Hut Key Purpose?

[Voadam]

I've sort of lost the narrative thread on Baba Yaga's purpose in the hut keys. The giant's beard and plague mask they get from the Black Knight in Book 1 they throw in the pot in Book 2 to get to Book 3.

Why did Baba Yaga create these keys? How do the PCs expect the keys to help them?

I just finished DMing most of book 2 and this will be immediately relevant in our next game.

Can anyone explain these so they make more sense? Thanks.

[shiiktan]

In case of spoilers:

Spoiler:

At one point, Baba Yaga's hut contained an immense collection of "key items," which she would use in varying combinations to activate the hut's teleportation. (Plague mask + frost giants = the Dvesda Marches, home of frost giants and victims of plague).

When she realized through divination that someone was plotting against her, she began leaving a breadcrumb trail of keys, so that her Riders could use the hut to find her if something happened to her.

When Elvanna captured the hut she drained the magic from the keys it still contained. The riders attacked to try to seize the hut - the White and Red Riders were killed, Black Midnight was mortally wounded, but escaped with two of the keys.

He used the last of his power to reactivate the keys he managed to obtain and to pass on the Rider's Mantle to the PCs.

Now the PCs are following the trail of breadcrumbs, gathering the keys to ultimately follow Baba Yaga to where she has been imprisoned.

[Brian the Blessed of Gozreh]

The hut keys are a kind of key lock system she put on the hut to prevent others from easily using its world hopping capabilities.

However, she was apparently expecting some sort of trouble in Irisen and removed several keys from her hut to prevent easy access to her base of power in her homeland. Her Rider had the keys in case of trouble, or he might have grabbed them from the hut as he fled, not sure. One of the guardians of Artrosa seemed to have been told to expect the Riders, who might have had easier ways to retrieve the keys placed inside.

The keys usually have some kind of symbology of their destination, but I don't know what the plague mask stood for. The hearth spirit in the hut was willing to talk to us about how the keys worked once it was assured of our allegiance to Baba Yaga.

In a metagame context they are a way to prevent the PCs from rampaging through Golarion in a major artifact and ignore Baba Yaga and her family problems.

edit: Ninja'd

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

Baba Yaga is quirky and has not yet lost that childlike sense of wonder about the world. ... Because she ate it.

[Tangent101]

The plague mask is because the first region is well known for its plagues.

However, let's be honest. The real reason for the keys is they serve as plot coupons to bring the Hut to each new adventuring area. ;)

[Voadam]

shiiktan wrote:

In case of spoilers:

Spoiler:

When she realized through divination that someone was plotting against her, she began leaving a breadcrumb trail of keys, so that her Riders could use the hut to find her if something happened to her.

This part is not clicking for me.

Spoiler:

How does the trail of keys she left around then lead to her now? Why would the horsemen or PCs expect going to these places to lead to finding or rescuing Baba Yaga?

[Voadam]

Brian the Blessed of Gozreh wrote:

The hut keys are a kind of key lock system she put on the hut to prevent others from easily using its world hopping capabilities.

However, she was apparently expecting some sort of trouble in Irisen and removed several keys from her hut to prevent easy access to her base of power in her homeland. Her Rider had the keys in case of trouble, or he might have grabbed them from the hut as he fled, not sure. One of the guardians of Artrosa seemed to have been told to expect the Riders, who might have had easier ways to retrieve the keys placed inside.

The keys usually have some kind of symbology of their destination, but I don't know what the plague mask stood for. The hearth spirit in the hut was willing to talk to us about how the keys worked once it was assured of our allegiance to Baba Yaga.

In a metagame context they are a way to prevent the PCs from rampaging through Golarion in a major artifact and ignore Baba Yaga and her family problems.

edit: Ninja'd

So why did you expect using the keys would help on your quest? Just a get out of Irrisen card?

