100 Days of Halloween: The Priest, the Witch, and the Lost Temple: An Adventure

Tonight we have a DMsGuild adventure for 5e. It has a lot great things going for it for my ongoing campaign so let's see what it can do for me.

The Priest, the Witch, and the Lost Temple: An Adventure

PDF. 40 pages. Full-color cover and interior art. 

This adventure is for characters levels 2 to 3. This fits the archetype of the "strange newcomers who MUST be witches" deal. Our two "witches", Ashali and Lathna, one a Red Wizard of Thay and the other her apprentice and lover, are not really witches, but everyone around them is treating them as such.  Quick aside, I wrote a one-shot years ago when I first wanted to run something in the Realms about an underground of would-be good Red Wizards trying to escape Thay. They had help from a group in Aglarond. This ties in so perfectly to that adventure I might dust it off as an opening.

The focus of the adventure is to investigate the witches and find out they are mostly harmless but discover a bigger evil along the way. It works for me.  It is a nice little adventure I can fit in nearly anywhere If I want. Though I do have some specific ideas. And let's be honest, who DOESN'T like stopping a bunch of undead? 

There are some new magic items and new NPCs (featured for the adventure). The art is from DMsGuild so it is good, but the layout is something the author did and it looks good. So really a good-looking adventure.

The town of Whitehaven is just detailed enough to make it usable and enough detail left out to make it flexible. I really appreciate that bit. And much like the Villiage of Hommlet for Greyhawk, this would make for a good base of operations for low-level characters.  I get why the adventure is for the 2nd to 3rd level, but I wonder if a bit of work could make it more suited to 1st to 3rd level for a true starting feel.  You are far enough away from the Sword Coast to make it feel like a different world but still close enough to know where you are. If that makes sense. 

Kudos to the author for taking a chance on a "good" or at least redeemed Red Wizard. 

Is this a perfect adventure? No, but it is perfect for what I need it for.

For My War of the Witch Queens

There is so much here that fits right in, even if the witches themselves are not really witches. The "Whitehaven" of this adventure is a perfect stand-in for my own "West Haven."  Indeed, much as I used "Haven" from Krynn as the alternate universe of West Haven in my world, the character will find themselves later in "Whitehaven" in the Realms and "Winterhaven" in the Nentir Vale.

Ashali and Lathna also fit in perfectly as a Red Wizard and her maid turned lover and apprentice that they are almost exactly like the characters I made (no plagiarism here, I never published mine!) so close in fact that I will drop the location I had them in (in Rashmeen) and instead have them here. 

For a stronger link I might have them mention they knew the Witch Queen (but don't yet know she is dead).

So yeah, this one will work great for me.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Burnt Offerings (1976)

Tonight's is an "attack of opportunity" the movie I wanted to watch was flaking out on me. This is one of those movies that is a candidate for my "Mystery Movie" one I vaguely remember from the late 70s or early 80s. 

This is all I can recall about it: 

• There is a very memorable scene near the end of the movie where a group of "Satanists" are each placing a blood stain/drop on a woman's forehead prior to her sacrifice. I don't think they made it to the sacrifice.
• It aired on TV in the late 70s or early 80s. I *believe* it was the movie of the week or something like that for ABC or NBC. It was right around Halloween. I remember this because I didn't want to go out trick or treating, I wanted to watch this movie. This was prior to cable TV as we know it today, so only 13 total channels.
• There is a scene where our hero and maybe the girl above (or another woman) are going up a spiral staircase. I believe the woman above was at the top (or bottom) of the stairs.

And that is all I have.

I have tried for years to find it, but no luck. I even stumped Reddit. 

I thought that tonight's movie might be it.  It is a rewatch, but I wanted to try.

Burnt Offerings (1976)

This one has an amazing cast. Robert Reed, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, and Bette Davis. Marian Rolf (Karen Black) and Ben Rolf (Oliver Reed) along with their son Davey (Lee H. Montgomery) and Ben's aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis), move into an old house to take care of its owner, Mrs. Allardyce, and elder woman who never leaves her room. The rent for this huge house is $900 for the whole summer; a good deal even in 1976. They are given instructions from her children Arnold (Burgess Meredith) and Roz (Eileen Heckart).

