We started the game like most games, trying to figure out what to do. Brian had provided “hints” in the form of a secret message from the captured fairy to TerStegan. But even hints are subject to interpretations. We got it mostly right. With regard to the ritual, some arcana rolls lead us to believe that this was a Control Weather ritual enhanced by a blood sacrifice. The Hag’s goal was to freeze the land. But it should take a day to cast so we should have some hours. There was also a warning that if it was disrupted, it might destroy the keep in a backlash. So, we decided to “loot” the area before risking any confrontations. That turned out to be much harder than we thought. The Ogre’s loot sacks were immense and full of useless stuff. A tree stump, a keg of booze, drums, etc. They were too heavy to carry but we didn’t want to spend the time detecting and identifying. So, we took our best guess and Oakwood started moving stuff out of the keep over to the road, hoping it would be safe there. Since his was the lowest perception, he’d let the rest search and identify which they did.
There were two valuable potions. One was a fast healing that TerStegan took and one was an electric damage field that Xeelie took. We also took their arms and armor, especially the short bows. We also found a chest full of coins and shiny rocks in the goblin’s room. Unfortunately, it weighed 50 bulk so we couldn’t move it without some major work. Xeelie had her familiar toss rocks out while we continued to explore and fight. All this took enough time for another round of Fresh Produce to top off everyone’s hit points. The next room was the filthy Ogre room but there was nothing in there of value. Prepared, we went to the west door. We expected/hoped to be able to access the cells where Periwinkle’s friend Bell was imprisoned. The hint implied to us that we could get past the ritual room to the cells (wrong) but we were hoping we didn’t have to try. The next two rooms were the Hag’s and in much better shape. The first had a large body and a hatchet. Brisco chopped off its head to be sure. There was also a cauldron of acid, likely for acid bombs. But no bombs. We searched for secret doors to the north and found none.
The next room was her bed chamber. Xeelie pocketed some stuff from her dresser. TerStegan and Oakwood examined the full plate standing in the corners. They ended up taking them to our staging area as they were worth some coin. Brisco searched for secret doors and found none. Xeeile then examined the chest. It turned out to be a Mimic as did the table that held another cauldron of acid. That fight wasn’t too hard but a bit annoying. Firstly, the obvious strategy was to knock the acid off the Mimic, preferably on it, before it could throw it. However, TerStegan could not do it within the constraints of the rule system. Since his weapon did not have a Disarm trait, he needed a free hand to attempt it. And he didn’t want to let go of his 2-handed axe. He could attempt to cleave the pot itself but being made out of steel, it would have a high hardness and hit points. Ultimately, he chose to just hack at the Mimic although he did have the foresight to take a step north so that no one else got hit with the acid he knew was coming. The other thing was that any weapon that hit one, got stuck with a tough Athletics check to get it free. Xeelie was trained but not strong and soon enough, both her weapons were stuck. As was she. So, the meleers were impeded and losing actions. But the casters peppered them with cantrips and it was over soon enough. The chest Mimic was actually full of coins and we spent some time gathering them.
Next was the ritual room. There was talk of using various potions but we weren’t sure what awaited us so no one decided to do so. We opened the door. There were two columns of bones near the door and since they were labeled “unharmed” we looked at them with suspicion. On the other side was the Hag, casting her ritual. Next to her was the floating undead Head of a dead Hag and a fairy in a cage. That formed the coven of three needed. We could see the entrance into a room to the west where we assumed Bell was being held. Any hopes of being ignored while we rescued that potential ally were quickly dashed. Let’s start with the bones. Each round they manifested a skeleton of some fallen foe however they were very weak. TerStegan took out the first one with one blow. And each subsequent round, they got recreated a bit tougher than the last. However, between Oakwood’s damage field and AOE cantrips like Arc of Lightning, the skeletons and the columns were taken out without much issue. They were more of a distraction.
Xeelie bravely ran through the room to get to the imprisoned Bell which turned out to be a riding raptor familiar to the fairy Periwinkle. So much for freeing a powerful ally. Unfortunately, the Head followed her in there. Between using actions to open the cage and being pummeled by the Head, Xeelie was quickly on the ropes. As a final irony, right before she could finally pick the lock, the raptor freed itself. Oakwood ran over to engage the Head and Xeelie managed to run out of the room before she was knocked out. But the main event was the Hag. At first, she spent one action a round to maintain her ritual. On her first round, she hit Brisco with a Baleful Polymorph (6th level?). He missed a stiff fort save and was turned into a bunny. However, the next round, he spent all 3 actions to get a will save to shake it off. And did. TerStegan went after the Hag. She was another supervillain, double our level. They went at it and TerStegan even managed to free the fairy on a sweeping crit. She flew into the room with Oakwood and the Head and reunited with her dinosaur. Somewhere in here, Xeelie and her handful of hit points came back in and did her Recall Knowledge on the Hag. And rolled well. We learned, among other things, that she was vulnerable to fire which was helpful to know. Oakwood left the Head and got near the Hag to put her in his fire damage field.
At this point, she started to panic. She abandoned her ritual to cast a 3 action Cone of Cold. (The room started to fill with ice as the aborted ritual started to backfire.) She managed to hit everyone but Oakwood who was standing too close. It was 49 points. TerStegan used a hero point to avoid a crit failure and was barely up. Brisco tried the same but still took the double damage. He thought that was instant death, going down to -75 or something but it had to be double his full hit points in one blow so he simply went out. Xeelie had no chance either way and went out as well. Clarisa saved and was merely badly injured. The fairy ran in and did a modest healing AOE on those she could get without healing the hag. TerStegan engaged the Hag again but missed. Oakwood got him flanking and hit once but the Hag was still going. The other two gathered their weapons and stood up. Clarisa fired some Magic Missiles from the hallway. (She never had to come into the room.) The Hag then tried to cast another spell but TerStegan got an opportunity attack and crit (thanks to the flanking) which interrupted it. And when he went right after her, he crit again and took her out. The Head was finished off in the next round.
The chronicler went to bed at this point. I do not know how much further they went but regardless if it happened on this night or first thing next time, we’ll gather the loot from her, if any, and run for the door before the whole place turns to ice. Hopefully we can grab some coins and Xeelie’s familiar along the way. Then it’ll be repairing the bridge, filling the wagon with loot and continuing on our way to Absolum. We’ve got a lot to sell. We should do that first before becoming wanted criminals for stealing the magic book we need to save the world. A hero’s work is never done.
