I think it's fair to say that anyone looking at Marlede's expression can tell that she's contemplating the proposition made by Maud. It's hard for her to hide her true feelings. And although she despises Maud, the thought of what she could do with a vast amount of wealth creeps inside her mind.
"Well, she's either telling the truth or she's lying with everything's she's got. I believe the former is more likely," she says while looking at the group. Then she turns to look back at Maud. "And what assurances will we have that you won't just swim off as soon as you're free? Surely you can't just expect us to trust in your word alone."
Once everyone is done talking, Marlede will ask for a group huddle far enough that Maud won't hear.
"You'd tell us anything to get free. Why would we trust the word of a murderer? And even if there is a treasure, I'm sure it's laden with all kinds of nasty curses. No mortal wealth must distract us from enacting Tyr's justice." Sirius looks to his companions and opens his sixth sense in case there's any divine or infernal business being conducted by the hag (Divine sense).
Once the conversation ends, he follows Marlede, while keeping his eyes on the hag.
Having reverted back to his normal form a short while ago, Perrin eyes Maud with with his arms crossed before him, contempt obvious on his avian features. Even if the "treasures" she offered were real, they couldn't let this monster go free. She had to be held accountable for the atrocities she committed, and no amount of gold was going to change that. He nods firmly at Sirius's words, agreeing with him wholeheartedly.
Maud grins at Marlede and Sirius with all the teeth that she has left. "You've got my word. A hags word is worth almost as much as the treasure."
As she sees that this wasn't all too convincing of an argument, she says: "Alright, you can have an eye, how about that?" She winks. The effect is skin-crawling. "I'm going to want my eye back, so you know I'm good for my word. I get you the treasure at the bottom of the lake, you give me my eye back and let me go. Only winners here."
Sirius doesn't detect direct evil being spoken or inflicted here. If this creature is adept at twisting the truth or doing anything else nefarious, the cosmic balance is not being upended by it, no magic is being used.
Marlede and Aubreen [P. Insight]: The behaviour of the hag is clearly self-serving, but you don't think she's stupid enough to make empty offers.
Once everyone is huddled up together far away from Maud, she whispers:
"Okay, hear me out. I know we can't let her escape, obviously. I one hundred percent agree with you there. However, and just consider this for a moment... What if we just trick her by making her get the treasure, deliver it to us, and we wrap her up again for the good people of Easthaven to have their justice enacted upon her? That sounds like a good deal, is it not? We get treasure AND we get to give Maud a piece of her own medicine before she's up on the pyre like Dzaan. She knows I'm interested in the deal, but if you guys tell her we agree, she'll probably believe there's no trickery. How about it?"
There's a mischievous look on Marlede's face. She is completely serious about this, but she knows that she can't do anything rash, or else her companions might turn against her unexpectedly.
Aubreen looks incredulous, listening to the words of the hag and the whispered discussion of Marlede and Sirius. His longsword leaves its scabbard, stalking back a few feet towards Maude he points his blade at her throat. "You can not be thinking of listening to this, this thing, this crone. Her word may not be lies but they do not come from honeyed lips. She will promise you the world and put you in a snow globe." he looks back at Sirius. "This is an abomination, she will lead you to damnation!"
Aubreen looks to the bird for help then back at Marlede "There is only one offer I would entertain, and that is the head of this hag, send her to the hells she spawned from" He lifts his sword for a clean stroke across the back of her neck, he hesitates at the top or the arc. Staring into the eerie fish eyed monster...
If none of his companions stop him, he will take her head, "There is no point in dragging her alive to town, her head will be proof enough. Thank Torm for his will."
Collecting his goods, he prepares to leave, an empty sack the last resting place of Maude Chiselbone. The sky was the same shade of twilight it has been since arriving. They were no closer to answers, no clearer an understanding of their direction. But at least this part of the world was now a little safer.
Sirius looks to Aubreen ready to execyte the hag and then Marlede. ”You’re on your own. I don’t care if the hag is executed right here, right now or back in town. Justice must be brought on her, as Tyr wills it. If you want to try your plan of getting the treasure, I won’t stop you. But understand that if the hag tries to escape, I won’t hesitate to kill her on the spot. The money would certainly help the families of the fishers.”
