7. Old Aggy’s 'Marsh Witch'
A shop of bottles, bones, leeches—and truths with a price. She calls Mirewatch “the House that Hushes.”
The door pushes through a curtain of bead-bones and reed tassels. Heat and wet spice slap your face. Dried herbs and fungi crowd the rafters; kettles blink on low coals; glass bottles squat on every shelf, their corks stained green and brown. A jar on the worktable seethes with black leeches. From the beams a long swamp snake coils and watches, tongue tasting the lamp smoke. An old woman grinds at a mortar, then looks up with a gap-toothed grin.
“What do you want with old Aggy?”
The place (quick map notes)
- Front room: Counter, bead-bone curtain, two stools, shelf of “safer” wares; rattle-string above the lintel always ticking.
- Worktable & still: Mortar, pestles, copper alembic, drip-coils, labeled jars of tinctures and oils.
- Drying loft: Puffball disks, sweetflag roots, pennywort, marsh saffron; snake’s favorite perch.
- Back porch: Reed mats, eel-trap repair, a skiff pulled into the mud.
- Hidden cubby: Under the hearthstone—old reed-maps and a sachet of coins.
Old Aggy (NPC)
- Look/voice: Willow-lean, smoke-yellow braid, hands inked with herb stains; voice like warm gravel.
- Manner: Teasing, transactional, unexpectedly kind—once you’ve paid.
- Beliefs: The fens are alive; noise keeps some things honest; law is useful but medicine is kinder.
- Tells: Feeds a leech while she bargains; taps the reed-maps when she lies.
Quick 2nd-person beats (for RP):
- “Names later. Symptoms first.”
- “You want a miracle? Bring a witness and a price you can stand.”
- “The House hushes what it can’t swallow. Don’t give it quiet to chew.”
Goods, cures & prices (poor frontier rates)
(Everything below is mundane but skillfully compounded; effects are light, story-useful. Adjust to your system.)
- Marsh Tonic (vial, bitter): advantage on next Con save vs. disease/poison before long rest — 8 gp
- Blue-cap Sleep Draught (1 dose): fall asleep in 1d4 minutes, gentle 6 hours — 1 gp
- Night-scare Sachet: reduces next nightmare/exhaustion check by 1 step — 7 gp
- Sweetflag Poultice: remove poisoned condition on a success (DC 10 Medicine to apply) — 10 gp
- Leeching Kit (single use): grants +2 to one Medicine check vs. swelling/fever — 16 gp
- Rattle-string, tuned: counts as continuous noise for a 20-ft room for 24 hours — 5 gp
- Reed-map (local boardwalk route, one direction): advantage on one Navigation/Survival check along the stream — 20 gp
- Fertility Tea / Moon-stop Tea: social tool; no mechanics unless you want them — 5 gp each
- “Dragon’s Breath” liniment: warms limbs; +1 to one Athletics check vs. cold/mud — 15 gp
Barter: mushrooms, good hooks, clean jars, rumors with proof, or help hefting a kettle.
Services
- Curse talk (not magic): Diagnosis via questions + herbs; can identify obvious frauds and give a social plan to resolve them.
- Leeching & lancing: Treats bites, swelling, and bog-rot; leaves tidy round scars PCs can brag about.
- Sanity by Sound: Will outfit a room with a drip-line and kettles (counts as continuous noise) for 1 sp plus labor.
- Guide by gesture: For 3 sp she’ll walk at your elbow to the reed split and then vanish; won’t enter open fen at night.
Hooks & micro-scenes
- “The Reed-Map Riddle” — She’ll part with a better map only if you bring a clean herb knife or the name of a culvert runner.
- “Silence Tax” — A neighbor begs Aggy to quiet a crying baby at night; Aggy refuses: “Silence draws Them.” PCs must design a safe noise ward instead.
- “Snake’s Choice” — Her pet snake goes missing; turns up near Mirewatch, basking over a warm floor crack. Why is it warm? (Leads inside.)
- “Temple Leavings” — She shows a charcoal rubbing of a defaced beacon stone (rune: triangle within wave). “Buy the rubbing, carry it to the captain, and don’t say my name.”
Interactions & attitude to others
- Curate Waldere (church): Mutual toleration. “He nails the floor; I mend the feet.” Will not undercut parish rites—charges more if asked to.
- Captain Para Roanik (Borderers): Professional respect. Leaves a wrapped bundle of poultices at the yard gate after storms.
- Alstons (mill): Trades herbs for plank offcuts and warm gossip.
- Kornel (swine pits): Old friends who argue loudly about law vs. mercy and share bread after.
- Harl (Bog & Barrel): Pities him; refuses credit. “Drink kills quiet, and quiet kills men.”
Dealing with bog-lights (her rule of three)
- “A true lantern swings. A liar hovers.”
- “A true light casts shadow. A liar drinks it.”
- “If you must test it, sing while you do. If your song comes back thinner, go home.”
If the party earns her trust
- Better reed-map (two safe detours) and a standing 1 cp discount.
- Whispering Cord (charm): once/day, tug to make a faint clatter for 1 minute even in windless rooms (counts as noise for Whispers).
- A tight-lipped character note for Captain Para: “These ones keep their word and their mouths open at night.”
Hazards (if the shop turns into a scene)
- Leech jar spill: 1 round of chaos; moving through the square is difficult terrain; failed Dex DC 11 = leech latched (1 hp/round until removed).
- Boil-over: Kick the still (improvised action) to fill a 10-ft cone with light smoke (heavily obscured for 1 round).
- Snake friend: Non-venomous, but Aggy will be cross. Very cross.
Secrets (GM)
- Her “curses” are human problems she treats with plants, structure, and noise. The miracle is often attention.
