My first ever blog post! Hope you all like hags. Ideas contributed by/stolen from Semiurge, Molochrome, Nothic's Eye, and Madman's Menagerie in addition to others mentioned or linked in the post itself or random unmentioned contributors from the GLOG discord.

Slap this Hag lair into any forest hexcrawl. Alternatively, for non-hexcrawls, the party needs to seek her out for her Hag Wisdom (weird magic, fortune telling, etc.).

Surrounding woods

The hex that Agnes’ hut is in is enchanted, just a bit. Local crows report to her in exchange for free food and shinies, and thus she has a 4 in 6 chance of knowing the party’s presence before they even enter her hex. If she knows they’re seeking her for her services, the forest hex will generate a path leading directly to her, making the terrain easy to traverse and guaranteeing that they will find her. If she knows they’re out to extort/kill her, the forest will act as difficult terrain and count as hostile territory for the purpose of random encounters.

Front Door

The small hut itself is located in a clearing. 6 scarecrows (3 HD, armor as leather, fire vulnerability, d6/d6 rake/prod) are positioned about the area and will turn to watch the party. They will not initiate combat at first, but will attack if party becomes hostile. 1d2 Shadow Hounds (stats as wolves, can blend into shadows, on a 1 the other one is in the living room) also prowl the area, but will only attack if hostile intent is shown. Agnes will answer the door if it is knocked and invite the party in, unless they are known hostiles.

Garden

The garden, around the back of the hut, has many strange and useful reagents. Anyone skilled in herbalism can identify that there are 2d6 uses of helpful herbs, 2d4 uses of poisonous herbs, 1d6 plants that can act as Alchemical Reagents, and 1d3 buried mandrakes. Attempting to harvest them provokes a warning creak from the scarecrows, who will attack if anything is actually collected.

Entryway/Living Room

Upon entering, the hut is clearly bigger on the inside. This is where Agnes greets visitors and discusses payment for her services. Surprisingly cozy. Fireplace contains a fire salamander, who is kept placated with flammable dinner, but will escape the first chance it gets. Broom closet contains 3 mundane brooms, a flying broom (marked but not labeled), a cursed flying broom (labeled “flying broom”) that causes you to stick to it and takes you directly to Agnes on attempting to ride it, and a broom of thrashing (labeled “spare flying broom”) that bludgeons anyone attempting to ride it for 1d4 damage per round.

Kitchen

The kitchen is where Agnes does her Hag Workings. Whatever the party requests, she will go here and do some dramatic stuff over her cauldron, tossing random bullshit into it, until she gets the requested item or an image with the requested answers appears in the liquid and smoke. The cauldron is capable of walking and attacking hostiles or anyone stealing from the cabinets (3 HD, armor as plate, resists physical damage, splashes contents for 1d6 fire damage in an area and a random negative potion effect, save to avoid the effect). Cabinets contain 1d6 Bottled Things, 1d6 random potions in the form of foodstuffs, 2d4 doses of various herbs, a disgustingly stale ball of Mochi that ages you 2d20 years and adds 5 to a random attribute when consumed, and 1d4 alchemical reagents along with the obvious mundane foodstuffs.

Bedroom

Contains a comfy bed clearly big enough for two people, a nightstand with a trashy romance novel on it, two charms hanging from the ceiling (one protects against scrying, the other against curses), and a wardrobe full of identical witch robes. On top of the wardrobe is a case of jewelry (111 gp mundane, another anti-curse charm, and one earring of (1d3: 1. animal understanding 2. Whisper-hearing 3. Emotion sense)) and 3 pickled, shrunken bodies of old lovers that whisper sweet nothings when held to your ear.

Study/Altar

Contains three features: first, an altar with a ritual dagger, deck of cards, 1d4 poppets (one of which has hair of someone who annoyed Agnes, rest are unassigned), and various charms and stones that are useless outside of Weird Hag Rituals (worth 63 gp). Second, a bookshelf with a guide to getting stuff out of the gods, The Distinguished Hag’s Guide to Advanced Rituals, Divine Divination, and 3d6+6 weird random books. Third, a desk containing writing implements and various half-finished contracts, curses, and random notes.

