I had found what I was looking for. Well, not really, I had found what I thought I was looking for, but really I had found more trouble! I was led to a small house completely hidden in the woods. We didn’t follow any trail that I could see, and I was later told that we were never to make a trail. For a short time I shared the house with the ‘coven’ of three other witches. The wild looking one was Fiona. She was 16 and had been living in the house for three years. The ‘hag’ called herself Evilyn. She was in her early 20’s and said that she had been at the house for most of her life. The third witch was young Alice. She was my age, tiny and beautiful but with a tragic look in her eyes. But I am getting ahead of myself again.

Fiona led me to the house and opened the front door for me. She set my mind at ease by showing me that the door was trapped, and showing me how to bypass the trap. The entry room looked rather small, but as I stepped in I heard the sound of two small ‘clicks’ from my right. I found out later that the entry room was over twice as large as what I saw, but Evilyn had put up an illusionary wall. She and Alice were hiding behind the wall with two tiny dart crossbows. The darts did minimal damage but were poisoned with a sleep poison.

I awoke in a comfortable bed in a moderately dark room. Alice was in a chair across the room, watching me. When she noticed that I was awake she stood silently and put a finger in front of her lips to signal my silence. She motioned to a table where I saw all of my equipment laid out. Obviously the women had searched me. I could feel Cervie in his favorite position on the back of my neck. Apparently the women had not found him. Alice moved over to me maintaining silence until her mouth was almost touching my ear. Even that close I barely heard her whisper, “Don’t trust.” I wasn’t sure what to make of those words but nodded anyway. She moved to the door, still silent, and opened it calling for the others. Her voice was thin and somewhat reedy.

The other women came in and we exchanged introductions. Since I was the intruder I explained that I was in the woods seeking them out. I explained that I was new to my powers and was seeking training. Evilyn asked for proof of my powers. I thought for a moment about what Alice had said and cast the cantrip to create light on an object. I also mentioned that I could do some minor healing with what I understood was a hex. Evilyn asked the obvious question about the cantrip. Where was my familiar since witches gained their powers every day by meditating with their familiars? I saw fear cross Alice’s eyes and lied, stating that my familiar had died but I still had the use of the cantrip that it had taught me. I asked if it was possible to gain a new familiar and saw triumph on Evilyn’s face. I found out later that she used such ‘issues’ to control the house. She was the reason that Alice had warned me, and my story, along with my empty home-made familiar pouch, had cemented my place in the house….

Their story was also fairly simple. They had spotted us in the woods. Not knowing why we were there, they had planned to rob us, possibly putting us to sleep first. Evilyn admitted that she had considered taking my guard for ‘other uses that he would enjoy’ and probably killing him once she tired of him. She smiled and nodded to Fiona at that, but I noticed that Fiona’s smile wasn’t as ‘real’ as Evilyn’s. I didn’t know if that meant I could trust her, but I did feel that she might be worthy of a chance.

As the newest ‘trainee’ in the house I was given the smallest room. Nothing was lockable but I was fairly certain that Cervie could stay hidden when I couldn’t keep him under my hair. I set a board at an angle in the corner of the room under the pile of straw that was to be my bed. When I checked through my equipment I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything was there including all of my money.

Once she found some private time Alice told me her story. Evilyn’s familiar was a viper. Alice’s had been an owl. When her owl spotted the viper slithering up behind Alice, it had attacked. Evilyn had killed it without a thought and then claimed that she was defending her own familiar. She claimed that she knew the ritual for calling another, but it required expensive herbs and such. Alice didn’t have the gold needed so she had to work to earn it. She had been without her familiar for almost a year.

As it turned out, this was the most important lesson that I learned at the house. Without my familiar my powers would be severely reduced. While I would keep my cantrips and hexes, all of my higher spells would be lost if I cast them. And later I learned that the replacement familiar wouldn’t necessarily have all of the spells that I had taught Cervie. Just like wizards guard their spellbooks, witches needed to guard their familiars!

