Good morning guys… I need help creating a magic item.
The PCs need several special gems from a coven of hags.
Unfortunately now one of the three is dead, and the two remaining don’t get along: Kohorra, a powerful Green Hag, wishes to convince or force another hag or witch to join them to recreate the coven; Keevara, her changeling witch daughter, wishes to be freed from her mother’s influence and leave her.
Kohorra has a powerful curse that impedes Keevara from leaving the swamp where they live.
The gems that the PCs need to retrieve are half in possession of one, half in possession of the other.
I need an item (that would be in possession of the PCs) that if given to Keevara could help break the curse and let her leave, while if given to Kohorra could help her enslave another, more powerful hag. They need to decide which witch (eh ^^) back up to get the gems.
The ideal item is both witch thematic and freedom/enslavement thematic… but I know that’s hard, so I think I will settle for one of the two themes.
I want to leave open a diplomatic solution with either witch, but not one that makes the two both happy. They’ll make a friend and an enemy out of this, either way.
Of course the PCs can also pursue the violent option. I have five 8th level PCs, and the hags with their minions are an appropriate, if tough, encounter.
Do you have any advice on the item?
That is what I'm looking for, thanks!
I would prefer this to be a rules official magic item though - it also needs to be somewhat balanced, since the characters might just decide "screw this, let's murder both hags and keep gems AND item." the combined encounter would be very hard but not impossible with proper preparation (8th level, 4 out of 5 are caster)... so I'm not ruling it out.
I have an alternative.
Clear Spindle Ioun Stone in Wayfinder- proof against mind-effecting effects.
Keevara needs it to protect against the domination. Kohorra needs it because another, more powerful hag has one (or a similar one) and she needs it so she can find a weakness and then enslave the powerful hag.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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It's a bit of a Spell-in-a-Can, but I'd go with a single-use geas/quest item in the form of an ingested poison. Give it a properly witchy name and flavor, of course. Either witch might have the spell available, but to be able to cast it on someone without having to spend 10 minutes doing obvious spellcasting at them is a pretty big boon.
The hag offers to give the party the gems if they bring her the item, which she plans to use to compel another witch into joining the coven. (The two-weeks or so of the spell's duration should give her plenty of time to lay further voodoo on the new witch, like the "you're stuck in the swamp curse" she put on the changeling)
Before the party can go get it or hand it over to the hag, the changeling meets with them in secret. She offers to give them the gems if they give the item to her instead, so she can use it on the hag to compel her to lift the curse that keeps her in the swamp (she'll use the two weeks time to lay her own voodoo on the hag, or to get as far away from the hag as possible).
The PCs can give it one of the witches, or even try to use the item on one of the witches to compel them to hand over the gems (though both will be on guard against the PCs).
If they choose to fight both the witches, they walk away with a neat item, but its a single-use item, so you don't have to worry about it causing too many problems through the rest of the campaign.