[shiiktan]

From what I remember (typing this at work so can't consult the books) - she knows someone's out to get her, but doesn't know exactly when it's going to happen - so she starts leaving the trail of keys so the riders can follow her if something goes poorly.

The original riders knew of the keys, and presumably knew to try to use them in the event that Baba Yaga needs aid - the PCs know to follow the key trail because they are given that task by Black Midnight, and given some clues along the way by the raven oracles (in book 3) and maybe others - my group is just now two play sessions into book 3.

EDIT: I need to read through all the plot summaries again before the next time we play, so I can get a more detailed idea of what happened pre-disappearance.

[Imattackingthedarkness]

I think the keys are just a way to railroad this crazy AP that basically warps you from one place to another.

[Serum]

Voadam wrote:

So why did you expect using the keys would help on your quest? Just a get out of Irrisen card?

The Black Rider pretty much tells you everything.

[shiiktan]

From the adventure summary (warning- wall of text copied from PDF):

Spoiler:

With the help of her half-brother Grigori Rasputin,
Elvanna lured Baba Yaga into a trap on the Queen of
Witches’ homeworld—Earth. A daunting contest of wills
ensued, but Elvanna was victorious, and imprisoned her
mother in Rasputin’s fortress in Siberia. Despite Baba
Yaga’s seeming defeat, however, she had made her own
contingency plans against such treachery. Suspecting
something amiss in Rasputin’s summons, Baba Yaga
summoned her Three Riders—fey harbingers who appear
in Irrisen every 100 years to herald her return—and
informed them that if she did not make her scheduled
appearance in Irrisen, then they should assume some
ill fate had befallen her and come to her aid. Baba Yaga’s
plan was to leave a trail her loyal servants could follow,
consisting of a number of items that act as keys for
controlling her Dancing Hut. This trail would enable the
Three Riders (or other rescuers) to track her down across
various lands, and even other worlds, to free her.
Unaware of her mother’s precautions, Elvanna returned
to Golarion and shackled Baba Yaga’s Dancing Hut in
Whitethrone’s Market Square as a trophy and evidence
of her success in overthrowing her mother, taking care
to deactivate all of the keys inside that could be used to
control the Dancing Hut, so no one could steal it from her.
At the same time, Elvanna created a back door into the hut for
herself—a magic mirror portal that allows her to
freely pass between the Royal Palace in Whitethrone and
the hut’s inner sanctum.

With the hut thus secured, Elvanna embarked on a
hunt for Baba Yaga’s Three Riders. While she was able
to capture and kill two of the Riders, the Black Rider
managed to evade capture, only to discover that with its
keys deactivated, he could not use the Dancing Hut himself
to find Baba Yaga. Taking the deactivated keys to Iobaria with him,
the Black Rider fled into the wilderness.
Enraged, Elvanna instructed her armies to hunt down
the Rider even as she turned her attention to the next part
of her ambitious plan.

[Dragonchess Player]

For the symbolism behind the keys:

Iobaria

Spoiler:

Lock of hair from a frost giant beard - Iobaria has many tribes of frost giants and is also where Kostchtchie was born (prior to his transformation)
Plague doctor's mask - Iobaria is (in)famous for its plagues

Triaxus

Spoiler:

Dragon scale - Triaxus has many dragons and dragonkin
Gold nugget - one of the next keys is hidden in Yrax's hoard

Russia

Spoiler:

Two-headed eagle - a central element of the Imperial Arms of the House of Romanov
Bearskin - the bear is a widespread symbol for Russia

[Brian the Blessed of Gozreh]

Voadam wrote:

So why did you expect using the keys would help on your quest? Just a get out of Irrisen card?

As others poster above, the Black Rider told us some stuff when we encountered him. We knew Baba Yaga was over 2000 years old, that previous queens had not left with her quietly, and that she was the most likely counter to Elvanna . It made sense for a crafty world traveler to set up ways for trusted allies to follow her trail.

We didn't know where the first keys would take us, only that it would start us on the path Baba Yaga expected her Riders to take to assist her.

