Tag: hags

The End is Just a New Beginning

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

The room at the top of the tower, with a floating, but not on fire, skull, four creepy one-eyed guys Sammy calls Not Thick, or something, and a moaning and floating rectangle of darkness. As usual, Eggy starts shooting, the four attack, and the skull screams. How does it do that, I wonder, without any breath?

The rectangle must be a doorway because Sammy goes into it. Doc and I jump down and fight the four guys because my daggers don’t hurt the skull. He throws a the guys into the pit for me to fight, but mostly they just squish. I fall asleep waiting for a live guy to show up, or something, I hurt real bad when I wake up. But I find the scroll for the Aunties, and by the time I get out of the pit, there’s even more dead bodies in it. I wonder where they came from?

But everyone is dead that was trying to make us dead, so we look around and take some treasure. The Mage lady reads a few books. But she doesn’t find anything special enough to power the make winter go away orbs. Sounds like we did all this for nothing. Oh well, we can go back to that Island and have a talk with the stupid goddess lady, I guess.

Doc and I have to go deliver the scroll, though. So, we head back to the bottom of the tower, but there’s fighting outside. Then the forcefield out there explodes as this weird big owl-ish lady flies in and heads for the top of the tower. Sammy say’s it’s the goddess lady and they need our help, so we lock the front door and back up we run.

When we get up there she’s not an owl thing anymore, and then she’s not a person anymore, because she’s a big shiny ice crystal. We smash that to dust, too. She’s a bad lady (I really need to explain this to Saalym, it’s not good and evil, it’s good and bad. Good people help each other, bad people don’t help.)

Doc and I go back downstairs and there are lots of dead outside, and the undead are running away. We sneak out and back to the Auntie’s tower. They are quite surprised to see we are alive. They thought for sure we’d have died. But we have to keep our promises, don’t we? They’re going to tell my Mom I was reliable and kept my word to them. I do miss her. I hope I can go home soon.

We get back to the Tower and the Mage lady says we didn’t really kill the goddess, just are avatar, whatever that is. But that it was probably enough to stop the winter outside. We should get back to the big head and give it back to it’s body. And we have to find Saalym’s master vampire. And the Dryad is thinking about getting planted at Good Mead. So much still to do!

Sammy wants to try out the fancy staff he got before we go, though. So, we go to the big thing in the center of the city and he makes big magic. And it is bright and sunny again, and we’re outside. Flying through the sky. On the city, which isn’t a ruin anymore, and all the people are back and alive. He said it was time magic, did he travel us through the time soup? Or did he travel the whole city?

Oh well, new adventure. Mom will have to wait.

Deals and Deceptions

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

The Mage lady got a message in her head from Avarice wanting to meet. Sammy got a message, too, asking him to help kill the Mage lady, but I tell him not to because Avarice is bad and a coward. Doc and I will go with her, and the rest will hold back unless we need them.

But first, they want to go deal with the Hags. That means they want to kill them, which is still a dumb idea, so Doc, the Mage lady, and I go off to explore a big building. Turns out to be a prison. It’s pretty empty, till we find a medical room. It has an invisible person strapped to a table. We unstrap him, but he doesn’t move. Mage lady says it’s powerful staying magic. We find a book that says it’s a doppleganger who murdered somebody. We wrap him up and put him in my bag, maybe the Queen can sort him out. I also find a couple potions, and the Mage lady says they’ll change our skin color, so Doc and I drink them. But it doesn’t really work on me. Doc’s now yellow!

As we head out, Sammy whispers that Doc and I need to come talk to the hags about a scroll they want and not to tell Saalym what the scroll is. WHAT?? They Talked to Them? Without US?!?! UGH! We don’t have time, though, it’s time to go see the coward lady.

Avarice shows up with a couple gargoyles to chat with Mage lady. She’s really mean and wants us all to leave or she’ll kill us. Mage lady says no and threatens her right back. So Avarice leaves, like always. Doc and I follow her, to catch her, but we hit her a little too hard and she turns into a pile of snow. The gargoyles fly away after that. We catch up with everyone and try to figure out where she went.

