Beyond the Wall Solo - Bay of Spirits session 5

 

Prolegomenon

When the air turns to ice the return of the hollow ones illuminates the way and sow great misfortune.

My party of five in their quest to recover the bones of St. Agnus and return them to the Far Mountain Abbey, are two days into their journey and one day from Rossgull Harbour.  Evening has fallen and they have come upon a busy wayside inn, but all may not be as it seems and before they can enter they are stopped by a Fae Warrior who warns them not to go inside. Strawberri, from the depths of her mind, recognises the Lady of the Fae and knows her true name to be Natritha.

Tools used in the session and other stuff.

For this game session we will be using the following Toolkit

Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures RPG
Further Afield supplement.

Bay of Spirits 12pk of adventure maps (link here)
Various other Bay of Spirits pdfs for background.
50 Winter Encounters by Beyond Horizon (link here)
My adapted Mune/Zathrum Oracle 

randomlists.com to generate verbs if I need a prompt to work out what happens next.

Location -  Road from Dry Gulch towards Rossgull Harbour , Lower bay region, Bay of Spirits

Date - 24rd/25th December 1512CY.

PCs (click on name to open page with full character stats)

Culdus the young acolyte, Hugo d'Winterton the would be knight, Karina Lankrit the local performer, Rhian the young woodswoman, Strawberri Cottoncloud the fae foundling.

NPC in this session.  Natitha Lady of the Fae (Warrior)

The Hollow Ones. Undead resurrected by powerful otherworld magic.  they look very much like they did in life but spells and magic which can detect the undead will reveal them as such.  
Hollow ones have no soul but can remember their past lives, they can speak and will talk to someone they where close to, like knowing the true name of a creature, if you know the living name of a hollow one you can attempt to command it to do something against its will.
Hit Dice 3d8 (14hp)
AC 16
Attack +3 to hit,  1d6+2 claw attack or as per weapon carried (50% chance of using a weapon, 1-2 Longsword 1d8 +1 hits, 3-4 Battle Axe 1d8+1 hits, 5 Great Sword 1d10+1 hits, 6 Great Axe 1d10+1 hits)
Alignment.  Chaotic
XP 100

Hollow ones do not age, 
Unsettling Presence,  A Hollow One can unsettle a creature it can see within 15 feet of it. The target has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes within the 10 minute. Constructs, undead, and creatures that can't be frightened are immune to this feature. Can only be used once per day.

Dead & Mindless.  Hollow Ones are immune to sleep or charm spells.

Session 5.

Scene 4,  24rd December,   around sunset.

The door to the inn opens and a jolly looking buxom woman stands at the door, if the party look beyond the woman to the inside of the inn they will see many many revellers yet there is very little noise coming from the  rooms inside.

The woman beckons them all to enter the inn to get out of the snow and the freezing night air, "come in, we have fine wines and ales, excellent foot, beds aplenty for the evening too, no need to spend the night in the cold, and you will have good company as well, we have a good crowd here tonight". 

Natritha the Fae is quick to warn the party not to do as the woman suggests, "Do not enter, it is all  illusion, do you hear the sounds of revellers, the voices of patrons, no, yet look, it is full, do not go inside".

The woman at the door hisses "do not listen to the Fae woman, she is the one who tries to trick you,  she wants to take you to her lands on keep you as slaves, in my inn you will find safety, peace and happiness".

Strawberri realises that Natritha the Fae is telling the truth but as she tries to warn the others, the woman at the door grabs Rhian and drags her into the inn

I make a check against the other members of the party to see if they are able to react and help Rhian as she is dragged inside.  Strawberri has a Dex of 19 but rolls a 20, a failure, Karina and Culdus both fail too, Hugo has a Dex of 10 but has Athletics skill so I give him +2, he needs a roll of 12 or less and gets a 4, he makes it inside, sword drawn.

I ask the oracle if Natritha or any of the two dogs are able to help, Natritha rolls a No as does one of the dogs, but the second dog gets a Yes(but).

As Rhian gets pulled backwards through the door, Hugo reacts quickly and gets into the inn, sword drawn, one of the hounds with Rhian and Hugo bounds, teeth bares, growling, through the door just before the door gets closed, but as it does so the interior of the inn changes to an old rundown cottage and the buxom woman reveals herself to be a Hag with wrinkled green skin and grey hair.  Hugo and the hound rush towards the hag.

Image by pendleburyannette from Pixabay

Hag 

HP 24

AC 15

Attack +5 to hit, 1d6 damage (claw/bite)

Alignment Chaotic

Special The old hag can cast 6 spells per day but most of her power is used to create the illusion of a busy tavern and on herself to give the illusion of a buxom young barmaid, both illusions are to draw the unwary into her home where she will kill, cook and eat them.

The Old Hag, being an evil fae creature has a true name. 

The Hag gets a free hit on Rhian and does 4 damage. Rhian is now down to 6hp.

Rhian in return is able to draw her magic sword but can do little more than free herself from the Hags claws as Hugo slashes at the hag with his sword causing 7 hp.   The hound also attacks the Hag and its teeth tear into the Hags flesh causing 3 damage, the Hag drops to 14hp.

The others attempt to get into the inn which now show itself to be simply an old house, but doors and windows remain magically locked and they cannot enter to help Rhian, Hugo and the dog.

The Hag lashes out at Rhian again, causing 3 damage this time, Rhian is down to 3hp.
Rhian is able to strike with her magical sword but her sword swing is poor and she cause no damage to the Hag, 

Hugo fairs better, and does strike the Hag with his sword, causing 6 damage, the hound too bites the Hag but cause only 1 damage, the Hag is down to 7 HP now.

The Hag is in a frenzy now, she claws and bites at Rhian who takes a further 5 damage, she is now at -2hp.  Rhian is out of the fight and very vulnerable.

Hugo though takes advantage of the Hags occupation with Rhian and stabs the old Hag with his longsword, causing 7 damage, the hound is not able to wound the hag this time but it matters not, Hugo has finished the old Hag and the skirmish is over.

Hugo pulls the Hags corpse off Rhian, with the death of the old Hag, the magic keeping the doors and windows locked fades and the others finally enter (except the Pony).  Rhian has 5 fortune points and uses 1 to stabilise her  hit points at 0.  Culdus though has the 'Healing Hands' spell and lays his hands on Rhian, her heals her to 6hp.

The party decide to spend the night in the old hags cottage, Strawberri and Karina take the body of the hag outside and bury her in the deep snow.

The group spend a difficult and fairly restless evening in the cottage, they explain their mission and what has transpired to the Lady of the Fae, Natitha.

Natitha in return says she also is on a quest but she agrees to help the party, knowing full well that Strawberri, knowing her true name, could command her to help.  She tells the group that she knows an over land rout to the barrow they seek and she may be able to help persuade the barrow wardens to allow the bones of St Agnus to be returned to Winterton.

After a nights rest, Rhian recovers one more hit point, she is now at 7hp, Culdus is keen to perform the healing hands spell on her again but is persuaded not to as his spell may be needed later in the day.

Its early morning when the party of 5 adventures, a Lady of the Fae, two hounds and a pack pony, set off  across land to find the barrow where St Agnus rests, or should now rest.

Until session 6

Adventure on.