Witch Hunt

Scribe Notes

Adventure: Witch Hunt
GM: Jacqui
Session: Autumn 824
Night: Tuesday 7pm
Location: Online while the scaffolding is up then at Chez Smiths
Level: Low/Medium

Party

1. Angus "I dinna wanna be Scribe" McLeod - Caledonian Namer - Keith - Combat Monkey
2. Argus - Dwarf - Sam S - Cook - Combat Monkey
3. Vargr - Earth Mage - Connor - Combat Monkey
4. Uthgard - Elemental Giant - Anne - MilSci - Archer
5. Kurt - Human - Bernard - Scribe / Cook - Caster
6. Eydis - Dwarf - Kelsie - Mind Mage (Strong in Mind, not so much in body)

Full if in person later in season?

Employer: The Three Witches of Silverstream (Granny, Fanny and Margaret)
Mission: Looking for Witches
Plane: Alusia
Pay:
Days on Adventure: We'll know when we get back

Scribe Notes

Maps

Ranke Silverstream

Session 1

Travelling to Silverstream

We are hired to go check up on / find some witches who might be missing around Silverstream. There is speculation about a certain guild member who has been looking for witches being responsible for this, as the possibly missing witches do not belong to the guild.
We discuss pay, which is somewhat lacking in raw coinage, making our expenses tight. Something about 8000sp worth of amulets and potential loot.
Introductions are made, where people discuss what they can do after the employer leaves. I assume some of these things are also kept secret or not explicitly discussed as they don't need mentioning. After the meeting we went questing for Greaters and other supplies.

2nd Fruit
The day dawns suspiciously fine, and we get everyone down to the docks on time. We get led by Haggity to a Caraval called Cry of the Serpent. It's a very unsuspicious name. The ship is basically a ferry that runs between Seagate and Dar and maybe onwards to Sanctuary. It'll take a day to get to Dar so there is no in-ship accommodation but they do serve breakfast and lunch.
We met the first mate, Theo Docherty and discover that the Captain is a water mage called Samuel Ramsey. For some reason, the rest of the passengers were rather wary of us, probably because we were carrying a lot of weapons and we had to promise to keep them sheathed unless the the ship was attacked. Some of us thought that was not our problem but a few disagreed, stating it was our job to protect people.
We clarify that there are at least six places we need to visit. Shepperton-Ashwick (Henry Stepford (Male)), Hunstanton (Edith Carver), Avonhithe (Mirovella), Dottery (Petunia), Castle Carlow (None, Baron's Contact Captain Pevensy), Grafcombe (Hardy Weatherwick), Windermere (Waverly Wot (Male), Pip (Apprentice)). [New Hope (formerly High Loggerim)? Casterford?]. Haggity is coming with us the whole time and will handle the locating using a special witchfinding wand, which only had a range of one mile, that had been crafted by Granny. Our job was to make sure she stayed safe, extricate the other witches from whatever predicament they were in, and see them safe.
We also find out about our employers. Granny is elderly and she sounds scary as she knows stuff, stuff you wouldn't think she knows. Fanny on the other hand is a more motherly type woman who has published cookbooks. And it appears the youngest of the three, Margaret, is Haggity's aunt. The cottage has a front door that opens up in Silverstream and a back door that opens in a small village named Woody Hollow. Presumably it helps Granny keep an eye on local politics.
We arrive in Dar that evening and stay in the Barge Inn. Watches were maintained during the night but nothing unusual happened.

3rd Fruit
We run our way to Silverstream following the barge trail which led around Lake Darwent, following the river. On the way....

Session 2

... we are attacked as we reach a small stream crossing, after departing from the barge trail. Angus let Argus borrow his dwarven waraxe as Argus didn't have a decent weapon. Initially, two Orcs open up with Giant Composite bows, with another four Orcs hiding in the bushes as well. Angus and Vargr charged up to the bowmen in order to take them out. Four more orcs, including their leader, who was wielding a rather nice sword, emerged from the trees. Traps of trip stones had been left on the bridge to slow us down but Vargr was able to 'teleport' behind the archers. Unfortunately he ended up being surrounded by those six and a brutal fight ensues, with Vargr being knocked unconscious at one point. Angus laid in with his claymore but that proved less effective than expected. Kurt, Eydis and Haggitty cast spells, while Uthgard was firing arrows, and Argus did some sort of charge attack with the help of a golem pig. It looked rather grim for a while but eventually, we prevailed.