Eggy sees movement over across the city, so we go there, But it’s just bad men, goats, and more gargoyles. We have to fight them though, cuz they won’t leave us alone. They don’t have much on them, but we get another floating light and bodies to burn for the key into the tower.

Doc and I go back to the hags to make a deal. They want a summoning scroll and we all promise no hostilities after it is delivered. They say to do the ritual by one of the bridges, like the one by the prison we were at earlier, or by the big crystal. And they give us the last part of the ritual, too. We have to light a fire in our hands.

We’re still missing the final word, so we head to the eyeball tower. Saalym asks the orb of eyes what the last word is and finds out it’s poison we have to consume. So, then we go to the greenhouse and Eggy makes up some mild poison for everyone. Then back to the prison gate to try it all out.

Leshy does all the things. Put the wand in front of her heart, lights her hand on fire, tells us a secret, gets Eggy to tell us a secret, and then puts his hand out. Makes a circle of the dead guys’ ashes, looks up to the ceiling, and then drinks the poison. But nothing happens.

Sammy says there’s something wrong with the “show your face to the sky” part. We talk about how to get the sky down here, or send a copy up to the sky with the floaty room place. Then we remember the laughter at the tower with the mist. It must have been a wrong clue. So, we go back there. It’s really hard, we can’t see anything to do! Sammy flies up to the ceiling and says the words feel different. Leshy finally makes the magic go away, so Mage lady can see what it says. We have to hide our face behind a mask not look at the sky.

Back we go to the tower and everybody does the ritual and gets through the forcefield, sharing lots of secrets. It’s really fun! Even if some of the secrets are really sad. We’ve gotta go get Sammy’s family out of Hell and bring all three of them to the Feywild. I think he’d like it there.

Rude Jerks

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

The City looked pretty cool. It has all its own lights glittering in the dark and reflecting off the ice. So, we head right on in. We have to climb over a statue of a giant with a mouth in its belly to get in, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

There’s a field with a shiny black thing in the center, so I go immediately to look. It’s a playing field, but it hurts Doc when he tries to follow. Then a lady in the sky says I can choose my team for chained lightening, at least, that’s what the mage lady said she said. I pick the whole group, but Eggy doesn’t want to play. It’s a really fun game. I grabbed up the metal ball first and threw it at the sparky trident at the end of the field, then it started sparking, so I grabbed it up again and threw it at the other team. I don’t think they were really real, cuz the one that got hit, and the one next to him exploded. Then I did it again, and then Leshy got the ball, but he let me throw it, and I exploded the last two guys, as well. Then the lady in the sky gave me a black shiny trophy goblet thing. I am the Best at Chained Lightening!

Then we got to the big tower. There’s a massive golden ball out front, but the ball and the tower are behind a big invisible wall, and Sammy can’t get us through it. The mage lady says we need to make a key to get in. I try all the keys I’ve collected, but none of them work. So, we head back to one of the towers to start looking for keys.

The first tower we look at is covered in runes and it gets really confusing when Doc and I go in, but only for a minute. Up in the top of the tower is an anvil and hammer with blue runes on them. And six big bald guys like the ones that exploded in the game, except they have armor instead of matching clothes. The mage lady says there’s dragon writing on the ceiling, but when I try to go look at the hammer, the bald guys attack us. Sammy says they’re constructs, so we turn them off by hitting them a lot. After, Doc breaks a bunch of demon rock items we still had in bags, and the weird saddle that enslaves the rider. The mage lady says the ceiling says we have to shield our hear with a wand of a nether oak. Wands aren’t good shields, but we decide to go check out the forest in the city.

