10/13/2026: Even in Berez, Molasses Is Flammable

The scarecrows are mostly dead, the hut is mostly on fire, and Biblo is still being carried off by Baba Lysaga's house, which totters across the ruins of Berez on its chicken legs, waving the barbarian overhead in a fist of roots. Her daughters, Morgantha and Offalia, flank the Great Hag herself, and there is screaming.

Morale is fine.

Shifty opens by hurling radiant light at the hut. It strikes true, but the structure does not so much as flinch, despite the fire the kobold cleric has started. Its other side still smolders from Crystal's Fireball, yet neither blaze slows the hut nor convinces it to drop Biblo.

Nike, still disguised as a scarecrow, conjures a whirling Cloud of Daggers to engulf Baba Lysaga. The Great Hag makes a small gesture, Counterspell, and the blades simply stop existing. It is a quiet, contemptuous little moment, and Nike takes it personally.

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Biblo, dangling forty feet in the air, decides this is no reason not to attack. His Flame Tongue Trident bites into the hut and sets it alight for roughly the third time. The hut keeps striding across the swampy ruins in its rolling gait.

Morgantha steps forward and shrieks, "How dare you injure our mother!" She unleashes a bolt of lightning down the line of companions. It catches Nike, Zilk, and Soulfire, and very nearly Pinecone the dire wolf, but Soulfire flings herself in front of him and takes the full blast herself.

But something about the moment goes wrong. Out of a stray pocket of arcane energy, a pseudodragon materializes. It is the size of a lapdog, with perfect opalescent scales, green-gold eyes, and incredibly sharp teeth. It attaches itself to Nike's ankle and begins to chew. It has a scorpion tail. It also has limited telepathy, which it uses to broadcast vivid images of itself pulling off Nike's arm and chewing it.

To crowd out these unpleasant thoughts, Nike decides to name him Ankle Biter. Mister Biter, to strangers. She wants to keep him.

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Offalia follows her sister's lead with a second Lightning Bolt, and Zilk finds his legs affected by this powerful magic. They will not work except in a particularly undignified skipping sort of stride. He lopes off anyway, closing in on the Great Hag.

Soulfire, furious that the hags have targeted her wolves, sends a Fireball into the lot of them, sculpting the spell carefully to spare the captive Biblo.

One of the scarecrows, not realizing that Nike is no fellow scarecrow, swipes at Ankle Biter instead. Nike vows to destroy the straw creature at the first opportunity. The tiny dragon is now one punch from death but still attached to her leg, and Nike has suddenly become very protective of the thing that has been chewing on her.

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Crystal answers with an Ice Storm that flattens the last scarecrow, batters the hut, and leaves the ground slick and treacherous beneath Morgantha and Offalia. Zilk follows with Nathair's Mischief, a spell he has never cast before and does not fully understand. Suddenly, there is a cloudburst of sweet-smelling precipitation, and it begin to rain molasses. The hags are now iced, glazed, and stuck fast. They screech in their fury.

Then Zilk reaches into his pack and produces something he has been carrying for a very long time: the severed head of the other hag, Bella. She was their sister, slain by the companions weeks ago. He holds it up for Baba Lysaga and her daughters to see, poking it with a stick until its silver eyes snap open. It screams, "Mother! Sisters! Avenge me!"

They lose their minds, swearing vengeance on the bugbear, and Zilk accepts that he may not have fully considered the consequences of his actions. Privately, though, he acknowledges that taunting the hags like this felt marvelous.

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What follows is less a battle than a family argument with spells. Nike keeps trying to befriend Ankle Biter, lunging for a hug and missing. The tiny dragon is too crazed with hatred to respond kindly.

Biblo tries to befriend the hut, which does not respond at all. It continues its slow, rolling progress across the marshy ground. Enraged, Biblo hacks at it with a battleaxe instead.

Without thinking, Morgantha hurls the powerful Eyebite curse at Crystal, who fortunately shrugs off the powerful dark magic. Baba Lysaga can be heard calling her daughter a fool for squandering so much arcane power on nothing. Offalia pelts Zilk with Magic Missiles. Ankle Biter stings Nike with its scorpion-like tail.

In desperation, Soulfire sends an Immolation spell at Baba's daughters. Morgantha and Offalia ignite in magical fire that no ordinary means can quench. It turns out that molasses, when sufficiently hot, burns like gasoline. Both daughters become pillars of flame.

Cursing, Baba Lysaga hurls one more Lightning Bolt that nearly drops Crystal, while the hut slips off into the distance with Biblo. Zilk's Mischief shifts, a field of flowers sprouts around the burning hags. Engulfed in flames, the blossoms explode, spraying water on the hags. They douse some of the flames on Morgantha. Not so lucky, Offalia keeps burning.

The party has lost a barbarian to a house, gained a dragon that hates Nike, and set a family of hags on fire with breakfast syrup.

Things are going well.