Session 3

We get to Silverstream and meet with the three head witches (Granny, Fanny, Magritte) and get the rest of the witches' names (See session one notes), but they don't know anything else, having not even sent messengers to see what is going on. Maybe this is something that should be remedied.
We find accommodation for the evening in the Pig and Whistle, and the night passes uneventfully.

4th Fruit
We have breakfast, then head out of town to the East, then Horse go fast our way in the direction of Hunstanton.
Arriving a couple of hours later, we get to the farming and orchard village, where Karl takes us to Edith's hut, which is up a short path to a gate, then past an almighty gaggle of geese to get to the front door. Uthgard went first, as the geese had a hard time pecking her through her armour. The door was locked and bolted from the inside so Kurt tunneled a hole in the wall. Once inside we searched the one room hut then Hagitty pointed out that the witch finder stick was pointing upwards. So we find Edith hiding in her attic. Once we calmed her down she told us that a week ago, a group of orcs killed one of her geese, broke in, and searched the place. She also heard one of the orcs say 'Find the Witch' so she was sure she was the target so when we arrived and set off the goose trap, she assumed that they had returned.
We offer suggestions, like letting the village know that this had happened a week ago and that she should take a boat heading to Silverstream and stay with the head witches.
Nothing more of note seems to come out of the conversation with our current knowledge, so we headed onward from there towards Shepperton-Ashwick.

Session 4

We stop for lunch and head to Shepparton-Ashwick, arriving early evening at the Black Bridge Inn. We get directions to Henry's cottage from the guard but stop for the night. Angus talks to the local farmers, swapping farming stories and playing cribbage. They tell him they haven't seen the local witch for the last two weeks and those that went to check assumed he wasn't home. Also, something was worrying their sheep.

5th Fruit
We head up into the hills for a few minutes, stopping to talk to some sheep. We find signs of a struggle at Henry's hut and a several weeks-old half-eaten meal. Nothing has been looted from the hut, so we concluded it was some sort of abduction. Tracks were found going back the way we had came.
A few wolves and a dire wolf, who was the leader of the pack, attack the sheep while we are present, and we kill none, much to Angus's annoyance. We offer to relocate the wolves (but not the dire wolf) to another wolf pack in a less civilised area. We also discover that the dire wolf was associated with the Maquis of Corruption.
Angus makes terrible puns as we question the sheep, only finding out that 'some people' took Henry away. It was possible that they were orcs.

Session 5

The Dire Wolf, who we discovered was around 200 years old, says something about a master, a minion of A Demon, going missing roughly five moons ago. This Master was not the Shepherd of the area, who we guess is Henry. The Dire Wolf was then dispatched to it's Plane of Origin.
As we leave the hut, the trail fades out, and we head back to the village, along with three wolves. The locals mutter things about Baron's laws requiring wolves to wear collars, so we organise some temporary ones and some materials to make permanent ones before heading to Puddlington.
There, we find a suspiciously idyllic halfling village with a human-sized inn, the Rusty-Blue Fairy.
They tell us about some newcomers to the area, at the same time as Haggity mentions she has detected a witch. This surprised her as she was unaware there was one here.
Angus, on arrival, decides that it is evening somewhere and starts drinking. Haggity points out a younger halfling girl (Amelia Buckthorn) who she identifies as a witch. They also throw food at us and engage in traditional halfling activities. Angus decides to give this inn a 'Four star rating'.

  Eydis about Uthgard - We haven't voted her party leader and she's already bossing us about and counting our food. 

The party shows subtlety and tact, including Angus after his fast drinking session, and we get an older woman who calls herself Lucinda talking to us. They came here fleeing the Drow war from Farrington-Gurney in Northern Aladar. Then, about three months ago, they were attacked, and the girl's teacher was kidnapped. The party decide to camp for the afternoon and night here.

