Iron & Gold, Curse of Strahd
Previous chapter: Chapter 20: Yester Hill — Next chapter: Chapter 22: An Invitation
Being The Curse of Strahd but using Mythic as the GM and with Iron & Gold as the game system.
21 - Berez[1]
They used the boy to send a message to Ezmerelda; they did wrote it on a scrap of paper, hoping that Ezmerelda could read. (Davian offered paper for a wine bottle label, so Hrelgi didn’t have to sacrifice a page from her grimoires.) Ezmerelda was to meet them at Berez, if she could. Hrelgi made a hole in space so they were able to get onto the Old Svalich Road from the winery, which cut hours off their travel time[2]. (According to Hrelgi, a hole they had to step through was easier and faster than teleportation.)
They ended up at the crossroads with the broken sign. They checked: Berez was to the south.
“Here’s my question,” asked Felewin. “How do we deal with Baba Lysaga? She’s a wizard or witch of some kind, and a powerful one.”
“She must have some limitations, or she wouldn’t need the gem,” Ninefingers said.
“True,” Felewin said. “But she lives alone in this land; I doubt she’s without power. How do we deal with her?”
“Kill her?” Hrelgi asked.
“If we can kill her,” Uthrilir said. “Ireena thought that Baba Lysaga was immortal.”
“Well, we need to disable her at least while we get the gem and item, and leave. Assuming she’s there. Hrelgi do you need to speak to cast magic?”
“Usually. Some have specific gestures instead. Sometimes you need a component as well; some spells don’t require any of them. When I heal myself I have never needed to say anything: I just do it.”
“But she’d be hampered if she couldn’t speak or gesture?”
“Wouldn’t anyone?”
Felewin thought for a bit. “Can you block her magic with your magic?”
Hrelgi said, “Do you know anything about magic?”
Felewin admitted, “You are the first magic user I have ever actually known. My father would hire someone for a task, so I was introduced but that was all.”
“Okay. Think of a piece of fabric. It’s made of threads of different kinds, in warp and weft. Wizards can grab some of those threads, threads of a specific type. Each type of magic teaches about different types of threads. If her magic uses a kind of thread I know about I can make it harder to grab, but I can’t just suppress everything she might do.”
“But she probably has to talk to do magic?”
“Yes, unless she’s created a magic item or circle. I don’t often do circles myself, but they can be quite effective. I remember one wizard—you remember him, Uthrilir, who lured us into that tower so he could take your ring?”
“Circles can be easy,” said Uthrilir. “Break the circle, you break the spell.”
Felewin said, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Hrelgi said, “I think that’s what the standing stones were…a spell to attract lightning.”
“But that circle was broken by the trail,” pointed out Ninefingers.
“I expect the real circle was buried. That can work,” said Hrelgi. “Like if you make the circle out of a different colour of clay, for instance, and then cover it over. Ancients did stuff like that.”
“Huh. This explains a tomb once, one we could never deactivate,” said Ninefingers.
The road to Berez quickly became a trail, and largely untraveled. For a while it hugged close to the river, and the journey was harder, and then the trail turned mostly into spongy earth pockmarked with stands of tall weeds and pools of stagnant water. Progress largely involved finding a solid path. Clouds of black flies darted around, and the place smelled like mold and mildew and swamp gas.
Lightning flickered across the river. Ninefingers said, “That’s not lightning. Doesn’t go high enough.”
“But we can’t get across the river,” Felewin pointed out. “And this land is trying to kill us.”
“You wandered over to the man on the way to the winery,” said Hrelgi.
“Different situation. To get across the river would be an undertaking, and we’d be wet. This is not a place where I want to get wetter. If you can think of a way to get across easily, I’ll go.”
“It’s a pretty shallow river at the edges,” pleaded Hrelgi.
“Pay attention to where you’re walking,” said Felewin.
The trail reappeared, and Felewin helped the others to more solid ground. A dozen paces away, Felewin saw the remnant of a peasant cottage, hunkered into the mire. Its roof was gone, and the four walls had just given up, waiting to be swallowed by the mud.
There was a sign of life: behind the hut was a scarecrow. Felewin didn’t know whether it was a magical scarecrow or a regular scarecrow, but because this was Baba Lysaga’s territory, he didn’t want to take a chance. He spoke in a low voice to Hrelgi. “That scarecrow over there….think you can set it on fire?”
