Old Bonegrinder

The View I did not do a lot to change the view, but I did change the atmosphere a bit. (ideas from Volo's Guide To Monsters)

Heightened activity of birds (ravens near the standing stons), rodents, snakes, and spiders can be found in the grass. The Players noticed their presence, the ones with the highest Passive Perception noticed there were a lot of them and I gave my Druid the hint that there was an abnormal alarming presence of animals to be found here.

Beasts that have an Intelligence of 2 are charmed by the Hags and aggressive. My friend's Tiefling Blood Hunter has a hawk named Alice. When the Raven suawking at the Players failed to get his message through, he flew off.. only to be attacked mid-air by the BH's hawk. This was unusual behaviour for him (especially since the BH rolled a Natural 20 for her) and Alice took down the Raven. She then returned to her owner and started pecking her aggressively. The BH, follower of the Raven Queen, did not pick up the hint of the Raven (he knows the whole campaign, so he let his character decide not to understand it, even though they are messengers.. I should have said that in-game as well, but did think his bird was trying to tell him something.. something related to those stones perhaps? Or to the windmill? If only he knew he was wrong.. which he does :p

Strange carved figurines and twig fetishes This did not come out in-game just yet, I have decided to put these trinkets in the forest close to the standing stones.

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Ambience audio

This is a 3 hour long video with sounds relating to the Bonegrinder, made by someone called Sword Coast Soundscapes. It contains a bit of wind, ravens squawking, Morgantha's sweeping and the cackling of the sisters. (I am still trying to figure out music, I played this for almost three and a half hour straight before realising I should put something else on) (reddit)

Morgantha and her daughters

Morgantha and her daughters (Offalia and Bella) form a Coven Three. Most Hags do not like working together with other Hags.. unless it gives them special powers. And special powers it did give. A lot of people try to use these powers, eventually ending up in a TPK. (reddit)

Although they are powerful, they are rightly so. A Night Hag on her own has a Challenge Rating of 5, meaning that one Night Hag (according to Kobold Club) should be a Deadly Encounter to a Level 3 Party of 4 (which your party of adventurers is likely to be)or a Hard Encounter to a Level 4 Party of 4. Now add two more Night Hags to that. Now give them extra spellslots and extra spells because they work together. You see why your adventurers could easily be killed of if you wanted to. Now you could pull a Perkins and change these to Green Hags. That will open a bunch of possibilities as well! (reddit)

And that is mainly why I changed two things.

A Coven Three even works when they are not close to each other. (They have to be within 30 FT of each other in order to share the spellslots and access their advanced spellcasting). This made them more powerful. (reddit)

My Bella was nowhere to be seen as the party already encountered her in Barovia Village. This gave the Players two out of three possible enemies to fight. It gave them a time-limit on their actions (she would return within one hour) and it would give Bella a revenge plot if something went south with the Coven. => I initially planned on Morgantha being in the Village and then decided to use Bella, as I wanted Morgantha to be able to use her Lair Effects. During the game, I scrapped this idea. Unfortunately, I had already introduced Morgantha. Now it was only a daughter who was out, but imagine if the Night Hags already manifested them as powerful beings.. and then they told the party that "Mother" would return within one hour? Creepy! (reddit)

Why this flavourful change? For starters, I am not a fan of the radius mechanic of a Coven, but Hags (especially those in a Coven) are scary when they pull out the big guns, yet they become even scarier when they show to you they have chosen not to do so. (reddit)

Tactics

/u/DragnaCarta gives an excellent talk on their fighting mechanics and why you can easily putt of fighting at first.