6th Fruit
We leave in the morning and travel north to Withywindle-on-the-Marsh, a half-land / half-water-based town in a marshy area, arriving near lunch. There, we are met by an elf who is very worried about common snakes and spiders. He also tells us that the road doesn't go further north and we would be better off taking the barge upriver. After some discussion, the party decided that relaxing the day and taking the barge tomorrow was the best plan, so we stopped, fed the wolves, and took some time. The barge would arrive at Windermere around evening. They don't have a local which but, each equinox, Mr Watt comes down from Widermere to do what is needed.

Accommodation for the night was at the Spreading Willow Inn. It was inside a very large tree and, at the accommodation level, there was a balcony around the tree which provided nice views of the river and surrounding landscape. The food was mostly pescatarian which was basically fish served with rice, dried waterweed, and washed down with wine. Three and a half stars mostly because of the view and the restful evening.

7th Fruit
Breakfast was a surprisingly delicious rice porridge. The Barges and Bill, the driver, arrive mid-morning, and it takes us a few hours to reach Windermere being conveyed by an earth mage based mage current. The Bouncing Buttercup Inn, run by Bill Potter was recommended to us and sure enough it was early evening when we sighted a walled town on the west edge of Lake Windermere. After disembarking, we get directions to Waverly's shop, located on 70 Simmery Avenue. The shop was an alchemical shop with the sign Y W Watt Witch on the door.

Mr Waverly Watt was in and says that Pip has been missing for ten days. He was out at the time but Ms Maybelle, the housekeeper, said that she heard an altercation when some people turn up and knock Pip over the back of the head and drag him off. Pip was described as a fifteen-year-old boy with brown hair and eyes.
Hagitty finds us a direction, using triangulation and the wand, leading us to a decent-sized, free-standing building in town. It seems to be an Inn called Half Orc's Head. We work out that a dozen possible captives are in the basement, a couple of dozen other minds in the basement, and a couple of dozen more in the main room. Some of the captives downstairs may be young people, possibly children. We are considering some options.

Session 6

We head to the guards and meet with Captain Jamison. After hearing what we had to say, we discovered that they don't have any real knowledge of their own, not even a missing persons report on Pip, but she would organise a warrant to be executed early tomorrow morning by a Watch raiding party led by Sgt Smithers.
We had a few hours to kill before it got really late so Eydis suggested she shape change into a bat and keep watch on the entrance just in case high ranked officials weren't frequenting the place who could warn them about the upcoming raid. Angus offered to go too, just in case Eydis ran into trouble.

  They'll have to find somewhere else to hang - Eydis

The watch proved uneventful apart from the detection of several minds in a state of we weren't sure what. It was then decided to use Angus's Crystal of Vision to take a look downstairs. It was rather dark down there and all they could make out was a young man and a young woman dancing next to each other rather seductively. They weren't sure it was Pip.

Night was spent at the Bent Pin Inn where we were served basic food. Two and a half stars.

8th Fruit
We meet the guards in the morning and head to the Half (an) Orcs Head. Eydis went incorporeal and sneaked downstairs discovering there were drow down there. The warrant was first and Angus charged in, followed by the others in order to rescue Pip. It was fairly obvious where the door leading to downstairs was and waiting for us were two female drow spellcasters and two male drow warriors. Of course an engagement happens.

Session 7

We quickly identify one drow as a Mind Adept due to the control they get off; however, we manage to stun them to break it before the party infighting begins.
A second caster fails to get off their spell, so we don't identify their college. Two more open with early arrows, then change to rapiers.
Eventually, the second drow gets a Hands of Earth spell off, and we identify them as an Earth Adept from that. Argus closes with the Mind Adept and eventually stabs them to death, noticing a death curse.
The Earth Mage is knocked unconscious, and we discover they also have a Death Curse and are Pacted to Renove.
We whittle down the two warriors and eventually finish the fight.
The Earth Mages death curse is MA 24, which we avoid through convoluted means; Argus's Death curse is 23 MA, and is a Doom, Impotence.
We deliver the two remaining drow corpses to the guards upstairs and set about pursuing the purpose of our visit, which is to rescue people. We find eight people who have had their will bound including Pip.

