Episode 02: Granny Greentoes & Blackbriar Hill

General Summary

The party negotiates with the green hag and spends a night on a haunted hill.

Haggling With a Hag

The party failed to infiltrate the hag's hut and engaged in negotiations instead. They realize that they are no match for Granny Greentoes or her army of giant frogs that emerge from the swamp around her. Taela, who grew up near here, knows they can negotiate with Granny.

The tiefling, Veoric seems to come out of his familiar-induced stupor. He tries to enter the hut, but is caught. As a distraction, Gundar offers Granny some psychic beer in exchange for her prisoners. When he speaks, Veoric realizes that he once ment Gundar's seventh wife when she danced at the Pole of Ashaya.

Granny Greentoes has been preparing a dragon and mushroom stew with Nyoxes and Ryper slated to become the main ingredients. She agrees to hold off until the next day, but only if the group agrees to go to Blackbriar Hill, spend the night, and retrieve a briar branch marked with spectral fire.

Taela confirms that Granny will keep to her agreement. Veoric is aware that Blackbriar Hill is haunted by elven ghosts of the First Armada. While the others are negotiating, Laszlo has been licking the toads to see what happens.

A Night on Blackbriar Hill

At the Hill, Taela notes that the grounds are covered with dusty footprints. She knows that the dead walk the hill at night. Veoric sets up a caltrop line along one of the paths. Gundar and Laszlo rest in preparation for the long night.

A few hours after the Faerie Sun has set, waves of undead begin to march around the hill. Gundar's fists prove the most effective as he smashes the brittle skeletons and runs circles around the slow zombies. Taela snipes from afar, but realizes that her arrows have limited effects on the fleshless skeletons.

Veoric summons his familiar Gyrosphinx, a small sphinx made of celestial clockwork who's currently more powerful than the neophyte warlock. Gundar discovers that smashing the skeletons causes them to burst into splinters covering the dwarven monk in cuts. Laszlo summons healing magic with his bagpipes.

The caltrop line proves effective at slowing down the zombies flanking the group from the northeast. Instead of being overwhelmed all at once, the party deals with the successive waves of undead succcessfully.

In the middle of the fight, Gyrosphinx relays orders from Veoric's patron: "Steal something." In response, the tiefling pulls a handful of guts out of a nearby zombie. The patron is satisfied and the night comes to an end.