Session Report 32 - Coven Conundrums
General Summary
"I'll hit The Child!"
-Grov
The Mahogany Star's Deal
Having made a deal with the Coven of The Mahogany Star to kill a hag from another coven (The Diplomatic Sun) and then act upon the information given. The night hags speak negatively of most of the other covens on the isle, only not talking down too much upon the sea hags of The Coven of The Mournful Waves. They hate the annis hags of the Ripping Club because they are brutish and are their biggest direct competition. They dislike the Maniachal Mistresses of Mighty Mistery of the swamp because they are vile and disgusting. They dislike the bheur hags of the Synagogue of the Stupendous Sisters because they are generally assholes who love to mess with everybody. More than that, they hate the Coven of The Diplomatic Sun because it is composed of day hags. They give a few more useful details and insist that their visitors take some of their freshly baked rolls before they leave. Most of the party does, though none eat them. Laire breaks his open and immediately recognizes the contents by smell as a variety of mildly alchemical plants mixed with human meat. The group quickly discard their rolls.Sunshine, The Day Hag
Further into the forest, and on their way to the rolling hills where they hope to find a day hag, the group encounters a pile of 7 bodies - most of them male and all wearing the clothes of sailors. They have been dead for at least a month, and the party elects not to inspect the bodies too closely, presuming that there's no point since this must have been done by hags.Moving onto the hills, and after scouting for a bit, the group eventually spots a cloaked figure slinking across a hill. They follow, Ouchie bounding quite loudly, and are quickly spotted. The hag is indeed a day hag, and she wears shades. She says she comes in peace but, when the party moves to attack her anyways, she lets out a magical burst of light to blind the party and then tries to make her escape. Gunther manages to throw the iron bands at her, binding her. She reaches for something in her pocket but Locke snatches it from her. Finally, when accused of eating children, she pleads for her life, stating that she only mediates relations among the hags and makes sure that the children are properly distributed. At this point, the members of the party finish her off.
Looting her body, the group discovers some minor valuables and, more interestingly, a ledger. It contains documentation of which covens the children have gone to. It makes mention of a portal from the child dimension which apparently produces a child once every 3-5 days. The reason why there are so many hags on the isle quickly becomes apparent.
Bull, The Child, & Lobotomy
The group ventures into the dead section of the forest with the eventual goal of reaching the eastern mountain range. The forest is sufficiently foreboding, and a low mist clings to the ground at all times. The group eventually spots a hut pressed close to the mountains. Locke sprinkles caltrops in front of it and prepares to burn it in hopes to ambush the hag likely resting inside. However, the hag - looming and malformed - rises from her rest on the ground, obscured by leaves and fog. The grabs Gunther and squeezes with overwhelming force, taking the wind out of his lungs and breaking some bones. Gunther manages to wriggle free at which point the hag attacks Laire with similar ferocity. It is very resilient and manages to do quite a bit of damage before eventually being felled by Ramone.The group needs to camp out for the night, having thoroughly exhausted themselves in the previous day. Grov takes the first watch, and four hours in, notices the mist growing thicker. He grows alert when he hears heavyset footsteps approaching. He quickly wakes the party who get up and prepare for a fight. Two more hags of the same type as before approach. One is a bit larger than the other, but the other is far more deranged. While the melee fighters engage the larger one, "The Child", Ramone fires his magic upon the deranged one, aptly named Lobotomy. Lobotomy thunders towards Ramone and delivers a swift series of brutal flows, finishing off by biting the half-elf in the skull and possibly inflicting brain damage. Ramone crumples but is healed by Laire, so the hag moves in to attack him with the firm intent to kill. She manages to get one good bite off on Ramone but is not able to finish him before being struck down by Locke. It takes some strong medical effort to save Ramone, who is on the brink of death, but he stabilizes and the group spends the rest of the night recovering.
Yet Another Mountain Trek
The following morning, the group begins a 3-hour trek up the mountain range. Ramone uses Spygleam to sense if there are any areas of particular cold. He finds one spread between 3 mountains and the group makes their way there. Reaching the top of one of these mountains, the group looks down to see the ship they are looking for, The Flying Flagon, a Windcarver, nestled amongst them. It not in good condition and the mainsail has been broken off, but some repairs could get it seaworthy again and the work of a professional shipwright could get it back to full form. However, before that, the pressing issue of getting it out of the mountains whilst dealing with the Synagogue of the Stupendous Sisters looms ahead.
Report Date
06 Feb 2023
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