The Dark Side of the Moon

The Dark Side of the Moon
Date	10/26/23
Storyteller	Dag
Tier	Expert+/Master-, Hard
Player Characters	Illiam Elro, Zeal, Satori the Insatiable Armorer, Hiromi, Grist Vanafeld, Aleth, L.O.C.
Rewards	350 xp, 3500 gp, Moonlit Chain, Moon Hag Spellbook, Moonstone Diadem, Wand of Countless Eyes (Level 4), Wand of Deep Sight (Level 3), Moonlit ink, Reflected Moonlight Fulu x 2, Scroll of Heinous Future (level 6), Scroll of talking Corpse (level 4), Scroll of detect Scrying (level 4), Tuning Fork (Boneyard), Groetus - Minor Boon
Result	Success
Author	Zeal
Downtime	29

Log

Thanks to a previous investigative effort from Illiam and some of our newer associates, Illiam had been able to gain a lead on the moon hags that had taken LOC via the usage of a three armed giant of some sort. Not only that, but with Kit's help Illiam was able to gain the true name of one of the hags, Kit's mother, and trace them directly to a cave about three weeks out. We arrived there with Grist having commissioned a wand to keep everyone fed along the way, and wasted no time heading inside. The entrance was dark, with only lights like the one from my Godclaw Emblem providing sight to those of us without darkvision. I could hear chanting up ahead in a language I didn't recognize, and as we grew closer the chanting became more clear. Before us stood two of those giants, two giant moon flowers, and four moon hags conducting a ritual of some sort. In the midst of all this was LOC, pretending to be a servant to the hags.

We moved quick, severely wounding a giant and forcing it into retreat, then facing down the other. The flowers approached and unleashed bright flashes of light, which thankfully blinded nobody except the returning giant. Satori prepared a silence field on himself and attempted to move to meet the hags, who had summoned a portal to the Boneyard. With this portal revealing Groetus in all his uncaring apathy, the light of the Apocalypse Moon strengthens the hags as long as they're within the ritual circle area. They reluctantly left it to try to cast spells on us, giving us the opening we needed. As Grist and I faced down the giants and a flower, Satori circled around the other flower and closed the gap on the hags. Hiromi unleashed a massive blast of moonlight that wounded each hag and even blinded one permanently, a benefit we would take great advantage of. After cutting through the giants and flowers, we came down upon the moon hags with all the fury we could muster.

The hags were no slouches, with words of stupefaction and spells that could leave you confused, as well as claws they used to devastating effect. Even with my best efforts they were hitting us hard, and one nearly brought Illiam down. We killed them one-by-one, with the blinded one making a run for the shard of Groetus they had used for the portal. Aleth tried to take this one out, but the light of the moon granted the hag more swiftness than she had any right to have. Worse still, as we killed them a curse was sent our way. We don't know what they did, but Grist and Hiromi both bore faces that looked like skulls in the moonlight. I resisted the curse attempt with little issue, and the persisting light of justice I placed upon one killed it without an attempted curse upon me. These would later be cured by Illiam, who first had to get rid of the stupefaction curse placed upon themself, but we had a more pressing issue. With the portal readying to close, do we keep the crystal, or send it back to Groetus? It was heavily debated, but in the end we decided it did less damage with Groetus than it did staying here. In a flash we received some sort of blessing from Groetus, though I shutter to think of how the Apocalypse Moon could ever benefit us. Still, the job was done, and nobody was worse for wear by the time that we made it back to Onadbyr.