Maiden, Mother, Crone

The Dancing Hut

As reality shifted around them Caedwallis and Sylziria collapsed to the ground unconscious, the rest found themselves in a very different room to the one they had been standing in a moment ago. Gorka muttered that “she hadn’t seen this one before!” The only similarity was the large cauldron, and most notably the front door had vanished and the only exit, a set of double door on a landing at the top of a flight of stairs that hadn’t been there a moment ago . While the other tended to the those who had fainted, Gulbrand headed up to open them revealing a long wood panelled passageway heading either way.

Once the others had been recovered, by Gunnar slapping them soundly round the face a few times (only due to an absence of smelling salts he advised) they set of to explore, eventually finding themselves in a room where a slight chill wafted throug an impossible forest. The walls were woven from tangled knots of black, leafless trees and fine flakes of rusted iron covered the floor. A pale light emanated from a fist-sized orb that rested within a nest of black iron branches in the centre of the room. From one of the branches a large raven regared them quizically. Entering the room, after a few misunderstandings, they spoke with the raven who told them his name was Moc. When told they were seeking Baba Yaga he told them she was not her and in order to find her they must persuade him they possessed the strength necessary to bear the knowledge. He then offered them a riddle and told them to bring him the answer which could be found in the next chamber.

The next chamber was lined with grey lifeless trees and thorny tangles of brush. In the centre of the room a gnarled and leafless tree stood. Caedwallis led the way, only to be charged by a large fiendish dire boar that burst from a thicket badly wounding him. The others quickly gathered round and surrounding the beat slew it but not before several of them were badly wounded. The boar being slain Caedwallis suggested that the answer to the riddle was the boar’s tusks, which Sylziria agreed with. As the wounded were healed, Kelsidor set about using his woodsman’s skills to remove the tusks. On presenting them to the raven he offered them an iron amulet – the Amulet of Twilight - and flew off. As he flew the raven said “ This amulet holds only one of the three clues you seek. It reveals the first ingredient for Baba Yaga’s kettle. Look for this key where time catches up to us all. Look for the Mother when the moon is full!”

They moved on, following the corridor through to another room that Sylziria noted was marked with the witch symbol for “dawn”. Opening the doors they found a room draped in flowering vines. Winding pebble-strewn pathways wove through a magnificent garden to where a pale warm light emanated from a stone-lined pool of water in the centre. Another raven awaited them here, this one introduced herself a Tryva. Again the raven offered a riddle and a challenge to them, that they must face and discover it’s desire. She then motioned them towards a set off doors.

Beyond the doors was a simple bedroom, but the sheets on  the bed were stained with blood. As they entered, the door behind them vanished and a ghostly figure appeared above the bed. Gunnar engaged they apparition in conversation trying to weasel out of it it’s desire. Although it looked like a ghost, Caedwallis was pretty sure that  it was something else,  though he held his counsel, noting that the apparition was growing increasingly angry and it answered their questions. Eventually Gulbrand and Kelsidor felt they had got what the needed when the apparition suddenly reached out and touched Gulbrand, draining some of his life force. Battle was soon joined and the apparition proved a fearsome foe badly injuring most of the party before being destroyed. Returning to the Tryva they advised the apparition had wanted freedom and vengeance, the raven cawed and handed them another amulet, advising “So be it, Seek now the sisters three who are one: Mother, Maiden, Crone. But know that the Maiden is elusive, and may only be caught with the waxing moon.”

After this it was decided they would rest and they returned to the cauldron room where Gorka fed them stew from the cauldron. That night they slept, though Katya was plagued with nightmares and felt anything but refreshed from her sleep. Noting this Caedwallis advised that the animate dream must have caused this and used remove curse on her. Moving on they eventually found a thord chamber this one marked with the witch symbol for “night”! This room was swathed in an unnatural darkness that shrouded thick stone columns and wooden beams entangled with moonflower blossoms. A faintly glowing blood-red orb dangled from a black iron chain in the centre of the room. A hugely unpleasant and twisted albino raven with unwholesome looking red eyes awaited them here and offered them a third riddle, telling them they must prove their worth, and  “to find the path you seek, drink for the silver chalice in the grotto.

