Battlemap
The Bitter Sap Den
Black sap glistens on the floor, and the vines tap softly behind every locked door.
The Bitter Sap Den is a buried lair where a once-sacred grove was twisted into a feeding ground for a parasitic vine beast. Its sealed shrines, root-choked libraries, and trapped approach all protect the growth chamber at the far end. The black vines are spreading beyond the dungeon and have begun poisoning nearby wells.
The air is wet, warm, and sharply bitter with the scent of crushed sap. Black-blighted vines pulse faintly beneath cracked stone, their leaves whispering whenever someone passes. Thin green light leaks from fungal knots in the walls, while distant tapping sounds travel through the roots.
☠ Threat
At the dungeon's end waits Kett's Rootbound Heir, a hulking vine creature grown from the original black cutting. It wears the fused remains of the last Verdant Warden as a bark-plated shell and commands every black-blighted vine in the lair. The creature is intelligent enough to bargain, but every promise it makes is meant to bring living bodies close enough to feed.
History
The vault was built by the Verdant Wardens, a small order of healers and gardeners led by Odrik Kett, whose name survives only on a cracked foundation stone. They cultivated rare plants for medicine until a black cutting arrived from a dead orchard. When it began feeding on blood and memory, the Wardens sealed it below their shrine and abandoned the site.
Encounter Table
CRA fist-sized knot of black vines rolls and crawls through cracks, seeking warm blood.
A blind, root-covered scavenger with fungal plates and a mouth full of splinters.
A cluster of pale moths with black-veined wings that carry soporific dust.
Rumours & Whispers
A dead orchard has begun blooming black flowers after sunset, and animals refuse to cross its boundary.
The old root cellar was sealed because something beneath it learned to imitate the voices of missing villagers.
A healer once entered the cellar and returned with a silver hook, but vanished before explaining what she found.
People who drink from the eastern well dream of a giant gardener asking them to open a door.
The vines are spreading through underground water and will reach the town before the next heavy rain.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Tegwen Pritch, a miller with a cracked copper cup and a stubborn refusal to abandon her home.
Several villagers have fallen ill after drinking from a newly darkened well. The party must find the source of the contamination before the sickness reaches the whole settlement.
A healer's cache containing three greater healing draughts and 75 gold pieces.
Quest giver: Garruk Senn, an angular apothecary who hides his trembling hands beneath wool gloves.
A local herbalist believes a living sample of the black vine could cure a wasting disease, but only a cutting from the sealed lair will work.
A permanent +1 bonus to one character's next saving throw against poison, plus rare medicinal supplies.
Quest giver: Nessa Quill, a young archivist whose family has guarded the missing catalog for generations.
The old Warden records were stolen from a ruined archive and are believed to lie behind the dungeon's locked library doors.
A map of forgotten roads and a scroll of lesser restoration.
Corridor Notes
Black-blighted vines cross the ceiling in tight cords, shedding sticky droplets that stain armor and cloth.
Small root-holes in the masonry exhale warm air carrying the smell of rot and fresh soil.
Old iron bells hang at ankle height, their clappers removed and replaced with thorny tendrils.
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