Session 8

We make it safely back to Waverly's shop. We were told that Waverly was out at a nearby farm and wanted us to meet him there.
As we arrive, we see a band of orcs attempt to ambush Waverly, and we move to interrupt them as they overwhelm him with numbers and restrain him.
We take five prisoners and one corpse with us back to town for questioning.
They were working for a bounty delivered by letter for a captured witch, with a drop-off point.
We plan to deliver a captive golem to a specific location on the docks, and track the box from there.

Session 9

Speak with Dead is performed by the Witches to verify the information we have is correct.
We collect the box from where they had stashed it and ensure our plans are solid before heading to sleep.

9th Fruit
We hire a boat and horses, so we are set up to follow outside the city. We place a golem in the box.
After a few bureaucratic issues, we delivered the box to the docks late afternoon.
Settling to watch for a while, we observe a dark sailed boat arrive near midnight, but they do not come into the docks.
In the morning, we decided that another group saw us deposit the box and decided we were not the right people, so we gave up on this as a dead end. The Golem is on its way to Holiday in Sanctuary.

10th Fruit
After collecting a reward from Watt, we head out towards Grafcombe.
In Grafcombe, we locate the witch Hardy Weatherwick in the forest and chat for a while, finding out that a similar group came after them a few days ago to the bandits we have already killed.
Travelling onwards to Castle Carlaw, there we find a band of harpies harassing the castle, and assist with its defence.
We lunch and talked to Captain Pevensy, but they had not been informed about the recent bandit and witch issues.
Mid-afternoon, we arrive in Dottery, where we meet with Petunia at the Manor. Four days ago, Petunia's wards triggered on a band of goblins led by a hobgoblin. The goblins all perished, and the hobgoblin was captured.
Interrogating the Hobgoblin had not yielded useful results, so we obtained a writ to enter Avonhithe after dark and travel onwards.
Arriving in Avonhithe, we hear that the witch Mirovella had been kidnapped from her tower in town two days ago. Investigating, we find little evidence beyond a hole in the roof but do find her familiar, who had told us the kidnappers took her to a boat and then down the river.
We stopped that night at the Tipsy Toad Inn.

Session 10

11th Fruit
Travelling back to Silverstream, we talk to the watch captain after getting past the suspicious and hostile guards, where they have reports of seeing the boat sail past two nights ago.
We borrow some scrying devices from Granny and locate some possible hiding spots on Lake Derwin; after discussing possibilities, we decide to check these out.
Buying a small vessel, we travel to the lake and slowly row around the Northern edge, checking possible hiding spots.

12th Fruit
After a slow night of travelling, searching, and watching, we locate a matching black-hulled boat up a small creek, tight against some trees and well covered by the canopy.
Talking to the local wildlife, we believe they are staying on the boat rather than at a nearby camp, and we plan a daytime attack on them.
Our initial ambush is mostly successful with us capturing the top deck after a half minute of fighting, however below decks the rest of them have now prepared for further combat.

Session 11

The bottleneck on the stairs proves difficult to breach, with Angus taking some heavy damage, however we pull off a flanking maneuver before Angus collapses and they rapidly surrender to avoid death.
Mirovella and Fredrika are rescued from their hold and we discuss matters with the Orcs. Black Brogam explains the situation to us, they are a group of slightly less than legal mercenaries, and were contracted to collect the cargo and move it to a tower near Dar.
In the interests of good intelligence on the tower/cave, we make a deal where we only confiscate their ship, but not their personal equipment. It wasn't that great anyway. And we make a few career suggestions for safer future opportunities.

