Prelude Session 4: Choices of Mercy
Prelude Session 4: Choices of Mercy
Read aloud
The rift sealed yesterday in a thunderclap of green light. This morning, four deer burst from the blackened brush, their antlers dripping dark ichor, as a towering spirit rises behind them and the grove fills with cries of pain.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Resolve the crisis in the Passby Grove clearing.
- 2Give Harrowroot and the elk a chance to recover.
- 3Discover evidence of an unnatural cause.Optional
The clock
Each round of uncontrolled combat drives the elk into greater panic. After three rounds without a successful calming check, one elk flees into the woods and Harrowroot’s next attack is made with advantage against the creature it perceives as the greatest threat.
Scenes
- 0:00The Grove Cries Out
- 0:15Pain Mistaken for Threat
- 0:45What the Roots Hold
- 1:10The Cost of the Choice
Cast
- Mira FenwickWitness and local herbalist
- HarrowrootWounded treant spirit and guardian
- Tamsin ReedTraveling natural philosopher and ally
The hook
Set the scene
The party enters the clearing as the last green afterglow fades from the scar where the rift closed. Wet leaves cling to the blackened earth, and the air tastes of sap and iron. Four elk leap from the brush with ichor running from their antlers; behind them, Harrowroot rises, shadowed vines tightening around its limbs as it cries out.
How Mira Fenwick asks
Mira Fenwick approaches the party at the clearing’s edge, keeping her hands open and her voice low.
She asks them to help the guardians, warning that their attacks seem driven by pain rather than malice.
Rumours
Scenes
85 minutes0:00
15 min
combatThe table is here
1. The Grove Cries Out
The Passby Grove clearing, bright with new morning light and crossed by the rift’s blackened scar.
The party reaches the clearing as the elk charge and Harrowroot rises behind them. Mira calls for help but urges the party to watch the guardians’ behavior before striking.
Guardians in AgonyNextAs the first charge breaks against a tree trunk or a character steps forward with empty hands, the elk’s cries shift from fury to fear, drawing attention to the shadowed roots.
0:15
30 min
social
2. Pain Mistaken for Threat
The open ground between the charging elk, the wounded treant spirit, and Mira at the clearing’s edge.
Characters can calm the elk, tend their wounds, speak to Harrowroot, or fight. Each successful calming check visibly eases one guardian’s panic and creates an opening for the next approach.
Guardians in AgonyNextWhen the attacks pause or the guardians fall, sap wells from a split root mound and reveals a pulse of black light beneath the soil.
0:45
25 min
exploration
3. What the Roots Hold
The root mound at the center of the clearing, where damp soil clings to a piece of dark, worked material.
The party investigates the root mound and decides whether to risk removing the ritual fragment. If Harrowroot has been calmed, a successful purification check turns the corruption into the Root Shard and leaves Harrowroot alive.
The Root’s AnswerNextAs the black pulse fades or the party turns from the mound, the clearing answers with the sound of branches creaking in the wind.
1:10
15 min
social
4. The Cost of the Choice
The clearing’s edge, where the first unblackened leaves catch the morning light.
Mira and the surviving guardian react to the party’s choice. The scene establishes whether the grove becomes an ally, a wounded place, or a warning the party carries onward.
NextMira gathers the shard or turns away from the stained earth, then leads the party toward the path as the wind moves through the grove.
Behind it
What people believe
In the Passby Grove, the guardians nearest the sealed rift have been warped by its backlash.
The injured elk and Harrowroot lash out in pain and fear, and the party must decide whether to fight, calm them, or find another way to protect the grove. If the party can soothe Harrowroot and cleanse the corruption, the old guardian may survive and the grove may begin to heal.
Background
The Passby Grove still bears the shock of the rift’s closure.
Its guardian, Harrowroot, and four elk were nearest the breach when its final surge passed through the clearing. The corruption hurts them and distorts what they perceive, making the party appear to be a continuing threat.
The stakes
The party’s choice determines whether the Passby Grove keeps its ancient protector and whether the unnatural ritual work is discovered.
Fighting is a valid response to immediate danger, but it comes at the cost of the grove’s recovery and an important clue.
Encounters
2Guardians in Agony
Combat or social
A 60-foot-wide forest clearing scattered with blackened brush, exposed roots, and slick patches of sap. The trees provide half cover, while the roots are difficult terrain.
