Go with it. Write quickly. Let them have the successful completion of the spiderfolk thing lead through and to some coded puzzle that prompts them to an NPC that "knows things", is a connected character of sorts who purposefully or accidentally nudges towards the next level closer in y⛄our web where the snail thing is at the center but the things you invent, the note "accidentally" left behind the stuff along the way either tricks them along on your adventure, gives them some agency on challenging the inte♏ractive nature of your semi-open world. If you have never, listen to The Adventure Zone podcast with the McElroy brothers and their Dad, go hit the very first ones. My god what a bunch of smartasses that try to make youngest bro Griffin's DM life difficult. Sometimes he's like "Nope. It doesn't. I don't have to roll for it..." in a very smart assy way, and sometimes he's "Okay I like this...now how should I roll to see how this goes". I am so this type of player and my daughter is so this type of DM.