The Children in the Mill

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Old Bonegrinder isn't on the travel map until someone mentions it. Any of these puts it there:

• Morgantha at her pastry cart in the Village of Barovia ("Where do you bake?");
• Bildrath Cantemir or Parriwimple in the village;
• gossip in Vallaki, or an event on the Svalich road;
• meeting Morgantha's cart on the miller's lane;
• Madam Eva's reading, if it names the mill.

The mill is two hours from the Village of Barovia or from the River Ivlis Crossroads, and the region expects a party of level 5–6. The journal opens at Heard the first time you talk to any of these:

• Ilinca Vrana in the dead oak on the hill;
• the ravens in that oak, under Speak with Animals;
• Offalia Wormwiggle at the oven;
• Morgantha in the loft;
• Ilka Sarnov and Toma Sarnov in their cages.

Step by step

1. Get some pastries first (recommended). One way past Offalia is to feed her one of her mother's own pastries, a Dream Pastry. Morgantha sells them in the village (1 gp, or 3 for 3 gp). Her cart on the miller's lane sells them too, if you meet it by day while the coven still stands. There are four more in her cart in the shed on the hill, and six on the cooling rack inside the bakery itself. Be careful with Morgantha in the village: a failed Intimidation DC 13 to run her out of town makes her charge you 200 gp instead of 150 for the children later.
2. Ilinca on the hill. A raven drops out of the dead oak and stands up as Ilinca Vrana, the old village midwife. She delivered both of the children. Her questions are all free:
   • "Who's in the mill?" Three night hags: Morgantha, and her "daughters" Bella and Offalia.
   • "Whose children are they?" Their mother sold them for pastries.
   • "How do we get them out alive?" Never fight all three at once. Feed the fat one a pastry; the pretty one hates her mother.
   • "What else have your ravens seen?" If the Tarokka treasure is in the mill, something shines at the back of the oven.

   Then "Fly with us. We're going in." brings her along as a guest, a Wereraven (Thistle and Wren Featherfoot +1). If you struck her nephew the raven on the Svalich road, she needs Persuasion DC 13 first. If that fails she stays in her oak, but she still comes to carry the children home at the end.

   Finds on the hill:

   • Search DC 13 in the bone heap behind the mill: a Holy Symbol (Amulet). It belonged to Brother Kesten, who came up the hill last spring and never came down; show it to Ilinca.
   • Animal Handling DC 14 at the dead oak, or Speak with Animals, points you to the ravens' hoard: a Figurine of Wondrous Power (Silver Raven) (search DC 14).
   • Nature DC 14 in the hags' kitchen garden: 2 Antitoxins.
   • Perception DC 14 from the crag's edge: spots a Potion of Gaseous Form in a ditch on the miller's lane.
   • Search DC 13 by the track: a Vicious Weapon in the ditch.
   • Search DC 13 in the scree: a Bell.
   • Search DC 12 in the cart shed: a coil of Rope.
   • Morgantha's cart in the shed holds 4 pastries, a basket and 9 gp. She'll know you've been in it.
3. The bakery: Offalia. Inside the mill, Offalia turns from the oven with a hot tray in her bare hands and takes you for deliveries. Deal with her one of three ways:
   • Feed her. "Have a pastry. One of your mother's." She eats it in one bite and falls asleep on the floor.
   • Fool her. Deception DC 13: "Your mother's down on the road, calling for you." She runs off down the hill and is loose on the lane afterwards. If it fails, she tells Mother you fib, and Morgantha won't accept your word of peace later.
   • Fight her. "Step away from the oven, Offalia. Now." She fights alone, as a Night Hag with 60 HP below level 5, 80 at level 5 and 100 from level 6. Opening the great oven while she's awake also starts this fight, with her at 80 HP.

   Any of these moves the journal to Bakery Cleared. Night hags have AC 17, resist fire and cold, have Magic Resistance, and cast 4th-level Magic Missile at will and Phantasmal Killer twice a day. A hag at a quarter of her HP slips away into the Ethereal, which ends her part in the fight.

   After she's dealt with, loot the ground floor:

   • The oven: 4 gp, plus the Tarokka treasure if it's here.
   • Investigation DC 15 in the oven ash: a Brazier of Commanding Fire Elementals.
   • The receipt book on the kneading table.
   • The pantry cupboard: a Potion of Healing, a Herbalism Kit, 3 rations and a vial of Basic Poison.
   • Search DC 12 among the pantry jars: an antitoxin.
   • Investigation DC 15 on a pantry sack of "flour" that isn't: Dust of Sneezing and Choking.
   • The flour bin by the millstone: 22 gp.