- She owns a brittle reed-song that counts as continuous noise for two rooms’ distance—it belongs to the fens more than to her, and she’ll only use it once for outsiders.
- She knows a half-sunk ferry stone on the north bend and the exact sound it makes when tapped. That sound keeps certain things away.
One-glance summary
- Type: Marsh herbarium & folk-remedy shop (semi-outlaw apothecary)
- Proprietor: Old Aggy — sharp, amused, absolutely practical; claims witchery, delivers chemistry
- Why it matters: Cures what the parish can’t or won’t; knows the reed-paths, fungus patches, and which bog-lights are liars
Old Aggy, Marsh “Witch” (Master Herbalist, CR 3)
Medium humanoid (human), neutral
AC 12 (leather, worn) HP 55 (10d8+10) Speed 30 ft.
STR 9 (–1) DEX 14 (+2) CON 12 (+1) INT 12 (+1) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 11 (+0)
Saving Throws Wis +5, Con +3
Skills Medicine +7, Nature +5, Survival +7, Insight +5, Perception +5, Deception +2
Senses passive Perception 15 Languages Common, a smattering of Druidic field-cant (can’t write it)
Proficiency Bonus +2
Traits
- Herbal Remedies (3/day). As a bonus action, Aggy administers a tonic to a creature within 5 ft. Choose one: the target regains 1d8+3 hp; or ends the poisoned condition; or gains advantage on the next saving throw vs. disease/poison within 1 hour.
- Leech Kit. When Aggy or a creature within 5 ft fails a Con save against disease/poison, Aggy can use her reaction to reroll that save.
- Tuned Rattle-String (1/short rest). As an action, Aggy starts a clattering ward (20-ft radius, 10 minutes). Creatures that rely on silence (your marsh spirits/“Whispers”) have disadvantage on attack rolls and Stealth checks in the area; the ward ends if the noise is deliberately stopped.
- Smoke & Spice. Aggy ignores lightly obscured vision from smoke or steam she creates.
Actions
- Herb-Dusted Sling. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) bludgeoning. On a hit, the target must succeed on a DC 13 Con save or have disadvantage on its next Perception (smell/sight) check before the end of its next turn (stinging spices).
- Ashwood Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) bludgeoning.
- Poultice Burst (alchemical, Recharge 5–6). 15-ft cone of hot herb steam and irritants; creatures in the area make a DC 13 Con save, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a fail, or half on a success. On a failed save, they are also blinded until the start of their next turn.
- Field Triage (1/short rest). Aggy spends 1 minute to stabilize up to three dying creatures in reach; each regains 1 hp.
Reactions
- Snake Friend. When a creature within 5 ft of Aggy makes an attack roll, her rafters-snake distracts it; Aggy imposes disadvantage on that roll (once/round).
Equipment reed-maps, leech jar, poultice kit, rattle-strings, sling & 20 bullets, ashwood staff, tonics & teas (as features).
Tactics. Keeps allies standing with Herbal Remedies, drops Poultice Burst to break rushes, then sets a Tuned Rattle-String and fights from behind smoke or furniture. Avoids killing blows; barters help for favors.
Old Aggy — answers with bite
(pick what fits the players’ questions)
On the Fens in general
“Mm. Heroes. The swamp eats heroes like soft bread. Walk where the willow leans, not where the water smiles. And keep talking after dark—silence is bait.”
On bog-lights
“You call them pretty; they call you lunch. A true lantern swings. A liar hovers. Sing a verse—if it comes back thinner, you turn your silly boots around.”
On Mirewatch, ‘the House that Hushes’
“That house chews quiet the way I chew fennel. Hang kettles, string rattles, keep the drip. Pray if you must—but pray loud. Whispering is how it tastes you.”
On stirges and dusk flyers
“Don’t stand there like a roast. Smoke ’em, shoo ’em, don’t butcher ’em over cattle unless you fancy paying for a dead cow with your conscience.”
On lizardfolk and the steel trade
“Long toes by the slop, javelins shaved smooth—yes, yes. Steel with upland maker marks. Pirates and road-thieves ferry it by night, because fools buy it by day. Bring me a stamped head and I’ll tell you which culvert stinks of lamp oil.”
On steady lights across the flats
“Lanterns sway. Those don’t. Could be element-kissed children scratching at old doors. Could be boys playing brave. Either way, don’t go quiet to meet them. Loud people live longer.”
On elemental cult scratches
“Triangle inside a wave, circle with its spine cut—leftovers of the Temple’s tantrum. Knock the stone thrice with iron, spit like you mean it, then tell the captain, not the ale. Ale makes rumors breed.”
On ‘trolls’ and the mud-man
“If it grows back when you cut it, that’s troll. If it quivers when you stand still, that’s the bog learning to walk. Fire for the first. For the second, noise and rude language.”
On gators and big mouths
“Water that smiles at you is not being friendly. Back out like you’re leaving a lover you don’t trust.”
On giant rats and cellars
“Set two traps, one for the rat and one for the thing that eats rats. If the cheese is still there in the morning, move houses.”
On ferry stones and ‘safe’ crossings
“North bend, half-sunk stone—tap it: three notes true, fourth note sour means flood soon. I’ll sell the map if you bring me a clean herb knife and a promise you’ll actually use it.”
On healing and the church
“The curate nails the floor; I mend the feet that slip on it. Fever, bite-rot, swamp lung—I have tonics. Broken hearts? Sleep tea and work. You want miracles, bring a witness and a price you can stand.”
On payment
“Coin is fine; proof is better. Spearhead with an upland stamp. Rubbing of a scratched stone. Name of a culvert runner. Bring me truth, and I’ll sell you more of it.”
On you, personally
“You’ve got that look—sword first, questions later. Hush. Trade me one sensible habit: hang a rattle-string where you sleep. If you live a week, come back and I’ll teach you two more.”
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