Session 54

Recap

• Defeated the creature in the well
• Received a reward for dealing with this
• Continued with your travel
• Arrived at Rosemount, noticed that the statues were broken
• Brief chat in the tavern and rested

Plot Points

• Waking up in Rosemount
• Reaching the Abnoba Forest - an hour or so by cart
• Necromancer + frogs

Abnoba Forest

As you follow the narrow, winding trail deeper into the Abnoba Forest, the canopy thickens overhead, blotting out much of the sun. The air grows cool and damp, laced with the scent of wet earth and distant flowers—but something underneath it carries rot, like fruit left too long in the shadows.

Eventually, your guide halts and gestures upward.

High above, nearly lost among the treetops, you catch glimpses of Leth’Taelar—a village suspended between ancient trees of impossible size. Bridges of braided silverleaf vine connect platforms and structures that spiral around colossal trunks. Homes shaped from living wood shimmer faintly with natural enchantment, their forms both elegant and organic. It's like the forest itself chose to grow a village here, long before any tools were ever raised.

But then you notice it—the southern edge of the village is different. The trees there sag and lean, their bark splitting open in blackened cracks. Leaves droop, twisted and veined with sickly crimson. What should be birdsong is instead silence, broken only by the occasional creak—like something breathing just out of sight.

As you're led across one of the rope bridges, a low fog coils through the lower boughs. Below, the forest floor churns with unnatural growths—fungus that pulses faintly, vines that twitch at the edges of your vision, and strange, skeletal creatures moving just beneath the underbrush.

Your guide’s voice is hushed. “The blight reached us two moons ago,” they say, not meeting your eyes. “We’ve held it here, barely. But it learns... and it waits.”

Welcome to Leth’Taelar—a village suspended above a forest turning against itself.

📜 Narrative Description (GM Read-Aloud):

The southern edge of Leth’Taelar groans under the weight of unnatural silence.

You are led across a narrow rope bridge toward a half-abandoned platform. Houses here sag and twist, their living wood architecture decaying in places like open sores. The trees no longer sing with birdsong. Instead, there’s a faint, wet clicking—like something chewing just out of sight.

Your guide pauses, hand raised. “Something’s—”

A sudden cry cuts through the air—not of a beast, but of a person. A figure lurches from the shadows—a former elf, judging by the tattered remnants of ceremonial garb. But their body is wrong. The flesh is pallid and veined with black rot. Mushrooms bloom along their jawline and neck. One arm is bloated, bark-like and gnarled, fused into a crude bludgeon. Their eyes are clouded, unfocused… until they lock onto you.

A second shape drops from the trees above with inhuman agility—another villager, this one with a spine bent backwards, walking like a feral beast on all fours.

Then the screaming starts—from you, or them, it’s hard to say.

The blight has taken these people.

And now, it uses them.

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⚔️ Encounter: Blighted Villager Assault

Encounter Level: Medium-Hard for 4 Level 5 Players (Approx. 6,500 XP adjusted)

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Enemies:

• 1x Blightborn Juggernaut (CR 3)
  • Former village guardian; twisted and armored with fungal plating. Slow, strong, relentless.
  • Use “Ogre” stat block, reskinned, with fungal traits (see below).
• 2x Corrupted Elven Skirmishers (CR 2 each)
  • Nimble, predatory villagers with unnatural speed and reflexes.
  • Use “Bandit Captain” or “Veteran” stat block with reduced AC and hit dice, add a Blighted Rush ability.
• 2x Blightthrall Crawlers (CR 1 each)
  • Villagers reduced to crawling husks, fused with tree roots and fungus.
  • Use “Ghoul” stats with lower HP and a variant: instead of paralysis, their claws infect on hit (DC 13 Con save or be poisoned for 1 minute).

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Corruption Traits (Blight Template, Apply as Needed):

• Death Spores: Upon death, a creature explodes in a 10-foot cloud of spores. DC 13 Con save or take 2d6 poison damage and be poisoned for 1 minute.
• Blighted Awareness: Immune to charm, fear, and mind-reading effects.
• Fungal Regrowth (Juggernaut only): At the start of its turn, regains 5 HP unless it took radiant or fire damage the previous turn.

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Tactical Terrain:

• Narrow Platforms and Rope Bridges: 10 ft wide, some sections unstable (DC 12 Dex save or fall prone).
• Spores on the Wind: At initiative 10 each round, a gust of wind spreads dormant spores: all non-blighted creatures make a DC 12 Con save or have disadvantage on attacks until the end of their next turn.

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🧠 Optional Emotional Hook:

A character from Leth’Taelar (perhaps the party’s guide) recognizes one of the blightthralls—a friend, family member, or mentor. If the party tries to subdue instead of kill, a DC 17 Charisma (Persuasion or Performance) check while adjacent can momentarily snap the victim out of the blight’s grip, causing them to hesitate, weep, or beg for death.

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🧾 Post-Battle:

A successful DC 15 Arcana or Nature check reveals that the blight spreads through spores that bind to memory and emotion, not just biology. The villagers weren’t just infected—they were emotionally consumed, their strongest attachments used as anchors for the corruption.

There may still be time to save others… but that time is running out.