The Rolfs spend the first week fixing up the house, which needs a lot of attention. It appears on the surface to be a classic haunted house movie, but there is a really fun twist.  The house is making everyone a little crazy.  Marian becomes obsessed with the house and Mrs. Allardyce in particular, even though we never see her. And she becomes more and more distant from her family. Ben and Davey start noticing all sorts of odd things going on. For example, anytime an accident happens something in the house is repaired. Ben starts seeing a smiling creepy looking hearse driver, the same from his mother's funeral decades ago. 

Then people start to die. First, it is aunt Elizabeth and Marian does not go to the funeral. Ben confronts her on this and discovers she is in the room of Mrs. Allardyce and is now older. Ben is thrown out of the window and lands on the car three stories below. Davey seeing this runs to the house and is killed when the chimney collapses on him.

The Allardyce siblings return to a completely renovated house. We see Mrs. Allardyce, now Marian, in her room and there are pictures of Ben, Davey, and Elizabeth have now been added to the mantle. 

It is a nice creepy story with slow-burn horror. Great for an alternative to the haunted house story. 

Sadly, and I was pretty sure of this, it is not the movie I have been looking for. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 25
First Time Views: 19

Monstrous Mondays: Demons

I have spent the past year or so going through all the various D&D monster books. Seeing what makes them work well and what doesn't. My homage, as it is, to the book that introduced me to D&D in the beginning.

Today I want to cover some of my favorite creatures to use (and pit players against) demons.

Demons, as D&D describes them, are Chaotic and Evil. But more than that they are of unrepentant evil. You never hear of demons becoming good, ever. So rare that when it does happen, it becomes a thing of legend. 

It also means that the only appropriate way to deal with a demon is to send it screaming back to the Abyss from where it came. 

So if 2nd Ed AD&D was the golden age of Settings. Then 3rd and 4th Ed D&D was the golden age of fluff and story.  Here I have some books about Demons and the Abyss with details that are still in use in 5th Edition today.

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss (D&D 3.5)

PDF and hardcover. 162 pages. Color covers and interior art.

Published in 2006 this product had three aims. First, update all the various demons to the 3.5 D&D rules. Second, introduce new rules about the Abyss and new demons. Finally to provide a more "PG" sort of book rather than the "R" rated Book of Vile Darkness. This book expands on everything we know so far. Indeed for a chaotic race, the power structure of the Abyss has been in place since the introduction of Eldritch Wizardry 30 years prior.

This book gives us the notion, likely introduced in the 2nd E and I may have missed it, that demons are spawned from the Abyss itself, which may also be alive. 

Chapter 1: Demonic Lore 

This covers what is currently known about demons and the Abyss. It also introduces a new source of demonic knowledge, the Black Scrolls of Ahm. We get a bit on demonic physiology, in this case, a dretch, though it is also noted this can vary from demon to demon. A bit on the nature of death in demons. Demonic roles and possession. 

Chapter 2: Demons

Ah. Now I was one of the first ones to complain about the bowdlerization of Demons into Tanar'ri during the AD&D 2nd days. D&D 3rd Edition kept them, but also kept demons. Here is the payoff for them doing that. Tanar'ri are but one of three (in this book) types of demons. Green Ronin began this with their demon books early one and I even did it back at the end of my 2nd Ed days.  It is a natural and logical assumption in my mind. And one I am glad to see here.  The two new types are Loumara subtype (a new type of demon) and the Obyrith (an ancient, primeval type of demon). Each has different traits. So now demons are listed as something like "Always CE Medium outsider (chaotic, evil, extraplanar, tanar'ri)" or similar. There are still chaotic evil monsters in the abyss that are not any of the three demon sub-types.   

Among the Loumara we have: Dybbuk, Ekolid, and Guecubu. For the Obyriths we have the Sibriex. There are more Obyrith lords coming up.

