The mysterious chef has his finger in many pies it would seem. He chit-chats a bit with the party and expresses some alarm at the notion that the frostgiant-dragon hybrid is loose in the wilds and seems to take this as an important event – but neglects to go into finer detail.
He accepts the severed head of the giant leader as proof of completion and thanks the group for their efforts. Next on the agenda is an excursion that might be more challenging. On the far side of Black Angel Woods is a bog. In that bog there is a lair, a rare lair, a steaming lair. In that lair there is a crown. A rare crown, a witch’s crown. The witch’s crown is of some renown and the group is tasked with obtaining and returning the item. All other plunder is theirs to keep. Armed with a map and an estimated location, they depart into the teeth of the approaching winter. A suicicide mission, were it not for the group’s magical defenses against life-threatening cold.
They have an uneventful journey around the northern perimeter of the forest and find their way to the lakes that mark the edges of the swampy region. The billowing gouts of steam point to geyser action in the region and the group goes invisible and flies down into the caldera, There they surprise and neutralize a contingent of bugbears and a troll, presumably guarding the entrance to the lair.
The lair itself turns out to be a hollow tree stump of great size. The room is occupied by a specter that asks them to pull cards and have their fortune told. The party complies. The specter does its thing and then attacks. The group is ready for treachery and defeats it within seconds.
They find obsidian slabs that resemble doors and a large stone ‘plug’ that is highly magical. A hollow in the stone indicates a serpent of exceptional size could fit therein. The group rests for the night and is attacked by an agent of the Pactlords (remember them? – Bayga’s missing finger comes back to haunt them) – a triclops monster that deals a lot of damage before being put down. In fact, Digin is slain twice, though the fate twisting magic of Sniffles saves him on the first occasion Ah…he’ll be OK in a few hours, so they pile him in the corner and wait for the ring to do its thing. After some lengthy dithering, divination and consulting the skull of lies, the group enters one of the obsidian portals which sends them to places unknown. They bypass the traps and arrive in a room with a large mineral deposit from which protrudes the end of a staff.
They free the staff and a flesh golem that they slay. They press on and make it into a laboratory wherein resides a medusa pursuing strange experiments on captive animals and humanoids. The party slays the medusa and continues on. Eventually they locate an exit that takes them back to the witch’s stump. Just for grins, the group enters the other portal, hoping for a different locale. Alas, ’tis the same area, but they enter from a different direction and have to traverse the entire area to find a way out.
Staff in hand, they insert it into the seal, which falls away, revealing a shaft of considerable depth and made of stone inscribed with runes and mortared with lead. More discussions culminate in the group’s descent by magical means. Statues are scrutinized, traps are detected, hallways are explored and just about everything is a dead end, a trap, or both. Hmm.
Descending another set of stairs leads them to a beautiful woman sleeping in a glass coffin, but the sharp eyes of the jaded gnome see through the illusion. It is a deadly night hag inside! Nonetheless, they explode the coffin – the shards of which fly through the air like so many angry hornets. The hag attacks, with brass-knuckle backed punches and magical attacks.
She proves to be incredibly resistant to damage and the battle is a bit of a slog, but in the end she is felled and the group realizes that this is not the final location of the crown they seek. BUt, it is time to sleep and so they exit the well and regroup in the stump.
Down they go and look around some more, eventually finding another secret door that they open to reveal a large chamber that hums with power. Within sits a chipper woman of indeterminate age. To either side of the throne made of tree-root are cages. In these cages are occupants that are exact duplicates of the party members. She welcomes the group and announces her excitement at finally meeting them!
Leave a reply