Session 12

13th Frost
Thanks to Brogam we have an idea of the forces we will be up against in the cave with the Drow.
Assessing our capabilities, we decide to make this the problem of the Lord of Dar, though do offer to happily go in behind the troops and support them.
Making use of our new ship, we go for a roughly middle of the day approach with the sun at our backs, despite this being out of character for the ship it conceals the exact nature of who we are while letting us have good vision of the waters.
Entering the cave the troops disembark down multiple gangplanks at once, and flood into the muscle the Drow have present.
A rough stalemate ensues for a time, though their commander is rapidly taken out, but with some precise application of force, we break the stalemate allowing the troops to sweep the entrance cavern.
The Drow at this point have breached past the barriers we put in their way to delay the fight, and prove far too skilled for the troops to handle.
Fortunately we have forced them to cluster tight with each other, so some precise area of effect magic proves key to disabling the two mages, and we clean up.
Several mages are rescued including one of the Silverstream witches, and some assorted other colleges.
14th Fruit
A short side trip on the way home, we deliver some wolves to a new pack.
15th Fruit
We reach the guild having completed our work, and take a well earned rest.

Mil-Sci

Daily pattern

‘’How much time does the party spend sleeping, eating, traveling, doing rituals, etc each day’’

Travel Magics

‘’What travel magic options does the party have, how far per cast/or per day if duration is longer than usual travel time.’’ ‘’Can the party eat/sleep/etc on the mode of transport.’’

Watch Order

Angus

Vargr

Argus

Kurt

Eydis

Uthgard

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Double File	Single File

Buffs

General Buff Notes

Buffs listed in the table don't need to be detailed, other buffs not on the table must be mentioned at the time they are cast.
Y means always on, N/- means never on, 'Sit.' means when the party has time for buffs before a fight.
Weapon Spells which weapon/s it is going on normally should be noted also

Long duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Angus	Argus	Brutus (P)	Vargr	Uthgard	Kurt	Eydis	?
Cat Vision (Ku)	11	See in dark to 160'	12 Hours	Overnight	N	N	N	N	Overnight	?	?
Strength of Stone	8	PS or EN +8	9 Hours	Sit	?	?	Y	?	?	?	?
Name (??)	##	????	# Hours	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Name (??)	##	????	? Hours	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Short duration buffs

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Angus	Argus	Brutus (P)	Vargr	Uthgard	Kurt	Eydis	?
Durability (Arg)	??	Extra Armour	120 minutes?	Sit	N	Sit	N	N	N	?	?
Diamond Weapon	10	+10% s.c. Enemy weapons fumble 5% more.	15 Mins	Sit (Claymore)	Sit (Battleaxe)	?	?	N	Sit (Mattock)	?	?
Creating Rune Weapon	9	[D-5] + 3 Acid Damage	14 Mins	?	?	?	Y	?	?	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Skills and Abilities

Magic	Rk	Effects	Dur	Angus	Argus	Brutus (P)	Vargr	Uthgard	Kurt	Eydis	?
Ranger Detect trap/ambush	-	Chance to detect outdoor ambushes and traps.	N/A	?	?	?	?	?	91%	?	?
Ranger Tracking	-	Tracking, modified by time / entities.	N/A	?	?	?	?	?	85%	?	?
Name ???	??	????	? Mins	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Loot and Expenses

Significant Items

• 2 * Orc Bows
• 1 * Somewhat Magical 'Bastard' sword.
• 2 * Drow Mage Robes
• 2 * Drow Breastplate
• Shielded Mind Bracelet
• Earthen Armouring Bracelet

Minor Items

• 6 * Chainmail.
• 5 * Battle Axe.
• Miscellaneous stuff from Orc Bandits.
• Miscellaneous stuff from Drow.

Calendar

Autumn
	Moonday		Duesday		W'ansday		Th'rsday		Frysday		Reapsday		Sunday
	Lugnasad
Fruit (4)
			1	Guild Meeting	2		3		4		5		6
	7		8		9		10		11		12		13
	14		15		16		17		18		19		20
	21		22		23		24		25		26		27
	28		29		30
Harvest (5)
							1		2		3		4
	5		6		7		8		9		10		11
	12		13		14		15	Equinox	16		17	Seagate Autumn Fair	18	Seagate Autumn Fair
	19	Harvest Moon	20		21		22		23		24		25
	26		27		28		29	Michaelmas	30
Vintage(6)
											1		2
	3		4		5		6		7		8		9
	10		11		12		13		14		15		16
	17	Blood Moon	18		19		20		21		22		23
	24		25		26		27		28		29		30	Beerfest