Session Analysis
House Rules and Hard Feelings
The Party
Julius
Human Monk
Ja'ms
Half Orc Bard
Elora Meridian
Half Elf Ranger
Drisella Red Dawn
Half Elf Druid
Azareal Dawnsinger
elf Cleric
Namta
Tiefling Bard
C
Cameo
Session Recap
While investigating the dying vineyard, Elora’s Primeval Awareness sensed faint undead and fey magic to the north and a stronger fey presence in the southern woods. The group abandoned the tracks when a flash erupted at the burning tree, only to find Baba Lysaga confronting Azareal through a scarecrow-made double. She demanded a private conversation with him and offered to trade her interest in him for Namta’s venom-filled spider mandible; Namta answered by poisoning the false hag. Baba’s chicken-legged house then stomped out of the woods, and the party answered diplomacy with arrows, spells, bears, and Julius punching its ankles. Baba’s duplicates battered the group with acid, sleep, Magic Missile, and a choking poison cloud, dropping Namta, Spike, and Dick at different points. Ja’ms’s Thunderwave destroyed two doubles but also downed the animals, creating a dangerous new fracture. Julius escaped the fog by pole-vaulting through a window into the walking house, where he found and stunned another Baba-like figure. Drisella’s spectral animals finally killed the last hag outside, collapsing the house to the ground. Inside, the party finds Baba’s apparent body reduced to sticks and a heated, glowing gemseed in a cauldron—while Namta, furious and shaken, walks away from Ja’ms.
Notable Quotes
"We're the fucking good guys."
— Ja'ms, defending the party’s conduct to the old hag they had just collectively assaulted
"I kicked an old lady inside!"
— Julius, shouting battlefield intelligence after pole-vaulting through Baba’s window
"I'll see you on the flip side."
— Namta, leaving the group after surviving poison fog, friendly thunder, and one indignity too many
Developing Situations
- Determine what Baba Lysaga wanted from Azareal and why she sought Namta’s venomous spider mandible.
- Investigate the chicken-legged house, its hidden magical stores, and the glowing gemseed boiling in Baba’s cauldron.
- Decide whether the gemseed can restore the Wizard of Wines’ failing crops and how to remove it safely.
- Repair the rupture between Namta and Ja'ms after his Thunderwave repeatedly endangered her, Dick, and Spike.
- Tend to the battered party and their animal companions before pursuing the remaining vineyard mysteries.
Major Events
A Hag Comes Calling
Elora, Ja'ms, and Drisella were following the strange tracks near the failed crops when a flash from the burning tree pulled their attention north. Elora used Primeval Awareness and felt faint undead and fey presences near the tree, with stronger fey magic to the south; movement in the woods shed bits of straw as something large traveled through it. At the tree, Azareal found a grotesque hag with a hand on his shoulder, calling herself Baba and insisting she had finally found him. She wanted him alone, refused to explain why, and dismissed the rest of the party as irrelevant. Namta cast Command, freezing the figure long enough for Azareal to escape her grip. When Namta threatened the figure with Mishka’s venomous spider mandible, Baba offered a trade: the mandible for Azareal, for “the same reason” she needed him. Namta poured venom into the hag’s mouth instead. The body dissolved into a scarecrow, revealing that Baba had been speaking through a decoy while her chicken-legged house approached from the woods.
The House, the Doubles, and the Fog
Combat began with Julius sprinting directly at the chicken-legged house and hammering its ankle with Crush, declaring war on both houses and chickens. Baba multiplied herself into several physical threats around the tree, house, and woods, while Ja'ms answered with Dissonant Whispers and bardic inspiration. The duplicates proved brutally dangerous: one covered the party’s footing in acid, another tried to put them to sleep, and one struck Julius three times with a quarterstaff for 30 damage, leaving him barely standing. Elora identified the attacker as physically real rather than an illusion, marked her with Hunter’s Mark, and buried two silver arrows in her. Azareal scorched several Babas with Scorching Ray, Namta burned two with Burning Hands, and Drisella used Magic Missile while Quincy joined the fray with his tiny sword. The fight turned desperate when Baba unleashed a dense poison cloud that filled the battlefield; Namta and Dick fell unconscious, Spike went down again, and everyone else staggered through the choking gray vapor.
