Bog of the Hag [Level 3-4] 

Estimated Time: 4 - 6 Hours 

A One-Shot Horror Adventure by Nerzugal 
 
http://www.naturalcrit.com/homebrew/edit/NyxVQUfqte 
http://www.naturalcrit.com/homebrew/print/VJNX8McFg 
 
 
 
The Plot: 
A bog serves as an abrupt interruption to an otherwise normal forest. At the heart of this 
bog is a cabin. Within this cabin is a hag. Many, many years ago her loved one was killed by a 
creature that ripped his bottom jaw almost completely off, leaving it hanging by a strand of 
meat. She attempted to resurrect him by turning to dark magic, but had limited success. 
Unfortunately, this dark magic corrupted her once kind heart and now she does all she can to 
make sure every person she comes across meets the same fate as her beloved. 
 
The Setting: 
A massive bog that extends roughly fifteen miles. The trees are covered in moss and 
slime. Their leaves are all dead. Their bark turns to black but the trees still seem to be alive 
once you cut through the blight. All through this area the ground is soft and squishes underfoot 
(it is considered difficult terrain). Strange, dark salamanders crawl along the trees while large 
thorny bushes wrap around their trunks. Deformed toads sit in the waters, warts twice the size 
of a normal toad and seem ready to pop with disgusting pus at any moment. There is a dank 
and foul smell in the air, reminding you of rot and mold. 
In the bog there are some small patches of high ground that provide shelter from the 
putrid filth of the low-ground, but these areas are far and few between. The trees on these 
elevated areas are still green and beautiful. These are literally a breath of fresh air whenever 
they can be found. The creatures that live in this area have a name for these highgrounds - 
Havens. They provide a place for the NPCs to sleep. 
The bog is a twisting chaos of madness and filth. Once the treeline is out of sight, the 
players are trapped here until they kill the hag. They can walk straight for an entire day and end 
up at the exact same spot they were that morning. They will come across the same landmarks 
over and over and new landmarks will spring up a few hundred feet away with effectively no 
warning. 
 
Day One 
Giant Crocodile 
● DC 15 group perception check and if the party succeeds they spot a Giant Crocodile 
sunk down in the mud with only dark amber eyes peeking out. If they fail, the crocodile 
will attack the player at the front of the group. 
 ○ The hide of such a creature is worth roughly 50 gold should they choose to take 
a few hours to remove it.  
 
Bullywug Ambush 
● The party spots a small frog creature looking at them from behind a tree, but he swiftly 
runs away after being spotted. You notice he has a crown on his head made of twigs 
and bright berries. If the party chases him they will fall into an ambush of eight 
bullywugs. 
○ This piece could easily be expanded into an entire bullywug encampment 
should you choose to make the adventure longer 
 
Kuurg, The Stranded Oni 
● As it is starting to get dark, the party spots a large uprooted tree lying on its side. It 
must be at least fifteen feet across at the base and strange carvings coat the outside of 
it. At the base of the tree, through all of the tangles of roots, is an opening and dim 
lights emanate from within. If they party approaches, they will see a heavily-muscled, 
blue-skinned humanoid creature. It has razor-sharp claws and stands at ten feet tall. 
While hair tumbles down over its shoulders and its pure white eyes almost make it 
seem blind, yet it is sitting at an oversized table eating a roasted crocodile. (MM. Pg. 
239) 
○ The party can engage this creature he will tell them of their doomed fate, that 
they have entered the Bog of the Hag. Once forest is out of sight, it is lost to you 
forever. He tells them that they might as well get comfortable.  
■ He also knows of the hag’s origins, or at least the rumors. He will tell 
them the story and why they are trapped here. He will tell them of the 
bog’s shifting nature and that they will always end up coming back. 
■ He has been here for forty years and was once a highly aggressive 
creature, but has learned a life of serenity in his time of solidarity. Still, he 
has a short temper and will attack if pressed too far. 
○ If the party asks how to find the Hag, he will tell them that you do not find her, 
she finds you. When you see skulls start to appear then you know you are 
nearing her domain.  
■ “My brother attempted to slay her when we first became trapped here. 
He did not return and I went to check on him the next day. His body was 
laying out in front of her cabin with his jaw snapped and hanging against 
his chest.” 
○ This creature will allow them to sleep out in front of his home if they like. It has 
huge wood planks scattered around the front so the ground is not quite as 
squishy. He will require payment, however. He will ask for clothing and blankets, 
as such commodities are hard to come by here and gold is useless to him. 
○ Within the hut there is a chest in the corner. It contains six Onyx (50gp each) and 
a Painted Gold War Mask (750g). If he catches anyone touching his possessions 
he will attack, leading with a Cone of Cold. 
  
