Silverbell Aranea (Male) — NPC/Encounter #
Aranea Argyrophase — Seamount Guardian — Grapple Specialist
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Hit Dice | 4+2** (avg 20 HP) |
| AC | 14 (natural) |
| AV | 2 |
| HR / FR | +4 / +8 (FR +2 above HD baseline) |
| FD | 18 |
| Move | Swim 120 ft (40 ft encounter) / Ground 60 ft (20 ft encounter) |
| Attacks | 4: 2 foreleg (grapple FR vs. FD or 1d4 claw) + 1 bite (1d8 + venom) + 1 Jet Phase (2d6, special) |
| Grapple AC | +3 AC while at least one leg grappled to opponent |
| Pin | 2 successful grapple attacks in one round → pinned + auto-webbed |
| No. Appearing | 2d6 (patrol) / 3d10 (seamount defense) |
| Save As | Fighter 4 |
| Morale | 9 |
| Treasure | None carried (bell-city treasure: Type C) |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| XP | 350 |
| Intelligence | High |
| Size | Medium-Large (elongated) |
Description: Slender, elongated spider with silver-shimmering body hair that traps a visible air layer in water. Long legs with exceptional grapple reach. Moves with fluid efficiency in three-dimensional water terrain. In open water the silver shimmer makes them visible at distance; against seamount coral or dark ocean floor they are nearly invisible.
Combat behavior: Male Silverbell Aranea do not open with the bite. The standard engagement sequence is: close to grapple range (Jet Phase if needed), attempt two foreleg grapples, pin on success, bite the pinned target. Against multiple opponents, one male will grapple-hold while others close. Against Devil Fish specifically, they use bubble screens to disrupt sensory systems before closing.
Grapple mechanics:
- Each foreleg attack that hits constitutes a successful grapple if the attacker’s FR exceeds the defender’s FD
- Grappled creature: –2 to all attack rolls, cannot use movement
- 2 grapples in same round: pinned — fully immobilized, auto-webbed as free action
- Grapple AC (+3): applies as long as any grapple is maintained; lost if all grapples broken
Venom: Save vs. Paralysis or immobilized 1d6 turns. The water-adapted venom disperses slightly — at range greater than 5 ft from the bite point in open water, the save receives a +2 bonus. In enclosed bell-city spaces or against a pinned target, no modifier.
Phase abilities (as PC entry): Air Phase (at-will), Bubble Screen (3/day), Jet Phase (3/day).
Encounter context: Male Silverbell Aranea encountered outside their bell-city are on patrol. They do not engage surface vessels or creatures that are not approaching a seamount they occupy. If a seamount is approached, the patrol engages without warning and without apparent interest in communication. They disengage when the threat is neutralized or has retreated — they do not pursue beyond their patrol boundary.
Silverbell Aranea (Female) — NPC/Encounter #
Aranea Argyrophase — Bell-City Keeper — Double Caster
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Hit Dice | 4+2** (avg 20 HP) |
| AC | 13 (natural) |
| AV | 1 |
| HR / FR | +4 / +6 |
| FD | 16 |
| Move | Swim 120 ft (40 ft encounter) / Ground 60 ft (20 ft encounter) |
| Attacks | 1 bite (1d8 + venom) OR 1 MU spell OR 1 Cleric spell |
| No. Appearing | 1d4 (within bell-city) / 1 (rarely outside) |
| Save As | Cleric 4 |
| Morale | 8 (10 defending bell-city) |
| Treasure | Bell-city: Type D + silk-song knowledge (DM value) |
| Alignment | Neutral or Lawful |
| XP | 450 |
| Intelligence | High to Exceptional |
| Size | Medium (slightly smaller than male) |
Description: Slightly smaller than the male with iridescent silver-white coloration rather than the male’s darker silver-streak pattern. The female’s coloration is more uniform — less camouflage, more reflective — consistent with a role inside the bell-city rather than open-water patrol.
Combat behavior: Females rarely appear in open-water combat. When the bell-city itself is under assault, the female fights from within the bell architecture — using Bubble Screens through the silk walls (the phase-compressed air passes through the waterproof silk), casting through bell entry points, and directing male defenders. In a desperate defense, a female Silverbell Aranea is genuinely dangerous: MU 5th level + Cleric 5th level + Bubble Screen area control + Jet Phase emergency escape.
Spellcasting: MU to 5th level (typical memorization: Invisibility, Web, Hold Person, Confusion, Telekinesis). Cleric to 5th level (typical: Cure Light Wounds, Hold Person, Prayer, Neutralize Poison, Cure Critical Wounds).
The silk-song libraries: Female Silverbell Aranea in established bell-cities maintain vibration-pattern libraries encoding three thousand years of adapted Aglamoth knowledge. The DM may treat these as a source of pre-BC 3000 magical theory, Aglamoth architectural knowledge, or historical information about the sinking that the surface world has no other source for. Accessing this knowledge requires establishing communication with the females — a non-trivial task given the Silverbell Aranea’s complete disinterest in outside contact.
Venom: Identical to male — Save vs. Paralysis or immobilized 1d6 turns.
Phase abilities (as PC entry): Air Phase (at-will), Bubble Screen (3/day), Jet Phase (3/day).
Encounter context: Female Silverbell Aranea are almost never encountered outside a bell-city. An adventuring party that has somehow established contact with a Silverbell Aranea community and been permitted inside a bell will encounter females in their normal context — tending the silk-song libraries, maintaining the air domes, conducting the divine practices of the bell-city tradition. They will not initiate communication. If the party has something the community needs — which almost nothing from the surface world does — a female may be designated as the contact point.
Bell-City Encounter — Structure #
A Silverbell Aranea bell-city on a Thanegioth seamount is a distinct encounter environment:
Approach: Seamount visible from 200 ft in clear water; silk structure visible from 100 ft; silver shimmer of patrolling males visible from 60 ft. Males engage at 40 ft if the party is approaching directly.
Patrol composition: 2d6 males per seamount face; total patrol complement 4d6 males.
Bell-city interior: If the party somehow gains entry (extremely unlikely without establishing contact — the entry points are sealed silk valves that require knowing the phase-access protocol):
- 1d6 females per dome cluster
- 2d4 males as interior guards
- 3d6 young (non-combatant; 1 HD; no phase abilities yet)
- Silk-song library: vibration-pattern records requiring both spider communication ability and the knowledge that this is what you’re looking at
Communication: The Silverbell Aranea communicate in vibration-patterns transmitted through water and bell-silk. Surface Aranea could theoretically communicate with them — the vibration-pattern language is a descended form of the Aglamoth silk-song tradition. A Preserved Aranea could communicate directly; a Herathian or Isle of Dawn Aranea with knowledge of the silk-song tradition could communicate with effort. No other race has the capability without magical assistance.
Design Note #
The Silverbell Aranea is the fourth Aglamoth survivor population documented in this Crucible. The Preserved froze in Ka’s Spell. The Nomad Aranea scattered across the archipelago surface. The Thanegioth nomadic survivors built primitive communities on the islands. The Silverbell Aranea went down. Each population represents a different answer to the question: when Aglamoth fell, what did survival require? The Silverbell answer is the most radical — three thousand years of complete isolation, underwater, in bell-cities descended from the architecture that sank. They are simultaneously the most alien expression of Aranea biology and the most direct heir of what Aglamoth actually was: spider-silk cities on stone foundations, maintained against all odds by creatures who remember where they came from.
