Dark Heart of the Wood

Adventure Overview

The following overview gives the Director an idea up front of what happens in the adventure.

Remember, this is a short, linear quest—these scenes should be tackled in order.

Chapel of Saint Maernoth

The heroes pursue the threxyls into a mysterious tunnel that leads them to the local chapel, where they find the town’s priest in need of rescue!

Combat Encounters

The combat encounters are optimized for a group of five heroes. Adjustments are included for groups as large as six or as small as three.

Dangers of the Wood

Following the vision, the heroes enter the Grimstone Wood, seeking the shrine that Whisper showed them, uncovering the mysteries of the wood along the way.

But the entrance to the shrine is guarded by a bodysnatcher—a threxyl who can clone other creatures!

Encounter Maps

Maps are included for combat encounters, which should be played out using tokens and miniatures on a grid. Each combat encounter includes a map that shows the starting positions of enemies and a start area where players can place their heroes’ tokens.

Hooks

Here are several possible ways your heroes could wind up in Byre:

• The heroes hear about the plight of Byre from a merchant as they look for adventure.

• The heroes are sent from nearby to check on someone’s family member living in Byre.

• An ally from Byre sends the heroes a distressing letter.

• The heroes are riding north to visit Dalrath Keep and find the way blocked by impassable brambles.

• The heroes are hiking south to Broadhurst or the Black Forest and find that there are no places to rest and recover in Byre on their way.​

Plants Attack!

The heroes are attacked at Byre’s inn by strange, barbed vines that burst from the floor—threxyls! They discover the town has no food, as the vines have dragged it all underground.

Read-Aloud Text

When you see information presented in bullet points with quotation marks around it, that information is meant to be shared with the players through reading or paraphrasing it aloud.

• “Information like this is meant to be shared with the players.”

• “We put each important detail into a bullet point to make it easier for you to paraphrase or change information as you see fit.”

The Monster

The antagonist for this adventure is a thorn dragon. Unlike other dragons, thorn dragons rely more on instinct than reason. They can’t speak or understand languages.

These dragons lay claim to an area and twist the land into deadly, barren wilderness. This thorn dragon has made their lair within a shrine of the green—a font of elemental power, and the historical source of the local valley’s fruitful harvests.

The dragonʼs corruption of the shrine is doing more than just blight the area with drought; it’s also creating strange and horrifying plant creatures who threaten the locals!

The Shrine of the Green

The heroes face the thorn dragon who has corrupted the shrine— Yddraed, the Leech-lord. Together they defeat the dragon to save the village and banish the threxyls!

The Sleeping Elf

The priest sends the heroes to find a powerful elf named Whisper. Whisper’s powers have waned, and she has fallen into a deep sleep, but she is able to give the heroes a vision of a giant heart beating in a shrine in the woods.

The Story so Far

Byre is a small village in the barony of Dalrath. It lies along a well-used road between Broadhurst and Dalrath Keep.

This road winds through a valley known for two things: fertile farmland and a dangerous forest called the Grimstone Wood, avoided by the locals.

Legend says that, long ago, the Grimstone Wood belonged to the wode elves. While it’s no longer an elf-haunted forest, some of their magic still lingers, tangled in the forest’s roots.

This year, the harvest has failed. Drought has been reported in the area, and merchants have stopped passing through the Byre valley in the last month. “Carts don’t make it out the other end anymore,” they say. None of them know why, and none of them want to find out.

The Cat and Mutton

The biggest building for miles, Byre’s local inn is easily recognized by a large sign of a black cat holding a leg of mutton in their mouth. Such a large and well-constructed building is evidence of Byre’s typical prosperity.

The sturdy building has stone walls hugging the ground floor and timber stretching up to form the upper floor. The door hangs open, creaking in the hot breeze.

The innkeeper—Merryn—greets the heroes nervously when they enter. He seems frightened of something outside, glancing at the door. He stammers:

• “I’m sorry, my lords, you can’t stay here! We’ve nothing to offer you. We ran out of food two days ago.”

