You know what are great? Hags. There is so much lore and complexity to hags that frequently gets overlooked in TTRPGs. But just think how many great hags there are throughout history! Baba Yagas, Wicked Witches of Cardinal Directions, me…
So, to share my love of hags and hopefully convince you of their potential as allies and antagonists, here are 3 side quests for the wicked and the wonderful.
Think Happy Thoughts
The Hook
An Archfey has lost their shadow and needs the party’s help to reattach it.
The Line
To truly restore the shadow it must be sewn onto the archfey’s feet with thread made from the hair of a shadow demon and a needle made from a hag’s tooth.
The Sinker
The archfey knows of a hag (Mother Weyndii) who might help, but she was once their lover and may still harbor some ill will… But if the party performs 3 tasks for her she will give them a tooth, and tell them where they might find a shadow demon.
To Sleep: Perchance
The Hook
A town is plagued with horrible nightmares causing them to forsake sleep.
The Line
Lack of sleep is causing irritation and accidents amongst the populous. This all started a week ago when several children saw a hag sneaking out of the town early in the morning.
The Sinker
3 days walk from town lives a hag atop a dark hill surrounded by pricking briars and vicious beasts. The hut is warded with magical traps. The hag however, is very kind. She has been eating the nightmares of the town for the past 100 years so that they may sleep well, but a week ago she fell very ill after eating a particularly bad dream and barely made it home. She needs the party to fetch a bundle of Violet Fungus so that she can make a potion to heal herself.
Poor Unfortunate Soul
The Hook
The party’s bard meets a beautiful, but mute, stranger in a tavern and awakes the next day without a voice.
The Line
A coven of sea hags learned of the beauty of the bard’s voice and hated it. Disguising one of their number as a creature of beauty they slipped powdered chokeweed into the bard’s drink, allowing them to steal the bard’s voice in the night.
The Sinker
The party must track the hags back to their lair, a grotto beneath an island in the nearby bay, and reclaim the bard’s voice by trade, wit, or violence.
What stories do you like to tell with or about hags? What terrifying or terrific encounters have your players (or you!) had with hags? What other creatures would you like us to shine some focus on? Let us know!