I was pretty mad about this whole thing =(
First, having not played A5, I wasn't as aware of the full scope of Gladwell's evilness. Second, the spiders didn't agro after stealing an egg, so I thought I'd have a chance to turn in the Shaman quest later. Third, *spoiler* I completed all of Gladwell's quests and then killed him when he revealed his plan.
So I guess I'm still trying to figure out (in RP terms ) how the spiders knew I stole an egg, and if they did somehow find out, then how come they didn't also hear about how I killed the evil jerk!? Bah... =/