The Hedge at the Door
The Hedge at the Door
Read aloud
The hedge is growing through Wrenford's homes, splitting floors and sealing doors with fresh thorns. The village elders swear that no one has broken the promise that has kept the hedge peaceful for generations. Reeve Mara Venn offers a reward to anyone who can discover what the hedge wants before the whole village is entangled.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Determine what changed before the hedge began growing through the village.
- 2Learn the hedge's demand without destroying it.
- 3Resolve the breach in a way that gives Wrenford and the marsh community a path forward.
- 4Limit immediate harm and preserve evidence for a lasting settlement.Optional
The clock
The hedge reaches the well by the next moonrise. Until then, each major delay or destructive confrontation can cause another home to be breached, as determined by the GM.
Scenes
- 0:00Thorns in the Floorboards
- 0:30A Promise with Too Many Versions
- 1:15The Green Archive
- 2:05The Spring-Stone
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver and village reeve
- Tobin ReedAlly and local archivist
- Sella FenAntagonist and marshland speaker
- Old Nessa ValeWitness and oldest resident
The hook
Set the scene
At dusk, the party arrives as a thorned branch punches through the floor of a cottage. Residents pull a trapped child free while the hedge seals the front door from outside. Reeve Mara Venn gathers the characters beneath the village bell and explains that the hedge has always protected Wrenford, but in the last three days it has grown into four homes and reached the well. She asks the party to investigate before the council resorts to fire.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara approaches the party at the village bell during an urgent evacuation.
She speaks plainly, offers a modest advance, and asks them to hear the elders before taking sides. She warns that the council is divided between negotiation and burning the hedge.
Rumours
Scenes
about 3 hours0:00
30 min
combatThe table is here
1. Thorns in the Floorboards
A cottage at the village edge, with a trapped family and thorn growth forcing its way through the floor.
The characters see the hedge's immediate danger, meet Mara, and choose whether to rescue residents, question the council, or inspect the growth first.
The House That Grew ShutNextOnce the residents are safe, Mara directs the party to the well and introduces Tobin, who can show them the oldest records.
0:30
45 min
social
2. A Promise with Too Many Versions
The village green, the reeve's storehouse, and the rim of the root-choked well.
The party gathers testimony from Mara, Tobin, Sella, and Nessa, then checks the well, boundary markers, and available records for contradictions.
NextA fresh root trail leads from the well toward an old hedge gap, where Tobin identifies a hidden entrance.
1:15
50 min
exploration
3. The Green Archive
An underground passage beneath the oldest hedge, where root patterns preserve fragments of the founders' words.
The party follows roots into the Green Archive, avoids or calms the Warden, and finds evidence of the lost spring-stone and the original promise.
The Green ArchiveNextThe roots lead to a bricked-up storehouse chamber beneath the reeve's building, where the spring-stone was hidden.
2:05
60 min
social
4. The Spring-Stone
The village well and the hedge opening that faces the marsh road.
The party recovers the spring-stone, decides how to present the evidence, and negotiates between Wrenford's council and Sella before the hedge reaches the village well completely.
NextIf an agreement is reached, the hedge opens a safe route to the marsh. If negotiations fail, the council moves to burn the hedge and the party must choose whom to protect.
Behind it
What people believe
The protective hedge of Wrenford has begun growing through homes and into the village well.
The oldest residents insist the founding promise remains unbroken, yet the hedge continues to spread. The village reeve has hired outside help to investigate the cause, protect residents, and find a way to stop the growth before Wrenford is cut off from its water and one another.
Background
In Bramble, many settlements are protected by living hedges said to have been planted under founding promises between villagers and the land.
The hedge around Wrenford has kept out wolves, floodwater, and worse for generations. Its oldest residents remember the promise as a solemn agreement, but disagree about the exact words.
The stakes
If the party fails, Wrenford may lose its homes and water, the village may attack the marsh community, and the hedge may spread beyond the settlement.