We wander through the city to the forest of yellow leaves. Eggy talks to one of the trees, and it says there’s a big oak in the center. We go find Grandfather Oak in the center of the glade. I chat with him and offer to trade him for a wand, he doesn’t want things we have. So, I tell him we’re going to kill a goddess if he helps, and he likes that more, and starts to hand over the wand. Then Sammy! Sammy drains all the water out of Grandfather Oak! Sandro and Doc help me get the wand before it gets broken, and everyone else kills him! I tackle Sammy after the fight. That was rude, we were in his home! He was giving us what we needed! He says Saalym told him to because the Oak was evil. So, I have another argument with Saalym about good and evil and her stupid judgy god.

I get mead from Leshy and we head back to the nearest tower to see if there are more hints. Is good mead. Love mead, tastsh like home. Some flying statues attack us on the way out. Stupid statues. They’re all shmashed now. The wand doesn’t open the wall around the big tower.

The next little tower has circles around it. And brooms sweeping inside. Sammy goes for a ride on a broom. The top room has glowing orbs in the walls, and a mini tower in the center, and a bunch of big floating hands. The hands all point at us and then try to grab and smack us. Doc and I kill one while everyone else deals with the rest. Then I go look at the tower.

A magic door opens in the air when I touch it, so I head inside. Everyone follows. There’s three Aunties inside. Aunties Pinch, Pillage, and Plunder in their den. They say they have information that can help us make the key we need, so Doc and I start negotiating with them and all the random items we have. They say they have enough things, but want something unique. They ask for a memory from each of us. Saalym immediately refuses, so Doc and I work out what magic items will make up for her memory. Then Eggy says he won’t do it either. Sammy is willing, and me, and Doc, and the Mage lady. We start trying to negotiate to replace Eggy’s memory, too, but then Sandro and Leshy both say No, too. They are so rude! It’s a fair trade, you don’t need your memories, but we Need to know how to make the Key! They start saying terrible things about the Hags, so I grab Doc and we say sorry and head out. Jerkfaces don’t really want to defeat the stupid goddess lady, won’t even give a memory. Thish meads relgood. I’mma jusht dink til wedon. Shtupid humans. Shammy’sok tho.

Nesht builing is tusky, and dumb. Scooolr sumin. Big room wifancy cup. Is got hot water dun go way. Shtupid humansget majik from it. Shtopid humans. Shtopicup can en tak wif.

Then theresa big book plash. Anna demon. And Saaaaaaalhm dun attack Im! No, helpim! Find shtoopid book? No find. Find buncha boring hishtry. Den attack him for hish pengin. He poofs away. Pengin’s nish.

Treaties and Shipwrecks

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

We stopped by Bryn Shander on our way north, and a good thing, too. There were a bunch of goblins at the gate trying to bring a treaty to the Speaker, but the guards wouldn’t let them in. I told the guards we’d take care of them, so they let us all pass. Took them right up to the townhall and went with them into the meeting. These goblins were all really nice, and they want us to come meet their leader. They say he’s partly made of metal. He brought them all out of their caves and they built their very own fortress. They were just about to start trading when Winter hit, and it’s been bad, so he’s trying to fix it with the treaty. The Speaker’s aide hears them out and says they are allowed to stay in town until the Speaker has time to respond. So, Doc and I take them to an inn and we all get drunk. In the morning, we pay for their room and give them food money. We’ll take them home when we get back, to make sure they’re safe.

Some potion buying, a quick stop to tell my Dad all about the dragon, and we’re back at the whale dock. There’s a half-orc there looking confused in robes and symbols of the stupid winter goddess lady. Only, he says he’s not allowed to go to her island, where the frost giants are. Oh cool! We’re going to her island maybe! We can fix everything! He says she was betrayed by the other gods and that’s when she starting throwing this winter fit. He agrees the Winter makes it hard for him to spread her word to the people. Saalym calls her evil, and I explain that means her god doesn’t like her. He says the goddess lady won’t let him help fix things, but that doesn’t stop him from helping us. He knows the book we want and gives Twitch a symbol to help us get into her vault. He says the last page is important. Then he goes away really fast like that bad lady in the basement of that one castle. Twitch says he was a lot more powerful than the bad lady, but it seemed the same to me. I think he’s just impressed with people stronger than him, like that lady who has come with us.