After a pause he continues: ”I can’t help you either. I won’t break my word, even against a hag that almost killed me and did kill those fishers.”
Sirius won’t stop Aubreen instead looking with curiousity on what Marlede decides to do.
Perrin hesitates at Marlede's suggestion. As much as he wanted the hag dead, Marlede did make a good point. If Maud really did have a bunch of treasure somewhere, it would be a great boon to the Ten Towns. Maud would still get the justice she deserved, and maybe and his friends along with the townsfolk would end up a little bit wealthier. Of course, Marlede's plan would mean they would end up betraying the hag, but Perrin was fine with that. It would give Maud a taste of her own poison, and if he could, Perrin would be grinning at the thought.
Aubreen looks incredulous, listening to the words of the hag and the whispered discussion of Marlede and Sirius. His longsword leaves its scabbard, stalking back a few feet towards Maude he points his blade at her throat. "You can not be thinking of listening to this, this thing, this crone. Her word may not be lies but they do not come from honeyed lips. She will promise you the world and put you in a snow globe." he looks back at Sirius. "This is an abomination, she will lead you to damnation!"
Aubreen looks to the bird for help then back at Marlede "There is only one offer I would entertain, and that is the head of this hag, send her to the hells she spawned from" He lifts his sword for a clean stroke across the back of her neck, he hesitates at the top or the arc. Staring into the eerie fish eyed monster...
Perrin raises his hands in a calming gesture towards Aubreen, and then he points to Marlede and gives a slow, hesitant nod. Repeating the woman and stitching some sentences together, he says with a shrug, "Get the treasure, deliver it to- good people of Easthaven."
At the gentle touch, a caress of feathers against his arm, Aubreen is jolted to the here, to the now. He was sure that Perrin would agree with his choice, his need to met justice for this fiends evil. He stares into the birds eyes, the depth of black pulling him from his action. Confusion reigns. "Bah" he snarls.
"I will hunt you to the ends of the dale and beyond hag, you have bought yourself time, nothing more." His sword slams into the scabbard, the force echoing off the cliff face and storms away.
The hag has time, sorely bought, for a few more breaths. Do not condemn yet my lord, I must navigate the mortal soul. Lend guidance to my companions, for I am unsure of how to bring them to the path. Your will to be done, justice shall be had, I swear this.
Noticing Aubreen's frustration, Perrin quickly pulls out his chalkboard and begins scribbling furiously on it, the chalk squeaking in his hand as he writes away. Don't worry, Maud will get what she deserves, he writes before erasing and writing again. We can give whatever treasure she brings back to the townsfolk. If y'all give me a few minutes, I can work out some magic to help us keep track of her just in case she tries to escape. He erases and hesitates before he writes, I also know a way to give some of us a way to follow her into the lake without drowning, but I can't do anything about freezing to death. He shrugs and writes again, If y'all think its better to just kill her now instead of worrying about the giving the treasure to the townsfolk, I'm all for it. Either way, she needs to be dealt with.
Since Sirius has dragged Maud here, you're t the entrance of the cave, surrounding the hag. It's still morning, yet the day has felt so long. The customary howl of the wind has receded into the brackground.
The hag is trying, failing, to suppress the look of fear in her eyes as Aubreen prepares to strike. She does not fidget, knowing that an imprecise executioners sword only meant more pain, not less.
(assuming Marlede goes with the initial proposal)
When the warrior hesitates, relents, she smiles once more. "You can hunt me all you like red hair, the deal is that you let me go first." Maud looks to where the fishers rowboat still bobbed in the water. "I'm going to need a day to retrieve the treasure. The lake is deep and the booty is heavy. At the same time tomorrow, you'll find it here. You take it and leave my eye. Then our deal is concluded."
With a shrewd look in her face, she looks at the group sideways. "If we have a deal, rid me of these ropes."
Sirius pulls his companions in so that the hag can't hear them. "Since the deal has no guarantees of the hag walking away alive, I have no problems with it, though we should approach it very carefully. I don't want her to walk free but it'd be a shame if no one got to the treasure."
