D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Glimmerwood's Bitter Vintage

# Wilderness# Fey# Investigation

The Glimmerwood, once a sanctuary of pristine magic, is dying. Its sacred Heart-Pool, source of all life, has been poisoned with a viscous, sickly-sweet wine, driving its eternal guardian—the once-noble unicorn Silvermane—into a frothing, gout-raged madness. The grove is now a labyrinth of twisted thorns and enraged fey. Two desperate factions seek to 'save' the wood, but their definitions of salvation are mutually exclusive. Players are caught in the crossfire, forced to navigate a corrupted paradise and make an impossible choice that will determine the region's fate.

Chronicle Prelude

The village of Briar's Edge, a settlement on the Glimmerwood's border, now living in fear. The air carries the scent of fermenting fruit and decay. Townsfolk speak in whispers of the 'Raged One' stalking the tree line and the strange, sweet sickness seeping from the forest.

Environmental Traits

The sacred Heart-Pool of the Glimmerwood has been contaminated, unleashing a wave of magical corruption. The unicorn guardian is maddened, the fey are hostile, and the delicate ecosystem is collapsing. The source of the contamination must be found and a path to a terrible resolution chosen.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Elara of the Verdant Covenant
An ancient elf with bark-like skin and hair the color of dead leaves. Her eyes are a piercing, sterile green, and she moves with the slow, deliberate grace of a patient predator. She wears robes woven from living vines that seem to writhe subtly. Her expression is one of grim, unyielding certainty.
Kaelen of the Bittersweet Consortium
A human man in his thirties with a charming, roguish smile that doesn't quite reach his shrewd, calculating eyes. He wears practical but well-made leather gear stained with various reagents. He carries an array of gleaming glass vials on his belt.
Mayor Thorne of Briar's Edge
A heavy-set human man with a perpetually worried expression and deep circles under his eyes. His clothes are of good quality but unkempt. He smells of pipe smoke and anxiety.
Thaelia, Guardian of the Thornwall
Once a nymph of breathtaking beauty, Thaelia is now a gaunt, skeletal figure woven into a barrier of razor-sharp, black briars. Her skin is cracked bark, her hair a nest of thorns, and her eyes glow with a sickly amber light. She moves with a jerky, painful precision, her form shifting between humanoid and plant.
Faelan, the Lost Wood Elf
A gaunt wood elf with wild, matted hair and wide, unfocused eyes that dart between the trees and the party. He wears tattered rags and is covered in self-inflicted tattoos of spirals and vines. He constantly mutters to himself.
Silvermane, the Gout-Raged Unicorn
A nightmarish perversion of a noble creature. Its once-silver coat is matted and streaked with pulsing, violet veins. Its mane is a tangle of thorny vines, and its eyes burn with a feverish, mindless rage. Its magnificent horn is cracked, leaking a thick, iridescent sludge. The air around it shimmers with heat and smells of sweet rot and ozone.
Bittersweet Consortium Guard
A burly human or half-orc in studded leather armor bearing the Consortium's chalice-and-thorns emblem. They carry a heavy club and wear a look of bored, professional menace. They guard the perimeter of the makeshift distillery.
Glimmer Pixie
A tiny, winged humanoid no larger than a fist, its form composed of shimmering, corrupted light. Its once-playful features are twisted into a malicious grin, and its eyes are pinpricks of violet fire. It leaves a faint trail of sparkling, sweet-smelling dust.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Pranks of the Verdant Court

The Shambling Mound Rampage of Shadowthorn Wood