Giant albino tomb spider

Giant albino tomb spider Level 30 Family Arachnid family creatures Body Type Arachnid Classification(s) Living Area(s) Found The Graveyard BCS Yes HP 350 Speed

Attack Attributes Physical Attacks Ensnare 222 AS Bite 212 AS Special Offensive Abilities Web

Defense Attributes Armor Brigandine Armor (natural) ASG 12N Defensive Strength (DS) Melee Ranged Bolt 93 Unarmed Defense Factor UDF Target Defense (TD) Bard Base Cleric Base Empath Base Paladin Base Ranger Base Sorcerer Base Wizard Base Minor Elemental Major Elemental Minor Spiritual Major Spiritual Minor Mental

Treasure Attributes Coins No Gems No Magic Items No Boxes No Skin a sheer white spider mandible Other

Glowing an eerie, pale white, the albino tomb spider clambers through underground tunnels, grottos and caves in search of anything alive it can trap and consume.  Its long, thin forelegs reach out to grasp and drag potential food back to the glistening fangs, while its shorter, muscular back legs propel it forward with surprising speed.  Totally hairless, the albino tomb spider gazes around through the only bodily part that has any color--its oversized crimson eyes.

Hunting strategies

This section has not been added yet; please add to it now!

Other information

An example of a giant albino tomb spider's web maneuver.

A giant albino tomb spider rises on its legs, tucking its abdomen beneath itself to aim its spinneret at you!
[SMR result: 41 (Open d100: 64)]
You dodge the webbing with such amazing finesse that you inspire all of those around you!

Behind the Scenes

The extension of the burial mound in The Graveyard appears to be rooted in allusions to H.P. Lovecraft stories. These spiders would correspond to the spiders who battled the almost humans from the Plateau of Leng. It is a subtle link between Shadow Valley and The Broken Lands. Since the word "Vala" is used as a language game in the story, it is worth considering Ungoliant as a destroyer of trees, given the unexplained webs in Shadow Valley. In this context Bandur Etrevion reflects Morgoth, brother of Manwe, considering the Etrevions are analogs of Set and Osiris.

Their presence in the frigid cold and placement between the waking and dreaming worlds may refer Atlach-Nacha, the Spider God associate of Tsathoggua from the Hyperborean cycle who resided in the Arctic. This extension of the Lovecraft mythos is possibly relevant for the Dark Shrine in The Broken Lands. Similarly, Robert Howard's mythos calls the serpent god Set instead of Yig, with the serpent men residing in Hyperborea after fleeing Yoth. They were the ones who brought the toad idols out of N'kai, possibly tying them in the underlying subtexts to the myklian.

The thread may come from "The Seven Geases" (as in "geas curse") by Clark Ashton Smith, where the protagonist is a human sacrifice following a progression of curses through the underworld. He is sent into the bowels of Mount Voormithadreth in the Arctic as a blood sacrifice to the toad-god Tsathoggua, who sends him to Atlach-Nacha, who sends him to the icy palace (with "mazy chambers" and "chill spirit of evil") of the antehuman sorcerer Haon-Dor, witnessing dragons flitting below, and passing a terrible serpent with fangs guarding the stairs. Haon-Dor sends the hunter to be experimented upon by the serpent men below, and ultimately on the ascent back up he plummets into the darkness when the web strands break.

References

• Spider on Wikipedia

Near-level creatures

Level 28 cook's assistant darken dobrem fire ogre giant hawk-owl ki-lin martial eagle moaning spirit Level 29 arctic manticore bristly black tapir grutik shaman ice troll pra'eda scaly burgee Level 30 elder tree spirit giant albino tomb spider hisskra warrior hooded figure hunter troll jungle troll chieftain lesser wood sprite mammoth arachnid tegursh sentry Level 31 ash hag hulking forest ape krynch skeletal ice troll wild hound Level 32 caribou cloud sprite bully ghostly mara giant fog beetle rotting corpse rotting farmhand