D&D is For Nerds - Vampire Infested Barovia II #24 Sundown Women

Episode Date: October 14, 2023

In which our party suspects classic hags. Pip collects snails while Hector has a time.Keep up to date with the Jarren's Outpost Board Game by heading to jarrensoutpost.com or checking out all the links here!Want ad-free and even more bonus content? Just check out Imagination Adventures+ on our website or on Apple Podcasts! Music by the ever wonderful Lepidora, you can check out her music here. And head to peddlerspress.store to peruse our D&D themed merch store and help support the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahem. You're listening to the Sandspants Network. No water anywhere. Still, we are marooned. Stranded in Barovia. Mists around us like prison bars. Strahd our jailer. We must escape.

We must kill. Strahd must die. Hector, in a split second before the magic ends, you feel an extra entity, another creature with their hand up against the tree oh oh someone's listening in to our tree talks the tree was tapped the tree was tapped baby fuck was the presence... I understand that it is just a presence.

Was it, like, could I feel any, like... Intent or anything? Like, maleficence? Yeah. Evil. Evil. Good. Disney's maleficence.

Maleficence. The maleficence. Maleficence. Winnie the Pooh's malevolence Malevolent The Malevolent Winnie the Pooh's Malevolent Think Pooh Think Could I sense the intent of the person listening? Without any proficiency In the insight skill, no Damn

Uh oh You just know it was there Well, I guess Still with hand on tree, I guess I would go, I feel the color would drain from my skin. A paler shade of pink. Yeah, fading from pink to pink. I don't know how much attention you're paying, Pip.

Oh, no, my head is buried in Emmanuel. Okay, cool. I'm like tapping Dusk Hag with my finger and being like... Tarpos, no. Why are they clanking? Gorob Lushen, no. Purin's with you. No.

All right. No one noticed at all. Hector, you have never been more alone with your thoughts. Can I hop off the horse that I'm on? Sure. And go look for a snail? Snails, mountainous creatures? Can be, under rocks and stuff.

Well, you rolled pretty well, Pip. Yeah, you find a snail. Okay, that's one. Maybe I open a little. Oh, were you looking for multiple snails? Well, it could happen multiple times. You could find, I's one. Maybe I open a little. Oh, were you looking for multiple snails? Well, it could happen multiple times. You could find, I would say. Maybe I've been doing this actually the whole time he's talking to the tree.

Sure. Maybe that's what Piran was doing, staring at Pip as you look under rocks and start collecting. It's such a funny, like, Pip kind of hunched Waddle over to one rock, open it up. No, no snails. Close it. Waddle to another rock, no, no snails. How many do I find? Hector, you turn around and you see Goroblushen,

Goroblushen, Tarpos, and Piran staring as Pip, you come back with, I'm going to say, five snails in your hands. You're collecting bugs? I'm collecting snails, I'd say. Then maybe I take the little manual out of my top pocket or my jacket with my thumb on the page for Dusk Hags, and I flip it around to you. Aside from the clanking, it's a pretty perfect match.

Did I say anything? Did I mention his name? Sorry. If one of us gets the Dus know, the dust kegs curse, we're going to need to eat a snail so that we don't... Hector looks really upset at the idea of eating a snail. He's pale as fuck. Well, you hopefully won't have to do it, and also it's fine. You don't even notice the taste.

I just want to be, like, muttering, like, the same sentence over and over again as if I'm not really reading. And you aren't. Anyway, I take the manual back off you. Right. Should be fine. Yes. So, I'll put the snails away.

Okay. Snails away where? On my body somewhere. Maybe I'll get a little sackcloth. I'll tie it to my belt. Okay, you chuck them in a sack. Yeah. Tie it to your belt.

Cool. Snails can't chew through a sack, right? I just wanted to know where he was keeping them. Does it have to be a lot? A lot of snails? I don't think so. It just needs to be an entire snail. We're close to

the guardhouse. You can see the Salenka Pass, yeah. Excellent. You probably, if you think see the Salenka Pass, yeah Excellent You probably, if you think to the Salenka Pass And you look over at it You can see that currently the gates are opening And you can see there is a wagon Making its way through and up the mountain How far away is the wagon to us?

You would be close enough that you can see But far enough away that if you yelled, they wouldn't hear you. Okay. Is that... I just, like, I'm very just... If anyone wants to... The wagon's over... Hang on.

I put my hand up against the tree again. I'm like, Eleniel... There's no response. Eleniel, I need to... Shit. Do you need us to send a message? Yes, actually. Very well.

Excellent. Maybe Tarpos could say. Tarpos, yes. It doesn't drain you as much as it does them, correct? No. Take longer, though. Take longer. Go at speed of animal.

And yours is instantaneous, yes? Not to brag. Oh, he does mean to brag. Yes, yes, yes. I need you to write. Okay, I need you to say this right now. Eleniel, someone was listening. Eleniel.

Somebody was listening. Whyenia! Somebody was listening. Why didn't you say so? Somebody... Else. Oh, else was listening. Now I've deviled it all up. Somebody else. Elenia!

I don't think you understand the weight of this issue right now. I need to write it down. Oh, Sorcerer Supreme. Can't remember 25 words or less. Maybe I get my hands in between their heads. Yeah, in between their heads. I'm like, pay attention. Eleniel?

All right, you're able to wrangle them to write this down, but unfortunately, Lushen takes the time he takes. Eleniel, somebody else... Was listening. Was listening. Be safe. Be safe. Be careful. Be safe. Be careful.