Thunderwave and the Animal Casualties
Trying to end the chaos, Ja'ms moved clear of one Baba and unleashed a third-level Thunderwave into the cluster. The blast destroyed two of Baba’s doubles outright and damaged the remaining enemy, but it also caught allies and companions in its radius. Spike and Dick were both knocked to zero hit points, leaving Elora and Namta terrified for the creatures who had been with them through every disaster Barovia had offered. Azareal immediately shifted from offense to rescue, using Healing Word on Dick and Cure Wounds on Spike. Elora stabilized Spike after he fell again, while Namta recovered from the poison cloud, found Dick, and got him safely out of it. The party survived the immediate crisis, but the cost landed hard. Namta had been hit by Ja'ms’s Thunderwave before; now it had nearly killed both familiars while she herself lay dying in Baba’s poison. The battle continued, but the old rhythm between the two bards had begun to crack.
Julius Raids the Walking House
With the battlefield obscured by poison fog, Julius heard Elora shout that the hag might not even be outside and chose the least cautious possible route to investigate. He turned Crush into an enormous pole, spent ki on Step of the Wind, sprinted into the cloud, and pole-vaulted through a high window of Baba’s walking house. Inside, he found shelves of unlabeled bottles, hanging animals and herbs, a bed, and a Baba-like figure stirring a cauldron. He immediately rushed her, struck twice, and spent another ki point to land a Stunning Strike. The figure went down, but its apparent body later collapsed into sticks beneath its cloak, suggesting another constructed deception rather than a clean answer. Julius searched the room, pocketed three unidentified liquids—blue, orange, and clear—and investigated the cauldron. Within it sat a large golden gemseed, upright in a small amount of boiling liquid, covered in elaborate twelve-sided geometric markings. Ja'ms’s Detect Magic sensed enchantment throughout the entire house and a powerful draw from the seed, which seemed to be steadily pulling energy from its surroundings.
Drisella Ends the Fight
Outside, Drisella refused to let the poison cloud and collapsing battlefield dictate the ending. She summoned spectral animals, directing bears to maul the remaining Baba while eagles carried Quincy toward the target. The bears tore into the hag, Quincy drove his tiny sword into her neck, and the final assault came after Drisella repositioned beyond the fog and sent the conjured animals in again. Baba died beneath their jaws; the poison cloud dissipated, her final body gave way, and the chicken-legged house lowered itself to the earth. Drisella then healed Spike, while Quincy landed on her shoulder hungry, exhilarated, and ready to do it all again. As the others began gathering inside the fallen house, Namta remained outside with Dick. Hurt, ink-sweating from the poison, and furious that Ja'ms’s answer to danger had once again struck his own people, she offered no explanation beyond a final farewell and walked away alone.
DM Archetype
Achievements Unlocked
Namta
I'll See You on the Flip Side
You froze a hag, tried to poison her scarecrow decoy with spider venom, survived a cloud of weaponized corpse-breath, revived Dick, and watched Ja’ms Thunderwave both pets into the ground. Then you collected your bird, said “I’ll see you on the flip side,” and walked out of the boss fight like the episode had ended.
Azareal Dawnsinger
No Pets Left Behind
After the fog and Thunderwave turned Dick and Spike into simultaneous emergencies, you stopped throwing fire long enough to Healing Word the bird and Cure Wounds the wolf. The cleric had entered his veterinary era.
Julius
Indoor Old Lady
When poison fog made normal battlefield navigation inconvenient, you turned Crush into a pole, used Step of the Wind, and vault-crashed through a second-story window into a walking chicken house. Your tactical update was, “I kicked an old lady inside!”
Drisella Red Dawn
Operation Eagle Squirrel
You answered a poison-cloud hag duel by summoning bears, arranging eagles into a flying spear, and placing Quincy at the tip with his little sword ready. The battlefield became a Pokémon episode with casualties.
Ja'ms
The Road to Avernus Has Bass
You told Baba that your magic was harmless entertainment, then dropped a third-level Thunderwave so wide it erased two doubles and downed Spike and Dick. Even Baba had notes: “Yeah, just how you downed your own friends.”
Elora Meridian
Silver Arrow Customer Service
After identifying which Baba could physically beat Julius into the dirt, you calmly Hunter’s Marked her and put two silver arrows through her face and chest for 29 damage. Spike was down, Julius was bleeding, and your complaint had been received.
DM
Yes, The House Has Hit Points
You introduced an ancient witch’s terrifying chicken-legged home, watched Julius immediately sprint toward its ankle, and revealed that the house genuinely had a health bar. Some encounters are built for heroes; this one was built for Julius.