Hag Hunting

Five Freelancers trooped up to the office of Arnari, the half-elf bard who led the Cliffshadow Freelancers.  Unsurprisingly, harp music floated from her office; a half-finished ballad, perhaps.  Maghris, a long-haired tuxedo nekomata with a homunculus floating next to his shoulder, entered first, and paused, causing the Wild elf monk Petrichor to stop in surprise lest she plough into him.  Arnari's chairs had been all rearranged.

Spotting the chair he had determined would least mess with his two long-haired tails, Maghris hurried to it and sat down.  The two human Freelancers moved past Petrichor, who was shaking her head.  Colt, sporting a sword and a curled-up whip at his side, grabbed a chair and swung his leg over the back to sit down.  Damian, carrying a backpack, grabbed a seat in the second row, looking around at the others to see if they'd sit in front of him.

Carmen, the big firbolg, moved to the heavier chairs, to see if they would take his weight.  He was sporting new brigandine armour which made him even heavier.  At that point, Shimni appeared, the short Rock sagani surrounded by an aura of drama.  Just as Carmen found a chair, she sat next to him.

Petrichor finally resumed her forward motion, and chose a chair in the front row, off-center.  She politely made sure not to block Damian.  For his part, Damian moved seats to be behind the Wild elf.

Arnari set the harp aside and shuffled through her papers, but notably the most dog-eared one was in front of her, as if she'd been contemplating it while playing the harp.  But first she waved two other dog-eared papers then set them aside, as she listed available / suitable missions.

• First two – gryphon eggs to the north; 150 eagles per egg, trade in 12 for a mount.  Hippogryph not as hard; slightly south; 100 eagles per egg, trade in 10 for a mount.
• Third – Pirates Dream river.  Find something and relocate it not-there, either kill or capture (you've seen the winged bears).  100 eagles each
• Fourth – Korfel Goltorrah – track down the giant bee that flew away after Freelancers raided the bee tree.  It turned invisible and flew off.  100 eagles a person.
• Fifth – after Waiola Vaina had more Daystar worshippers delivered to them, she wants Freelancers to track down where they were getting it, suggested it's in Stormhaven.

The Freelancers contemplated these choices, and Petrichor puzzled over the last.

Petrichor:  seems this lotion makes people crazy.  What's in it?
Arnari:  these crazy people worship the Daystar as a god, and worship by exposing their buttholes to it.  The lotion helps by increasing their resistance to getting burned, but prolonged use seems to destroy their common sense.
Maghris:  I'm only opposed to pollution [the third mission]
Shimni:  pollution sounds rad and I want to go, but otherwise …  invisible bees is terrifying, when the size of a large dog.
Petrichor:  I've been, and it was not rad, minichou
Damian:  I also don't want pollution.
Colt:  there are no two people wanting the same mission
Carmen <sadly>:  interested in pollution or bees
Colt:  well, Ah'm interested in eggs, or giant invisible bee
Carmen:  bees not that bad, that invisible be unnatural
Petrichor:  they seemed alright, susceptible to ambush
Maghris:  Shimni, how can we convince you?
Petrichor:  we'll protect you

Shimni pressed her lips together, but with 5 other Freelancers there, she decided it would be safe enough, and agreed to track down the giant invisible bee.

Carmen:  should we have some antitoxin with us?
Petrichor:  maybe
Arnari:  when Mantzur was assailed before, Freelancers tracked it down to a small hut northwest of the bee tree.  They slew the hag, and burned it down.
Maghris:  why kill her?
Petrichor:  don't hags feed on the misery of others?
Arnari:  yes; and there were hag tokens

The Freelancers rose, and filed out of the office.  The quartermaster was well stocked with antitoxin, and they picked some up before heading south to Mantzur.

Maghris had his giant bat Blaze, and Colt had Peri-Anne the hippogryph; so they flew above while the rest of the Freelancers walked along the road to Mantzur.  The weather was pleasant although a couple rain showers manifested, the water quickly drying off their clothes and gear as they proceeded.

