The Sewer Hag

A rich aura of life carved out a small haven amid the filthy, decaying sewer, giving Naomi room to catch her breath. With just a casual glance, Anbaixiu could tell the statue held at least three distinct buffs. Regeneration, poison immunity, freedom of movement... all wide-area enchantments. Anbaixiu looked on with considerable envy. Now this was an artifact—a true relic capable of exerting immense power even in mortal hands. Selling something like this would easily fetch an opening bid of a million gold coins. However, druidic artifacts required periodic rituals to keep their power from fading. In anyone else's hands, it would likely lose its potency within three to five months. Yet no matter how formidable this relic was, Anbaixiu could not partake in its blessings. For an undead, Silvanus's divine power was far more terrifying than the toxic gases of the sewer. The sewer environment merely made Anbaixiu uncomfortable, but the verdant barrier of nature before him would corrode his undead body like sulfuric acid. After all, the undead were an existence that fundamentally defied the natural order, making them mortal enemies of Silvanus. "A statue of Silvanus. It purges the sewer's toxins and likely holds the power to dispel illusions. Is this what you're relying on to save your clan?" Anbaixiu asked. Naomi took several deep breaths, answering only after she had recovered. "Yes. I've entered the sewers more than once, but by the time I reached where they were ambushed, they had already vanished. Even with the protection of Silvanus's statue, I need your help to track them down." The druid girl truly harbored no ill intentions, so Anbaixiu had no reason to breach their contract either, sparing himself the trouble of giving the City of Alchemy an excuse to confiscate his assets. "Then let's press on. We'll inspect the site where your clan encountered trouble first," Anbaixiu said. No matter the illusion, it would always leave behind traces. Pinning down what had cast it would make finding them far simpler. Naomi led the way carrying the statue of Silvanus. Bolstered by its blessing, the harsh sewer environment had virtually no effect on her. To pick up the pace, she invoked Wild Shape, transforming into an agile panther. Clamping the statue in her jaws, she bounded through the sewers, forcing Anbaixiu to cast Fly just to keep up. Before long, the two arrived at a relatively open clearing—seemingly a sort of buffer zone paved with large slabs of flat stone. Filthy drainage channels still enclosed the area, however, and the stench was even heavier than at the entrance. Curiously, the place was remarkably clean; far from finding any druid corpses, even cockroaches were nowhere in sight. "I've been here several times, but nothing was ever left behind," Naomi told Anbaixiu. Before Anbaixiu could investigate, however, swarms of crimson specks of light suddenly flared to life all around them. Before Naomi could get a clear look at what they were, the crimson lights rushed straight toward her. The green radiance she emanated stood out in the gloom like a blazing torch. Naomi was caught off guard. On her previous two visits to the sewer, she had encountered no danger whatsoever; the divine power of Silvanus's statue was supposed to repel all sewer vermin and monsters. Why were creatures daring to charge at her now? Naomi's reaction lagged a beat, but Anbaixiu's did not. Twin beams of Ray of Frost shot from his palms, carving wide swathes of frost in front of Naomi. The fastest beasts, struck by the rays, instantly froze into ice sculptures. Only then did Naomi see what had ambushed them: a horde of giant rats, each roughly the size of a wolf. Their mangy coats were riddled with scabs and festering cysts, looking so foul that even gazing upon them felt as though one's eyes might catch a lethal plague. Anbaixiu swept Ray of Frost continuously from his hands as if cantrips cost nothing, not stopping until every last diseased rodent was frozen solid, temporarily defusing the crisis. Naomi was stunned by Anbaixiu's might. While Ray of Frost was the simplest of frost spells, firing off such a basic cantrip like a repeating crossbow was hardly something an ordinary mage could pull off. Naomi couldn't help drifting closer toward Anbaixiu, forcing him to take two steps back to stay clear of the natural ward. Anbaixiu hastily warned, "Watch it! Are you trying to sacrifice me to Silvanus?" Naomi blushed with embarrassment. For a druid to subconsciously seek shelter beside an undead in the face of danger was downright absurd. She could only change the subject. "What on earth are these things? I've never seen them before." Anbaixiu walked over to one of the frozen rat statues. A scalpel materialized in his hand, and he began dissecting and eviscerating the diseased rodent. The gory, callous display forced Naomi to avert her gaze. Anbaixiu felt not the slightest discomfort; this level of carnage was mere child's play to him. Fur, muscle, blood vessels, nerves, viscera, bone... Anbaixiu methodically stripped away every part. Once he had thoroughly inspected its anatomical structure, he even extracted the mutated rat's soul to examine it. Before long, Anbaixiu reached a conclusion. "I think I know what your clan ran into." Naomi asked anxiously, "You do? What kind of monster?" Anbaixiu pointed to the mangled rat carcass. "These rats were magically modified. A trick like this smells like the work of a hag." "A hag?" A look of confusion crossed Naomi's face. "You haven't even heard of hags? Don't you druids scare your children with 'behave, or a hag will take you'?" Anbaixiu asked. Gritting her teeth, Naomi snapped, "We druids would never do such a thing! Frightening children with horror stories is something you undead would do!" "Are you dense? Undead don't have children," Anbaixiu said. Naomi: "..." The sheltered druid girl was struck utterly speechless. The tiny shred of goodwill she had just developed—thinking this undead powerful and reliable—vanished instantly as she silently recited Silvanus's tenets: *Undead truly are rotten to the core!* "All right, back to business," Anbaixiu explained. "Hags are originally creatures from the Feywild, but they crossed over to the Material Plane long ago. Terrifying legends about them crop up in the Nine Kingdoms from time to time. They're wicked, grotesque crones—cruel to the bone, mostly arrogant, and fond of tormenting mortals above all else. "Using magic to warp creatures into thralls is a classic hag tactic. These rats were mutated by hag magic, imbued with lethal venom and vicious aggression. They aren't particularly formidable—ordinary folk could bludgeon a few if they mustered the courage—but without antivenom, they'd soon succumb to the poison. Even in death, these vermin keep spreading disease."