Green hag

Green hags, also known as swamp hags and river hags, use their magical powers to lure innocents into their traps. They will assume the form of beautiful women and enter a populated area to find a young man or woman to corrupt with vices. They will use their ability to mimic animal noises to lure children into the swamp, where they are captured and devoured.

Description
Of all the hags, green hags were the least physically menacing, their resemblance to regular humans serving to make them more unnerving than imposing. Though their typical bodily figure was that of a withered and hunched female, they could run the entire spectrum of body types and stretch into the extremes of both ends, some being skeletally gaunt and others morbidly obese.

Without certain indicators, green hags would simply appear as human crones, but even then their skilled use of illusory disguises could hide these tell-tale signs. If not magically camouflaging their true forms, the most obvious feature of a green hag, as the name implied, was the pallid green color of their rough, bark-like skin. Knobby, cancerous protrusions often marked their flesh, some hidden by the ragged peasant rags they typically wore.

A green hag's visage was normally blemished with warts and exaggerated facial features and ringed by a tangled mane of vine-like hair, ranging in color somewhere between moldy olive green and a near-black shade of dark. Below their eyes, either orange or amber colored, were needle-sharp fangs as pointed as their claws, black or yellow talons covered in filth that grew from typically slender fingers.

Personality
"Teeth! Teeth! I’ll tie your teeth to my necklace with thread from your sinews!"

- Korrigan, green hag of the Mistmarsh Tragedy was the greatest delight of the green hags, the act of dashing hope and replacing it with despair bringing them no small amount of glee. This was because out of all the hags, a cruel race with a natural need for misery and murder, green hags were the ones driven most strongly by hate. The pure, unbridled malice of green hags was unrivaled by that of their sister subraces; dreams of destruction dominated their thoughts and they showed an apathy to suffering on par with that of a predator.

Though the original source of this hate was a matter of rumors, perhaps some racial spite or long-forgotten grudge, the ultimate target was clear. In short, green hags ultimately desired the downfall of society, to bring down all nations and replace that which was civilized, beautiful, and pure with a recreation of the moral bankruptcy of nature at its most brutal, just as they preferred it. However, assuming that because their end goal was to inspire savagery would mean that their methods were wild and simplistic would be a fatal mistake.

Although not necessarily smarter than other hags, and they were highly knowledgeable, green hags were certainly the most cunning and duplicitous, outmatching the other subraces in their ability to tempt, persuade and manipulate, and doing so happily from behind webs of lies and secret intentions. Even the most basic plots of the green hags were devious, involving the use of their particular abilities to lure travelers to specific places in their swamps for some nefarious purpose. They could mimic cries for help or fearsome noises depending on where they wanted their victims to go, and that was for their simpler schemes.

They were also known to eagerly transform themselves into local legends to lure in those curious about such things, creating gossip about wise women of the wilds or fair fey of the forest to set their traps. For example, they would seduce others into secluded locations under guises of beauty, and though they didn't exclusively use this trick on men, they generally found it worked easier on them. Only after getting their partners there would they sadistically reveal the deception, either before the encounter began, in which case they slaughtered and consumed them, or, debatably the crueler choice, after it had ended, leaving most survivors traumatized to the point of madness.

While unarguably terrible, such small-scale schemes were less favorable to green hags than more grand machinations. They beguiled themselves into powerful authority positions, such as the lovers of leaders or the idols of savage humanoid tribes, pulling them deeper into depravity by encouraging profane acts. Despite their wickedness and hateful personalities, green hags were actually the least xenophobic of hags, willing to reason with others and cooperate with those of similar mindset, even withstanding their natural sense of superiority to others. Despite their egotism however, green hags were also cautious, possibly to the point of being considered craven, going so far as to not leave their lairs if not invisible to avoid being seen. They played with weaker prey before consuming it but fled from any strong and determined opposition, effectively acting as conspiratorial bullies towards any being they could.

Abilities
Green hags were reported to have several spell-like abilities used to mislead, such as dancing lights, ghost sound and more utility based powers like speak with monsters and water breathing. They could also disguise themselves, their clothes and their possessions to appear as anything else of similar shape, such as the form of a young woman or elderly lady or the form of an individual they had seen before. If disguises weren't enough, they could render themselves invisible and incapable of being tracked or manipulate their prey unseen by mimicking the noises of humans and animals, although manufactured sounds and the depths of speech were typically beyond their capabilities.

Like all hags, the strength behind a green hag's frail physique was not to be underestimated, for not only were they resistant to magic but their calloused flesh made them resistant to physical attacks and their hardiness extended to their flesh-rending claws. Even worse, it was said that a green hag's touch could sap strength with even the slightest brush, quickly leaving formidable warriors who couldn't resist the vigor-draining power helpless against them. If unwilling to personally deal with situations they were also reported to be able to manipulate the swamp, causing roots to grasp at trespassers and causing miasmas to rise from the earth.

Combat


Like in their schemes, green hags were cowardly creatures who fought only that which they could certainly defeat and who took precautions to ensure victory, such as only striking on moonless nights to exploit their darkvision. Before combat, they often used some combination of mimicry and illusions to make their prey stray from their pack or walk into an area where they would be vulnerable, sometimes kidnapping and killing pets to gain a wider variety of sounds before luring in their unwary owners with imitated cries. They were ambush predators that shunned fair fights in favor of lying in wait for their prey to enter a given location, either invisible, using their natural camouflage, or some other manner of disguise. Helpless victims were toyed with like a cat playing with a mouse, sometimes with a mocking use of mimicry.

Green hags frequently engaged in, and often took advantage of, the tactic of drowning their foes, using their ability to breathe underwater and steal strength to leave victims incapable of fighting back before dragging them in. Every stagnant pool of water could be the hiding place of a green hag just waiting for a passing traveler or fisherman to come by. The terrified soul would quickly drown unless the hag decided to take them back to their lairs for some magical or, if the victim was extremely unfortunate, carnal process.

Though a strong and determined opposition would force them to flee, green hags were the most likely of the hags to undergo training, learning the combat skills of fighters or barbarians, the arcane magic of sorcerers or wizards, or the divine magic of clerics or druids.

Lair
Green hags are horrible, cruel, fey-like women found in desolate swamps and dark forests. They delight in destroying beauty and purity, wanting to match it to their own ugly, debased selves.

Locations
Green hags were found in Ashanath, the North Country, the Forest of Lethyr, and the Yuirwood in the Unapproachable East.

Notable Green Hags

 * Nanny Pu'pu', a hag who devoured the entire population of the village of Mbala in Chult.
 * Jeny Greenteeth, a dweller of the Quivering Forest responsible for the pact between the forest and the city of Phlan.
 * Thessinthorn, a hag that was based in Cormanthyr.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Nymph's Reward
 * Nymph's Reward