Session 2

Two days of travelling later, the group - the Captain, the cleric of Leng Held, Kira, Dolly Dagger, Hardy Da, Whiskeythimble, and Yourunawitha Despair are riding to Thane.

Held seems possessive of the box, mumbling to himself as he keeps his magic over it. Yourunawitha Despair notices that he is speaking Infernal, unusual for a cleric like him. His right hand also looks slightly atrophied, and his left eye seems to cloud over and go misty occasionally. She tells the rest of the group to keep an eye on him.

Hardy Da asks Held what's in the box, and tries to convince him to ransom opening it but is declined.

Princess Lydia and Marjorie ask Kira for fighting training.

Dolly Dagger asks Held to bless his peppers, and he does so - it grows in weight (now grants 1 minute Bless).

From the side of the road, three large cockroaches attack.

While Hardy is being tended to, Whiskey runs over to the box, and opens it. He sees a withered hand and an eye, and concludes that wizards are into something weird.
The next moment the lid is slammed shut, barely trapping his fingers, and the priest screams at him 'Never! Never!'. Whiskey pushes Held again to tell them what the box is about, and the Captain encourages him to do so.

Held says that when armageddon was (barely) averted 5 years ago, something from another reality extended itself into this one, and it is now up to the Arcanum to banish this back to it's realm. It is a foothold into this world for an entity of immense power.

The Captain gives Dolly and Hardy healing potions, and points towards a Holly tree.
'We're close to some good friends of mine', he says. 'The van de Lijdens should be able to help us'. Dolly knows that they are known as local philanthropists and counsellors. The Captain says that the 2 day delay to visit them would be worth it. The Captain offers to take the physical price of safekeeping for Held, but Held refuses.

Youruna uses Thaumaturgy to persuade Held to share the burden, and the party looks on in surprise as she glows. Held accepts her offer, and passes the box to her. From the box, Yoruna hears, in Infernal, 'Let me in'.

A day's travel later, the road seems better, and the party is feeling a chill creeping in. One of them could have sworn they'd seen a unicorn in the brush. Yoruna still hears 'Let me in'' repeated from the box. The party comes across a nice cottage, with the smell of stew and a spit roasting pork.

There's a figure singing in the kitchen, but the captain says - that's not Mrs van de Lijden.
The figure turns to them and asks how she can help. She spies the Captain's shield, and says that the van de Lijdens asked her to help the Cranes. The Captain asks where the van de Lijdens are, and she says that they were called away on business, asked her to tend the house.

She says she's made to much food, and asks them to eat. Whiskey realises that this woman couldn't have 'accidentally' made that much food, and there seems to be some kind of magic in play - the aura doesn't match the tone. He recognises the woman as an ilusion, and he attacks.

Whiskey hits with his daggers, dealing 15dmg. The image of the woman flickers and the true appearance of a crone appears.
The crone pushes Marjorie and Lydia out of the way, and rushes to her cauldron, where the stew has been replaced by a green bubbling liquid.
'I'll need something else for my stew', she says, and looking at Youruna she asks for her magical item. Youruna refuses.

Youruna sees that the eye and hand from the chest have crept somehow close to the cauldron. She starts using her Mage Hand to put them back in the box, and hears the voice again: 'I will give you more power, you will sit at my side.'. Falling into temptation, she doesn't notice her hand creeping up to pluck out her eye. Whiskey manages to stop her, and Hardy uses Mage Hand to move the hand and eye back into the box. He also fails, and Youruna manages to stop him just in time.
Kira tries to kick the hand and eye into the box, but also fails - Lydia finally manages to close them in, and the voice, having gotten louder and louder, is suddenly quieter again.
The Captain and Held emerge from the cottage, with the second hag bound.

'My sister, Skibidink', she says. 'Well. Do it now, kill me.' Youruna tries to intimidate her, but fails. Kira realises that she will need to figure out her weakness. Looking around, she gathers a small snowball and throws it at her. It seems to burn into her, and she breaks, promising to tell anything.

It seems a single warrior defending the premises was easy for them to overcome, and the hags were using the energy of the place to increase their power. She says that she could say something of the hand and eye they're carrying, that it's connected to a god. You could replace the hand and eye with your own, but you'd become a pawn of that God.
The hag tells Youruna that as a child of Azmodeus, the best way to honour her family is to 'Kill kill kill'. Kira shoves a snowball in the hag's mouth - 'If you can't say anything, don't say anything at all'. The hag starts melting.

Exploring the house, the party finds some doors magically barred. The Captain declares he will ride out to find provisions, and then they will have to head on to Thane. Held says that they could take a shortcut through the ruins of Eshkrisher. The captain blanches, and the priest looks as though he regrets the idea.

The Captain explains that Eskrisher is the ruins of an insect city, from when insects ruled the world. It would be a substantial shortcut, but would be through insect territory, and the insects want the hand and eye.

The party decides not to take the shortcut, and investigates the house some more. Yoruna finds a book on poetry, Hardy finds scrolls and letters, correspondence in an older dialect of common, between someone and the van de Lijdens - saying the 'Most Exalted' has been taken.

The party also finds 13 health potions.