• “There’s these … things. Burrowing under the ground. They’ve taken all our food, ale. Weapons as well—anything metal. Pulled it down into the tunnels.”

• “We don’t know what they are, but we’ve seen what they do to people. Like Pascoe … in the cellar.”

As Merryn whispers fearfully to the heroes, several other villagers come halfway down the stairs to watch.

Ceilings: The ceilings in the inn are 2 squares high.

Illumination: Light streams in the windows of the first floor, and lanterns hanging on the central columns illuminate the entirety of the first level.

Map: The areas detailed here are keyed to the Cat and Mutton Inn map.

Ancient Elvish Carvings

If the heroes investigate the small archway, read or paraphrase the following:

• “The archway leads to a tiny stone room, built into the cave.”

• “The room is decorated by swirling patterns and carved with ancient pictograms and writing.”

• “These pictograms show an ancient civilization of wode elves—a record of their history in the valley.”

• “At the center of the carvings is a large, abstract depiction of some huge, horned creature, surrounded by writing in Yllyric.”

This writing names the giant monster as Yddraed, the Leech-lord.

There is also a phrase that repeats across the carvings, written multiple times in Hyrallic, Illyvric, Khelt, Uvalic, Vastariax, Yllyric, Zaliac, and The First Language, which reads:

Every color is a shade of green.

Crawling Toward the Light

The final stretch of the cave beyond the stone archway is too small to stand up in. Creatures of 1M or larger must crawl on their hands and knees. After about five minutes of crawling, daylight breaks through the darkness.

Exploring the Grimstone Wood

The heroes may guess that the source of the threxyls is likely to be in the ancient forest, but it is protected by the old magic of the wode elves who once dwelt within.

If the heroes try to enter the Grimstone Wood, they discover a wide, shallow stream around the edge of the forest. The shallows are 15 squares wide. A creature who tries to cross the shallows wades out further and further, only to find the wood gets further away with every step, like a mirage. Creatures can safely exit the shallows back the way they came.

The infinite shallows can’t be crossed without the appropriate countermagic, which is unknown to the heroes and the villagers.

Saving the Villagers

The heroes may want to save the villagers by escorting them to safety, perhaps following Elyse’s original plan. They can attempt this if they wish, but they quickly discover complications.

Travelling above ground draws attacks from threxyls, who strike from below. They don’t pose too much threat to the heroes in small numbers, but could easily dispatch the villagers, and their ability to burrow makes defending the villagers difficult.

Additionally, the heroes or villagers realize that even if the villagers reach safety, they still face days of hard travel to reach the next town, and they’re already starving.

The villagers are safe hiding upstairs in the inn, but they won’t be forever. It’s okay to leave them there for now.

If the heroes still want to take the villagers outside the valley, they can make an easy group Might test that represents their ability to beat back the threxyls, and drag any grabbed villagers to safety.

Group Might Test: Escort the Villagers

≤11 Success with a consequence: Several of the villagers die and each hero loses one Recovery. 12–16 Success: Most of the villagers make it out alive. 17+ Success with a reward: All of the villagers survive and the heroes earn a hero token.

Remember that when adjudicating group tests, the Director tallies the results of each individual test. First, determine if more than half the party rolls a success or a failure. Then, compare the number of results with a reward versus a consequence. If more than half the heroes earn a reward, the party gets one collective reward (instead of a reward for each success). If more than half the heroes incur a consequence, the party gets one collective consequence. Otherwise, treat the test as a normal success or failure.

Under the Earth

The tunnel mouth is newly created by the threxyls, so the villagers have no idea where it leads. It connects to a natural cave system below the town, overgrown with roots and vines. The caves are dark and narrow—creatures larger than 1L can’t squeeze between the stones.

As the heroes explore the caves, read or paraphrase the following:

• “Blue light reflects from the surface of an icy underground stream, as the caves widen.”

• “Across the cave roof, thousands of bioluminescent glowworms twinkle like stars in the dark.”

• “The next section of cave is filled with crushed rock, as if something has dug its way in from the surface.”

• “Light pokes in between chunks of gouged earth from the collapsed ceiling above.”

