We started with a menacing floating plant thing with half a wolf sticking out of its pod, coming towards us on the road. High initiative Loki kicked off the action by opening fire on it. It got a couple of tentacle attacks and had an incapacitating stench aura around it but it only lasted 1 round. We briefly debated just getting the dinner with Stradhayna over with so that we could deal with Berez without a deadline hanging over us. It made some sense however Brian announced that he was prepared to Berez and not prepared to do the dinner. So on to Berez. The terrain became more and more swampy and the road worse and worse. Eventually, we had to leave the wagon behind and walk/swim/slog our way as best we could. We had heard the town had been destroyed 100’s of years ago and it appeared no one had been there since. Various ruined huts were seen but no sign of habitation. Several thought they saw someone watching us but when we got to the area, it was only a scarecrow. Although Lady Patrina swore, she saw something moving. Eventually, we headed away from the river, seeking drier land which we hoped would be more likely inhabited. We came across a treehouse sort of hut which was really a hut on top of a massive stump.
It was a small one room hut. Outside were two cages full of ravens. They were squawking up a storm. There was also an upside-down floating (as in air) dragon skull. Eventually, Loki cast Speak with Animals and with a good Nature roll was able to make out what the ravens were saying. Things like, run away or she’ll get you too, please free us, etc. But they couldn’t hear him so Loki snuck up as best he could along with the other sneakers. Once able to ask, he was told that she was in the hut but it wasn’t clear if they meant Baba or the Druid god Laura Stoneheart. Meanwhile, Ambrus tried to pick the lock on one of the cages but found that it was magical. He then used a Knock spell and one cage was free. To our surprise, they flew into the hut. Loki could hear them saying where is she? If she wasn’t there, he decided to risk a peak in. It was a rustic cabin but had two features of note. There was a bruised, battered, bloodied, unconscious woman hanging from manacles on the ceiling over a blood-stained bathtub. And a happy healthy baby girl in a crib in the center of the room with an eerie green glow coming from the floorboards under it. He went over to the woman, climbing on the furniture to avoid the floor. At this point, we went into initiative order to make sure everyone got a turn.
The manacles were again magical and it appeared it would take another Knock spell to open. Kharn and Baron Q looked under the stump in hopes of finding the source of the glow. (In addition to Laura Stoneheart, we were seeking another druid stone that Baba supposedly had.) They did not find anything. Ambrus came in and used another Knock spell to free two manacles. Loki managed to pry one loose from the wooden ceiling. When Kharn got in there, he thought the baby looked like his twin sister Irenna. But we had been assuming it was Baba? He was getting ready to muscle the last manacle when … Baron Q noticed a swarm of bugs coalescing in the dragon skull. It turned into Baba. And soon thereafter, the stump animated. She cast a Polymorph Other on the Baron but he saved. The stump grabbed and flung Ambrus out of the hut and into the swap. It did the same to Kharn but since he beat it on the Athletics check, he was able to use its strength to free Laura and bring her along. The next round, Loki blasted a hole in the floor with his pistols and could see a glowing green stone. But he needed another round to get it. Kaladin scooped up the baby and flew out, leaving Loki alone in the hut.
The next round, she cast Evard’s Grasping Tentacles and Kaladin and the baby failed their saves. The baby went unconscious but then Baba noticed it. She gave out a shriek and dropped the Tentacles. Evidently, she cared about it which proved to be helpful. Baba was flying in her dragon skull which made the night tough on melee Kharn and Ambrus. Lady Patrina cast Slow on the hut, Baba, and the skull. Only the hut failed its saved which proved to be critical. When it went, it only got 1 attack to expel Loki instead of 3. With partial cover from the hole in the floor, it missed. On Loki’s turn, he grabbed the stone and the hut stopped. Outside, Kaladin tried to fly off with the baby after giving it a Good Berry. She cast a Power Word Stun for which for those with less than 150 hit points, there was no save. (That’s an 8th level spell.) However, when Brian realized that would cause Kaladin to fall out of the sky (and probably injuring the baby), he retroactive played into a different course. She had high-level spells but few choices and with avoiding damaging the baby, her options were very limited. She cast Polymorph Other on the baby, turning it into grey mold or something. Since Kaladin was holding it, he took damage. Meanwhile, the rest were taking shots at her however the skull gave her good cover from those below. Loki spent a round, wrapping the stone in his Nature’s Mantle cloak which was magical, Druidy and concealed magic and managed to mask the glow.
Ambrus was hitting with Magic Missile but Kharn and Ambrus started targeting the skull, hoping to bring it (and her) down. In addition, the freed crow swarm were attacking her, doing small damage but since she was ignoring them, it added up. They had the advantage of flight. And Lady Patrina hit her with a Fireball or two. One of them managed to break the concentration on the Polymorph. At this point, Kaladin was off the map. And then she unleashed an illusion or teleport spell and we were all at the bottom of a volcano cauldron. Including Kaladin. And she continued to rise. People continued to take shots but Loki’s range was short and Ambrus ran out of Magic Missiles and Baron Q got out of range and it was looking dire. But Kharn’s strong bow had an extremely long range. He hit the dragon head, knocking it out. And she fell to the earth and took 13d6 of damage. And lived. But now she was ground level and someone finished her off pretty quick. The spell supposedly would last 10 days and it looked like we’d be late for our dinner. Maybe the magic carriage can get down here? But Brian gave us a break and said the illusion ended with her. (The break was “owed” us since the casting time was supposed to be 10 minutes on that spell.)
We searched her body and she had nothing. We went to the chest in her hut but Ambrus found that it had a Glyph of Warding on it. Brian checked Patrina’s character sheet and, after some confusion caused by Fantasy Grounds as to what spells she had memorized, and found she had a Dispel Magic. She had to up cast with a 4th level slot but did so. We did not cast Identify on her behalf, deferring until next time. There was a vial of oil, 2 scrolls, a stone and I think something else. Not a ring or weapon or armor or wand. Plus, some coins and gems. We tried a Good Berry for Laura Stoneheart but she was in too bad of shape. But seemed to be recovering slowly. Loki put the Druid stone next to her and that seemed to help. Once again, we “won” but are left with some tough problems. We certainly do not want to bring the stone, baby or injured Druid to Stradhanya’s dinner. But we had two days left on the clock and weren’t really two days from anywhere. But we deferred solving that problem until next time.
