fUSION Anomaly. Baba Yaga's Hut

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Baba Yaga's Hut
This nOde last updated January 6th, 2002 and is permanently morphing...
(6 Et'znab (Knife) - 16 (K'ank'in) - 58/260 - 12.19.8.15.18)

Ages ago the most powerful female mage ever known spent much of her power in the creation of a

magical dwelling of superb character. When she passed to another plane, her hut disappeared and has only been rumored to have been seen once or twice since. Baba Yaga developed a small hut of ordinary appearance - a circular, thatched structure of 15'. diameter and 10'. high. To this dwelling are attached two powerful fowl legs 12'. long, which appear to be stilts. Furthermore, the Hut has intelligence (high) and human senses, plus infravisual ability to 120'. and ultravision. Inside, the Hut is a small palace - garden, fountains of

water and wine, and 30 rooms on 3 floors, all lavishly and richly furnished. Despite the commodious interior, the bird legs can move Baba Yaga's Hut at up to 48" speed over swamp, 36" over rough or normal terrain, 12" over hills, through forests, etc. The Hut will obey commands from 1 person (the one first using a key phrase) and can come to a call from as far away as 1 league. Its legs deliver blows equal to those of a hill giant, 2 attacks per round, to any so rash as to come near without invitation or knowing the command phrase. The legs are armor class 2 and can take 48 hit points damage each, regeneration at 1 hit point/melee round. The walls of the Hut are the equivalent of 5' thick granite.

- _Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Master's Guide_ by Gary Gygax

In a number of East European myths, a Baba Yaga (there are more than one) is a cannibalistic witch who lives in a hut on the edge of the forest. The hut stands on chicken legs and will only lower itself after Baba Yaga said a certain rhyme. A picket fence surrounds the hut and she places the skulls of her victims on it. For transportation Baba Yaga uses a giant mortar which she drives at high speed across the forest floor by steering the pestle with her right hand and sweeping away all traces of her passage with a broom in her left hand. A host of spirits often follows her.

Baba Yaga is often represented as a little, ugly, old woman with a huge and distorted nose and long teeth. She is also called Jezi-Baba or Baba Yaga Kostianaya Noga ("bone-legs"), referring to the fact that she is rather skinny. She is regarded as the devil's own grandmother.

In old Hungarian folklore, Baba ("old woman") was originally a good fairy but was later degraded to a witch. A Baba Yaga is a hard bargainer, and will threaten to eat those who do not fulfill their part of an agreement.

dub track _Hut Selector_ MP3 (192k) by Burnt Friedman & The Nu Dub Players off of _Just Landed_ 12"x2 on ~Scape #004 (2000)

first mention of Baba Yaga's Hut in

Usenet:

From: Gordon Atwood (gordon@alberta.UUCP)
Subject: High-level Dungeons
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Date: 1985-11-25 08:11:46 PST

Last week I picked up a new dungeon by Gygax. It is WG6, Isle of the Ape.

I beleive the level was 16 and up, or 18 and up. It is the highest, reasonable dungeon I have yet to see.

It is also, in my opinion, a thinly disguised rendition of King Kong, but that's okay.

The major features of this dungeon are

1) There is only 1 way off the island, magical means. You can get off the island, but you are trapped in an alternate universe, and eventually you must return to the Island.

2) The major antagonists are dinosaurs, lots of them. Dinosaurs are not wimpy creatures, just take a look at MM1. Furthermore, if you treat them with the same respect that Dragons are due, as per suggestions from the Dragon articles, they are down-right dangerous.

3) The King of the island is, of course, a gigantic ape. (What else?).

The introduction for this dungeon indicated that many of those intrepid gamers who started it all many years ago, entered this dungeon, and opted to leave before solving the riddle of the island.

The dungeon is equipped with several nasty traps, some physical, some magical. None of them are as obscure as those encountered in Tomb of Horrors.

In my opinion, a group which is reasonably thoughtful, devious, and careful, should have a resonable chance of survival.

Also, there was one dungeon in Dragon recently (like in the last two years) featuring the Hut of Baba Yaga. Although I can't remember the details, I believe it was quite high-level, or at least had high-level potential.

On a final note, Dragon has some good articles on Illusionist spells, and their use. If anyone is really interested, I can try and dig out some information.

G.H.A.

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