Be safe, be careful? Yes. Be safe, be careful. Be careful. Full stop. And sent! Can I think of who might be listening in? I mean, my immediate reaction is probably Strahd,

but is there anybody else that it could be? The druids, maybe? Yeah, this is obviously some sort of nature magic, so a druid could have been listening in. You know who might answer that? You know who could answer that question for you? Tarpos? Tarpos, yeah. Well, I'll turn to Tarpos question for you? Tapos? Tapos, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, I'll turn to Tapos. Do you have any idea? Sorry. It was through a tree. That's your domain. I was communicating with Eleniel. She's one of... She can talk through trees.

We were having a conversation, and I was having this conversation. Who can do that? many can they listen in on a conversation that someone else is happening? druids could she

she picks up the what's his name again? the guy's head yeah oh Keshka? Keshka yeah she picks up Keshka's head

I'd forgotten about that. He can. Some now as a head. Yes. Talk through trees. Still command druid. So he can still command other. Yeah.

This, because I hate, not affect much. Right, right. Okay. But druids, many can speak through. Trees. Fae. right okay can we but druids many can speak through uh trees um fey um those trees are sort of an unsecure network really aren't they yes yeah right um okay one of uh strads brides like esha but is fey oh Do I know about this one? You. Or like really tangentially. Yeah, this is not something that you would have really been very responsible for.

This is something probably that Keening would know more about. You were not responsible for a lot of that extra stuff. You mainly managed just troops. No worries. How many brides or husbands does Strahd have? Strahd has four, maybe.

One who is in charge here, Fae. One stays in castle. Yes. Five now. Orc man we meet a go a go gas she she means a go gas oh right so it's um just if they've turned into a full-blooded vampire full vampire strad make for um very special to worship him kind of kind, kind of, uh, make himself feel big.

Maybe. Yeah, perhaps. Okay. So whoever was listening, I mentioned, I'm so sorry, I mentioned Keening,

my name, uh, mentioned, uh, I mean, don't feel too bad about that. It's my, it's my assumption that strides probably aware anyway.

Yes. I mean, Asher knows. Yeahher knows yeah so um so if it was if it was strad that that's already information that they know of yeah uh i guess i mentioned iona um uh did eleniel she seemed to mention of iona's name she seemed to uh yeah, Iona was there a year ago. I've got some information. We'll deal with that in a minute. I think the more pressing issue is the wagon. You look over, the wagon is getting very close at this point. It's been slowly trundling its way up the side of the mountain.

You can see it's nothing like the Vistani caravans that you've been seeing. This one's a much more, I would say, western style wagon. So there's no big embellishments on it or anything like that. It's mainly

made for the purposes of hauling cargo. You can see that there is a, it's open top, so there's no hood to it or covering or anything like that. It's just one big long wagon being drawn by two horses with a man sitting, a man and a woman, sorry, sitting on the, where the reins are. The woman has in her lap a heavy crossbow

in a manner like a stagecoach guard might have. The man is holding the reins of the horse. They look at you. You can see they're slowing down. They've spotted you. They're slowing down and looking at you warily. Just wave. When you wave politely, they resume their regular speed.

I might ask them some questions. I like my waving down. Yeah, as in wave to be like, hold, not hold, but like wave. Are they the Vistani that I imagine that we've been sent? They're not Vistani, no. They look just like regular folks. Yeah, they look like regular folk that you might have encountered in Kandor, to be honest.

They're not even dressed like Peruvians. Oh, well, yeah, maybe, yeah, we'll wave and kind of head over to them. Hello. Hey. Hello. What brings you to the pass? I have come to trade with the people up in the north, Kuchery. Right.

Where are you from? You don't look like you're from… I am a traveler. The road is my home. Are you native to Barovia? No, we are not native to Barovia. We travel lands all around. Are you trapped here?

Like everyone else is? I hope that's not a reveal. No, we are not trapped here. No, you are... Wait a minute. Sorry, you are not... You can get out. We are what you would call dread travelers.

You've never heard that term before. Just staring. I mean, that's... What? What? Come again? This place, Porovia, is in what is called the domains of dread. The dark places.

Yes. It has many names. In Shadowfell. So you might also call us planeswalkers. Right, right, right. You might have heard of that name, actually. Yes, I think I've heard of that.

Pip, you have not. But Hector, planeswalkers are people who walk the planes. So from the material realm to the ethereal, to heaven, to hell, to the elemental planes. So from the material realm to the ethereal, to heaven to hell, to the elemental planes, planeswalkers just freely travel between.

Yeah, right. I thought this was a dead end for everybody. Nearly everyone, yes. But for those who know the way, it is not insurmountable. Is it possible to learn the way?

Yes. The way cannot be taught. You either know or you do not. Right. Can you take anyone with? You are not the first person to ask this question. No, we cannot take anyone with us. Can you deliver messages?

Sometimes, yes. It is within the domains of Dread. We know some of the passages, but there are many places we still cannot go. Where do you want your message to travel to? I guess Ognoth, if you can get to Ognoth. He shakes his head. I do not know this place.

Never mind. I'm sorry. What wares do you have? When you ask, he looks behind him. There's a big tarp covering everything in the wagon. He slowly pulls back the tarp, and you can see boxes and crates and barrels all neatly arranged on the back of the wagon. We have many things. We trade mostly with the cities, so not much that an adventurer might want.

But we sometimes, in our travels, come across, he looks back at you warily. We sometimes come across people like yourselves who were not so fortunate and we have their things. It is not very common though. Anyway, what are you in the market for? Anything of healing or the like. Healing. Fruit. We've got new fruit.