As the Daystar was westering on the second day, they arrived at the settlement, which showed as the forest around them becoming increasingly healthy and intentional, until the Freelancers were surrounded by building and fruit trees at every point in the growth cycle.  Korfel greeted the Freelancers and offered them the public house for the night, and thanked them for coming, especially Petrichor.  Other Wild elves took charge of Blaze and Peri-Anne, murmuring to the two mounts.

Before the Freelancers settled down to sleep, they discussed their course of action from Mantzur:  should they go to the bee tree to see if the invisible bee had returned?  That led to a discussion of the Wild elf they'd found in the tree before, preserved in honey.

Petrichor:  I think they'd been invading the hive.
Maghris:  we should go to the tree first.
Petrichor:  we expect it to be empty
Carmen:  no; we did not kill any bees
Petrichor:  that's right!  Just the armours.

They decided to sleep on it with no resolution.  In the morning the Freelancers found out from Korfel that the hag's hut from before was closer than the bee tree, which was 4 days' south, but in a different direction.  They decided to visit the hut first, and then continue to the bee tree.

Carmen listened carefully as the taller firbolg described where to go for the hut.  Then he picked up 10 days' worth of rations and led the Freelancers southwest.  Maghris flew on Blaze, but Colt left Peri-Anne in the care of the folks at Mantzur.

As the Freelancers followed Carmen, the big Nature cleric was busy watching for and listening to the birds, to provide clues about who or what had passed this way.  That meant he was kind of oblivious to the plant life in front of him.  Damian politely asked Carmen how he was leading, phrasing it as curiosity and providing bardic inspiration as he did so.  The firbolg happily explained what he was looking for from the birds, but that meant he was extra oblivious to the plant life in front of him.

The plant life was in the form of many thorn bushes, which did not bother the cleric in brigandine armour in the slightest, but were a pain for the other Freelancers (except Maghris, flying above).  By the end of the day, they'd the group had realized Petrichor was far more familiar with the area, so after camping for the night, Petrichor led the way.

Petrichor murmured to herself, "Watch for thorn bushes," casting guidance on herself, and followed the river south.  She got to a fork and paused; she was more familiar with the area, but hadn't really been listening that closely to Korfel's directions.  "We want to go to the right," Carmen said, looking at the mountain poking up through the forest.

Carmen took the lead again, with Petrichor admonishing him, "Watch the ground, not the birds," casting guidance on him.  Carmen nodded, and did so.  He followed the river until getting to a little valley full of pine trees.  The Daystar was westering and the effect was dark and gloomy.

Pausing at the mouth of the valley, the Freelancers were struck by how sad the valley seemed.  Except for Maghris, who started flitting around on Blaze, looking for bee activity.  The others followed on foot, looking around.

At this point Ozo the Humble rose up out of the ground, right next to Shimni.  "What mission?" Ozo boomed, amused.  Shimni scowled, but explained about the giant bees.  "Bees is scary beezness," Ozo intoned with mock seriousness, "What's the buzz?"  Shimni, utterly mortified, started looking for a hole in the ground to sink into.

As for the others, Petrichor and Damian started absorbing how dark and depressing the valley was, and realized as the Daystar sank, it was getting harder to see.  Maghris also started realizing it, as well as noticing there were no bees.  On the other hand, the darkness made it obvious to Colt that there was a campfire-sized fire at the other end of the valley.  Carmen could just barely make it out.

"Ah see some smoke, yonder," Colt declared, and Carmen pointed it out.  Everyone looked, including Maghris who landed next to them.  Perhaps the fire was a mile away, through the trees.

Petrichor:  why don' we see if we can share their fire for the night?  Seems like the friendly thing to do.
Maghris:  sounds like a plan!
Damian:  we could bring them food and ask questions about the valley, or hag.

The Freelancers headed up the valley, towards the fire.  Carmen and Maghris hung back, the former pulling up his hood to fade into the shadows, the latter silently above, on Blaze.

As they approached the fire, Petrichor, Damian, Colt, and Shimni saw what looked like a burned out, small building, or perhaps a hut.  Surrounding it was a garden gone wild, where some plants had taken over and others had been choked out by weeds.  Two walls remained of the building, and perhaps one was where the fire was?

