When Skye set down the picnic basket, Phoebe snatched another pastry. “I’m sorry,” she whimpered with crumbs around the corners of her mouth. “But I’m hungry. Are you taking me home, Princess Lenelle?” Phoebe shyly approached Lenelle, and asked in a hesitant whisper, “Will your friends really kill Elise…?”

As the fate of Elise came into question again, Jennet pondered his own future. While he wandered the lair, he discovered an unusual necklace. A petrified kobold hand dangled on a dull bronze necklace. When he picked up the necklace, a finger on the hand curled and uncurled. Jennet sensed that he would need to wear the necklace to activate the full power.

Simon looks over the folded-paper bat and puts it back on the table.

"I suggest that we gather all of these items up, and head back to Deadwater, where we can examine them and try to determine what they are capable of.

And Phoebe, I don't think it is a good idea to eat anymore of those pastries. Anything cooked up by these...witches can't be good for you."

If there is no dissent, Simon starts to gather the items and place them into their packs.

As Simon picked up his own items, he thought he heard a faint whispering…

Cela holds the collar, then puts it on.  She turns back into a cat and mews approvingly at Twigbit, before going to check on the children.

For the first time since they’d found her, Phoebe smiled when she saw Cela polymorph into a cat. She clapped her hands in the unfiltered delight of children, forgetting for the moment her trauma at the hands of the Hags. “Mr. Pockets, look! She turned into a kitty-cat! Oh, she’s so pretty!”

Off to the side, Elise stood with her arms crossed. Her face in a petulant sulk, she sullenly muttered, “Granny promised Miss Cela would be MY cat. Princess Lenelle was supposed to play with me forever and ever.”

Simon stops for a moment, and holds up the shrunken hags head at eye level.

"Did you say something?"

"Elise," said Tara, gently, "you should know that Granny didn't always tell the truth to everyone, and she wanted to hurt people, and did hurt people, and that's not good.  But if you're a good girl, then maybe someday I can teach you how to get a cat that's always with you, forever and ever."

It was worth a try, at the very least.

“Will I be like you?” The child looked up with an intense curiosity. “You had a special Granny, too.” Elise tapped her head on the spot where Tara’s unusually colored locks stood out.

Nearby, Simon heard a raspy wheeze when held up the shrunken head. He stared at it for a beat. Then, the hag’s head spoke! ”She wears a Hag’s Eye,” the Head wheezed.

"My stepmother," said Tara.  No need to lie to a child.  "You might become like me.  That's not a bad thing, you know.  I have knowledge; I have power.  But I don't have to hurt people.  I can live among them and be friends with them, and that's so, so much better than hurting people."

She hoped that, in time, the child would understand this.  Perhaps.  It was certainly worth making the effort.

Skye, the boar at her side still, looked around with a frown. "Maybe we can discuss this back in town....I've seen enough of this place. So let's not linger"

She loomed St Grog and Azatch with a shake of her head. "What's with these guys and wanting to talk about every detail now....we can do that over a hot meal and ale."

“She may speak with a sharp tongue, but her words cut with truth. I agree. I spent more time than I care to in this evil place.”

"Skye is right, let us take leave of this place. Hurry up and collect up the valuables, Simon, so we can go.

Perhaps we should burn it down?"

"I'll only be a moment. Grog. But first I need to take a look at little Elise."

Simon steps over to Elise and looks for a necklace or brooch or some other type of jewellery.

"This," he holds up the shrunken head for all to see, "Said that she wears a Hag's Eye. While I am no expert in Hags, I am sure that I once read that it is an item, made from an actual eye, that allows the hags to see through it.

Of course, trusting the words of a preserved head is probably questionable."

---

Making an assumption that Simon has heard of a Hag's Eye...no problem with ret-conning the post if that is overstepping.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:49, Fri 15 July 2022.

When Simon inspected the child, he saw the necklace that Connie gave Elise. A bauble dangled on a chain. Lenelle sensed the dark long magick in the item, and Tara knew that Simon had spoken correctly. She knew a Hag’s Eye on sight.

Lenelle recognized the necklace;  having seen Connie gift it to Elise a pair of days ago.   She had questioned the child at the time, but been unable to sense anything untoward about it then.    That had definitely changed.   Perhaps, with the defeat of the coven, some things would be easier to see...

To Phoebe, earlier, softly:  "No, no harm will come to Elise.  We'll do everything we can to make sure she grows up under loving care.   But, Phoebe, for now, you must be cautious of her.  Her ideas of right and wrong are a little confounded, because of Granny's teachings."   
This message was last edited by the player at 17:50, Sun 26 Dec 2021.

Grog and Azatch watched Connie while the rest of the group swept the weird house in one final search. Cela noticed that the chandelier in the “dining room” was actually a stuffed Beholder. Candles burned in the eye stalks, while the large eye stared unseeing on the room. Between Tara and Simon they identified and gathered the cursed items. Most of the items in the Hag’s lair were unsafe,

That didn’t mean that there weren’t a few more treasures to be found, though. Among the magical items were:

 5 additional Potions of Cure Light Wounds
Ring of Animal Friendship
Wand of Wild Magic
4 Magic Scrolls
A Ring of The Ram
A Monk’s Belt

When the group was ready to leave, they found Marigold and Blackthorn waiting for them. “Marigold told me of the danger you were all in. Since you’re walking out under your own power, I can safely assume that you won.”

