Character(s): 2-3 needed Mission Duration: 2-7 days Mission Difficulty: ★★★☆☆ Mission Type: Exploration Projected Plot Impact: The Dan’effrei will gain a great deal of knowledge about the Night’s Wood and Death magic in general based on what the characters find. It may also affect what kind of magic travels back to the Life Realm with the characters.. Proposed Worldbuilding Changes: Nothing noticeable at this time, though the type of magic they bring back may influence future changes. Mission Restrictions: None.
DOSSIER
Wlodzislaw asks a few characters completely at random to go investigate a particular patch of forest known as Night’s Wood which seems to come with some superstitions. He will guide them along the path into the healthy and normal forestry before directing them to a strange circle of pine trees. Right before they enter, he will give them an old map that he says has never worked for him, but which they may find some luck with - their goal is to explore and they are under no obligation to follow the path on the map.
Once the characters step inside the circle of trees, the sky will darken above them and it will become night. While nighttime, the forest is seemingly endless and characters will be unable to leave it. That said, they can leave and return to this pine circle to switch between day and night as often as needed without consequence.
While in the Night’s Wood, characters may explore to their heart’s content. The place seems to be a normal forest with a light fog covering the ground and an eerie sense of quiet emanating from the stillness. Characters may also encounter (at player discretion) any/all of the three following strange creatures:
Puffs: These little floating clouds, about the size of a watermelon (they, too, vary in size), represent different magics based on their color - which are hard to differentiate in the dark. Though not aggressive, the Lightning Puff will shock characters who might prod it while the Life Puff may soothe troubled wounds. Players are welcome to imagine their own Puffs, within reason (no one should be seriously wounded or die from a Puff and likewise will not suddenly gain powers).
Grymms: These guys, which look a bit like anorexic and misshapen naked mole rats with fly’s wings, also have four long, spindly arms stretching out of their back with sharp stingers. Their legs and main arms have barbs along the sides and equally sharp claws on the ends. Fortunately, they’re no larger than a cat. Unfortunately, they fly.
Lumps: Imagine a tribble/ball of fur with roughly a dozen tentacle-like legs that it uses to barrel at impressive speeds across the forest floor, beady black eyes, and a mouth which takes up a third of its body. When it opens its mouth, the rows of teeth become visible, as do its three monstrous tongues, which can extend up to ten feet and whose saliva causes burning and stinging. Did I mention they’re the size of a warthog? It’s best to avoid them. They’re fast, they use their tongues to wrap their prey, and they bite hard and fast with no desire to let go.
If characters choose to follow the map, they will find the Elder Tree. This tree is an enormous yet thin and spindly aspen tree, nearly glowing with how starkly white it looks in the moonlight. A black, humanoid heart floats, suspended, in golden sap in the center of the tree at roughly eye level; a hole from front to back, now filled with the same sap, makes the heart plain to see. Any character attempting to retrieve or study the heart will find the golden substance easy to pass through and the heart easily removed.
If they disregard the map and decide to explore instead, they may run across the legendary Rhefti. The Rhefti is said to be an old monk who tired of Watching and instead moved to the forest to be alone. What characters find is a small, fairy-like creature who rudely shoves pixie dust at them and then disappears.
Characters may find the Rhefti or the Elder Tree, but not both.
OUTCOME
Wlodzislaw will insist that any exploration the characters do is most welcome, as the Night’s Wood is constantly changing as a result of who explores it. He will tell them that what they found tells a great deal about them.
If characters find the Elder Tree and do not remove the heart, any character who touches the golden sap will be asked why they are glowing and Wloszislaw will explain to them that they can channel the Life magic that they have received to heal themselves one time from anything non life-threatening (the character will have to be conscious and able to concentrate for roughly 20min in order to use the magic); he will teach them how to do so.