• “A small stone archway lies mostly buried by rubble in the dark.”

What Next?

The heroes have been given a task by Elyse: find the source of the threxyls and stop them. Investigating the tunnel beneath the Cat and Mutton is the best way to do so, but the heroes might want to try some other options first.

Maernoth’s Crypt

According to the inscriptions in the crypt, Maernoth is a saint of selfsacrifice, humility, and duty. People pray to her for strength when they are called upon to endure poverty, hard labor, or holy trials.

The inscriptions also speak of her valor in putting down an incursion of demons with her magic broadsword, Galavhar. A carving depicts her holding the sword above her head.

There is one exit out of the crypt, a narrow spiral staircase that leads up into the chapel nave above.

Dreamleaves

If a hero picks up any of the leaves scattered around Whisper’s feet, they have one of the following visions. Read or paraphrase one bullet each time a character picks up a dreamleaf:

• “A civilization of ancient wode elves constructs a stone shrine over a natural fount of Green magic: a spring of glowing green water in the heart of the wood.”

• “The shadow of a huge, horned shape descends on the shrine, corrupting it with twisting vines, and wreaking destruction across the wood.”

• “Wode elves drive back a beast, striking a deadly blow at the creature’s breast, but not killing it. The horned creature flies away, leaving the wode elf city in ruins.”

• “The wode elves speak to Whisper and charge her with protecting the shrine as they leave. They show her a map to find the shrine in the heart of the wood. Once she has memorized its location, they destroy the map. They also show her the way to enter the wood— one can cross the infinite shallows that surround the forest if they hold a piece of the forest in their hand.”

Healing Potions

There are three healing potions on a nearby desk, which have been taken out of an unlocked chest.

Healing Potion

Thick and red, this liquid tastes of sour beer.

Keywords: Magic, Potion

Item Prerequisite: An ounce of costmary leaves

Project Source: Texts or lore in Caelian

Project Roll Characteristic: Reason or Intuition

Project Goal: 45

Effect: When you drink this potion as a maneuver, you regain Stamina equal to your recovery value without spending a Recovery.

Whisper’s Message

Whisper is also holding a dreamleaf wrapped around a piece of gnarled wood in her hands, but this one has been inscribed with Hyrallic instead of Yllyric.

If a hero touches the leaf Whisper is holding, the room fills with sudden wind, blowing the candles out, and all the heroes in the room experience a series of vivid mental images. Read or paraphrase the following:

• “The village of Byre is destroyed and swallowed by mountains of dust and sand.”

• “Greasy vines reach under the earth like muscle sinew, all arranged in a giant, circular pattern that emanates from the woods, drinking life from the valley and sucking it into the forest.”

• “A stone door with an emerald in its center slowly opens to reveal an enormous, bruised, beating heart!”

• “Just when the vision seems all-consuming, a calming, soft green light fills your sight, accompanied by a gentle hiss of wind in leaves, jangling wind chimes, and a sonorous female voice, which says:

• “‘Fear not, heroes: every color is a shade of green.’”

• “Finally, the vision focuses on the gnarled length of wood Whisper holds, and you see yourselves carrying it into the Grimstone Wood.”

Setting the Scene

• “The trees press in on your band of heroes, shuffling with supernatural life. You dash into the pathways ahead just as they begin to close.”

• “Walls of tough thorns rip at your sides as you race into the depths, and your sense of direction is quickly lost in the gloom of the wood.”

• “Slithering vines and gnarled roots grasp at your ankles, trying to trip you up.”

• “Massive logs block the best pathways through the woods.”

• “Worst of all, the constant frustrations and setbacks make it that much harder to stay hopeful and keep the pace up … every now and again a glimmer of sunlight flashes down through the canopy, reminding you that sunset is coming.”

Traversing the Wood

Despite its mystical atmosphere, navigating the Grimstone Wood isn’t easy—many dangers stand between the heroes and their goal.

To find the shrine, the heroes must make a montage test, working together as a team to make their way through an environment that seems to be coming to life around them, trying to keep them out!