“It looks like a regular scarecrow.”
“Might be, but only the witch lives here. So I doubt it. Can you set it on fire?”
Hrelgi shook her head. “No. Too far away. I can’t even throw that far.”
“Just checking. An arrow won't reach, either.” He looked at the others. “Given this ground, I don’t particularly want to walk within range.”
Hrelgi said, “Hold on a moment. I might be able to do it, but it’s not going to be easy. There’s a way to apply ge to it…” She started flipping pages.[3]
And then the scarecrow went up in flames. “I did it!” Hrelgi laughed. “Oh, that was tough. I’ve never used ge that way.”
The scarecrow took a step and then fell apart.
“It was an animate scarecrow.”
“She probably knows we’re here,” said Ninefingers.
Felewin squared his shoulders. “The gem is probably with Baba Lysaga or in her house. I have no idea where the other thing is, but it’s probably not in a peasant hut.”
“Her house, a church, a mansion, a crypt, something like that,” said Ninefingers. “Those are the typical hiding places for artifacts of power.”
“Probably visible from the road, even with this fog,” said Felewin.
They walked another hundred paces by more ruined huts[4] and then Hrelgi said, “Like the mansion?” To the south were the remains of a mansion, built on higher ground but reduced to stone walls with empty windows staring at them. To one side someone had built a pen that held goats; each post on the pen held a human skull.
Ninefingers said, “Or the maintained hut on the stump over there.” Off to the west was a hut built on stump of a huge tree, so the roots of the stump looked like legs. Outside the door of the hut was a giant skull floating in mid-air, and two cages of ravens, who were cawing.
They stepped behind the nearest ruined hut to keep themselves from direct view of Baba Lysaga’s hut. As soon as they stood still, insects started swarming around them. Most of them slapped at bugs, but Hrelgi started moving in a small circle to keep the bugs off.
“If the floating giant skull is a sign, I’d say she’s home,” said Ninefingers.
Felewin sighed. “I could use a wereraven to reconnoiter right now.” He looked at the two of them. “Gem is probably in the hut. Ninefingers, I hate to ask you but you’re the sneaky one. Can you look?”[5]
“I don’t even have to go over there to find three more scarecrows,” said Ninefingers, “and they’re farther away.”
“Not that one,” said Hrelgi.[6] “It’s closer.”
“A fourth?” Ninefingers asked. There was a scarecrow near the mansion’s ruins.
Hrelgi chanted. The nearest scarecrow went up in flames. Like the other one, it realized it was on fire and took two steps toward them before it burned up.
“Okay, if they’re closer this is kind of fun,” said Hrelgi. “Those other scarecrows are definitely too far away for me to do this, though.”
“Are the ravens pets or prisoners?” Uthrilir wondered. “If we sneak closer to the hut, do they cover our approach or warn her?”
“We can’t set the hut on fire; what we want is in it,” Ninefingers mused.
“What does she need the goats for?” Felewin asked.
“I like a nice bit of goat once in a while,” said Ninefingers.
“Sure, but why doesn’t she just steal them? Why tend them? Goats are work, even if they mostly feed themselves.”
“She needs them for something else,” Hrelgi said. “Maybe they’re magic goats.”
“Could that be useful? Free the goats as a distraction?[7]”
“Free the ravens,” said Hrelgi. “If they’re wereravens, they’ll help us; if they’re regular ravens, they are still a distraction.”
“Okay,” agreed Felewin. “Once one cage is open, we have to move. There won’t be time to open the second.”
Hrelgi said, “Ninefingers will open one cage; I’ll open the other. I’ll turn the cage door into air.”
“We probably need you with other things…”
“I’m freeing the ravens.”
“But….”
“If we die, there is no one to free the ravens. I’m freeing the ravens,” Hrelgi said with certainty.
“Fine.[8]” Felewin took another fire bolt from his quiver; the Martinovs had given them materials to make two more.
“The scarecrows seem to be slow. Maybe we can get in, find the gem, and get out before they arrive,” Ninefingers said.
“Sure. But we also don’t want to be trapped between scarecrows and her. We don’t even know if we can kill her; if we can kill her, is it permanent?”
“If we’re fast….” Ninefingers said. “Ugh. I hate these bugs.” When they stood still, insects swarmed around them.