Storage tower

Immediately upon entering, it’s apparent that the attic is as tall as a tower. Rickety stairs spiral up along the perimeter, stopping at occasional (total 3) platforms with shelves and cabinets. Landing on the stairs with force (jumping onto one to cross a gap for instance) requires a dex check to avoid breaking it (which can be skipped for particularly light PCs like goblins or auto-failed for particularly heavy ones like armored knights). At every platform, roll Tower Encounter. The first two platforms each contain an alchemical reagent, a random potion, and a Bottled Thing. The third has 1d4 reagents, one of which is always something rare, 1d4 potions, and 1d4 Bottled Things. Random potions here are always in the form of something concerning (fluid with awful taste and consistency of curdled milk, preserved eye, live toad…). At the bottom, an empty doorframe made of rotting wood leads into The Fog.

Tower Encounters (d6)

1. 1d4 Dust Devils (stats as imp, enjoys making things messy and pushing people off high drops)
2. The next section of stairs has missing planks, requiring a jump or other such means of avoiding the hole
3. Giant spider, roll reaction (enough birds and big get caught that it might not consider adventurers worth it). May trade Spider Wisdom for meat.
4. Old cauldron with horrible gunk in the bottom, causes automatic mishaps if used to brew anything. 50% chance gunk is alive (stats as ooze, placated with food).
5. 1d6 animated hands with pidgeon wings sewn on (1 HP, AC as chain, attack steals something instead of dealing damage, fast flying, morale 5). Tries to steal valuables, weapons, headgear.
6. 1d4 Rodents of Unusual Size. Act as hungry wild animals would.

Hag Tasks (d4)

1. Retrieve her lost necklace from a frog. The creature is in an adjacent forest or swamp hex and is a mutant frog the size of a bear (stats as bear, but with crushing bite (d8) that grapples and auto-hits for +1 damage per turn after the first until freed, plus 1/fight acid vomit for 2d8 in a cone, save for half). When slain, reverts to its human form. The creature is actually a man who slept with Agnes in disguise, fleeing in disgust with her necklace after seeing her true form, only to be cursed into this state. The necklace allows the wearer to disguise themselves as any other person they’ve seen at will.
2. Hang up strange charms around the nearest settlement. These cause townsfolk to dream of Agnes and the favors she can provide.
3. Retrieve something from her top shelf. The item is in a jar at the very top of the storage tower.
4. Convince nearby officials to sanction her practice (only if party has some social status).

Alternatively, bribe her with your deepest secrets, some rare ingredients or magic she doesn't have, or some delicious children.

Agnes (Adapted from Tempest Hag from The Monster Overhaul)

6 HD (27 HP)

Appearance: Hunched, green-skinned wicked witch stereotype.

Voice: High, mocking, frequent cackling.

Wants: To troll people, eat children, get petty revenge for slights real and perceived, and generally cause problems on purpose.

Morality: Warped and extremely self centered. Willing to help in exchange for favors that either cause worse problems or are much more dangerous than apparent.

Intelligence: Sharp as a knife, but quick to anger. Has the two earrings that weren’t rolled for the jewelry box from the bedroom

Armor as leather. Immune to fire, cold, curses, and mental effects.

Move: Normal, fly 2x normal with her broom (can summon with a whistle, arrives end of the round)

Morale: 9

Damage: Claw/kick d6/d4, knock prone if both hit

Hag Bullshit actions

Hex: target in sight must save or be hexed for 6 hours, treating critical successes as critical failures, swapping handedness, and taking -4 to all rolls that directly harm or inconvenience Agnes.

Launch: Flip a target end over end on failed save, launching them 20’ and dealing 1d6 damage when they land prone.

Disarm: Render target weapon useless for 1d6 rounds (guns jam, spears droop, swords stick in sheaths)

Greater working: 3/day total. Will only be used when Agnes is in grave danger or REALLY pissed. Can be any of the following:

Transfigure - target turns into an animal of Agnes’ choice for 3d6 minutes save to negate, or 3d6 weeks save to reduce to 3 rounds if the animal is thematically fitting to the victim’s profession (canary for miner, wolf for bandit, pig for town guard, etc).

Magic Burst - deal 3d10 damage to target, no save

Seal Away - target saves or is turned into a red mist and immediately sealed in a container. Opening the container immediately releases them and returns them to their original shape.

Treasure: 3d12 gp in silver and gold trinkets, gold teeth, and old bent coins. The two aforementioned earrings and a charm of curse protection. 50% chance of ritual scroll (d4): 1. Blight Cattle 2. Flesh to Gingerbread 3. Fog Aperture 4. Alter Weather

Upon doing a favor for her, she can answer any one question about past, present, or future (cryptically), cast any witchy spell you think appropriate or give some weird magic item/witchy spell.