The chamber beyond was filled with dark, placid water. A narrow stone walkway led to a circular platform in the centre upon which rested a table set with five silver chalices. Above the perimeter of the grotto, five deep alcoves had been dug into the walls. Though shadowed by darkness, a faint glitter sparkled from deep within each alcove. Kelsidor immediately dived into the water almost immediately starting to drown as the breath was robbed from his lungs. Fortunately Gunnar was bale to leap to the rescue and manged to retrieve the woodsman before be too succumbed. Caedwallis and Sylziria drank from each cup revealing the contents of each alcove and causing a walkway to briefly rise from the water. Determining the correct answer to the riddle was an hourglass, Katya was despatched, after some trial and error,  to retrieve it. Returning to the raven he gave them a third amulet saying, “You have taken on yourselves a great burden, for that which you desire, the changeling holds. Know this well – you will find the Crone only when the moon wanes.”

Leaving the unpleasant raven, they headed back to the cauldron room only for Caedwallis and Sylziria to be affected by severe stomach cramps as the poison in the wine took effect. Fortunately they manged to shake off the unpleasant effects, with only minimal damage to Sylziria.

The Hoofwood

Sylziria cast identify on the three amulets obtained from the ravens and discovered amongst their magical properties that each contained a hidden rune which gave them a clue as to the next set of ingredients for the cauldron to continue the search for Baba Yaga  –  “dragon”, “gold” and “Artrosa”. Though the first two were clear enough , no one knew what the last rune meant or how it might help them find the mysterious “Maiden, Mother and Crone”

They decided to rest for the night, and next morning headed out through a secret door Sylziria discovered with her magic. They discovered that the entrance to the hut was guarded by Ratibor the Bold a cursed Iobarian warlord. The Party persuaded Ratibor not to kill them as they were leaving the hut not entering it and after some discussion agreed to help free him from his curse for which they needed Baba Yaga’s cookbook of arcane augmentation according to Zorka. Gulbrand was first out of the hut, quickly discovering it was surrounded by frost giants when one attacked her. As her collages quickly came to help they found themselves outmatched by the giants! Fortunately aid came to them in the form of the cottage itself which animated and began gobbling up the giants one by one. It was still a fearsome battle, and at the end of the combat, Katya Gulbrand and Kelsidor were only alive due to Caedwallis’s healing spells.

After a brief rest they set out through the dark forest. Kelsidor shinned up one of the trees, but apart from the mountains in the far distance could see  no real target to head for. Fortunately after about an hour trudging through the snow fairly randomly they met a party of centaurs , who told them they were in the Hoofwood of the Dvezda Marches of Iobaria. .

After some initial communication difficulties the  centaurs eventually agreed to take them to their leader!
The leader of the centaurs Korak Kaag, seemed friendly enough, especially after Sylziria mentioned they had killed several frost giants. He told them that Artrosa was a place and it lay to the north of the Hoofwood, and that there was  a huge monument to the triple goddess there. He also offered them accommodation for the night and the services of a guide, Erdija, which they gratefully accepted.

The Deeprun Crevasse

 
That night as they slept Sylziria and Gulbrand were woken by a noise outside their tents, they woke to see a hulking figure enter their tents.  Sylziria shouted to waken Katya and cast scorching ray.  In the other tent Gulbrand grabbed his sword and leaping to his feat shouted for the others to waken. The fight with  Andrazku proved brutal, especially when another one  showed up in the men's tent. Fortunately Kelsidor's sword seemed to be particularly effective in hurting the demons, and Gunnar proved most proficient at finishing them off! The two demons slain, Caedwallis and Gunnar dashed out, just in time to help Katya finish off the demon in the girl's tent. As they  ran they noticed two dead centaur guards outside their tents. They arrived just in time  as Sylziria was badly wounded, only saving herself by casting invisibility.  The sounds of battle brought the rest of the centaurs, who thoughtfully provided a healer in the aftermath of the battle.
 