Felewin went over the plan, and they moved closer to the hut, carefully. They stayed low, and studied the hut through the open door.
The hut was large, as huts go. They could see the edge of a bed, a wardrobe against one wall; a desk, a big tub, probably for bathing, and in the middle of the room, a crib holding a boy child. An old crone, Baba Lysaga herself, said something inaudible to the child while chopping things on the desk. Baba Lysaga was taller than most of the women they had seen in Barovia: not as tall as Ireena, but certainly taller than any of the Martikovs or Anna in Krezk.
“There’s a baby there,” Uthrilir said.
“A toddler, but yes.” Felewin said, “We'll have to rescue the child.”
“Can you avoid hitting him?” Hrelgi asked Felewin.
Felewin sighed. “That’s what aiming is for. Uthrilir, I’ll need your help to light the bolt when the time comes. Given the baby and the ravens, bolt first, Hrelgi, you keep it lit, then unleash the ravens.[9] We need to get closer, though…maybe two dozen paces. Can we do that?”
“We go in where she can’t see us, then you and I move into position, Hrelgi,” Ninefingers said.
“Closer is better for me,” said Hrelgi. “Even with understanding ge better now, closer is better.”[10]
They moved closer yet. Ninefingers got into position; the ravens set up a terrible racket, but Uthrilir couldn’t tell if that was good or bad; either way, Baba Lysaga didn’t seem to notice.
Uthrilir prayed that Felewin’s aim was true.[11] He lit the torch while Felewin aimed. “Light the arrow,” Felewin murmured. Uthrilir did, and then Felewin fired.[12]
Baba Lysaga bent forward, and then thrashed around, distracting both Hrelgi and Ninefingers, so they didn’t succeed.
Once the bolt was fired, Uthrilir was sprinting for the hut, to spirit the child away.
The child hadn’t even reacted.[13]
Ninefingers abandoned the cage and pulled himself into the hut, but had to be helped in by Uthrilir, who was just that much taller. Hrelgi freed one cage of ravens; the ravens left the cage as quickly as they could; Hrelgi held that transformation[14].
Baba Lysaga was clutching at her[15] back, trying to get at the flaming bolt.[16]
Some of the ravens fluttered around Baba Lysaga, distracting her; Ninefingers drew and tried to hit her, but missed[17]. Uthrilir readied and swung his mace in one movement[18], knocking Baba Lysaga’s head sideways.
The crib and the toddler disappeared. Ninefingers was non-plussed.
Hrelgi opened the other cage, and started moving slowly to the doorway of the hut, holding both changes.
Felewin arrived; he wondered, briefly, where the child was but cut off Baba Lysaga’s head. There would be time to investigate once the problem of Baba Lysaga was dealt with.
Tendrils grew from the head, searching for Baba Lysaga’s body.[19] “Circles!” said Ninefingers. “The floor has circles built in! Tear up the—”
Uthrilir brought his mace down on the floor[20], hitting one of the circles and smashing rotten floorboards. Felewin sheathed his sword and grabbed the revealed edge, and heaved[21] to no effect.
The entire building tilted on one side[22], which sent Uthrilir and Ninefingers flying against a wall: Ninefingers and Uthrilir were thrown to an old desk to one side, near the doorway. Felewin heaved again,[23] and finally broke off one floorboard, spoiling some of the circles but not all. The gooey tentacles of flesh were still trying to find Baba Lysaga’s body, but fortunately the head had rolled into a corner.
From his lying position, Uthrilir[24] slammed his mace down on the nearest tentacle, which caused it to stop for the moment. Ravens grabbed the tentacles and started to pull, yanking them like worms outside the hut.
Ninefingers had lost his sword, but saw the green glow coming from under the floorboards. “Where the crib was, the gem — it’s under the floorboards!” He struggled to get up.[25]
“Trying!” Felewin grunted, throwing aside the chunk of floor he had pulled up.
Outside, Hrelgi watched as the stump’s roots flexed and one corner of the hut lurched into the air. She could see into the hut, see the green glow from the floorboards, and pulled the glowing thing toward her with motus.[26]. Inside the hut, the others could hear the gem bump against the floorboards, trying to get out.
Felewin grabbed another floorboard[27] and heaved it up. The ravens squawked as the tentacles they were holding vanished; Ninefingers scrambled to try to get to the center…when another corner of the hut lurched up, throwing him flat again and tossing Uthrilir to the far corner of the room, against a wardrobe; he smashed through to land on a tangle of soiled robes.
