Weave of Arachne

A stealth descent into a temple where fate is woven wrong.

Style: Shadowed temple infiltration for 6 level-8 PCs, with curse pressure and a hard unweaving finale.
Win: Steal or sever the rewritten fate-thread and leave Arachne bound to her own pattern.
Lose: The new tapestry fixes the party's names into obedient futures and spreads the curse to Misthaven.
Maguffin: Moonbone Shuttle · Ally: Melantho, Spider-Touched Novice · QG: Nikarete the Unwritten

"Do not cut the shining thread first. Find the knot that taught it pride, and pull while nobody breathes."

Major Beats

Nikarete's missing future is visible as a blank space in every reflection.
The temple punishes names, pride, and careless cutting.
Melantho proves the cult has victims inside its guards.
Arachne can be beaten by craft, humility, and escape as much as by blades.

Difficulty

Tier	Adjust
As Written ★	6 PCs · APL 8
Library Standard	6 PCs · APL 8 — Identical to As Written — this guide’s baseline is already 6 PCs at average level 8.
Easier	APL 4–6: reduce minion counts ~30%; DCs −2; boss loses one recharge or legendary option.
Harder	APL 10–12: boss HP +25–35%; +1 legendary action; add a lieutenant or extra wave.

ENC 1 — The Hem of the Temple

Skill / Medium · ~45 min · Drain channel, hanging dyed silks, guard alcoves, skylight web, and novice dormitory door.

Infiltration challenge: 6 successes before 3 failures at DC 15 using Stealth, Deception, Arcana, or Weaver's Tools.
Speaking a true name aloud gives the Fate-Spider Swarm advantage when it appears.
The Moonbone Shuttle lifts one alarm thread for an automatic success.
Non-combat route: present a flawless false prayer to make Silk-Vowed Adepts escort the party inward.

ENC 2 — Novices at the Pattern Wells

Medium · ~55 min · Three circular wells, thread bridges, bell-webs, novice worktables, and a sealed loom lift.

Investigation/Arcana DC 16 finds the true name-knot; each failure adds 1 curse mark to a PC.
Recruit Melantho by sparing her and showing the poem, which lets her lower a bell-web.
The Loom-Golem animates if two bell-webs ring or if a fate-thread is cut with a mundane blade.
The Moonbone Shuttle can move a curse mark from a PC onto a blank spool.

ENC 3 — Arachne's Unfinished Tapestry

Hard · ~70 min · Colossal vertical loom, web balconies, suspended name-spools, shuttle rails, and a moonlit tear in the roof.

At initiative 20, Arachne weaves a doom line; 4 doom lines finish the curse unless disrupted.
The Moonbone Shuttle carries Nikarete's true name through three crossings to sever the false fate.
Win by completing the three crossings, binding Arachne in her own pride-knot, or escaping with the true thread.
Killing Arachne leaves the tapestry thrashing; someone must still unweave or bear the curse.

STAT BLOCKS

Melantho - AC 14/HP 62 - lowers one web alarm
Silk-Vowed Adept - AC 15/HP 68 - marks fate threads
Fate-Spider Swarm - AC 14/HP 91 - name-tracking poison
Loom-Golem - AC 18/HP 152 - restraining warp beam
Arachne - AC 17/HP 188 - doom line weaving

Maguffin

Moonbone Shuttle

Lets a PC lift one thread without touching it, granting advantage on Stealth or Arcana at a loom.
Can carry the true name through Arachne's web, severing the rewritten fate without killing her.

NPC / ALLY

Nikarete the Unwritten

She wants her stolen future back before her unborn child is woven into Arachne's service.
She will not accept a rescue that simply transfers her curse to another innocent name.

Melantho, Spider-Touched Novice

Recruit Enc. 2: Spare her after she raises an alarm, then show her Nikarete's original poem.
AC 14 · HP 62 · Needle dagger +7 to hit, 10 piercing plus 7 poison; can lower one web alarm.

Remember

Steal or sever the rewritten fate-thread and leave Arachne bound to her own pattern.

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