If a character or characters retrieve the heart, the tree will immediately drain of color and become essentially an ice sculpture, the golden sap also turning to ice. If they offer the heart to Wlodzislaw, he will excitedly take it and talk of its vast Death Magic and the many good things the Dan’effrei can use that kind of magic for, congratulating them on their service. As a reward for their amazing find, he will offer them each one small/minor token of magic (to be determined individually for each character with the player and Kate talking it over).
If characters instead chose to explore and found the Rhefti, they, too, will receive something in exchange for their encounter - but this will be random. It may be a new power for a week, or it may be a curse. Perhaps a tail. Whatever the case, it will only develop when they return to the circle of pines and to the daylight. (These effects will be randomly assigned by Kate with limited player feedback).
NIGHT'S WOOD (EXPLORATION)
Mission Duration: 2-7 days
Mission Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Mission Type: Exploration
Projected Plot Impact: The Dan’effrei will gain a great deal of knowledge about the Night’s Wood and Death magic in general based on what the characters find. It may also affect what kind of magic travels back to the Life Realm with the characters..
Proposed Worldbuilding Changes: Nothing noticeable at this time, though the type of magic they bring back may influence future changes.
Mission Restrictions: None.
DOSSIER
Wlodzislaw asks a few characters completely at random to go investigate a particular patch of forest known as Night’s Wood which seems to come with some superstitions. He will guide them along the path into the healthy and normal forestry before directing them to a strange circle of pine trees. Right before they enter, he will give them an old map that he says has never worked for him, but which they may find some luck with - their goal is to explore and they are under no obligation to follow the path on the map.
Once the characters step inside the circle of trees, the sky will darken above them and it will become night. While nighttime, the forest is seemingly endless and characters will be unable to leave it. That said, they can leave and return to this pine circle to switch between day and night as often as needed without consequence.
While in the Night’s Wood, characters may explore to their heart’s content. The place seems to be a normal forest with a light fog covering the ground and an eerie sense of quiet emanating from the stillness. Characters may also encounter (at player discretion) any/all of the three following strange creatures:
If characters choose to follow the map, they will find the Elder Tree. This tree is an enormous yet thin and spindly aspen tree, nearly glowing with how starkly white it looks in the moonlight. A black, humanoid heart floats, suspended, in golden sap in the center of the tree at roughly eye level; a hole from front to back, now filled with the same sap, makes the heart plain to see. Any character attempting to retrieve or study the heart will find the golden substance easy to pass through and the heart easily removed.
If they disregard the map and decide to explore instead, they may run across the legendary Rhefti. The Rhefti is said to be an old monk who tired of Watching and instead moved to the forest to be alone. What characters find is a small, fairy-like creature who rudely shoves pixie dust at them and then disappears.
Characters may find the Rhefti or the Elder Tree, but not both.
OUTCOME
Wlodzislaw will insist that any exploration the characters do is most welcome, as the Night’s Wood is constantly changing as a result of who explores it. He will tell them that what they found tells a great deal about them.
If characters find the Elder Tree and do not remove the heart, any character who touches the golden sap will be asked why they are glowing and Wloszislaw will explain to them that they can channel the Life magic that they have received to heal themselves one time from anything non life-threatening (the character will have to be conscious and able to concentrate for roughly 20min in order to use the magic); he will teach them how to do so.
If a character or characters retrieve the heart, the tree will immediately drain of color and become essentially an ice sculpture, the golden sap also turning to ice. If they offer the heart to Wlodzislaw, he will excitedly take it and talk of its vast Death Magic and the many good things the Dan’effrei can use that kind of magic for, congratulating them on their service. As a reward for their amazing find, he will offer them each one small/minor token of magic (to be determined individually for each character with the player and Kate talking it over).
If characters instead chose to explore and found the Rhefti, they, too, will receive something in exchange for their encounter - but this will be random. It may be a new power for a week, or it may be a curse. Perhaps a tail. Whatever the case, it will only develop when they return to the circle of pines and to the daylight. (These effects will be randomly assigned by Kate with limited player feedback).