Session 42
General Summary
The Best Laid Plans...
Syntyavr 28th
(11:00 AM)
Stocking Up- In preparation for the upcoming confrontation with the Hags of Old Bonegrinder the party stocks up on some supplies in the town square
- Ilyson purchased a silvered Battleaxe from Waylan's Hammer for 275 gp
- Rumex ordered a second round of silvered arrows from the smith as well, same deal as before: 2 Days, 85 gp & 20 sp for 10 Silver Arrows
- Rumex also bought 4 potions of healing and distrubuted them amongst the party for 200gp at Avicenna's Augury
- Vincenzo picked up a couple bottles each of Alchemist's Fire and Oil Flasks for half price due to his charm (50 gp, 1 sp)
- He also managed to put a blush on the cheek of Avicenna as he strutted out of the store with mistletoe tied to the tip of his tail.
(12:00 PM)
The Morning Gate- Lady Wachter and her four associates whom she refers to as her "Book Club" meet them promptly at the Morning Gate of Vallaki at the chosen time.
- She has exchanged her dress for a practical pair of pants, flat-soled leather boots, and a chain shirt tucked under a forest-green tunic, with a round-headed mace hanging from her belt and a black hooded riding cloak covering the ensemble.
- Her crow familiar, accompanies her.
- The book club members are named Andrej, Boris, Miruna, and Ruxandra, respectively. None of the members are particularly talkative.
- The journey from the Town of Vallaki to Old Bonegrinder is twentythree miles long and takes up to 8 hours at a normal pace. Which is way Lady Wachter provides 4 horses for the journey, she believes that riding hard the trip could be managed in 3 hours, giving plenty of time to return and perform Victor's ritual back in Vallaki.
- Verce declined the horse in favor of his trusted direwolf, Fenrir, and he valiantly kept pace.
(1:30 PM)
The Druid- Midway through the trip, the party is disturbed by a rustling in the trees above.
A gaunt figure with wild hair and bare feet crouches on a thick, gnarled branch above your heads, wearing a tattered gown of stitched animal skins. Red streaks run across its cheeks, with two more fang-shaped streaks staining the skin beneath its lips. It stops, sniffs the air, and laughs like a lunatic. “Little songbirds wandering the dark woods?” it asks, leering down at you.
- The individual was a druid of the Forest Folk, a loose society of hermits that dwell amidst the Svalich Woods and generally shun the civilized settlements. The druids treat Yester Hill, a hill at the southwest edge of the Barovian valley, as a sacred place, and worship Strahd as a deity for his control over the land and weather.
- When she was sixteen years old, a teenaged Fiona had an explosive argument with her parents and brother. In her anger, Fiona toppled a shelf of fine porcelain, ran away from home and ended up in the swamps of Berez under the tutelage of a woodswitch named Lysa.
- Lady Wachter first encountered and learned of the druids while a student of her mentor, Lysa.
- Lysa was a worshipper of Mother Night, a deity of darkness, trickery, and the occult. Lady Wachter was never able to hear the “voice” of Mother Night (as Lysa called it), however, and adopted the faith of Ezra (a god of the Mists,) soon after returning to Vallaki, for undisclosed reasons.
- Lysa did not take Lady Wachter’s departure lightly. A prideful woman, she considered her students her children, and took Lady Wachter’s decision to return to Vallaki as a personal betrayal. Lady Wachter has been banished from Berez ever since.
- Lady Wachter’s “debt” to Strahd arises from his effort to save Lady Wachter’s ancestor, Lady Lovina Wachter, from death at the hands of the traitor Leo Dilisnya centuries ago. When a traitor and assassin named Leo Dilisnya murdered Lovina’s husband and attempted to kill Lovina as well, Strahd defended her, then hunted Dilisnya down to punish him for his treachery. House Wachter has remained loyal to Strahd ever since.
(3:00 PM)
Old Bonegrinder Revisited- The onion-domed edifice leans forward and to one side, as though trying to turn away from the stormy gray sky. You see gray brick walls and dirt-covered windows on the upper floors. A decrepit wooden platform encircles the windmill above a flimsy doorway leading to the building's interior.
- There are no ravens at or near the windmill as opposed to last time you were here.
- Lady Wachter first gathers the party and the four book club members in a darkened copse of trees beside the Old Svalich Road to assemble a plan of attack.
- She then attempts to confirm some details which the party dutifully answers.
- How many hags reside in the windmill, and how the players intend to obtain their names...
- whether there are children within the windmill, and how the players intend to rescue them...
- how the players intend to combat the hags once the binding circle is raised...
- Lady Wachter is glad to offer the players the service of her crow familiar, Majesto, as a scout. Introductions are made to the imp who was in disguise until now.
- Majesto can use his crow, spider, and rat forms to surveil the exterior and interior of the windmill while remaining invisible.
- Meanwhile, Victor drops an invisibilty spell and reveals himself and his desire to help, even if Lady Wachter resents him for Stella's current predicament.