Hilda, one moment. Hilda, can you search? The woman with the crossbow, who has not said anything at this point, stands up. She's got the look of, he looks much younger than her. She doesn't look that much older, actually. I should say rather she looks prematurely old, if that makes sense. Not magically so. She just looks like she's had.

A rough life. Yeah, a very rough life. Yeah, she's been around the block a couple of times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When she stands up as well, you see that she has one big metal leg and one regular leg. that she has one big metal leg and one regular leg. The big metal leg is the first to go over into the wagon, and it makes a very solid donk when it hits the floor of the wagon.

She hops in and then starts rummaging about. I think we have some of these potions of sorts. I am afraid, though though some adventurers prefer these, some do not they are of a very specific brand Hilda comes back with a six pack of Grugrog's best which are maybe

only ever sold in six packs ah right I don't know if I've had any of Grugrog's best. It doubles as an incendiary device, if you need. It probably says on the can, now with incendiary properties, and there's a big, Grugrog himself giving a big thumbs up and a toothy grin. A big little, like, you know, star burns going down. Heal yourself or hurt an enemy.

How much for the six pack? One, two. That would be, Hilda, help me with the mathematics on this. She doesn't say anything. She just grunts and he turns around and says, that would be 200 gold. Well, a lot of money for some health patients. It's out of our price range.

Oh, well. Yes. And on the fruit front? Fruit we have. Hilda immediately just takes a little cloth off the top of a barrel and you can see it is stuffed full of strawberries. How much? 100 gold again for a strawberry?

Not for a strawberry. Healing potions is magic. Yes. I'm just being a dick. No, the strawberries are one silver a pound. I'll buy a pound. All right. You give him a silver coin.

He gives you a pound of strawberries. That's awesome. Only one silver for a pound. I'd buy a pound. Alright. You give him a silver coin? He gives you a pound of strawberries. That's awesome. Only one silver for a pound. Alright. I'd buy more, but they'll go off. It's not magical. Yeah, I know. It's so rare. It's so rare. Healing potions are way more... I hand the strawberries out

to the rest of the party. Tapos looks like she's never seen a strawberry before in her life, and she takes one bite and hands it back to you. Too sour? Too tart? Too sweet. Yeah, that's fair.

She's maybe never had a sweet thing in her life. Gorob and Lushen greedily eat theirs. Well, no, they don't eat theirs because they fight over it, and then neither of them. It just squishes in between them. Yeah, they don't get one. If you want to know, we can probably make a tea out of it. Oh, that's a good idea, and I'll dry some out too.

There are other fruits if you wish to look. Sure. Well, actually, what I might look for is spices. All right, you could get any basic spice, salt and pepper, obviously, but anything aside from nutmeg, anything that you could find casually in a cupboard, you could probably purchase here.

I'll grab some cinnamon, maybe. Some dried garlic. Cloves, onion powder. Cloves, onion powder. You can spend as much gold as you wish. All right. Just like a pack of spices, yeah. All right.

Let's give you, let's call it five silver for a five-pack of different spices. Sounds good. And we'll say maybe, yes, cinnamon, salt and pepper, and then two other ones. I don't know. Yeah, no worries. Paprika. Paprika, yeah, paprika, and one more. Basil.

Basil, thank you. Great. Fantastic. Have you been up to a kutcheri before? Yes, we go very often. Well, did you... Define often, I suppose. But we haven't been there before, yes.

I guess, does time work linear for you? As in, when you come here, has much time passed? It's more and less sometimes, depending. Our route takes us many places, and sometimes it takes a little longer, sometimes it takes a little less, sometimes we don't make all of the stops. It is infrequent like that.

Have you been to Valachai recently? We don't go to Valachai. We go as far as Krezik and Kuchary. That is it. No, I have never been to Valachai. We go as far as Krezik and Kuchuli. That is it. No, I have never been to Valachai. Too close to Strahd? We don't like to linger in one place too long. That makes sense.

Did you happen to come across anything down the path? Sort of a sound? Is it clinking? Clanking. We're hunting I don't know if you know them, dusk hags. I don't know about dusk hags, but I do know about clanking. I'm sure you've spent enough time here to know that there's many crazies and creeps on this mountain.

Oh, yes. I know not to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it's better to let your assumptions protect you. It usually takes a lot to spook me anyway. That being said, the worst night we have ever had was last night on this mountain. We were camping here and we had heard other travelers coming to and from talking about sundown women who live out here. Barely human and preying on travelers, but you know everywhere you go has tales like these, so you learn not to pay them too much heed.

But soon as night fell last night, it happened. It felt like the trees were conspiring against us. You'd look away for a moment, and it was like the whole goddamn forest had gotten up and rearranged itself. Who am I nearest to? Like, among our party?

I would say Hector. I'd like to tell maybe Elbow Hector. Classic Hags. The whole time we could hear them getting nearer, making horrible noises. All we could do was keep yelling and swinging my father's old sword into the night. Dawn has never come slower. And when it did, we got out of there as fast as we could.

I've never felt anything like that. Did you happen to see any I guess a wagon of people from Valakai? We saw the wagon. Was anybody in the wagon? No. It was overturned.

Could not say. We did not, as I said, linger. We were already making our way here. That would have been after us. Sounds like dusk eggs. They disguise themselves as trees and then, well, reveal themselves as dusk eggs. Take the road south and you will find it yourself. This is not the path you took. So you had ignored it on your way up

because it's irrelevant. Pip, you would have known that. But there was an intersection you passed that heads south, but it almost immediately, the sign itself says way out of Barovia, and you know immediately you would have hit mist. Yeah, okay. How far down

south? What's the travel time? We passed it this morning. Does that mean it's through the mists? It's very close to where the mists are. It's on the edge of Barovia if it's accessible to you. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

I don't think we're hitting it. No, you're probably right. Mounted on horses, you might have a decent chance because you'll be going downhill as they went up. Okay. When is the best time to strike the dusk? Well, like I said, they disguise themselves as trees, so it's kind of much of a much.

