Tea-time Gone Wrong

 At the suggestion of our new Governor of Diplomacy, Cyren Magilagor, a group of us gathered to go out in aid of one Caiaphas, a hunter, to fetch his father’s sword which he had lost to a witch in the forests to the north. A small party of us left at dusk: Yippee the Gnome (a newcomer wizard), Sir Rolf the Paladin, Jasmine the sniper/investigator, and myself, Erian the jeweler. Terrence the librarian was to have come with us, but there was an emergency in the library, and he was unable to leave.

 We traveled more or less due north for three days. The first day was uneventful, as the road, by now fairly well traveled, seems to be mainly avoided by marauders. Beasts keep their distance, and there even appear to be guards from time to time. However, we were attacked on the second day (at which time we were off the road, well into the woods and being guided by a squirrel) by lizard folk of some sort. They were also bent upon destroying a sentient shrub of some sort, which, on examination after battle, seemed to have suffered significant decay or corruption before being shredded by their claws. Curious, but nothing to do with our errand.

 Once we were “deep” into the woods by the reckoning of our guide, we came across a small hut, encircled by scarecrows, though the gardens scarcely seemed worth protecting. We stationed Yippee and his hawk familiar to observe through the windows of the hut and Jasmine to watch the surrounding forest at the ready with her crossbows. Sir Rolf and I opted for the straightforward approach, coming and knocking like innocent travelers. A fairly normal-seeming woman answered and let us in. After some polite chit-chat and a few inquiries, she seemed unwilling to give us any information. Then she appeared to change her mind, and offered to say something privately to Sir Rolf – but she stabbed him with a poisoned dagger instead. At this point, the scarecrows in the yard came to life and attacked our companions outside.

 The old woman took her true hag form and fought us fiercely, in the end turning invisible and making her escape. She was badly wounded, however. I do not know if she survived. Also in her effort to destroy us, the magical illusion she was using as cover for her gruesome work was dispersed to reveal that she had been constructing a flesh golem of sorts at the time of our arrival.

 As we had at this point found and taken possession of the sword in question, rather than stay and pointlessly fight sentient scarecrows, we set fire to the house and left. I am certain it was completely destroyed.