Montage Test: Survive the Wood

Montage Test Challenges

The following challenges are suitable for this montage test:

Avoid Trip Hazards: Living plants grab at the heroes’ feet to slow them down. Suggested Characteristics: Agility, Intuition. Suggested Skills: Alertness, Gymnastics, Jump. Don’t Give Up: The going is tough, and low spirits means slower travel. Stick together and stay hopeful against the odds. Suggested Characteristics: Presence. Suggested Skills: Empathize, Lead, Persuade. Endure Walls of Thorns: Painful thorns scrape against the heroes as they squeeze through tight gaps in the wood. Suggested Characteristics: Might. Suggested Skills: Endurance, Heal, Nature. Evade the Threxyls: The closer the heroes get to their goal, the more threxyls they observe dragging food and other resources into the forest. Suggested Characteristics: Agility, Reason, Intuition. Suggested Skills: Alertness, Hide, Sneak. Find the Way: The woods seem to shift and change around the heroes making it hard to stay on the correct bearing. Suggested Characteristics: Reason, Intuition. Suggested Skills: Nature, Navigate, Search. Special: You can overcome this challenge twice. Surmount Fallen Trees: Huge trees have fallen in the wood, clearing paths through the dangerous plant life, but blocking the way themselves. Suggested Characteristics: Might, Agility. Suggested Skills: Climb, Jump, Lift. Outrun Closing Pathways: The heroes must get through the wood quickly before the pathways close completely. Suggested Characteristics: Might, Agility. Suggested Skills: Alertness, Endurance, Jump.

After the first round, the heroes are suddenly separated by a terrible earthquake that collapses the surrounding forest, and they must make a hard group Agility test to stay together.

Group Agility Test: Stick Together!

≤11 Failure with a consequence: The heroes are completely isolated from each other. The failure counts as a failure on the montage test. 12–16 Failure: The heroes lose each other. 17+ Success: The heroes manage to stick together.

Natural 19 or 20—Success with a reward: The heroes are unphased by the earthquake. The success counts as a success on the montage test, and the heroes earn a hero token.

If the party fails the group test, they can no longer use Assist a Test to help each other during the second round of the montage test.

The heroes find each other again when the montage test ends.

Montage Test Outcomes

The montage test can have the following outcomes:

Total Success: The heroes quickly find the entrance to the shrine, earning 1 Victory each and a hero token. Partial Success: The heroes find the entrance to the shrine after a few setbacks. But the evil power that bends nature against them senses it has a chance to destroy them and gains confidence. You gain 3 Malice at the start of the next combat encounter. Total Failure: The heroes spend hours lost in the wood and take a beating on their journey. The power of evil that has infested the woods knows they can’t hope to stand against it. You gain 5 Malice at the start of the next combat encounter.

Sentinels of the Wood

When the heroes have completed the montage test, read or paraphrase the following:

• “As you draw closer to your goal, you stumble across an ancient ruin—you recognize it as the place that Whisper received the map from the wode elves.”

• “A large, oblong depression in the ground contains leaf mulch and moss, and is fringed with delicate orange blossoms. Beneath the debris lies a floor of thin, overlapping shale slabs.”

• “Tall, petrified tree trunks—standing stones that were once living oaks—surround the depression. Among these are several stone seats, each one the hollow shell of a long-dead tree. “

• “Spiraling grain patterns cover the standing stones. These patterns depict the wode elves that built this place celebrating, dancing in the long depression in the ground.”

• “These elves are also accompanied by large, humanoid tree-like creatures.”

Heroes who can read Yllyric can learn from the carvings that these tree creatures are called ceredyn. Any hero who has the Magic or Nature skill already knows about these creatures—walking tree spirits who protect the forest.

As the heroes explore the area, read or paraphrase the following:

• “You realize the ground is littered with the remains of a recent battle, only days old.”

• “A destroyed figure lies in the mulch—the upper torso of a ceredyn. Only one shoulder and arm remain attached to the figure. The other arm lies crushed in the leaves nearby.”

• “Other splinters and chunks of petrified body are strewn through the undergrowth.”

• “When these fragments are close together, they vibrate slightly and hum a low tone.”