Hrelgi scrambled through the doorway so she could see the green glow. She[28] grabbed the door frame to keep herself inside.[29] Then she used the spell she had looked up earlier.
Ninefingers managed to get to the center of the hut just as Hrelgi[30] turned the floorboards into vapour, so he could see the stone. The hut tilted again, trying to make them fall through the door; Felewin held on; so did Ninefingers, though he was thrown over the hole. Uthrilir threw off the fabric. Hrelgi tumbled out of the hut, but she held the spell.[31]
Felewin grabbed for the gem and got it. He yelled, “Got it!” The doorway sprouted teeth and started gnashing shut and open.
Ninefingers grabbed the desk and pushed it to the doorway, hoping it would block the doorway. The jaws closed on the wooden desk, causing it to flex.
Uthrilir saw what Ninefingers had done, and pushed the wardrobe over in the direction of the doorway.[32] Ninefingers made sure it was on its side, and Felewin threw the gem through the doorway.
As soon as it went through the doorway, the hut stopped still.
Hrelgi ran to get it; fortunately, it was glowing green so there was no problem finding it.
Felewin called, “Have you got the gem?”
“Got it,” yelled Hrelgi.
“Do not come back in the hut!”
“Duh,” she muttered to herself.
“Throwing the head out,” called Felewin. Felewin found Baba Lysaga’s head and threw it out the doorway.
“Ewww.”
Felewin looked at the others. “Now we can search for the other thing that Madame Eva spoke of.”
“Well,” said Ninefingers, “now we know it’s not in the wardrobe.”
Uthrilir blushed.
“Obvious thing is the chest.” Ninefingers spent some time examining it.[33] “Ah. We need to get the chest out of the hut and about two dozen paces away.”
“Why?”
“The chest is trapped, but the trap is specific to the hut. Moving the chest disables the trap. Also, if I’m wrong about that, we don’t want an explosion in a confined space.”
Felewin got out of the hut, and Uthrilir passed him the chest. Felewin eventually found a bit of solid ground and set the chest down.
“Now get a distance away, please. And someone please get Baba Lysaga’s head far away.”
Felewin did; he walked a short distance and threw the head into the goat pen.
Ninefingers yelled something to the others, and Felewin came running back. Ninefingers had opened the chest which had fallen shut again, but the goblin now had two disembodied hands grabbing his upper arms. Hrelgi and Uthrilir were each hitting or stabbing a disembodied hand.[34]
Felewin grabbed one[35] and pulled it off Ninefingers, but then had no ideas. He held it and said to Uthrilir, “Undead? Have you tried asking the Maiden?”[36]
“Yup,” said Uthrilir, grunting as he swung at the thing again.
Hrelgi started a spell and then went “Ow!” in the way that Felewin now recognized as magic backlash.
Felewin took out his knife and started working it into the wriggling hand’s palm, so even if the fingers curled in, the blade was there to hurt them.[37]
Uthrilir[38] awkwardly hit at the undead hand on him, but Ninefingers finally hacked his up.
Felewin stabbed Uthrilir’s undead hand with his knife, impaling that hand too, and the two hands clutched at each other for a moment, cutting themselves along the blade until they stopped moving.
“We call them creepers, but I think some people call them creeping claws. Couldn’t tell that they’re inside,” apologized Ninefingers.
“That’s okay,” said Felewin. “Your sword isn’t healing you.”
“One use only or daily, maybe,” said Hrelgi. “Those hands are horrible.”
Uthrilir nodded. “Hands of murderers, no doubt.” He prayed briefly and touched Ninefingers’ wound. Nothing happened. “The Maiden seems to have abandoned me.”
“Maybe you’re not worthy,” joked Ninefingers.
To Ninefingers’ surprise, Uthrilir nodded. “There might be something else I need to do here.” His face settled into contemplation.
“I was kidding— you”re one of the most worthy people I have ever known.” Uthrilir didn’t respond so Ninefingers opened the chest again. Let’s see… Three bags of gold and gems, not separated; two of them have some faces that aren’t Strahd’s, so from adventurers foreign to the land. Useful to keep money.”
Felewin said, “Of course you’d say that. What else?”
