She hates that the hag is putting Saskia out like that, showing her to Zefla so that she doesn't attack.  Honestly, the child didn't mean that much to her, but it definitely gave her pause to just drive her rapier home, what would that do to a child?  One that has already been obviously altered in some way.  

Morgantha's words were starting to piss her off, as were Sorens.  

Insight as to her telling the truth that there are just the three children: 17

She reaches down and scratches the head of the wolf as she tries to figure that out.  

To Giles who she hears yelling from below:

Acacia the wolf looks around the room and sees the cubs.  One held by the abomination and the others in cages.  Zefla conversing with the abomination.  The she-wolf's low growl and whine lets the rest of the pack know, including Soren (Speech of the Woods).

Her mate, Bracken, pads upstairs to join her next to Zefla, both on hair trigger to attack.  Meanwhile, to make room on the crowded millstone level, the last two wolves, Gorse and Hawthorn descend to the bottom floor to keep lookout for the two mages, leaving four wolves on the second floor.

Soren thinks he is starting to put it together from what the wolves tell him.  His stomach roils.

The hags trade their pastries to villagers in return for cubs.  But what happens to the cubs?  The hags have been here for decades.  Centuries.  So why no adult captives?  The bones lie here broken and grounded by the millstone.  They are grinding the cubs' bones to make the pastries...

Nevertheless, the druid senses that saying anything more isn't going to help.  He slows his breathing and waits to see what is going to happen.

Burr bit down on his tongue filling his mouth with blood, he teetered on the edge of action....

Zefla definitely gets the impression that this hag isn't lying a lot, but is also not trustworthy.  If anything, when she speaks truth to Zefla, it almost looks like she surprises herself, like the words taste strange in her mouth.  Still, on the point of the number of children, Zefla doesn't see any tells that would suggest this is a lie.  Mostly, she gets the sense that this old woman is mixing half-truths with facts - it is reminiscent of a pushy salesman at a bazaar.  In particular, she practically lights up when trying to point out to Zefla that Soren is questioning her judgement.

Burr's head is now poking up into the third floor.  He can see Zefla and a wolf, standing across from the old woman from his nightmare.  The old woman is sitting on a bed, with the girl Saskia standing in front of her, a distant and detached expression on her face.  Just past them, a half closet contains some cages (like was a dog might be crated in) and the outlines of two more small children can be seen inside.  There is a narrow, long ladder leading up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.  As Burr looks around the room, Ireena pokes her head up as well, her breath catching when she spies Saskia.  Meanwhile, a second wolf slips past them both to join the other beside Zefla.

Burr hefts the Bloodspear but despite his longing to use it, the blood trickling into his beard and the voice of the ancient war-chieftain goading him on he waits once again.......Zefla had things in hand.....

“Do what you think is right, Zefla.  We are ready, though.  Those children need to come out of here with us…”. Giles keeps looking up, trying to gain sight on the hag.  

As the wolves join Zefla they bolster her reserve.  She was happy the hag wasn't trying to hide more children, though she was surprised with the size of the orphanage that there weren't more children here.  She hoped that maybe they just escaped.

She takes a confident step forward, "No.  That is not the deal.  I can get you this book, but you release all the children now.  Since we share a common enemy, you are going to help us to defeat Strahd and if getting you this book will help, so be it, you'll have it.  Your windmill is full of my friends; you do not have the upper hand, so to help us retrieve your book I require a magic weapon.  These undead are pesky creatures and well, my basic bow and rapier don't do the damage I would like."

Morgantha watches the growing crowd with something like amusement, though there’s an edge to it now, like a cat watching mice scurry too close to its paws.  Her black eyes flick over Zefla, then the wolves, then Burr and Ireena at the stairs.

"Oh, little mouse.  You’re so very bold all of a sudden.  So very sure of yourself.  It’s sweet, really.  A whole pack at your back, growling and bristling like they’re about to lunge.  I suppose you think that means you hold the cards now?"

She rises from the bed now and takes a step forward—not aggressively, just enough to reclaim a sliver of space, her shadow stretching long in the dim candlelight.

"Let’s not pretend, little one.  You didn’t come here for a deal.  None of you did.  You came here for blood.  You had every intention of killing me and my sisters."  Her dark gaze flickers toward those on the stairs, then back to Zefla.  "It’s written all over you.  If I let all my little darlings go, you’ll never return with my book.  Even if you agree now in earnest, the druid will preach into your ears about fiends and wickedness and you will break your words.  If you ever return at all, it will be to try again to burn this place down, drag me into the dirt, and tell yourselves you were righteous for doing it."