I mean, it's hard to see them at night, certainly. They're most active at their namesake. Yeah. Yes, they're, what's the word? Dusk, you know, that's when they're hunting. That's when they're, yeah. So if we get there by evening, we'll be there during feeding time. If we get there at night, they're less likely to attack.

If we go tomorrow and we get there early, we'll have a whole day of waiting. I don't know. It's up to you. I think it is pressing. I think we should probably head down. All right. I think it is pressing. I think we should probably head down. Alright. Yeah, I think we should head down. The man gestures to his wagon one more

time. Anything else you want? I'll pop a strawberry in my mouth. No, I'm good. Unless you are the charitable kind, I don't think I can afford your wares. Alright. Good eve. Safe travels. Yeah, good eve to you too. They travel onwards to Kutry

and you travel down towards the Selenka Pass. I guess on the way down I'll maybe try and explain in clip sentences of the conversation that we had with Eleniel. A couple of things. They saw Strahd.

Strahd was in Kresik again at the Abbey. Do I know what that might mean? No, not really. He moves around. The only time you've ever been in Kresik was at the beginning of this adventure. Yeah, no worries. So, yeah, you don't know much about the grave, but what you can remember when you were there last. Oh, yeah, that's very little.

you can remember when you were there last. Oh, yeah, that's very little. So he was at the abbey attending to a gravesite of Tasha Petronova? Petrova? Petrovna? I don't know. It's not a name that rings any bells to you? I don't recall. Natasha Petrova?

Stumbled upon that one when we were investigating the... As I recall, I spent most of that night fighting a ghoul in the graveyard. Yeah. I wasn't really looking at the stones. He was apparently over that grave, which… It's a sort of strange sentimentality for Strahd. I wish Kribbit was here. The necklace that the hag had, it was people, Lydia, I think, Lydia Petrovna?

There's that name again. Do you know anything about the Petrovnas? No, I'm sorry. Piran, have you ever heard of the… Piran shakes his head. No, I've not encountered the name around Kuchery. No, I've not encountered the name around Kuchery. So Kuchery is quite isolated, though, from the rest of Barovia.

So I wouldn't know too much. It'd be nice to chat to someone who's been here for longer. Yeah, it's a name to keep an eye out for, I suppose. I've been told, Pyrrhon says, that there is a quite remarkable library in Castle Ravenloft. Well, isn't that nice? Also, they've discovered something about Strahd

that his powers come from the land itself. He's corrupted it, as we point to Keshkar's head. Yes, I was going to ask about that. At first, I didn't say anything because I thought it was just a man's head. But then I heard it scream just now. So that's the leader of the Druids?

Ex-leader of the Druids? Cool. So the Druids are bad guys? I'm looking at X leader? Remaining leader? She shakes her head sadly He's still lead How does he communicate with

Telepathy or Many means Trees, wind, talks Even when he's gagged He doesn't mean He talks now. You cannot hear because you do not listen. Gorob Lushen, slam a meaty hand into your chest, Hector, nearly doubling you over.

You heard the lady. Just open your ears. I, of course, have heard him talking the entire time. Oh, you hear him talking, do you? Yes, of course, you doubt me, Wizard Supreme! Doubt you? I've never believed you in my life! Every time Gervin Lushen talked, I just imagined everybody else in the party staring off into the middle distance in one motion, like, it'll be over soon. Everyone rubbing their snout.

Wait for it to be done. So the druids are, I guess, have been... Actually, Tapos, I don't really know. They seem to be corrupted by Strahd? Is that what's happened? Yes. Druids long ago work for land, but then Strahd and Feng corrupt land.

Now druids work for Strahd. She holds up spear. She holds up spear. She holds up the blood spear. My father in Spear, Kavan, was in charge of tribe. But Kavan worship land, not Strahd. So Keshgar kill Kavan, take control of druids. And Strahd gives Keshgar unnatural life? Keshgar cannot die as long as land is alive.

Land now is Strahd. Strahd dies. Keshgar dies. Land returns to normal. Apparently, Eleniel and Krippet, they found there's four holy sites. Lodestones. Yes.

So they've been corrupted and there might be a way to cleanse those places. Load stones cannot be cleansed. Why not? Destroys them. Right. Kills Strahd. Destroys land. Right.

Tricky. Yes. Eleniel was saying that each one has a guardian. Is that correct? Mm-hmm. Apparently, if you wanted to destroy the lodestone, you have to slay a guardian. Mm-hmm. Fae protects Strahd now.

Land, nature protects Strahd now. Keralova worships Strahd. now kailova worships strad kailova is uh dryad powerful fey powerful powerful fey um one of the brides kailova yes is bride of strad was once a heart of forest oh right dryad made vampire. Powerful combination. She watches over lodestones. But lodestone have separate guardian who stays there. Okay. So if we were to... Cleanse lodestone, kills guardian, kills guardian, destroys lodestone, kills forest. Is there any way to purify them without destroying them?

Is there any way to, I guess, get the corruption out without destroying everything? Go back to school with Rogers and get Canada's fastest and most reliable internet. Perfect for streaming lectures all day or binging TV shows all night. Save up to $20 per month on Rogers internet. Visit Rogers.com for details. We got you Rogers. Strahd must die. Kill Strahd.