Night One 
● The first night the party sleeps in the bog, whoever is on watch will spot a glowing ball 
of light off in the distance. It will blink on occasion and bounces back and forth. If they 
wake the party to investigate it will disappear and reappear about thirty feet further 
away but giving off a different color. It will cycle through Yellow, Red, and Blue. This is a 
Will-o’-Wisp (MM Pg. 301) 
● It will simply whisper one word: “Follow” and grow frustrated if the players do not listen 
○ If the players follow this ball of light it will lead them through the bog. After 
roughly ten minutes of following the light, a cave will appear in the distance. If 
the party move towards to the entrance to investigate, they simply see some 
thick mud in the entrance and it goes to darkness. The wisp will try to coax them 
inside. “Follow!” 
■ Once the whole party is inside, or as many as are going to follow are 
inside, 4 Mud Mephits (MM Pg. 215) will pop up from the floor of the 
cave and start to attack. On the next turn, an Intellect Devourer (MM Pg. 
191) will run around the corner and join the fray as well. 
■ The Wisp will simply watch with amusement and as soon as any player 
goes down it will move over and cast Consume Life on them. 
○ If the players manage to kill these creatures they will find two dead Bullywugs in 
the back of the cave. One of them has a bag with 10 gold coins in it while the 
other has a pair of finely carved bone dice in his pouch (25gp). 
 
Day Two 
● The expectation is that the party will start looking for the hag’s cabin so they can find a 
way out of this swampy nightmare. 
 
The Roaming Ettin 
● As they walk along they will hear some tree branches snapping off in the distance and 
what sounds like two creatures arguing. Shortly thereafter they will spot an Ettin (MM 
Pg. 132). If the party does not actively try to avoid them or hide, the Ettin will spot them 
and move over to attack. He is stupid and can be easily bribed if the players can 
engage it in its native tongue. One of the heads is obsessed with shiny things while the 
other wants soft things. 
 
Black Pudding Pond 
● They continue to stumble around but on this day they, but do not see any skulls. They 
do however see one particularly dark pool of water. It almost appears to be tar, but in 
reality this is a Black Pudding (MM Pg. 240)​ ​It will not interact to anything until a player 
gets close enough for it to lash out at, or until a damaging spell has been cast against it. 
The ooze is normally slow, but moves at max speed even in this bog so depending on 
the player’s tactics it will be able to catch up in the difficult terrain. 
 
We’re Back! 
● A few hours of wandering later with no other incidents and they will see “a large 
uprooted tree lying on its side. It must be at least fifteen feet across at the base and 
strange carvings coat the outside of it. At the base of the tree, through all of the tangles 
of roots, is an opening and dim lights emanate from within.” This is the same tree they 
found earlier. Kuurg will be greatly amused by their misfortune and tells them that the 
longer it takes them to find the way to the hag, the longer they keep their lives. 
 