Next morning the centaur chief presented his profound apologies and advised his men had back-tracked the demons some distance to the north - in  the direction the Party was planning on going! Cheered by this news they set out, and , led by their guide Erdidja and several hours of weary trekking, and a thoroughly unpleasant encounter with a cold rider,  later they finally exited the Hoofwood and headed down the Deeprun Crevasse.

 A few hours later they arrived at the three statutes of the Maiden, Mother and Crone, to discover  the statues were much bigger than they had expected being cared out of the side of sheer mesas. While Erdidja set up camp, the Party spent some time searching the base of the statue of the maiden, but found no way in. After some discussion they decided the way forward lay above them, but they had come ill-prepared for scaling sheer mile-high cliffs!

They settled down to camp, noting the waxing moon, unfortunately their rest was disturbed by two frost giants who blundered into the camp on Caedwallis's dawn watch. Sylziria and Gulbrand were very nearly slaughtered in their sleep before the party rallied and killed the giants.

Maiden

After clearing up from the battle with the frost giants and Caedwallis healing the wounded, Sylziria suddenly announced that she had worked out how to use her magic to fly to the top of the mesa. They decided to rest through the day and as the late afternoon sun began to lower in the sky the sorcerer cast fly on everyone. As they headed up the side of the mesa they were attacked by a couple of will-o-wisps, but they were soon driven off by a combination of Syziria’s magic missile spells and Kelsidor and Gulbrand swords.

Arriving atop the mesa, behind the statue’s head, they found themselves in a bone-strewn, wind-blasted area. A copse of trees stood in front of an archway leading down into the mountain. Impaled on the branches of one of the trees was the gutted remains of a freshly slain centaur. They heard a voice demanding a blood sacrifice to allow them to pass and one of the trees, its trunk shaped to the form of the maiden, stepped forward.

The party debated for some time the ethics and what they should do, when the  witch-tree got bored and used dominate to force Gulbrand to drop his weapons and grabbed him. His friends immediately leaped into action attacking primarily with spells. Gulbrand managed to wriggle free and found a ranseur near one of the corpses scattered about and joined the attack. The witch tree proved a formidable opponent with Kelsidor nearly slain, but eventually the party prevailed. Caedwallis’s healing powers were in great demand once again before they braved the entrance.

A long stairway downwards led them to a huge cavern decorated with pictures of the Maiden where they were attacked by an ettin witch, who fled when they proved too powerful for her.

The Garden Feeder

Bruised and battered, the Party decided to rest, camping down in a cubbyhole near the entrance to the room. All was quiet, until Caedwallis was just about to end the final watch and wake the others. Unknown to him a storm giant had somehow managed to sneak up the passageway behind him! The first the cleric knew about it was when a greataxe slammed into his back! He tried to shout a warning to the others but a second hit of the greataxe silenced him.

Fortunately the commotion woke some of the others who rallied to defend themselves as the giant charged towards them. Kelsidor and Gulbrand, abetted by Sylziria’s magic managed to drive the giant off – but concerned he might summon allies they followed down the passageway. The badly wounded giant retreating before them, hunched in the passageway. The followed for a fair distance the giant shouting for help as he retreated, before it was suggested that the fighters return to their makeshift camp and put on their armour.

Caedwallis, Sylziria and Katya held the passageway until suddenly two andrazku demons charged out of the darkness the demons proved brutal foes casing them to call the half-armoured fighters back to help. The wounded giant turned up some way down the passageway, laughing at their predicament – but a flurry of magic missiles from  Caedwallis silenced him permanently.

The demons disposed of,  they went down the passageway finding a locked door which Katya’s lockpicks made short work of.