Chapter 3: Demon Lords

Here we have names going all the way back to the beginning, but all updated. The art for Demogorgon reminds me of the cover of Eldritch Wizardry. There are plenty of old favorites here. As well as plenty of new and somewhat revised ones. There are Obyrith lords like Dagon, Obox-ob, Pale Night, and Pazuzu. Dagon has had an interesting history in D&D due to the god, devil, and Lovecraftian creature that all share the same name. This Dagon tries to, and largely succeeds in, uniting all three into one horrible creature. 

Chapter 4: Trafficking with Demons

Deals with demonic followers, both human and demon. It's 3.x so there are feats to be had here! There are also new spells and uses for skills. We are introduced to the Black Cult of Ahm and their lore including the various scrolls of Ahm. There is the Abyssal Mundus, the Black Writings, and the Rubric of Tulket nor Ahm. There is also the Transcriptions of Ergon, rumored to be an apprentice to Tulket nor Ahm.

Chapter 5: Into the Abyss

I mentioned this was a golden age of story and fluff, this chapter is a good example. We get a brief history of the Abyss, the various demon types, and of course The Blood War. We also get details on various Abyssal layers and areas. We get Graz'zt capital of Zeltar which exists on three layers simultaneously. The infamous Demonweb, Orcus' layer of Thanatos, and many more.

Appendix I covers all the lords of the Abyss, their titles, areas of concern, and their layers.  Appendix II covers the known named layers of the Abyss and their rulers. Appendix III covers demonic monsters from other 3.x books. 

Even if you are not playing 3.x or any system similar to it, this is still a great book on demons.

The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos (4e)

PDF and hardcover. 162 pages. Color covers and interior art.

This book also expands on demonic lore. This time for 4e. Though this book also expands on various chaotic and elemental forces. Making the connections between the Abyss and elemental chaos stronger. 

 This is divided in five chapters. 

Chapter 1: Chaos Incarnate

This chapter covers the nature of the Elemental Chaos of the Astral Plane. You can see the start here of why Wizards of the Coast is setting Spelljamer in the Astral and not Wildspace. It makes sense. This deals with the nature of chaos, traveling in it, and features of the plane including hazards and various skill challenges. 

For warlocks, there are even three new Patrons. And "new" cults like the Cult of the Elder Elemental Eye. And "new" artifacts like the Crystal of Ebon Flame.

Chapter 2: Races of Chaos

This covers Archons, Djinn, Efreets, Genasi, Giants and Titans, Githzerai, Slaad, and brief entries on others like Dao, Dwarves, and Primoridals. No stats, all background information.

Chapter 3:  Elemental Locales

Various important locales in the Elemental Chaos. These include The Brazen Bazaar, Canaughlin Bog, Gloamnull the City of Rain, Irdoc Morda, the Pillars of Creation, The Riverweb, the Glittering Mine (with encounters), and The Body Luminous (with adventure). Save for the last two there is only minor game-related details. So use in any game would work.

Chapter 4: Into the Abyss

Same title as Chapter 5 of Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss this covers similar ground.  Travel and hazards of the Abyss, the so-called "bottom" of the infinite elemental chaos. We get a listing fo demons from other 4e books and ideas for adventures and skill challenges.

Some demonic locations are given and these are for the most part different than what we have had before.

Chapter 5: Creatures of Chaos

Now, this is the reason I pulled this one out for today. We get new oozes, new archons, and of course new demons. There are mostly elemental creatures here and chaotic ones like Slaad who are largely chaotic evil here. There are some unique creatures as well including Ygorl the Lord of Entropy.

Demonomicon (4e)

PDF and hardcover. 160 pages. Color covers and interior art.

Easily one of my favorite D&D 4e books. This one presages the 5e books with excerpts from the infamous Demonomicon of Iggwilv. 

This one has three chapters, but each one is packed.

Chapter 1: Demonic Lore

Here get the introduction to the Demonomicon of Iggwilv, its history and its special features.  We learn the first of six volumes titled the Demonomicon of Iggwilv was based on an earlier work, the Tome of Zyx.  What follows is said to be from these tomes.

