Dagger Hill Annie

To the destitute inhabitants of the Dagger Hill slums, the smell of roasting meat can be a welcome distraction or a cruel reminder. However, when the source of the scent--both in terms of the animal it came from and the cookfire producing the smell--is unidentified, it leads to a brief period of panic as parents and older siblings search the neighborhood to make sure all of their brood are accounted for. As long as everyone is present and accounted for, the Daggerhillians will joke that Dagger Hill Annie is feasting that night. Those of certain political leanings will often add their wish that Annie is feasting on the flesh of a deserving imperial child. If a child should turn up missing, the panic continues as search parties are organized and families grapple with the likelihood that their missing relative is roasting over Dagger Hill Annie's fire. Dagger Hill Annie is a local ghost, hag, or urban legend said to prey on the children of the slum. She is described as having pale, greenish skin, red eyes, bad teeth, and long white hair. She attacks her victims by breathing forth a cloud of noxious green smoke that incapacitates them, allowing her to carry them off to her secret lair where they are butchered, spiced, and eaten. The lair is said to be hidden in "a room within the walls" of one of the labyrinthine tenements of Dagger Hill (most often Furley's Folly). Exploring the tenements of Dagger Hill in search of Annie's hidden lair is practically a coming of age ritual for the children of the slums, with areas strongly suspected of being in the vicinity of the lair often used in initiation rituals of the various gangs in the neighborhood. Tales of Dagger Hill Annie have circulated for nearly as long as the neighborhood has existed and her identity is subject to much speculation. Some say that she's a former Lady Daggerhill taking revenge on the outsiders who took over her husband's land. Otherse claim she's some variety of undead creature created by some curse or tragedy. Perhaps the most chilling version of the story claims that Annie is a human who sustains her immortality by eating the flesh of the young.