Lessons from the Mists: Session 39 - The Witch of Berez

Recap

At the beginning of this session, the heroes travel to the remains of the old churchyard. Angvar sees floating lanterns in the fog, which begin to wink out as he approaches. The heroes suspect these are will-o-wisps, which is confirmed shortly by Kane using Eyes of the Grave. Mary Sue Ann inspects a new construction in this decrepit churchyard, one of three obelisks inscribed with necromantic runes. At the base there is a small hollow in the stone where a purple flame burns without any fuel. When Angvar attempts to touch the obelisk, corruptive magic runs down his arm, but he shrugs it off. At that moment, four will-o-wisps materialize and attack the heroes!

It’s initiative! As the will-o-wisps attack, they whisper “free us…” This fight only lasts 2 and a half rounds as the heroes deduce that the magic that is feeding upon the dead here is projected by the obelisks. Angvar destroys one with his dwarven might, while Kane uses sacred flame to burn the necromantic magic with Kelemvor’s light. Mary Sue Ann casts shatter on another, destroying all of them.

Mary Sue Ann finds that when the obelisks are destroyed, the flame at the base of each monument turns from a sickly purple to a vibrant green. She uses mage hand to scoop up this flame and bring it to the others, which combines into a larger fire. As she approaches it, it leaps from the mage hand and passes into her. A warmth fills her, and she receives the Blessing of the Drowned, which is a charm with charges she can spend to end harmful conditions and cast mass cure wounds. Ylenia searches the remains of the church and finds two vials of holy water hidden in the priests’ old quarters.

Behind the churchyard is a causeway that rises up from the rest of the mire and leads out into the swamp. The heroes follow it and at the end find a plot of solid, dry land. At the center of this plot is a stone base atop which is a statue of a young woman that appears to look exactly like Ylenia, though her features are weatherworn. At the base of the statue is an epithet: “Marina, Taken by the Mists.” The heroes investigate this memorial, and Mary Sue Ann finds a hidden box which contains red rosebuds in various states of decay. The freshest one looks to have been placed here not 2 or 3 days ago. Ylenia reaches out and touches the statue, and is thrust into a series of visions. The rest of the heroes watch as Ylenia’s body goes rigid, her head thrown back, eyes going a milky white.

She sees the childhood of this woman, Marina, abandoned at St. Andral’s orphanage in Vallaki. She was a gifted artist, but all her paintings and drawings are of horrific scenes. A bloodbath at a wedding, hunting people through the Svalich Woods. She eventually left Vallaki and came to Berez, where she was taken in by the burgomaster, Lazlo Ulrich. Life with Ulrich was good, but Ylenia now sees that Marina was being courted by Ulrich, not raised as an adopted daughter. Then, she sees a meeting between Lazlo Ulrich and a traveler named Vasili van Holtz. When Vasili’s eyes fell upon Marina, curiosity was replaced with hunger.

Then, Marina was visited by a terrifying shadow by her window that she could not help but invite in. Marina heard conversations between Brother Grigor, the priest of Berez, and Lazlo Ulrich about saving Marina’s soul. “If I cannot have her,” Lazlo said, “then he won’t either.” Finally, a horrific scene where Marina was tied to an altar of the Morninglord, Brother Grigor was chanting, and Lazlo Ulrich plunges a stake into her heart.

Ylenia comes to, and gasps for air. “He killed her,” she whispers. “It was him.” She is shocked by this information, and she tells the rest of the heroes what she saw. The heroes wonder who Vasili van Holtz was. Satisfied that they have found everything, they prepare to confront Baba Lysaga and return to the ruins of the old village.

On the way back, Ylenia attempts to make conversation with Edelia about her past and her sisters, but the old woman is cagey about her answers. Ylenia realizes that though she may be withholding information, she also detects that this woman genuinely has large gaps in her memory. Angvar asks her about Baba Lysaga, and Edelia tells them what little she knows about the witch’s abilities. She says she cannot help in the fight, but wants to see the witch dead.

The heroes decide to lure Baba Lysaga to the place where they fought her hut, among the towering trees where they believe they may have some advantage against a flying skull. They prepare to face her and take a short rest. When Baba returns to her hut, Kane and Angvar are in her hut, drawing her attention, while Ylenia, Ingrid, van Richten, and Mary Sue Ann hide nearby to ambush her.

