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The Rust Spider's Rust Glob

The Rust Spider (DCC) does not need to touch your gear to eat it. Its rust glob is a ranged attack, effective out to 30 feet, and it corrodes metal on contact. Plate becomes scrap. A sword becomes a stick. The party’s investment in equipment evaporates in a single die roll, and there is no saving throw that hands the armor back afterward.

The tactical wrinkle is the movement. At 40 feet of ground speed with a 20 foot climb, the Rust Spider treats walls and ceilings as its preferred firing position. It ascends beyond the reach of melee, spits down, and repositions before the party can close. A fight against a Rust Spider on open ground is a different problem than one in a cavern with vertical surfaces, and the spider will choose the cavern.

The counter is unglamorous. Non-metal weapons (clubs, staves, stone, spells) keep working after the globs land. Ranged answers that do not care about corrosion end the encounter before the armor bill comes due.

At the table: Place the Rust Spider on a 25 foot ledge above a narrow passage so it can glob the front line, then climb out of reach before anyone reaches a wall.

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