To put it simply, Morgantha and her Daughters are Hags, Nights Hags. Their goals are mainly to get the Players (and the villagers) addicted to their pastries and lead them on a path of fear and corruption. Hags like to corrupt people and often make deals with them. At first, it seems as if nothing bad will come out off the deal, but Hags live a long time and they see how their plan will work out. It could be as easy as delivering a letter on a certain spot at a certain time, something innocent looking that will only make its effects known years later. Night Hags especially like to corrupt the Soul, so that is their man goal. And to me, that is how Bonegrinder should be played. (reddit)

The Sourcebook makes the Hags attack quite easily, but during my four hour game they barely occupied themselves with fighting. There are a couple of reasons for that, and it mainly has to do with (you guessed it!) Corruption (reddit)

My Wild Magic Sorcerer made a background where he was abducted by a Hag as a child. This was part of a deal she made with his parents. The Hag discovered he had a raw source of power and decided to feed it, but eventually he escaped. I decided to have Morgantha, the Old Hag she is, to know this Player's Hag. It gave him a moment of roleplay, to figure out what she knew about him and his Hag. Morgantha saw this power within him as well and wanted to inspect him even further, she could teach him to control this power, but they would have a one on one ritual for about an hour. (reddit)

The Player eventually agreed on doing this. He thought he was going to die, but he wanted to know more. I did not really think the Ritual completely through, so I had to make up stuff at the moment. (Chanting, killing a live Toad, eating its heart, smearing strange symbols on yourself). If undisturbed for an hour, the Sorc would be able to either get spells, set his Wild Magic DC even higher or be able to reroll on the table. He would have to repeat this ritual from time to time, which would slowly be corrupting him and changing him into a Banderhobb. (reddit)

To heighten the chance to have somebody eat the Pastries, which Ireena and Ismark eventually did. Nobody ate them, so they sacrificed themselves to defuse the situation when they entered and to make it seem like they were just innocent people, who did not not trust the Hags. Of course, my Players just think they are idiots... fair enough. (reddit)

Emotions. When the Hags were attacked, I kept having them defend themselves, not with magic or any sort of fighting, but with words. They were just innocent people, trying to bake pastries, feeding the village of Barovia, rescuing the kids, yet these adventurers came in, refused to eat their pastries, broke their windows, took valuable time from them and defied them in their own home! When I put it like that, my Players (who obviously know what Hags are AND know their CR), kinda felt bad.. even though they knew for 100% that these Hags were bad and they actually stole kids. The ladies only used spells, such as Sleep! They did not even want to kill the Party and begged them for not fighting them. (Hags tend to pretend they are weaker, only to corrupt the Adventurer even more.) (reddit)

Deals. The longer it took for the Party to TPK, the more deals they could make. Eventually two were made. (reddit)

Deals

Two deals were made. Both to the same Players, even though it started as two deals for two Players (one deal/one Player).

The Hags asked for the Druid's Final Breath and the Cleric's Victories The Final Breath can easily be deducted, although my Players do not exactly know what it means. Will the Druid die at midnight? His final breath of the day? Will he die once he is unconscious? (reddit)

=> Good attempts. But the answer is that one of his Death Saving Throws is now forever (until the Curse is lifted by a different Hag) crossed out. He does not know this at the time. So a Natural 1 on his Death Saving Throws now kills him instantly. The Cleric eventually managed to put this Curse on him as well, and he was ready to die at that moment to save his comrades (they know each other 24 hours now, since the CLeric's Player already had a character die.) (reddit)

The Victories is a bit harder, but equally interesting and a lot harder to interpret. The first idea that crosse my Player's minds where the trophies the Cleric would have, yet he does not carry trophies of his enemies. When this Player kills an enemy, that enemy does not die outright. The Cleric can't make any killing blows anymore. I am not sure how to incorporate this yet. WIll the Cleric stop once he rolls the damage die and would thus kill the enemy, or will the enemy just persevere after what would definitely be a killing blow? (reddit)

If they wanted shelter (which they did not ask at the beginning, even though Morgantha made it clear that this was not an inn to rest at), they would have been directed to the Will O'Wisp encounter in the Sourcebook. (reddit)

Other possible ideas for deals included:

A bit of your Luck. This is basically an at will Unlucky Feat the DM can give to his Player (reddit)

Your happiest memory. The initial deal offered to the Druid. He declined, making possible further deals even harder and more dangerous. (reddit)

A vial of your blood or a lock of hair. (reddit)

The beauty in your world. In a world filled with darkness, where the Players can find little spots of happiness and beauty, this Player finds none. (reddit)