Foes
Four corrupted elk, custom creatures using elk statistics with ichor-spattered antlers and a single-use, 10-foot charge that deals an extra 1d4 damage on a hit
Harrowroot, a custom wounded treant spirit using a treant-like role scaled for a level 3 party; reduce its hit points to 45 and its attack damage to 1d8 + 3 bludgeoning
ComplicationThe guardians are acting from pain and mistaken fear. A character can use an action to attempt a DC 13 Wisdom (Animal Handling), Wisdom (Medicine), or Charisma (Persuasion) check, describing an approach suited to the chosen skill. On a success, one elk stops attacking and retreats to the edge of the clearing. After two successes, Harrowroot hesitates, and the party can attempt the purification in Scene 3. Attacking still works, but drives the encounter toward the violent outcome.
ScalingFor a smaller or less experienced party, begin with two elk and have the other two flee. For a larger or stronger party, use all four elk and increase Harrowroot’s hit points to 60. If the party is near defeat, Harrowroot spends a turn wrenching its shadowed vines free instead of attacking.
The Root’s Answer
Exploration
The clearing’s central root mound is split open, its damp earth warm beneath the hand. Black threads run through the roots toward a thumb-sized piece of dark, worked material.
ComplicationThe fragment is lodged among the roots and remains dangerous while Harrowroot is near it. A character can examine it with a DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana), Intelligence (Nature), or Wisdom (Medicine) check to identify its ritual construction. Pulling it free without first soothing Harrowroot causes a pulse of pain: the character takes 1d4 necrotic damage.
ScalingFor an easier resolution, Mira can identify the fragment’s location without a check if the party has treated the injured elk with care. For a more challenging version, require two successful checks using different skills before the fragment can be safely lifted.
Cast
3Mira Fenwick
QuestgiverWitness and local herbalist
WantsKeep the grove’s wounded protectors alive and persuade the party to try mercy before resorting to force.
“It’s morning, but the birds have not come back. Please, don’t make the grove lose its guardian too.”
Harrowroot
Wounded treant spirit and guardian
WantsProtect the grove and understand the harm done to it, while struggling to keep pain from overwhelming its judgment.
“The roots remember your footsteps. They do not remember the light that hurt them.”
Tamsin Reed
Traveling natural philosopher and ally
WantsExpose the ritual fragment’s origin and prevent similar corruption from taking hold elsewhere.
“It was not a natural thorn. Someone taught it where to bite.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Harrowroot Root Shard, awarded if the party purifies the corruption. This custom keepsake is harmless; while carried, it smells faintly of rain-soaked earth and grows warm when held near living roots. It has no mechanical effect unless the GM chooses to develop it later.
On a win
With mercy, Harrowroot’s cries soften into a low, creaking song.
The shadowed vines loosen, and the corruption condenses into a harmless shard the party can take as the Harrowroot Root Shard. The elk return to the trees as the grove’s leaves stir in the breeze. If the party chooses violence, the immediate danger ends more quickly, but the clearing remains permanently stained; the ritual fragment is lost or overlooked, and Harrowroot does not return as the grove’s protector.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party fails to calm the guardians or chooses to defeat them by force.
- The animals scatter into the woods, and Harrowroot withdraws beneath the soil, leaving the clearing permanently stained. Mira is safe, but the party does not recover the Root Shard or identify the ritual fragment.
- The party mishandles the ritual fragment during purification.
- A creature takes 1d4 necrotic damage and the clearing shudders. The party can still finish the purification, but Harrowroot begins the next round hostile unless someone spends an action to reassure it.
- The party abandons the clearing before resolving the guardians’ distress.
- The elk escape into the surrounding woodland and may be injured or lost. Harrowroot survives, but refuses to approach the party again during this session.
Complications (d6)
- 1A panicked elk charges through the clearing, forcing one creature in its path to succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.
- 2A burst of black sap splashes across the nearest exposed roots. A creature touching it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 1d4 poison damage.
- 3A wounded elk bolts toward the treeline. If no character spends an action to calm or intercept it, it returns at the start of the next round from a new direction.
- 4A vine catches a character’s ankle. The character must use an action and succeed on a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check to free themself.
- 5Harrowroot mistakes a drawn weapon for the source of its pain and focuses its next attack on that creature.
- 6The ritual fragment pulses beneath the soil. Until the end of the round, voices carry poorly through the clearing, giving disadvantage to Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks made to calm an elk.
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