[Luna eladrin]

Thanks Dragonchess player for pointing out the symbolism. I hadn't noticed it as yet and wondered about it.

[remoh]

The keys are for the most recent locations she travelled to. This way the riders could back track to her final location.

[Voadam]

So this leaves a small plot hole. Why did she think the Hut would be available to be used by the Horsemen to track her down?

I see two solutions to fill the hole.

1 Divinations. She saw a limited glimpse to the future that showed her missing and the Hut shackled but in Whitethrone. Perhaps cryptic prophecy or such revealed that.

2 Timey Wimey. At some point in the past she met someone from the campaign present who knows the current situation of Elvanna having rebelled, Baba Yaga not showing up as planned, and the conquered Hut shackled and on triumphant display in Whitethrone but not anything else. Baba Yaga then comes up with a plan to leave a trail of Hut Keys so her Knights can use the Hut to redo her trail and hopefully find her.

Number 1 leaves open why those pieces of information and not others, while 2 is fairly perfect for my game as the party met young Baba Yaga in the First World travelling between the gate in Taldor and the one in Irrisen and passed on enough of their knowledge of the current situation to set the chain of planning events into motion as well as siring the first Jadwiga and instigating the initial conquering of Irrisen 1400 years ago.

[Luna eladrin]

I like option 2. I am considering using that one in my campaign as well, or a variant. It would be an awesome encounter.

[Voadam]

Luna eladrin wrote:

I like option 2. I am considering using that one in my campaign as well, or a variant. It would be an awesome encounter.

It was.

The party was following the Path between the Gates through the First World, had already met the dying Black Knight, gained the Mantle and agreed to rescue Baba Yaga. A terrified gnome crashed through the fey underbrush in torn noble's clothing and once on the path asked for their protection from the witch pursuing him. The Ulfen paladin immediately agreed to the Ulfen barbarian's groaning chagrin as trees started crashing as the pursuer got closer.

A young woman in a flying mortar and pestle arrived and demanded they turn over The Gnome who had wronged her so she could have him in her power and enact her vengance then and there in her Dark Wood. The Ulfen paladin refused respectfully.

The Kitsune bard asked something not so respectfully and she answered but was angry. She then asked for an equal exchange, one question answered from him, his name. At first he was reluctant to give it but then remembered they were in Fairy Land and unequal giving can end with you as a slave to the one you are indebted to. He said his name curtly but felt his True Name pour out of him exposed to her.

The Ulfen paladin then respectfully stepped in and offered information in return for her not using the bard's True Name. He said they were her sworn Knights of Blackest Midnight there to find and rescue her because she had been imprisoned somewhere unknown by her daughter with her Hut Shackled in Whitethrone. "But I think the you we are looking for is old so that has not happened yet." She took that in, said it was valuable knowledge and presented him with an opportunity. She sniffed him, pronounced him Ulfen. She offered him a kingdom among his people and promised that he would sire a line of rulers if he would turn over The Gnome. He refused again and she grew angry and said if he refused a third time he would stand in the way of her vengance and draw her wrath, she would conquer his people and enslave them, setting her daughters to crush them underfoot, causing misery for generations to come. He was a deterministic fatalist and nodded saying "Yes. You did. I still have to respectfully refuse."

The elven Calistria follower wizard then intervened with succesful diplomacy and seduction to divert her frustration. When her angry sex interlude was over with him she gave him a bone comb from her hair as a gift, patted her stomach and said "I will name her Jadwiga" before departing off into the Dark Wood of the First World in her flying mortar.

The fancy-pants golden-haired gnome was extremely thankful, said they had saved his life and he owed them. He had lived up to the word of his agreement with the Witch, but she did not appreciate the pun in the wording. When they asked he said his name was Garl.

[Zhangar]

Nice.

[Luna eladrin]

Very nice indeed!

[Misroi]

"GLITTERGOLD!!!" *shakes fist*