A Bargain, Made

Ladrieth reaches out with her free hand, grasps yours, and you shake on it. As you do, you can feel your magic working. In mere moments, you are bound to the pact.

Ladrieth jumps. “What the hell was that?”

You pull your hand back. How curious. “I am sidhe. Bargains we make are magically binding. I cannot help but keep my word to you, now.” You cock your head at her. “I’m actually surprised you could feel it. No other hero I’ve bargained with has been able to.” Not that the list was very long, of course, despite your efforts. But it was still odd.

“Great job, Ladri,” says Wylahael, “day one and you’ve made a blood pact with a shee.”

“Not quite a blood pact. Those tend to involve more cutting.” You choose not to comment on her pronunciation of sidhe. It is, to be fair, better than most, but it still grates on your ears.

“And he’s got a sense of humor. Great.”

You ignore that comment, and reach back out to Ladrieth. “Now, if you would be so kind?” She stares at your hand for a moment, before slowly placing the crystal in it. You vanish it away into your inventory in moments.

Now then.

You take a seat on the fallen tree.

“You may have noticed, if you were able to get a good enough read on it, but that wasn’t just a regular bird. It was a familiar. Familiars serve certain varieties of spellcaster, who can control them, see through their eyes, hear through their ears.

“The important bit in figuring out the identity of its master is what it was doing. There’s a wizard or three in town who could doubtless bind themselves an animal like that, but none of them would interfere with your quest to kill Brogung. The goblins, as the giver of your quest may have mentioned, are a perpetual nuisance to them, and not-infrequently a threat. That leaves only spellcasters unaffiliated with Thaeldir’s Crossing, of which there is only one candidate. Her name is Idgrod Middenfog, and she is a hag.”

Ladrieth takes this moment to interrupt. “So, an old woman?”

“Yes and no," you say. “Hags are a variety of fey–“

“Like you?” Damnit Ievos.

“Yes and no. While we both are fey, there is considerable difference. We sidhe are not just fey, but nobility. We are beings of class and culture, of light and beauty.”

“And humility,” mutters Wylahael.

You shoot her a quick glare before continuing. “Hags are hideous creatures, within and without. They delight in spreading suffering and destroying beauty. And they are never direct. If I had to guess, your quest probably crossed with one of Idgrod’s schemes. Judging by how her familiar behaved, she didn’t want you to kill Brogung. I can’t imagine why, he’ll be respawning before too long, but whatever her plan, it is intricate and complicated.”

“And by killing that bird,” says Ievos, with no small amount of dread, “I pissed her off, didn’t I?”

“Almost certainly,” you say, “it was a valuable tool, and she won’t be able to make another one for some time. And presently, you are in no way prepared to take her on. She’s… twelfth level if I recall correctly.” That’s met with a chorus of curses. “But like I said, hags favor indirect, complicated plans. Most likely, she’ll be recovering from whatever blow you’ve struck against her in the immediate future, and it be some time before she's prepared to act on her anger.”

Wylahael pipes up. “What can we expect from her?”

You take a moment to dredge it up from memory. Idgrod is primarily a spellcaster, but hag magic is bizarre, even by the standards of the fey. It is dark, twisted, and cruel, like the hags themselves. You tell the three of them as much.

They ask a few questions. Does she still use mana? Where is her lair? Have you fought her? And so on. You can’t speak to Idgrod’s abilities with much specificity, but this doesn’t bother you. You only promised to tell them about the crow, to which all of this is, at best, tertiary. But you are in a good mood, and feeling generous.

When their questions come to an end, you give them a moment to let it all sink in. You aren’t sure what the Heroes are thinking, but you can guess.

You stand. “Well, I think that’s everything. I have business to attend to elsewhere, and you all have a successful quest to report in. And I think you’ll be better off planning your next steps from behind the walls of Thaeldir’s Crossing.”