Blade Spider (Basic Lore)

Blade Spider (CR 11)
Neutral - Large - Vermin
Blade spiders are monstrous arachnids that lurk in nearly any areas with adequate hiding spaces and enough foot traffic to keep them fed. This can be forests, mines, inside wells and even along lightly-traveled roads. Blade spiders have bodies that average about 7 feet in length, and tend to keep their legs tight to their bodies. These spiders get their name from their blade-like legs, which have a razor-sharp point and a cutting edge along the length of the final joint of the leg. Blade spiders prefer fresh prey, rarely killing more than they can eat in a single meal. Humanoids, horses and cattle are their preferred food. Another aspect of the blade spider is their webs. Blade spiders can rapidly fill an area with webbing that is full of razor-sharp strands. These webs serve to both entrap their victims as well as weaken them through blood loss. These webs are easy to see when seen from an angle, but when seen from straight on, they are nearly invisible. Blade spiders sometimes litter acres of forest with webs as a way of being alerted to activity in their territory. A blade spider's venom acts to liquify the insides of a creature over about an hour, whereupon the spider slurps out the gooey center like a juice-box. The leftover corpse is little more than a hollow suit of skin wrapped in webs.