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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Inyssius" data-source="post: 4201502" data-attributes="member: 65483">Excellent work so far. I may have to steal all of this, so please keep us posted on further developments and ideas.Here's what I can think of:[sblock]Some distance from town along a long-disused and overgrown path, an old and reclusive hedge wizard or witch (basically, a <a href="http://www.giantitp.com/articles/gk7uKJeF296jRcx1NJw.html" target="_blank">gleaner</a>) lived. She wasn't possessed of any significant power, but knew enough lore to learn that Something Bad was coming an hour or so before it actually came. In a panic, she searched through her books for something that would help, and found a ritual of protection. She really didn't know what it did, but she tried to cast it anyway.It didn't go so well. Basically, the ritual opened a minor doorway to the Shadowfell, and nasty Shadow things have been coming through for some time. A cloud of unhealthy magic hangs over the shack; inside, the remnants of the witch lie inside a hastily drawn chalk circle. The shack is guarded by the witch's dog familiar: it's still alive, but a hundred years of starvation, disease, and magical residue have seriously twisted the creature. It's about the size of a bear, and violently insane. Swarms of insubstantial shades will also try to kill or possess anything that opens the door.The witch's books and journals lying around the shack are mostly beyond repair, but some are still semi-legible--if the PCs ever learn to read, they may contain some notes on arcane lore and handy properties of the local flora.[/sblock][sblock]What seems quietly alien to me may inspire unstoppable giggling or derisive snark among your group, but I would make myconids a local power. They're probably sentient, but they can't speak Common, and done properly they aren't anywhere near humanoid. They're not hostile unless attacked, just mildly curious, but they'll attack the hell out of anyone who tries to stop their slow but steady expansion. Perhaps they've been gaining a lot of above-ground territory over the last hundred years. Maybe they've even encroached on the protected town, and automaton hunters and loggers have been steadily entering their territory, getting enchanted by their spores, and eventually dying and being reanimated (and half covered with fungi and assorted other plant life, since they haven't really had to move in all that time). [/sblock]</blockquote>

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