We ring for the nice whale to come, and he agrees to take us out to the island. We fish for him along the way. He even says he’ll stick around a couple days to give us a ride back when we’re done. Such a good whale friend.

Everything is really big here, because giants. I have to be Jinna so we can climb the steps easier, Jinx isn’t quite tall enough. But we get all the way up the cliff and find a flying icy guy who rumbles at us. Twitch has to do a really long spell to be able to understand him. He’s really friendly though and wants to show us a bunch of shipwrecks full of treasure!

I don’t really like the icy water, so I send Doc out to the first one with Twitch. He comes back after talking to some walruses though, and with a potion, too. He seems alright, so I go with them for the rest. The next one has a couple sharks in the hold. They’re really friendly and hungry. Doc gets the chest from the bottom of the boat and we give them some jerky to eat. Twitch doesn’t like them and hits them with a little bit of fire, but we take off before he can kill them. Poor sharks. The chest has lotsa rum n potions n coins. Rums really good. Warmssus rightup.

Next ship is full of creepy dead guys. They just keep coming and coming. It’s so much fun stabbing them until they fall down again! Saalym and Leshy even come to help. There’s some magic stuff in the bottom of this one that Twitch seems to think is important. The next ship is over the water, so we just all go look. There’s an even bigger chest in this one. It’s got lots of money and there’s a magic trident, Twitch calls it.

The next ship is really near the coast, so even Eggy comes out to see. This one has a frost giant skeleton that wakes up and we have to knock it back down. Doc takes his axe. The icy guy says the next one is the newest one, so we keep going.

But we find a dead person first. Frozen in the snow, and an unfriendly weasel, and a really grumpy orb. Twitch calls the orb Professor, and seems to know the dead person. He’s really happy she’s dead. Saalym and Leshy pull the dead lady out of the snow and start trying to help put her to rest, but I guess she doesn’t want to. Twitch starts yelling and firing off magic and there’s a ghost there! She just wants to go find the book, like we do. You gotta let ghosts finish what they started so they can go away. So, I let her get inside me so everyone will stop hurting her. Saalym and Twitch get really, really mad. Saalym screams at me and I stop walking, then Leshy explodes the ghost lady right out of me.

Twitch is still mad, so he wraps the orb up in a bag and takes it back to where his boss and Eggy have been waiting. Leshy says I should drink the nice shrine water because the ghost might have hurt me and it will make me feel better. It tastes really nice and I do feel a bit more relaxed as we head for the next shipwreck.

This one has a coven of sea hags inside it. They invite us down to eat, which is really nice of them. But then they say they want to eat me, and Doc gets really mad and attacks them. Almost everyone joins him in that, but I keep trying to fix things. We have plenty of food to share, and hospitality must be upheld. But they start throwing lightning around and the others kill all three of them. Twitch also didn’t join in the fight, maybe he understands after all. They had some money and a really nice coral figurine that I want to give my Dad. Everyone’s tired after that and we take a little break.

Fishers and Auntie

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

So, first things, apparently their winter god is a lady. I really do think they should talk to the Queen. She’d know what to do. The sleeping guy woke up. He says everyone will be real mad he’s not dead out in the field there. Says he told them it was dumb to kill people, so he got picked next to be killed. Says the winter god lady is crazy. Sounds like it might be the people who like her are. But says they won’t do it again for until the sky gets a new moon. I guess some lady named Shar takes or breaks the full moons, so another lady named Selune has to make a new one every month. This is a strange place. Anyway, the not-sleeping guy says he has somewhere to go and is going to sneak out during the execution this morning.

That was even stranger. They tied this guy in red robes to a stake in town square and lit him on fire. He just stood there and let them do it. Didn’t even move or cry or scream or everything. It made everyone real uncomfortable, him just staring at the people killing him for killing other people. Maybe he wasn’t really there, he’s got magic and everything. I wouldn’t just stand there. No way!

