Beast Beguiling. The hag can communicate simple ideas and concepts to beasts through speech and hand gestures, and beasts are very easily convinced to help the hag. Beasts with an Intelligence score of 3 or lower always take a liking to the hag, viewing them as a friend who could never do them wrong and who should be defended as a mother defends her cubs. Only magic can overcome this devotion.
Innate Spellcasting. The hag's spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). For the purpose of cantrips, the hag is a 5th-level spellcaster. They can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: booming blade, druidcraft, mold earth
3/day each: earth tremor, dust devil, expeditious retreat
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 3) slashing damage.
Booming Blade (Innate Spellcasting). The hag makes a melee spell attack (+5 to hit) against a creature within 5 feet of them, using any melee weapon of their choice. On a hit, the target takes 4 (1d8) thunder damage, suffers the attack's normal effects, and is wrapped in shimmering fae magic until the start of the hag's next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 2d8 thunder damage, and then the spell ends.
Lair and Lair Actions
A Volk Zhenshchina, or wolf hag, will lair within a town or city, taking up residence in an abandoned building or in the sewers. They help make nests and burrows for various animals until the place is filled to the brim, then they expand outward, using their horde of animals to terrorize and harass people out of their homes, leaving more abandoned buildings to use as dens.
Regional Effects
The area surrounding the hag's lair can feel the pressure building around it, the water pressing up against the walls before they inevitably burst, flooding the neighborhood. The following effects can be felt as drips and leaks before the hag's onslaught, and as an ever-present flood afterwards.
- Many animals (especially city-dwellers like rats, squirrels, coyotes, raccoons, etc.) increase greatly in both numbers and boldness.
- The smell of animal waste permeates certain corners of the neighborhood.
- The sounds of scraping, scratching, and scurrying in the walls and attics become near-constant.
The general health and well-being of people in these areas decreases significantly as they become uncomfortable almost no matter where the are, the sounds and smells causing people to lose sleep as well as their sense of safety, even in their own homes.
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