Getting closer, they noticed the garden seemed to have some attempts at tending, and the fire was actually in the remains of a hearth.  They stopped at the edge of the firelight.

Damian called out, "Hey, stranger!  We're just passing through.  Mind if we share your hearth?  We have some food!"

A young man came around the side of the house and stopped outside the firelight.

Man:  kinda strange to be out here in the woods!  Usually I have them to myself.  What brings you here?
Damian:  we were investigating some happenings around Mantzur and thought to check this hut where the hag used to live.
<The man stepped into the firelight, and looked to be half-elf or elf.>
Man:  you're welcome to stay the night; I don't have a lot of food.
Damian:  that's okay; we can share

The 4 Freelancers approached to see a half-elf with lightly-tanned skin, scruffy, shoulder-length brown hair, with worn leathers, a serviceable knife, and a quiver on his back.  He introduced himself as Trom and noted he was hunting in this area.

Maghris, seeing how all this was falling out, landed and approached the firelight, surprising Trom.

Maghris:  have you seen anything bee-like in the area, or bee activity?
Trom:  bee activity?  There's a fair number of bees pollinating during the day
Petrichor:  not this kind of bee
Maghris:  big bee, large enough to kill a man
Trom:  I've seen giant elk but not a big bee where you have to worry about one
Petrichor:  I've encountered them 2 days' travel southeast <gestures> about 3 primes ago
<Trom looked carefully at Petrichor, squinting in the firelight.>
Trom:  giant bees.  Huh
Petrichor <sadly>:  honestly, I – <paused>  when was the last time you were in town?
Trom:  what eighth is it?
Petrichor:  Fulcrum
Trom:  I prefer nature to people.  You are about all I can handle
Petrichor <to make conversation>:  I was a rancher nearby, and had heard of the large bees, but I was dissatisfied with it, and joined Freelancers, who have taken it up.

Trom looked worried at Petrichor's conversation.  While she was talking, Damian had set up near the fire and was preparing to prepare food.  Carmen, meanwhile, was still hidden, and far less trusting of this stranger.  He cast detect evil and good, took a deep breath, then walked towards the others as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Trom started at the advent of the big, armoured firbolg in the firelight.

Colt:  hey, Carmen!  <to Trom>  the last member of our party.
Petrichor <to Trom>:  he was holding back, because this is the place where the hag was.
Carmen <mildly>:  birds around here are remarkable.

Carmen stepped a little closer and stopped as the detect evil and good pinged; Trom was fae.  Calmly raising an eyebrow, he looked at Trom more closely, and realized "he" was lying about everything.  

It was getting harder and harder for Carmen to be calm.  He declared, "this person is not what they seem," then cast aid on the other Freelancers.  To Petrichor he advised, "You probably don't want to eat their food."  Damian looked up from his preparations in surprise.  At this, Trom rose to his feet, and stepped back.

Trom:  why would you say this?  I haven't lied to you!
Carmen:  that's not what I said.
Petrichor:  why, this person hasn't been anything but friendly.
Carmen:  this person is fae.
Maghris <curiously>:  what kind of fae are you?  Some are better than others!  I've known good fae.

Maghris was obviously lying (which is funny, as he probably didn't realize he was familiar with some fae creatures around Freelancers Tavern).  Trom, confronted with Carmen's earnestness and Maghris' dissembling, distorted his face in displeasure, and the mood shifted around the little fire.

Colt stood up and said, "apologise if this is a bit rude, but–" and lunged forward to grapple Trom.  Colt frowned as he realized his grasp was on clothing and skin that… did not align with what he saw through his eyes, and found himself unable to grab onto Trom.

• Damian noticed Colt's hands "clipping" as if they had gone through an illusion, and  loaded his hand crossbow.  He held his shot until he saw an actual fight break out, as Trom still hadn't done anything.
  • To Carmen he said, "Great job seeing that, will follow your lead," granting the cleric bardic inspiration.
• Petrichor, still a bit floored by Carmen's unfriendliness, tried to defuse the situation.  The Wild elf moved up to Trom and Colt, but found she couldn't get between them.  "Let's not be too aggressive, here," she said, "Trom's not been mean to us, let's not do anything mean to him; how 'bout we go back to dinner?"
  • Even so, the monk's suspicion had been aroused and she was ready to take a swing at Trom if his actions proved Carmen right.
• Shimni also saw Colt's hands "clipping", and frowned thoughtfully.  Hags are good at illusion and trickery, she thought, so she hexed Trom, and readied herself to blast him with earth & rocks if an actual fight broke out.
  • Realizing she didn't really want to be in the middle of the fighting, she backed up to where Carmen was standing… actually, behind the much bigger cleric.
• Carmen brought down Āhua's bane on Trom.

Trom sighed.  "This really would have been easier, if you had just let me kill you in your sleep!" he exclaimed.

• Petrichor swung at him and missed.
• Colt swung and missed.
• Damian shot at Trom with his hand crossbow, but the bolt missed.
• Shimni's earthen blast slammed into Trom with enough force to shove him backwards, and the hex spread necrosis from the strike.
• Trom ran behind one of the remaining walls of the house and ducked out of sight.

Maghris moved over to the other wall and peered around it to see Trom.  "Git 'em!" he told Blaze, who also flew over.  The artificer shot Trom with his light crossbow, then had Mr Zircon hit him with force.

• Four apparently rabid wolves showed up!
  • Two attacked Maghris, ebcuase of course wolves would go after a nekomata, biting him and knocking him down.
  • The other two attacked Carmen.  The first one crit, knocking the firbolg down, but the other one could not bite through his armour.  Carmen still kept up the bane on Trom, though.

Colt moved to Maghris, attacking the smaller wolf.  His longsword slashed it, then his whip wrapped around its neck, killing it.  Adrenaline surging, the warrior moved up to Trom and slashed again with his longsword.  It appeared to hit, but cut through an obvious illusion and did nothing.

• Damian cast bane on the 3 remaining wolves, then backed up around the wall with the hearth so he also could see Trom.
• Petrichor, no longer happy with Trom at all, ran up next to Colt, her off hand glowing.  She opened her hand, manipulating her ki, and shot two bolts of starlight at Trom, burning him with radiance.  Trom grimaced unhappily.
  • Petrichor tried to whack Trom with her shepherd's crook, but whiffed.
• Shimni moved so that she could see Trom past Damian, but was much further away from the fighting and the house.  She sent another earthen blast at him, slamming into him with force and triggering the hex.
  • Trom still appeared uninjured.  However, his posture was that of a person in a lot of pain.
• Carmen stood up and moved towards Maghris.
  • Both wolves tried to bite him, but brigandine armour is serious business.
  • Channelling Āhua's power, he charmed all the nearby animals and plants, specifically the three wolves, and Blaze.
    • One of the wolves almost threw it off, but Damian cast silvery barbs on it to reverse its luck and apply that to Maghris.
  • As the wolves looked to Carmen, Āhua ripped away … something.  They no longer looked rabid.
• Trom swore mightily.  "why'd you have to do that to my wolves?  They were perfectly vicious and you had to mess it all up!"
  • Carmen replied, "They are Āhua's creatures."
  • Trom swiped at Colt with a hand, and it turned out there were claws under the illusion, which slashed the human badly.
• Maghris stood up and shot another crossbow bolt at Trom, missing.
  • Mr Zircon struck Trom with force again.

Colt shook his head, unhappy at being slashed and at Trom's apparent continued good health.  "Ah wish things were goin' better," he said grimly, and slashed Trom with his longsword, then followed up with his whip.

• Damian drew his rapier, then thrust at Trom, missing.  "I think it's about time to wrap this scene up," he said conversationally, "Would you like to surrender?"
• Petrichor swung a fist at Trom and missed.
  • She grimaced.
    Petrichor:  this illusion is trippin' me out
    Colt:  me, too!
  • Petrichor swung the other fist at Trom and connected, following up with a flurry of blows.  The first one missed, but the second crit, causing Trom to start swaying on his feet.
• Shimni, from her vantage far away, sent another earthen blast… and critfailed.  The rock comet looped up in the air, and struck her in the back of the head with force.
• Carmen felt the other Freelancers had things well in hand, so cast speak with animals.  With a bark and deep wuffs, he asked the wolves, "What's up with this person?"
  • The wolves replied, in whines and yips, that they were forced to follow this man because he feeds them meat and honey.  Must have more honey.
  • Carmen announced to the others, "This man is the source of enchanted honey."
• Trom cast invisibility and ran.
  • Petrichor struck blindly with her shepherd's crook, but was expecting to connect and instead critfailed.  The crook sailed out of her hands, over Damian's head, and into the vegetation beyond.
  • Colt fared better, slashing their fleeing opponent badly with his longsword.