But if we straightforward, if, um, but he's protected by protected by everything here. So let's say if we get rid of those, his connection to the lodestones weakens him, makes him easier to kill. But destroys.

But kills lodestones. Tapos quite clearly is a little mad. Right. And that is not something we should do. Just cleanse lodestone, weaken Strahd, but kill forest. Kill Strahd, lodestone's no longer connected. Well, maybe we'll cross this bridge when we come to it. Is Kelova, if you kill Strahd with Kelova, will she still be a bride?

Is she too far gone? What happens? Tapos frogs, not sure. Kelova tainted terribly by vampire. Could cure, but might not. Eleniel did mention that there might be a way of doing this without destroying the lodestones or the guardians. Maybe.

Tarpos says, not sure. And, um... Have I got a gauge on Tarpos? If I even suggest the idea of destroying the lodestones, is she going to be hostile? You don't think... Actually, maybe, yeah. Well, let me roll.

It's pretty connected to, you know. She really didn't want us to kill the goat, and that's fine. I'm just like, I'm just. Improper training turned a successful skill check into a failed one. Oh. Dog. You have no idea if she will strike you down the second you suggest it. She, obviously, even with a failed check you can

still tell she's angry at the idea of cleansing the lodestones destroying them and killing the guardians obviously she's very against that but you don't know how against okay um so eleniel was mentioned that that day um apparently the to cleanse the lodestone as it were was to defeat the guardians and use their blood or something along those lines or you perform a ritual with the weapon forged from their

There is ritual, yes kill the guardian, forge weapon in blood, strike lodestone destroys lodestone guardian obviously lodestone. Guardian obviously dead. And destroys the forest, yes. Yeah. We can start.

She did mention there might be a way around that we could kind of maybe cleanse the guardian without destroying them. We'll have to talk to Eleniel to figure that one out. Yes. Where do you have to go to do the other ritual with the goat? Sangzor?

Yes. Is that one of the… Base of mountain. There is an old ancient shrine. Is that one of the lodestones? Tarpos actually just doesn't say anything and you recognize she's not saying anything because it obviously is and she doesn't want to tell you that.

She doesn't trust you to know where a lodestone is. And Sangzor was the guardian. Yeah, right. Wow, could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble. Right. Oh, well. Oh, well. That is.

Oh, fuck that rule. And that is why it was corrupted. Yeah, right. Right. Shouldn't we deal with these dust cags? Yep. Let's pick something we can do. We know we can do this.

This is an impasse. The Duskags will be easy. The Duskags are just going to be so much more fucked compared to Sangzor. Oh, you're in trouble, buddy. The Duskags are fucked up. So now that you've defeated Sangzor and if you perform a ritual that lets you... Ride Sangzor. Sangzor becomes steed.

Right. Is there anything that we can do for the other three guardians? Well, Sang Zor's not cleansed. No, but she defeated him. Yeah. So therefore it is not cleansed, but it's not attacking us. That's true. So it could be useful if it's not attacking.

Is there anything like that for the other three guardians? Tapos shrugs. If there is, I don't know. Hopefully Eleniel will find more information and hopefully we can find a non-destructive solution. If possible. Not if possible. If these hags, what do we need?

Well, the thing about the hags is that unlike other hags. At a certain point, by the way, just for account keeping purposes, you have passed through the Salenka Pass. On your way through, Piran just peeled off, spoke to one of the guards who nodded and waved you through. Just so we know where we are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're moving. We're moving.

We're moving with our horses. Well, Dusk Hags, unlike their sort of more magical sisters, are sort of more of a melee-oriented creature. They've got a dangerous paralytic touch, so don't let them touch you. And they also can infect you,

I guess, with something called insatiable desire. That's why I got the snails. What was that? Insatiable desire. That's why I got the snails. What was that? Insatiable desire? So, a victim inflicted with this will feel as if their heart's desire is within reach and will begin to pursue it to a fault. Eventually, the subject

will be so consumed by their desire that they will consider any act, speak any utterance to achieve it. If so afflicted, here's the snail, an easy remedy can be applied within an hour. The victim must consume an entire snail, no skimping on the shell, and speak their desire aloud.

This is stuff we can do if we don't get to it within, you know, the hour, but hopefully it doesn't come to that. They are immune to a couple of things. They are immune to, or resistant at least, cold fire, thunder, and lightning. They do take a lot of damage from cold iron weapons, but I don't think I look around to everybody in the party. Nobody's got anything forged in cold fire, do they?

Everyone slowly shakes their head. I didn't think so. Yeah, other than that then, we want to go for bludgeoning damage. Strike for their legs. They're strong as hell, but brittle to go for bludgeoning damage. Strike for their legs. They're strong as hell, but brittle as shit. Bludgeoning damage. Yeah. Also, like I said before, they will disguise themselves as trees.

And they are drawn. This is probably going to work to our benefit, as they're looking to between Tarpos and Hector. They're drawn to arguments. So the more vicious, the better. Pyrrhon from behind the two of you says, oh, good. So we won't have to travel farther.

No, no. They'll come to us for sure. Okay. Okay. All right. Magical weapons is... No. Kill down or nothing, I'm afraid.

I can't use bludgeoning with the blunt end of the spear, can I? I guess you could, but it would be improvised weapon rolls. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. All right, well, I guess I'm not going to be using... Put the spear away? Yep. Bring out the mace?