Sirius begins to tediously think of every facet of the deal, rambling out everything he thinks of. "If she has the whole day, she can comfortably rest at the bottom of the lake, being a fish monster and all. She won't be so weak then. And if the treasure doesn't take the whole day to find, she could be miles away by the same time tomorrow, having masked the treasure by magic until the same time. It's very difficult to concentrate on spells for a whole day so keeping an eye on her would be very difficult. I suppose the hag has to be back for her eye at some point, Perhaps we could pounce on her then." Sirius takes out the crystal around his neck and shows it to the party. "Perhaps this could be of use. I can teleport myself and someone else 500ft with it. It'd surely help with some kind of a chase."
"I have a trick I can use to trap the eye once I leave it on the floor. If Maud's serious about returning for it, and I believe she is, then she'll definitely try to reach for it at some point. If so, the trap will activate and restrain her just like she is now. And I'll be waiting, hidden, to take my shot on her. Alternatively, I can set a trap before she returns tomorrow hauling the loot."
[ OOC: Marlede can cast Snare around the eye and wait for the hag to show up using Mask of the Wild to camouflage herself nearby. If her plan is satisfactory to everyone, she will take the eye of the hag and untie her (she needs the rope she won't cut it). ]
"That's a good plan, but since it only lasts 8 hours, let's leave the eye here and cast that once the treasure is here, no reason to give the hag a chance to take the eye before the treasure is all here. Since myself and Aubreen are not exactly the stealthiest, we can hide somewhere the hag can't see us and you can yell when the hag is caught so I can use the crystal to teleport us here. The hag won't go down easy this time either I'm sure. I assume that you, Perrin, can figure something out to hide yourself."
If the plan is accepted by the rest of the party, the deal is taken and the hag leaves to get the treasure, Sirius starts planning the 24 hours when the hag is hauling the treasure. "We should rest since we have the opportunity. Someone should be keeping an eye out on the hag and this place at all times though." Sirius brings Bouncer to the new camp.
”That is an excellent idea! Though I think all of you should remain here in case something happens with the hag. Get some rest too. If you don’t mind, I’ll sleep back in town and then return. The promised magic items would certainly help in the fight against the hag. You’ll just have to decide among yourselves how you want to share them since I already have this crystal.”
If no objections arise, Sirius leaves the rest of the party and with Bouncer hauls the loot back into town and goes to talk to the speaker.
Aubreen clamps the crampons to his feet. Chats with Perrin and Marlede for a little bit. He climbs the icy cliff face to the first cave entrance. Ties the rope. Collect anything burnable from the other camp and settles in to wait.
He will take a Long Rest, keeping an eye on the other two and the place where the Hag is to return. He does not have hope she will return, he expects her not to. We will see.
Maud, now untied, rubs her wrists and mutters something about "very rude, handling an old woman like this". After a moment of hesitation, she brings her clawed hand to her left eye and ... pinches. There is a faint, wet, popping sound. As the hag brings the hand away from her face, you see that one of the sockets is now empty. She drops the glistening eye into Marledes hand. "Don't lose that, girl."
Maud heads over to where the ice floes are sparse enough to see the lake and drops into the darkness with barely a splash, out of sight.
Sirius has no trouble strapping Bouncer in front of the improvised sled that holds the cauldron. The bird is first a bit awkward, trumpeting a protest at the unusual mode of transportation that is being demanded of it, but it relents quickly.
The treck back to Easthaven is a straightforward one. Within one hour, you're back in the town, the bustle all around you. People are throwing questioning glances at Sirius' haul, but nobody approaches until he reaches the town hall.
Speaker Danneth Waylen greets Sirius with a firm handshake. "Good to see you again. Any word from the fishers? What's the story of that cauldron?"
Aubreen, Marlede and Perrin spend their time at the lakeside, in good view of where the hag promised to deliver the treasure. Resting out here in the wilderness brings its own challenges. In order to stay warm, you're going to need enough firewood (around 20 pounds for a long rest). Out here, in the blasted tundra and close to the lake, there are precious few trees to be seen. Aubreen, having scavenged a few partially burnt logs from the abandonded camp, can provide 5 lbs of firewood. Anyone can attempt a survival check to try and find wood. The die result determines the quantity in lb. (example: roll of 12 = 12 lbs of wood). You could also follow Sirius to Easthaven and purchase the necessary firewood for 2 gp per rest bundle. It is one hour each way.