We go back to the birth of the Abyss with the Obyriths coming into this universe from their dying one. Here Tharizdun planted the "Seed of Evil" into the Astral Sea and from it, a tear in reality opened creating the Abyss.  Here we learn that an ancient Primordial came to the Abyss to become one of the first Demons, he became known as Demogorgon. Here Dagon, an Obyrith, challenged Demogorgon for control while Obox-ob claimed the seed and became the first Demon Prince.

Here in this Dawn Time, the Cult of Elemental Evil was formed. Demons rose, Angels fell and soon even Tharizdun fell and was chained. Here we get the start of the Blood War.

Much like the Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss we get some details on Fiendish physiology. Most notable is how demons adapt to their environments by changing their physiology. We cover topics of demonic possession, demonic ascension, lords, cults, summoning demons (with one reused bit of art), and legions. There are legions for every demon lord but only a few are detailed here. 

Quite a bit of material here that feels like an expansion of the material that came before it.

Likewise, there is some reused art, but it is good art so I can't complain.

Chapter 2: The Abyss

This one covers the nature of the Abyss, expanding on what the Elemental Chaos book covered. Many layers are also covered, most getting a few pages of content. Graz'zt layer of Azzagrat gets some detail. While some of this is familiar to readers of Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss it also provides new details and different information. This is true for some other layers as well. 

There are also minor realms and Abyssal portals, delves, and temples. Some with encounter information.

Chapter 3: Demons

There are 45 new abyssal monsters here which are mostly demons (Tanar'ri and Obyrith) and a few Demon Lords not covered in the Monster Manuals.

If you are playing 4e and dealing with demons (which many of the adventures do) then this is really a must-have book.  If you like the history of demons in D&D then this is also a must-have.

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All three add to the sum total knowledge of demons in D&D. Having the PDFs I am tempted to print out the fluff sections and add them to a guide of demons I have had since the 2nd Edition days.

Maybe D&D is about demons after all?

100 Days of Halloween: Tomb of the Witch Queen

I obviously had to buy this one as well. Though if you have been following me all week you know we have gone to many tombs of many witch queens.

This one has the unenviable task of following up on all of those. 

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Tomb of the Witch Queen (5e)

PDF. 13 pages. Color cover and interior art. 

Truthfully it is not fair to compare this one to ones done by professional teams with Kickstarter money. This is just one guy, Jon Paget, doing things on his own.  The adventure is for 5e and claims to be for characters 1st to 12th level. Ok.

We start this one like so many of the other witch queen tomb adventures. The PCs hear of about the tomb and the riches within. Officials have gone to seek it out but never returned. So it decided that expendable experts are needed. That's the PCs. 

The adventure can be scaled to three different levels Low (levels 1-4), Mid (levels 4-8), and High (9-12). The adventure is divided into four separate "layers." Each follows the last and increases in difficulty. Until you reach the tomb of Sassaya herself.

I can see this being a good Convention style game when people could bring their own characters. 

But I am not sure if even this idea overcomes some of the shortcomings of this adventure. The adventure is as linear as it can get. While I am ok ignoring this in some older adventures, this is a 5e one published in 2021. The rewards at the end are uninspired. Sure there is a table to scale the rewards, but this sort of thing comes right out of the DMG of many editions. I don't need an adventure for that. Give me some new magic or something interesting. NOW there are some here. There is a d12 table of interesting additional rewards. THAT should have been the model for the main rewards. Again I have said it many times, if I am going to plunder a witch's tomb I better find some cool spell books.

I mentioned the adventure was linear. Well it is so much so that there are no proper maps. The Labyrinth, Level (or Layer previous) 3 has a kind of a flow-charty color-coded thing that the author obviously is proud of AND it is a neat idea in theory. I am not sure how it acts in practice though. Maybe I am getting hung up on the word "Labyrinth". This piece does look like it scales well. 