“I’ve seen this elixir’s symbol before — makes your sword sharper. It wears off, but for a fight or so, your sword is sharper.” Ninefingers set that aside. “This stone here is I think a talisman of some kind. Might be a good luck piece but it might not. These pipes are probably magical but I don’t know how to play the pipes. Anyone?”
Everyone shrugged.
“Couple of spell scrolls”—he handed them to Hrelgi—“and, oh, yeah, a big important looking holy symbol.” He pulled out a metallic sunburst with amethyst centre.
“To Uthrilir,” said Felewin, and Ninefingers handed it over. “Might as well save everything. Might be useful for bargaining.”
Ninefingers counted out the money, gave everyone a gem (he kept two), and gave Felewin the alchemical elixir. He kept the talisman simply because he didn’t know what else to do with it.
“Can we check out the light now?” Hrelgi asked. “We do have to wait for Ezmeralda.”
“After we set the hut on fire,” said Felewin. “I want her body destroyed so that if it regenerates, it takes as long as possible.”
“Gee,” said Hrelgi, “it’s like you’re scared of Baba Lysaga or something.”
“She’s powerful, possibly immortal, remember? We won because we took her by surprise. If she comes back, if she remembers this, I don’t want to face her. So let’s make a return as unlikely as possible.”
It took some time to get the hut burning steadily, and as they stood there watching, scarecrows started lurching toward them.
Hrelgi said, “I got them.”
“Just the same, we’ll fall back to the mansion. Better to have our rear protected.”
Hrelgi suddenly remembered, “The goats! We have to save the goats!”[39]
After dealing with the scarecrows—there were five more—they looked at the goats. The pen holding the goats was decorated with human skulls on each post. “I don’t see a door or gate,” said Felewin.
“Maybe it’s magic,” said Ninefingers.
“That’s your answer to everything,” said Hrelgi. “There’s probably a door we haven’t found.”
“I don’t see a door. Ergo, magic.”
“Fine. For you, I will check.” She looked up a spell in her grimoire and cast it.[40] “Okay, you’re right. The skulls are magical.”
“Just…make the fence go away,” said Uthrilir.
“Sure,” said Hrelgi. She checked her grimoire and said the words.[41] The fence turned into water and fell to the ground. The goats bolted with much bleating, leaving the partially chewed head behind. Skull peeked out of hairless, skinless patches.
“Ewww,” said Hrelgi. “Do you think eating that was good for the goats?”
“I am sure it provided a measure of revenge,” said Uthrilir.
Ninefingers added, “I wouldn’t eat those goats, though.”
“Well, what do we do with the head now?”
“I doubt there are holy herbs in the garden out back,” said Uthrilir. “I think I saw a church when we were eliminating scarecrows. Put it in the ground there and re-sanctify the grounds, if the Maiden allows.”
Felewin took one of the non-magical arrows he had and stabbed the head so he wouldn’t have to touch it. “Sure,” said Felewin. He looked at the sky. Still morning. “We’ve got time. Even if Ezmerelda left at dawn, she won’t get here until after noon.”
“On foot,” said Ninefingers. “She could be earlier if she has a horse. Careful with the witch-on-a-stick.”
Irritated, Felewin gestured the head in Ninefingers’ direction. “I doubt she has a horse.”
“While we’re doing that,” said Hrelgi, “let’s talk about getting across the river to the light?”
Picking his way through the marshy ground, Felewin said, “I have no idea. If there was a bridge, it’s long gone.” He looked around. “Even the steeple of the church has fallen down.”
Uthrilir said, “Let us pray.[42]”
They found a chunk of iron bell in the church and used it to gouge a hole in the earth. It had to be much larger than the head because the bell fragment was larger than the head. Felewin ended up doing most of the work, though Uthrilir took turns; both were without armor for this, because Felewin knew that damp clothes were chafing clothes. (For his part, Ninefingers worried about an attack coming while they were in the wilderness and Felewin without his armor. In fact, three more scarecrows lurched into view but Hrelgi had learned to make quick work of them.)
Burying the head took until noon, and then they had a brief ceremony to put Baba Lysaga’s head to rest.
By the end of it, Felewin was hot and sweaty, and he was willing to walk, bare-chested, to the river. He splashed himself with water, and then thought about the water while he dressed.
