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Vars finds many mildly magical weapons the erinyes were using, as well as some jewelry the handmaiden was wearing, a necklace of gold-plated human vertebrae interspersed with carnelians (worth 1500 gp). The corpse they were torturing still wears her equipment: bracers of armor +4, two potions of protection from arrows, a scroll of fear, a scroll of greater teleport, a wand of invisibility (38 charges) and wings of flying.
As for the doors, they appear to be locked, but aren't trapped.
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Luckily for Vars, Trotter's expertise is able to see way beyond what the warrior's eyes can see. The halfling states that the door is not only locked, but also magically trapped. His nimble fingers have no trouble dealing with the frost trap, and soon the double doors open.
Beyond, a short corridor leads to another double door that aren't locked, but apparently frozen shut. As you approach them, the matryoshka doll warns you: "Watch out. My daughters sit inside. No doubt they're very angry."
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"Time presses!" urges the doll. "Eluvanna has sent her soldiers, you need to press on!"
Acting upon your instinct as well as the doll's advice, Trotter teleports the party inside the room further. A wide cavern opens away from the door, lit by a diffuse glowing cloud that continually hovers near the ceiling. Arranged in a semicircle around the entrance are fourteen identical stone thrones, their high backs each bearing the same dancing hut sigil and a small plaque beneath. Seated upon twelve of the thrones are corpses dressed in royal regalia in various stages of decomposition. Like the corridor outside, a thin layer of frost covers everything in this room, including the thrones and their occupants.
When you appear in the chamber, Baba Yaga giggles, and her voice issues from the matryoshka doll: "There they are; twelve queens all in a row. Such beautiful, loyal daughters... they each ruled a hundred years and then gave me their lives so I could live on. The life of Baba Yaga sits before you; all you need to do is take each of their hearts and steep them to make a fine witch’s brew." She giggles again and goes silent.
There are 14 thrones in this chamber, one for each queen in Irrisen’s 1,400-year history. Each throne bears the sigil of Baba Yaga and Irrisen and a plaque naming the queen who sits upon it. In order from left to right, they are Jadwiga, Morgannan, Urvalane, Pjallarane, Aelena, Harcatha, Sascha, Karina, Tashanna, Velikas, Kseniya, Betyrina, Yelizaveta, and Elvanna. Twelve of the thrones hold what’s left of Baba Yaga’s daughters. Those daughters to the extreme left are little more than brittle bones with leathery skin stretched over them, while those on the right are in much better condition, their pale corpses yet unblemished by the passage of time. The ninth throne (Tashanna’s) and the fourteenth (Elvanna’s) are empty. All 12 of the enthroned queens writhe and twitch with foul necrotic animation, but the first eight crone queens are fused to their thrones, the long centuries having taken their toll, leaving them little more than barely sentient shells, slumbering in deathlike torpor. These eight ignore you completely, but the last four crone queens still retain much of their memories and seethe with hatred of Baba Yaga. Sensing the presence of the matryoshka doll, they leap from their thrones to attack you as soon as you enter.
They react immediately, activating their auras.
The first crone hexes Vars with Misfortune.
The second does the same with Duhwoo.
The third and fourth hex Avoreal and Devin with Ice Tomb.
Initiative - round 1 - bold may act
1. The Crone Queens
2. Vuvu, Avoreal, Duhwoo, Vars, Trotter, Devin
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Duhwoo will activate his <Headband of Unshakeable Resolve> to reduce the fear effect...
Duhwoo will defer his initiative until after Devin acts -- in case the cleric casts Blessing of Fervor or something...
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Vars
Vars
Devin
Devin activates his heroism aura as a swift action. He then casts Sunbeam and blasts the Witch that hexed him.
He waits to see if he needs to use his quickened remove fear on anyone who fails the save.
Vars will then (after waiting for inspire courage to start) move over to the thrones and engage the one furthest west.
power attack, heroism, prayer (+2 because of fate's favored trait), blessing for +2, staggering critical, inspire courage
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now that he's inspired and blessed (he will take the extra attack option from Blessing of Fervor), Duh will rage, step 5', and Lunge at the western-most witch -- using Power Attack, Reckless Abandon, and "Come and Get Me":
assuming AC 44 confirms, then points of damage
for points of damage
if AC 40 hits, then points of damage
in the unlikely case AC 35 somehow hits, then points of damage
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The third crone dodges most of the ray.
The first crone is brought down by the successive attacks of Vars, then Duhwoo. She's quickly decapitated by the barbarian, and her head is sent flying!
Duhwoo redirects his third and fourth attacks at the second crone, which ends up being slightly wounded.
Initiative - round 1 - bold may act
1. The Crone Queens
2. Vuvu, Avoreal, Duhwoo, Vars, Trotter, Devin
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Seeing Avoreal being entombed in an ice coffin, the three remaining crones continue to rely on their hexes to defeat you!
The second one curses Vars with Ice Tomb.
The third one uses the same hex against Vuvu
The last one uses the same hex against Duhwoo.
Initiative - round 2 - bold may act
1. The Crone Queens
2. Vuvu, Duhwoo, Vars, Trotter, Devin, Avoreal
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Vars will chop away at the once facing him.
power attack, inspire courage, blessing of fervor for extra attack, heroism, prayer, staggering critical
While I imagine it is possible that the target survived to be staggered for 2 rounds, I feel it to be unlikely.
Devin will take another shot with Sunbeam at the target furthest to the east.
DC 25 Ref for 1/2
He will also lay a quickened dispel magic on Avoreal to see if that wakes her from the hex.
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Vars steps forward and slays two of the angry undead crones!
Devin's ray incinerates the last crone, leaving her weakened. With all your joint might, you have no trouble defeating her once and for all.
