Which Witch
General Summary
11 Sush
A group of adventurers are visiting the town of Lakewatch and are approached by Bruno, a functionary working for Baron Retlim. He offers them a job to investigate strange goings on in the village of Hubin which lies to south of Lakewatch. People have been acting oddly and there has even been a murder there. Folk from the nearby villages suspect that the village witch may be to blame and have appealed to the Baron for aid. The witch, Moira is said to be the spawn of a fiend snd is believed to have terrible powers. Her home is deep in the forest and it is said to be impossible to find unless she wishes it. She is also rumoured to have a tribe of goblins under her control. She is also said to have:- Destroyed the hamlet of Gillen
- Turned Felipe into a horse and ridden him back to the village when he came to ask for help with his sick daughter. He had to spend the next 2 months serving as her mount as payment.
- Deal with the witch (100gp).
- Bring proof that the goblin chief Taltak is dead (50gp).
- Bring back word from Perdil that they have dealt with the situation (50gp).
12 Sush
6:00 in the evening.
The group arrive at the Anthill Inn and decide to spend the night. Thuregar and Grok put on an impromtue performance, entertaining the guests and earning a free room for the night. The innkeeper wants to know when they can come back to do a repeat performance.13 Sush
4:00 in the morning.
Wisica gets up early and sneaks down to steal some coin from the innkeeper's strongbox. He is careful to make it look like nothing has been taken.7:00 in the morning.
After breakfasting and Grok getting in his morning exercise the group continue on their travel to Hubin.7:00 in th evening.
The group arrive in Hubin and make their way to the Couatil. Inside they find the atmosphere somewhat lacking, with people staring morosely at their drinks, and none of the usual hubub you would normally hear in a taproom. They take a table and make contact with Perdil. Thuregar offers to put on another performance to help lift the mood of the people in the room, and John providdes some coin (stolen from the Anthill) to buy drinks for the other patrons. Thuregar puts on a well judged performance that helps lift the people's mood and returns the inn to some semblance of normal activity. The group ask Perdil to join them at their table to disucss matters. From Perdil the group learn that:- Moira destroyed the hamlet of Gillen which used to sit beside the lake and warned a similar fate would befall any who tried to make their living there again. She did this because those living there were overfishing the lake. She gave them plenty of warning to leave.
- He doesn't belive that Moira is responsible.
- The other villages are jealous of their witch.
- Moira has dark blue skin, horns and a tail, and she doesn't come into the village much unless someone needs urgent help.
- The people of the village are suffering from nightmares where they see confirmation of the evils they have suspected others of commiting against them.
- The nightmares started some weeks ago.
- Braca killed his brother Zoly. He just walked up and stabbed him. The rest of the villagers locked Braca up in the cellar of The Couatil until they could work out what had happened.
- Braca and Zoly had only ever really had a disagreement about Talula, the village smith, who had taken a long time chosing which of the brothers to marry.
- Perdil found Braca dead two days later. He had been eating and drinking normally. There were no marks on him.
14 Sush
6:00 in the morning.
The next day the group have a hearty breakfast before heading out to explore the village. Grok wanders around using a spell to check for any trace of magic in the village. The only magic he finds is the hat carried by the group. In the meantime Thuregar provides a distraction/entertaininent in the village square. The group then go to speak to Talula. She tells them that:- She is convinced that the witch Moira is behind the deaths.
- One night she woke up and saw Moira leaning over her husband as he slept.
- Moira threatened Braca and Zoly if they did not leave a set of ruins alone.
- Zoly was keen to uphold the light and go against the evil witch. He had been introduced to the worship of Seyr during a rrip to Lakewatch and had been talking like this for some time.
- The two brothers returned to the ruins, but according to Talula they did not bring anything back. The group are certain she was lying about this.
9:00 in the morning.
The group then go to search Zoly's house (after getting permission from Perdil). There they find a golden amulet that bears the emblem of a religious order linked to the Church of Tarin which specialised in dealing with fiends.10:00 in the morning.
With their leads in town exhausted the group head into he woods in search of the ruins. After travelling through the woods for a while Gough realises that he has lost the trail he was following and is uncertain about where they are. Keen not to alarm the group he carries on leading them in the hope of picking up the trail again. After some more travel he is forced to admit that he is lost and lets the group know. They try retracing their steps and find that going back the way doesn't return them to where they had passed through before. Grok uses his winged boots to fly above the tree line to determine which way is North, and the group try heading that way, but they quickly lose their direction again. Realising there is magic at work, they choose paths at random, until they notice that some of the clearing they have passed through have trail sign and other markings that seem to indicate a direction to take. The group follow the markings until they are suddenly attacked by an enormous swarm of wasps. After swatting the insects, they are half convinced that the signs they were following were a trap until they realise that the wasps have fallen into an arrow pattern showing which way to go. Continuing to follow the signs the group manage to find their way out of the magical maze of trees.2:00 in the afternoon.