“The water flows from the lake at Vallaki. It’s shallow here. The trail, the old road, hugs the river so closely. I’ll bet they used barges between here and Vallaki, pulled by horses on the road when they went upstream.”
Ninefingers said, “Maybe. Why?”
“Rivers with that kind of transport aren’t deep and fast — they tend to be shallow. Something to think about. Let’s look through the mansion and see if we can find something that will help Hrelgi in her quest to get across the river. Heck, the walls might have sheltered enough wood to make a raft.”
Uthrilir asked, “Do you know how much wood it would take for a raft for four people?”
“No. My people are usually on horseback, and we ford rivers or take the bridge.”
“We could ford the river. You said it was probably shallow,” said Hrelgi.
“I meant shallow for boats, not shallow for fording. We ford it if we find a spot to ford. Let’s look around Berez first. And let’s keep moving; those bugs are awful, and getting worse.”
“No bugs in the middle of the river,” said Hrelgi hopefully.
Felewin shook his head and walked into the ruins. The others followed him.
Hrelgi sighed and came up last. Once inside, swirling motes gathered together and formed the image of a giant of a man, with mutilated features and with his entrails hanging out like frayed ropes. There was only the smell of rotting vegetation and mildew, though.
So…a ghost.
Uthrilir pushed his way forward.
The ghost said, “Why do you invade my home? Begone, please, I beseech you!”
Uthrilir said, “We seek only the truth. Why are you here?”
“I was Lazlo Ulrich; I was burgomaster of this village. This was my folly: We had a lovely girl, Marina, who became Strahd’s obsession. He claimed she was the reincarnation of a woman he had loved, Tatyana.” The ghost shook his head sadly. “He feasted on her blood. The priest, Brother Grigor, and I knew that we had little time before she would become a vampire. At the cost of our own souls, we killed her to keep her from damnation.”
Hrelgi made an awww sound.
The ghost continued without listening. “When Strahd learned, he was furious. He made the river swell so that it flooded the village and everyone fled. He killed us, of course.” The ghost shook his head sadly. “Head to the west two hundred paces to see the monument to this folly.”
Felewin said, “This girl, Marina, she might have been the reincarnation of Tatyana. We were escorting a young woman, Ireena Kolyana, who was the reincarnation of Tatyana.”
Uthrilir said, “If it’s any help, Tatyana’s spirit is with Sergei and has finally escaped Strahd.”
The ghost asked, “Is this true?”
Felewin said, “It is true.” The others nodded.
The ghost smiled and faded from view.
Felewin looked at the rest of them. “Finish here? Monument? River?”
Hrelgi said, “River!”
Uthrilir said, “Monument.” Hrelgi frowned at him. “We’re already on the right side of the river for that.”
Felewin led them on a quick tour of the mansion but found nothing beyond a cellarway blocked by rubble. Ninefingers perked up but Felewin said, “We’re not spending hours to clear that.” Ninefingers sagged.
There was a horribly overgrown garden out back that they ignored and counted off the paces to the monument. They could hear and smell the hut still burning on the other side of the mansion. There was the occasional pop as a bottle of something exploded, and the smells would change.
They found the monument easily even though it was shrouded by the fog. Elevated a few feet above the surrounding marsh was a raised plot of land, barely six paces on a side, enclosed by a disintegrating iron fence. In the center of the plot was a life-sized stone monument carved in the likeness of a kneeling peasant girl clutching a rose. The image was gray and weather-worn, but the peasant was undoubtedly lreena Kolyana or her sister. Carved into the monument's base was an epitaph: “Marina — taken by the mists.”
“Reincarnation. I’d bet on it,” said Uthrilir.
“Now can we investigate the river?” Hrelgi asked.
“Of course,” said Felewin. “But I’m warning you, I’ve felt the temperature of that water and I have no urge to get in it. If we can’t figure out a way to get across dry, we’re not going.”
“And we are currently burning the only possible raft,” said Ninefingers.
“Oh, I figured it out,” said Hrelgi. “Baba Lysaga had the flying skull, right? I take it across the river, then I can create a rend to the other side. Easy.”
“Can you fly a skull?” Uthrilir asked.
“It’s a giant skull,” she replied. “No piloting experience with anything is going to help, so I’m as likely to fly it as anyone.”
“I’m not going to argue with that; let’s head over to the skull.”
