SD Session 8: The Doctor's in Charge

Month 2, Week 1, Year 942   Tor N'dal and Vanorin were determined to venture back up to the Temeraire Mtns as quickly as possible, but with Hank and Zachariah unavailable they headed back to GHG HQ to look for new recruits. A mysterious hooded figured by the name of Senza agreed to join the mission, embarrassed to have his adventuring dues paid for by his team members. And by some stroke of luck (or misfortune), they convinced veteran adventurer Leena Duvall to join them on the quest as well.   The week's journey back to Krusk passed uneventfully, Leena taking no time to rest upon arriving and quickly healing the victims of the most recent rockslide. The party made quick progress up the mountains, Vanorin having obtained some cheap magic items from the Handgun to feed to the Veilstorm. Coincidentally the party ran into some Handgun agents near the Dragon God-King temple, but the thieves didn't seem interested in robbing the party and the adventurers had bigger problems waiting for them at the mountaintop.   Taking a short rest at the Old Myltev observatory, the party spent the night marching across the mountain peaks towards where the strange figures were spotted performing their rituals. As they kept marching one of the figures seemed to notice them, and before long the party was hit by a terrible blizzard that left them weak and fatigued. Amid the wind and snow a figure emerged, laughing at their misfortune in a weathered old voice. It soon became clear that they were talking to the bheur hag Auntie Thorgunna, and she was up in the mountains performing rituals with her coven capable of piercing the Veil between worlds. She asked them to leave and return to their mundane lives, but the party was determined to press forward (especially when Leena learned that the hag knew about her missing brother). So Auntie Thorgunna agreed to a little game: if the party won a sparring match they could learn about the ritual and Leena's brother, but if they lost they would be magically incapable of speaking a word about what the Six Hags of the Fish were up to.   With the contract signed in typical fey fashion, the party proceeded to get clobbered by a ferocious yeti and a couple of mephits. Struggling to exploit its weaknesses and land the killing blows, the adventurers were forced to return back to GHG HQ empty-handed (save for one magic item as a consolation prize). Despite the defeat Leena was in good spirits, having been writing to her girlfriend Karly Marshbloom the entire time about the hag's schemes. Pretty soon the Shroud, the Ageless One, and the rest of the Gilded Hecat Guild would be gearing up to stop whatever interplanar rituals the hags were performing.