Who: “Granny” — the sweet old pie-seller from the village. Her real name is Morgantha, her face warps purple, and she is one of three hags living in a windmill on the road west. The “sisters” she mentioned are called Bella and Ophelia.
Where: The windmill, two days east of Vallaki — where she and her sisters still stand, holding a captive we swore to free.
Status: ⚔️ Undefeated. We fought. We lost. We ran. They laughed. We are coming back.
First met: Session 4 — the first person in Barovia to speak to us at all. Unmasked: Session 6, at her own front door. Victorious: Session 7, regrettably.
The reveal
At dusk on the second day out of Tser Pool we came on a leaning windmill that smelled of herbs and fresh pies — and Granny came up the road behind us with her little cart. Asked straight about the enchantment our magic had found, she gave the finest non-answer of the campaign:
“They are enchanting pies, I will admit. So you got me. They’re enchanting… it’s good for business.”
Then Sirius heard muffled screaming from inside the cart, and the pleasantries ended. She ran for the mill — faster than any old woman has ever run — shrieking “Bella! Ophelia!”, and the door burst open on three of them, Granny’s own face among them, warped and purple now. Her greeting:
“You shouldn’t have poked your nose in, dearies.”
How the fight went (Session 7)
Badly. Bella looked at Sirius in his full winged terror, said “you, winged one,” and turned him into a frog. Morgantha did the same to Osric a breath later. Lily ran into the middle of the three of them and scooped up both frogs — Morgantha’s claws opened her back for it — and we fled dragging Vasha in her silver net, while Morgantha smashed Clover to scrap almost as an afterthought: “and take your toy, too.” They stood in their doorway and laughed. They did not chase. They didn’t need to.
One consolation, and it’s a real one — Fëanor’s lore (a rare 18): hags draw their power from the coven of three. Take one below three, and the rest weaken sharply. That is how we kill them. Not the way we tried.
What we know now
- The pies are made of their captives. From Vasha’s own mouth: the hags hack off the werewolves’ arms, the curse grows them back, and the millstone does the rest. Written plainly because it must never be softened. We cremated every pie we carried.
- They still hold Radu — the werewolf born, chained inside the mill, growing back what the ovens take. We swore, to Vasha, to come back for him. She’s watching the mill until we do.
- Radiant magic hurts them. Fëanor’s guiding bolt was the only thing all night that made Morgantha look “a bit hurt.” Steel, fire, and acid mostly washed off.
- They wanted Lily alive — “unwise to attack our best customer” was a promise as much as a warning. Her recovery is their lost revenue.
- The mill has a henge of old standing stones behind it, still unexamined. There was never a quiet moment.
Open questions
- Can we split one hag off from the coven — catch her alone on her pie rounds — before the full moon comes back around for Vasha?
- What do they do with a party that comes back? (We intend to make this their problem.)