Yeah, that'll do nicely. I guess I'm using this. And silver, I'd like... Get the shield? Well, again, silver's a good a good catch all but there's nothing specifically in here regarding it I'm going to be using my silver bolts just for you know as a little

you know in the hope they'll do something and he mums the word on radiant damage nothing said but it only specifies the dusk's egg's resistance to cold fire, thunder, and lightning. So either... If it doesn't say that it's strong or weak, it's probably neither.

It's probably neutral. Or Emmanuel will fuck us and it'll be immune. Are they considered undead or a fiend? No, they are fae, I believe. Right. Like all hags. Yeah, type of fey. Yeah.

But honestly, I mean, of all that, we've fought a hag already. Yes. And we've fought a far trickier hag than this one, so I think we'll be alright. Okay. The clanking still confounds me, but I'm sure we'll have that mystery horrifyingly revealed to us when we get there.

Should we head to try and find the wagon and then try to track them with their fight? Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Okay, well, let's keep going. You eventually get to that intersection where there's just a big wooden sign that says out of Barovia, pointing southwards. wooden sign that says out of barovia pointing southwards you begin walking around the side of of the mountain and the snow begins picking up it's not blizzard conditions but it's not light

snow either it's getting quite cold you're very thankful for your heavy furs, but also you are getting wet. Any part of you that's currently exposed would be taking on a very reddish hue from the cold assaulting you. Do either of you have hands exposed? Maybe. I imagine if we get any kind of

furs, there might be gloves or something like that. If there are gloves, I'm wearing them. Sure, okay. Well, since we've never really gotten into this, I'm assuming if you have gloves, they're probably maybe just a leather glove. So while they're helpful,

obviously it's not as good as big, heavy winter gloves. Yeah, for sure. Which you notice that Gorob and Lushen begin Don for themselves. Actually, they probably would have been wearing them this entire time. They've got like mitts. Yeah, that's great.

And Pirin as well. You see he, from a saddlebag, begins producing heavier and progressively heavier and heavier fur clothes, giving himself a bit of a layering effect. He also puts on, for lack of a better term, a balaclava to keep his face warm as well. Do his horns poke out of it? Yeah, he has two holes for his horns to poke through. He pulls his hood low as well to give himself as much layering and as much

warmth as possible. Even with all of that though, anytime the two of you look behind to see him up the back, you can see his arms are folded across his chest and he's shivering slightly. I guess I'll huddle closer to Pip on the horse for warmth. Enjoy the body warmth. As always, Tapos just does not seem to care.

She's not bare-chested or anything like that, but she's dressed like you might dress in the summer. Yeah. Wow. All right, well, let's huddle up and any kind of extra warmth we can kind of do. Yeah. All right. Well, let's huddle up and any kind of extra warmth we can kind of do. Yeah. That's not really much for Kenny.

Eventually, you find the wagon. You can see it's turned over on the side. This one does have a Vistani sort of visual appearance. Yeah. It's one of those classic sort of all-wooden caravans designed to be- It's got a roof kind of, yeah. Yeah, it's designed to be lived in. all wooden caravans designed to be lived in.

It's got like a lovely, well, what was once a lovely pattern stenciled on the side of it, but the wagon has been pretty badly mauled by something. You are still mounted on your horses. That's all that you've seen so far. You're in a thick forest right now as well. There's a path clearly marked out, but on either side of you, thick with pine trees. I'll slump off the horse.

You weren't expecting it. The snow comes up to your knees. Oh, no. Also, I don't know if I... Do I need to roll to dismount a horse because I am bad at riding horses? You should. Would you like assistance before you just slump off?

If you can catch me in time. Yeah, you might need to assist on this one. Okay. Pip, you were about to fall face first into the snow, but Hector grabs you from behind and half chokingly drops you. You want down. Down, please. Ask next time, and also, as you can see,

I gestured to the horse's feet. Yeah. Probably not the wisest thing. Immediately, as soon as you're standing in the snow, snow begins filling into your boots. Oh, no. Can I clamber back onto the horse? Yeah, you get back up onto the horse.

Okay, that was deep. And the horse is high up. Well, let's... Should we get closer to the... Yeah. It's on horseback. You will have trouble inspecting in close detail the wagon,

especially because obviously a lot of the wagon is covered in snow right now. But in addition to that, you can't move the snow and you can't get very close to it without dismounting. Well, can we get close enough and then ask Tarpos to kind of brush some of the snow away? Sure. And then inspect and kind of like tell us from horseback what's going on.

In sandals, she hops off the back of her horse. My god. And starts brushing snow off. Maybe I'm taking my boots off and getting the snow out before putting it back on. Gorob and Lushen seem pretty fine as well, but even they they're probably, as dwarves,

quite hardy. But even there you can see the snow is kind of biting at them as well, but even they they're probably, as dwarves, quite hardy. Even there you can see the snow is kind of biting at them as well. Maybe cause a fight. That's good. Gorob Lushen, which one of you is better at this? Yeah, well, yeah.

That's going to cause a fight. Look, my plan was eventually when we figure out what's sort of maybe going on this wagon was to maybe ask Orb and Lushen who do you think

that Tarpos likes more because I think that would be a great little fight for them but right now considering that Lushen is the wizard

yeah yes L for wizard yes L for wizard G for barbarian and it's like well we know this area

where we're going to be if they had perhaps like a cantrippy fire spell that they could perhaps try and clear a bit of path slash clear a bit of area we can at least you know hop off the horses it's not a bad idea fighting in this snow will be bad so I just want

to ask them maybe as I light a, I guess grab a torch that would already be lit as we're walking down, is it possible, Lushen, do you have any kind of a fire spell that won't do us much harm,

but might clear some, like a clearing for us, so that we're not waist deep in snow? The second you finish talking. The second you say might clear some, like a clearing for us, so that we're not waist deep in snow. The second you finish talking. The second you say the mm in Russian, surely. Russian. The second you open your mouth.

