Session 9: Prepping for More Hags

January 23, 2022 / Tarsahk 6-7 1489 DR

General Summary

things to say about waht happened

Planning the Night Before

The party having finished speaking with Sylvarye Silversong , begin their preparations for sleep. Lazu uses the spell Leomund's Tiny Hut to protect them in the basement and before they all go to sleep, Rune begins a conversation about their plans for the next morning.
They eventually agree that it would be best to attack the hags separately, hopefully managing to attack Azirssa while she is separated in the garden. Hoping to leave her without help, they tried to devise a way to disenchant her tree. Lazu agrees to prepare the spell Dispel Magic the next day, and Devin Darvin is convinced that allowing Lazu a use of his bardic inspiration would be worthwhile.
It was also agreed that Rune should do a preliminary exploration of the spa the next day under the cover of the early morning, in order to hopefully retrieve some of the magical items that Violet Littlefoot had magically located in the spa earlier that day. After a brief conversation about who would best suit Radiance, the magical item given to them by Sylvarye, it is decided that Zar should hold onto it for the time being as he is the person who could gain from it most immediately, and once Devin gets more spells that can utilize its benefits perhaps it will go back to him. When asked if his god would be okay with Lazu attuning to an item devoted to another god, he quickly turned down the idea, having felt his holy symbol go icy cold before the question is even finished being asked.
Having planned as much as they could with the information they had at that point, the party finally laid down to rest.

Breaking the Curse

Violet and Zar began to have a conversation about her curse and how the whole point of them coming to Candlekeep was to break it, and also about how Marietta still hadn't contacted her. Zar told her that maybe the reason that she hasn't received any communication from Marietta wasn't because she's not trying but because they'd gone through a portal and perhaps that was messing with the communication. Violet believed this immediately and said that they have to get back through that portal right away.
Rune, having heard that conversation, asked Violet if she can try to figure out part of it. After looking at the pink bubbles in more detail and giving Violet a medical exam, she concluded that there's nothing physical that could anchor it, but before she can say much more, Lazu, who had grown tired of all this talking while he'd been trying to sleep, reached over and cast Remove Curse on Violet.
She was at first apprehensive as to what he had cast on her, but after the realization that she should no longer be cursed, she was thrilled, although slightly put out at the admission that Lazu could have done that at anytime.
Violet then excitedly went on to tell the party about how and why she was cursed in the first place, blaming Zar. Violet had met Zar in a bar while she was still involved with Marietta and had listened to a plan he concocted for Violet proposing to Marietta, as well as what she should say while she did it. It is unclear if the plan really was good or not through this dialogue, but it is determined that Violet interrupted one of Marietta's performances for a public proposal and Marietta was not a fan. Not only dumping Violet, but also using a 9th level bestow curse spell scroll. Violet recounted that the use of the 9th level spell scroll could be considered a good sign, as it meant that Marietta must've really cared about her to use it on her.
The party was mostly unimpressed with Zar, but decided that it really was time for them to sleep as they had a big day the next day and all went to sleep.

The Dreams

Lazu's Dream

Lazu's dream began with him pitching forward into a dark grey sand. When he looked up, he saw what looked like a twilit desert stretching out around him, with dark grey pillars of stone rising out of the ground around him. A figure materialized out of the darkness and spoke to him in a feminine voice. Lazu's holy symbol took the form of a black hole at his neck.
In what at first seemed like a reprimand, they spoke of him being sent forward by them only for him to kill one of his "sisters", he infers this to mean Morgana and apologizes, but the figure then said that they were not mad and that "sometimes it is better to cull the weak rather than spend the time to forge them into something powerful" and that they were actually somewhat impressed.
They then began talking about Rune, telling Lazu that she has a book on her person that Deneir wanted to be kept in Candlekeep Library, and that it would be best if that did not come to pass, and they ask him to steal it. Lazu asked about how to identify it, but the figure is not sure, stating with some amusement that they think Rune wrote it herself, and commented that it's "cute".
Lastly, the figure seemingly congratulated Lazu on a prank (of sorts) well done, saying "Well done on my gift for the library." and that their sister got quite shocked. This seems to refer to the hollowed out book that Lazu gave as an entrance fee to the library.
The dream ended and he shot up in the dome again.

Loradove's Dream

Loradove had a dream about the night her family's library burnt down. In the dream, she is placed within a distance of the fire that should harm her, but she is not burnt, she only feels uncomfortably hot. As she attempted to interact with the space around her, she discovered that while looking solid, it seemed that her form is incorporeal and passes through solid objects.
She spotted a shadowy figure out of the corner of her eye and tried to watch them from a distance. As they stepped out of the shadows, she saw a figure with red skin, silver looking scale mail with black leather accents with alterations to account for two red, leathery wings that stick out of their back, a black face covering, two beautiful shortswords inscribed with Infernal runes, and black hair pulled back into a long braid.
She saw the figure read off of a scroll and watched as the scroll turned to dust in their hands as blue flames began to coat their arms although the flames did not harm them. They moved towards her father's office and blasted the door away with a wash of blue fire. She could hear the sounds of shuffling papers as she approached and then the sound of something heavy being pushed to the side.
She peered around the doorway to see the figure pulling a large, heavy looking, blue leather-bound book out from the space behind her father's bookshelf, then disappearing. The ceiling then collapses around her and she woke up.