If the heroes take the time to bring the pieces of the ceredyn’s body back together, it regains consciousness and its eyes begin to glow green. The heroes don’t need to completely repair the body—just reassemble its basic shape on the ground so the spirit can reassert control.

If reawakened, the ceredyn hums thankfully and gives the heroes a Growth Potion, producing it from within their chest.

Growth Potion

This thick green liquid tastes of licorice and potatoes.

Keywords: Magic, Potion

Item Prerequisite: A half-pound of seagrass

Project Source: Texts or lore in Caelian

Project Roll Characteristic: Reason or Intuition

Project Goal: 45

Effect: As a maneuver, you can drink this potion or pour it over an object of size 2 or smaller, causing the target’s size to increase by 1 (to a minimum size of 2). If you are the target, your Stamina maximum and stability are doubled, you can gain an edge on Might tests, and your weapon abilities that deal rolled damage gain a damage bonus equal to your highest characteristic score. You shrink back to your original size after 3 rounds, halving your current Stamina maximum and stability, and losing the potion’s other benefits. Objects maintain their size permanently.

Emerald Stone

The large emerald held by the bodysnatcher is the key to the shrine door—placing it into the hole causes the door to open.

A creature can attempt to pull the gemstone free from the bodysnatcher by making a Might test as a maneuver:

Might Test: Free the Emerald

≤11 The hero pulls the emerald free but falls prone! 12–16 The hero pulls the emerald free. 17+ The hero pulls the emerald out of the bodysnatcher’s clutches and shifts 1 square!

A hero can throw the emerald to another hero as a maneuver if they have line of effect to their ally. Placing the emerald in the door is also a maneuver and must be done adjacent to the door.

Helping the Players Out If the players are more familiar with other fantasy games that expect every encounter to be a fight to the death, they might not notice the main objective of this encounter is only to open the door and get through it. If the players haven’t figured out the objective after two rounds, you can simply tell them what they need to do, or hint at it by having a magical light link the emerald and the hole in the door together.

Encounter Adjustments

If this encounter has more or fewer than five heroes, make the following adjustments:

• For six heroes, add one threxyl clone (ceredyn).

• For four heroes, remove one threxyl clone (ceredyn).

• For three heroes, remove one threxyl clone (bear).

Snapdragons

If the heroes investigate the orange blossoms in the area, they discover them to be snapdragons. They can harvest 1d6 + 1 flowers for use.

Snapdragon

This delicate orange blossom has a sickly-sweet smell.

Keywords: Magic

Item Prerequisite: Fifty snapdragon seeds

Project Source: Texts or lore in Yllyric

Project Roll Characteristic: Reason or Intuition

Project Goal: 45 (yields 1d6 + 1 snapdragons)

Effect: As a maneuver, you sniff a magic snapdragon blossom, causing it to wither and making your movements more forceful and explosive. The next damage-dealing ability you use deals an extra 5 damage, and gains a +2 bonus to the distance of any forced movement in imposes. If the ability does not impose forced movement, you can push each creature targeted by the ability up to 2 squares.

The Bodysnatcher

After the heroes leave the wode elf ruin behind, read or paraphrase the following:

• “You find yourself in a large clearing in the very heart of the wood. In the middle of the clearing, three large mossy lumps soak up the only beam of sunlight that pierces the canopy far above.”

• “A rocky cliff towers over the northern edge of the clearing and set into its side is the outline of a door—the entrance to the shrine! There is a fist-sized hole in the heart of the door.”

• “The moss-covered lumps stir in the clearing. They stand and shake the overgrowth and ivy from themselves. The first is a bear, and the second is a giant humanoid covered in bark—a ceredyn.”

• “The last creature stays resting in the sun—a giant, veined plant pod with an enormous blossoming flower on its top.”

• “In the middle of the pod-shaped threxyl’s body is a fist-sized emerald, held in place by many tiny tendrils, and glinting in the waning sunlight.”

Ceilings: There is no ceiling in this area. Illumination: Bright sunlight illuminates a 4-by-4 square in the center of the clearing. Map: The areas detailed here are keyed to the Shrine Entrance map.

