobilise and kill prey.
Some giant spiders can grow to truly monstrous proportions and even the smallest giant spider can spell a neophyte adventurer’s doom.
Outside the Lair
Use this list, to determine what the characters find as they approach the lair.
Rats—squeaking loudly—scatter at the party’s approach, if they are not quiet. The fleeing rats might alert the spider lurking within.
A huge spider drags a webbed victim slowly towards its lair. The victim weakly kicks and struggles.
Shadows stubbornly cling to the nest’s entrance; a horrible stench issues from the opening.
Strands of webs seem to float on the air like fishing lines set to lure the spider’s prey to their doom.
What’s Going On?
Use this list, to determine what is happening at the lair, when the characters arrive.
The giant spider is hunting rats; they live in cracks in the lair’s walls, and feast on the spider’s leavings.
The giant spider is struggling to subdue something tangled in a mass of webs.
Suspended on the ceiling, the spider slowly consume its prey. Blood and gore splatter the floor.
The giant spider is gently tends to an egg, by binding it to the wall.
Major Lair Features
Use this list, to determine the lair’s major feature(s). These features are obvious to the characters.
A large spider’s egg, crawling with hundreds of white fist-sized spiders, hangs from the ceiling.
A partially cocooned bear struggles weakly, sending ripples through the surrounding webs. The bear has been poisoned and is badly injured.
The husk of a horse-sized spider lies in the chamber; there is no sign of the spider that shed it.
The stench of death and decay pervade the nest; the smell is so intense weak-stomached adventurers may be overcome with nausea.
Minor Lair Features
Use this list, to determine the lair’s minor feature(s). These features may, or may not, be obvious, to the characters.
Tangled webs hold the decaying husks of large rats and other vermin.
Deep, web-choked cracks—big enough for the spider’s offspring to lurk within—pierce the nest’s walls.
Tiny spiders scuttle in and around the shattered ribcage of some unfortunate explorer caught long ago.
The husk of a decaying meal suddenly collapses sending a skull rolling across the floor.
Giant Spider’s Appearance
Use this list, to generate a giant spider’s general appearance and other characteristics.
Red and black chitin armour covers the spider’s body; one of its legs is broken and hangs at a strange angle.
The giant spider has thick plates of brown chitin.
The giant spider looks like it is made of glass. The surrounds are eerily reflected in its chitinous armour.
The webs in the lair appears to shimmer and move as this perfectly camouflaged spider scuttles about.
Treasure
Use this list, to add items of value to the spider’s hoard; determine the value of each item to suit your campaign.
Intricate leather armour with red piping that mimics a spider’s web hangs from the web.
Several silver arrows in perfect condition pin a huge spider to the wall.
Coins spill from a decomposing husk.
The hand guard of this dagger forms the grasping legs of a spider; the dagger’s blade is wickedly sharp and lightly stained with some kind of black liquid.
Trinkets & Trash
Use this list, to add items of interest, but little value, to the spider’s’ hoard.
Several copper coins lie partially hidden under a carpet of dusty webbing, in the centre of the room.
Near the ceiling, a ruined backpack is tangled in a mess of webs.
The husk of a fallen adventurer still wears its finely made—now much punctured—chain armour.
Envenomed blood has somehow crystallised leaving small red gemlike bloodspots on a length of particularly thick web.
Want More?
This is an extract from Monstrous Lair #07: Giant Spider’s Nest, a System Neutral resource by Steve Hood which appears in the Complete Monstrous Lair Collection.
Words Steve Hood Art Rick Hershey