If they succeed through force alone, the immediate threat can be suppressed while the old breach remains unresolved.
Encounters
2The House That Grew Shut
Combat or hazard
A cramped cottage swallowed by living branches, with a narrow stair, a sagging roof, and trapped residents behind a thorn curtain.
Foes
Rootbound Bramble Warden
Thorn-Caught Strays
ComplicationThorns react to force and fire by tightening around structures. Each loud or destructive action causes a new route to close or a nearby building to become endangered.
ScalingFor a smaller or less combat-focused party, use the Warden as a hazard to evade or calm and remove the Strays. For a larger or stronger party, add a second Warden and have the hedge split the group with moving walls.
The Green Archive
Exploration
A tunnel under the oldest hedge, threaded with roots, scraps of carved wood, and a chamber whose walls preserve impressions of spoken words.
Foes
Rootbound Bramble Warden
ComplicationThe hedge shifts its passages whenever someone lies about the founding promise. It can separate the party or lead them back to the entrance, but honest testimony or a carefully phrased question opens the route forward.
ScalingFor a more capable party, the Warden can create thorn barriers while the group must protect the fragile records. For a smaller party, it remains watchful rather than attacking unless threatened.
Cast
4Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver and village reeve
WantsKeep Wrenford safe while avoiding blame for decisions made by the village council.
“The hedge kept its side of the bargain. Find out what we have stopped giving it.”
Tobin Reed
Ally and local archivist
WantsPreserve her late grandmother's records and prove that the founding account has been carelessly altered.
“My grandmother said the promise was spoken at the well, not at the hedge. People remember what is convenient.”
Sella Fen
Antagonist and marshland speaker
WantsMake the village acknowledge that its founders took land and water from the nearby marsh community.
“You call it trespass. I call it reaching for what was left to us.”
Old Nessa Vale
Witness and oldest resident
WantsProtect the village's oldest living witness, a hollow elder rooted beneath the hedge, and keep it from being destroyed in fear.
“We made no promise to cut it. We promised to leave the spring untouched.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A hedge-knot charm, a custom token that can open one passage through the Wrenford hedge if presented without threat.
Tobin's copied founder testimony, useful evidence in future disputes over Bramble's old promises.
On a win
The party uncovers the truth, returns the spring-stone, and helps Wrenford and the marsh community agree on access to the spring.
The hedge withdraws from the homes over the following days, leaving a safe path through the village and a living channel to the shared water. Success may also mean a harder compromise: residents evacuate vulnerable homes while the parties negotiate, provided the hedge is heard and no one is scapegoated without evidence.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party cannot prevent the hedge from breaking through more houses before the next night.
- Several homes are abandoned, and Wrenford's residents blame one another for the damage. The party can still investigate, but interviews become guarded and the village's trust is reduced.
- The party chooses force or fails to stop the council's attempt to burn the hedge.
- The hedge is burned back, but the spring becomes choked with roots and the settlement loses its reliable water supply. Sella refuses any immediate reconciliation.
- The party publicly accuses Sella or the marsh community without evidence, or refuses to hear their claim.
- The marsh community withdraws from talks, leaving Wrenford and the marsh exposed to continued conflict and worsening hedge growth.
Complications (d6)
- 1A thorned runner pushes through a cottage floor, pinning a resident's leg. The party must free them before the room fills with bramble growth.
- 2A frightened villager claims they saw Sella Fen inside the hedge at midnight, but the witness was watching from a shuttered window and cannot identify the figure.
- 3The village well's water turns bitter after roots enter its lining. The hedge pauses its growth while the well is blocked, but the community loses its main water source.
- 4A council member orders the party to burn a section of hedge before more homes are damaged, risking the lives of people sheltering in nearby cottages.
- 5A bundle of old boundary stakes is found freshly moved. Their placement points blame toward the marsh, but one stake bears a recent village carpenter's mark.
- 6The hollow elder's voice speaks through the hedge to one character, asking them to bring the lost spring-stone home before the next moonrise.
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