A minute before you've thought of talking to them, you immediately regret it. Russian turns around and says, I'm so sorry, but unfortunately I, as Wizard Supreme, I am unable to do anything small and undamaging. Were I to simply gesture as this, he does a little gesture, I could smote this entire wagon, destroying it, tearing it, ripping it from... Gorob just starts slamming his fist into their chest.

As that's happening, I'm like, I'm so sorry. People, get ready. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am. I'm getting my crossbow, cranking it up, and then on the back of the horse, scanning the forest for moving trees. Yep, yep, Yep. Yep. Gorob screams into Lushen's ear, and they're finding God, that sucks. A little early, Hector, a little early. You!

Have you ever spoken to Gorob and Lushen before? Idiot! Fool! You should think that that is what he wants? Get the cotton, or should I say rocks out of your head! I don't know if you've met Gorob and Lushen. They don't like each other very much.

I just thought it was an innocuous question. It was only to one of them. A wind picks up through the trees. All of them shudder slightly, swaying rhythmically. It's a forest of dust bags. You're dead. You die almost immediately.

The trees sway rhythmically with the breeze and then you hear crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch something sprinting through the snow and then bursting out Pip, I'm going to have to roll for you to hold your fire. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, no, is it going to be another puppet situation? It's not a hag. Instead, a Vistani bursts out of the forest. He's got a wild-eyed look to him. His hair is unkempt. His clothes are torn and hanging, matted around him. He must be freezing. And you can see his lips would be probably a shade of blue right now.

He is absolutely nearly frozen solid. Oh, gnomes and pinion. Wide-eyed, though, explodes out from the side of the forest, looking around at your formation. I have to fire an arrow into the sky. You just fire upwards. Oh, my God. Don't do that.

Is the hat close? What? Are they chasing you? What? Get out of my way. He sprints across the road and into the forest on the other side. I don't know. I'm like, just what was chasing him?

I look back. Do you look back the way you came just preparing to get a good boy cut oh there's nothing chasing him in fact he looks like he's chasing something what was he's not um what how long have we been here like at the wagon i'd say maybe 10 minutes at this point okay so, so like, theoretically, if he was chasing something, we would have seen it come by. Very possible. He was chasing... Oh, no. I say...

Took you a fucking minute. My eyes go wide. Insatiable desire. He's dead. A victim inflicted with this will feel as if their heart's desire is within reach and will pursue it to a fault.

He's... I don't know where he's gone we could chase him down but you know it would be pointless pierron says yeah it's unfortunate but it's true i look back into the the woods yeah at least we know they're still around all right um okay um yeah whatever he's dead I mean, you're welcome to run after him in the snow Yes, let's all go into the forests Where they can be a tree, apparently Oh, they can be a tree Yes, let's mingle in with all the trees on either side of us Chasing a man who's running pale-mouth through the forest Just because it is the wisest decision

doesn't mean I have to take joy in it like the two of you. I'm not happy about it. Oh, yeah. Do either of us look happy? This fucking whatever mumbo jumbo in that forest. And I'm going to have to fight it. Why did I come here? It's a forest.

It's a forest instead of a city where I feel safe. Where I am the hunter. This is a bad time for Fiora to have a crisis. Tarpos, is anything on the wagon, if anything, useful? Tarpos was mid-clearing snow when all of this happened, and she froze like a rock. When you talk to her again, she begins clearing snow again, and clearing it off the top, well, I should say the side,

now the top of the wagon, you can see there is a giant claw mark that has dragged its way through the side of the wagon. This is quite obviously what knocked the wagon over. Whatever it was, it was very strong. It tore through the wood like it was tissue paper. Tarpos then looks inside

the wagon and says blood and person. Does it seem like from the one gash that we're dealing with one creature? Or are there evidence of how many creatures do I think from the attack? I'm going to say this is a disadvantage

because you're not really inspecting it very closely. You still roll quite well. So you can see that in addition to that big gash, there's lots of little gashes all over the place. You doubt this is one dusk hag. But I can't quite figure out how many. No, you wouldn't be able to tell a specific number. Do I know if dusk hags dust hags travel in packs or anything?

All types of hags can travel in. It's called a coven. And yeah, all types of hags have been known to do that. The claw marks. Is that the claw marks of a hag or something else? That's probably a dust keg. It looks reasonable, yeah. Probably a dust keg.

Dust kegs can but rarely travel alone. It's a coven. I don't know how many though i like how you pronounce coven coven coven is it typically sounds like it just sounds like how pip would pronounce it but it's it's good i like it is it typically three like in a real coven of witches it can vary okay three once again is a very common number. But I think, I don't know if Emmanuel specifies this in the version that you have, but I think it could be two to frickin' 20. The bigger covens are really hard to disguise, though. So you feel like you would have heard of, if it were 20 hags, you'd already be dead. I'm guessing.

When I was describing the wind through the trees, that would have been a hack. I would say educated guess three, maybe four. Mother made him a crone. Someone else. Should we head into the forest, or should we try to attract them here? I would rather fight them here.

We've got a much wider area without, you know, harder to surprise. I look to Pyrrhon and Tarpos and Pip. Are we prepared? I'm ready as I'll ever be. Pyrrhon gives a big sigh and then you hear, in his many, many layers, he reaches down to his two legs and you hear as he zips or unzips something. Then he gets off his horse and you hear, ha, as he lands in the snow.