You may also encounter blizzards, wild animals, or worse in the wilderness.
DM note: Be aware, this means I'll roll for an encounter whenever you rest outside of a safe space. Sirius may not be there if something happens.
Sieius greets the speaker solemly. ”I’m afraid a hag got to the fishers before we could. The cauldron merely works as a way of transporting the remaining body parts of the fishers for their families.” Sirius hands the speaker the remains and effects of the fishers. ”I’m sure you can give them to their families so they can bury them and grieve properly. A true tragedy.” Sirius offers a prayer to Ilmater.
”Do you know if someone would be interested in buying the cauldron, or even smelt the copper down into pieces. I’d gladly donate the proceeds to the families of the victims. Unfortunately there’s still some trouble at the lake but we should be able to come back tomorrow in full. If all goes well, we can help the families further still.”
Sirius sells the cauldron to whoever might buy it and brings the speaker the profits instructing him to split it for the families. He then thinks better of his plan of sleeping in town and decides to head back to the lake. After purchasing the necessary firewood, he hops on Bouncer and goes back. ’I can’t leave them them, what if something terroble happens and I’m not there to help.’
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Perrin watches Maud disappear into the depths of the lake, an unreadable expression on his face. Then, he pulls out his pack and gestures for Marlede to put the eye into it. He didn't really know much about hags, but he figured that putting the eye in something so she couldn't spy on them sounded like a smart thing to do before Marlede would place her spell on the eye.
Once the eye is safely tucked away in someplace dark, whether that was his pack or somewhere else, Perrin tries to help Aubreen scavenge wood, but he quickly realizes he'd be more help trying to find wood someplace else. Survival: 18
Once they settle in, Perrin gives Aubreen some space, feeling a bit guilty at upsetting the man. Perrin supposed that if he was in Aubreen's shoes, he'd be upset too, but he thought that getting whatever gold they could and then giving it away sounded like a pretty good idea. Good thing Perrin wasn't a follow or Tyr and Torm and that other fellow; he'd probably be struck down for not taking care of Maud when they had the chance. What they were going to do to the hag when she got back wasn't quite honorable, but that didn't bother Perrin much. In a different circumstance with a different person, Perrin would have been firmly against betraying someone, but he'd make an exception for Maud.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
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[ OOC: That's me right now. XD ]
I think it's fair to say that anyone looking at Marlede's expression can tell that she's contemplating the proposition made by Maud. It's hard for her to hide her true feelings. And although she despises Maud, the thought of what she could do with a vast amount of wealth creeps inside her mind.
"Well, she's either telling the truth or she's lying with everything's she's got. I believe the former is more likely," she says while looking at the group. Then she turns to look back at Maud. "And what assurances will we have that you won't just swim off as soon as you're free? Surely you can't just expect us to trust in your word alone."
Once everyone is done talking, Marlede will ask for a group huddle far enough that Maud won't hear.
Currently DMing:
"You'd tell us anything to get free. Why would we trust the word of a murderer? And even if there is a treasure, I'm sure it's laden with all kinds of nasty curses. No mortal wealth must distract us from enacting Tyr's justice." Sirius looks to his companions and opens his sixth sense in case there's any divine or infernal business being conducted by the hag (Divine sense).
Once the conversation ends, he follows Marlede, while keeping his eyes on the hag.
Having reverted back to his normal form a short while ago, Perrin eyes Maud with with his arms crossed before him, contempt obvious on his avian features. Even if the "treasures" she offered were real, they couldn't let this monster go free. She had to be held accountable for the atrocities she committed, and no amount of gold was going to change that. He nods firmly at Sirius's words, agreeing with him wholeheartedly.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Maud grins at Marlede and Sirius with all the teeth that she has left. "You've got my word. A hags word is worth almost as much as the treasure."
As she sees that this wasn't all too convincing of an argument, she says: "Alright, you can have an eye, how about that?" She winks. The effect is skin-crawling.
"I'm going to want my eye back, so you know I'm good for my word. I get you the treasure at the bottom of the lake, you give me my eye back and let me go. Only winners here."
Sirius doesn't detect direct evil being spoken or inflicted here. If this creature is adept at twisting the truth or doing anything else nefarious, the cosmic balance is not being upended by it, no magic is being used.
