Well, we didn’t die. We didn’t even come close to a TPK, in fact. Turned out I was right in anticipating hags, and that was about it.
We started out with our fight against Anghus and the sprites and pixies, which went quite well, all things considered. Hector was almost totally shut out of the fight, alternately being turned into a bunny rabbit or put to sleep, while the rest of us picked off the little critters before turning our attention on Anghus. He took a pounding, but managed to flee before we could take him down. We followed, but he escaped through the big gate (which was now open) before we could finish him off.
With nowhere else to go, we took a long rest to recover (surprisingly uninterrupted through the ‘night’) before we went through. There, we found a clearing, and within the clearing a hut containing three beautiful women around a bubbling cauldron and Anghus off to one side. The hags, obviously. We started off diplomatically, but all they wanted were the two spikes we had (they revealed that they indeed had the third) and negotiations quickly broke down. The hags revealed their true, hideous appearances. Commence the fight.
It was a bit of an odd fight. Incredibly long, the hags used a number of area control spells and kept blinking in and out, as Anghus teleported around and kept running away as well. Consequently, our enemies were a little difficult to pin down, until the three hags decided to gang up on me without actually attacking me, and Hector and I got on either side and started hammering them (he did a lot more damage than me, but between their attacks and Anghus’ harrying, he also got taken down). At one point, as a last ditch effort, Anghus managed to put both Kaly and I to sleep (it took his last spells to do so – we were both still at full hit points, and we were a long way into the fight by then).
The worst moment in the fight came with both Hector and Gad down (constantly getting struck by repeated lightning strikes), Rain (whom we had recovered safely, and joined us for the fight) grappled by a lair action, Leo unconscious, and still two hags and Anghus to cut through. But I managed to heal Leo, Gad got lucky with a natural 20 on a death saving throw and woke up to heal Hector, and we slogged our way to the finish line.
Three hags and a stooge called Anghus dead, we searched the place and discovered the third and final spike in the bottom of the cauldron. Leo’s clever use of some dust of dryness removed the water, and boom, we were now in possession of all three spikes.
Conveniently, there was a teleportation circle-door-thingy in the side of the hut, which appeared to be our only exit. I went through first, hoping it would lead back home, and got lucky. A trippy moment later, I was spat out of Cedric’s fireplace, back in the Kennels in Ravenwhick.
The others followed, and came through to join me. All except Leo, who was also thinking of what to do with the spikes and ended up in a dark, shadowy place with the patron he keeps dreaming of. He handed the three spikes to a grey giant dude who hammered it into an awesome black-bladed sword – Leo’s mysterious new weapon. Leo then stepped through a doorway and popped back to reality to join us about two hours late.
We celebrated our victory over the hags and the destruction of the spikes with some Golden Dew, and finally enjoyed a peaceful rest. Unfortunately, my sleep ended with me being shaken awoke by Cedric, who informed me that the building was surrounded. Rain went upstairs to wake the others while I took a look outside and spotted a good twenty men or so. Ferrymen, it looked like, led by a bald man calling us out to return ‘his spikes’.
That’s where we finished. We didn’t get through a lot, mainly because the fight with the hags took forever. Next, we’ll have to deal with the Ferrymen, not to mention Vixen and Brimscythe, whom I’m sure will have something to say about our destroying their machinations. And let’s not forget the trouble that Leo, Hector and Gad are in with the Trinity, and the fact that we’re now in the middle of the last city they would be welcome in. The hard part is done, but the loose ends are far from tied up. Let’s see how things turn out.