[[Oof, hope you're feeling better now after being sick.]]

Fiselius feels a little shiver run down his spine at upon seeing the spiderwebs. But he does permit himself a smile at knowing they're singed. Seems something had the right idea. "Flames seem natural enough," he says to the party, "but we may have another interloper with us down here. Just hope they're not against us or we may see a burning need to get away." He looks around the room for a possible water source. "Do we want to snuff these flames a take a deeper look?" he asks the party.

Emmaline draws her sword. "Well, we are being paid to clear out the basement. Might as well go where there's something to clear out. What say you all?"

Izore exhales softly, with a small relief when she hears the gnome's words. His knowledge of the arcane gives her confidence that things might not be as bad as it looked initially with those random fires burning in the stillness of the ruins. 

"Maybe we should check together what is inside the room?" She looks between the two door frames, a bit hesitantly. "Like, I mean, stick together, just in case some more giant rats or giant slicing blades appear from somewhere..."

"Sounds like a good plan."    "Lets go see who or what started these fires".

(@VitusW I'm feeling better now, thank you!)

Your characters decide to enter the doorway to the left, stepping into what seems to be a long-abandoned wizard's lab of sorts. The walls of the dark, smoldering room are lined with bookcases, the books and alchemy equipment burned and scattered about in remnants across the scorched room. A closed door stands to the left of the far wall, its wood rotted and singed. As you step further into the room, you feel something crunch beneath your feet. When you look down, you find a charred piece of a giant rat's corpse — but even worse is the hair-raising sensation of being watched.

Suddenly, a distinct hissing sound can be heard, and a stream of burning cobwebs are shot straight through the darkness and towards Vonbek. (Attack Roll: 15) The stream of flaming spiderweb lands upon the stone floor right in front of him, missing the Barbarian by only an inch — and the substance bubbles and smokes on the ground. When you turn in the direction it came from, the source of the room's fires are made immediately clear.

A giant spider clings to the ceiling in the left corner of the room, lurching above your character's heads. Its impossibly long, spindly legs stretch across the stone walls, the beast nearly ten feet across from the furthest points of its limbs. Its multitude of eyes seem to burn within its head, glowing like torchlights in the darkness. And what appear to be veins consume the spider's body, running across its hairy body like rivulets of lava — burning red. Everybody, go ahead and roll for initiative!

Initiative 8 (and FWIW, if you ever want to pre-roll initiative for us to speed things along, I'm 100% okay with that)...

How high up is the spider? I assume it's out of melee range?

Fiselius' mouth gapes in awe at the arachnid as it comes out of hiding. "That's a sp-sp-sp-spider!" he shouts.

Initiative: 1+2 = 3

[[OOC: Like Mao, I'm also alright with DM-rolled initiative if it helps things. Way I see it is that it's just setting up the firing order.]]

Izore, following the rest of the group, wrinkles her nose as the stench of burning flesh assaults her senses, bringing an unpleasant taste in her mouth and a burning sensation in her eyes. So at first, she doesn't really realise what has caused distress to the wizard, until she finally looks up. 

"Oh gods," the ranger mutters as she takes an involuntary step back, rat remains crunching under her boots.

Initiative: 1 + 3

lol we got the same broken dice with Fiselius

Btw, if the spider is out of melee range, I'd love to know if there are any shelves or scalable furnishings that can be climbed to get closer to the beast.

(okay, I might implement that in the future — I just don't wanna feel like I'm taking any agency away, yknow! also, we'll start the battle without Garith and Vonbek for now, and they can hop in whenever they're able!)

The giant spider, which seems to crackle with heat above your heads like the dying embers of a fireplace, is the first to attack while the adventurers stare in horror. It prepares another burning stream of webbing with a hiss, this time aiming for Emmaline. (Attack Roll: 23) With the Paladin's close distance, the burning webs shoot straight through the darkness towards her — and a moment later, Emmaline is covered with flaming cobwebs that trap her to the stone floor, unable to move. The Paladin is now Restrained, but can attempt to escape with a DC 12 Strength check as an action during her turn. If she doesn't do so successfully, the flaming cobwebs deal her 3 fire damage. With that, it's Emmaline's turn, with Izore on deck! How will Emmaline react?

