Water hags

Folk say water hags are drowners' wives. If that be true, 'tain't no wonder why they're such ornery bitches.

– Shemhel of Dregsdon

Some tales mention water hags and swamp bints masquerading as lost old women to lure travelers back to the rickety shacks they build in the wetlands. In truth, only a blind man, or a sighted man blinded with drink, could mistake the rank sludge and rotting carrion of a water hag's den for a cozy cottage, and the hideous hag herself for an innocent grandmother. Their wrinkled, wart-covered bodies stand nearly two yards tall, with skin the color of a long-dead cadaver and stinking of muck and fish. Bony growths two spans long stick out from their backs, with hair like a tangle of seaweed and claws that would make a werewolf proud completing the picture.

Like drowners, with whom they often share hunting grounds, water hags and swamp bints dwell near shallow streams, rivers and wetlands. Though bulky, they are excellent swimmers. They can even swim through thick mud with astonishing agility, surfacing beside their victims to attack them with their sickle-shaped claws. They are also able to form this mud into balls, which they toss to temporarily blind opponents.

Water hags are particularly active and dangerous during rainstorms, conditions which furthermore hinder the use of the Igni Sign, usually the most effective weapon against all moisture-loving creatures.