A Stealthy Approach

In the morning, the party again talked about their expectations for the day, and Rune asked again if they think she should go out ahead. It is agreed that she should and Devin Darvin begrudgingly bestowed his Bardic Inspiration upon her. As she creeped out of the temple, it is agreed that Lazu and Zar should stay watch upstairs in case Rune needs help.
Rather than watch at the door, Zar decided that a higher vantage point would be to their benefit and enlisted Lazu's assistance in jumping to the whole in the ceiling, Lazu agreed to try once and only once, and managed to be a strong foundation for Zar to jump off of, but unfortunately Zar just missed the ledge falling onto the broken-glass strewn floor below. After this, they both decided watching from the door would probably be sufficient.
Rune, having successfully picked the back door lock of the spa, made her way in and cast Detect Magic, unfortunately, one of the pieces of magic that they had located the day before had apparently been moved and was no longer there. She continued further in, listening at each door, before making her way towards the kitchen, where she detected 3 sources of magic within. After having determined the person in the kitchen was Ilmar , she entered and startled him.
Ilmar was obviously tired, but told her that he was making breakfast sandwiches for the party. She began to ask him about the schedule of the owners of the spa, and about who would be awake first and therefore who their first target would be.
He mentioned that usually he and Saeth were first to wake followed by Morgana then Azirssa and Greensong. When Rune asked if it would be best to take out Saeth, first Ilmar was shocked. He stated that he hadn't realized that was part of the plan and grew incredibly flustered.
Rune asked if he was in love with Saeth and Ilmar grew even more agitated before Rune decided to drop it, stating that they could talk about it more later if he was going to bring them all breakfast, and left the kitchen.
In the meantime, Lazu and Zar spotted a figure walking towards the spa from the tower, a red skinned, winged figure in silver and black scale mail. Rune managed to evade this person by exiting from the other door, but before she left she heard voices arguing from the kitchen. Worried for Ilmar's safety, she crept back into the dining room and eavesdropped on the conversation.
She heard the voices of Saeth and Ilmar. Saeth was yelling that the petrification of Morgana was not good and that Ilmar should have told him, because it threw his whole plan into jeopardy. He said "if I don't get this right, I will chopped up into tiny pieces and sacrificed to The Watcher!". He seemed upset that Morgana was turned to stone but not due to an emotional connection, more like he had lost a valuable tool.
Rune, having heard all she thought she needed to and satisfied that Ilmar was not in danger, began to sneak out the way she came, and made her way back to the temple.

Deal with a Devil

Once Rune made it back, she called all of them up to the main floor, where she gave a fractured account of what she'd just heard, omitting the part about the Watcher. While they were talking, she heard Ilmar and Saeth approaching the door, and pulled out her bow, aiming at the entrance.
Ilmar and Saeth entered and thus began negotiations, both sides not fully willing to trust the other. The party, doing their best to be intimidating, asked why he was working with the hags, and he said he was hired to do a job. Rune pointing out that any deal a devil enters into will almost always benefit the devil more asked what he got out of it.
Saeth responded that each of the hags had a piece of the instructions that were required for their portrait making talents, and that he required them for something. During this conversation, Ilmar passed out the breakfast sandwiches he had made, including some for the snakes of Sylvarye's hair, seeming to prove that he's a genuinely kind person.
The party said that they wanted to kill the hags to help a friend, it seemed that they had a common enemy, and that he should let them help him.
In the end, they came to an agreement, Saeth saying: "I will help you until it no longer serves me. Then I will not. So long as you do not harm either of us (gesturing between himself and to Ilmar), I will do the same to you and your group."
After this tense agreement, Saeth made his way downstairs, and Loradove pulled Rune to the side. Having recognized Saeth from her dream, she told Rune about the visions, saying that she didn't trust him. Rune agreed that they shouldn't trust him and promised that she would tell Loradove more about why later.

Planning in the Morning

With the knowledge that Saeth brought, they now knew that without Morgana to cast Seeming in the morning, their plan to corner Azirssa in the garden would never work. She would realize something was wrong when she woke up still looking like a hag, and she and Greensong will like investigate together.
This led to a long circular conversation in which very little of value was actually said and almost none of it mattered anyway. During this time, Saeth emotionally got into a fist fight with Cyrena but cooled off to go and separate the pieces of Morgana into two piles.
One plan that Zar brought forth was to set Azirssa's tree on fire in an attempt to lure her out. It was not followed through on at first because Saeth said that Azirssa didn't really care much for that particular tree, but that the idea had merit in general, as Azirssa was hated fire because her daughter had been killed that burned down Azirssa's hut while she was still in it.
As no other plans were brought forth that seemed any better, Zar went off to begin his task, with Violet and Lazu following. Sylvarye asked that they not burn down her spa, but that if the vegetation had to be burned that was okay.
The rest of the party moved to the upstairs of the temple, hoping that Azirssa might be drawn out.

Tree Ablaze

Zar made it to the tree and gauged that he would like need to be on top of the wall surrounding the garden to get a good shot, so he stood on Violet for a boost. Just managing to climb the wall, he aimed a Fire Bolt at the tree but unfortunately tripped as he shot it off and it veered wide and lit the spa's roof on fire, with Zar tumbling down onto the opposite side of the wall.
After determining that the roof was too high to put it out with his cloak, he managed to douse the flames with a transmuted Fire Bolt, covering the flames with ice and snow, leaving only a small scorch mark. He and Violet yelled to each other about how badly he missed the first time, before he tried again.
This time he hit his mark and the tree was set aflame. The tree writhed in pain and approached Zar where he was at the door, yet again setting the roof on fire. Lazu cast create water at second level which created enough water to douse the flames on the tree, so it went to settle back into it's preferred roost, but unfortunately some of the roof was still alight.
It was at this time, that coming from behind Lazu and Violet there came a voice, yelling "What are you doing?". Somehow, Zar's dumb plan had worked, and Azirssa was here.

Report Date

23 Jan 2022

Primary Location

The Temple of the Resting Lily

Related Plots

• The Price of Beauty Arc

Related Characters

• Devin Darvin
• Lazu
• Loradove
• Rune
• Violet Littlefoot
• Zar