(I'll say the ceilings are ten feet high, so the giant spider is just a bit out of melee range! the original map didn't include enough bookshelves for my liking, so count the blue boxes as extra bookshelves — those and the other furniture are able to be climbed!)

Vonbek initiative 17+3 =20. (Sorry for the delay, don’t disrupt the game, just poke me when it’s my turn)

Not much for Emmaline to do other than try to break free of the webs.

She breaks free (with a 23 Strength roll), smothers any fire left on her and darts for the eastern door, urging to the others to do the same. "We can attack the beast at range, using the cover of the wall." She says. "As long as we're in the room, it has a decisive advantage on us."

Seeing the ferocity with which the spider attacks Emmaline, Izore looks around trying to find some cover, as she prepares her longbow. The half-elf swiftly runs to her right, using the furniture (table/bookcase? not sure) close to her as a shield, as she prepares one of her arrows. While the creature's attention is perhaps still on the paladin, the teenager aligns the arrow and pulls the bowstring taut. Aiming at the head of the spider, she breathes in and out to steady herself, then releases.

Attack: 21 Damage: 4

Fiselius, encouraged by the arrow Izore sinks into the spider finds his courage and waves his hand in arcane gestures. However he forsakes the normal arcane words of spellcasting in exchange for words more fitting of the current situation, "DIE, SPIDER, DIE!" and hurls a bolt of frost to the spider.

Ray of Frost
To-Hit: 15+5 = 20
Damage: 6 cold
Additional Effect: spider's speed is slowed by 10ft until the start of Fiselius' next turn

Seeing Emmaline take to the hall he says, "Outmaneuver the spider? Sounds good to me." and then darts out to follow her.

Vonbek, unable to retreat without first engaging the spider, uses his short bow to loose an arrow at the beast.  Hoping that their combined attack can overpower the spider before it has time to react, Vonbek holds his ground and waits to see if his arrow hits true.

To Hit: 20 + 5 = 25

Damage: 5 + 3 = 8

Each of the adventurer's ranged attacks strike the giant burning spider directly, and its large legs twitch and curl towards its body, vibrating to create a horrible hissing sound. The giant arachnid already looks greatly harmed by the arrows boring straight into its head, and Fiselius's freezing spell causes the flaming beast to shudder as it climbs across the ceiling to a vantage point where it has all eight eyes on the doorway. Its abdomen twitches, seemingly preparing to launch another flaming burst of webbing towards the adventurers at the doorway — but nothing is released, and the giant spider trembles in anger. Instead, it moves to attack the nearest character, Izore, with a bite. Its huge body scrambles across the bookcase that the Ranger hides behind, aiming for Izore with its burning fangs. (Attack Roll: 15) The spider narrowly misses, and the Ranger goes unharmed. And with that, it's Emmaline's turn to react, with Izore on deck!

(added the bookshelves myself while I was editing the map, sorry if they look a lil wonky lmao)

(Is it on top of the bookshelf now? If so, could Emmaline reach it with a melee attack if she ran up there?)

(yup!)

Well then... Let's get in there.

Emmaline charges at the beast, swinging her longsword at the spider... for (eek) 11 to hit and holds her position.

Izore's heart leaps in excitement as her arrow hits the spider in the head, but that feeling quickly evaporates as it moves its attention to her, jumping on the bookshelf she has been hiding behind. The air around the teenager suddenly gets filled with hissing and crackling sounds of burning flames, and an intense smell of something acrid and smoky, like a mixture of burning wood, charred flesh and sulfur. That acrid smoke leaves a bitter, ashy taste in her mouth, as if she is in the middle of a wildfire. Overwhelmed by the sensations, the ranger almost forgets to duck as the spider's fangs snap above her head.

With Emmaline charging back into the room, Izore uses this opportunity to change her position, moving to the left of the bookshelf, stopping for a moment to shoot another arrow at the monstrous arachnid's head.

Attack: 18 Damage: 11

Then she keeps going, until she finds her new position*.

(On the left, shorter side of the two bookshelves)