Mission 009: The Secret of the Maze
One of the newer wine families had the brilliant idea of running a hedge maze into their orchards, but people seem to come in and not come out. They've contracted out to the Golden Standard to see what exactly is going on inside their maze....
Mission Log
Hired by the extraordinarily flighty Scrufflefuzz, owner of up and coming Wildfyre Wine, the adventurers were tasked with discovering the reason people have been disappearing from the delightful hedgemaze that Scrufflefuzz had erected to take patrons to the tasting for their newest batch of wines. Upon mistaking the adventurers for potential customers, Scrufflefuzz offered them a taste of their newest selection: Senaliesse Chrsyanthemum white wine, Star Indigo sparkling wine, Dawn Flower rosé, and Summer Queen's Gown red wine. Lark, after glancing around and hearing the names, correctly recognized some of the plants and, indeed, the plants used for the wine, as plants that typically were only found in the Feywild. Wendelin partook of two wines, while Bryn tasted all four, and Lark one. Helelee was curious about the concept of wine, which evoked a spirited (ha) conversation about the merits of wine over whisky (Jace's preferred drink). Once Scrufflefuzz realized that the five before him were the ones that they'd hired in order to figure out the maze debacle, they gave them the facts in the most blasé and uninterested of tones: seven women had gone missing, and they only contracted the Golden Standard because one of the women's children was still about, demanding answers.
Some negotiation took place about payment — Wendelin wanted bottles of wine added to their payment, but Scrufflefuzz remained adamant that no, they will not be receiving bottles of wine. Lark tried to persuade Scrufflefuzz to allow him and Wendelin to be brand ambassadors in exchange, and while Scrufflefuzz was interesting somewhat in Wendelin, outright rejected Lark due to his wings and fear of false advertising.
The group entered the start of the maze. Jace suggested Lark fly up and see the quickest way through, while Bryn suggested she take charge and use a trick that all dwarves knew. Lark flew up and got his ass handed to him by the maze, which grew to obstruct his view and had vines ready to knock him back to the ground. Bryn, vindicated, took the lead, but was distracted by a circle of mushrooms that started chattering at them about cheating. At first, the mushrooms were cheerful, but then Lark squashed one purposefully with is foot, and they began to swarm, chanting that they were going to tell Granny, Cackling, and Auntie before disappearing. One reappeared briefly after someone wandered aloud if you could eat them, and they tauntingly informed the group that they were delicious, covered in butter and truffles. Helelee was disappointed that they mushroom friends didn't want to be her friend.
Proceeding through the maze, Helelee found footprints that seemed to veer off from the rest, and they began to follow those, still keeping one hand to the left wall per Bryn's instructions. This led them to a dead end that had a teleportation circle. For a while, the group began to debate what to do — suggestions included standing in the circle and just saying random words, which Lark did, and was electrocuted for it. A doll appeared out of the hedge, holding a large eye, and saying nothing. Bryn, thoroughly done with dolls, threw her ax, which landed in the circle and broke it.
A faerie dragon wound its way from the hedge and spoke with Lark, Wendelin, and Helelee. Saphira informed the group that all of the women were pregnant, and that they were taken for that reason. The group, who had already suspected hags, had their suspicions confirmed. Helelee informed the group that hags reproduce by eating infants then giving birth, and that they do things in threes. Lark and Wendelin speculated that maybe they're trying to create new covens, and when the coven name was given to them, Lark recognized it, knowing that one of the members was a hag named Cackling Zilla Toestealer. Saphira informed them that they were safe as none were with child, and Helelee cast Disguise Self to make herself look pregnant.
As soon as she was done, the maze changed. The copse of dead trees they'd seen at the start of the dead end suddenly unfurled into four mad dryads. They attacked, determined to bring Helelee to the hags, and Jace kept his grip on Hel to make sure she didn't go without them. After some discussion and some truly persuasive lies about everyone being pregnant after Wendelin charmed a few of the dryads with her dazzling personality, as well as Hel offering to make a deal with the hags and being given the Hag Eye by the doll, the dryads agreed to bring them all to the hags but warned that the men would have to answer riddles three to pass through the lair.
It turned out they all had to answer riddles, and they managed with little problem. Reaching the end of the maze, they were greeted by three hags. One tried to make a deal with them while another went and pulled one of the missing pregnant women from a tree, declaring she'd be ready soon. This did not sit well with the adventurers, who swiftly burst into action. Jace grappled the hag who'd been stroking the woman, and combat began.
After a long battle wherein Jace went down and Bryn was swallowed by a bush, the tides turned after a truly spectacular tactical plan by Helelee, who used Lightning Lure to great effect to pull Granny hag into a gelatinous cube. Vey swiftly, the party took out the remaining players on the field. Upon the destruction of the last enemy, the missing women were released from the tree and the small child that Scrufflefuzz mentioned ran out from her hiding place to her mom's side. Before anyone could do anything, seven dolls came out of hiding and surrounded the child, but Helelee picked the girl up and the dolls fell lifeless to the ground.
Moments later, Scrufflefuzz exited the maze, took in the dead bodies, and immediately laid into the group for killing their patron, who happened to be a hag. The group, incensed by Scrufflefuzz's rage, as well as the lack of detail about, y'know, hags being involved, immediately restrained the satyr and demanded their payment, as well as wine. Scrufflefuzz tried to explain that no, they would not be paid for various reasons, but Jace knocked them out. It was only then that the group realized that literally everything - the maze, the estate, the wine - was all gone, as the deal with the hags had been voided.
Beyond ticked off, the group looted the bodies for any sort of payment they could get, and the grateful women - who had woken up by now - gave them whatever gold they had on their persons. Disgruntled but pleased by women's safety, the group returned to base.
SUMMARY
DM Sherri
PLAYERS Emily (Wendelin), Kati (Bryn), Luke (Jace), Rae (Lark), Zoe (Helelee)
RESULT Mission Complete, Client financially ruined
TOTAL XP 2700 xp each
TOTAL GP 50 gp each