Night Two 
● That night as the party sets up camp again, they will hear branches snapping loudly a 
few hundred feet outside of camp. The sound of heavy footsteps can be heard on the 
ground, but nothing can be seen through the darkness. A few moments later the 
snapping will come from the complete opposite side of camp.  
○ This will continue for some time. If the party moves to investigate the sounds 
continue but continue to move so that they are constantly coming from a 
distance. They surround and slowly grow closer. 
○ After a bit of this they will hear children’s laughter from very close by. A look 
around reveals nothing. Moments later it will be heard directly next to 
someone’s head. Once again nothing. Then finally a party member will hear the 
words “You’ll all die here!” with a cackle and the sound all stops immediately.  
■ During all of this commotion, hand one of the players a note saying 
that have fallen asleep. Make sure a few minutes continue before 
the crackling branches and laughter stops. 
○ Tell the player who fell asleep that they have woken up and are locked in a 
coffin. There are three narrow slits in front of their face that allows them to see 
the night sky above and the fact that they are in an open grave roughly six feet 
deep. 
■ They can try to break out but will need to succeed on a DC 25 Athletics 
check as the coffin is made of strong wood and they can barely move 
their arms. 
■ About a minute after waking up the first shovelful of dirt will fall down on 
top of the coffin and they see a skeleton with its bottom jaw broken off 
holding a spade. 
■ If the player screams the other will be able to hear it immediately. There 
is a graveyard only a few hundred feet from camp (when did that get 
there?) and as the party runs up they will see two skeletons with shovels 
actively working to bury that player alive.  
■ There are a number of open graves equal to the number of players in the 
party at the ready. The others have open coffins within them. A closer 
investigation will show their names are already engraved on the 
 headstones near these. The graves also have signs of weathering and 
wear that would suggest they have been here for decades. 
○ When they get back to camp a whisper will blow through the air, “You only delay 
your death,” but nothing else happens that night. 
○ The next morning when the party wakes up they find the gravestones with their 
names on them lined up in front of their camp. Each of them has a skull in front 
of it with no jaw that is a perfect replica of their own skull.  
■ The player who was on watch didn’t notice any of this happen. One 
moment they just appeared with not so much as the snap of a twig to 
suggest movement. 
 
Day Three 
A Clue, a Clue! 
● The next morning as the party starts their journey they will find the first of the skulls they 
are looking for. It is hanging on a tree branch by its spine and of course has its bottom 
jaw removed.  
○ These skulls are scattered every few hundred feet. Some are piled up near the 
base of a tree. Some are simply carvings within the bark, others are embedded 
deep into the wood of ancient trees. There is also one especially large skull 
which is perched atop a what appears to be a totem pole covered in strange 
symbols. 
 
Cabin in the Woods 
● After an hour of following this path, the party will come upon a clearing where the 
ground seems normal. The smell of the bog dissipates as they enter. 
○ In the center of this area is a cabin that is surrounded on all sides by a cornfield 
about thirty feet by thirty feet. The corn itself is about eight feet tall so only the 
top of the cabin can be seen through the obscurement. Towering up over the 
corn as silent guardians are four scarecrows (MM Pg. 268) of varying levels of 
terrifying. All of them made in such a way that their jaws are removed. Some 
appear to be smiling regardless. 
○ There is a single path through the corn that leads directly to the front door of the 
cabin.  
○ If the party moves through the corn, the scarecrows will of course come to life 
and jump down to attack. They will not leave the corn field, however. If the party 
takes the path, then the scarecrows will slowly turn to look at them but will not 
make a move to approach just yet.  
○ If the players try to set the corn on fire, it will go ablaze for just a moment, then 
extinguish. (The hag is invisible and watching the party’s action. She is the one 
putting out the flames.) 
 
Let’s Go Inside 
 ● The party finds that the cabin is unlocked and if they all go inside they will soon after 
find that the scarecrows are staring in through the windows at them - just watching. The 
house is fairly simple in nature: a small table, a few chairs, books on the shelf in some 
strange language, candles scattered around. It seems completely ordinary overall.  
○ Off in a side room as a bedroom, and this is where things get weird. There is a 
large dresser with a mirror atop it and a comb made out of a rib cage sitting on 
top. The entire room is decorated with skulls, all with their bottom jaw removed.  
■ There is a collection of five hand-carved ravens on top of the dresser that 
seem to be finely crafted with small rubies for their eyes. They are worth 
25g each if taken. 
○ Off in the corner of the room is a trap door on the floor. If the players lift it up 
they will find it is locked. A search of the room and they will find a key in the top 
drawer of the dresser under some strange garments. It is a skeleton key, but as 
you guessed, the jaw is broken off. Whoever picks this up will feel their jaw 
muscles immediately tighten. It gets worse and worse the longer they hold onto 
the key and after thirty seconds their jaw will break with an incredibly loud crack. 
■ It opens the cellar door and when the party does the smell of blood 
immediately fills the room. 
○ A wooden ladder leads down into a basement that is pitch black and crafted of 
dark stone. It is wet and dank in addition to the powerful smell iron-like smell of 
blood that is so thick in the air it can actually be tasted. When the party fully 
descends down into the cellar the trap door will slam shut. They hear it lock 
immediately and shortly after the sound of something heavy being slid over top 
of it (the dresser). 
■ The party is trapped down here. 
 