Marlede and Aubreen [P. Insight]: The behaviour of the hag is clearly self-serving, but you don't think she's stupid enough to make empty offers.
Once everyone is huddled up together far away from Maud, she whispers:
"Okay, hear me out. I know we can't let her escape, obviously. I one hundred percent agree with you there. However, and just consider this for a moment... What if we just trick her by making her get the treasure, deliver it to us, and we wrap her up again for the good people of Easthaven to have their justice enacted upon her? That sounds like a good deal, is it not? We get treasure AND we get to give Maud a piece of her own medicine before she's up on the pyre like Dzaan. She knows I'm interested in the deal, but if you guys tell her we agree, she'll probably believe there's no trickery. How about it?"
There's a mischievous look on Marlede's face. She is completely serious about this, but she knows that she can't do anything rash, or else her companions might turn against her unexpectedly.
Currently DMing:
Aubreen looks incredulous, listening to the words of the hag and the whispered discussion of Marlede and Sirius. His longsword leaves its scabbard, stalking back a few feet towards Maude he points his blade at her throat. "You can not be thinking of listening to this, this thing, this crone. Her word may not be lies but they do not come from honeyed lips. She will promise you the world and put you in a snow globe." he looks back at Sirius. "This is an abomination, she will lead you to damnation!"
Aubreen looks to the bird for help then back at Marlede "There is only one offer I would entertain, and that is the head of this hag, send her to the hells she spawned from" He lifts his sword for a clean stroke across the back of her neck, he hesitates at the top or the arc. Staring into the eerie fish eyed monster...
If none of his companions stop him, he will take her head, "There is no point in dragging her alive to town, her head will be proof enough. Thank Torm for his will."
Collecting his goods, he prepares to leave, an empty sack the last resting place of Maude Chiselbone. The sky was the same shade of twilight it has been since arriving. They were no closer to answers, no clearer an understanding of their direction. But at least this part of the world was now a little safer.
Sirius looks to Aubreen ready to execyte the hag and then Marlede. ”You’re on your own. I don’t care if the hag is executed right here, right now or back in town. Justice must be brought on her, as Tyr wills it. If you want to try your plan of getting the treasure, I won’t stop you. But understand that if the hag tries to escape, I won’t hesitate to kill her on the spot. The money would certainly help the families of the fishers.”
After a pause he continues: ”I can’t help you either. I won’t break my word, even against a hag that almost killed me and did kill those fishers.”
Sirius won’t stop Aubreen instead looking with curiousity on what Marlede decides to do.
Perrin hesitates at Marlede's suggestion. As much as he wanted the hag dead, Marlede did make a good point. If Maud really did have a bunch of treasure somewhere, it would be a great boon to the Ten Towns. Maud would still get the justice she deserved, and maybe and his friends along with the townsfolk would end up a little bit wealthier. Of course, Marlede's plan would mean they would end up betraying the hag, but Perrin was fine with that. It would give Maud a taste of her own poison, and if he could, Perrin would be grinning at the thought.
Perrin raises his hands in a calming gesture towards Aubreen, and then he points to Marlede and gives a slow, hesitant nod. Repeating the woman and stitching some sentences together, he says with a shrug, "Get the treasure, deliver it to- good people of Easthaven."
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
At the gentle touch, a caress of feathers against his arm, Aubreen is jolted to the here, to the now. He was sure that Perrin would agree with his choice, his need to met justice for this fiends evil. He stares into the birds eyes, the depth of black pulling him from his action. Confusion reigns. "Bah" he snarls.
"I will hunt you to the ends of the dale and beyond hag, you have bought yourself time, nothing more." His sword slams into the scabbard, the force echoing off the cliff face and storms away.
The hag has time, sorely bought, for a few more breaths. Do not condemn yet my lord, I must navigate the mortal soul. Lend guidance to my companions, for I am unsure of how to bring them to the path. Your will to be done, justice shall be had, I swear this.
