Fuck no with spiders.

You steadied your breathing, and kept your sword sheathed for the moment. At this point having two hands for stability was more immediately important for survival over a sharp bit of metal. Especially since there was no way you were going to try to fight two unpredictable horrors with a fucking cliff for a battlefield. If they happened to chase you down the tunnel, that would be slightly more even, but it would be suicide to try to take them out there.

You kept a good pace, hardly faster than a walk, but it was steady and safe, and the sound of the waterfall slowly ebbed, dulling into a muted yawn behind you. It gave you some confidence that the insects weren't chasing you, the relative quiet uninterrupted with any horribly offensive spider legs. You shuddered again. You certainly hope that you wouldn't be too off balance if you had to actually kill those things- they rubbed you in every wrong way. You wondered if disgust powered fury could grant you temporary super strength, like love or fervor did in all those sappy epics.

Time passed, your nerves recovered, and the tunnel stretched on. It began to level out and widen, in parallel with the river surface, which slowed as you walked upstream. The dark would have been entirely impossible to see in for a standard human like yourself, if it had not been for a ingenious and exorbitantly priced gnomish creation called _Dark Rights. _It answered the oft bemoaned cry of human and halfling adventurers the world over, who were left in the dark quite literally as their dark sighted companions traipsed through shadowy ruins with ease. In the form of a daily pill, it cost a laborers wages per pop, but could give you the same ability to see as an elf or dwarf in these dark dungeons, so long as you had supply. You had about 30, and took one as a precaution, and were grateful you had. Its utility beat out its cost by far, though you still hated the stupid pun of a name, much less its stupid jingle that got stuck in your head in the wee hours of the night.

It took a bit of time to take in all of the details, one of its shortcomings- the deeper the dark and further the distance, the longer it would take for your vision to really catch it all. But silent as a stalagmite, you perched and watched, feeling very much like some kind of owl, stock still with eyes wide.

[Rolled a 1+2-5(situational)= -3 on Perception]

Though you weren't quite used to the pills effects (was it magic, or more of an alchemical thing?) you did slowly take in the room. Blinking often, your eyes drying out from your staring contest with the abyss, you saw a subterranean dam stretching from wall to wall. It was partially carved, partially metal and wood, which gave you the impression that it was originally a very old dam built by one culture, and was repurposed or repaired recently by another. The stone portions had a marriage of artistry and form that function seemed to effortlessly follow- a visage of a bearded face, features eroded by time, but with a mouth that could open or close to allow more or less water through. There were carvings and reliefs on the stone that hid a stairway in plain sight. Meanwhile, the additions of metal and wood were pure form, the work of efficient survivors- a large portion of the dam had crumbled to rubble, half covered by the flowing water. Its hole was patched by a furious assembly of boards and driven metal stakes, layered and shored up as demanded, and where the stairway ceased to be, a weathered but stable ladder covered the rest of the ascent.

The way up was fairly clear, and you still had yet to see a good enough reason to dissuade you (three spiders would be the baseline for that) so you began to climb the ancient dam. And as well as the pills worked, they didn't do you too much good when moving quickly or trying to see something at distance in a hurry. With that in mind, you struck a torch to give you a small edge as you climbed up into the upper section of the cave.