The Witch of the Woods

The Dryads, easy; the Hags, not so much.
 
They lived in this huge tree in the middle of the woods, hollowed out to make room for their deeds. Which includes kidnapping children and eating them. We were lucky to find that they had only eaten one, Isabelle. It took us far too long to understand what that meant. The battle with the hags was difficult, as they almost killed us many times. I don't think any of us were truly aware of the abilities of the hags until they started going in and out of visibility and attacking us with unseen power. We're lucky we got to them before they got to us.
 
We found Isabelle in a locked room that appeared to act as a children's bedroom. She stood speechlessly in the corner and stared at us. She appeared harmless, until Misht got too close to sense her evil and she lunged at him with a knife. He managed to knock her unconscious while we searched for the remaining children. Beneath a trapdoor they were all found, including the little tortle hatchlings. Gargax was very careful to count every last one to make sure no one was left behind.
 
"That's not Isabelle"
"She brought me here"
"She said she needed help"

This was Isabelle, but she had been reborn into a hag.
What we failed to understand about hags is that they eat children, and then give birth to them as one of the members of their coven. Isabelle was the unfortunate victim of this horrible act.
 
We fought for a long time over what to do with the poor girl. We couldn't bring her back, she would harm the other settlers, and if we told them what she had become, it would be wrong to leave the decision of what to do with her to her grieving mother, Maren. Or maybe... would that have been a better choice?
Gargax stood firm on his decision that she was no longer a child, but a hag. I still hold to the opinion that the child of a hag is still a child. No matter how Gargax saw it, I don't think I can forget that my older brother was unwavering as he killed a child. I can't decide how I feel.
 
We had not found the Decanter, but instead it was a gift from Ormus for saving the children of the settlers. At least, most of them.
From the Tortles, Gargax received a Brooch of Shielding and the Status of Lord Gargax of the Tortles.
 
The rest of the evening was a blur as I fought against my thoughts, until we brought the Decanter to Trevor and experienced another shared dream.