Smouldering Forest

Smouldering Forest

unnatural forest, hostile, rough hike

This used to be the southern half of the Drowned Forest, which is flooded because the ground was choked with fallen branches and debris. Dryden set a forest fire which cleared that debris, letting the water flow into the Bile Pit, stirring it up. Slimes from the Bile Pit make raids against the Smouldering Forest. The ground is dry or muddy. No standing water anymore. The dead trees have lost their small branches to fire.  Blackened tree trunks smoke endlessly like chimneys. The fire never goes out, and never completely consumes the trees. The Beasts that didn’t flee became fire-aligned (replace on of their stats with Fire-Aligned: “This creature has the Burning tag and is immune to damage from heat and fire”) Their colors change to black, red, and orange, like soot and mebers.

Points of Interest:

  • Smouldering Phoenix’s nest
    • Where the Smouldering Phoenix roosts and brings prisoners and/or food
    • A huge nest tilted 45 degrees. Red embers glow through the blackened branches.  The basic structure was formed by dead tree trunks washing up against standing trees.
    • Smashed by a large object dropped from above (Underfoot’s shell) but the object is gone
  • firebreak
    • the northern border of the Smouldering Forest, just south of Von Till’s castle
  • battlefield
    • Buckle and Stella fought a fire-aligned Alligator and a Quicksilver Slime here. Water recently flowed through here, released by a falled tree that exploded. A wrecked Dwarven Tunneler rests against a tree trunk.

 

a simple plan vieew of a battlefield in the Smouldering Forest. Four trees with spreading roots frame the scene. Arrows from the northwest show the path of rushing water. Arrows show a Dwawrven Tunneler driving forward, then being carried into a tree by water.
Smouldering Forest Battlefield
  • a place
    • details
    • characters
    • pictures if you have them

Stats:

  • Fire-aligned: Beasts with the Fire-aligned template live here
    • Fire-Aligned: This creature has the Burning tag and is immune to damage from heat and fire
  • Hot: The heat from the smouldering trees requires Protection

Response Level: 4

  1. Dark Secret: The location gains another stat. Hot: The heat from the smouldering trees requires Protection
  2. Separation: When the location reaches this response level, someone is separated from the Fellowship
  3. Guardian Underfoot the Great Tortoise (DEAD)
  4. Show of Force: When the location reaches this response level, the Boss gets a Hard Cut that it can spend at any time (SPENT)
  5. Bad Weather: Smoke from the smouldering trees limits visibility to 20 feet
  6. Always A Bigger Fish: Exotherasa the Phoenix (egged)
  7. Inhabitants are threats to the world (smouldering creatures ignite)

Minimum response level: 4

Location bonds

  • Dryden created the Smouldering Forest
  • Stella killed Underfoot, the great Tortoise

SUPER Boss:

  • Exotherasa she/her (pronounce “ther” like “Other” but the O belongs to “exo” Exo-ther-asa, not Ex-other-asa) DEAD
  • Drawn to the Smouldering Phoenix. She thinks the two new Dragons herald a new Age of Fire, when Dragons and Phoenixes will rule. She thinks the Smouldering Phoenix is ignorant and not using its power properly. Her idea of ruling is being formal and proper, but she is better than others and has no problems with killing as part of policy.
  • Killed after coming to Von Till’s castle to demand a sacrifice to atone for Underfoot’s death. Negotiations were precluded by a well-placed trap.
  • Reborn as an egg. Will the hatchling retain her memories and personality?
  • Agenda: Champion Tyrant
    • Prove your strength. Maintain your rule.
  • Pheonix (modifed Roc Stats)
    • Firebird: The Phoenix is Burning, Giant, and immune to damage from heat or fire. She can spit fireballs (Ranged, Burning, Reload)
    • Get Carried Away: The Phoenix can fly away with anyone she deals damage to. If she is not stopped quickly, she will escape to the skies. she will never willingly drop someone she carries until she reaches her destination.
    • Unnatural Toughness: The Phoenix’s other stats cannot be damaged while she still has this stat.

Boss:

  • Smouldering Phoenix, it/its DEAD
  • Created by the forest fire Dryen set when trying to drain the Drowned Forest’s swamp. It considers the Slimes from the Bile Pit invaders. It claims the whole Drowned Forest and thinks Dryden’s firebreak (that spared Von Till’s Castle and the northern half of the Drowned Forest) is keeping it from what its rightful possession. Not good at telling humanoids apart, like most Humans can’t distunguish indivudal birds.
  • Thinks that Underfoot has sent Stella to Von Till’s Castle to tell the humanoids living there to go home.
  • Killed by Ol’ Jardiner when attacking Von Till’s castle under Exotherasa’s command.
  • Reborn as an egg. Will the hatchling retain its memories and personality?
  • Agenda: Expansionist Tyrant. Conquer territory, maintain power
  • Corrupted Phoenix (B4, P275) : A smoky, skeletal shell of a bird. Its attempts to self-immolate and revive itself end in clouds of billowing ash and darkened smoke, spreading further corruption around it.
      • Corrupted Titan: The phoenix is Giant. When anyone smaller than it attempts to attack it, they must first pay a price.
      • Phoenix Smoke: The phoenix cannot properly ignite. It is immune to Burning attacks, and any attempts to ignite it cause the area around it to be filled with blinding, choking smoke. It leaves a trail of smoke as it flies.

Forces:

  • Underfoot the Great Tortoise, he/him
    • DEAD! Killed by Acid Slimes with tactical advice from Stella
    • Speaks very slowly.  He was acting as a sapper against Von Till’s castle, because of his ability to avoid notice and smash through fortifications with his mighty beaks.  Not good at telling humanoids apart, like most Humans can’t distunguish indivudal reptiles.
    • Shell taken by the Luna Penumbra
    • Swamp King: A giant, plant-covered turtle beast that rules over the marsh.
      Nothing in its domain can hope to rival its power. (B4, P298)

      • Chomp: The king’s bite is Piercing. Anyone it bites is damaged twice.
      • Hard Shell: The swamp king is invincible to attacks against anything other than its head or belly. The swamp king cannot be destroyed or taken out while this stat is undamaged.
      • Mobile Swampland: The swamp king is invisible and Secret while it sits still in the swamp. It can have up to a dozen passengers as it travels.
  • Fire-aligned Alligator: Gators are a classic predator of the bayou. Confident as a apex predator.
    • Chomp: The gator’s bite is Piercing. Anyone it bites is damaged twice.
    • Fire-Aligned: This creature has the Burning tag and is immune to damage from heat and fire
  • Salamander: A small lizard that can spit fire to defend itself.
    • Fire-Aligned: This creature has the Burning tag and is immune to damage from heat and fire
    • Wall Crawler: The salamander’s sticky toes allow it to walk along any
      surface.
  • Fire Locusts: Bright red locusts that smoke slightly, upon close inspection. In swarms, they become an inferno. They feed on the ashes of what remains.
    • Blazing Bodies: Fire Locusts have the Burning tag when in a swarm. They ignite crops, homes, and anyone that tries to stop them.
    • Swarm: A swarm fills the space they are in. You cannot move into a swarm or Keep Them Busy without paying a price. A swarm can be pushed back or distracted by standard weapons and attacks, but they can only take damage from Dangerous, Giant, or Area attacks, or from attacks made by Groups, Gangs, Armies, or other Swarms.
  • Name, pronouns, personality
    • threat (book #, page ###)
      • stat
      • stat

Neighbors

  • Drowned Forest, north
  • Bile Pit, south
  • Simple Savannah, west
  • Fire Pits/Appleton, east