Editing Beneath Castle Everglory: LEVEL 5: The Palace (section)

=8.  Great Hall=
This 20 yard by 40 yard oak-paneled hall is crawling with spiders, to the point that the walls and ceiling constantly seem to be moving and there is a continual whisper of scuttling legs.  A long table runs down the middle of the room, covered by a white sheet of web, as are the chairs around it.  One chair, larger than the others, has been hoisted up from its place at the far end of the table and is now suspended 8 feet in the air at 45 degrees.  Nestled in the web with the end of its abdomen resting in the chair is a massive black spider the size of a cow.  This is Grandmother Chtikrix.

==Monster==

===Grandmother Chtikrix===
Grandmother Chtikrix is a massive black spider, hairless and with eight gleaming beady eyes.  She will do her best to stay off the ground and out of the reach of the PCs.  She likes to sit in her chair, but she is perfectly capable of scuttling up her web and and standing upside down on the 12 foot ceiling.

Grandmother Chtikrix isn’t sure if she is going to eat the PCs or not.  It may depend on how entertaining they are.  She will initiate conversation if given a chance and speaks Elvish and broken Dwarvish.  She has no interest in helping the PCs but will agree to spare their lives if they amuse her.  She likes dances, songs, stories and jokes.  However, some content will make her angry.  She hates jokes that rely on an understanding of humanoid social rules, because she doesn’t get them.  She also hates romantic tales that end in a man and a woman living happily ever after, because she ate her true love’s head in a fit of passion.  Finally, stories in which heroes slay monsters may offend her if she identifies with the monster.  She will not warn the PCs about these sore points.

In combat, she is likely to cast Control Animal (Spider Swarm) (see below) and Animate Shadow to keep her foes occupied.  Difficult targets, such as well-armored warriors, are likely to be hit with Spider Silk, of which Grandmother Chtikrix can project four strands at once.  If damaged, she may cast Steal Vitality to heal herself.  She will defend herself from magic with Meta spells (such as Dispel Magic).  She quite enjoys biting people if it isn’t too dangerous and may even come down to the floor for the opportunity.  She likes to cast Pestilence at fleeing foes and if she needs to escape, she will use Shapeshift to change into a swallow and fly away.

{{GURPSNPCTraits|25|15|16|12|40|25|18|40|6|6|1|8|11|12|N/A|Bite-18 3d Impaling.  Any character damaged by the bite of Grandmother Chtikrix is the subject of an Enslave spell, cast at level 21.|360° Vision; Clinging; Combat Reflexes; Extra Legs (Eight Legs; Long, Can walk over SM 0 or smaller adventurers without needing to evade); Horizontal; Infravision; No Fine Manipulators; Super Jump 1 (10-yard jump); Wild Animal. |None|Dire Animal |Speaks Elvish and broken Dwarvish.}}

'''Spells:'''  Knows the following spells at level 21:  all Hard Animal college spells (including Shapeshifting for most normal birds, reptiles and mammals), all Hard Meta college, and all Hard Necromancy spells that do not deal with the undead, demons or spirits.


===Grandmother Chtikrix’ Spider Swarm===
{{GURPSNPCTraits|0|0|0|0|20|5|0|0|4|4|1|0|N/A|N/A|N/A|Bite. Automatically hits anyone in the swarm's hexes.  Victim must roll vs. HT every time they are bitten or be at a cumulative -4 to DX for 24 hours.|Swarm; Wild Animal. |None|Animal |None}}

See GURPS Campaigns p.461 for swarm rules.

==Treasure==
On her second right foreleg, Grandmother Cthtikrix wears a gold bracelet set with eight small circles of black onyx ($16,000, 1 lb).  The bracelet is too wide to be worn by a normal human and has the unpleasant side-effect of attracting mundane spiders.