Category:The Three Hags of Tepest

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The Three Hags of Tepest, also referred to as the Sisters Mindefisk, are the collective co-Darklords of Tepest. All three were once seemingly normal human sisters raised as part of the Mindefisk family, albeit not born into the family but rather given to the mother by the fey because of her unfulfilled desire for daughters. Their individual names are Laveeda, Leticia and Lorinda[1][2][3][4].

As hags of great and horrific power, they are individually competent practitioners of hag magic[5]. However, when the three sisters come together as a covey, they are truly terrifying. They have created many powerful (and often horrific) magical artifices, ranging from potions all the way up to the corrupted treant Blackroot[6]. They frequently use magic and deception to manipulate others to their ends, even going so far as to manipulate those within the Tepestani Inquisition into becoming their quislings and providing corpses for their black magic[7]. Most if not all the Goblin tribes of Tepest unearth and carve up executed criminals and even procure live victims for the Sisters in return for minor magical items.

Although guilty of creating many evil perversions of magic, it is the hags' crimes of violence that earned the collective mantle of Tepest's darklords. Avid cannibals, they readily lure in unsuspecting victims into their home only for these to become their next cannibalistic feasts. Moreover, the Three Hags show ultimate loathing of beauty and youth and feel great envy toward anybody demonstrating the possibility of experiencing true love. To this end, they will often use kidnapping and magical deception to ruin the lives of would-be lovers[7]. Their envy for the potential of love even extends to each other's (nonexistent) love-lives.

Although ultimately unpredictable, the wrath of the Three Hags may be stalled with word games and riddles. From time to time, they may be visited by the brave or the foolish seeking the creation of some sort of magic item, though such a petitioner is likely to meet a painful end in their pot. Should that not happen, the Hags frequently require gruesome and strange recompense. However, few beyond the goblins that revere them know of the existence of the Hags. Their misdeeds are often misattributed to said goblins[7].

Aside from the goblins, few mortal humanoids have witnessed their true forms and lived. "S" was one, who never interacted with them directly and instead observed them from hiding[8]. Another was Gesmas Malaturno, who had the rare distinction of attending a meal with the Sisters Mindefisk as a guest, rather than a meal[9].

History[10]

Long ago a woman named Rudella Mindefisk lived on a small farm with her husband Holger Mindefisk and their sons. Because they proved to be poor company, she strongly wished to have some daughters. When Holger refused to sire anymore children with her, she turned her pleas to the fey. After three nights of prayer at the hearth, she discovered three abandoned three year old daughters left in a basket for her to care for. Over the next couple of years she nursed the frail girls to health largely on her own at the expense of her own health, after which she perished.

Holger made several attempts to dispose of the three girls, from abandonment in dangerous areas to outright murder. After these attempts all failed, he acquiesced into letting his adoptive daughters stay, largely ignoring them so long as they obeyed his orders of cooking and cleaning.

With the passage of time, the girls became beautiful young women and grew bored of life on their isolated farm. Left on their own to deal with their boredom, they sought a means to gather the necessary money to leave their home. They took to luring in unsuspecting, weary travelers and killing them for their wealth. Not wanting to go to the trouble to bury the corpses, the three sisters became cannibals, eating their victims in stew, which they also fed to their adoptive male relatives. Despite years of ambushes and murders, the three sisters came to the view that their activities would not provide enough of the coins they needed to live elsewhere on their own. It seemed to each of the sisters that they could only escape individually through the seduction of a passing traveler into taking them away from their boring farm lives.

A traveling dandy exploited their expectations to enjoy the benefits of their attention while at the same time never intending to take any of them with him on his journeys. Each of the sisters envied the other two for the potential of earning the dandy's love. This collective mutual envy brought their wrath upon the dandy and together they murdered him, cooking him up as breakfast for the Mindefisk men the next morning. With this final act of barbarism, the three sisters drew the attention of the Mists. Along with their farm they were taken into the land of Tepest and transformed into its hag darklords. The year of Tepest's formation in the Barovian Calendar was 691 BC.

After some time in the Mists, the Three Hags came to despise an order of druids who revered the beauty of nature and in particular a truly beautiful and inspiring great oak tree. In anger, the Hags transformed the druids into warped trees that warped the animals and plants around them. As for the oak itself, the Three Hags turned it into the horrible Blackroot[6].

Curse

The hideous visages of the Three Hags cause them no end of suffering. The Hags scorn both sunlight and mirrors, for the former burns them and negates their shapeshifting and spell-like abilities. And when viewing a mirror, despite whatever illusions or disguises they may use, will always perceive their true, twisted forms. Moreover, the mirror inevitably breaks apart, save perhaps for magical mirrors if strong enough to resist the hags' wretchedness. Every time this happens, the Hags are reminded of their hideous, wretched natures[11][12].

Creations

As previously mentioned, the Three Hags show great proficiency in the craft of a number of magic items, many of an entirely horrific nature. They used their horrific potions and elixirs in the creation of Blackroot, through the awakening to consciousness and foul twisting of a great oak. The Three Hags have created at least one artifact, that being a special crystal ball of great power for Azalin Rex[13]. Other magical creations include the Tincture of Midnight[14], a cursed ring of regeneration[15], and (at least supposedly) the Black Blood Frenzy spell[16].

If one of the hags should die, her sisters will attempt to revive her using their Cauldron of Reincarnation. A Mindefisk sister so revived will always come back as a hag.[17]

Lair

The Sisters Mindefisk dwell together in their cottage[17] at the heart of Wormwood.[18] ]

References

  1. Darklords (Sourcebook) p. 36-38
  2. Ravenloft Campaign Setting: Domains and Denizens p. 84-85
  3. Domains of Dread p. 39-40
  4. Ravenloft Gazetteer V p. 162-164
  5. Darklords p. 41
  6. 6.0 6.1 Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix I & II
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Ravenloft Gazetteer V p. 164-165
  8. Ravenloft Gazetteer V p. 80
  9. Spectre of the Black Rose p.
  10. Ravenloft Gazetteer V p. 163-164
  11. Domains of Dread p. 40
  12. Ravenloft Gazetteer V p. 163, 165-166
  13. Forged of Darkness p. 14-15
  14. Servants of Darkness p. 31, 35, 37
  15. Servants of Darkness p. 33-34
  16. Ravenloft Gazetteer V p. 134
  17. 17.0 17.1 Darklords p.43
  18. Ravenloft Gazetteer V, p166.

Chronology

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

Secrets of the Dread Realms
Domains of Dread
Darklords
Servants of Darkness

Secrets of the Dread Realms - p53
Domains of Dread - pp39-40
Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p86
Darklords - pp36-43
Servants of Darkness - pp33,58

Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp51-54
Domains of Dread - p39
Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p84
Darklords - p43
Servants of Darkness - p57

Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp7,51-54
Domains of Dread - p40

Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - pp31,84-87
Darklords - p37
Servants of Darkness - pp31-35,57-58

The Sisters Mindefisk
Three Sisters, The Three Hags of Tepest, The Three Hags of Tepest


Pages in category "The Three Hags of Tepest"

The following 3 pages are in this category, out of 3 total.