Noticing Aubreen's frustration, Perrin quickly pulls out his chalkboard and begins scribbling furiously on it, the chalk squeaking in his hand as he writes away. Don't worry, Maud will get what she deserves, he writes before erasing and writing again. We can give whatever treasure she brings back to the townsfolk. If y'all give me a few minutes, I can work out some magic to help us keep track of her just in case she tries to escape. He erases and hesitates before he writes, I also know a way to give some of us a way to follow her into the lake without drowning, but I can't do anything about freezing to death. He shrugs and writes again, If y'all think its better to just kill her now instead of worrying about the giving the treasure to the townsfolk, I'm all for it. Either way, she needs to be dealt with.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Since Sirius has dragged Maud here, you're t the entrance of the cave, surrounding the hag. It's still morning, yet the day has felt so long. The customary howl of the wind has receded into the brackground.
The hag is trying, failing, to suppress the look of fear in her eyes as Aubreen prepares to strike. She does not fidget, knowing that an imprecise executioners sword only meant more pain, not less.
(assuming Marlede goes with the initial proposal)
When the warrior hesitates, relents, she smiles once more. "You can hunt me all you like red hair, the deal is that you let me go first."
Maud looks to where the fishers rowboat still bobbed in the water. "I'm going to need a day to retrieve the treasure. The lake is deep and the booty is heavy. At the same time tomorrow, you'll find it here. You take it and leave my eye. Then our deal is concluded."
With a shrewd look in her face, she looks at the group sideways. "If we have a deal, rid me of these ropes."
Sirius pulls his companions in so that the hag can't hear them. "Since the deal has no guarantees of the hag walking away alive, I have no problems with it, though we should approach it very carefully. I don't want her to walk free but it'd be a shame if no one got to the treasure."
Sirius begins to tediously think of every facet of the deal, rambling out everything he thinks of. "If she has the whole day, she can comfortably rest at the bottom of the lake, being a fish monster and all. She won't be so weak then. And if the treasure doesn't take the whole day to find, she could be miles away by the same time tomorrow, having masked the treasure by magic until the same time. It's very difficult to concentrate on spells for a whole day so keeping an eye on her would be very difficult. I suppose the hag has to be back for her eye at some point, Perhaps we could pounce on her then." Sirius takes out the crystal around his neck and shows it to the party. "Perhaps this could be of use. I can teleport myself and someone else 500ft with it. It'd surely help with some kind of a chase."
While huddled together:
"I have a trick I can use to trap the eye once I leave it on the floor. If Maud's serious about returning for it, and I believe she is, then she'll definitely try to reach for it at some point. If so, the trap will activate and restrain her just like she is now. And I'll be waiting, hidden, to take my shot on her. Alternatively, I can set a trap before she returns tomorrow hauling the loot."
[ OOC: Marlede can cast Snare around the eye and wait for the hag to show up using Mask of the Wild to camouflage herself nearby. If her plan is satisfactory to everyone, she will take the eye of the hag and untie her (she needs the rope she won't cut it). ]
Currently DMing:
"That's a good plan, but since it only lasts 8 hours, let's leave the eye here and cast that once the treasure is here, no reason to give the hag a chance to take the eye before the treasure is all here. Since myself and Aubreen are not exactly the stealthiest, we can hide somewhere the hag can't see us and you can yell when the hag is caught so I can use the crystal to teleport us here. The hag won't go down easy this time either I'm sure. I assume that you, Perrin, can figure something out to hide yourself."
If the plan is accepted by the rest of the party, the deal is taken and the hag leaves to get the treasure, Sirius starts planning the 24 hours when the hag is hauling the treasure. "We should rest since we have the opportunity. Someone should be keeping an eye out on the hag and this place at all times though." Sirius brings Bouncer to the new camp.
"I can keep watch here while you guys take the cauldron back to town and claim the reward. And take this with you."
Marlede will hand over to Sirius the pouch with 24 sp and the unique items that were listed before (it's in her inventory).
"Those are some personal belongings the bodies had. Take those back with you and make sure the townspeaker finds who they belong to."
Currently DMing:
”That is an excellent idea! Though I think all of you should remain here in case something happens with the hag. Get some rest too. If you don’t mind, I’ll sleep back in town and then return. The promised magic items would certainly help in the fight against the hag. You’ll just have to decide among yourselves how you want to share them since I already have this crystal.”
If no objections arise, Sirius leaves the rest of the party and with Bouncer hauls the loot back into town and goes to talk to the speaker.
