<strong>Eshalu - tangled webs we weave</strong><br/><br/>Her spear found purchase in the spider's chitinous exoskeleton, drawing out the dark, viscous fluid beneath.<em>Not good enough</em>, Eshalu knew the creature was a hardy predator, but its ability to absorb each strike was disconcerting.<em>Nightborn Shalu guide me,</em>it was a silent invocation - if there were any friendly spirits, she would need their aid now.<br/><br/>When the spider lunged, she raised her spear in the descending path of its vicious mandibles to parry the blow. The weight was crushing. Eshalu's muscles strained, her shoulders and biceps aching with the effort. That drew more blood from the long cut in her wounded arm. Blood staining the torn leather and falling hot and red to the ground beneath. Eshalu gritted her teeth, facing down the spider's hungry, many-eyed stare.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Roll Result: Eshalu rolled: 4d3, adding -4to the total<br/>Comment: Defence against spiders overbearing attack<br/>Total: <strong>5</strong><br/></div></div><br/>The spider's immense mass proved irresistible. Eshalu's knees buckled under the weight of her opponent's onslaught. She fell on her back,<em>Knocked Down</em>and overwhelmed by the creature's assault. She dropped her spear - knowing it would be of little use to her at such close quarters. The spider loomed on top of her, hungry mandibles dripping unspeakable poison. Eshalu felt a knot furious desperation in her chest. Her heart hammered and, for an instant, her muscles felt light and weightless, an effect she recalled from inhaling the powder of certain mosses at the winter festivals to celebrate the arrival of the first frosts. Only this time the sensation was not liberating. It was her body's reaction to a kind of fear she had never felt before.<br/><br/>Furiously unsheathing her crescent shortsword she lashed out at its head and forelegs. Even half-prone and on her back, she hoped to get a few cuts in before the spider could strike again.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Roll Result: Eshalu rolled: 4d3, adding -4to the total<br/>Comment: Attack roll against spider<br/>Result: 3, 3, 1, 3,<br/>Total: <strong>6</strong><br/><strong>TUP</strong> - separately, did you take the <em>Killing Blow</em> into account for my previous attack, or did I just misremember what it does  :-[</div></div>