Beyond, a passageway led upwards to a flooded room filled with fungi and other vegetation, a soft sound of pipes trilling filled the air. As Sylziria advised there was magic present, Katya and Gulbrand felt compelled to investigate – only to be attacked by a tendriculos. As they moved to defend themselves Katya noticed a bat-winged satyr carrying pan pipes, hovering across the cave who winked at her and then cast charm person on her  asking her to wait for him in the passageway.

While Gulbrand and Kelsidor dealt with the tendriculos, Caedwallis and Sylziria drove off the satyr – much to Katya’s disappointment.

The Coven Queen

After calling once more on Caedwallis’s healing good graces, the Party only pausing to retrieve a wand of cure light wounds that the satyr had apparently dropped. They headed down a descending passageway to  a large cavern where a series of head-high partitions fashioned from intricately brocaded cloth panels stretched over wooden frames took up the centre,  forming a large enclosed area in the centre of the chamber.

The enclosed are appeared to have been subdivided into what looked like living quarters. Gulbrand and Kelsidor searched the first of these areas only to find it empty and, judging by the dust, had been for some time. The second chamber was also empty, though it did show signs of occupation, and they filched a nice star sapphire and a magic potion form a chest there. Caedwallis cast detect magic and identified a powerful magic aura in the third partitioned-off area.  Kelsidor and Gulbrand went to investigate but found only a young woman  called Caigreal, an apprentice witch. Caigreal warned them of the fearsome Warden that had slain one of her coven-sisters, and asked if she could accompany them, to which after some debate they agreed.

Moving on they found a locked door, which Katya made short work of. Beyond the door what seemed to be a large cavern flooded with blinding light from which they could hear the sound of whispering. Kelsidor led Gulbrand and Katya through the blinding light by touch, while Caedwallis remained with Caigreal, sharing one of his seemingly endless supply of ham sandwiches. As they went they were subject to various attacks by  someone or something lurking in the light. Eventually they felt their way round to an exit that led to a long cold dark corridor. Kelsidor drew out his lightstone from round his neck but found it ineffective against the darkness. Eventually deciding they they had better return to Caedwallis, they headed back, through the light (and several more attacks) before meeting up with the cleric.

They found another passageway off the central cavern which eventually led beyond a stone arch, to an impossible expanse of broad meadow in bright daylight filled with swaying wildflowers. In the centre of the field A young farm maiden stood in the centre of the field, her right arm draped over the muscular neck of a great ox. She called out a greeting to them, though curiously, she referred to Caigreal as “mother” an commented that “she didn’t appear to be herself today!” Somewhat confused by this comment, Gulbrand stopped as he crossed the field towards her. Caedwallis was even more confused when Caigreal revealed her true form. In this form, Caigreal proved a formidable opponent and in short order Gulbrand, Kelsidor and Katya were all down and dying. Fortunately, Caedwallis was able to provide enough healing for them to return to the fray and drive the loathsome hag off!

The Maiden in the Field

Caedwallis and Gulbrand chatted amiably to the young woman for some time, she seemingly particularly interested in their mission from Baba Yaga. Suddenly she pulled a key from her bodice and tossed it to Caedwallis , saying "This may be of use" and then abruptly she vanished. As she did the field of spring flowers around them also vanished showing they were actually in another cave. More worryingly, the gentle brown cow Caedwallis had been absently petting was revealed to be a gorgon, which immediately gored the cleric. Already injured from the fight with the annis hag, Caedwallis prudently withdrew as Gulbrand, Gunnar, Kelsidor and Katya charged in and Sylziria cast magic missile. Surrounding the enraged beast on all sides they made short work of it.

