Wailing Widows

The Wailing Widow gained its name from its unusual hunting and attack methods. By letting its opisthosoma vibrate, the spider creates a variety of sounds that are used to lure or stun its prey. In addition to other more 'spider-like' abilities, they use this sonic manipulation in a way that reminds frighteningly of intelligence and purpose. Although they can survive in some kind of hibernation for unknown periods of time, they are known to be ravenously hungry whenever the opportunity arises. Such devoured extra food is almost immediately used for reproduction, and when such a population increase used up all food sources, they proceed to cannibalism, which is mirrored in their moniker 'widow'.
With the decline of the lizard empire, also the regular extermination campaigns against spider nests were stopped. This and the population growth of their favourite prey, the lancer beetle, let the number of Wailing Widows steadily increase. Strangely enough, accompanied by their growth the once reclusive spiders became more and more bold, raiding settlements and attacking far greater prey than before. It is debated if they are influenced by the land's corruption itself, or by digesting the obviously corrupted lancer beetles. Whatever theory might be correct, in the end both mean that the Wailing Widows have turned into a considerable threat to explorers of unknown areas and also to some remote settlements.

Wailing Widows have 850 hitpoints. They are immune to death and earth damage and cannot be paralyzed. Moreover, they are strong against holy damage. On the other hand, they are weak against fire damage. These creatures can neither be summoned nor convinced. In addition, they are able to sense invisible creatures.

Wailing Widows yield 450 experience points. They carry gold coins, widow's mandibles and sometimes other items with them.