The Web of Four Offerings

A round ruin chamber breathes cold, damp air through shattered masonry, and every surface wears a skin of old silk. Four stone spiders crouch above a sealed door, their eyes set with dull glass that catches candlelight like insect wetness. In the center, a web-carved lock plate surrounds four empty offering cups, while pale threads pulse faintly whenever anyone speaks above a whisper. When a correct token is set into a cup, the nearby glass eyes flare once and the door grinds a finger-width open; wrong placements make the webs tighten, hiss, and spit a sting of dust and needle-sharp darts from the walls.