The list price is just under $5. Even by my revised guidelines of 25 cents a page for content (this has 10 pages of content for 13 overall pages) that only gets us to $2.50. There is not much in the way of art; no imagery of what the characters might see for example. Only one newish monster with a stat block. Mostly skill checks really. If it had been at or under $2.50 I could have merited giving it another star.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Pagan Night

I love tales of the struggle of Pagans against Christianity and the resulting Folk Horror that would later grow up in the aftermath. So tonight are two different movies from two different points of view on the same topic.

Midsommar (2019)

Believe it or not, I had not seen this one yet. I had heard a lot about it, both good and bad, from a lot of people whose opinions I trust, so that was my hesitation. I also wanted to save it for a night my wife and I could watch it. We had been watching a lot of "Vikings" so I thought she might like this. 

The basic plot I think is pretty well known by this point and I really don't want to spoil it. I just want to say that Florence Pugh is amazing in this. She was wonderful both when her character was low (and there is a lot of that, poor Dani) and especially at her highs. The movie reminded me a lot of the original Wicker Man in a good way.

I am also one of the ones that loved the ending. Dani smiling at the end was all about her release from all the toxic relationships she had been in; her sister, her boyfriend, her friends.

I am really, really getting to love the movies from A24. 

Black Death (2010)

During the first round of the bubonic plague in England and Sean Bean needs Eddie Redmayne to help find a village that is protecting a "necromancer" and does not suffer from the plague.

Redmayne plays young monk Osmund who is secretly in love with a local girl. They plan to run off together as soon he can get free, but he wants her out of their village now to protect her.  They plan to meet at a shrine in the woods.  She leaves and Bean, looking every bit like Boromir and Ned Stark, plays Ulrich a man charged by the Bishop to seek out and kill this Necromancer.  Osmund volunteers.

We meet Ulrich's men, a band of cutthroats and killers, who are charged with hunting witches.

They travel through the land with Osmund as their guide. Osmund sneaks off one morning to find Averill but only find her bloody clothes and local bandits.  The bandits chase him back to the camp where they all fight. They manage to kill most of them but the last two make off with their horses.

The band enters the village where no one is dying from the plague.  They are greeted by Hob (Tim McInnerny) and Langiva (Carice van Houten) and then it becomes a game of "Spot the Game of Thrones actor." 

Langiva has all the men drugged while she takes Osmund to see her villagers in full pagan get up raise Averill from the dead. Osmund cries out in terror. Next thing we see is Osmund, Ulrich and the rest all in a pit full of water tied up. Langiva tells them they can go free if they renounce god. Unwilling she starts having them killed one by one. She allows Osmund to see Averill while they tie Ulrich up to horses.  Osmund finds Averill alive, but feeling she is in Purgatory he kills her to free her soul.

Langiva seeing this tells her village this is Christian love and they should have no part of it. She has Ulrich drawn and quartered, but before he dies he reveals to Osmund he has the plague and has brought death to this village. He is killed and in the chaos two of his men escape and pretty much kill everyone.  Osmund chases Langiva into the marsh where she tells him that Averill had only been drugged, she had been alive all this time and it was he Osmund who killed her.  She escapes.

Osmund and the remaining witchhunter return to the monastery and we learn later Osmund left the brotherhood to become a witchhunter on his own and a particularly cruel and violent one.

This one was also pretty good. Carice van Houten was nearly unrecognizable as a blonde but once she began to speak you knew it was her. Eddie Redmayne was great in both aspects of his role, the innocent but fallen monk and the vengeful, hard hearted witchhunter. And as always Sean Bean dies in the end.

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It's been a full Pagan and Folk Horror weekend really. This solidifies my desire to maybe do a Coda for the War of the Witch Queens in NIGHT SHIFT.  I might to drink some of my mead to think about it.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 24
First Time Views: 19

100 Days of Halloween: Sepulcher of the Sorceress-Queen

Robert E. Howard casts a long shadow over Fantasy Role Playing in general and D&D in particular.  This is best seen in two different near clones, Adventurer Conqueror King and Hyperborea. So when ACKS did an adventure that was an homage to Taramis, well I had to check it out.

Sepulcher of the Sorceress-Queen

Print and PDF. 56 pages. Color cover and interior layout art with black & white art.

