OK, so last time we’d all escaped out of a window, and were fleeing the nasty hag coven.
Should be simple right? Get to the fence, get over the fence, run.
And it probably would have been, but those nasty hags were intent on causing trouble, and despite telling us to leave quite forcefully had decided that now they wanted us to stay, at least until their business was concluded.
So, everyone heads for the fence. Ropes are thrown, some of us hang back a bit as backup, ready to throw out spells should the hags come close enough.
Then the hags reappear all around Loge. Spells are thrown, then Loge is hit with something necrotic that leaves him with only one hit point left.
And that’s when the two remaining hags swing and knock him out!
Laufey the Owl familiar flew off to a safe distance and watched the party have a negotiation with the hags – let them finish up and tomorrow morning Loge goes free. Come back before morning, Loge gets it.
They fell back to rearm and get some reinforcements.
Back at the Gwynned Estate, they researched hags and what they might be doing, after filling in Gwynned on what was happening. He… didn’t take it well.
It looks like the hags are making a super-powerful soulbag, some kind of power source for their magic.
Gwynned was happy to provide silvered weapons, potions and some backup – a Godsman mage of some kind who knew enough about the patients to be worrying, but not enough about the townhouse to seem in the loop at all.
When Loge finally came to, he was in the attic room and a hag was force-feeding him his healing potion.
They wanted to know why the group was there – Loge told them they were hired help. Shouldn’t have killed the head doctor, they’d have gotten away with whatever they were doing.
They wanted to know why the group didn’t leave – Loge told them they broke the agreement. We said we’d take the ‘troublemaker’ Berith away if they’d let us. The hags knew we’d find out from Berith what they were up to, and besides they couldn’t go into the room with the sleeping girl.
They wanted to know if the group would come back for him – Loge had no knowledge of the deal struck, but wasn’t sure why they’d left in the first place. They’d probably gone to rearm and get backup, but he didn’t say that.
The hags left Loge tied to a chair with a sack over his head.
Listening to Laufey outside, it seemed a few hours had past. Loge conjured a small flame and burned the ropes away, then removed the sack and had a look around the room. All of his equipment was gone, and he couldn’t see any way of breaking out. Some time passed.
Maybe he could say a prayer to anyone that might be listening, ask for a favour.
The hags came back in suddenly. They’d left a small familiar to watch him named Scrabbles – some kind of rat/elf hybrid.
Oops. Should have looked around better.
Loge tried to play it off, just wanted to open a window or something. He was still locked in the room, so not exactly escaping after an hour or so – no matter what Scrabbles was saying.
The hags left Loge locked in the room, though he now kept an eye on his jailer. Conversation didn’t seem useful, although Scrabbles apparently could speak Sigilian Cant.
Eventually, Loge sat in the chair and used Laufey for another reconnaissance trip whilst faking rest.
Laufey has managed to spot the hags arguing near the kitchen, which put them at the far end of the corridor a floor below. If Loge could somehow get out of the room, maybe he could get past them.
But all the doors were probably locked.
OK, last resort. Pray to anything nearby and hope it works. Maybe the beings downstairs really are proto-gods.
Loge prayed a while, repeating his situation.
“If anyone can hear me, I’m trapped in a room. There’s hags downstairs trying to hurt people, and I can’t help. I need some kind of aid, anything.”
Eventually he drifted off to sleep.
And woke up in a cloudy landscape with a rainbow above. And a small girl nearby. The sleeping girl from the room.
She said her name was Kaydee and she’d heard him talking. Did he like clouds and rainbows? She liked clouds and rainbows.
Loge explained that there were bad people in the house, and they were hurting some of the others. Kaydee was safe because they couldn’t get into her room. And the nurse with her was safe too, but Loge needed both of their help.
Kaydee conjured Berith from the clouds. She’d stayed in a happy dream for a long time, and wasn’t sure if she could help at all.
Kaydee wasn’t even sure if she could wake herself up. But Loge only needed to get to the keys in Berith’s pocket.
If Kaydee could wake Berith up, Loge would hopefully be able to get to her and get the keys, and then help everyone.
And if everything went well, he’d come back and tell Kaydee some really good stories he knew.
Hopefully the cavalry arrives around the same time?
jot jot ïota 