When the last undead tree had fallen, James handed out a few mana potions to the group, and they continued on their way. It took them an hour and three more encounters before they reached the swamp at the forest’s center.

The house at the center of the shallow water clearing was several stories tall, appearing more like a swamp village than a single home. In all this structure light burned in only a single window.

James raised his hand, signaling for the group to stop. There was not a single sound to be heard here, not even the wind. It was too quiet; all was still and dead. James picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it into the water surrounding the stilted village. The stone plunked into the water and the waves it created rippled outward.

No sooner had this happened did he spy movement from the structure. He saw a large figure moving very quickly from an open doorway, the place where there had been a light coming from. The figure quickly reached the edge of the wooden structure only to leap into the air. It landed only a dozen feet from the shore where James and his party stood.

James and his party averted their eyes as a wave of water shoot outward from the force of the impact. The figure stood up from its landing. Though it appeared to be hunched, this hardly diminished its imposing stature. There were two words to describe the creature before them, ugly and intimidating. It was no less than ten feet tall, even with the hunch.

Its nose was far too long, its eyes were grey and filled with cataracts. Its hair was as black, and rancid, and sparce as the shit stained rags it wore. Its skin was grey, pot marked by countless past blemishes, and further exaggerated by its moles and skin growths. Its spindly arms hung down past its knees. Its fingers were similarly thing and distended, ending in large claw like nails. It was a hag.

Before James and his friends could draw their weapons for the impending battle, the Hag spoke. “Well hello there, dearies. Its been so long since I have had visitors. My name is Grandmother Raven, may I have your names?” the hag said as she held one of her hands close to her chest, and held out the other palm to the sky.

James raised his hand once more signaling for them to remain where they were. James alone lifted from the ground and flew forward the few feet to the hag’s hand.

James knew that much of Yggdrasil’s lore and mechanics had come from D&D. He remembered one thing about hags that the mere possibility of it, forced him to try diplomacy before they entered a confrontation.

In D&D Hags had their own kind of magic, simply dubbed Weird Magic. If anything, similar had been carried over into this game, it was worth it in his mind to bear the…discomfort of the hag’s appearance.