Bodysnatcher Groups

Destructible Objects

The trees on the Shrine Entrance map have 3 Stamina, and the rocks have 6 Stamina.

Ending the Encounter

The encounter ends when the heroes pass through the door into the shrine.

Each hero earns 1 Victory when they have all entered the shrine door, or 2 Victories each if they destroyed the bodysnatcher and their clones first.

Tactics

The bodysnatcher aims to grab and clone the heroes, sending their existing clones to drag heroes closer to them. The bodysnatcher always moves to be in the 4-by-4 square of direct sunlight in the middle of the map.

The cloned bear knocks heroes prone and then drags them closer to the bodysnatcher. The cloned ceredyn stays close to the bear to support them.

If the heroes stay away from the bodysnatcher long enough to avoid being cloned for two rounds, the bodysnatcher starts grabbing and cloning the bear instead.

Witch Knots

These gnarled growths poke up through the damp earth of the clearing, looking like tree roots that have grown into a tight, flat spiral. They extend down into the earth several feet, making them tough to pull out.

Witch knots are rare but do occur naturally. They’re more common in areas that have been exposed to large amounts of magic.

Standing on a witch knot causes it to explode upward in a shower of wooden spikes, dealing 1d6 damage to the triggering creature.

There are ten witch knots marked on the map. They are obvious to any creature looking at the ground.

Shrine Entrance

Encounter Adjustments

If this encounter has fewer than five heroes, make the following adjustments:

• For four heroes, reduce the dragon’s Stamina to 133.

• For three heroes, reduce the dragon’s Stamina to 100.

General Features

The shrine has a few general features.

Ceiling: There is no ceiling in the center of the canyon. The ceiling is two squares high on the first- and second-level balconies. Balcony Heights: The first balcony level is 4 squares off the ground. The second level of balconies is 8 squares off the ground. The top level of balconies and the central platform next to them are 12 squares off the ground. Teleporters: Twelve teleporters connect the balconies together—they are keyed together on the map. Map: The encounter of this area is keyed to the Shrine of the Green map.

Overgrowth in the Dragon’s Domain Because the thorn dragon has occupied their lair for longer than a week, the ground is covered in overgrowth. This only applies to the bottom floor of the map—the overgrowth can’t grow on the stone surface of the shrine itself.

Any creature other than the dragon who starts their turn on the ground floor of the ravine has their speed reduced by 2 (to a minimum of 1). Any creature made restrained while on the ground is also made bleeding (including the dragon).

Teleporters

The twelve teleporters are linked by colored flowers around their base. Each teleporter pair has a distinct color.

The flowers spill over the sides of the balconies, making them visible from one floor below, but the colors of teleporters two levels or higher above the heroes are imperceptible.

The Magic Fountain

The fountain at the very top of the shrine caps a natural source of Green magic. Glowing water pours from this fountain down a series of channels that wind back and forth along the shrine’s balconies toward the woods.

But the heart of the fountain is blocked by foul muck and tough brambles. If the heroes unblock the fountain as a maneuver, the shrine returns to its former glory.

Once the fountain is restored, a hero can drink from it and immediately regain 1d6 Recoveries. They can’t gain this benefit from the fountain again for a year.

Additionally, unblocking the fountain causes the trees in the ravine to fully awaken—their leaves change from muted brown and dark green to many vibrant hues of olive, emerald, moss and sage. The huge branches of the biggest trees stretch out and cover the roof of the ravine, blocking the dragon in, and smaller branches quickly grow into the shrine, tangling in Yddraed’s wings, forcing the dragon to the ground and eliminating their ability to fly.

Thorn Dragon

Shrine of the Green Groups

Ending the Encounter

The encounter ends when the dragon flees or is slain. The heroes earn 2 Victories each for defeating the dragon.

Whoever scores the final blow against the dragon gets the Dragonsbane title.

Dragonsbane

“I’d show you me dragon-slaying scars to prove it, but they’re placed where I can’t exhibit ’em in public.”

Prerequisite: You land the killing blow on a dragon.