   Resting in the mill is risky.

4. Bella on the stair. Once Offalia is out of the way, Bella Sunbane comes halfway down the stair to look. If you go up first, she makes the same offer from her mirror in the loft. She wants her mother dead:
   • "Deal. Stay out of it, and the mill is yours." is the pact. She sits out the fight (Liriel Dawnsong −3, Kip Smudgewick and Godrick Pendlebrook −2, Thistle −1).
   • Insight DC 13: what she really wants is something up in the loft, not the mill.
   • Deception DC 14: "Your mother means to leave the mill to Offalia." She steps into nothing in a fury and is gone for good (Wren and Thistle +1). If it fails, she tells Mother you lie.
   • "No deals with hags." She'll fight beside her mother (Kip and Liriel +2, Godrick +1).
5. The loft: Morgantha. Go up the stair. Mind the loose hatch over the chute (spot it with DC 13; otherwise a DC 13 Dexterity save or 2d6 bludgeoning as you drop into the chute). Morgantha sits rocking between the two cages and greets you according to everything you've done so far. Talk to the children through the bars if you like: Ilka has scratched eleven days on her bar and stopped eating so she won't get heavier.

   

   Morgantha's menu gives you three ways forward:

   • Buy them. "The children. Let them go." She names her terms. All of these move the journal to Bargain Struck, and she opens the cages herself:
     • Pay 150 gp, or 200 gp if you failed to run her out of the village (Kip +2, Godrick +1).
     • Ask "What else would you take?" and answer "Take mine.": the hero speaking gives her their sweetest dream, and she will visit them in their sleep now and then (Godrick +3, Liriel +2, Kip and Wren +1).
     • Persuasion DC 16: your word to leave her and her mill in peace (Liriel and Kip +1). It's not offered if she knows you lie. If it fails, she just shrugs.
   • Walk away. "Keep them. We want no part of this." The quest fails (Children Abandoned), with heavy disapproval from every companion: Kip and Godrick −6, Liriel, Thistle and Wren −5, Ratatouille −4.
   • Fight. "Then we'll take them from you." Whichever daughters you haven't dealt with join her. If both would, she warns you first, and "Wait. Not like this." backs you out. Before you choose, Insight DC 13 shows she doesn't want to do this alone.

   The fight (coven_last_stand):

   • Morgantha alone: 85 HP with a Swarm of Rats below level 5, 100 HP with two swarms at level 5, 112 HP with three from level 6. That's a Low fight.
   • One daughter with her: Morgantha (95 HP) and Offalia or Bella (60 HP).
   • The whole coven: Morgantha (95), Bella (60) and Offalia (60). That's three casters of Phantasmal Killer and Magic Missile, a High fight at level 5.

   Rat swarms shrug off weapon blows, so use area spells on them. Winning moves the journal to Coven Broken.

   

6. Free the children. After the fight, Ilka calls you over and you open the cages with Morgantha's keys. After a bargain they come out on their own. Either way the journal moves to Children Freed and the party reaches its milestone. Ilka asks "Did Mama sell us?":
   • "Tell her the truth: yes, she did." Thistle, Liriel and Godrick +1.
   • "Lie to her: no, you were only lost." Kip and Wren +1.

   Then Ilinca offers to take them either home to the village or to Urwin Martikov at The Blue Water Inn in Vallaki. If she isn't travelling with you, she flies in at the loft window. Your choice decides where they live. She tells you the Keepers of the Feather owe you, leaves the party, and walks them down the stair talking about soup.

   

7. Settle the mill (if Morgantha is dead).
   • Bella, if you made the pact. She settles into the rocking chair and asks for her mother's soul bags:
     • "A deal's a deal." She gets the mill and the bags (Liriel −3, Godrick −1, Kip +1).
     • Persuasion DC 14: she keeps the mill and you cut the bags open (Liriel +3, Godrick +2, Kip and Wren +1). If it fails, she fights.
     • "Our deal ends here, Bella. So do you." (Thistle and Wren +1, Godrick and Kip −1.) She fights alone: 80 HP, or 100 HP from level 6.
   • The soul bags, if nobody has a claim on them: "Cut them open." (Liriel +3, Godrick and Wren +1). If someone sold Morgantha a dream, it comes home.
   • A sleeping Offalia on the bakery floor: end her while she sleeps (Thistle +1, Godrick and Liriel −1), or leave her to wake and wander.
   • The sail brake in the loft lets the sails turn again.
   • Burn the mill with the lamp oil in the cart shed (Thistle +2, Godrick +1). This is only possible once Morgantha is dead, the children are out and Bella doesn't own the mill. You also have to rake out the oven's Tarokka treasure first, and deal with any sleeping Offalia.
   • Loot the loft:
     • the hoard chest under the straw (lock DC 15): 140 gp, 2 perfumes, fine clothes and a level 1 spell scroll;
     • Bella's jewel box: a mirror, perfume and 35 gp;
     • search DC 15 in the rafters: a Broom of Flying;
     • search DC 15 among the little bags: a Portable Hole.