- The party is able to vouch succesfully for Victor's sincerity and she begrudgingly accepts his assistance.
- He offers to aid the party in retrieving any children from the windmill, using his misty step, fly, and greater invisibility spells as-needed to assist with the rescue mission.
- However, Victor warns the players that, according to Ethereal Entities, hag covens often possess the ability to dispel enchantments while within close proximity to their lair. Once Lady Wachter's binding circle is erected, he'll need to stay close to the windmill to protect it with his counterspell. As such, he'll need to conserve his strength—(and, specifically, his 5th- and 4th-level spell slots)—until then.
- Use the two familiars, Majesto and Helena to scout ahead, peer into windows and attempt to discover a way inside and possibly obtain the Hag Coven's names by stealth.
- Once the names are in hand, Lady Wachter will position her associates around the hill and begin the binding circle ritual, Victor will poisition himself near the windmill invisibly, ready to counteract any attempt to dispel the circle, Majesto will provide support, attempting to harry any hag's concentration.
- Either through bargains our violence, obtain the heartstone from one of the hags using the leverage of the binding circle.
- Lady Wachter then warns the party that, once raised, the binding circle will last for only ten minutes. She further informs them that, should she or any of the four cult fanatics be knocked unconscious, the ritual will immediately fail and the hags will be free to escape.
- Majesto carries Helena to the third floor but cannot see through the filthy windows nor crack themm open.
- Retreating back down to the second floor platform, the window that Verce had broken a few days ago has been replaced and can now be seen through.
- Majesto attempts to force it open yet it stubbornly rmeians shut tight.
- The noise seems to have alerted one of the hags, as helena can see a figure coming down the stairs, Majesto and Helena slip from sight.
- Vincenzo makes a mad dash up the hill doing his best not to be seen, while he has Helena distract the hag by tapping on one of the dirtier windows to the west.
- The ploy works, momentarily....
- The rest of the party, including Lady Wachter, are flabbergasted seeing Vincenzo take off like that...
- Rumex attempts a secondary approach breaking for the opposite side of the mill, becoming one with some overgrown patches of brambles and grass.
- Ilyson assumes his ready stance whilst gripping his new battleaxe and cursing under his breath
- Verce telepathically screams at Vincenzo to stop and come back, seeing any semblance of surprise or advantage flying out the proverbual window
- Vincenzo hesitates for a moment, glancing back at the treeline, but seemingly reaffirms his choice and continues on his way to the windmill
- The hag within on the second floor begins to circle back t the new window and is seconds away from spotting his advance.
- Helena comes back around to the front and crashes through the window towards the hag, catching a reactionary acid arrow for her troubles, reducing her to sizzling green goop.
- Vincenzo, reeling, uses this distraction to press up against the side of the windmill and slip down to a seated position, hidden for now, and in a state of shock at Helena's loss. Feeling in his pocket for the small cat skull that summoned Helena in the first place disintegrate into dust.
- Convinced that the disturbance was merely this skeletal piece of Barovian horror, the hag retreats back to the third floor while Majesto slips invisibly inside.
- Rumex pops in through the window getting the all clear from Majesto
- One of the arms of the millstone in the bone mill is more gnarled than the rest, and is visibly segmented at the end. Twisting the end of the gnarled arm detaches it, revealing an iron key hidden inside.
- Try as he might Rumex could not find a keyhole for this key until helped out by Majesto.
- The compartment contains the hags' contract as well as some sort of gold medallion
- The hags' contract is written in Abyssal on a piece of leather made of human skin, and is signed with their true names at the bottom: Morgantha Stormreaver, Belladonna Sunbane, and Offalia Wormwiggle.
Lady Wachter raises her hands toward the darkened sky. Her voice, firm and resonant, booms through the stillness of the air as words of power roll off her tongue. Lady Wachter’s four followers soon join the chant, raising their arms as their voices swell in harmony with hers. The air around the hill begins to crackle and hum, the atmosphere tinged with the scent of ozone. Small clouds of mist begin to rise from the ground beneath the ritualists, extruding long tendrils of wisping fog that bathe the earth in pale, ethereal light. As the chant continues, the billowing clouds of mist grow brighter, casting long, dancing shadows across the sides of the hill. The fog seems to undulate in rhythm with their words, the very air seeming to thrum with arcane resonance. From deep within the seas of roiling grey, you think you can almost hear a woman’s distant, murmuring voice, joined by the echo of a thousand whispers. The tendrils of fog interlock—and snap together, forming a circle: a tight ring of shimmering, swirling mist. Lady Wachter’s hands curl into fists, and she pulls both arms across her chest. In a low, melodic voice, she recites a trio of names again and again: “Morgantha Stormreaver. Bella Sunbane. Offalia Wormwiggle.” Her gaze meets yours, and she gives a single, near-imperceptible nod.
Medallion from Millstone
Vallaki
Morning Gate
Forest Road
Old Bonegrinder
Report Date
17 Feb 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
Lady Fiona Wachter
Majesto
Boris
Miruna
Andrej
Ruxandra