After, some lady with almost-elf ears and armor talks to Eggy. She says her name is Imdra something, and she’s Captain of the Guard around here. Says that wizard killed the last adventure group that was helping the town. Says we look like adventure folk. Doc asks if she knows where to get a cart, but she brushes him off. Wants us to go find some missing fishers. Like the birds? No, I guess she means men fishers. Whatcha gonna give us? She says she can give us some stuff from the dead wizard and a little bit of gold. Doc and Leshy say that it’s enough gold to probly get a cart. She also says we can loot whatever we find along the way. They ask about the wolves that tried to eat us, but she doesn’t know. Need money for a cart, so we agree to go look.

Sammy says we need snow shoes. I’ve got boots, they’re shoes for snow. But he wants us to wear these big wood and reed things to walk on top of the snow. They are Not good for sneaking. Eggy pays for mine and Doc’s. I now owe buying him something later. I don’t like it. I could have bought ours, first ship paid well enough, second ship hadn’t charged us for passage, yet. He also gets a bunch of tents, even though the lake is just north of town.

The not-sleeping man’s house is ransacked. He said we could take things, but it’s mostly been taken already. We find a fancy fishing pole. Eggy also finds some silver hidden under the floor. I guess people here aren’t so smart.

The lake isn’t far above town, so we start walking around it the way the Indy lady said to go. Find a little boat floating in the ice first. Saalym shoots it and Eggy pulls it in. There’s some fisher gear and empty bottles in there. Then some flying bird ladies come to talk. Eggy shoots at them though, and everyone else follows suit. I try to ask them about the men fishers, but Eggy kills one and the other flies away over the cliffs. Ugh! How are we supposed to find people if they just keep shooting? Saalym has a bit of a drink from the dead one.

We go in a cave. I take off my show shoes and Eggy puts them in his bag. Can’t sneak with those things on and they’re his anyway. Eggy says there’s tracks in there. Doc and I scout ahead until we find a frozen waterfall. Looks a bit tricky to get up alone, so we wait for everyone to catch up. Eggy shoots the waterfall. Ugh! His boom is way worse indoors! This makes the water mad and it attacks us. I’d attack us, too! We stop it from killing anyone, though, and there’s a mining pick and a backpack behind the water. I wonder if the water man used to be a miner and just got tired.

We help everyone climb up the waterfall so we can keep going. We find some stairs and they lead into a big room full of blood and bones. Even the bones of a giant man. Nobody finds anything but bones, so we keep going. Doc and I go down some more stairs to an even bigger room. This one has a nice hag lady in the middle. She’s cooking up a nice big stew and invites me and Doc to join her. It tastes way better than the porridge back in town this morning. There’s some dead people behind her. Must be what the stew is made from.

Everybody else gets there, but they get real mad. They say she killed the men fishers and that we shouldn’t be eating the stew. But that’s rude, you don’t turn down hospitality from a hag lady. Eggy, of course, starts shooting. Oh Man! Mom’s gonna be real mad if I kill a hag lady. So, I go look to see if the bodies really are the fishers, and everyone’s yelling at me and Doc. The lady’s gotta wisp, too, and Doc says it’s okay to kill those, there’s too many of the pests anyway. Then the lady tries to make a deal cuz something big is coming. I try to get everyone to take the deal, but they won’t, so she runs away. Eggy chases her, but it’s too late to worry about that because that big giant skeleton breaks through the wall and starts attacking people. He Hurt DOC! We smash him to bits!

After, Eggy drags back the hag lady, all dead. And everyone gets mad at Doc and me again for eating “people stew,” but I’m not people, and Saalym ate those bird people outside. They say that’s different because they were “monsters” and so was the lady. So, now I get mad, because I’ve got an Auntie who is a hag. Then Leshy gets mad and says I can’t have, but I do! She’s my Auntie and he doesn’t even Know Me! Eggy tries to stop the fighting, just asking we don’t tell the townspeople that we ate “people stew.” Fine, not going to lie, lying’s bad, but we don’t have to mention it. Leshy says we can just bring back some of their stuff and not the bodies.

Are we going then? Or we going to keep exploring the ice cave? It’s a really interesting cave.