The witch arrives through the trees and screeches “Get out of my home!” and attacks Kane and Angvar. Kane forces her to make a saving throw which she fails. She decides to resist the magic which plunges the skull down to the earth - and she was floating right above the fissure that the hut made in the earth.

Now, the heroes have the height advantage. Angvar, Ylenia, and Ingrid jump down into the chasm to get in melee with her while van Richten and Mary Sue Ann pepper her with ranged attack and spells from above. Kane lands a bane spell on her, which significantly hinders her abilities throughout the fight. She summons roots from the swamp, only one of which successfully restrains Ylenia. Then, Baba transforms some of the heroes into sheep which run in random directions, putting them out of position.

Baba manages to make her skull rise, but Angvar takes out his grappling hook, throws it onto the skull, and ties the other end off to a crowbar he wedges between two boulders in the fissure. When Baba attempts to fly away, the rope holds and she is trapped. She crashes down to earth when Angvar climbs up the side and forces her down. Ylenia steps up and gets the killing blow, smiting the witch, and causing her chest to explode with divine light.

And that’s where we left it!

So How Did the Session Go?

Pretty good! I was not entirely happy with the will-o-wisp fight, but the heroes were happy with the reward. The flashbacks and Baba Lysaga fight was super fun.

So, I wanted a fight where the objective was not just to kill the enemies but to disrupt the environment somehow. I came up with the idea of this place being a necromantic ritual site that the heroes could get a magical boon from. The necromantic obelisks would create new will-o-wisps at initiative count 20 of every round. Ultimately, the will-o-wisps were really not all that dangerous with their very low bonus to hit. The heroes had a hard time hitting them as well due to their high AC, so what followed was a fight with a lot of null results, both sides missing the other, nothing really happening. The heroes won the day by destroying the obelisks, and then they received the reward for Blessing of the Drowned, which is an entirely homebrew charm that reads as follows:

BLESSING OF THE DROWNED

This blessing has 5 charges. The blessed creature is not affected by difficult terrain. A creature can spend a charge to succeed on a save against frightened, charmed, or poison effects (no action required). Alternatively, a creature can spend one charge to cast Mass Cure Wounds. When the last charge is used, the blessing disappears.

They really enjoyed this reward, and I felt good giving the heroes something consumable. Once they use up all the charges, it’s gone!

Next, let’s talk about the flashbacks. My original idea was to make Marina’s monument some kind of puzzle, but the more I thought about it I didn’t see the point in that, so I decided that if Ylenia touches the statue in any way, she would receive the visions. I spoke with Ylenia’s player and she is interested in regaining the memories of her previous reincarnations, much like a Reverend Mother has the egos of all previous Reverend Mothers in her bloodline in her head in the Dune universe. I took inspiration from this Reddit post detailing the lives of all the previous reincarnations of Tatyana for Marina’s past, which I will probably solidify and edit in my own canon with how messy my current Barovia timeline is. I’m really interested in seeing how that develops.

The heroes have correctly surmised that Edelia and Jeny Greenteeth are two of the Ladies Three, but do not know who the third one is. They refuse to admit because to come forward with that information is dangerous to the Ladies and the heroes. As much as Ylenia’s player wanted to know more, Edelia simply wouldn’t tell her.

Finally, the Baba Lysaga fight was so fun and challenging for the heroes in a really good way. This is one of the few times I designed a statblock in the style of a solo creature from Flee, Mortals! And I was really happy with the result. I had to do some research to find references for AC, hit points, damage numbers, and style of abilities. I never used her lair actions in this fight because I thought there was enough going on, but here’s the statblock.

One of the things I like the most besides Villain Actions as an alternative to legendary actions in 5E is their implementation of Legendary Resistances. All of these solo creatures have the ability to succeed on a saving throw they fail, but they only have a limited number of them. To do so, they must spend something or hinder themselves in some way. I thought that forcing her to the ground would have been a fun and clever way of implementing that sort of resistance with a creature that would attempt to stay in the air as much as possible.

I made this combat encounter take place in the same place the hut fight took place through a series of random occurrences that no one could have expected, the fissure in the ground that the hut created was a vital part of this fight, the heroes’ tactics, and Baba Lysaga’s downfall. The reversal of fortune that happened during every round of this combat encounter made this encounter one of the most fun combat encounters I’ve played in this campaign.

Until next time!