She leans down ever so slightly, her voice dropping to something softer, more intimate.

"You want to bargain?  Then show me you understand what a bargain means."

Morgantha straightens, brushing the dust off her apron with a slow, deliberate gesture.

"A magic weapon, is it?  Oh, how you reach."  She lets out a low chuckle.  "You think I’ve got such trinkets just lying about?  Such things are rare treasures in Barovia, and most have already been locked away by the Dark Lord.  But I do know where such things may be found."  She wags a gnarled finger.  "And I could tell you. But you expect much and offer little, mousie."

Her expression shifts, growing sharper.

"You want all of my children?  No, no, I must keep something of value.  Something to keep you true.  So I will make this easy for you: A choice.  One child walks free."  She waves a hand at Saskia.  "The others stay until I have my book in hand.  Fair trade.  One for one."

"Or..." she says with a sly tone, "... if you require more than one, you may take two.  Those two," she says, pointing at the two children in the cages.  "But this one stays with me," she almost whispers, stroking Saskia's cheek.  "Two is better than one, right mousie?"

"No..." Ireena hisses from the steps.

She lets the words settle, watching Zefla carefully, the smile never leaving her face.

Then her grin sharpens again, her patience thinning.  "So.  Do we have a deal or no?  A simple exchange, fair and square.  One child - or two - now, to show my good faith and cement our pact.  The other child or children when you return with my book.  And perhaps a magic item, if you can find it and claim it.  Then together, we plot an end to the Dark Lord.  I get what I want, you get what you want." 

"Or you can fight me, and we’ll see how well your pack fares in my den."

"I require an answer, sweetie."

Acacia and Bracken the wolves begin to growl low in their throat.  It might seem a threat, though it is not exactly that, just as their presence on the upper floor was not merely a threat.  More to ensure Zefla would not be all alone up there.  Instead this time, the low rumbling sound deep in their throats is to report the exact positioning of Morgantha with respect to Saskia, and to serve as noise cover for Soren's quiet whisper to Giles as the druid leans close.

"Not-father.  The wolves tell me that the hag is not currently holding Saskia tightly.  I have seen you push enemies at a distance in battle, though a fiend such as Morgantha may not be so easy to push.  Could you instead pull Saskia away from danger so one of us could grab her, should battle be joined?  I suspect that being such a trickster, you may have already thought of this, but I wanted to make sure!  I could also try my Thorn Whip to pull the hag away, but the presence of the curse upon me makes it unlikely that I would be successful in such an attack."

Giles gives Soren a nod, he makes the ethereal hand appear, then has it climb in the air, heading toward Saskia, ready to pull her away if he can, out of danger.  He tries to see her and Morgantha, changing his point of view and making himself ready..

[Giles - in post 2180 he returned to the ground floor.  The hag and Saskia are on the third floor.  Each floor has a curved set of stairs leading up from the one below.  In order to get line of sight from within the building, Giles would need to climb to the second floor, and then at least halfway up the next staircase between the second and third floor.  There is no angle or position on the ground floor where he can see Saskia or Morgantha.

Positioningwise - Zefla is on the third floor; Burr is on the steps between the second and third floor; and Soren and Giles are back on the ground floor.]

Giles is just going to stand quietly on the ground floor and wait.  

Zefla sighs, she was getting tired of talking.  She had heard many people make deals at tables over drinks but they all seemed so happy about it, or at the very least quick.  This was drawing out and she wasn't getting anywhere with it.

But the woman had a point.  They were in her den.  Her territory and fighting powerful beings... she knew how hard this was going to be.  And on top of that, Soren was not at his top and Giles was down some spells... And Saskia was right here.

"Ok, give me Saskia and tell me where to find a magic weapon so I am more likely to retrieve this book of yours and we will return with it.  You have a deal."

Morgantha’s cracked lips spread into a slow, satisfied grin... so impossibly wide. 

“Good,” she purred, her voice thick with amusement.  “You’ve got more sense than I gave you credit for, little fox.  If only more of your kind knew when to strike a bargain instead of rushing to the slaughter.”