The decided to rest, taking watches though the night, though nothing interfered with their rest. Next morning, mostly refreshed they pressed on though the labyrinth of passageways finding themselves in a small cavern with rough and jagged walls; the stone floor was smooth and had been swept clean. A small pool of water surrounded by pale white stones lay to the west. Along the opposite wall to the east, an oaken table held a wooden bowl full of seeds and a silver chalice sat in a small alcove. To the northeast, a short passage led to a stone door engraved with the image of a naked, pregnant woman sitting in a meditative pose. The woman's hands lay folded in her lap, and a full moon was painted upon her belly. A trio of waist-high pillars of stout gray stone stood in the corridor just before the door. The door was locked and Katya  was unable to pick the lock, she was also pretty sure it was heavily trapped. eventually between them they worked out the ritual to open the door which involved placing the seeds, water and a source of light on the appropriate stone pillar, and Gulbrand opened the door. A short passage beyond let to a dark room where they could see a door in the far wall. Judging by  the symbol on the door that this area was dedicated to the Mother and feeling that they had not yet fully explored the area dedicated to the Maiden.

They headed all the way back to where they  had run into the frost giant - to find the body gone! heading down the passageway they found another door which Katya soon opened. Despite the overwhelming stench from within Gulbrand went through and up a sharply ascending passageway to a narrow, rectangular chamber filled with the overwhelming stink of urine. The walls and floor were haphazardly covered with countless lines of jagged runes. Two short flights of stairs climbed to small platforms at either end of the chamber. Gulbrand stopped in the doorway and called the others forward. Katya, assuming that Gulbrand had actually checked the room out, passed him and went in -  only to be viciously attacked by two andrazku demons. As Gulbrand dragged the unconscious rogue back down the passageway, two more demons appeared!

After a brutal little fight the party were triumphant. Exploring the room they found a locked chest containing climbing kit and some magic items that would be useful for climbing and what looked like a partial map of the dungeon at which Gunnar got extremely excited when Sylziria pointed out that a nearby room was marked "spirits"!

Witchfire and the Great Beyond

After some discussion and encouraged by Gunnar they decided to head for the room marked "spirits"on their map. As they went down the passageway, Katya noted the fabric of the walls and the decorations and carvings had subtly changed.

They emerged into what was obviously a mausoleum of some kind, ten stone slabs were built into the wall wall and a statue of a woman stood near each. The women were all dressed differently and with clothing from various cultures that Gunnar recognized from his travels - and a few he didn't!  Caedwallis and Sylziria translated the runes atop each stone slab revealing them to be women's names, corresponding runes were found on each of the statues. The Party decided to not try opening any of the tombs and instead Katya picked the lock on  the ornately carved exit.

The long passageway beyond led to a temple of Mestama, which was guarded by a witchfire, who proved a formidable opponent, almost killing Sylziria and Gunnar  before , a combination of spells, Kelsidor's dwindling magic arrow supply, and the G&G Combat Acrobatics team took her down!

There were four exits from the Temple which, after a rest and looting a magic longspear and a set of pipes, they began to explore.

One exit was an open passageway while three others were behind locked doors. Katya unlocked the doors all of which opened on to long dark passageways. Eventually the decided to take the open passageway which led eventually to a large cave with a petrified forest in it. Kelsidor could hear a faint murmuring and sneaked forward to investigate where he saw a tall, feminine figure with golden tanned skin and well-formed curves. Beneath her diaphanous robes, the creature’s legs crossed over one another, while six arms—two facing toward her back— waved in a continuous dance. Three fanged heads sat atop a sturdy neck, studying every direction. As he approached, Kelsidor heard a voice in his head asking if he come to take the challenge to "pass beyond". Wisely, Kelsidor said he would have to consult with his colleagues.

Heading back to the others  they had a length discussion about what to do until Caedwallis abruptly strode forward and accepted the challenge.  Unfortunately the Beatific One cut him down in a flurry of attacks. Kelsidor leaped forward and used a healing wand on the fallen cleric which caused the Beatific One to query in puzzlement why he had stopped his friend "passing beyond".

Gunnar meanwhile tried to sneak past during the discussion, but the Beatific One spotted him and attacked, again almost killing him with a flurry of attacks.

