The Black Spider

Dead · Drow wizard · Held Gundren captive

Encountered	Session 6
Found in	Wave Echo Cave
Employed	Glasstaff, Klarg's goblins, and a great many bugbears
Wanted	The Forge of Spells

A drow wizard hunting the old magic in Wave Echo Cave, and the reason this whole story started.

What he set in motion

He learned that Gundren Rockseeker had been surveying the cave. So he had him ambushed on the road, carried off, and held — not to kill him, but to make him lead the way through.

Everything the party fought before reaching the cave was downstream of that decision. Klarg held Sildar because of it. Glasstaff was on his payroll. Even the bugbears clearing the mine were his — underfed, unpaid, and open to a better offer, which is exactly what Arthas gave them.

What he wanted

He knew the Forge of Spells was in the cave. He hadn't found it.

The offer

Five nodes of power are scattered through the cave. Each one powers a single fabrication.

Bring him the nodes, and Gundren goes free. No questions asked.

The party debated it, decided he couldn't be trusted, and — separately, and honestly — decided they wanted the Forge for themselves.

How he fell

They attacked, Fenro disarming the bugbear holding Gundren at knifepoint.

When the Spider went down, he stood back up as a drider — half drow, half spider — and the second form proved considerably worse than the first.

He fell anyway. He was carrying a node, which made two.

Worth remembering

He spent the whole campaign trying to reach the Forge and never managed it. The party killed him, took his node, and lit it themselves within the same session.

He wanted magic items too.