She steps forward and gestured with one gnarled hand, and Saskia stumbled forward as well, dazed but unharmed, her wide eyes flicking between Morgantha and Zefla.  “Take her.  My word is my bond,” she says, hand over her heart.

As Zefla reached for the girl, Morgantha’s long, bony fingers darted forward, pressing a bloody fingertip against her forehead.  A chill, like icy water slipping beneath her skin, spread through Zefla’s body.  Then, a slow, crawling sensation as an illusion settled over her.  Deep, jagged claw marks now stretched across her arms and torso, her clothes torn and stained with blood that wasn’t really there.  She looked like she had barely survived a vicious mauling.

Morgantha chuckled darkly.  “That should help keep our little arrangement quiet.  Strahd’s pets are always watching.  Let them think we came to violence... that you barely escaped with your life rather than walked out of here unscathed.  A little deception never hurt anyone—well, at least not you... not this time.”

She turned, shuffling toward a worn wooden shelf.  From its cluttered surface, she plucked a small, brittle map and held it out between two claw-like fingers.  “The weapon you seek lies on the northern shores of Lake Luna, in the ruins of an old chapel, half underwater.  There, a knight drowned in his own sorrow, his blade still in death’s grasp.”  Her expression darkened.  “But beware.  That place is cursed… it is claimed by the Nightmother.”

Her voice dropped to a rasping whisper.  “Do not draw her attention.  Do not linger in her domain.  She is an ancient evil, far older than me and my sisters.  If you think Strahd is cruel, you haven’t known real terror.”

Morgantha fixed Zefla with a knowing look.  “Take the blade and leave that place behind before she notices you.  Unless, of course, you fancy meeting a fate worse than the Count’s embrace.”

She leaned back, her grin widening once more.  “Now go, little fox.  Take your pack and leave me and my sisters in peace.”

Zefla takes a quick inhale as the icy chill washes over her.  She looks down at her 'wounds' and smirks a bit in appreciation on how cunning this woman was.  Grabbing Saskia's hand with one of her small ones, she takes the map with the other.  She responds in almost a whisper, "The Nightmother.."

She nods, then taking Saskia with her, heads for the stairs.  

[Zefla has agreed to a compromise with the hags.  Does the rest of the party go along with this?  Does anyone take other action or interfere?  If not we will move on to what comes next....]

First, Giles watches Zefla coming down the stairs, examining her gait, her arm movements, her facial expressions.  Is she under the compulsion of a spell?  Why did she not attack?  There is Saskia, where are the others?

Arcana check : 12

Burrs eyes widened as Zefla emerged from above covered in wounds but leading Saskia........he had heard no sign of conflict....he was confused as he watched Zefla descend his eyes meeting hers with fervent silent questions.....

As Zefla starts heading down the stairs and notices the looks from her friends, she tells them in a low voice, "It's an illusion.  I was able to free Saskia, we have a task before us to retrieve the other children."  She doesn't sound happy about it, more just matter of fact.  She isn't sure how she feels about the situation, but she is glad they all can walk away from this.

If Ireena appears happy to see Saskia, she hands the child over to her.

The alpha wolf and her mate, Acacia and Bracken remain on the floor with Morgantha, attacking immediately (and growling to alert the others) IF the hag makes any move towards the other children in the cages.  Otherwise, they stand unthreatening but ready, gazes locked on the fiend.

Soren's voice is a whisper.  Still sad in its tone.

"You did a great thing, Zefla, in bringing Saskia out of the hag's immediate clutches.  But you already know that I will not be performing any tasks for fiends, be they demons or devils or these hags.  They trade their pastries to desperate villagers for their cubs, but there are no grown humans here.  What happens to them?  See the bones on the floor.  The windmill grinds them up, and I suspect they put the ground up bones in the pastries.  It goes beyond the three cubs here right now - they will capture more, and continue to thrive on the blood and misery of mortals, as fiends always do."

He sighs.  "The rest of you are free to depart with Zefla as you wish, though it is not what I thought we were doing when we came here as a pack.  I am not leaving without at least attempting to free those cubs in cages upstairs.  If the wolves and I do so alone, we will likely die or worse, but so be it."

He looks closely at Saskia, trying to determine whether the child seems to have control of her own wits (other than being understandably scared and bewildered), though being on edge himself and suffering from the curse which was not removed from him, Soren is not as sharp in doing so as usual.

Soren's Medicine check to determine Saskia's physical state and lucidity:  10