(The spiders are just holding the line for now after descending from the trees. Additionally Tarja would know that the Spider’s command did not necessarily dictate attacking the party.) 

"Dam it! He's going to get away isn't he?!"

Ethan looks frustrated as the darkness gets further and further way, torn between stopping Spider and protecting his friends.

Ethan lets out a sigh, but stays by his downed friends, ready to protect them, or help with moving them, if needed.

Seeing that the new spiders are not advancing or attacking, Ethan keeps his Fire Caster at the ready, but doesn't take a shot.

Ethan calls out to Tarja, Zeke and Fae who are further ahead,

"What are we going to do?"

Ethan turns to Elra,

"Is Arvel alright? What about Yeemik?"

Tarja looks at the line of spiders with frustration.

We almost had him! We'll have to prepare better next time. But for now, I think we need to regroup and figure out how we're going to get to the castle and get Gundren. Is this Black Spider even heading back there?

(Movement - head back towards the main group, away from the spiders. Action - ready a spell, if a spider attacks us or a goblin cast 'create bonfire' on the space it ends its movement in.)

"He's... well," she tucks her hair behind her ear while focusing on the pearl's innate power. "He's paralyzed, but also poisoned. I think if i get rid of the poison then he wont be paralyzed anymore. Yeemik should be okay," she looks back to the goblin next to him.

Fae would take a few steps forward and stop about 5 feet behind Zeke. She'd go up on her tip toes, narrowing her eyes as she leans in to keep focus on the spider and what direction he's fleeing too. The wizard would have her arms up, ready to cast a spell, but would hold her attack as to not provoke the new spiders. She'd clench her teeth from disappointment of him getting way.

**Krikket! Potshot!**

The sprite shrugs his shoulders and fires an arrow at the center of the darkness.

Zeke holds his position, shoulders heaving as he fights to stay upright after the battering he endured in the dark.   Keeping his blade inclined towards the spiders, he calls back to the rest of the party 'Let's get Arvel on his feet and fall back - we need a place to recover.'

As Krikket fires another shot the Spider hisses from within the darkness and three more bolts of arcane energy fly out of the blackness in response.  Krikket is preparing to attempt to dodge when they get close but fizzle into sparks and disappear before reaching him.  The black sphere continues down the hill for a bit and then suddenly disappears, the spider nowhere to be seen.  Fae's magic still allows her to sense the Spider's presence, however, as he moves down and to the East away from the direction of the castle.  He continues in this manner for the duration of her spell, moving at somewhat of a normal walking pace.

Eventually the spiders blocking pursuit of the Spider slowly return to their webs and places in the trees.  Vincent is actually able to help the goblin out of the spider webs near where the battle ended.  At first he is tempted to flee, but seeing Yeemik and the other goblin unharmed by the party he cautiously makes his way over to check on the fallen goblin.  Yeemik continues breathing shallowly while resting unconscious on the hillside.

Elra finally feels the pearl's power transfer over to her, and she presses her amulet into Arvel's chest. "I know I've already asked a lot of you today," Elra says, "but can you please cleanse the poison from Arvel's body?"

As the poison leaves his body, Arvel takes a deep breath as his muscles finally relax. He puts his hand on Elra's and smiles up at her.

"Merci, ma belle. Merci."

And in this tender moment, the charlatan secretly slips the two-headed coin in his hand into his pocket for later.

"Oh," Elra cheeks turn a light shade of pink. "Um, don't thank me, thank Oghma!"

Fae would not move from her tiptoes until she felt the Spider was far enough away and his spider henchmen have retreated. The wizard could begin to feel her adrenaline fade away with her emotions of anger and frustration, but she refused to let go of her concentration on the spider until her magic ran out. During this time her eyes would remain black as ink, but instead of emitting a sense of power hunger, they’d have relaxed and seem softer. Her eyes would revert back to their piercing violet when her psychic magic would fade from The Spider.

Once back on the balls of her feet, Fae would flex her hands to stretch her fingers from her spellcasting. ”He’s moved down and to the east of the castle, now at a more casual pace.” She’d glance at her spider bites, only realizing now how reckless she was being to pursue in her current state. But she knew barely took the brunt of it. Fae would look up to Zeke in front of her who had taken the brunt of the Spiders force with Tarja. She’d be slapped with guilt and a little bit of helplessness coming to the realization that she lacks the skills to heal.

Fae would reach out to Zeke, wanting to offer some assistance of any kind. But before she could touch him, she’d pull her hand away worrying she’d only make things worse. Instead she’d just take a couple steps closer, “Shall we regroup with the others then?” She’d lean over the side to look at Tarja a few feet over before looking back to Zeke. The wizard could only offer a small smile at this time. If it seemed needed, she would help either of them over.

The wizard would spend some time watching Elra and Tarja in silence. She had a sense of awe, wonder, pride and respect for these two women who offer so much protection and support to their group. Fae wanted to take a moment of silence to herself to appreciate what every one had to offer and what everyone brought to the table. They survive, because they’re a team. And for that, she was thankful.

"We, um," Elra helps Arvel up if he wants it before going back to Yeemik. "We might need to spend some time recovering. I'm not sure if I'm ready to go and face a castle full of goblins right now. Plus Zeke looks like he could use a rest, if anything."

Ethan looks a little frustrated, looking off into the distance after the disappeared Spider.

He turns and looks at the others, the frustration being replaced with concern.

"Yeah we should probably find a safe place to take a break and assess our injuries."

Ethan scans the immediate area for anything he can see that looks like a defensible location, before looking at the more distant lay of the land, for area's that could be places to travel to for safety.

Tarja watches the Spider and the spiders retreat into the woods.

It's just not right, spiders being under his control like that. Not natural. We'll get him next time. Just need to prepare better. We almost had him. 

Let's find a place to take a break. I think we all could do with a breather.

Tarja also looks for a suitable place for a short rest, transforming into Wolf form to look around the forest. (If needed, perception 18)

"Ya, ya," Elra nods, going to pick up Yeemik. "Um... can someone help me?"

Ethan and Tarja conclude that there’s no obvious great place to rest, but there are rocky cliffs nearby that would at least put a stone wall at their backs.  There is also the more open, rocky hilltop they passed over only ten minutes or so back.  Lastly there appears to be steep terrain on the far side of the lake just beyond the castle that may offer some defensive positions but it is hard to be sure. 

"Maybe the cliff wall?" Elra asks.

Arvel happily helps to move Yeemik. He makes sure the sleeping goblin still has his dagger.

"This is all my fault."

"What makes you say that?" Elra asks, "you were acting on the information you knew at the time. If we already had all the information then there'd be no point in Oghma's acolytes seeking it out."

She puts a hand on Arvel's shoulder and gives him a reasuring smile, "Granted, your decision probably wasn't the best one made with what we did know, but I'm not sure if there would have been a different outcome at the end of the day."