Choices and endings

• Children Freed (success, the milestone) is reached whether Morgantha dies or is paid. Children Abandoned (failure) gives no milestone, but you can come back: "We've changed our minds about the children." reopens the bargain, or you can fight her.
• What becomes of the mill is shown in the epilogue:
  • Destroyed: all three hags dead, in any combination of the bakery, the loft, the lane, a betrayed Bella or a sleeping Offalia. The pastry trade ends.
  • Broken: Morgantha dead, a daughter still loose. The trade dwindles.
  • Bella's mill: the pact was kept. She sells "lighter" pastries from her cart on the miller's lane, where "This ends here, Bella." starts a fight with her.
  • Bargain: Morgantha keeps rocking and baking. "Your bargaining days are over." lets you come back and fight her; breaking a sworn truce is felt.
• Loose daughters. A fooled Offalia sits crying in a hedge on the miller's lane. While Morgantha lives, you can send her home, and she'll be back at the oven. Otherwise you can fight her: 80 HP, or 100 from level 6.
• Where the children went. Whether they went home or to the Blue Water Inn changes what their mother, Goodwife Sarnov, says in The Fourth Sister. That quest opens once the children are out and Morgantha is dead. Only if they went home are Ilka and Toma there for its happiest ending.
• Ilinca's word. Ilinca now vouches for you. Davian Martikov greets you by it at the Wizard of Wines. One day a line of ravens drops a Potion of Healing at your feet on the lane. The epilogue mentions the Keepers.

If you're stuck

• The mill isn't on the map. Ask Morgantha in the village where she bakes, or listen to Bildrath or Parriwimple.
• You don't want the whole coven at once. Deal with Offalia (any way) and with Bella (pact, lie or refusal) before you go up. Morgantha's warning gives you one last chance to back out.
• No pastry for Offalia. The cooling rack in the bakery holds six. Taking from it doesn't wake her temper; only opening the oven does.
• No "word of peace" option. You failed a Deception against Offalia or Bella, and the hags now know you lie.

Rewards

• A level (milestone)

What your companions think

• Thistle: +1 you told Ilka the truth about her mother; +1 you asked Ilinca's raven to fly with you; -5 you left two children in the hags' cage; +1 you killed Offalia in her sleep
• Liriel Dawnsong: +1 you told Ilka the truth about her mother; +2 you gave Morgantha a dream of your own for the children; +1 you traded the hags your word of peace for the children; -5 you left two children in the hags' cage; -1 you killed Offalia in her sleep
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +1 you told Ilka the truth about her mother; +1 you bought the children back from Morgantha; +3 you gave Morgantha a dream of your own for the children; -6 you left two children in the hags' cage; -1 you killed Offalia in her sleep
• Kip Smudgewick: +1 you let Ilka keep a kind lie about her mother; +2 you bought the children back from Morgantha; +1 you gave Morgantha a dream of your own for the children; +1 you traded the hags your word of peace for the children; -6 you left two children in the hags' cage
• Wren Featherfoot: +1 you let Ilka keep a kind lie about her mother; +1 you asked Ilinca's raven to fly with you; +1 you gave Morgantha a dream of your own for the children; -5 you left two children in the hags' cage
• Ratatouille: -4 you left two children in the hags' cage

Fights

• Morgantha stands, and keeps standing, taller than the rafters should allow. In the corner Bella lays down her…, in Old Bonegrinder, the Loft: Night Hag, Swarm of Rats. Scales with your level.

• Offalia wipes her hands on her apron, and keeps wiping them as they lengthen into something with knuckles…, in Old Bonegrinder: Night Hag. Scales with your level.

Journal

Related

• People: Ilka Sarnov, Toma Sarnov, Morgantha, Ilinca Vrana, Offalia Wormwiggle
• Places: Old Bonegrinder, the Loft, Old Bonegrinder, the Hill, Old Bonegrinder
• More in Old Bonegrinder: The Fourth Sister