These can either be costs for certain services, or Death Curses Hags spit out (reddit)

Combat

Although my Hags did not take part in comnbat (for the most part), and it did make them scarier because of it, your adventure might be different. (reddit)

The Hags could easily kill a Party as discussed above. When threatened by a Party that's in over their heads, the Hags could go for combat or for deals. They might make themself look like hurt, old little ladies, terrified by these monstrous men that have come to pillage and plunder. They will offer information, (magic) items, and more.. all in their favour of course. The Armour that was given to the Paladin? It could quite literally bite him in the ass. The Compass they offered that finds gold and magical items? It shows the most dangerous route to it. (reddit)

When the Hags face an adversary that are equal to them, they will find dirty with every trick they have. Otherwise, if the adversary is stronger, they will scheme and find ways to corrupt them and make them weaker. They have weird magic. Use it. (I strongly recommend Volo's Guide for ideas). (reddit)

Some ideas

Remember sweet Mad Mary whose daughter disappeared? What if the lovely girl disappeared when she was quite young? Snatched by an old hag? Has it been eaten yet or is she still alive? Is one of Morgantha's daughters in fact the girl? What will the party do when they find out? Will they tell Mary the truth and crush her dreams and hopes? Or will they instill her with false hope? (reddit)

Perhaps selling the pastries, collecting the children has a second goal to it as well? The Hags are looking for a potential candidate to join their Coven once more. Now the party does not only have tod eal with the apstries corrupting the minds of Barovia's townfolk, but also to prevent an event from happening: the Completion of the Coven. Is Morgantha going to consume a child and give birth to a daughter later on, or are there rituals involved? What's needed for these rituals? (reddit)

What will happen to Barovia when the Hags are stopped? The town is already in a bad state as it is, now all the happiness that they had left is just taken from them. Will they try to find out what happened and rally against the adventurers? Will there be a case of infighting for the last pastries, thus dooming the town even more? (reddit)

I did not think this post would look like this, and I probably forgot half of what I wanted to say. If you want me to write down how the events of last night went down, I'm up for telling you. (reddit)

Do check out /u/Paintraina and /u/DragnaCarta ! They have written some excellent posts on the series as they went through the campaign. And they do a better job of describing the chapters than I do. Maybe I'll do more of these types of posts, I'll see. Thanks for reading and keep haunting! (reddit)

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If the Shambling Mound is a Barovian slap in the face, then Old Bonegrinder is a Barovian dagger to the heart. Given its tight quarters, early placement, and overwhelmingly powerful enemies, it’s no surprise that this windmill has a reputation for torpedoing new parties. If you want to avoid an automatic TPK everytime you run this chapter, just remember this: The hags are saleswomen first, corrupters second, and monsters last. (reddit)

As your PCs approach Old Bonegrinder, I highly recommend placing some of the items or phenomena designed by /u/Hoaxness in this excellent post in the region surrounding the windmill. I especially like the idea of wildlife becoming erratic in the area. (reddit)

Morgantha and Her Girls

It would be a mistake to assume that any PC who steps into Old Bonegrinder will automatically receive a Lightning Bolt to the face. In fact, the module specifically notes that, should any PC engage Morgantha in conversation, the Night Hag first asks if they’ve come to purchase her wares. If declined, she politely asks them to leave, attacking only if they refuse. (reddit)

If you previously ran the Dream Pastries event, then it’s likely that your PCs see themselves as daring adventurers on a mission to rescue Barovia’s children. Remember, though, that Morgantha and her daughters have been in Barovia for a long time. Their first priority is self-preservation. If confronted outside of the coven, Morgantha will flee. If confronted within the coven, however, Morgantha will seek entertainment. (reddit)

Powerful monsters are arrogant; fiends are doubly so. From the moment she meets the PCs, Morgantha has one of three goals: avoid them; get them addicted to Dream Pastries; and turn them down a path to fear and corruption. If your PCs are set on challenging the hags, then the first option is out. The other two, however, are prime targets. (reddit)