Lenelle glanced to the former Redfern, "Aye. And it was the Hag's coven that fell here, that you have to thank for both your mother's death, as well as the townsfolk turning against you.  Their 'crime' mostly that they didn't question what their ears heard, or their eyes saw. Something for you to bear in mind, going forward, perhaps."

And a thought occurred to Lenelle -- based on something Tara had said.

At a convenient moment, when she could do so out of earshot of Elise --  Lenelle explained the situation with the young Hag girl to Blackthorn.

With the thought that perhaps, just perhaps, the Druid grove might be the place where she could be raised and nurtured...

Skye, exhausted beyond d anything she felt, smiled at Marygold and Blackthorn. He looked at the Druid. “We we’re lucky, but we prevailed. My thanks to you for your gift - your boar friend saved our bacon….excuse the pun.”

The halfling looked at the boar, then the Druid again.

At the mention of his mother’s death and his own subsequent exile, Blackthorn’s jaw tightened. He gave Lenelle a silent nod when she requested an aside. Once she made her case, the young Druid answered. “I must consult our Archdruid with your request. If he allows it, I am willing to try.”

Blackthorn answered Skye with a terse nod. “I am glad that the Grove-Father’s gifts protected you.” Then, he watched Connie with wrathful eyes. “And what of this Hag who participated in the campaign against my family and their neighbors? How will she be punished?”

As he awaited their answer, he added, “My people will burn the Hag Lair. When it has suited us, we have burned away deadwood. We can burn down this den of foulness and corruption, too.”

Lenelle glanced about them.  "I have to say, that would suit me more than fine," she remarked as regards putting the place to the torch.   Or more likely the pyromantic spell.

"However, we have something of an expert, when it comes to the Hags and their things." She glanced at Tara, "And it may be worth asking her first, if that is the best thing to be done."   

As to Connie- Lenelle folded her arms about herself, and frowned in indecision.  "There's been so much death, already.   I loathe having to think of any more.  And, I'm no resident of this land. But, there's no question she does have much blood on her hands."

"Seeing through an eye like that isn't a complicated trick," said Tara, "and yes, it's a specialty of Hags.  I'd destroy it-- it will hurt the coven that created it, and at the moment, they can use it to watch us.  If there are members left, that is."

She hesitated to say more at the moment... including about the trick her stepmother had taught her.  It might be useful, but this wasn't the time.

But it didn't need to be an eye, after all.

“My fellow Druids will destroy this tree. Now that we know the source of this land’s problems, we can fortify ourselves against it. The most powerful among us can dispel any magicks of the tree itself.” Blackthorn looked the dead tree over with disgust. “Better that we burn this tree and leave no corruption to spread through the swamp.”

He met Lenelle’s eyes again. “Go. Take your people back to Deadwater. You need to eat, rest, and decide the Hag’s sentence.” Blackthorn motioned the party to move along.

Simon will take the necklace from Elise, brooking no argument from the child. He drops it on the floor and smashes it under the heel of his boot.

Once all of the items of value have been packed up for transport, Simon will follow the group, happy to be leaving the horrid place.


"That would be best."

As the group started the trek back to Deadwater, a thought popped into Simon's mind, an atypical thought for him, at least up until his meeting with Sarraamosh. Speaking quietly to Tara, he says "I think we should speak to Sheila before we return to Deadwater.

That book proves that Benny conspired with the hags to have her husband Robert killed so he could take over the tavern. It also proves that Connie actively worked to have her executed or exiled falsely.

What do you think?"

---

If I recall, the group has to pass by Sheila's cottage on the way back.

Cela spends much of the trip home in housecat form, staying near Phoebe to make sure she's okay after her kidnapping.

When Simon stomped the Hag’s Eye, Connie screeched in pain! She clutched her left eye, which streamed greenish tears that looked like blood. He smirked at her pain, which the group collectively agreed was well-deserved. Connor, who had been momentarily forgotten in the chaos, watched Simon in total awe.

Soon, the party left Blackthorn’s Druids behind to destroy Connie’s home. As they crossed the bridge, Cela smelled a rank odor not unlike rotting vegetables. The stench started at the base of the dead tree, and touched the water directly underneath the bridge. However, the party crossed the bridge without incident.

Along the way, they stopped at Sheila’s cottage. The Hedgewitch expressed delight in seeing their survival, a joy which swiftly turned to sorrow when Tara revealed what she’d read in the Hags’ Book. It took everyone to prevent Sheila slitting Connie’s throat on the spot! Grog and Azatch dreaded magical retaliation from Sheila, but Tara and Lenelle eventually calmed the older woman. Sheila agreed to accompany them back to Deadwater. “I want to see her executed…and, hopefully, Benny with her.”

Before day’s end, they reached the gates of Deadwater. Joshua & Laredon awaited them. Joshua looked relieved to see his neighbors unharmed, and perhaps especially glad that Lenelle was safe. His eyebrows rose at seeing Sheila with them. Before they could explain, he told them, “The Baron will want to hear all about it. He’s, uh, ‘requested’ your company at dinner.”