Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 4143480" data-attributes="member: 20323">Chapter 1Chapter 1: Lambeurs by NightIn which the PCs attend a clandestine meeting to learn of their quest, and are assailed by the river hag Hyvilda whose coming bodes ill tidings. They join a contentious town meeting about recent disappearances later that night, facing the consequences of their encounter with the hag.Flowchart.............The Hag’s Proposition – Chasing the Hag – The Hag’s Lair (7)..........................|.........................|..................................................................|...........The Cursed Fisherman (2)...............................................|.........../...................................................................Town Meeting – The Good Witch (1) / The Briarmaze (4)...............................|...........\...............................................................The Fiddler’s Game.....The Great Debate – Arrested! ..............Council Interrupted                        If no PC has the “Guardian Messenger” hook, then a messenger from Galeay is present.PCs can make a DC 20 Insight check to determine that the red-haired apprentice is under a magical charm effect. She has been charmed by Hyvilda the River Hag and is carrying a Hag’s Eye, which allows Hyvilda to penetrate the protection circle.Morae asks each PC to declare their name and why they have come once they are gathered before the charred oak. Relying on the power of the charred oak (see below),  Morae realizes any lies told and asks Arnth in private to keep an eye on the lying PC.Once all are gathered, Morae speaks:_________________________________________________________THE CHARRED OAKA great charred black oak, split in twain as if by lightning, seems to heave as if scarcely breathing and its few living branches rustle without wind.PropertyAnyone who knows the charred oak’s secret (see below) gains a +20 bonus on Insight checks to detect lies told in its presence.LoreArcana 14: The grove is a circle of protection against hostile magic and scrying, judging by the inscriptions and charms hanging in the trees.History 14: The oak was once the dwelling place of the fey spirit Eiruel, who fell in love with a logger who taught her human ethics. When her beloved died in a logging accident, Eiruel made her grove a burial shrine. Over the years, the people of Lambeurs began bringing their loved ones who were closest to nature there. Nature 14: The lightning-struck black oak is one of the elder trees of the forest, likely once a dryad’s hiding place. That it clings to life and is inhabited by jays, sparrows, and squirrels suggests the dryad, or a piece of her essence, may still be alive.Religion 14: It is said the funerary spirit Eiruel watches over the grove, and that on Samhain the spirits of the buried ancestors come to dance and make merry with her. Eiruel was punished to be a keeper of the dead after seducing a mortal man and killing his wife – a crime for which the gods split her dwelling tree with lightning, killing her.SecretOnce the dwelling place of the dryad Eiruel, who was in love with Arnth’s great grandfather, the oak was struck by lightning summoned by Zakrina the Kingmaker Hag as punishment for protecting the dead of Lambeurs (who the hag sought to raise). While the wounds to her tree killed the dryad, the charred oak remembers the upright honest character of Eiruel, and it responds to conscious lies told within the grove, emitting a groan and cracking of limbs.Morae knows this, but keeps it secret to keep both the charred oak’s power to herself, and to protect the honor of Arnth’s family._________________________________________________________The Guardian Messenger may deliver the message as they see fit. Otherwise, an NPC messenger shares the following:Morae addresses the PCs:Once the terms are finalized, give the PCs the Preventing the Witch Hunt quest card. Morae asks her assistant Rhozai to retrieve a box of charms for the heroes. Rhozai moves to the box and then suddenly freezes in place and begins breathing heavily. The caw of ravens accompanies a sudden cold snap and hard rain falls to the earth as a piercing cackle echoes through the trees. Morae hisses, “How can this be? The hags are banished!”