Session 9: Give Mama a Kiss

General Summary

There at the White Lady Inn, the party had decided to bed down for the evening. Everyone slept in their respective rooms while Bulwark rested in his usual sentinel state, a perk of being part construct. During the night two halfling thieves, Freddy Rich and Lucas Trout were caught red-handed while trying to make off with Atalanta's Trident. Poor Lucas, the younger one of the two,  nearly pissed himself when grappled by Bulwark. You learned that they were members of a large criminal organization known as Lunar Enterprises, and that it would be in the party's best interest to simply forget this happened. Hesitantly the party let the two go; only to realize afterwards that one of them had stolen Amelia's Amulet, a prized family heirloom.
Distraught, the party ushered in the next morning with fitful rest. When the party finally awoke they were met by Sargent James Wilovar who was downstairs waiting. He was given instructions to escort you to the docks and provide you with a skiff to search for the missing fishermen.
Traversing across the icy lake, the party eventually made their way safely to a cave where they saw a rowboat bobbing untethered in the water amid some small ice floes, not far from the eighty-foot-high cliffs that abut the shoreline. The mouths of four caves dotted the snowy cliffside. One of these caves is at water level, and the others are elevated twenty to thirty feet above the frozen lake. The wind tearing through these icy caves sounds like moaning.
They would come to discover that these caves have long been home to a lake hag named Maud Chiselbones. Maud has amassed a collection of bones and trinkets taken from wayward explorers who blundered into her lair. Maud once shared her caves with two sisters, but the coven had a falling out. The hag is always hungry and likes to lick clean the bones of her “guests.” The four fishers from Easthaven are her latest victims.
As the party made their way into Mauds lair their presence was known. Initially the hag was disguised as a decrepit old woman dressed in tattered furs to stave off the cold. In her natural form that she quickly revealed, Maud has sickly grayish-purple flesh, bulging eyes that seldom blink, and stringy black hair interwoven with fingerbones. Her attention however was fixed on Bulwark, with whom she seemed to have a connection with.
Nonetheless combat broke out but the encounter took a turn for the worse after Atalanta was knocked unconscious. With Maud proving to be a worth adversary and a frost giant skeleton quickly closing in, the group resorted to diplomacy. Maud agreed to spare her life in exchange for a kiss from Bulwark. Reluctantly he agreed and when he did a reoccurring dream that he's had many times before flashed before his eyes.

Falling..
I’m falling..
How did I get into this situation?
It’s so cold
My skin is so cold
Rigid
Falling faster
Nothing but white around me
I hear her wicked laughter
It’s getting harder to see...

Different this time, rather than fading into darkness his vision was taken to a crash sight. He was a survivor? A prisoner? Regardless, not far off he could see the wreckage of a vessel along with insectoid creatures advancing in his direction. Bulwark was quick to jump to his feet when he noticed his gloveless hands... They were human! Before he was able to see more his vision was pulled back into his present body.

Bulwark's Vision

Maud, wiping the saliva away from her face pulled back. With a cackle she instructed you to stay here in the cave until dawn. Patiently the party waited before heading out, taking with them a Magical Cauldron that remained here in her chambers. Hastily the party made their way across Lac Dinneshere back to Easthaven.
Upon arrival they were rewarded for their discovery of the fishermen, although dead nonetheless. Atalanta managed to overstep when introduced to Speaker Danneth Waylen, leader of the town. Tensions were lessened after they (reluctantly) handed over the magical Cauldron of Plenty to the Speaker for the greater good of Easthaven.
Exhausted, the party returned back to the White Lady Inn to drown their troubles for another cold night in Tentowns.

Sargent James

Maud's Protector

Report Date

26 Feb 2021