The Hag's Bargain

Auntie Dirtha Bonebender, the hag of the western desert, wove bargains and transformations across the sand for three centuries. She had marked Madam Helena from their first encounter at Grit's camp, and the hermit Grit was bound to her by a deal that had worn his time thin. The oasis itself was a doorway into something far older.

In the depths of the Sunken Pyramid, the party broke her.

Her True Name: Dirtha was known to ancient court records as She Who Speaks to Empty Places — a woman born in the merchant quarter of the eastern reaches who walked into the desert with nothing three hundred years ago and came back with everything. She spoke her name to the deep sand, and the deep sand answered. She bound herself to King Ramkheret, giving him years but keeping forever for herself.

Her true name, broken into three pieces and hidden through the trials of the pyramid, was Imetka. The first two syllables were paid for with a Feywild favor that Kouzlo will owe twice over. The third was sealed inside the clay heart of the king-golem and broken open by Thalen's newly-gifted Oathbow.

The Reading (carried out, by the end):

• The Tower, inverted — "The locust, ruin that was uninvited" — a giant scorpion (Kishep the Iron Claw), bound to Helena. Slain.
• The Hanged Man — "Drowned king. He who would not give, so everything was taken" — a mummy (Karumon the Bound). Freed, then at rest.
• Judgment — "The Empty Throne. I was waiting. I was always waiting. Lucky for you, they sent a herald" — Dirtha put it away. "That one's not for today."

Her death-rattle, as she sank into the sand of the king's chamber, returned to all three cards and named a fourth:

"THE TOWER. RUIN THAT WAS UNINVITED. THE HANGED MAN. THE DROWNED KING. EVERYTHING WAS TAKEN. JUDGMENT… The empty throne… They weren't your fortunes… they were mine…"

The Pyramid and Its Trials:

• A marriage contract binding Ramkheret to She Who Speaks to Empty Places, witnessed by the high priests and sealed with promises written in Fey
• The tomb of the king himself, empty save for his journal — a record of three centuries' waiting and her final release of him
• Twin sphinxes, Sekahnu and Vetherek, guarding the descent
• Anu, the king's priest-companion, cursed into the form of a black cat — released, healed, and now traveling with the party
• The Scales of Ma'at, the Bracelet of the Cobra, the Bow of the Horizon, the Ring of Mind Shielding, and the Alchemical Compendium — all recovered
• The clay king-golem, holding the third syllable of Dirtha's name; shattered to free both the king and the name
• Karumon the Bound, Ramkheret's brother and Grand Vizier, who turned on his captor and helped finish her

The Sisters: As Helena lifted Dirtha's bone deck from the sand of the king's chamber, the air chilled. Granny IceTooth and Mother Malice stepped through a wall. They did not look at the party. Mother Malice swallowed Dirtha's body whole. Both sisters vanished. They have not been seen since.

Aftermath: The pyramid liquefied behind the party as they departed; only the cavern, the waterfall, and the lake remain. Helena carries Dirtha's bone deck — and a question or two about her sisters. Kouzlo carries the ring on his finger and the debt at his ear: "Now you owe us twice."

Map

The Sunken Pyramid The Desert The Oasis