Once outside the confusion of the spell, Gough is able to pick up several trails, including some human footprints, a set of animal tracks, and a set of goblin tracks. The tracks lead off in different directions and the group decide to follow the animal tracks which they presume show the path to the witch Moira.3:00 in the afternoon.
The group are attacked by a bear and several other animals. Though there are calls not to kill the animals (as some of the group have decided that Moira is probably a druid), it is hard not to kill with an arrow and Gough's markship proves all too deadly. Continuing on through the forest the group arrive at a clearing with a pond and a small hill with a cave in it. Outside the cave is a tiefling, with dark blue skin and horns, in keeping with the description by Perdil. She looks the same as the figure Thuregar saw leaning over Grok during the night. The tiefling confirms that she is Moira and reveals that:- The people in the village are idiots.
- She warned Zoly and Bracca about the ruins but they ignored her.
- The ruins were a prison for a night hag called Imogene and an oni known as Jagart.
- The two fiends are responsible for the nightmares with the aim being to bring misery to the area.
- She did her part in helping when she warned the villagers. She will not help further.
- She doesn't control the goblins, but she has been convincing them to not attack the villagers. Her goal is to maintain balance in the area.
5:30 in the evening.
The goup arrive at the ruins. They find two vortexes of magical energy bracketing the entrance to the ruins. There are also some ogres, a nightmare, and a giant scorpion in the area. The groups' attempts to sneak closer fail and the monsters move to attack. One of the ogres runs over to the ruin entrance while the other two rush the group. At the same time the scorpion and a swarm of stirges move towards the party. Grok calls in a lightning storm to blast apart the stirges Gough begins shooting the ogres while Wisica and Thuregar move up to intercept them. While the larger creatures are dealt with quite easily, the stirges prove to be a menace. Swarming over the group they prove difficult to deal with until the group make it back together and Grok can unleash a spell on them. Things seem to be going the group's way until Imogene and Jargart emerge from the ruins. Imogene hurls a barrage of magical energy while Jargart charges forward with his glaive. Thuregar and Wisica charge Imogene through the hail of magical bolts. Jagart disappears and then surprises Goough, interupting the stream of arrows that would have targeted Imogene. Gough goes down and Jargart takes his bow and disappears again before Grok can do anything bar heal Gough. Though injured Thuregar and Wisica manage to catch Imogene and destroy her. Jagart reappears and is attacked by the whole group. He flies up into the air, making it hard for them to attack him. Thuregar goes and throws a grappling hook around his leg and pulls him down, but Jagart manages to turn into an insubstantive form and flies free. Grok activates his boots again and flies up to engage Jagart, but is knocked unconscious and remains just floating in the air, however he does cause Jagart to drop Gough's bow. The group rush to finish Jagart off and manage it in time to save Grok, with Wisica being lifted up by Gough to feed Grok a healing potion. With Jagart and Imogene dead the magical vortexes at the ruin entrance fade away. The group take over the ogres camp and settle in for the night.15 Sush
After resting the group explore the ruins and retrieve a Heartstone and the hags soul bag. They debate what to do with these before deciding to go back to Moira to ask her advice. Moira advises them that the heartstone can be cleansed of evil but the soul bag should be destroyed, with the soul inside set free. The group deal with the soulbag before heading back to Hubin. At Hubin the group inform Perdil of their sucess and the fact that they met with Moira. Their description of what she said about the villagers convinces him they are telling the truth. The group decide to stick around for a few days to ensure there is no further trouble.18 Sush
The group begin the journey back to Lakewatch.20 Sush
The group arrive back in Lakewatch and report in to Bruno. They are paid for dealing with the problem, even though they didn't take care of the goblins.Rewards Granted
- 100gp for dealing with the threat
- 50gp for resolving the problems in Hubin
- A crossbow and 10 bolts
- A golden symbol of Tarin (linked to an order of fiend hunters).
- A Heartstone
- A soul bag
- A glaive that belonged to the Oni Jagart
Character(s) interacted with
- Bruno - A minor functionary working for Baron of Lakewatch.
- Perlin - Innkeepr of The Couatil in Hubin.
- Talula - Smith in Hubin and widow of Braca.
- Moira - A tiefling who lives in the forest north of Hubin. The people of the village consider her to be their witch.
- Imogene - A night hag and long time associate of Jagart.
- Jagart - a Oni. and long time associate of Imogene.
Created Content
Notes
The Party
- Grok - A half orc priest of Etal.
- Thuregar - A half orc barbarian.
- Wisica - A halfling Monk.
- Gough - A Goliath Hunter.
Report Date
25 May 2020
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