A witch in the woods


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


My players are currently crossing a forest which becomes a jungle the more they go deeper.
Somewhere in there, I want to introduce to them a character who lives in a shack. I'm thinking of a Witch who can give them some prophecies in exchange of a bit of blood.

Think I'm influenced by the following scenes/characters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3O1GM9QRqg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA8fjJdpKjc

Outside the shack there are many snakes and ravens and the place around has a haunting feeling. Inside the shack there are herbs, flasks, fossil bones, jars, candles and symbols painted with blood.

Through interactions, I want to give them the option to ask her 1 question about their future. The answer will be "abstract" and "certain" at the same time.

I've thought of her as a Chaotic Neutral character with the following SU abilities:

Animal Empathy/Telepathy -- to justify her safe existence in the jungle

Taste of Blood -- the prophecy thing

Steal Voice -- like the spell, so she can mimic their voices through prophecies description, just to give a more intense touch to the narration

Nightmare -- like the spell, I will probably cast it to them after the interaction, as a bit of punishment for having killed some good beasts before.

Any cool idea to enrich this concept??


we had to go see an oracle in a game and instead of just coin, I suggested that as payment, the oracle demanded a secret; "want a secret, give a secret"

Each character had to reveal some secret they had been keeping, to the oracle and the rest of the group present. It was a lot of fun, maybe something like that.


Have her react in complete horror to one of their samples of blood. Like the first two go down without a hitch. Poke the finger, drop of blood in the pool or on the black mirror or drip in the flame of a candle or whatever... poof, she gives a prophecy, next.

However, the second to last person, which will become the last one because she kicks everyone out and locks her doors, shutters her windows, after the third sample. She acts like it is a poisonous snake. True terror. She treats whoever the blood belongs to as if they had done it to her on purpose. Hostile. Angry. Most of all, scared. And kicks them out without explanation.

The end. They never get an answer.


yukongil wrote:

we had to go see an oracle in a game and instead of just coin, I suggested that as payment, the oracle demanded a secret; "want a secret, give a secret"

Each character had to reveal some secret they had been keeping, to the oracle and the rest of the group present. It was a lot of fun, maybe something like that.

That's really tempting since the Sorcerer of the party refuses telling me what spell he gonna pick on the next level xD


VoodistMonk wrote:

Have her react in complete horror to one of their samples of blood. Like the first two go down without a hitch. Poke the finger, drop of blood in the pool or on the black mirror or drip in the flame of a candle or whatever... poof, she gives a prophecy, next.

However, the second to last person, which will become the last one because she kicks everyone out and locks her doors, shutters her windows, after the third sample. She acts like it is a poisonous snake. True terror. She treats whoever the blood belongs to as if they had done it to her on purpose. Hostile. Angry. Most of all, scared. And kicks them out without explanation.

The end. They never get an answer.

That's so cool man. I could attach it to their Sorcerer, Blaze the Mad, who has acquired a kind of madness according to his background and he reacts really weird most of the times. He actually burns whatever on his way when the madness hit him. He's playing it really good.

I could kick him out telling him he is going to be Blaze the Paranoid xD


More ways to spice it up:

1. Favorable reviews: the PCs could encounter a talking animal, such as a snake or raven, that talks up the witch's prophetic abilities

2. Unfavorable reviews: leave the PCs warnings of prophecy gone wrong; perhaps a sentient undead, like a ghoul, that suggest the witch led them astray or cursed them to their fate or something

3. She demands very specific blood: not just the blood of the innocent, virgin's blood or the blood of a child; that's too obvious. Perhaps she demands the blood of the fairest maiden to return her youth; maybe the blood of the seventh son of the seventh son... where to find these becomes a side quest

4. PCs endure very real nightmares before encountering the witch. When they arrive, she asks them very specific questions about these horrors

5. she wears an opaque, featureless mask or otherwise has no face, save for a mouth

6. She is not one witch: several of the individual powers mentioned above could be attributed to a couple different types of hags, namely a Green Hag and a Night Hag. What if the "witch" encountered by the PCs is a very weird type of curse; a hag coven, unable to actually act with the full power of a Coven because they are bound into the same physical space. As the party is talking to the Witch, in the blink of an eye she assumes a different form, seemingly at random. For example as they greet her at the door she's a kindly old woman; she turns to move her broom to one side and turns back around revealing herself now as a 6' tall, green-skinned crone with scraggly gray hair smiling through yellowed teeth; even as they recoil in horror drawing their weapons she takes a step back returning to the prior form

7. The witch can't leave her cauldron: as the party enters the cauldron occupies a 20' diameter space inside the hut... a hut that only looks to be about 10' x 10' on the outside. The witch bobs and sways in the middle of the pot, which is very full of blood already

8. Steal Voice is not something she can turn off. Every time she speaks, the witch has a different voice, perhaps even one or more of the PC's voices

9. To the other extreme, the witch is a desiccated corpse, devoid of all fluid, until blood is first given at which point she animates to deliver the donator's prophecy

10. Throw out all of the tropes: clearing through the trees the PCs feel a sudden ripple around them, as if some aura of energy in the very air, but there is no obvious change at first. Once on the other side of the effect however all magic and magical effects have stopped. A few feet later and the vegetation thins to reveal pebble-lined paths; a few feet of travel on these paths reveals tall metal poles with soft light globes embedded in them.

Following any path to its end brings the characters to a gravel-lined roundabout with a dirt road leading out the other side. A sterile, white building with large windows abuts the turnabout and in the distance are several cultivated gardens. Two men in strange, camouflage clothing and helmets point sticks with sights atop them at the PCs as they approach; one shouts "we've got more of them Doctor!" in common.

Out of the building rushes a woman telling the men to lower their sticks which she refers to as weapons. She is wearing a long, white coat, her brown hair done up neatly in a bun, a pair of thick spectacles atop her nose. Her clothing is strange for a woman's, plain and functional with no adornments besides a piece of reflective material, roughly a 3" by 4" rectangle of an unknown gray material, hanging from her shirt pocket.

"Come on inside. We'll get a blood sample, figure out who you folks are and how I can help. I'm Doctor Forestwich… I know, what a weird name right... but I'm a friend. Please, c'mon inside..."


If you ever get the chance to see Hawk the Slayer*, I think the Woman [Sorceress] would be a great example. She is enigmatic, whispers when talking, and is clearly tuned into seeing the unseen.

She can be seen in this pic.

There is a review here.

There is even new talk of a sequal.

/cevah

*full movie


Cevah wrote:

If you ever get the chance to see Hawk the Slayer*, I think the Woman [Sorceress] would be a great example. She is enigmatic, whispers when talking, and is clearly tuned into seeing the unseen.

She can be seen in this pic.

There is a review here.

There is even new talk of a sequal.

/cevah

*full movie

So long as they still have Crow jumping over a log on repeat to simulate the elf making multiple shots with his bow. NEVER stop this multishot effect. Ever.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / A witch in the woods All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.