Sylziria started casting spells, only to withdraw at the Beatific One teleported next to her! Gulbrand immediately  moved to distract the attacks from the sorceror, but realising they were outmatched Caedwallis called on the Party to retreat and regroup.

The Birthing  Stones

 
The Party beat a hasty retreat back to the room they had found the partial map of the complex. There they rested while Caedwallis reviewed all he could remember about Beatific Ones, eventually recalling that there weakness was in respect to good-aligned weapons. He healed those still wounded and they rested that night , which was fortunately uneventful.
 
Next morning after praying, Caedwallis cast align weapon on Kelsidor and Gulbrand’s swords and on Katya’s crossbow bolts. They then set out to return to the petrified forest. As they approached the Beatific One, she rose to her feet to meet them.Kelsidor and Gulbrand simmediately charged her, getting in a couple of solid hits with their aligned weapons while Katya loosed a crossbow bolt and Caedwallis cast a ray of enfeeblement.  Even weakened by this initial assault, the Beatific One proved a formidable foe, but by ganging up on her with their magically enhanced weaponry eventually the Party prevailed. As she died, the  Beatific One raised her weapons in a final salute before falling to the ground and passing Beyond. Searching the body they found a wand pushed through her belt which Caedwallis identified as a wand of cure moderate wounds.
 
Following the passageway that led off this room they found a large cave that contained a stone circle. While Gulbrand moved to guard an exit to the north, Caedwallis and the others  examined the stone circle cautiously. As the cleric approached the circle, a voice whispered in his ear, asking him why he, a male, was approaching the “birthing stones”. Eventually after much to-ing and fro-ing they established that they were agents of Baba Yaga, at which point another  hag appeared stating she had been expecting the Three Riders. When advised that the Three had been slain and they were their proxies, she handed Caedwallis a bottle. Unstopping the bottle, they heard the voice of Baba Yaga informing them that one of the keys they sought was in the possession of Jadrenka and the other in the depths of the Eon Pit. The hag informed them that the Eon Pit lay at the end of the Crone dungeon and represented the end of life.
 
The Party discussed briefly whether they should continue on to the Crone dungeon which their hostess helpfully pointed out lay at the end of the passageway to the north, but there seemed little appetite for that at the moment, so they headed back the way they came to the Temple of Mestama. Taking one of the exits from there they followed a long winding passageway which eventually led to a library where they battled and defeated another hag and a frost giant.
 
Searching the area Caedwallis found a magic pestle, a broom and among the mouldering books on the shelf a magic cookbook!

Blood and Frost

After searching the library again to check they hadn't missed anything (they hadn't) the Part eventually decided this was a good place to rest up. Caedwallis doled out what healing spells he had left and cast an alarm spell outside the room entrance. Fortunately their rest was uninterrupted and somewhat refreshed they set out back towards the Temple of Mestama and the two remaining unexplored exits. They took the left exit, heading though yet another long downward winding passageway which ended in a door marked with what they now recognised as the sign of the Crone.
 
Katya unlocked the door and Gulbrand was first though, feeling the now familiar cold of the Crone. The floor of this room was a huge gore-spattered frame over a pit . Almost immediately he was attacked by four redcaps. Gunnar and Kelsidor swiftly came to his aid, rapidly followed by Sylziria and Katya, though Caedwallis seemed more reluctant to follow -  taking some time to put on a new set of bracers! The redcaps were awkward foes, their fey abilities proving troublesome to everyone except Kelsidor and his cold-iron blade. Eventually, though Gulbrand was nearly slain, the Party prevailed, though after the battle, once again, Caedwallis's heading was much in demand.
 
A long spiral staircase led up from this room to what was obviously some kind of torture chamber. The only exit a rickety looking steel ladder that led up through hole in the ceiling. Gunnar volunteered to investigate, and accepted an offer from Sylziria to cast invisibility on him. Climbing the ladder proved little challenge to the salty sea-dog and he discovered that it ended in a locked trapdoor marked with the sign of the Mother. He called for Katya who quickly came up and unlocked it, finding it emerged into yet another long passageway.
 
