D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Pecking Grounds: Poacher's Lament

# Wilderness# Intrigue# Beast

The Mossy Stone Forest, a primordial expanse of petrified trees draped in thick emerald moss, is dying. Its colossal guardian, the Rukh, a landbird the size of a hill, is being systematically poisoned by a potent pheromone pouch—the very lure used by poachers to attract its young for the black-market exotic creature trade. The players arrive as witnesses to a massacre, finding a dead poacher clutching a pouch and a terrified Rukh chick. They are caught between the Forest Wardens, who will burn the poachers to ash to save the forest, and the Desperate Collective, a group of settlers who see the Rukh as a monstrous threat to their survival and believe its extermination is the only path to a safe homeland.

Chronicle Prelude

The players emerge from the tree line into a clearing of shattered petrified wood. The air is thick with the scent of decay and a cloyingly sweet chemical odor. Before them lies a scene of carnage: a poacher's camp in ruins, a giant, half-eaten pouch leaking iridescent fluid, and the mangled remains of three poachers. In the center of the chaos, a whimpering, dog-sized Rukh chick cowers, its leg caught in a bear trap.

Environmental Traits

The Mossy Stone Forest's heartwood is rotting from within. The Rukh, once the forest's seed-disperser and protector, is now a raging, poisoned beast that indiscriminately destroys everything in its path. The Desperate Collective believes its death will stop the attacks. The Wardens know the pouches are killing the Rukh and driving it mad; destroying the source is the only cure. The players must navigate this poisoned ecosystem and decide who holds the key to survival: the forest's ancient guardian or the frightened settlers who want it dead.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Sylva, the Elder Warden
An ancient elf with bark-like skin and hair like silver moss. Her eyes glow with a faint, emerald light. She wears robes of woven leaves and carries a staff of petrified oak, from which small, living ferns sprout.
Thorn, the Silent Warden
A lean, agile elf clad in armor of layered bark and hardened sap. Their face is obscured by a mask of woven grasses. They move with preternatural silence, often perched high in the stone trees.
Commander Elara Vance
A human woman in her forties with a jagged scar running from her temple to her jaw. She wears practical, patched leather armor over a faded military tunic. Her expression is one of permanent, weary vigilance.
Brokk, the Warren Gatekeeper
A stout dwarf with a thick, braided beard stained with clay and grease. He wears a heavy leather apron and carries a large, spiked keyring. His eyes dart nervously, constantly scanning the fog.
Silas the Outcast
A gaunt human male with sunken eyes and a patchy beard. He wears a cloak of stitched moss and hides, smelling of earth and smoke. He makes his camp in the liminal spaces between the factions' territories.
Spectral Poacher
A shimmering, translucent figure in tattered hunting leathers. Its form flickers, sometimes solid, sometimes vanishing like smoke. It clutches at a spectral pouch at its belt, its face a mask of eternal panic and guilt.
Trapped Rukh Chick
A large, downy bird chick the size of a mastiff, trapped under a fallen, petrified branch. Its feathers are a mottled grey and green. It chirps in distress, its large, dark eyes wide with fear.
High Keeper Lyra
A wild-eyed elf woman in ritualistic garb made of thorns, living vines, and feathers. Her skin is tattooed with swirling, green patterns that seem to shift. She carries a sickle made from the talon of a great bird.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Frozen Gambit of Winterhold

The Oasis of the Scorpion's Kiss