As I also need to do a game recap, combining that with an expansion of the witch our group has already met. Recap is after the character challenge.
Bellatrix Grimsbane is more a title bestowed centuries ago, and each witch will train the following one. Usually someone ends up being at the right place at the right time so that there has been an uninterrupted Bellatrix for more than 300 years. One of the first cantrips they learn is the glamor that lets them appear as an aged crone, which they “wear” whenever there are people nearby.
The current Bellatrix is only about 25 years old, and has been in her position only a couple of years. She was a servant that was abused, and escaped from the caravan she was in when the caravan stayed at Windermere Crossing. Running miles past the town, she wandered into the Whitecona Grove and was taken in by the previous Bellatrix Grimsbane. Three years later, the former Bellatrix wandered off to gather herbs and was not seen again, and the girl assumed the role.
Her house is dug into the hillside, and at first glance does appear to be made of gingerbread. Closer inspection shows it to be an odd sort of shale. And yes, she has a giant cauldron in her kitchen but a child has never been it other than to get a bath.
A friendly face to the kind, she is fierce to those who hurt others. She has been known to visit town as Bellatrix and most people cross the street to avoid the evil looking woman. Oddly she visits with Zesp Zrag who seems unafraid. But there is coin to be made by selling her the tools she needs, and in buying her potions. Her healing potion is not only effective, but carries a faint taste of lilac and tastes better than any others.
The stories of her evil eye are a bit exaggerated. The previous Bellatrix, years ago before Sheriff Sprigbasher came to town, cursed several ruffians that were beating up some street urchins. The ruffians could not keep their pants on no matter what they did, and the constant laughter at the two caused them to leave town. No one knows if they can keep their pants on yet.
A witch is just another magic user. While the previous Bellatrix may have been a much higher level, our Bellatrix a lot younger and has enough XP to be a level 5 magic user. She also has a few magic items, including the Ring of Bellatrix. The wearer of this ring appears to be an old crone. The disguise can last about 12 hours but will start to flicker before needing to recharge for 8 hours before being used again. It recharges via a cantrip that has been passed on from witch to witch. The staff of healing is used when Bellatrix creates her healing potions. While the herbs, mushrooms and whatever else she adds, including lilac, the staff is the final piece of the potion. Her house has a hidden door deeper into the hillside. Inside is a small magical library and a portal to Edge City. She does research in Edge City and gets new spell books. Without her ring on, Bellatrix is a fairly pretty young black-haired woman with olive skin. She looks to be perhaps 25 or so years old. She has no idea how old she is was sold when a toddler and has had a rough life since then until she met the former Bellatrix. Now she stands up for others when she can. While she usually visits Windemere Crossing with the ring on, she has also gone in as herself just to sit and drink a bit in the taverns and watch how other people live.
Session 11 Recap
Often mistaken as dire wolves, or simply moss-covered rocks, padfoots are large fey creatures that prowl swamps and moors. By nature, they are solitary hunters and usually leave humanoid creatures alone.
The padfoot lunges at Enoki and manages to bite our mushroom fighter. Quinby leaps over to try & push him away, but with a critical fail instead gets his arm inside the beast's mouth. Who decides that halfling tastes pretty good as it takes a bite. Sharn and Baldur start pushing the beast back into the circle. Seeing their friends getting mauled, they instead start to attack the fey creature. Confused, they do eventually push it back into the fairy circle. Quinby managed to snag a magic mushroom from the edge of the circle. Sharn recognized it as an uroborous mushroom: this mushroom grows in areas of high magical energy. Quinby hands it over as Sharn thinks the witch may give them an extra healing potion or two for this prize. It is one she has never been able to get, not daring to get close to that circle. Deciding that was enough excitement for one night, they go back to the fire to tell tales and warm up. A bit past midnight Petal leaves to check her herd and sleep in her own hut, but she left Quinby with a song. A bit besotted by the glaistig, he manages not to follow her back.
They awake the next day to Sharn making a hot breakfast. Enoki, thanks to the enchanted soil, heals up a bit more than normal overnight. Then they start their way back to Bellatrix down the mountain path. But then they see two dead bodies riddled with two types of arrows. Their previous would-be bandits, Wayne and Earl, are dead. A sudden arrow appears in a trunk next to them. Deciding to run through the gauntlet, they take off. Except for Baldur: seeing the three gnolls, two with bows, he casts a web spell. Two of them are entangled, the third manages to escape the spell. Enoki, seeing Baldur stopped, does not chase after Sharn and Quinby. Quinby lets loose with a rock from his sling and manages to kill the kobold who was shooting the smaller arrows. The kobold's companion took off up the mountain.
With a mighty zug, Kragh shows up to battle the gnolls: their previous companion had returned (yes, there were wheels within wheels here. Kragh, after returning the Orc sword to Lurbok, was going to go on his way, but Sheriff Sprigbasher asked the huge Orc to start scouting around near town. The details of this will possibly be relayed to our group, but Kragh is not a big talker, so we'll see what they find out). Of course, this means I have to handle 2 NPCs and oddly, they are both Orcs. Though one is a bit short for an Orc. And I need to see if I actually ever made a character sheet for her.
There was, as is normal in our group. a lot of flailing weapons and little damage. In fact, Quinby managed to hit Baldur on the back of his head with a rock, and Sharn managed to cut a deep slice on her own arm. But there were also a few critical hits to balance out those critical fails. With a gasp of "for Yeenog" the last gnoll dies. Thiseas had shown up in the battle and managed to heal Enoki a bit after the last one was killed. I used the Ultimate Bestiary for what those gnolls had - there was a lot of rancid meat.
I think this is where we ended up and passing out the XP Enoki levelled up. He was the only one that had not levelled up yet, so that was good. But hopefully the stakes are now a bit higher for the players as there seems to be something big coming in. I have given some additional hints with the Horned God on his Wild Hunt seeming a bit agitated. But who knows what side a god will fall on?
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