For Character levels 7th to 9th.

Ok. So another tomb with a sleeping undead witch. It is a powerful trope. This one features the Sorceress-Queen Semiramis of Zahar who has been dead, but sleeping, for 1000 years. She had been betrayed by a former lover (and having killed her first 100 lovers she should have seen this one coming) and is now waiting for her chance to rise and rule again.

The adventure is part of a loosely connected series but it is mentioned that it can be used as a stand-alone adventure and placed anywhere. 

The adventure involves going into her tomb, stopping her from rising, and maybe make off with some treasure. The tomb is full of undead horrors and other dangers. To make things more interesting there is a group of lizardmen in the tomb trying to do the same thing as the characters. 

It then becomes a race against time, times 2. Get to the queen before she gains her full power and get to the treasures before the lizard men do. 

The adventure gives us a bunch on new magic items, a new spell, and five new (ish) monsters. The adventure itself is cut from familiar cloth but the map is quite good and great for groups that like to explore old tombs.

Use with my War of the Witch Queens

For this campaign, this adventure covers more than just familiar territory. This will be the third or fourth "tomb of a long dead witch coming back to life" they have seen if I stay on current plans. So...what am I to do?

Well. I do love the map here and the tomb itself is an interesting place. Maybe...I can merge this with my other Howard/Hyperborea-influenced adventure The Lost Caverns of Acheron.  I mentioned all the pluses that using this adventure gives me when I reviewed the V series from BRW Games. There is one thing I failed to mention though. I have already taken my players through module S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Once they get to that spherical room they will remember they have been here already.

I could use this as a base and bring notes from The Lost Caverns of Acheron. I certainly do not need to run both adventures no matter how fun they are. But I also really love the idea of using Xaltana.

Do I go with Xaltana or Semiramis? 

I thought maybe the unnamed Witch-Queen of Yithorium from Hyperborea might be a good substitute. Both come from the same sources. Semiramis has a name, the Witch-Queen does not (even though I named her Miriam). Semiramis is a Zaharian Sorcerer which reads a lot like a warlock or a witch and has a strong Howard/CAS vibe. Same with our Witch-Queen of Yithorium. 

Yithorium is surrounded by the Zakath desert. Zahar is now described as a desolate wasteland like a desert. Ok, that's a stretch but you see where I am going here. 

Why mix or merge them at all? Simple I want to get as much of all the great material out there I can for this adventure campaign and knowing full well I can never run everything. Also by picking and choosing different OSR systems, publishers, and products, I am naturally going to get similar results; we all draw from the same wells. 

So in my campaign, the Sorceress-Queen Semiramis of Zahar and the Witch-Queen of Yithorium become the same person. 

Maybe I'll keep Miriam around as the descendant of Semiramis. She is every bit as evil as her forebearer. Maybe Miriam leads them to the tomb in order to gain her ancestor's power but ends up getting possessed in the process.  I do like this idea.

Use with my Second Campaign

My original idea for this was to run it mostly as is for my Second Campaign. I'll have to see how that one develops when the characters get to the right levels.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Daughters of The Craft

Over the years I have noticed a trend in movies to try to recreate the..hu...magic that was in the movie The Craft. AKA the move that made a thousand teen witches in the 90s. I have taken to call these movies Daughters of the Craft since that is what they obviously desire to be. 

Here are a few I watched starting on Friday till tonight.

The Coven (2015)

Take the Craft (sorta) and put them in an English boarding school. No not Hogwarts, but they do name-drop Margaret Murray, Robert Cochrane, and Gerald Gardner (though they call him Joe) so that is something. 

There is a new teacher, Mrs. Belial, who takes over the class and teaches them about Uri Clef (an anagram for Lucifer). We see her eating raw meat later on. 

The girls head out to Queens Woods where Robert Cochrane used to meet with his Wiccan group. They are joined by two boys, Eddie and Louie, the five girls and two boys realize their first names all spell out Lucifer. Now strange things start to happen. They are joined by the at first uninvited Eve (who has been at home researching all of this) and soon they are being chased through the woods by the guy on the motorcycle...who might be Eddie? All the names appear including Eve's but not Eddie's and they all get sucked into a burning tree.