Aubreen clamps the crampons to his feet. Chats with Perrin and Marlede for a little bit. He climbs the icy cliff face to the first cave entrance. Ties the rope. Collect anything burnable from the other camp and settles in to wait.
He will take a Long Rest, keeping an eye on the other two and the place where the Hag is to return. He does not have hope she will return, he expects her not to. We will see.
Maud, now untied, rubs her wrists and mutters something about "very rude, handling an old woman like this". After a moment of hesitation, she brings her clawed hand to her left eye and ... pinches. There is a faint, wet, popping sound. As the hag brings the hand away from her face, you see that one of the sockets is now empty. She drops the glistening eye into Marledes hand. "Don't lose that, girl."
Maud heads over to where the ice floes are sparse enough to see the lake and drops into the darkness with barely a splash, out of sight.
Sirius has no trouble strapping Bouncer in front of the improvised sled that holds the cauldron. The bird is first a bit awkward, trumpeting a protest at the unusual mode of transportation that is being demanded of it, but it relents quickly.
The treck back to Easthaven is a straightforward one. Within one hour, you're back in the town, the bustle all around you. People are throwing questioning glances at Sirius' haul, but nobody approaches until he reaches the town hall.
Speaker Danneth Waylen greets Sirius with a firm handshake. "Good to see you again. Any word from the fishers? What's the story of that cauldron?"
Aubreen, Marlede and Perrin spend their time at the lakeside, in good view of where the hag promised to deliver the treasure. Resting out here in the wilderness brings its own challenges. In order to stay warm, you're going to need enough firewood (around 20 pounds for a long rest). Out here, in the blasted tundra and close to the lake, there are precious few trees to be seen.
Aubreen, having scavenged a few partially burnt logs from the abandonded camp, can provide 5 lbs of firewood.
Anyone can attempt a survival check to try and find wood. The die result determines the quantity in lb. (example: roll of 12 = 12 lbs of wood).
You could also follow Sirius to Easthaven and purchase the necessary firewood for 2 gp per rest bundle. It is one hour each way.
You may also encounter blizzards, wild animals, or worse in the wilderness.
DM note: Be aware, this means I'll roll for an encounter whenever you rest outside of a safe space. Sirius may not be there if something happens.
Sieius greets the speaker solemly. ”I’m afraid a hag got to the fishers before we could. The cauldron merely works as a way of transporting the remaining body parts of the fishers for their families.” Sirius hands the speaker the remains and effects of the fishers. ”I’m sure you can give them to their families so they can bury them and grieve properly. A true tragedy.” Sirius offers a prayer to Ilmater.
”Do you know if someone would be interested in buying the cauldron, or even smelt the copper down into pieces. I’d gladly donate the proceeds to the families of the victims. Unfortunately there’s still some trouble at the lake but we should be able to come back tomorrow in full. If all goes well, we can help the families further still.”
Sirius sells the cauldron to whoever might buy it and brings the speaker the profits instructing him to split it for the families. He then thinks better of his plan of sleeping in town and decides to head back to the lake. After purchasing the necessary firewood, he hops on Bouncer and goes back. ’I can’t leave them them, what if something terroble happens and I’m not there to help.’
Perrin watches Maud disappear into the depths of the lake, an unreadable expression on his face. Then, he pulls out his pack and gestures for Marlede to put the eye into it. He didn't really know much about hags, but he figured that putting the eye in something so she couldn't spy on them sounded like a smart thing to do before Marlede would place her spell on the eye.
Once the eye is safely tucked away in someplace dark, whether that was his pack or somewhere else, Perrin tries to help Aubreen scavenge wood, but he quickly realizes he'd be more help trying to find wood someplace else. Survival: 18
Once they settle in, Perrin gives Aubreen some space, feeling a bit guilty at upsetting the man. Perrin supposed that if he was in Aubreen's shoes, he'd be upset too, but he thought that getting whatever gold they could and then giving it away sounded like a pretty good idea. Good thing Perrin wasn't a follow or Tyr and Torm and that other fellow; he'd probably be struck down for not taking care of Maud when they had the chance. What they were going to do to the hag when she got back wasn't quite honorable, but that didn't bother Perrin much. In a different circumstance with a different person, Perrin would have been firmly against betraying someone, but he'd make an exception for Maud.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable