26/05/2020 - Cold camping, a hazardous Hag and gory Gimble

## TL:DR

* After emerging from the mine, the group found an abandoned campsite and the entrance to a large hole.
* Everyone got very cold camping overnight.
* They discovered that the entrance led to some tunnels inhabited by a strange old woman, who knew of the findy-stick but accused the previous group of “stealing her child”.
* Scribbulus  eventually realised the woman was a Hag, but on seeing Blagden  and Belami, the Hag went crazy and tried to get them.
* A fight ensued, the group stopped the Hag getting to Belami and Blagden , but the Hag managed to grab Gimble  and separated them both from the group by summoning an icy wall.
* After destroying the wall, the group found the Hag crouched over a mess of blood and Gore, with Gimble  nowhere to be seen.
* After Kunai  killed the Hag, they realised that if the Hag thought Gimble  was a child, it may have eaten him as that is how Hags reproduce…

## Cold Camping

The group emerged from the mine into a large snow-covered field. The field showed evidence of a previous camp. Several bags were scattered atop the snow and four smallish tents lay in a half-buried semi-circle. As Ash , Scribbulus  and Kunai  began exploring the tents, Blagden  investigated the abandoned bags. As well as finding some general supplies, he was super excited to find a spork, a comb, a letter in draconic, a leather belt and an old farmers cap. Securing the cap firmly to his head using some string, Blagden  then noticed a strange wire lying across the snow. Suspicious, he ordered Ratty to follow it, and after transferring his consciousness over to the familiar, saw that the wire led up to a strange wood and metal chime-type thing in a large tree beyond the camp. Calling out to the others, Blagden  wondered if he’d found some sort of alarm? Kunai  agreed that this is probably what it was and asked if the wire went anywhere else. Sending Ratty further, Blagden  then described how it led beyond the tree and down a slope towards a large hole/entranceway, in front of which was a large porch of junk.

By this point, Scribbulus  and Ash  had prepared two of the tents for sleeping and the group decided it was best to leave exploring the entranceway until tomorrow. Splitting into three groups, Scribbulus  and Gimble  took the first watch (after tucking everyone else in, with the cold-blooded Kunai  snuggling in the middle), but it quickly became apparent that the cold conditions were a big problem for Gimble :

*“eurggghhhh it’s very very cold, Gimble  will not make it”*

Concerned for his friend, Scribbulus  lit a torch and gave it to Gimble , which allowed him to just about make it through the watch with all fingers and facial features intact. On the second watch, Ash  and Belami also struggled with the cold, with Belami looking particularly out of it after her earlier fall. Seeing the state of Ash  and Belami, Kunai  and Blagden  decided to take extra care on their watch, both hopping out in their sleeping bags. This worked well for Kunai , however Blagden’s  tiny body was not designed for such conditions and he suffered badly. As dawn broke, Blagden  looked exhausted and ill, with one eye fused shut by the frost and his whole body shaking uncontrollably. Seeing this, Gimble  immediately offered Blagden  his sleeping bag. Kunai  then gave Gimble  his sleeping bag, which prompted Scribbulus  to give Kunai  his sleeping bag. With sleeping bags redistributed, Scribbulus  then cast a spell on Blagden , successfully healing his worryingly blue fingers, but failing to deal with his frozen eyelid. To help Blagden  recover, the group decided to build a fire, but after realising there was literally no wood anywhere, and with Tamsin  having wondered off somewhere (“why is Tamsin  not here when I need here, silly Tamsin  and her silly bird always get lost!”), they gave up and decided to press on and investigate the entranceway with Blagden  half-blind.

## Friends have come!

Following Ratty’s lead, the group soon arrived at the entrance Blagden  had described the day before. Around the entrance were several footprints and other marks which Scribbulus  expertly identified as being a medium-sized bare-footed humanoid with a weird gait that definitely wasn’t Elyan . Blagden  tried to look for traps, but unfortunately noticed nothing but the inside of his own eyelid. Seeing that the goblin was struggling, Kunai  also took a look. He detected no traps, but did notice some mysterious arcane signals. Elyan  and Scribbulus  soon realised that these signals meant the entrance could somehow magically open and close, but couldn’t work out the trigger. Ash  suggested that perhaps they should lay a trap for whatever was inside. She and Gimble  would go to the entrance and make a noise whilst the others hid nearby. If something bad came out, the hidden folk could surprise whatever it was and if it wasn’t obviously bad then at least they had some options. Everyone agreed this was an excellent plan, but just as they were getting into their positions Belami piped up to nervously state she’d seen a glimpse of the thing that lived in the hole last time and it was so terrifying they’d all ran away. Now feeling a bit more nervous, Ash  and a terrified Gimble  walked forward and made some loud noises as the others hid themselves. After a few moments they heard the sound of a high-pitched, gasping voice saying:

*“Guests, there are guests, we have guuuueeeests…. Who could be outside? Ahhh, friends have come, how nice to see them!”*

Everyone watched as at the entrance appeared the haggard, bent over figure of an old woman, covered in tattered white shawls, with sticks and other rubbish sticking out of her hair. Her skin and eyes were a wrinkled blue-white colour and in one of her withered hands she held a simple staff. Seeing Ash  and Gimble  the woman seemed very excited:

*“Friends, friiieeeends have come, so nice to see you, come in come in, you must come”*

Ash  replied that it was nice to meet her and that they actually had more friends outside. This caused the woman to ascend to new levels of excitement, as she called for everyone to step forward. Hearing this, Scribbulus  stepped forward from his hiding place and went over to greet the woman, but the others, still suspicious, stayed firmly hidden. Seeing only Scribbulus  approach, Ash  repeated that there were more friends to come. As Kunai  face-palmed, Blagden  shot Kunai  a message to ask what they should do. Kunai  replied that they should stay hidden, but make a dive for the door if the others went in and it started to close. Now cottoning onto the fact that the others were not going to show themselves, Ash  moved the conversation on by asking the old woman how long she had lived here and what the deal was with all the junk everywhere.

*“Ohhh my child, I have lived here a long long time, I like the cold, it’s good for the mind. Yesss, I love collecting things, my trinkets these are. I’m renovating and it’s going very very well you see. Now, come in, come in, everyone is welcome, it’s just me up here, now come on come on”*

The old woman then began shuffling back inside the tunnel, beckoning Ash , Scribbulus and a very shaky Gimble  to follow. As they entered, they saw that like the outside the tunnel was filled with junk. Piles of clothes and hats littered the floor, with books, buckets and animal skins scattered around hap hazardously.  Seeing the others descend into the tunnel, those hiding outside leapt into action. With a masterful flourish of his flute, Elyan  turned himself invisible and followed closely, whilst Blagden  quickly ordered Ratty to keep up with them as well. Then, after waiting a few moments, Blagden , Kunai  and Belami stealthy followed at a safe and hopefully unobserved distance.

## Toilet break

Inside, the woman led Ash  et al. through a series of tunnels, each composed of a strange mixture of snow and dirt, interposed with random objects fused into the walls, including some very shiny glasses and rocks. Eventually, the tunnels led to a larger hearth room with a large cracked cooking pot in the centre and several upturned tables. Dozens of frayed ropes hung ominously from the ceiling, whilst a canvas smothered in mud lay off to one side. As the woman babbled on about various nonsenses, Scribbulus  took a closer look at the canvas, which very much excited the old woman:

*“ohhh yeeesss, isn’t it nice, someone just threw it awaaay. Can you believe it? Some people just don’t appreciate art”.*

Further up the tunnels, Elyan  was keeping a close look out for the findy-stick, very much not keen to get any closer to the weird woman. Blagden  and Kunai  were also on the hunt for stuff and had come across a section of very old-looking ice that appeared to have a large shiny object behind it. As Kunai  began carving away at the ice with his blade, keen to get at the treasure beneath, Blagden  transferred his consciousness into Ratty to see and hear what was going on with the others. He saw that the woman was in the process of offering Ash , Scribbulus  and Gimble  a drink of some green scummy liquid:

*“yeeess, the drink is good for the bowels, you will feel so much better. Drink friends drink”*

Not keen to partake in the beverage, Scribbulus  then asked if there was anywhere he could go to the toilet? Very excitedly the woman gestured to a far corner of the room where she appeared to have a literal collection of frozen shit:

*“yess child, over there, it’s taken me soo long to make, I go all over to collect it you see, you can just do it right here”.*

Disgusted by this suggestion, Scribbulus  explained that he couldn’t possibly go there as he had terrible performance anxiety, and so would have to go outside. Thankfully the woman didn’t seem too worried by this:

*“of course, my child. I know that art takes time, but do make sure you come back….”*

Scribbulus  needed no further prompting and hastily made his exit back up the tunnel. He soon made his way up to the place where Elyan  was invisibly searching, getting quite the shock when Elyan  whispered to him that the others were a bit further behind and had classically got distracted by shiny things. Scribbulus  explained to Elyan  that the woman was super weird and so he should probably stay invisible for now. Elyan  agreed, and suggested they both head back up to Blagden  and Kunai  who were still caving away at the ice. As they approached, Kunai  explained that they had found something of interest, before asking why Scribbulus  had returned? Scribbulus  quickly outlined their interactions with the woman and that he now just needed the loo. Like a disgruntled parent, Kunai  sarcastically inquired why he hadn’t gone back at the camp? “Because I was making breakfast!” retorted Scribbulus , as though this was obvious.  Scribbulus  then exited the tunnel before anyone else could sass him, and began emptying his hearty bowels whilst doing a quick weather check, discovering that a blizzard was imminent.

## Child thievery

Back in the hearth room, the old woman was in the process of showing Ash  and Gimble  her “scrapbook” which was essentially a collection of old dirt- and blood-smeared parchment with occasional random words. Ash  then mentioned that they were actually here to look for a special rod lost by a previous group, and asked whether any of that sounded familiar. This prompted an especially impassioned response from the woman:

*“Yes, we remembers them, they came and then they ran away! They stole my child, my beautiful child. She was sooo sweet, but they took her, my sweet Carribara, they took her!”*

Slightly perplexed by this outburst, Ash  said he was very sorry to hear that, before describing the findy-stick and asking if she had seen it?

*“oh yessss, I know the thing you say of. Yes they had it, but they left it here when they stole my child from me!”*

Sensing an opportunity, Ash  suggested that in return for the findy-stick, they would help the old woman find her child:

*“hmmm, I will need to ponder this, yes. No one comes normally so need for rushing, it is soo nice to have friends, have more tea then I will decide”*

Gimble  then piped up that it was nice for someone to actually be nice to him, but soon regretted speaking as a cup of scum-water was pressed into his hands. Ash  was equally horrified at the sight of the tea, and realising that the woman was getting a tad irritated by their hesitance to drink, decided to do a classic fake-drink manoeuvre. Unfortunately for him, the woman noticed his deception and strongly encouraged him to drink it properly. So, with a grimace, Ash  took the tiniest of sips, barely holding back an insta-vomm as the truly rancid taste of the somehow hairy liquid hit his throat. Keen to avoid having to drink again, Ash  turned the conversation back to the woman’s child:

*“ohhh Carribara was a young one, younger than a baby for one of us, such a beautiful baby she would have been…”*

## The entrance closes

As Ash  was getting increasingly confused by the woman’s child-based ramblings, Kunai  finally finished scraping away at the ice and with a final dextrous flex of his claws removed the final shards to reveal a hidden room. As Kunai , Elyan  and Blagden  hurried in, a grim sight met their eyes. Dozens of shrunken fey heads lined the floor, organised by size. Also on the floor were several old clothes and other rags (Blagden  excitedly swapped his dirty rag for a new dirty rag) as well as a nice looking spade and a fancy magnifying glass. Immediately opposite the entrance was the shiny object Kunai  had seen: an elegant looking sabre.  “It’s beautiful!” gasped Blagden . “Looks a bit large for you, goblin” muttered Kunai  as he reached out and pulled it off the wall to examine. However, as he did this, the three of them heard the sound of something large moving and, darting back into the main tunnel, watched as the entranceway began to shut. Swearing, Kunai  ordered Blagden  to get the magnifying glass, gave Elyan  the sabre and, grabbing the spade, rushed towards the closing entrance. At the same time, back outside, Scribbulus  jumped mid-movement as he too saw the entrance begin to close. With a panicked shriek he forwent his usual wiping routine and darted towards the tunnel, making it in just in time to see Kunai  and Blagden  running unsuccessfully towards the door.  With a frown, Kunai  expressed his distaste at being stuck inside. Scribbulus  told him there was nothing to worry about as she was just a weird old woman. Unconvinced, Kunai  pointed Scribbulus  towards the freaky-as shrunken heads, and suggested that Scribbulus  should go back to the woman to investigate her further whilst the rest of them stayed hidden until needed. Agreeing with this, Scribbulus  returned to the room and Blagden  swapped his consciousness back to Ratty so they would know if help was needed.

A few minutes before Scribbulus  returned, Ash  noticed the old woman pause her ramblings for the briefest of seconds, before carrying on with a slightly changed tone of voice. As Scribbulus  returned, he immediately noticed that the woman’s demeanour had shifted, her voice sounded impatient and frustrated, and she began suspiciously asking where the rest of their friends were? Concerned by the change in the woman’s behaviour (and the fact she had shrivelled heads) Scribbulus  focused his mind to try and work out what she could be. Suddenly it came to him. This was not a woman, it was some sort of winter-Hag, an evil arcane creature known for trying to form covens with their children. As the Hag continued to press them on where their friends were, a plan formed in Scribbulus  mind. Knowing that Blagden  was watching and listening through Ratty, Scribbulus  loudly suggested to the Hag that they go back into the tunnel to find their friends.

## Hag attack

As Blagden  passed on all of this to the others, Kunai  immediately realised that Scribbulus  would only lead the woman back if he wanted them to ambush her. As his senses focused solely on the task at hand, he calmly barked out commands to the others: “Goblin, the cobbled road is freezing over, prepare your gifts for sending”, “Bard, stay hidden”. Just having enough time to hide themselves, the three watched as Scribbulus , Ash , Gimble  and the woman appeared around a corner. However, as soon as the woman came into sight she stopped and growled:

*“Why do your friends not come out when we know they are here? Come on friends, let’s all see each other!”*

Ash , who was still not fully aware that the woman was a Hag or that the others were lying in ambush, tried to apologise for his friend’s rudeness. Scribbulus  also tried to calm the situation “oh they just like playing hide and seek the sillies”. Ash  then tried in vain to remind the Hag of the deal she had proposed. However, the Hag was clearly now very angry:

*“It was the ones who took my child who left the stick you seek. They snuck into my garden and took her, and now your friends sneak in and steal from me too. So come on, if you want to play, come out and see”.*

Realising that at least some of them were made, Blagden  messaged Kunai  to ask what they should do “should I send her my gift?”. Assessing the situation, Kunai  quickly told Blagden  not to send his gift, but to reveal himself. So, nervously, Blagden  stepped forward out of the shadows. As he did so, the demeanour of the Hag shifted again:

*“ahhh it is a child! An ugly little child to be sure, but a child all the same. Yes yes yes, you can be my new child. Come to me child, come”.*

Totally freaked out by this display, but still capable of rudeness, Blagden  shot back that she was a fine one to call him ugly “look at your disgusting wrinkles!” However, the Hag seemed unbothered by Blagden’s  insults and began walking towards him.

*“come now child, come to me. You will be my child now, yes, come on, come closer, yes”*

Seeing the Hag come closer, Blagden  began to feel a sense of fear he hadn’t felt since that day in the warehouse. As unpleasant memories flashed through his mind, he began to stumble backwards away from the Hag, not taking his eyes off her. The Hag continued to advance, passing by the hiding places of Kunai  and Elyan , until suddenly she noticed Belami cowering a few feet behind Blagden  and stopped, an expression of shock on her face:

*“ahhhhh, but you have brought my daughter back to me! My wonderful Carribara. Come child, embrace me”*

Seeing the Hag advance towards her, Belami let out a gasp and began to back away, her knees trembling with uncontrolled terror. Finding a burst of courage he didn’t know he had, Blagden  stepped protectively in front of Belami, pulled out his crossbow and pointed it at the Hag. However, with a sudden burst the Hag rushed forward towards Belami, pushing aside Blagden  with such force that his crossbow bolt went flying harmlessly into the tunnel wall, and grabbed Belami by the arm.

Seeing Belami and Blagden  in imminent danger, the others now jumped into action. Raising his staff, Scribbulus  called forth the might of the forest and summoned a sudden burst of roots and vines that entangled both the Hag and Belami. As the Hag shrieked in fury, invisible Elyan  stepped forward and broke his cover by dealing a mighty strike to the Hags head with the fancy sabre. Likewise, Kunai  stepped silently out of the alcove in which he had been hiding and with a well-practiced flourish sent his Kunai -chain deep into her side. Cursing loudly, the Hag ripped furiously at the vines around her, managing to free herself, but not Belami. Ash  then attempted to strike at the Hag, but was clearly still a bit confuzzled about whether the Hag was actually an innocent if not confused old woman and missed all his strikes. Casting aside his crossbow, his body filling with adrenaline and rage, Blagden  drew his rapier and furiously stuck the Hag with the pointy end, before ordering Ratty to look after Belami. Scribbulus  and Elyan  then attempted to magically subdue the Hag, but both found her to be unnaturally resistant to their spells. As Kunai , Blagden  and Ash  repeatedly lashed out at the Hag with their weapons and fists, she roared out in fury:

