The Witch of Fools Pass

A brave band of adventurers, including Arowen Silverwillow, Billy Graham, Gri Grog, and "Sonny" Son Wukong found themselves in Penshaw Village on the night of the Winter Solstice. Making merry with the townsfolk as they celebrated the solstice, and performing a wedding ceremony, they learned that the trader Loyd had not returned from his recent trip over fools pass. Rigglemizz Pizzileput the gnomish monster hunter had also recently bought provisions from the local emporium and headed west, but never returned. In addition, the 200 gold bounty for the outlaw Neckless Ned had not yet been claimed, with reports that he was hiding out somewhere in the Mourning Mountains. A strange, cool wind was blowing from the Montanan pass into the valley, which was making some of the more superstitious locals uneasy.

After bargaining with a the local trader, Eemir, who was in a drunken state, they negotiated a vague reward including some gold, and two human hand specimens he had on display as requested by Gri. The party learned that "Sonny" Son Wukong had a nearly infintile understanding of the world and was taught basic concepts like "fire" and "god". The party reluctantly accepted the child-like "Sonny" Son Wukong into the party, after Billy Graham felt an insight that his affliction was not just a curse or a head injury, and that there could be something strange or other worldly about the young man. The party set out west, towards Fools Pass with provisions and cold weather gear provided by Eemir. They set out at daybreak the next morning.

As the party followed the western road into the Mourning Mountains, the weather quickly deteriorated into blizzard conditions, and the party determined that they were being stalked by a yeti, and chose to elect the druid Gri Grog as the navigator . Along this journey, the party encountered the dead body of Rigglemizz, who appeared to have been mostly burred by an avalanche. From his body, they recovered his goggles, his journal, and two potions of cold resistance. The final page of the journal implied that he was interested in Winter Hags, and outlined their strengths and weaknesses. The party did not grant him a burial.

Later, during a break in the storm, the party encountered a single emaciated wolf. The wolf was hostile but too weak to fight. Using her enate ability to speak with animals, Arowen Silverwillow spoke with the wolf, learning that the pelts they were wearing to keep warm were those of her pack. The wold expressed her frustration with mankin's desire to tame nature. Arowen offered the wolf some food, and the wolf did reveal that a man with a cart full of more wolf pelts and furs had been seen headed west before the storm.

Roughly two miles from the peak, a cornice broke loose above the party, triggering an avalanche. Thinking quickly, Gri Grog conjured a wall of stone just large enough to protect the party from the sliding snow. Billy Gram was still struck by the avalanche, but channeled his experience as a grave digger, counting an almost supernatural strength and was not impacted by the snow. They were then visited by a mysterious Saint Brinard, who was carrying a barrel over his neck. The barrel contained a scroll of Bonfire, and an excellent brandy, which tasted like it had been aged a lifetime. Snow rescue dogs are a monk tradition of the past, and the party could not explain why or how the dog appeared, given the monestary had been abandoned for ages. This miracle frustrated the gnostic Arowen, but affirmed Billy's faith. Billy then branded himself with his holy symbol before continuing.

The party expertly navigated the blistering wind and stayed on course during the 5 mile slog up the mountain, surviving one avalanche and managing to outpace the stalking yeti and reach the abandon monastery at the peak of Fools Pass, mostly thanks to Gri's survivalist skills and quick thinking.

At the abandoned monastery, they found a cart laden with goods, tied to two dead mules, an a dead body with an arrow in his back near the cart in the deep snow. As they approached, the trader Loyd fired a warning shot from his longbow and exclaimed that if they touched his wares he would shoot to kill. He still allowed them to take reprieve from the storm in the monastery.

Upon entering, they discovered the monastery was also inhabited by Sandy, the bounty hunter armed with a crossbow, Neckless Ned, the outlaw restrained by ropes under Sandy's custody, and an old lady named Marie, who staring out of a crack in the stone staring towards the sky, and who happened to meet the description of a the winter had as sketched out in Rigglemizz 's Journal. She was blind. Neckless Ned exclaimed that he would pay 600 gold for his freedom and for someone to slit Sandy's throat and was immediately gagged.

The party learned that they entered a tense standoff, Sandy was paranoid that Loyd was going to steal her bounty, and Loyd was obsessively guarding his cart full of wares, both were armed. Arowen used her eldritch powers behind Ned, and put a dagger to his eye (he has no neck/throat), gaining leverage over the situation as Ned was wanted alive. Billy tried to deescalate the situation, inadvertently using language such as "coll down", and "chill", which seemed to please Marie.

After a prayer, Marie told Billy that Lathander could not help him here, and that they would die. The party choose to bargain with the hag, after Billy baited Sandy and Loyd into fist fighting over a ration kit to distract them. Marie explained that Billy was free to abandon his friends, if he did so, he would be granted safe passage down the mountain. He declined, stating that he could not return alone, empty handed. Her counter offer was that she would trade 5 eyes for safe passage of 5 travelers, and also offer her ears, a valuable monster trophy. Billy rationalized this to himself, agreeing that this plus Ned's bounty would be a big windfall of gold, and he could donate a portion of it to the church. She gave Billy a hand-carved spoon specially designed to extract eyeballs.

Billy then unceremoniously and brutally murdered Loyd and Sandy with his mace, and extracted their eyes using the spoon. Marie, the bind hag, was greatly pleased to witness a man of the cloth performing such cold, wicked acts. Arowen plucked out one of Ned's eyes, as he was restrained. The others did nothing to stop, the naive, infantile Sonny not even able to comprehend the difference between good and evil, believes what he saw is just a normal aspect of life.

Satisfied by the cruelty, Marie explained the 5 survivors were free to go. She then feasted on the bodies of Loyd and Sandy. Gri and Marie each traded one tooth with each other, Gre's tooth was already removed and stored away in her hair.

A terrified Ned pleaded for his freedom, offering 600 gold, or an import trinket he had hidden in his anal cavity, something he stole from a man named McGuffin. The party chose to take this object by force, using the cleric's anointing oil to make the process less unpleasant for everyone. They fond the 6h Dragon Ball, but were unsure what it was, although Sonny's innate intuition tells him it is very important.

The party collected a large windfall of gold for the bounty on hag ears, and the outlaw. Fools Pass is no longer safe to traverse, closing important trade routes between the eastern coast and the frontier villages. An uncharacteristically brutal winter has cursed the The Valley of Whispers, killing off crops in Penshaw Village and causing a wave of cruelty amongst the suffering villagers. Rumors are that Fools Pass is now inhabited by 3 wicked sisters.

Arowen Silverwillow, Billy Graham, Gri Grog, and "Sonny" Son Wukong have now reached the western frontier, to unleash their particular brand of "heroism" on the world.