Wizards of the Coast owns the general concept of Dungeons and Dragons, from which this story was devised. However, The New World and its subterranean kingdoms, most notably Wulfstadt and Llyr, are mine. Likewise, the characters, while ostensibly created through the use of the Dungeons and Dragons character generation rules, are also mine. While I am not completely averse to someone requesting to use The New World as a backdrop for a campaign or story, ask my permission first. Chances are you'll have my blessing; after all, I'd be interested to see what someone can do with the political and social backdrop I've created. I won't tell you anything about The New World; that's for you to find out through the stories.

Climbing the Web is the fifth story to take place in The New World campaign setting. It is a prequel of sorts to Fire and Darkness, but works just fine as a stand alone story. While it is not one of the hundred DM ideas presented in the Dungeon Master's Guide, it has been gnawing at my creativity for a year or more now, finally making it next to impossible to focus on my other work, Depths of Hatred. So, in order to get this one out of the way, I've decided to write and post it now. Besides, for some reason everyone likes the people I'll be focusing on in this story…