The Hag
After reading the Wikipedia article on D&D Hags, I got to thinking: How about instead of giving one of the pieces of The Tome to the Ogres on Hot Springs Isle, we put it with The Hag in the caves below the Southern Lighthouse.
Baba Yaga by Matthew Starbuck |
Below are the interesting bits from the Wikipedia article on D&D Hags.
Physical Appearance
Hags appear as wretched old women, with long, frayed hair and
withered faces. Horrid moles and warts dot their blotchy skin, their
mouths are filled with blackened teeth, and their breath is most foul.
Though wrinkled and skinny, hags possess supernatural strength and can
easily crush smaller creatures, such as goblins, with one hand.
Similarly, though hags look decrepit, they run swiftly, easily bounding
over rocks or logs in their path. From the long, skinny fingers of hags
grow iron-like claws. Hags use these claws and their supernatural
strength to rend and tear at opponents in combat. Their garb is similar
to that of peasant women, but usually much more tattered and filthy.
Society
Hags live alone or in covens of three. They always choose desolate,
out-of-the-way places in which to dwell. They sometimes coexist with
ogres or evil giants. The former act as servants or guards for hags, but
giants are treated with respect (for obvious reasons) and often
cooperate with hags to accomplish acts of great evil against the outside
world.
While individually powerful, hags are much more dangerous when formed
into a covey. A covey is composed of three hags of any combination.
Covens have special spells and powers that individual hags don't
possess. To cast one of these spells, the members of the coven must all
be within ten feet of each other and the spell being cast must be in
lieu of all other attacks.
Covens never cast these spells in combat, instead these spells are
used to help weave wicked plots against neighboring human or demihuman
settlements. A common ploy by Hag covens is to force or trick a victim
into performing some heinous deed. This deed usually involves bringing
back more victims, some of whom are devoured by the hags; the rest are
used on further evil assignments. Any creature fortunate (or
unfortunate) enough to resist a coven is immediately devoured.
Covens often use one or two ogres as spies, sending them into the
world beyond after polymorphing them into less threatening creatures.
These minions frequently wear a special magical gem called a hag eye.
A hag eye is made from the real eye of a coven's previous victim. It
appears to the casual observer to be no more than a low-value gem, but
if viewed through a gem of True Seeing, a disembodied eye can be seen
trapped in the hag eye's interior. This hidden eye is magically
connected to the coven that created the hag eye. All three members of
the coven can see whatever the hag eye is pointed at. Hag eyes are
usually placed on a medallion or brooch worn by one of the hag's
polymorphed servants. Occasionally hag eyes are given as gifts to
unsuspecting victims whom the hags want to monitor.
Hags commonly inhabit bone-strewn glens deep within forests. There is
a large chance that hags are keeping one or two captives in a nearby
earthen pit or forcecage. These prisoners are held for a purpose known
only to the hags themselves, though it will certainly involve spreading
chaos into the outside world. Prisoners kept in a pit are guarded by an
evil giant or one to two ogres; those in a forcecage are left alone.
Ecology
Hags have a ravenous appetite and are able to quickly devour
man-sized creatures. They prefer human flesh, but settle for orc or
demihuman when necessary. This wanton destruction has earned hags some
powerful enemies. Besides humanity in general, both good giants and good
dragons hunt hags, slaying them whenever possible. Still, hags multiply
rapidly by using their magic to appear as beautiful maidens to men they
encounter alone. Hag offspring are always female. Legends say that hags
can change their unborn child for that of a human female while she
sleeps. They further state that any mother who brings such a child to
term is then slain by the hag-child she carries. Fortunately, such
ghastly tales have never been proven.
Hags hoard fine treasure, using the jewelry and coins to decorate the
bones of their more powerful victims, and the finer gems to manufacture
magical hag eyes.
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