We’ll discuss combat in a moment. However, if Morgantha can talk her way out of a situation, she’ll certainly try to (with her +3 intelligence and +4 charisma modifiers). Moreover, she’ll do her best to analyze the PCs and subtly push them toward darkness. The souls of evil folk are a Night Hag’s favored delicacy, and strangers in Strahd’s domain are prime targets for temptation and corruption. Perhaps Morgantha promises an ambitious young wizard power, obtained by sacrificing one of the children kept upstairs. Perhaps she promises to set both children free - if only the paladin slays his squire. (reddit)

Of course, unless your PCs are already tilting toward Evil, it’s unlikely that this works. In that case, get ready to roll for initiative - because your PCs are about to face a trio of CR 7 creatures with a combined encounter experience rating nearly high enough to take them all the way from level 3 to level 6. (reddit)

Alternatively, the Hags can also offer some kind of deal to win the PCs' favor. I won't go into too much detail here myself, but you can find here an excellent discussion of potential contracts and agreements that the Hags can strike with the PCs in exchange for power, hostages, or information. (reddit)

Fighting a Night Hag

First off, keep in mind that Morgantha and her daughters do not consider low-level PCs to be a threat. If the situation is more akin to a Great Dane silencing a yapping Chihuahua, then let the hags add insult to injury by incapacitating the PCs with a simple Polymorph without even indicating any sort of hostility. The spell will wear off, but it’s unlikely that your PCs will ever forget a titanic hag pinching and cackling at their tiny, slimy toad body. (reddit)

The most obvious spell in the Night Hag coven spell block is Lightning Bolt, and for good reason. Like Fireball, it’s big and flashy. But it is extremely outside of Morgantha’s character to rely on it. Rather, from the moment combat begins, the hags will aim to (1) cripple; (2) intimidate; and (3) incapacitate their enemies. Because the hag coven’s repertoire relies so heavily on Wisdom saving throws, their opening salvoes will rely heavily on gimping that attribute. (reddit)

Whenever possible, the hags will cast Bestow Curse using a level 5 spell slot, and Hold Person using a level 4 spell slot. If facing a magic user, all three will attempt to preserve their level-3 spell slots to cast Counterspell when necessary. See the table below for a list of all spells that the hags will use in combat. Bolded spells are preferred at that spell slot; italicized spells are cast at a higher spell slot than their own. (reddit)

Note x2: If you want to up the difficulty of this and future hag encounters, I recommend following /u/Hoaxness' example in this post and removing the proximity requirement for forming a coven. (reddit)

Level Slots Spells

1st Level 4 Identify; Ray of Sickness

2nd Level 3 Hold Person; Locate Object

3rd Level 3 Bestow Curse; Counterspell; Lightning Bolt

4th Level 3 Phantasmal Killer; Polymorph

5th Level 2 Lightning Bolt; Bestow Curse; Contact Other Plane; Scrying

6th Level 1 Eyebite

If only one hostile PC is present, the hags will use Polymorph to turn them into a toad (L4; Wisdom DC 15). If that fails, they will attempt to target that PC with Eyebite’s unconscious condition (L6; Wisdom DC 15). The goal: to render that PC harmless, and to toss them into a cage with a cackle. (reddit)

When facing a larger group of enemies, Two hags will open with Bestow Curse, if feasible, to curse one PC’s Wisdom score (L5; Wisdom DC 15). The third will follow up with an Eyebite attack, aiming to infect the most threatening PC with the Sickened condition (L6; Wisdom DC 15). They will then use Polymorph together, attempting to turn all hostile PCs into toads (L4; Wisdom DC 15). If that fails, two Hags will cast Hold Person (L2; Wisdom DC 15), while the third spams Ray of Sickness or uses her action to Change Shape, dealing critical-hit claw attacks on paralyzed PCs. Lightning Bolt is a panic button - if a dying hag sees an opportunity to kill multiple PCs at once with it, she’ll cast it from pure spite. (reddit)

