Jorin, never one to turn down food, eats a small handful of berries.

Following Pascal's lead, Drusk will also eat 4 berries. Jorin's "handful" will be 5. (He is worried that more than that will make him look piggish.)

The number of consumed berries is also the number of HP healed for each character.

After eating the 18 berries, there are still 22 on the bushes.

Party health - Quillary bear form (16/19), Drusk (28/31), Hildigrim (24/26), Jorin (34/39), Pascal (34/34)

Drusk: "There are enough berries, I think everyone should get to full health, and then we pick the remaining 9 berries in case we need them later."

Bear will eat three more, messily, and with much smacking.

Jorin gobbles his fill!

Quote from DirtyDogP >>

Hildigrim walks around the summit, hand to chin, looking at all the items. "Should we light the fires?" he asks the group.

After everyone fills up on Goodberries (and collect the 9 remaining berries), Hildigrim gets out his tinder box. He can get sparks and slight smoldering, but no flames.

Pascal uses a firebolt on a piece of scrap wood the party brought with them. The fire bolt ignites it, but the fire dampens down within moments.

The only fire that seems to persist in this place is from the hag-torch.

(OOC: I need to know what everyone wants to do, and where the party members are standing while doing it. Include suggestions for Drusk, who is currently the one with the hag-torch.)

Jorin will stay near Hildi, and offer a suggestion to use the Hag torch to light the bonfires.

If this is a facsimile of the real world well area (as it was described), Quillary-bear will position herself a few feet behind where the Llyneth-hag would be standing, if she were here, as she was in the real world. She stands up on her hind legs and gives a little roar.

Hildigrim eats two berries.

When it is suggested to use the hag torch, Hildigrim reminds them, "Hyll told us the torch would only work for three tasks. I'm not sure if pushing back the fog is task one, but if it is, lighting these fires would be task two." He looks around and sighs. "But I suppose it's the logical thing to do."

Quote from DirtyDogP >>

Hildigrim reminds them, "Hyll told us the torch would only work for three tasks. I'm not sure if pushing back the fog is task one, but if it is, lighting these fires would be task two." He looks around and sighs. "But I suppose it's the logical thing to do."

Drusk ponders what Hildigrim has said, and agrees with his analysis of the situation.

(OOC: Quillary has said where she is, but I still need to know where people are standing and what specifically they are doing, using that map from post 2055 for the lay of the land. Right now people are by the gooseberry bushes (D2), but you don't have to stay there.)

If Pascal uses create bonfire, it doesn’t persist, correct?

Hildigrim's at about 10:30.

Quote from JcAndD >>

If Pascal uses create bonfire, it doesn’t persist, correct?

(Correct. Pascal's magic can get the fire started, but can't keep it going. The flame of the hag-torch appears to be something different.)

Beans.

Well, Pascal agrees. There doesn’t seem to be another option that I can think of. Passing the magical flame to something else would probably just result in the same situation.

(I should have numbered the bonfires on the map... Starting from the northernmost point in the summit area, going clockwise, number the bonfires starting at 1 and ending with 8.)

With Hildigrim and Jorin at "10:30" they are halfway between bonfire piles 7 and 8 in the NW part of the circle. Quillary-Bear is just to the side of the northernmost gooseberry bush (D2), with Pascal nearby. Since the party does not know what will happen, Drusk will go to pile #2 and ignite it with the hag-torch.

The hag-flame ignites the wood at contact, and within a few second the pile is burning brightly.

As you light the bonfire, you notice a wispy shape appear overtop the flat stone at the center of the hill. It is impossible to make out details, but it seems humanoid in shape.

The wind picks up and whips around you in a frenzy. Then an enormous bestial hand made entirely of fog (more than 10' wide) rises up out of the mist, hovering over bonfire #2. Drusk swings at it with his mace, while Pascal tries a Fire Bolt. Neither weapon nor magic have any effect on this fog hand.

It descends upon your bonfire, snuffing it out! Drusk is nearby the bonfire, and is struck as part of the smothering action. Attack: 18 Damage: 11 bludgeoning.  Fortunately, he is able to deflect the blow with his shield.

A moment later, a fierce freezing wind blows across the hilltop. DEX save vs. DC 10 for everyone: Drusk 4, Hildigrim 9, Jorin (w/adv) 4, Pascal 7, Quillary 12. Pascal takes 5 damage, everyone else takes 2 damage.

You will notice that Volo was unharmed. The area around the central stone (which has protective runes on the perimeter) was unaffected by the freezing wind.

As bonefire #2 is smothered and goes out, the freezing wind calms down, and the enormous fog hand dissipates.

In the aftermath, Drusk realizes that he had time to step away from the fog hand, before it descended on the bonfire. If there is another attempt, he will know to step back instead of attacking it with his mace.

Questions about our observations:

1. Did the hand come down on Drusk and the hag torch, meaning the hag torch doesn't dispel the fog hand like it does the regular fog?
2. We noticed that Volo was unharmed ... meaning the phenomena (fog, wind, hand) don't seem to affect fey?

OOC > Do I recall that Volo landed on the center stone?

Quillary-bear looks back and forth between the bonfire and the bird, then lumbers on to the center stone, settling on her furry butt next to Volo. The bear shrugs.

In post 2055, Volo landed on the center stone to read the Earthmother drawings. It also noticed that the edge of the stone had runes of protection. The freezing wind bypassed the entire D1 area, not just Volo. (If Volo was outside the circle of protective runes, with 1 HP it would have been destroyed.)

The freezing wind blew across the entire hill summit, but it did not disturb the area at D1, and it stopped before reaching the path outside the summit.

The fog hand went above the lit bonfire and (a few seconds later) slapped down on it. Drusk was next to the bonfire, and was trying to attack the fog hand. The attack on him was "collateral damage" due to the size of the hand coming down. After the bonfire was snuffed out, the fog hand went back into the surrounding fog, and the freezing wind died down.

The hag torch is still burning as normal. The fog hand was not affected by proximity to the hag torch.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the wispy humanoid shape overtop the central stone also disappeared when the bonfire went out.

OK, I wasn't thinking about Volo being on the stone. I appreciate your desire to help keep Volo alive. :)

What I was wondering was if the fog hand came in contact with the hag torch, which would indicate that the hag torch does not dispel the fog hand while it does dispel the fog.

Hildigrim holds up a finger after watching Quillary-bear climb up onto the stone next to the tiny owl. "Pascal, could we all take shelter on the stone as you use your mage hand to light all the fires?"

If it is within the range of Mage Hand, Yep!

Jorin moves to the safe area as well.