A hideous hag appeared on the ground at Colt's feet, bleeding out from many wounds.

Colt and Petrichor, once they overcame their surprise and revulsion, searched the hag, and found 160 eagles and small bone statue.  She had two small gold bracelets on her left wrist.

Carmen asked the wolves, "Where is the honey?"  The wolves ran to jars lined up along the wall that didn't hold the hearth.  Glancing at them, Carmen checked them all.  Some had meat, some had honey, some had meat in the honey.  Pressing his lips together, Carmen used his innate detect magic to confirm the honey came from the giant bees.

Carmen cast protection from poison on one of the wolves, curing it from the honey addiction.  He explained to the wolves, "Honey is bad for you.  I will fix tomorrow," then pulled out his rope and tied up the uncured wolves to a nearby tree.

The wolves were very mad, but Carmen was not finished.  He pulled the meat that was not in the honey out of the jars and fed them.  They ate the meat, and were less mad, but the speak with animals wore off before they were finished eating.

There were many gallons of the honey.

Damian:  should we bring it back and burn the rest?
Carmen:  yes
Maghris:  I'm filling my flask with some.
Carmen:  bad
Maghris:  for science!
Carmen:  …
Maghris <pointed at himself>:  alchemist!  It might be Daystar lotion!

Damian, Carmen, Shimni, and Maghris searched the whole area, even the garden, despite the twilight gloom.  Colt and Petrichor did not, because they were still trippin' on the hag's corpse.  After a bit Petrichor went hunting for her shepherd's crook.

The edges of the garden were poisonous plants, and a lot of the garden were herbs of various uses.  Maghris gathered a lot of interesting materials for alchemy use <Narrator voice:  80 gp worth actually>.

Petrichor:  is this the same hag?
Damian:  maybe we can draw this?

Before they could do more, a cry went up; the Freelancers in the garden had found the old hag's bones.  They moved to go back around the walls, and found a broom of flying.  That must have been what the hag was running towards.

Maghris:  should we burn [the old bones] too?
Carmen:  yes
Petrichor:  I'll gather wood
Colt:  I will too, I dunno much about hags
Carmen:  we don't wanna stand in the smoke.

Petrichor didn't gather much wood; the Freelancers decided to make camp outside the garden, and keep watch overnight.

The next morning, Petrichor and Colt resumed gathering wood, and Carmen cast protection from poison on the two wolves, and freed them.  The other Freelancers carefully moved the hag's body, and the old hag's bones, into the hut.  As they did so they found a nice copper chalice, with silver filigree on it.

Once they had enough wood gathered, they fired the hut, taking care to keep it from spreading, and also to avoid breathing the smoke.  They made sure to burn it all to the ground, until there was nothing left but the hearth, part of the chimney, and ashes.  Doing  so took up most of the day, but they still had time to relocate out of the creepy valley before camping for the night.

While relocating, they discussed the broom of flying, which was handy.  Carmen and Petrichor were uninterested in it, but both Shimni and Damian were.  In the end the broom went to Shimni.  As far as the other items went, nobody wanted those, so they decided to sell those as well.

Upon return to Mantzur, the Freelancers reported their adventure to Korfel, who wasn't sure how to react:  he was happy to learn the hag was gone, but unhappy to find out one was there in the first place.  He was deeply unhappy that wolves were addicted to this enchanted honey, but happy that Carmen had cured the survivors of it.

Korfel paid the Freelancers their fee of 100 eagles each, admonishing them to remit 10% of it to Arnari upon their return to Cliffshadow.  Two days later they did just that, as well as selling the unwanted items for 100 eagles.