Yeah. Ok, that one was rather bad, to be honest. I had such hopes for it in the beginning.

Ouija Craft (2020)

This one is "What if the girls from the Craft were in college with an Ouija board.

And man is this one starting out bad. There are two characters who look like they are some time in the past, running through the woods. The woman uses magic to try to heal the man but it doesn't work. What else that doesn't work is their acting. Cause they are both terrible. Not a great start here. Anyway, there is a demon girl of some sort and an Ouija board.

Fast forward to the present day. Abby, Rory, and Jess are in a barn somewhere practicing magic. Jess is trying to get a spell to work with only a little success, Abby and Rory, along with Abby's boyfriend Sam, are making potions. Abby and Rory are obviously better at magic. Rory drinks a potion and is able to levitate for a bit. Abby decides she wants to mix a temporary immortality potion with a healing potion to live forever. The potion seems to work at first, but soon she is convulsing. I guess she never saw the Potion Miscibility table in the 1st Ed DMG because she rolls a 01% and her whole chest blows up. 

At the wake, Rory and Jess are each dealing with grief in different ways. Jess keeps thinking she hears Abby. Finally, she does and she wants her and Rory to take the Ouija board to the graveyard where she is buried and try to contact her. This is of course breaking the rules of Ouija. Anyway, Abby comes back but needs a real life so she has to kill someone who saw her die, Rory or Jess.  There are some magic battles between the three and in the process, Sam is killed and Abby brings him back. 

They learn from the ghosts from the opener they have to burn the Ouija board. Oh and that Jess is not a witch but a psychic. Jess gets stabbed by Sam, but Rory gives up her life force so she can live. Since Jess didn't see Sam die he falls to dust. Now Jess and Abby fight it out and Jess is able to TK the board into a fire burning it and Abby, but not before Abby stabs Jess. JEss drinks the temporary immortality potion and passes out waiting for the paramedics. 

Months later Jess is still recovering and she sees Abby's ghost who apologizes for everything. She tells Jess that she could become a very powerful psychic, but Jess takes all her books and potions and witchy stuff outside and burns them all.

Ok. Not great and some really terrible acting. I felt though the two leads Jess and Rory, Ivy Rhodes and Lacy Hartselle respectively were actually fairly good and made the movie watchable. 

Coven (2020) 

Also known as Akelarre and Coven of Sisters it is not to be confused with the 2019 movie Coven.

This one just sneaks in with the theme. Maybe Great-Great Grandmothers of the Craft is a better descriptor for this one.

This one is horror, but not for the reasons the first two are.

In 1609 in the Basque Country of Spain five girls are all arrested and charged with witchcraft.  One of their friends tries to rescue them and she is captured too. At first, the girls are afraid but then they begin to joke about it, not believing that this is happening to them.  Then the torture begins.   

It's all rather horrible to be honest.  Worse, because you knew this sort of thing happened all the time. 

Amaia Aberasturi stars as Ana and she is the real stand-out here. She keeps stringing along her accusers to drag out the proceedings to help save the other girls. Ana easily strings along the horny men till the full moon.

The girls decide that in order to delay their execution longer they tell the judge they will re-enact the Black Mass, or the Sabbath, for his records. They do so and get him all involved as Lucifer.  Once they had frightened the men, or turned them on, enough they run into the woods. They are chased by the men and soldiers till they get to the edge of a cliff over the ocean.  The other women, the ones not accused of witchcraft, sing a song about the full moon and the high tide.  Ana, realizing the message, tells the other girls they can jump.

They jump over the side, not knowing if they lived or died. 

I thought this movie was great honestly. Not the typical sort of horror, but also not exactly what I thought it was going to be either. 

Really good to have this one the last of the night to wash the taste out of my mouth from the first one.

Of course, I have heard this word, Akelarre, before and named a witch-focused demon after it.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
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First Time Views: 17