Hag

The Wizened Hag/Hag/Hag Witch is a Human boss that appears in the Weald.

Ancestor's Memoirs: The Hag
"I had collected many rare and elusive volumes on ancient herbal properties and was set to enjoy several weeks immersed in comfortable study. My work was interrupted, however, by a singularly striking young woman who insisted on repeated calls to the house.

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Her knowledge of horticulturalism and its role in various arcane practices impressed me greatly. My licentious impulse gave way to a genuine professional respect, and together, we began to plant, harvest, and brew.

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As time wore on, her wild policy of self-experimentation grew intolerable. She quaffed all manner of strange fungi, herbs, and concoctions, intent on gaining some insight into the horror we both knew to be growing beneath us. The change in her was appalling, and no longer able to stomach it, I sent her to live in the weald, where her wildness would be welcomed.

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- The Ancestor.

History
As the Ancestor started his pursuit for forbidden knowledge, he began to collect many rare and elusive volumes on ancient herbal properties. This drew the attention of a young woman who decided to make repeated visits to the Ancestor’s house, offering him mastery of alchemy and medicine, and a role in various arcane practices. The Ancestor was first wary of this woman, since the last woman he let near him wanted him for his blood, but soon his licentious impulse for the fairer sex got the better of him. As they both began to study and share knowledge, the Ancestor became so impressed by her knowledge that he gained genuine professional respect for the woman, and together they explored arcane arts.

Many years passed and both the Ancestor and woman gained greater understanding of darker arts. However, the woman was prone to experimenting on herself, and when the Ancestor had told her about the power hidden underneath the Manor he indented to dig up, she began eating and drinking all sorts of different and strange herbs, fungi and experimental potions of her own making with wild abandon, with the intention of gaining some insight into the horror hidden under the Manor. The effects of these strange plants and concoctions had on her body was so appalling that she was twisted into a disgusting hag. No longer able to stomach or tolerate her wild policy of self-experimentation or her hideous appearance, the Ancestor threw her out of his house and the Hamlet, to live in the Weald where her wildness would be welcomed.

By the time the Heir arrives at the Hamlet, things have gone from bad to worse within the Weald. The woman continued her experiments within the Weald, and said experiments twisted her into a cannibalistic monster and unleashed the sickness that plagues the woods. She also attracted a following of women who joined her Coven out of misguided hope, desperation, vanity or power. Who she was before her maleficent transformation no longer matters, for she has become the Hag of the Weald, the terrible Matriarch of the Coven of the Hidden Moon and the Mother of the Hateful Viragos.

When your Heroes are facing the Hag, trying to end her existence and cannibalistic ways, they will learn to fear her Cauldron when the Hag throws one of them in the boiling pot and stews them alive.

Behavior
The Hag always appears taking up rank 3 and 4, while her pot takes up ranks 1 and 2; neither she nor her pot can be moved from those positions. When empty, the pot cannot be damaged unless you only have one character left.

During the first turn of the battle, she will use Into the Pot! on one of your heroes. This places them in the Cauldron, where they cannot do anything and take constant HP damage every time you or the Hag makes a move. The Hag has multiple moves per turn.

The filled Cauldron has substantially less HP and can be attacked down to 0 HP to tip it over, which releases the trapped hero. The pot immediately respawns, however, and the Hag will duly put another hero in on her next move (possibly the same one). The pot automatically tips over when the hero inside reaches death's door. The pot doesn't have a lot of HP in this stage and doesn't cause a huge amount of damage to the trapped hero per tick (but it will mount up). Therefore, it's worth maintaining DPS from all your heavy hitters on the Hag and getting her down as soon as you can whilst whittling down the pot with your smaller guns.

It is worth noting that a hero currently inside the pot will not retreat with the rest of the party, but will instead count as having died. Furthermore, if three of your heroes die and the fourth is in the pot, you lose the battle and the hero in the pot is counted as dead.

Whilst a hero is inside the pot, the Hag uses Seasoned to Perfection, Meat Tenderizer, and Taste the Stew on the rest of the party, concentrating mostly on building stress. None of them do much damage, but since the Hag gets multiple turns and Meat Tenderizer hits the whole party, they are extremely dangerous to heroes at death's door. If there's only one hero left alive, she will only use Meat Tenderizer.

Trophy
After completing the Hag's champion quest, she will drop her ladle as a Trophy.

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

* While a hero is in the cauldron it won't be able to attack and will take damage each turn.

** Used only if a hero is in the pot.

Strategy
For this fight attacks targeting 3rd and 4th ranks are mandatory, as the Hag never moves. She is pretty weak by herself so it's highly recommended ignoring the Hero in the Cauldron (unless it's a main damage dealer) and focus all attacks on the Hag, attempting to kill her before the Hero she's cooking hits death's door. But even if that happens they will be immediately spilled out, allowing you to heal them.

Some have also suggested running the fight at low light level; due to the mechanics of her attacks, her increased accuracy and damage is not significant compared to the party's increased critical chance to focus her down while ignoring the Hero in the pot. But if you are trying to dodge her Into The Pot! attack, the increased accuracy from the low light will be counter productive.

Another strategy that is quite viable is to bring two or even three Hellions. The reason for this is twofold: she is very vulnerable to a Hellion's bleed attacks, and due to her never moving, the extremely hard-hitting Iron Swan can be used every turn (the Hellion in the front can also safely benefit from Battle Trance since the Hag doesn't knockback or shuffle your team).

A party with a high Dodge can have a strong impact on the battle. Combining very agile characters with the Man-at-Arms' Bolster ability and Dodge-boosting camping skills can cause "Into the Pot!" to miss entirely, resulting in dramatically reduced incoming damage and increased damage output against the Hag when all party members are able to continue fighting.

Remember that when the Hag places a hero into the pot, it will move your heroes in to fill in the gaps. Make sure that your 3rd and 4th rank attackers can still hit her when this happens.

Weald

 * Fungal Scratcher
 * Fungal Artillery
 * Crone
 * Unclean Giant
 * Hateful Virago
 * Necrotic Fungus

Bosses

 * Cauldron