D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Shambling Mound Rampage of Shadowthorn Wood

# Fey# Dark Fantasy# Wilderness# Investigation

Shadowthorn Wood, once a bastion of primal balance, is now choked by a rampaging Shambling Mound of unprecedented size and malevolence. The beast is not a natural occurrence; it is a symptom of a deeper, agonizing schism within the Circle of the Verdant Heart. A desperate druid, Elara, created a 'Haywire Sapling'—a living engine meant to accelerate the forest's healing after a magical blight. Instead, the Sapling's corrupted growth patterns have birthed a monstrous guardian that now consumes everything in its path. Two factions, both claiming to save the forest, offer irreconcilable solutions. The players are caught in the crossfire, forced to investigate the source of the corruption and make a choice that will scar the land one way or another.

Chronicle Prelude

The fortified logging outpost of Oakhaven, a nervous human settlement on the edge of Shadowthorn Wood. Smoke from distant watchfires mingles with the scent of pine and fear. Refugees from outer hamlets whisper of 'the green tide' that swallows entire homesteads, while Drudic emissaries and a grim, iron-willed Warden patrol the barricades, each blaming the other for the wood's fury.

Environmental Traits

The heart of Shadowthorn Wood is dying in a violent, unnatural spasm. The Shambling Mound, a colossal amalgam of rotting vegetation and tortured earth, grows larger with each village it destroys. It is drawn to sources of life-energy, which it consumes to fuel its own grotesque expansion. The only way to stop it is to reach the source of its power—the Haywire Sapling, now rooted in the sacred Grove of Whispers—and decide its fate.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Elara, Keeper of the Seed
A middle-aged woman with silver-streaked brown hair woven with living vines. Her eyes are haunted but resolute, and her robes are stained with soil and alchemical reagents. She carries the faint scent of ozone and crushed leaves.
Commander Brann of the Iron Wardens
A powerfully built man in his late forties, his face a map of scars and exhaustion. His Warden armor is meticulously maintained, but his eyes burn with a desperate, grief-fueled intensity. A locket with a faded portrait hangs around his neck.
Sergeant Kael
A young, rigid-looking soldier in Iron Warden livery. He stands at the quarantine line, crossbow held at a low ready, his posture radiating skepticism. His armor is clean, his expression hard.
Theron, the Broken Druid
A gaunt, trembling figure huddled in the ruins of a druidic shrine. His robes are torn, and his eyes dart wildly. He reeks of fear and the Rotwood's decay.
The Whispering Sentinel
A shifting, indistinct form woven from moonlight, living vines, and the scent of old growth. It has no discernible face, but you feel its ancient, patient gaze upon you. The air around it hums with quiet power and deep sorrow.
Corrupted Blight-Stag
A once-majestic stag now grotesquely twisted. Its antlers are jagged, blackened bone overgrown with pulsating fungal nodules. Its hide is mottled with weeping sores and patches of gray, dead fur. Its eyes glow with a dull, hateful red.
Grethak, the Mournful Treant
A massive, ancient treant, its bark deeply scarred and weeping a thick, black sap. Its limbs are gnarled and bent at wrong angles, and its canopy of leaves is a sickly, mottled brown and gray. It moves with a ponderous, ground-shaking fury.
The Haywire Mound's Core
A heaving, amorphous mass of corrupted vegetation, soil, and bone that forms the 'heart' of the Grove. At its center, embedded like a sickly jewel, is the Haywire Sapling—a pulsating, thorn-wrapped tree of black wood and glowing red veins. The entire mass shudders and convulses with agonizing, rhythmic pulses.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Somniflorous Realm

The Pranks of the Verdant Court