With the last of the four vivid crones gone, you can search the cavern at your leisure. In the southern corner of the room is a small table and two chairs. A brass samovar—a traditional Russian tea urn—sits upon the table, beside a silver platter containing a complete silver tea service for eight. The matryoshka doll reminds you: "Cut out their heart! Put them in the samovar!" with a maddened and impatient voice. The eight remaining crone queens are unable to stop you from doing so, at most weakly raising their arms or moving their heads to glare at you with icy hatred as their frozen hearts are cut out of their chests. Once they're all put inside the teapot atop the samovar, reality melts around you and you find yourselves back to the sacred pool in Grandmother’s Cauldron.
The matryoshka doll croaks again. "Now fill the samovar with water from the sacred pool, heat it to boiling and steep the hearts in the water, then pour the brew over the doll. Quick!" Executing her orders to the letter has the effect of cracking the doll once again, revealing the last doll inside.
"ALMOST FREE!" shouts the voice, now completely unrestrained. She proceeds to scold you like a misbehaving child. "You have been so slow that a flail snail would have acted quicker than you! Are you really looking to gain my favors in the name of your pathetic Society? What a mess you've made. Lowering your guard like that and allowing you to be trapped into an Ice Tomb? What were you thinking... Fools, the lot of you. If you make such mistakes, you'll never beat my daughter Elvanna." The voice remains silent for a moment. "Although you did succeed. Maybe not everything's lost yet. Receive my boon, mortals!"
With the final layer of the matryoshka doll removed, Vigliv appears one final time from the trunk of her tree.
"The fate, the power, the death, and the life of Baba Yaga, all have you claimed. Only one thing remains for you to break her free from her prison and save your world: her blood, which flows through the veins of the ruling queen of Irrisen, her daughter Elvanna. Elvanna’s blood is her birthright, handed down from her mother, and represents both Baba Yaga’s and Elvanna’s burning desire to rule their fates and those of others. It is only with Elvanna’s blood, returned to her mother, that you can save your world from the eternal winter that threatens it.
"Even now, Elvanna has sequestered herself in Baba Yaga’s inner sanctum, here in the Dancing Hut, where Baba Yaga formulated her most potent spells and executed her most glorious triumphs, and where Elvanna now works her greatest ritual to cement her power, conquer your world, and supplant her own mother as Queen of Witches. Now you must go to this sanctum and face Queen Elvanna before she can finish her ritual. But beware, for time is running short, and Elvanna is truly her mother’s daughter. Her will to power is as strong as the blood in her veins, and she will not give up her desires easily. Heed the guidance of Baba Yaga, however, and you may yet win the day, freeing her and saving your world."
Vigliv nods benevolently. "Before we part, I have a final gift, for this is the last time we meet. Take this golden thread. I have harvested from the excess of your own threads of fate, which have grown long and densely plied as you have pursued your quest to free Baba Yaga and save your world."
When Vigliv departs, Baba Yaga speaks again, taking a more conciliatory tone with you. "I may have been harsh before, which was not directed against you. You are indeed worthy of being my champions in this eleventh hour. You need to make haste, for Elvanna is already in my inner sanctum working on her ritual, and she is close to finishing it. Rest swiftly, we'll be leaving soon."
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The following morning, you wake up refreshed and ready to face that final challenge. Following Baba Yaga's instructions, you step forward in a narrow path and find yourselves standing in the midst of a lonely, frigid steppe with a bitter wind howling out of the north. The sky is an endless leaden, overcast dome above a brown plain of frozen mud and dry grass. The matryoshka doll speaks again.
"This demiplane mimics my homeland in southern Russia -on a far away planet called Earth- where I found an ancient burial mound called a kurgan and took it as my abode in the time before she constructed my Dancing Hut. Later, I transported that kurgan inside my hut to serve as my inner sanctum. Whatever way you choose and by whatever means you travel, you'll reach the Kurgan in one day. Beware, for Elvanna has undoubtedly already been here and has likely turned my guardians against me. Finally, at least one naive creature of the frigi steppes inhabits this demiplane. It never previously inconvenienced me, so I never bothered to hunt it down, but you should be wary nonetheless."
The path is long in the freezing steppes, and eventually night falls before you reach the Kurgan. As the sun sinks to the horizon, you hear a dreadful howl that sends shivers down your spines. The more learned among you are able to tell that it comes from a wendigo. Beings of ancient evil, wendigos haunt the minds of mortals, driving them to desperation and, ultimately, cannibalistic madness. They enjoy whittling down prey before they strike, trailing victims for days, even weeks, while plaguing their journeys with nightmares and foul weather.
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no standing buffs for Duhwoo...
when the party gets underway, he'll stash his cloak and don the wings! He loves flying around:
...and he's getting good enough that he tries to play with Avoreal while she's flying along, trying to practice aerobatics and the like. He averages 100' altitude; he keeps a Message cantrip going between himself and both Vars and Avoreal -- he breaks the spell periodically with his flying, but he always renews it right away...
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The doll remains as silent as a tomb since you left the place where you appeared, but from your estimation you've done about two thirds of the way already.
The general consensus being to push forward, you endeavor doing so. The night hours are long and harrowing, but you finally arrive in sight of the Witch's Kurgan at dawn. Rising from the bleak plain like a beacon stands a huge earthen mound. It is clearly artificial, protruding prominently from the otherwise flat steppe, but it is just as obviously thousands of years old, as its contours are the natural result of long years of wind and rains, and the brown grasses of the steppe grow in an unbroken blanket over its sides. A low, dark entrance, little more than a cave opening, leads into the mound near the bottom on the south face, framed by two mammoth tusks. Two squat, lichen-covered female statues flank this opening, but the details of whatever they once depicted have long since been erased by the years.
The Witch Queen's Kurgan - Map