Lover’s Quarrel 
● The roof is almost twelve feet tall down here and the room itself is roughly 50ftx50ft. 
Piles of broken bones lay scattered around the edges of the room, nearly three feet in 
height in some places. In the center of the room is a metal coffin. Inscribed upon it are 
the words: ​My Love 
○ If the party tampers with this coffin at all, bones on either side of the room begin 
to stir and snap together . A shape quickly forms and out of the bones a Skeletal 
Minotaur (MM Pg.272) with no jaw and wielding a greataxe made of bone 
appears on either side of the room. ​Roll for initiative.  
● Once the Minotaurs are defeated, the coffin will begin to open. Up from out of it will rise 
a man wearing incredibly fine armor, clearly magical in original as well as a lightly 
glowing longsword. He seems zombified and, you guessed it, his bottom jaw is almost 
completely torn off. It hangs from a single bit of meat. He is a Wight (MM Pg. 300) 
○ “You defeated them . . .” he whispers. “Kill her . . . let me finally rest! Please! Kill 
her! Free me from this prison!” he cries out.  
○ If the party attacks him he will simply rebound a bit, bits of rotten meat may fly 
to the floor, but he does not raise his weapon to the party.  
 ● A few moments later the trap door will open but nothing comes down the ladder.  
○ The wight will warn them, “She is in here! Her magics protect her from your 
vision!” and at that same moment she digs her claws into the closest party 
member and breaks out of her invisibility.  
■ The party spots a decrepit old woman with green tinted skin, rotting 
teeth, and with flowing white hair that reaches down to her knees. There 
is a clear madness in her eyes. 
■ Roll for initiative 
○ This is simple a Green Hag (MM Pg. 176)​ ​but she has one additional spell in her 
arsenal: 
■ Tear Asunder:​ Target creature within 30 feet makes a DC 12 
Constitution Saving Throw. On a failed save, the muscles in that player’s 
jaw go tight and they can no longer speak. On a pass, nothing happens. 
At the end of that player’s next turn, if they failed the first save, roll a new 
saving throw. On a second fail, that player’s jaw breaks ​violently​, dealing 
5d8 bludgeoning damage and causing them to lose their ability to speak. 
On a pass, the effects of this spell ends immediately. (Greater 
Restoration or three months of rest can cure this wound.) 
● This should be brutal. It will tear the skin of their cheeks and 
spray blood out in front of the player 
■ When she falls to 0 hp she will collapse to the ground and the Wight will 
shout to the party. “Please, let me be the one to finish this!” he pleads. 
● If the party agrees he will shamble over, place his blade in her 
mouth, and cut her jaw off and she collapses to the ground. He 
will then turn to the party and manages to say the words “Thank 
you” before his body begins to decay and crumble 
Loot! 
○ The Wight is wearing a set of Adamantine Chainmail and holds a Sword of Light 
■ Sword of Light 
● Allows the user to cast Light as a Cantrip 
● Can cast the Daylight spell once. Recharges on a long rest. 
○ The Hag’s body has a Wand of Secrets on it 
 
Follow-Up 
● With the death of the Hag, all of the scarecrows fall if they have not already been 
defeated. The enchantment restricting creatures to the bog is lifted and over the next 
four weeks this land will return to its former glory.  
○ On the way out, the party will once again make their way past Kuurg’s 
encampment. He sees them approaching and will greet them, surprised that 
they are still alive and assuming that they gave up hope. 
■ When the players tell him that she is dead he does not believe them but if 
they show them her wand he will run over and hug the front member of 
the party and pick them up off the ground. “I can’t believe you did it!” 
■ He will then run into his house and run back out with his chest and offer 
the contents to the party. It contains six Onyx (50gp each) and a Painted 
Gold War Mask (500g). He will thank them and ask to stick with the party 
until they reach the edge of the bog.