_________________________________________________________THE HAG’S PROPOSITION    Trigger: Accept Preventing the Witch Hunt QuestHyvilda the river hag proposes the PCs take up arms against the inquisitors with her.Environment: Heavy rain, 40’ diameter clearing with oak stump in middle, 100’ away from cliff (60’ above lake)Allies: Arnth, Morae (her Strength is depleted by the sight of Hyvilda so she is helpless to act in this encounter)Enemies: Hyvilda, Merrow Gaffer, Merrow Harpoon Hunter, Merrow SkulkSpecial: Any who brought weapons within the sacred grove are cursed by ancestor spirits if they aren’t Good-aligned – their weapons break on their next strike and the offenders can’t sleep until making restitution to the angered spirits.XP: Next: Town Meeting (Ch.1) or The Hag’s Lair (Ch.7)_________________________________________________________Note that Hyvilda flirts with any Good-aligned male PC with a Charisma 17 or higher. An Insight check (16) reveals her flirtation conceals longing and desperate hope. Indeed, she believes this hero might be the one to free her and her sisters from their curse.If the PCs refuse Hyvilda’s offer, she uses this strategy:Round 1: Casts an entangle spell, and orders her merrow minions to steal the PCs’ weapons (“since these yearlings have no stomach for battle, avail them of their arms!”). If attacked the merrow engage in combat, but otherwise will retreat.Round 2: Calls upon the swarm of fiendish ravens to retrieve her hag eye, and retreats.If the PCs attack, Hyvilda uses this strategy:Round 1: Orders merrow to defend her and gives Arnth the evil eye.Round 2: Retreats and binds a PC to her with anchor rope, jumping over the cliff edge and attempting to drown PC below. If the PCs pursue Hyvilda, they lose her at the water’s edge where she and her merrow servitors dive into the lake. To continue the pursuit, the PCs must make an Acrobatics or Athletics check to reduce the damage of the 60’ dive, and then swim through the rainstorm in frigid waters. Each check the PCs make to close ground, they must also make an Endurance check (10) against cold and fatigue, with the Difficulty cumulatively increasing +2 with each check. A failed Endurance check incurs a -2 cumulative penalty on chase checks. Encumbered PCs suffer -10 on chase checks to swim.CHASING THE RIVER HAGSkills: Athletics5    Not only do you drop out of the chase, but you immediately begin drowning. Any nearby ally can help you, but must drop out of the chase to do so.10    You are losing ground, and must make an Athletics check (12) to avoid drowning. You can choose to drop out of the chase to stop drowning.15    You’ve kept up with the hag long enough to see that she is heading toward an island shaped like a mare’s head. If you choose to continue following you and your allies gain +2 on your next checks. (cumulative)20    You’ve managed to triangulate or otherwise reduce the distance you must cover, gaining +4 on your next check. You are able to call out to your allies to keep them on track, granting them +2 on their next checks. (cumulative)25    You have kept pace with the hag and reach the entrance to the caverns underneath the mare’s head shaped island she has fled to. You can create a signal for your allies to follow, granting them +4 on their next checks. (Go to the Hag’s Lair in Chapter 7)If Hyvilda drowns a PC, she takes the PC to her lair to perform an enchantment ritual. Unless the other PCs rescue their fellow by sunrise or the abducted PC manages to outwit Hyvilda, the abducted PC becomes Hyvilda’s servitor, gaining the Fey-Touched template (and becoming amphibious with a warped form).If the PCs accept her offer or are open to negotiations, Hyvilda asks them to organize the strongest team they can to ambush the inquisitors – hinting that the one who summoned the dragon could be a great ally – and meet on Selkie’s Road at the abandoned barge tomorrow night. See Chapter 9: Confrontation at the Bridge.Rather than be left out of the dialogue completely, Morae pleads that they instead venture to the Everautumn and barter with the Faerie Queen for the Ritual of the Misty Veil (hiding the path to the Vale for the inquisitors), rather than draw blood. See Chapter 5: Into the Everautumn.Treasure:Morae gives the PCs the following charms to aid them in their quest, provided they haven’t agreed to fight alongside Hyvilda:, talisman of good luck (+1 saves for one encounter daily),witch stone cord (spell resistance 2 for one encounter daily), healing potion (grants free healing surge), and a number of waterbreathing charms equal to the PCs’ numbers (breathe water for one encounter daily).</blockquote>

Verification