Effect: Choose one of the following benefits:

Embellished Reputation: You gain an edge on Presence tests against those who have heard of your deeds … or a bane if you don’t measure up to their idea of what you ought to be like. Fortune Favors the Bold: Your group earns an additional hero token at the start of each session. The Best Defense Is Not Being There: You gain an edge on tests made to avoid the breath weapons of dragons.

Tactics

Yddraed knows they have an advantage up high. They stay off the ground, luring the heroes up onto the balconies to challenge them.

Once the heroes become a threat, Yddraed closes in with their flight and attacks! They use Virulent Breath to dragonseal the heroes, then Investiture of Verdure to try to pull the heroes off the balconies, so they fall into the ravine below.

When caught up close, Yddraed can use Spinous Tail Swing to buy themself some breathing room and protect their weak spot.

If the heroes reduce Yddraed to 50 Stamina, the dragon tries to fly away. If they can’t fly, they fight to the death instead.

Roleplaying the Dragon The thorn dragon is a deadly threat. A Director could simply fly up to safety and use ranged abilities to harry the party until they retreat. Without flight, low-level heroes canʼt fight back.

Thankfully, the thorn dragon would never do this. They don’t think like a computer trying to be maximally effective—the dragon has no idea what an “encounter” is and has no desire to “win” it.

As the Director, remember that it’s okay to play a monster suboptimally—keep in mind that you’re roleplaying a creature with goals, but only animalistic intelligence. The dragon doesn’t need to pick the best possible attack every turn.

The Dragon’s Hoard

The pile of food and barrels at the bottom of the canyon is the dragon’s hoard. Upon closer inspection, the hoard also contains high-quality silk, wood, grains, wine, oils, and spices that have been stolen from the merchant caravans that tried to brave the area a month ago.

If the heroes didn’t stop the threxyls from stealing Galavhar at the chapel, they instead find it here in the hoard.

The dragon has also been digging up massive amounts of iron ore from the countryside. No one knew there was any iron in the valley, and this hoard of it could make a lot of steel. Enough for the Duke of Urland to be interested in it.

The Fountain’s Riddle

Once the dragon is defeated the heroes are free to further investigate the fountain at the top of the shrine.

Carved on the edges of the fountain is a riddle in Yllyric:

I hold the world in leaf and vine and wear the sky and stone as mine. Bloom to bark, field to fen, find me once, find me again. My cloak chang’d with sun and frost, as all returns from what is lost. Name the truth that lies between:

The answer is: “Every color is a shade of green.”

Successfully answering the riddle makes the magical staff Life-Cycler appear in the fountain.

Life-Cycler

This gnarled wooden staff is made of petrified wood, carved with spidery whorls that glow green.

Keywords: Green, Implement, Magic

1st Level: While you wield this implement, your magic or psionic abilities that deal rolled damage gain a +1 damage bonus. When you use an ability with the Magic keyword, you can shift 1 square as a free triggered action. When you use an ability with the Green keyword, you gain a surge.

Additionally, the first time you gain your Heroic Resource after a respite, you gain an additional 1d3 of your Heroic Resource.

5th Level: This implement’s damage bonus increases to 2.

Additionally, allies who spend a Recovery while within 10 squares of you regain extra Stamina equal to your level.

9th Level: This implement’s damage bonus increases to 3.

Additionally, when you deal damage to an enemy using an ability with the Magic keyword, you can spend a Recovery. When you spend a Recovery in this way, you can give an ally within 8 squares of you a surge.

Yddraed, the Leech-lord

The thorn dragon’s name was given to them by the wode elves whom they fought against long ago, along with the wound in their chest. Both the wound and the dragon’s age have slowed them down, making them less dangerous than a typical thorn dragon.

Yddraed, the Leech-lord uses the modified thorn dragon stat block in the appendix.

Renown

As word spreads of the heroes’ deeds, they gain 2 Renown for besting the dragon.

Shrine Floor 1

Shrine Floor 2

Shrine Floor 2

Shrine Floor 3

Shrine Floor 3

Shrine Floor 4

Shrine Floor 4