The sides of the hut had collapsed and the roof was burning merrily. There were no more mysterious pops or bangs, so they stood on the safe side of the skull, feeling the heat from the burning hut. Though she protested slightly, Felewin lifted her into the skull, which was floating at waist height for him. They could see that all Baba Lysaga had to do was step into it from the hut.
Bugs started to swarm around them. “I’m going to walk in a circle to keep the bugs off me,” said Felewin. “You have, oh, four hand-widths of the sun. If you haven’t figured it out by then, we walk back to Old Svalich Road. A rend would skip over Ezmerelda if she’s already walking to us. If we haven’t met Ezmerelda by the road, she couldn’t make it, and I hope Hrelgi will use a rend to get us back to the winery.”
“Why not Krezk?”
“I want to deliver the gem to Davian and accompany the wine to Krezk. Nice to remind Dmitri that they have wine because of us.”
Uthrilir looked puzzled. “I thought Davian was taking it today?”
“No; I asked him to deliver it once we got back, if we got back. He was glad to wait one day; he’s got fixes and clean up to do.”
Hrelgi was madly flipping through her grimoire.[43] She started muttering to herself, shuddering occasionally to get flies and gnats off her.
Finally, Felewin said, “It’s time.”
Hrelgi groaned. “I was that close.”
“Sure.” He went to lift her out of the skull; she resisted. “I know I can do it.”
“I think you can, too, but we don’t have time. That’s hard walking, and we need to get back to the winery before sunset.”
Hrelgi went limp and let him pull her out.
Previous chapter: Chapter 20: Yester Hill — Next chapter: Chapter 22: An Invitation
Monsters
The scarecrows and Baba Lysaga. If I had been consistent about presenting character writeups, you would already have seen the scarecrow. (I put it back there in Chapter 11 after the fact.)
Scarecrow
| Abilities | Fitness 3 Awareness 2 Creativity 0 Reasoning 1 Influence 2 |
|---|
| Skills | Brawling 4 (≤7) |
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| Gimmicks | Night vision, Natural weapon (2 inj), Vulnerability[fire], Paralyzing Gaze but only Difficulty 0 Influence+ or Reason+Composure |
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| Armour | – |
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| Weapon | Rusty knives for fingers: 2 inj |
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Baba Lysaga
Because magic is quite different in genreDiversion i games, I had to do some serious thinking to make her a serious threat, and I still failed. First realization: spells are just different ways of applying the fabrics. Second: she has a flying skull; she doesn't have Fabrica Ge. Third: For her to respond quickly, she needs to have one of (a) a high Reasoning, (b) an ad hoc Gimmick that gives her more memorized spells, or (c) NPC aura so I don’t think about it. I tend not to like option (c) but that’s what I went with here.
| Abilities | Fitness 4 Awareness 2 Creativity 5 Reasoning 3 Influence 4 |
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| Skills | Melee 8 (≤12), F. Ge (≤13), F. Materia 8 (≤13), F. Sensus 8 (≤13), F. Sphaera 8 (≤13), Circumscription 5 (≤13), Composure 4 |
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| Gimmicks | Descrying Reality, Resistant[Crafting Magic], Ritual keeps me alive (new gimmick) |
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| Armour | — |
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| Weapon | Quarterstaff (3 fat) |
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| Known spells | Hut has magic circles; she has six spells memorized (use them on the fly); reason + composure is ≤7. Spells from circles don’t require an R+C roll; shapechanges into swarm of insects; following are her D&D spells:
- Cantrips (at will): acid splash (Materia), fire bolt (Materia), light (Sensus), mage hand (Motus), prestidigitation
- 1st level (4 slots): detect magic (Sphaera), magic missile (Motus), sleep, witch bolt (Materia)
- 2nd level (3 slots): crown of madness (Mentus), enlarge/reduce (Materia, Ge), misty step (Materia, Ge)
- 3rd level (3 slots): dispel magic (Sphaera), fireball (Materia), lightning bolt (Materia)
- 4th level (3 slots): blight, Everard’s black tentacles, polymorph (Materia)
- 5th level (2 slots): cloudkill, geas (Mentus), scrying
- 6th level (1 slot): programmed illusion (Sensus), true seeing (Sensus)
- 7th level (1 slot): finger of death, mirage arcane
- 8th level (1 slot): power word stun
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Game Mechanics
