Araneae Macabre - aka Skull-spider

“Gah!” Feris cried out, as the sleeve of his jacket began to burn and smoke.  He quickly dropped his pack and pulled the now ruined jacket off.  His arm bore an angry purplish burn mark.

The party paused in the dark corridor, carefully scanning all around, looking for the source of the attack.  From a dark hole near the roof of the corridor a small skull grinned down at them, a bit of green ooze dangling from its chin. 

Allianora held up her holy symbol and ordered the abomination back.  The bone visage merely grinned back at her, the ooze falling from its chin and dribbling down the wall. 

Nimble hung back, letting Rathgar’s bulk shield him, but a soft tapping noise caused him to look over his shoulder.  Three more skulls on spider’s legs were behind him, two on the wall, and one on the floor.  A gob of green ooze shot out from the one on the floor towards Nimble’s face.  He ducked, and the ooze went past him harmlessly.  In return he tossed a dagger at the creature, lodging it firmly in the eye socket.  The creature went wild, legs flailing, spinning, crashing into the wall before it fell to its side, legs still twitching, oozing green ichor onto the floor.  

 

Araneae Macabre - aka Skull-spider

Armor Class: 4

Hit Dice: 4 (S)

Move: 180’ (60’)

Attacks: 1 acid spit (15’ range)

Damage: 1d8

No. Appearing: 0 (1d8)

Save As: F3

Morale: 11

Treasure Type: none

Intelligence: 0

Alignment: Neutral

XP Value: 75

Monster Type: Lowlife (Uncommon).

This soft bodied spider inhabits the skulls of animals, most often humanoids though other creatures have been noted, much as a hermit crab inhabits shells.  Unlike many other spiders, the skull-spider has no ability to weave or navigate a web, but instead uses its acid spit to dissolve its prey and create its nest.  They are immune to acid attacks themselves, though the skulls they inhabit are not.  Should they be successfully hit with an acid attack, their armor class drops to 7.  

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This beast is a Halloween decoration I picked up last year on clearance.