Session 04: Witches both young and old

General Summary

As the party approached the giant dead ash tree and the witch's lair, strange things began to happen. The chatter of birds and insects vanished, seemingly shunning the land, and Eiuin became very uneasy. Some members of the party saw frightening shadows, as if large winged creatures were flying overhead, while others heard the hiss of serpents on the wind and water. Then the unsettling sound of a baby crying floated in the air. Undaunted, the party pushed ahead and came to a large clearing in the woods, with the massive dead and burnt ash tree at its center. The land in the clearing was barren, long ago charred and poisoned by something terrible. The bones of massive reptilian creatures were fused into the melted earth. Not far from the base of the ash tree stood Gretch, the witch of the Ytre Woods, along with a pair of her menacing Witch Hounds.

Gretch, Witch of the Ytre Woods, in her dragon headdress

Gretch was quite pregnant and holding a crying infant of nearly two (her youngest daughter, called Lakka). Mabd, the elder daughter, hid in the shadows of a cave beneath the ash tree. Gretch was cordial to her unexpected visitors, and the party learned that this was a place where many dragons once died, and that she was one in a line long of witches that have lived here for generations, hoping to find the right mate to fulfill a prophecy and give birth to a true dragon. The party surmised from this that Lakka was the child of Sigurth of Molde, who had gone missing nearly three years ago, and that Gretch carried the child of Svarki Hornblower, who went missing last spring. Gretch, currently being pregnant didn't need a mate, but offered Svagnir the opportunity to lay with her oldest daughter, Mabd, who was now of breeding age.

Mabd, daughter of Gretch, She of the Snake's Eyes

The party told Gretch they needed the tongue of a volva and had come for hers, at which she was reasonably defensive. Worhana then tried to end the tense situation bloodlessly with a sleep spell, but only Lakka and Mabd fell into magical slumber. Gretch, now very defensive and not wanting to lose her tongue or her life, offered Lakka to the party, as the young infant also had the tongue of a volva. The offer was not well received and the inevitable fight for the witch's tongue broke out.
Kradar and Worhana were quickly engaged by the Witch Hounds and became locked in a gruesome fight of steel, tooth, and twilight magic. With a blur of movement and frost, Janicka took the fight to Gretch (who dropped Lakka like unwanted garbage, waking the baby and filling the battlefield with the wails of an injured child), only to watch in horror as the witch turned into a giant adder with a skull atop its tail. Before Eiuin and Isulf could come to Janicka's aid, the Vaettir and the giant adder traded several blows, with Janicka taking the worst of it. Svagnir summoned his deathly whispers and dealt damage and aid across the entire melee without becoming directly engaged. The first to go down was one of the Witch Hounds, hewn by the raging blades of Kradar, but not a moment later the other Witch Hound bit Worhana in the face and took her eye, leaving the elf dying on the blackened earth. Svagnir quickly came to her aid, saving her life, and killing the remaining Witch Hound with his dark magics. Meanwhile, Gretch was engaged in battle with Isulf and Eiuin, with a wounded Janicka now hurling javelins from a safe distance. The witch shifted out and back into her giant adder form, slinging spells while in human form briefly. The Witch proved too much for Eiuin, and with adder poison filling the ibex's veins, collapsed near death. In a stunning move of heroic selflessness, Isulf shielded the fallen Ibex with his own body and healed it with his strange carrion-fueled powers. Gretch, now back in human form, sensed that the fight was not going her way, and began to flee. At the same moment, Mabd woke from her magical slumber and rushed to protect the crying and hurt Lakka. In the whirl of witches, both young and old, running across the battlefield, Svagnir unleashed his deathly whispers upon Gretch and sent her to Valdryssil, while also passing a soothing message to the unborn soul in the witch's belly.
With the brutal fight won, Isulf immediately separated Gretch's dying body from its tongue. Svagnir and Worhana quickly spoke to Mabd and tried to prevent her from seeing her mother's body mutilated. The young witch, holding her crying baby sister, expressed mixed emotions for the death of her mother, and stated that the old woman was cruel and mad, but still was all that she had. Svagnir and Worhana convinced the young witch that life could be better for her and Lakka elsewhere, with Svagnir suggesting to take them to Ghostfalls, the home of his druidic circle. Mabd accepted the offer, as long as the party swore to protect them from the dangers of "civilized" men.
The party quickly looted the lair of Gretch, coming away with a magical horn that once belonged to Svarki Hornblower. Mabd packed her things to travel with the party. Svagnir discovered a strange shrine of sorts, where a dried and rotten heart was on display. He assumed it was the heart of Svarki, the latest victim of the witch and the father of the child she was carrying. He also discovered that the shrine had been recently disturbed and something was missing from it, which he noted but did not pursue.
The party then departed with Janicka taking the lead, guiding them back to Molde as quickly as possible. As night fell a heavy rain started, and the party made camp beneath a large downed tree. The party spoke with Mabd and found her to be a sweet, yet scared girl with budding sorcerous powers.
Before the sun was up, the rain stopped and the party was on the move again. Near midday they came upon a lost and ancient shrine of three stone plinths in the middle of nowhere deep in the woods. Eiuin seemed obsessed with the shrine, and Svagnir took the shape of a wolf to investigate it, discovering that some old magic still active upon the place drew animals and beasts to it. The party also noticed that there were very old elven picto-runes carved into the plinths, venerating Eika, goddess of the wilds and the hunt, and mother of the elven race. Before the party could give much thought to the oddity of a shrine being dedicated to a goddess, when the gods and goddesses of Valkheim are generally despised rather than worshipped, two elk suddenly burst from the woods being chased by a raging owlbear! The elk dashed away as the owlbear decided that the party would be much easier to catch and dine upon. A brief but brutal battle ensued at the edge of the shrine, with the entire party pouring wounds onto the staunch and tough owlbear. At the peak of the fighting Isulf dealt a terrible blow to the owlbear with his blade, only to have the owlbear bite into his neck and send him spiraling toward death. Worhana snatched the paladin away from Valdryssil as Eiuin dealt the last blow to the owlbear, tearing it open with her mighty horns.


Not wanting to linger any longer than necessary in this dangerous place, the party plucked owlbear feathers while Janicka expertly fashioned a travois to drag the unconscious Isulf upon. The party continued on, continuously shooing away Isulf's crows as they attempted to feed upon his unconscious body.
At midafternoon, the day before the solstice, the battered and exhausted party (with the young witches Mabd and Lakka under their protection) finally emerged from the Ytre woods and saw the familiar site of Molde. They had survived the terrors of the primeval forest and slain the witch that haunted it. They now possessed the seidr tongue Bjekmir told them was needed to save three of their number. But what mysteries were still waiting surrounding Bjekmir and the tongue, and what new dangers awaited them back in the land of "civilized" man?

Report Date

21 Mar 2022