The others quickly followed, helped by a spider climb spell from Sylziria, and Gunnar made an executive decision to head eastward. The passageway was extremely long, eventually leading to a door. Katya checked it for traps and opening the doora crack  revealing a lit room beyond where the howling of the wind could be heard. Kelsidor opened the door fully and immediately charged in - attacking a frost giant. Katya and Gulbrand followed, spotting two Andrazku demons  who  were busy summoning more of their kind. In the pitched battle that follower Kelsidor and Gulbrand were solely wounded but eventually, helped enormously by Sylziria and Caedwallis's fire-based spells, the Party was triumphant.

Mother

After resting the Party continued on, back through the long passageway that led through the Mother statue's arm. The passageway ultimately led them to what initially looked like a richly appointed bedroom but the luxuriousness proved to be illusory, though they did manage to find some loot in a chest near the bed.

There were two exits leading off from this room and the eventually decided on taking the northwards one. The by now familiar long winding passageway led to a chamber formed from an impossibly huge natural chimney. A single staircase was cut into the side of the chimney and spiralled upward along the walls, disappearing into the darkness overhead. A tremendous stone stage crafted from a single massive stalagmite whose top had been sheared off stood in the centre of the room's boulder-strewn floor. An elaborate, concentric pattern of runes was carved into the top of the stage. A tall and handsome woman who was visibly pregnant and nearly naked, wearing only a cloak trimmed with raven feathers, stood in the middle of the platform, Jadrenka. Half a dozen small children raced about the cavern, howling playfully. Moving forward, they had a fairly random discussion with Jadrenka, mostly about  keys until she suddenly vanished saying "mind the children!"

As Jadreka vanished the "children" were revealed to be korreds who immediately began hurling rocks, swearing at them and occasionally mooning them. Ignoring the annoying fey, Sylziria cast fly on herself and began heading up the chimney, Kelsidor and Gulbrand followed, the hard way, up many many flights of stairs. When they finally arrived somewhat out of breath they were confronted by Sylziria staring as a blank wall where the stairs abruptly ended.Eventually after much puzzlement and searching for non-existent secret doors, Sylziria belated realised that as this was the Mother dungeon, the entrance would only exist here at the full of the moon.

They moved on and after a brief foray back to the Maiden dungeon and a  long discussion about whether to brave the "light room" which Katya was violently opposed to, the eventually took the long route back to the Temple of Mestama and the final unexplored exit from there. As they traversed the inevitably long winding passageway they were suddenly plunged into the cold and darkness of the Crone dungeon. Caedwallis immediately switched to using his darkvision and Sylziria cast darkvision on herself and Gulbrand, as they emerged into a huge chamber.

Suddenly a huge spider-like creature dropped from the ceiling and attacked, stripping Gulbrand of his armour. Sylziria and Caedwallis dropped back Caedwallis taking a bite from the creature and began casting various fireball and scorching ray spells, Katya waited taking advantage of any brief periods of illumination from spells to use her wand of icicles and Gulbrand and Kelsidor engaged in melee. By the end of the combat both were badly wounded and Caedwallis suffering badly from the rot that had set in as a result of the bebelith's foul bite.

Crone

Gulbrand and Kelsidor dragged the dead bebelith away from the entrance to the cavern and they settled down near the bebelith's  webs to rest. Fortunately their rest was undisturbed and they set out once more through the tunnels. Heading down yet another long dark passageway they found a door that Katya opened. As she did so, some runes lit up which Sylziria translated as relating to the ritual of the crone. They moved down the passageway beyond, triggering a series of glyphs of warding  as they went . They managed to shrug off most of the effects of the glyphs but by the time they reached a doorway at the end they all looked and felt much older than they had been when entering.

