Encounters: The Villagers

Dale is one of the leading freemen at the village Thing, but he and his wife have a secret: they have a daughter, Rowan, whom they have been raising secretly. Under the terms of the Pact, children are sacrificed to the Forest but Dale could not bear to lose his daughter and has hidden her from Ash and the rest of the villagers. The heroes have probably already met Rowan and will encounter Dale soon - he's an influential man and a great liberal force at the Thing.

Dale's neighbour is Magnus, another landowner. Magnus' daughter has also been sacrificed - when the heroes arrived at the Village, the villagers were making a procession into the Forest. The little girl, Holly, was abandoned in a clearing, to be claimed by the Forest. Magnus is stoic about his loss, but his wife Linden is bitter. At her goading, Magnus informs on Dale to Ash, telling the shaman that Dale has been trying to cheat the Forest of its dues. Ash raises a mob of irate peasants who storm Dale's house and dig the girl out of the cellar. Dale is prepared to lay down his life for Rowan and drags out an ancestral broadsword, but unless the heroes intervene he will be soon overpowered and Rowan dragged screaming into the Forest.

Ash: the Shaman

The sinister shaman came to this Realm years ago, at a time of blight and famine. Guided by unknown spirits, he drew up the Pact between the people of Timberholme and the Forest. The Forest gives its bounties to the people: lumber, herbs, game and harvests. In return, Ash supervises the sacrifice of the children of each family to the Forest: they are abandoned to be "claimed" by the trees. The villgers have grown wealthy, but have come to loathe the Pact and hate and fear the Forest: in turn, the Forest reflects their fears and has become menacing and brooding.

Ash is a gangling, unkempt giant of a man, his wild white hair matted with dirt and twigs and leaves; his clothes are plant-fibres, sewn with thorns and the whole thing caked with dirt and foliage. He looks like an ambulatory compost heap with two flaming red eyes peering out of it. He lives in the Forest and only occasionally visits the Village Ash is always possessed by spirits and much of what he says makes little sense, though it's always crowdstopping stuff. He doesn't entirely realise how his Pact has gone awry, and believes that still more sacrifices will restore the Forest to its former benevolence: to this end he has been sacrificing Spherewalkers or other strangers visiting this realm.

Ash, the Shaman: Air 2, Water 5, Fire 4, Earth 8

Virtue: Nature (Life Energy), Fault: The Soldier - reversed (Blind Obedience),

Fate: War (Great Effort vs Effort Misspent)

Powers: Possessed (major) - Ash is possessed by the Forest and is barely human anymore. Possession has resulted in his inflated Earth and Magic ratings (halve both outside this Realm) and is near-immunity to ageing, fatigue, disease or pain; it also renders him immune to any powers controlling mind or emotions. Exorcising him would require spirit-magic (like Open Chalice) of 8+.

Magic: Growing & Greening 8 - this new magic is explained below.

Magic: Growing & Greening

Element: Earth

The shaman draws on the powers of herbs and growing things. This power works through herbal concoctions, floral talismans and the spirits of nature. The shaman can brew herbal poisons with a Strength equal to his magic score.

1: Brew poisons which cause sickness or weakness; recognise the properties of any plant.
2: Navigate through any forest; brew cures for ssimple diseases; make simple plants grow quickly.
3: Brew poisons which cause paralysis or sleep; pass through woods leaving no trail; brew cures for most illnesses; cause plants to grow overnight
4: Communicate with trees; create or close paths through woods; change the shape of plants and trees
5: Communicate with any plant; animate branches or vines; cause plants to grow up instantly.
6: Brew poisons which kill within hours; commune with spirit of the Forest; animate trees; create barriers, prisons or shelters out of trees; assume the form of a tree.
7: Animate a small area of a forest; cause a wood to grow up suddenly; turn an average (3 Earth) creature into a tree.
8: Brew poisons which kill instantly; animate or create a whole forest; turn a group of people into trees.
9: Control the vegetation in an entire realm.
10: Control the vegetation in an entire sphere.

Actions: Conflict with the Forest

None of the villagers really understand what has happened in this realm or why the Forest has become evil, but heroes may arrive at their own conclusions by observing how the locals behave. Heroes are likely to be sucked into the plight of Dale and Rowan and this will bring them into conflict with Ash for the first time - up till this point, Ash is a mysterious figure who uses his powers to frighten and intimidate the heroes, not to destroy them. If the heroes help Dale oppose him, he and the other villagers will try to capture them for sacrifice (taking the heroes to "The Heart of Darkness", below). If Ash is killed, the Forest itself will retaliate: a storm blows in from the hills, the trees animate and assault the Village, a broad highway emerges cutting directly through the Forest, leading to the Heart of Darkness.

Heroes might exploit Rowan's fate by leading the villagers in revolt against Ash. This should be possible, but not easy - many villagers have had their own children sacrificed and resent Dale for trying to cheat on the Pact; remember also the the villagers have prospered in material terms under the Pact and many will not want to threaten the status quo. If Ash is driven from the Village or if the Villagers start attacking the Forest, the Forest will retaliate as above.

At any point, heroes may explore the forest-trails. This should be nerve-wracking: trails vanish, are blocked by impassable briars, trees start to close in . . . Heroes might escape through their own powers or be rescued by their friends armed with fire or axes, but otherwise "lost" heroes are captured by the Forest and taken to the Heart of Darkness.

Generally, play up the paranoia: the Forest will continually harrass strangers and any hero with Water 5+ will always feel watched; trees will move when no one is watching, branches take swipes at people's heads, trees might "fall" on characters or come crashing through the roof while they sleep. If heroes wandering into the Forest start vanishing, the rest will get very anxious indeed.

More Timberholme

The Realm of Timberholme
Encounters: The Villagers
Riddles and Climax