The Witch Wood • For lower level parties a pack of wolves can be a fun encounter in

the woods. Use the fire as a central point, the wolves jumping out
An Introduction of the shadows to attack and then retreating into the shadows to
attack from a different location.

T
he pine forest is dark and ominous, the trees
crowd together creating a shadowy interior, damp
and dripping with moisture. In places a tree has Variants
fallen creating a gap in the canopy, dense green Sign up to my Patreon to get access: patreon.com/afternoonmaps
patches of ferns and nettles grow there. Rotten
logs and branches litter the forest floor, mosses
and lichen grow across every surface turning the rotting wood into
strangely shaped mounds of green.

You continue along the forest path for some time before noticing
light through the trees ahead, a warm flickering firelight that casts
wild shadows across a small muddy clearing. Approaching you think
you see slender figures moving around a bonfire, but as you get closer
they seem to evaporate into the shadows, leaving an empty clearing
and a bonfire that pops and crackles as damp wood burns fiercely.
You look around cautiously, weapons drawn. Someone has made this
fire, you sense their presence, even if you cannot see them.

Scanning the forest edge you feel a change in the air, a heaviness
you can not explain. The fire seems to quieten as a low vibrating
hum fills the clearing. As you listen you begin to notice a strange
murmuring, an unintelligible babbling coming from the other side
of the clearing. At the edge of the forest a shadowy figure stands,
tall and skinny, arms too long for its body, clawed hands quivering
spasmodically. A set of antlers crown it’s strangely misshapen head.
You feel its eyes on you and more disturbingly you see its eyes glow-
ing red like rubies in the firelight while the rest of its body remains
stubbornly in shadow. With a sudden jerking movement it charges,
leaping across the fire, you step back in horror as the figure is finally
revealed, its visage far worse than you could have ever imagined.

Notes and Tips

• 30x30 map
• This clearing is the site of some unholy ritual to summon something
terrible, maybe an old god or forest spirit long since turned to darkness.
• People often see cloaked figures moving through the trees, hear
strange chanting or screams in the depths of the forest at night.
• Have a local wise woman hire the party as bodyguards for a ritual
she must complete on a special night of the year. While she danc-
es around the fire in a daze, malevolent spirits are drawn to her
and the party must defend her at all costs.
• Cultists can be flavoured to fit the location. Have them wear
antlers, whip themselves with nettles and wear robes covered in
moss and lichen.
• Use the forest boundary or the edge of the firelight as a ‘safer’
area of the map. Step out into the forest or leave the firelight and
receive any number of disadvantages. Examples could be blind-
ness, fear, disadvantage on rolls or something weirder like a loss
of memory that gets worse over time.
• The fire needs to be kept lit or the ‘monsters’ will overrun the
camp. More wood needs to be thrown on, or other magical
means can be used.

The Witch Wood

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