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🛡️ Blightborn Juggernaut

Large aberration, unaligned

(Reskinned Ogre with blight traits)

Armor Class 12 (Fungal Plating)

Hit Points 71 (6d10 + 36)

Speed 30 ft.

STR 19 (+4) DEX 8 (–1) CON 20 (+5)

INT 5 (–3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 6 (–2)

Saving Throws Con +7

Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing (non-magical)

Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened

Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 10

Languages Understands Elvish, cannot speak

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Traits

Fungal Regrowth. Regains 5 HP at the start of its turn unless it took radiant or fire damage since its last turn.

Death Spores. Upon death, the Juggernaut explodes in a cloud of spores in a 10-ft radius. Each creature must make a DC 13 Con save or take 2d6 poison damage and be poisoned for 1 minute.

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Actions

Rotting Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.

Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) bludgeoning damage.

Infectious Roar (Recharge 5–6). Emits a horrific, gurgling cry. Each creature within 20 feet that can hear must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom save or be frightened until the end of their next turn.

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🏹 Corrupted Elven Skirmisher (x2)

Medium humanoid (elf), chaotic evil

(Modified Veteran with blight traits)

Armor Class 14 (studded leather)

Hit Points 45 (6d8 + 18)

Speed 40 ft.

STR 12 (+1) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3)

INT 10 (+0) WIS 11 (+0) CHA 8 (–1)

Saving Throws Dex +5

Skills Acrobatics +5, Stealth +5

Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 10

Languages Elvish

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Traits

Blighted Awareness. Immune to charm, fear, and mind-reading.

Blighted Rush. Once per turn, the Skirmisher can move up to 10 feet as a bonus action without provoking opportunity attacks.

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Actions

Multiattack. Makes two melee or ranged attacks.

Rot Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.

Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.

Thrown Spore Dagger. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target.

Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing + 4 (1d8) poison damage. Target must succeed on a DC 12 Con save or be poisoned for 1 minute.

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🐾 Blightthrall Crawler (x2)

Medium humanoid (elf), unaligned

(Ghoul variant)

Armor Class 12

Hit Points 22 (5d8)

Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR 13 (+1) DEX 14 (+2) CON 10 (+0)

INT 5 (–3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 6 (–2)

Skills Stealth +4

Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 10

Languages None

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Traits

Cling to Life. When reduced to 0 HP, the Crawler may immediately make a DC 15 Con save. On a success, it drops to 1 HP instead.

Infection Claws. A creature hit by the crawler’s claws must make a DC 13 Constitution save or be poisoned for 1 minute.

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Actions

Claw Attack. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.

Hit: 6 (2d4 + 1) slashing damage and a potential poison effect (see Infection Claws).

Fungal Leap (Recharge 5–6). The crawler leaps up to 20 feet in a straight line and makes a claw attack. On a hit, the target must also succeed a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Journey into the Heart of the Blight

The clash fades into an uneasy silence. The corrupted bodies lie motionless, but even in death, they seem less like corpses and more like twisted echoes, their fungal growths creeping steadily into the wood beneath them—as though the forest itself is swallowing their memories whole.

Your guide’s face tightens with fear and resolve. “Beyond this point,” they whisper, voice barely audible, “the blight doesn’t just spread—it watches. It remembers everything that passes through.” Without another word, they turn away, retreating hastily across the rickety rope bridge, leaving you alone to face what lies beyond.

The path narrows and darkens, the forest closing in around you like a living tomb.

The air grows thick and suffocating, heavy with the stench of rot and damp earth that clings to your skin and fills your lungs with every breath. The light above is extinguished entirely now, smothered beneath a grotesque tangle of branches that writhe and twist in impossible knots, forming a tangled lattice that blocks out the sky. Here, the trees are no longer majestic sentinels of life—they are twisted, nightmarish sculptures of decay.

Their bark cracks open in gaping wounds that pulse faintly with sickly red light, oozing a viscous sap that drips like blood onto the forest floor. The wood itself seems swollen, bloated with unnatural growths—tumorous knots bursting with spore-filled sacs that pulse and throb as if alive, ready to rupture at the slightest disturbance.

Around your feet, the soil is slick with dampness, covered in a thick carpet of black mold and writhing tendrils of creeping fungus that seem to inch forward of their own will. Each step sinks slightly as if the ground beneath is softening, rotting away from something beneath the surface.

The silence is profound, but it is not empty.

A low, almost imperceptible vibration hums through the roots and trunks—like the slow, dreadful pulse of a living heart buried deep beneath the earth. The forest breathes in rhythm with that terrible beat, exhaling spores that float lazily through the stale air, glittering faintly in the dark.

As you press onward, the shadows grow deeper, thickening until they feel almost solid—pressing in on you from every side. The twisted shapes of the trees loom like silent watchers, their gnarled branches clawing toward you as if to grasp and drag you into the rot.

There is no warmth here. No light. Only the slow, inexorable advance of corruption, consuming everything, reshaping the forest into a realm of horror beyond natural law.

You feel it before you see it: the blight is not just a disease or a force of nature. It is an ancient, malevolent presence—alive, aware, and waiting for you in the darkness ahead.