If any hag dips below 30 HP, she uses her action to slip into the Ethereal Plane. Note that this doesn’t break the coven - due to the Material and Ethereal Planes’ proximity, ethereal hags still count as present for the purposes of maintaining the coven. If two hags go below 30 HP, any member of the coven dies, or the coven runs out of spell slots, however, the remaining members use their action to flee into the Ethereal Plane. (reddit)

Nightmares in the Night

As has been noted elsewhere, fights with the Night Hags are more often the start to a questline than the end of it. If your PCs succeed in combat, any surviving hags will pursue them from the Ethereal Plane, haunting them in their dreams and pushing them toward the brink of corruption. The hag won’t kill her target until she’s sure that the PC’s alignment has turned (good souls have no taste to them), but she will keep them just barely above zero hitpoints for as long as possible. Refuge can be found at the Church of St. Andral, or through a Protection from Evil and Good spell - but for how long? Sooner or later, when your exhausted wizard is fighting hordes of twig blights with naught but a quarterstaff, Bella or Offalia will take the chance to slip out of the Ethereal Plane - and slip one dagger-sharp claw between his ribs. (reddit)

It is much more likely, however, that your PCs flee - at least at any level lower than 6 or 7. If they’re smart, they can take out the members of the coven separately, as a single Night Hag isn’t actually much of a threat to any character above level 3. However, it’s pretty probable that this encounter ends with your PCs unconscious on the floor of Old Bonegrinder, completely at the hags’ mercy. What then? (reddit)

Remember - the hags desire two things above all else: corruption and fear. Keep the PCs tied or locked up with the children on the third floor, and torment them as Bella and her mother devour an unlucky child in full view. Fatten them up to serve as an eventual supper themselves - and, when Morgantha leaves to peddle her wares in Barovia or Vallaki, and Bella and Offalia are distracted, let your PCs lead a mission to escape. Perhaps, if the party has drawn Strahd’s attention, the Devil himself appears to order Morgantha to set them free. After all, adventurers in his domain are his toys, and his alone. (reddit)

Most endings to this chapter don’t have to end in death for your players. Almost all, however, end quite unhappily. Given this old mill’s use as Barovia’s welcome mat, however, that seems quite fitting. (reddit)

Notes

Special thanks to The Monsters Know for their excellent article on hag tactics. Make sure to check them out!

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This is a very difficult encounter to handle as a DM, because the Hags are so badass and above the party level. At the beginning of the session that you think the PCs will encounter the windmill, I suggest giving them a warning, something like this - "This adventure is not linear. You can go where you want and do what you want, but there are some areas which have monsters which are far above your capabilities to defeat. You level up with milestones, so running, avoiding, and talking your way out of fights is often a better idea than fighting if you are outmatched." ([1])

If you start the session with a warning, the players will probably be very cautious when they go to Old Bonegrinder. They will likely investigate the Windmill at some point, especially if you did the Death House intro, or the Dream Pastry event. Make sure you read about Night Hags in the MM prior to the adventure as well. The Haunting ability the Hag has is really fun. My PCs attacked Morgantha and then retreated. She chose the rogue to haunt. Don't have her choose a spell caster to haunt because losing the benefits of a long rest for a spellcaster is brutal. Rogues or Fighters won't be disabled entirely by it. ([2])

Important points to prevent TPK

Make the Raven's warning clear as day. Just have the person with the highest insight or animal handling skill realize that the Raven is warning them of great danger. ([3])

Make opportunities to divide the Hags. I had Morgantha leave the windmill with her pastry cart and head to Barovia - This gives the opportunity to break the Coven spells and divide and conquer. ([4])

Roleplay Morgantha as skittish. She doesn't want to get into a knock down drag out fight unless cornered. She can turn ethereal to escape easily. ([5])

Be permissive when it comes to non-combat solutions to the situation. Basically if the PCs save the kids from the windmill, I call it a success. ([6])

Allow the PCs to research the hags in Vallaki. They should be able to learn things about hags from people in Vallaki - The Wereravens might know a thing or two about Hags, Rictavio certainly would, and so might any other spellcasters, like Victor Vallakovich or the Wachters. Let them find out about the Heartstone, haunting, covens, damage resistances, and such so they can prepare. ([7])