I could add great detail here about my time with the women, the scary times when the lack of privacy almost foiled my plan, or the enjoyment that I experienced when I learned that women can enjoy intimate pleasures without men being present. But that really isn’t necessary for my story. Suffice it to say that my time at the house was interesting if short.

Evilyn called me to her room to discuss my options toward regaining my familiar. She also told me about a new aspect of being a witch that I was unaware of, the patron. Now I wasn’t aware of my patron, but I had selected one, or one selected me. Evilyn apparently thought that a witch didn’t actually select her patron until she had gained some power and was ready to receive her “reward spell”. Evilyn had received her patron spell. That was the illusion at the door when I arrived at the house. Her patron specialized in shadow and the granted spell was a silent image. It was a first level spell that created simple figments, useful if you had time to study the area and come up with a believable image. I agreed that it was a useful spell, but mentioned that I wouldn’t have any use for a patron without a familiar.

Evilyn laughed at my words and showed me that she had everything ready to call a new familiar for me, if only I were willing to swear my support to her, her coven, and her patron. I hesitated, and then asked about the familiar for Alice. That apparently wasn’t the answer that she wanted and she slammed the brazier closed and told me to get out of her room. I asked again about Alice and Evilyn reached for a weapon. Realizing that things were spiraling out of control I surprised Evilyn by casting an ear piercing scream at her. She must have thought that I had been truthful before because she was totally shocked at my casting the spell at her. I took advantage of her dazed condition to pull the dagger that I had hidden under my shirt and jab at her. She was hurt bad but not down yet, and surprised me by casting a wizard’s orison at me. Her small orb of acid hit me square, burning my clothing and my skin and igniting my resolve to finish her. She started to cast again but I thrust my dagger with all of my strength into her stomach. Her familiar came out of her blouse and tried to bite my hand but I pulled back too fast for it. The viper fell away with the body, and as Evilyn bled to death I found a staff leaning against the wall and was able to crush the little snake.

I wasn’t sure where Fiona was or what she would think of my killing Evilyn. Technically this meant that the coven was dissolved since no one now had the hag hex to lead the coven. I cast my detect magic orison and quickly searched the room. Evilyn’s desk had a scroll box with a couple of scrolls and the materials to make more. I hid this in my pack and continued searching. I found a ring on Evilyn but couldn’t figure out what it was. I also found a burnt out Ioun stone with a continual flame spell cast on it. I put that in to my pouch along with a fair amount of the gold that I found. I thought that maybe Fiona would feel better with a bit of money so I didn’t take it all.

I was surprised to not be interrupted in my search, but apparently Evilyn had sent the others out so she would not be interrupted if she had to kill me. That told me a lot about her trust of the others. When the others came back I met them at the door and told them that Evilyn was dead. Alice was shocked and Fiona was angry at first. When I told them of Evilyn’s words about the ritual to bring back my familiar, Alice then showed anger. Then I showed both ladies that I had my familiar and suggested that we do the ritual for Alice. I also told the ladies that they should feel free to split the coins in Evilyn’s room, explaining that I wasn’t truly part of the coven and didn’t feel like I should have a share.

Once we resolved the issues, I asked Alice to return to the city with me. Fiona indicated that she would stay at the house and try to restart the coven. Alice looked split, but eventually she did return with me. We decided on a future signal since I thought that we might be able to send new witches to Fiona from the house in the city.

The next morning I found out what Evilyn had meant about a patron. While I was communing with Cervie I became aware of a new spell that was available. Also, I had the capability to prepare the additional spell. I was glad for once to have had the time with Evilyn to have learned that little bit about Witch’s powers. As evil as she had been, she had succeeded in preparing me so I wasn’t too surprised and didn’t break my time communing. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that I could use a new hex. I took some time to think about it and decided that I wanted to better my skill at alchemy. Cervie understood and taught me the Cauldron hex giving me a deeper insight into creating both magical potions and non-magical craft.

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