Katya opened the door to reveal an immense withered cornfield, littered with dead ravens. In the centre of the cornfield, leaning heavily on a stick, stood Jadrenka in the form of the crone. They had another fascinating conversation with Jadrenka who abruptly handed them another  key and then vanished, muttering something about the cancer at the womb of the Crone ... As she vanished, so did the cornfield, revealing a stone room with a pallet and footlocket at one end and a  hungry fog rising up from the floor where Jadrenka had been standing. The hungry fog immediately engulfed Kelsidor, Sylziria and Gulbrand, draining some of their life force. Katya meanwhile watched in horror as the many dead ravens scattered about suddenly rose up, swarmed, and attacked her, scratching at her eyes and blinding her.

The ensuing battle, which consisted mainly of people alternately attacking and trying to run away from the fog and the ravens while Caedwallis desperately darted about trying to keep people alive, was fortunately brief. Eventually the party prevailed but they were sorely tested, so with most of the Party still badly wounded and Katya blind, they decided to rest. While they set  up a makeshift camp, Sylziria searched the crone's footlocker finding a scroll of Age Resistance.

They spent the next day exploring the various exits from this room, one of which led back to the Mother complex, and one to the "light" room in the Maiden which they proved very reluctant once again to explore. The final exit took them to an area that was guarded by frost giants. Not feeling up to taking these on, they retreated back to rest once more.
 

The Aeon Pit

 Eventually the Party felt in a fit state to take on the frost giants and Sylziria snuck down the passage and tossed a couple of fireball spells through the broken doorway. She then ran off, trying to entice the giants to follow her back to where the others waited in ambush, but for some unknown reason the giants seemed reluctant to follow a fireball wielding maniac into a narrow corridor shrouded in darkness!
 
Eventually, realising the giants weren’t going to follow, Gunnar led the assault against them tumbling through the broken doorway and into the attack. Once the others arrived they made short shrift of the already badly wounded giants. Leading off from this room was a huge set of iron double doors carved with scenes of the Maiden Mother and Crone and ending in symbolic representations of death. From beyond Kelsidor could hear the faint sound of chanting, invocations to some unknown dark god. With Gulbrand and Gunnar’s help he broke through the doors into a huge chamber beyond. At one end of the cavern a stone circle surrounded a dark pit, a centaur paced warily nearby, surrounded by frost giant corpses and chanting. Nearer to them  a cross between a frost giant and a centaur, but having eight equine legs instead of four,a svathurim, charged them with a lance !
 
The Party split int two, one group led by Gunnar tacking the svathurim, the other led by Caedwallis taking on the centaur. Almost immediately though things took a turn for the worse, no sooner had Caedwallis got off a lightning bolt when he immediately was hit in retaliation by a blindness spell which rendered most of his spells ineffectual. Gunnar meanwhile had made the tactical mistake of reaching the svathurim unaided and was swiftly pounded into the ground.
 
As the svathurim charged around attacking with its lance, and Sylziria launched spells hither and thither against their opponents,  Gulbrand tried to get to the centaur. Kelsidor dashed off a couple of shots as did Katya while Sylziria led Caedwallis to where he could heal the stricken Gunnar who swiftly returned to the fray. Dashing in the erstwhile pirate managed to get the killing blow on both the svathurim and the centaur cleric – much to the relief of his friends.
 
After availing themselves of Caedwallis’s healing, the Party then debated how to approach the Aeon Pit, eventually Sylziria, decided given the nature of the place it would better for a woman to go down, cast the scroll of Age Resistance on herself and descended into the Pit. It was an unnerving experience within the pit, fortunately protected against the Pit’s aging effect Sylziria only had to contend with bouts of insanity, while she searched through the withered corpses of crones at the bottom of the Pit. Eventually she managed to locate a single blue dragon scale and returned to the surface.
 
As she did, Jadrenka, appeared and thanked them for their efforts in ridding the complex of the centaur whom she explained was Vsevolod, a priest of Kostchtchie, seeking to claim the power of the Aeon Pit for his dark god. As a reward she gave them the final key they were seeking – a gold nugget, allowing them to finally return to Baba Yaga’s Hut.