*“why must they destroy everything we love, earrghhhh!”*

Then, letting out an ear-splitting wail, the Hag gestured towards the ceiling and caused a huge portion of snow, rock and ice to collapse down on those below.  As everyone dived out of the way, the Hag sensed an opportunity to escape and made a dash for it with Belami. However, Elyan  was quicker, and managed to hit her with a hideous laughter spell whilst yelling at Belami to run for it. As the Hag doubled over in cackles of ghastly laughter, she released her grip on Belami who immediately ran terrified towards the tunnel entrance, Ratty still in her pocket. Seeing Belami escape seemed to electrify the Hag into action. With a shriek, she broke free of Elyan’s  spell and dived towards Belami. However, Scribbulus  was ready for this, and before she could move he tumbled beneath her legs, cheekily healing Elyan  as he did, before standing up to bravely block her path. As Kunai  once more stepped out of the shadows to strike with his whip-chain, Elyan  summoned a phantasmal image of Belami on the floor behind the Hag in an attempt to confuse it. The Hag seemed unbothered by Elyan’s  illusion, but seethed with anger as Blagden  and Ash  also moved around to join Scribbulus  in blocking its path to Belami. Realising that Belami was now beyond its reach, the Hag took a look around and, spotting Gimble  isolated behind it, growled:

*“well if I cannot have my Carribara, then I will take the other ugly child instead!”*

## Gory Gimble

With a surprisingly rapid leap, the Hag then pirouetted backward, grabbed Gimble , and launched them both further down the tunnel. The others tried to react, but before they could do anything a huge wall of ice materialised across the tunnel, completely blocking the Hag and Gimble  from everyone else. Seeing that Gimble  was in great danger, everyone immediately set about trying to bring down the wall. As most of the group struck at it with fists and weapons, Scribbulus  reared back his head and transformed into a massive brown bear. Head down, bear-Scribbulus  then repeatedly charged at the wall, dealing it mighty blow after blow.  After what felt like an hour, but was probably less than a minute, one of Ash’s  classic monk-strikes finally went through the wall and with a crash the entire structure came crumbling down. The sight that met their eyes was horrific. The Hag was crouched down on the floor, her face and lips smothered in red, the floor about her covered in blood and gore. Gimble  was nowhere to be seen. The Hag began to rise, but before it could, Blagden , who was truly horrified by the sight, sent forth a wave of sleep energy. As the wave hit the Hag, its eyes rolled backwards and it collapsed to the floor unconscious.

Seeing the Hag finally fall still, Scribbulus  transformed back into his halfling form and ran over to look for Gimble . He saw no footprints, but found his sword and armour lying discarded on the floor. As Scribbulus  did this, Kunai  stepped forward towards the Hag. Recognising Blagden’s  signature sleep-spell, and knowing this meant the Hag was not dead, he slowly raised his chain and slashed it so deep into its neck that its head was separated from the body. Confident the Hag was now definitely dead, Kunai , Ash  and Elyan  joined Scribbulus  in trying to work out what happened to Gimble . Looking slightly sick, Scribbulus  explained that this was a Hag, and that they reproduced by eating children and then re-birthing them into new baby Hags, and that it looked like this one may have eaten Gimble . His adrenaline now wearing off, hearing the others say that Gimble  may have been eaten alive by the creature that moments ago had tried to take him proved too much for young Blagden  and, without a sound, he ran off into the tunnels. He eventually stopped near the blocked entrance, where he crouched down into a ball with his head in his knees and still trembling tried to block everything out of his mind.

Back at the corpse, the others were still trying to confirm whether Gimble  had definitely been eaten. So, with a grim expression on his face, Kunai  took out his knife and with well-practice precision sliced open the Hag’s innards. The others recoiled slightly in horror as all sorts of grim gory remains came spilling out of its body. There was no obvious evidence of Gimble , but there was a strange deformed black husk. As Scribbulus  outlined to Kunai  and Ash  how Hags could only reproduce with actual children, and that he had no idea what would happen to an eaten creature that wasn’t a child, Elyan  went to see if Gimble  could have escaped somewhere else. However, like Scribbulus , Elyan  found no signs of footprints or any other tunnels / exits that he could have gone down.