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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Noskov" data-source="post: 1367567" data-attributes="member: 15911">Q&aFirst off, as I already had way too long an entry, I kind of hoped some of the questions you asked would be implied.  I hoped that if you looked up or actually read into the story, it would all make more sense.  It may not be perfect, and I took some liberties, but I thought most of your questions could be answered if you examine the text.The PCs were not out to save the Dryad, they were out to save their friend.  Considering what happened to him, I would assume that anyone would see that you can't get far in life having those visions.  The Dryad is a ghost becasue of the traumatic death she suffered.  She, like many ghosts, wants peace.  I admit to forcing on the hook, but I had no choice - space.  I was going to go through how the dryad was looking for a savior and was easily swayed in her love,  (Thus the confrontation with the paladin.) but didn't want to use the space.The Dryad isn't mentioned in the background because no one but the paladin and the other man knew abou her.  The background was based off what the PCs would know from the perspective of local legend.  The only reason I mentioned that she was a dryad at all was to make the hangman's tree more potent.  She was hung by her own life tree, which would not kill her.  Then, when he set the tree afire, she burned alive without ever actually burning (the rope would not be intact if she had physically burned.)That was because I hoped it would be surmised by the "love" comments from the dryad.  That may be a big assumption, but I needed to save space.  She picked him because she wanted a romatic love figure to come and save her from her torment.Actually, I didn't expect the PCs to go to the paladin.  They could, but most people had more or less written him off as a coot.  My assumption was based on it being a 500 person town.  I went to a 500 person high school.  If something big happend, everyone would know within hours...tops.They were a war party when they were seiging the village.  Their destruction is how the paladin found the dryad.  The dryad raised them as ghosts for the specific purpose of keeping in whoever she selected to free her in the forest.  She had complete control of the swamp and everything in it.  Thats how she manipulated the mist with herself and the hobgoblins appearing wherever they pleased and whispered to the PCs through it as well.  If you missed it, the swamp was once the valley where the paladin chased and killed the Hobgoblins and discovered the dryad.  It became a swamp after the melted snow ran off the mountains and put out the forest fire.  Without trees to absorb water and moisture, the valley became a swamp. GeogrophyOriginally, I didn't set any level limits.  I did that at the time of post assuming it was required.  As far as I'm concerned, most adventures can be scaled any way you want them to be based off the DM's ability to do so.  It was a railroad.  It was intentional.  She was a smart dryad, what can I say.  There was a small chance to escape.  Besides, even if they were forcing it, the PC could only be healed by going anyway.I am well aware what a Hangman's tree is, but I don't particularly like it as a monster and thought the idea of the dryad being hung from her own life tree was quite a nice touch on the hangman's tree idea.  I never looked at it in your perspective, so I guess now that you mention it, it's not the best use.  It was originally intended to have more meaning, but again....too much story.If you don't get the part of the dryad picking the PC because she is "in love" with him, you won't get this.  She is dead.  She's a ghost.  She want's to be freed, but she wants her lover to come with her, or take the paladin with her.  Either will work and I was trying to give options instead of a linear path to what happens.  The breaking of the curse was to take the dryad's body and lay it in the water, then wash his eyes out.  If they kill the dryad, the curse is still broken.  If the paladin goes in with her, the curse is still broken.  If the PC dies, well, it doesn't really matter does it?I thought this was to set up a story for an adventure to be played around, not to tell a DM how to DM.  This is not a knock at Enkidu either.  I didn't include any details about how swamp affects a character because that's a DM's job.</blockquote>

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