Mom, are we going to be better fighting on horseback or fighting on the ground? You, Hector, are probably the only person here who has training in mounted combat. Anyone else here, I would say, is definitely going to be fighting with some disadvantages from horseback. Pip, do you want to head down to the, maybe use the wagon as a vantage point? That's a very good idea. All right, you clamber up onto the wagon? Yeah, I'd also like to make some stuff. You're not ready. I wagon? Yeah. I'd also like to make some stuff.

No worries. I'm not ready, I lied. I'd like to, I've got three Etta Cap Lungs, which I'd like to turn into three potions of resist hag. I don't think that's an available option. Well, they provide resistance

to fey, the Etta Cap Lungs. Well, they provide resistance to fey, the edicap lungs. Okay, so that would be fey effects. So any, like you say, for example... Paralytic touch or insatiable desire would count here. Yeah, that's good. That's fine. So I'd like to combine those three edicap lungs with... What else do I have three of? Okay, I've got to make three separate potions, unfortunately, just due to ingredients.

Okay. So one's gonna be an Eticaplung, a Formian Eye for magic, deforming magic. Okay. And let's make it Dragonblood for immunity to energy. Okay, what energy would you like to pick? Is paralyzing an energy? No, I'm sorry. Fae energy?

Rising in energy? No, I'm sorry. Fae energy? There's no energy, I think, that does Kags... No type of energy damage that they deal. So, does Dragonblood have legendary power to it? Yes, it does. Use that. Alright, I'll use the legendary power.

Because then with magic deforming, you could, if you roll even just moderately well... It'll be very powerful. It's a mondo powerful, yeah. Okay, so that's one so dragon blood um you do you have anything for a roll because while you still with all of that energy in it you're gonna get a decent potion yeah you rolled a two so you really fucking whiffed this one uh it's impossible to not get a powerful potion out of this mixture, but you just could have a really good Mondo potion.

I got nothing. No worries. Next one, sorry. I'll go another Etta Cap Lung. I will go... God. All right, Weakness to Fire. All right, so one Weakness to Fire.

Etta Cap Lung and Dragonblood again. All right, the Weakness to Fire to just try and give, fire. Alright, so one weakness to fire. Etta Cap Lung and Dragonblood again. Alright. The weakness to fire to just try and give, if we, while we have this potion in us, when we hit the fey or whatever, we give it a weakness to fire. Unfortunately,

that would be an oil instead. Fuck! Okay. Alright, resistance to damage, whatever. I got heaps of lycanides Another two, I see Another two, yeah, you really I'm whiffing it This one's going to be Did you use

Well then you can't actually fail on this roll But yeah, it's not very powerful And then I'll do another one of those The second one, you mean? Alright, well, there you go For the first two For the one that has resistance And then I'll do another one of those. Okay. The second one, you mean? All right. Well, there you go. Okay. So for the first two, for the one that has resistance to fey, you can pick intensity or duration. So it can be really intense but last a round, or it can last for an hour but be very weak.

I'll make it intensity. Intensity? Yeah. Okay. So, it's going to last for one round, but it is immunity to any effect that a fey could deal. Okay, great. I will give that to Hector, I think. Okay.

I can cast a protection spell. I'll give it to someone else. I'll give it to Tarpos. Alright, Tarp boss takes it so for the second potion you could do intensity or duration again let's go intensity no sorry let's go duration duration all right cool so because that one had two effects in i'm gonna say an hour yeah someone who actually no you can split that hour however so you could take a gulp another person takes a gulp for a total of one hour's protection.

Okay. But in that one hour, anyone who takes a drink of this potion, however that split is, you get resistance on one attack. Okay. And you get advantage on one saving throw versus a fey. Okay. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Make sense? Yep.

All right. And then the third potion you just did normally. Yep. All right. And then the third potion you just did normally. Yep. So that would be for five rounds, it would be resistance to... Oh, was it the same potion? Same potion again, yeah. So resistance and advantage for five rounds. I'll take one of them and I'll give the other one to Hector. Okay, cool. Okay.

All right, now I'm ready. All right. All right. Thank you. Okay. Right. Tarpos gets low in the snow, so she's difficult to see. Nice.

She just holds that position. Gorub, Lushen are going to join you, Pip, on the side of the wagon. Yeah. Or they try to, but when they do that, Perrin says, Gorub, Lushen, would you like to take the horse and just be in the middle of the road? Just be quiet. Perfect. That's perfect. I was honestly just going to ask them how their day had been.

Say their names once. I have a quick question in regards to protection of good and evil. I touch a creature and people who are fey will have disadvantage attacking said creature. Should I cast it on myself or my horse? Great question. Well, you... I can't give you the answer to that question because Hector doesn't know the answer to that question.

Okay, okay, okay. Maybe I'll ask Pip before. If I was to cast a protection spell, would they go for me or the horse? They would probably... You honestly wouldn't know the answer to that question either. I would... I don't know for sure. I've never really fought, again, in horses we don't mix.

But I would say... It feels... I would imagine it would go for your horse. Dusk hags. All you know are dusk hags are an intelligent creature and they will act intelligently. Yes, I would guess the horse. Bless this horse, Adam. Bless this horse.

So what is that, Brant, again? It's a protection of good and evil. And so if they are an aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, or fiend, and undead, they have disadvantage in attack rolls against this target. This target, the horse cannot be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. The horse is getting

insatiable desire. And if they are already possessed, or they do possess, they have advantage on the saving throw. So, yeah, it's good. Yeah, that's great. Go back to school with Rogers and get Canada's fastest and most reliable internet. Perfect for streaming lectures all day or binging TV shows all night. Save up to $20 per month on

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