FILAMENTS OF FEAR

From the adventures and voyages of Captain William Raven.

A few days ago we arrived in the port of Manila on board the HMS Buffalo. With us were 40 barrels of ginger and 6 crates of the purest porcelain from Shanghai, that we delivered in the name of the East India Company. Also, a special delivery for Colonel Mainard was accomplished without further incident. But my presence in Manila was not exclusively motivated by delivering freight. For some time now the waters have been troubled by the so-called Wokou – a group of Asian pirates – that gained quite a reputation through raiding the merchant-ships of the East India Company. I was tasked with gathering more information about their whereabouts and plans. During the last few days, while I was waiting for my contact, all preparations for the journey on to Sydney were made. I used the remaining time to restock our supplies and arrange some necessary small repairs on the HMS Buffalo.

Shortly before we were ready to depart my contact invited me to a conspiratory meeting in one of the harbor dives. Our spies had finally found evidence of one of the Wokou bases. My orders were to descry the hideout and initiate a first attack to test their strength. In contrast with most of the other ships sailing these waters under the British flag, we were perfectly equipped for smaller engagements. So, we set course for south-south-west and made good progress during the first days of our journey. On the fourth day we spotted the carrack Endeavour, floating heavily damaged and nearly disabled in the vast ocean. We came alongside the ship and their Captain informed me that they had been attacked by one of the pirate junks close to an archipelago two days ago. The description from Captain Hawkins complemented the reports of my informants and, after taking the remaining mariners on board, we continued to pursue the Wokou.

A few days after our encounter with the Endeavour first doubts of being on the right course arose as we saw neither land nor pirates. Thankfully these thoughts were quickly quelled as our lookout spotted a number of smaller isles on the horizon. We circled around the nearest and largest isle at a befitting distance and finally discovered the ship that so badly harried the Endeavour hidden in one of the small bays.

We approached the berth of the junk under the cover of darkness. Neither a position light nor any other lighting on board suggested the presence of pirates. Clearly they had all disembarked to celebrate their last quarry, but even the beach was empty. Close before day break there were still no traces of the pirates, though our lookout claimed to have recognized the sails of a frigate in the far distance just before it vanished behind the next languet.

We moved alongside the junk and I led a team of boarders only to find the ship was completely empty. It appeared as though every portable object has been removed from onboard. After ordering a watch on the ship I sent out a small troop to scout the nearby area. Soon they returned and reported an abandoned camp close to the berth. Since the first heralds of a storm had reached the isle, I gave order to seize the camp while leaving a small team of soldiers to secure the ships.

At dawn we witnessed a marvelous natural spectacle. Thousands and thousands of dewdrops bedewed spider silks completely covering the forest and our provisional camp. It seemed as if the whole isle sparkled. The previous day we had not noticed this phenomenon but now we stared at a spectacular work of art. After a short pause a handpicked crew of soldiers and I followed traces of the pirates deeper into the heartland.

It was not difficult to stay on their track. Clearly they had orientated themselves with the spider webs leading towards the center of the isle. Soon we noticed that some of the filaments merged into thicker strings – some of them as thick as a man’s arm. We continued to follow the aisle that must have been cut into the thicket by the pirates – they didn’t appear to expect any pursuit.

On the third day – we must have been in the eye of the isle – we reached a huge clearing. At its center a rocky, and most likely the tallest, hill on the isle rose above everything else. And from all directions silvery silk was spun towards a cave entry yawning like an open wound at the bottom of the hill. At its mouth laid the pale bones of countless animals and to our abject horror there were even human skulls mingled therein. Attached to some of the bones were the ragged remains of clothes – we suddenly had a new theory as to what happened to the Wokou pirates.

But how was this possible? The pirates had but a few days advantage, yet these carcasses looked as though they had been rotting in the sun for months. Before we could waste further thought on this we recognized a slight shiver of the spider webs. Soon the strings began to vibrate like sailing ropes in a storm and a vile odor washed out of the cave like an ocean wave. I had just enough time to order my men to a defensive position before an eight-legged nightmare emerged from the darkness…


So, those of you that aren’t too arachnophobic now have the chance to add a brand new adventure set to your games of Isles of Terror! The adventure set “The Eight-Legged Goddess” contains three tense adventures with new ideas and mechanisms. These adventures are linked by another great overarching story and the set features 5 new minion types plus a whole new exploration deck fitting the setting.

In addition, you will receive 6 new places and all the tokens needed to implement the new rules for poison, webs and antidotes. And don’t forget about the terror board and all components needed to experience the adventures cooperatively or on your own!