Against the Rot

A One-page one-shot for a 1st level party

The Setup
Once this was a sacred place. The young came here. Newly made, and Adventure Hooks
consecrated, they fasted, and danced, and prayed. The spirits of the wood came Druids or dryads, desperate for help for a forgotten shrine,
and revelled with them; granted them gifts and visions. contact the inexperienced PCs as a last resort.

But that was long ago. Men forgot this place, and the youth left, so the great The PCs are from/connected to a farming village on the edge of
spirits died or fled, or faded away. Now there are only two. the forest. Strange ants are carrying off parts of the harvest.

Something darker has come now. Weak, but with infinite patience and A wizard is searching for his lost apprentice. He got mixed up in
bottomless hunger, it eats the tiny spirits of grass blades and shrubs, and gains some sort of “weird mushroom magic” and disappeared.
strength while the forest slowly dies.

Area Details Hazards

➢ The scent of mushrooms and
decay is pervasive
➢ Low mist covers the ground
➢ The vegetation is unhealthy and
dying. Even the living plants are
covered in a thin film of fungous
growth.
➢ Sticks, fallen trees and
mushrooms are difficult terrain.
➢ Trees and bushes are impassable.
Undergrowth is six feet tall.
➢ Players can chop through the
forest and make progress in any
direction. This is exhausting.
Each 5 foot square takes 1
minute to clear, and the chopper
must make a Constitution save
DC 10 or suffer 1 level of
exhaustion
➢ The forest is soggy with decay,
and resistant to fire.
Area Descriptions
(1) Entrance: Describe movements
and sounds from the bushes.
There are 4 deer with fungal
growths dangling from their
skulls. They attack immediately.
When killed, ants swarm the
bodies.
(2) This is the orange grove of the fallen tree provides glimpses past
dryads. Ants cannot penetrate the the bramble to a strangely glowing
ring of lilac. (a) and (b) have small pond, but the tree and the bramble
tunnels through the growth. PCs
can rest here, and the Dryads will with blue mushrooms.
offer rewards for destroying what
they call “The first frost of
nemesis.” Each PC may take two
oranges, which function as potions
of healing, but expire in a week.
(3) On the far side of a dead
hedge, two giant wasps are
dismembering a fallen oak tree.
The oak tree is behind some
bushes. The wasps are intent on
their work, and must roll
perception to notice the PCs.
Chopping through the bushes
may enrage the ants.
5 ➢ Streams of ants carry rotting
4 b
7
Exit
(4) Dead end. The forest changes
character. The bushes are dead
black and soggy with fungus. A
are crawling with ants, and bloated
(5) A corpse lies against a strangely
carved rock. A huge, withered,
fungal spike protrudes from its
shattered skull. This is the
wizard’s apprentice.
(6) Two swarms of insects are busy
moving fungus between the horns
of mushrooms (a). They are not
interested in the PCs. An infected
brown bear hides in the brambles
(b). It is blinded by the fugus
pouring from its eye sockets. It
attacks the PCs as soon as it
smells them.
Ants
3
➢ Swarm of Insects (MM pg. 338)
vegetation to Area 7.
➢ Cutting through the underbrush
disturbs the ants. Every time the
PCs cut through a 5’ square,
2
there is a 50% chance that they
will be attacked by a swarm of
a insects at ½ hp.
1 ➢ The ants all have tiny fungal
stalks growing from their
braincase. Examination, and a
nature check DC 15 show they
are being controlled by a zombie
fungus.
➢ They are focused on their task,
a and will not attack unless
disrupted.
6
b Mushrooms
➢ Cutting through forest with
heavy fungus releases spore
clouds in a 5’ square, which
cause confusion (PHB pg. 224)
for 1 minute, save DC 10.
Walking through a space
(7) Swarms of ants are bringing plant occupied by mushrooms has the
matter here, grinding it into paste, safe effect.
and building cup-shaped structures.
These hold fuzzy azure tufts of fungus
with tiny drifting tendrils. Only one The Dryad’s Kiss
has matured. Under the cups are
If the PCs destroy the threat, the
active ant nests.
dryads reward them with gentle
There is one swarm of insects. It kisses, which leave a faint-leaf
regenerates 5 hp per turn because shaped mark. Dryads watch
new ants boil up out of the nests. people with this mark, and help
Destroying piles of blue fungus (AC them if they can. If the character
10, 5 hp) reduces the ant’s is in dire need, a dryad may
regeneration by 1 per turn. They still appear and use tree stride to move
come, but they begin work on them to safety.
salvaging and hiding the immature
fungus.
If the swarm is destroyed, it Counterintuitive
reappears in 1d4+1 rounds Creation
https://www.patreon.com/posts/one-page-
Treat the Fungus as an immobile
dungeon-
giant octopus. Its tentacles do no 74362809?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&ut
damage on the first turn, but each m_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postsh
are_creator&utm_content=join_link
turn thereafter the victim is swarmed
by ants and takes 4d4 damage.