Half the Man

The PCs meet with a possible employer who has a "retrieval" mission for them. You can
read aloud or paraphrase the following text:

"Thank you for meeting with me. I represent a wealthy entrepreneur who seeks recovery
of a lost item. My client was exploring in the Vile Marsh area of the Shadow Marches
when a creature known as a bulette surprised him and made off with the item in question.
Your job is to hunt the creature and to recover the item. My client will pay handsomely
for its return. Any questions?"

At this point, the PCs will probably ask about the item and other details. Use the
following information to carry on the conversation:

"The item? The item to be recovered is my client's lower body. The bulette's bite severed
him at the waist. The legs and pelvis should still be intact in its second stomach by now,
but of course time is of the essence. Identifying characteristics for the item include the
hair and muscle patterns of an adult male shifter, a curving scar on the left thigh, and a
pair of dinosaur-leather riding boots with silver buckles. Should the boots be returned as
well, you may expect an extra reward. Shall we discuss terms?"

If the PCs ask more questions, they receive nothing more than responses that time is of
the essence and that other details concerning the client are not relevant to the task at
hand.

Check for reward is 2,000 gold DC 10 + 200 per +5 (Bonus to Intimidation)

The rutted track that winds through these hills might be called a road, but it would
take a generous soul to do so. Where big rocks aren't sticking up just far enough to
make a wheel take a spine-jarring hop (or stub a toe), there are deep ruts just wide
enough to twist an ankle or make a cart sway and dance like a drunken sailor. It
seems as though some relief lies ahead. The track slopes down into some kind of
valley or hollow between the hills. Trees and all manner of undergrowth lie thickly
there. Some sort of light mist seems to cloak the ground under the leaves.

The track continues through the wooded hollow and out the other side for a distance of
perhaps a mile and half. The stream mentioned earlier (if it's flowing at all) lies roughly
in the center of the wood, and it must be crossed via a ford. The track proves reasonably
firm and dry, though still both rocky and rutted at the same time, but the ground on either
side is positively soggy.
Get Out of My Wood! (EL 7)

The treant Diobemun has dwelt in the hollow for at least a decade, drawn in part by the
lush plant growth that the gas eruptions engender.

Diobemun, Treant

Tactics: Diobemun has developed a deep loathing for nonplant life, and for humanoids in
particular. She doesn't even care for other treants, or for other plant creatures. Diobemun
considers most treants foolishly sentimental and far too prone to forgive destructive
activities by humanoids, and she thinks most other plant creatures are brainless louts.

Diobemun spends most of her time in the depths of the wood, where she tends a vast
number of saplings she has grown from seed. Her charges might include blackwood trees
or other varieties once thought extinct. If so, she probably found the seeds preserved in
one of the hollow's bogs and coaxed them to grow.

The treant sometimes also hides near the track passing through the hollow just so that she
can keep an eye on humanoids passing through the area.

Diobemun knows she can't just attack everyone she meets, but she's not above steering
gullible newcomers toward areas filled with quicksand (see page 88 in the Dungeon
Master's Guide), particularly if they inquire about lost treasure or wrecked wagons. She
seethes with rage if she suspects visitors of mistreating the forest in any way.

Read or paraphrase the following aloud if the characters encounter Diobemun while they
are not abusing the forest.

The sun filters down through the branches of the trees, producing a scattered pattern
on the leaf-covered forest floor. A light breeze ripples through the branches, making
a sound that almost resembles human speech. Or perhaps it really is a voice.

"Miserable rootless things, lurching around the forest," mutters something just to the
side of the path.

If the characters challenge the voice, Diobemun shakes her branches and greets them.

"I said, it's miserable, that fruitless thing of searching around the forest. I am
Diobemun, protector of the wood, friend of forest creatures, maintainer of the
balance, slayer of the stupe -- I mean, player of the lute. What brings you to invade --
I mean, visit -- our forest today?"
If the PCs tell Diobemun that they seek treasure, she tries not to express her disgust as
she directs them to the nearest deadly danger.

"Ah, you seek the shiny things that your kind craves so much. Are you sure you
would not prefer to gambol about the clearings, drink from the cool streams, and
enjoy the ever-present beauty of nature instead? No? Well, in that case, you must
travel down that path to your left -- the one that leads into the dark cave over there.
Go through the tunnel until you emerge in a clearing with a waterfall. Skirt the edge
of the clearing until you reach a large stone, about your height, then turn right into
the clearing. It's a little soft in there, but what's a little mud to adventurers? Anyway,
when you feel yourselves begin to sink, you'll know you're in the right place. Just
stand there until the hidden magic platform lowers you into the cavern below."

In battle, Diobemun prefers to ambush her foes by hiding in a likely spot and pretending
to be a tree (treat as a normal Hide check, with the usual +16 for a treant hiding in a
forest). She begins by animating two trees on opposite sides of the enemy, and then she
uses her trample attack against anyone who doesn't attempt melee combat with the trees.
She assumes that such foes are spellcasters.

A Parade of Ghosts (EL 5-7)

Groups of forest gnomes occasionally search the hollow for rare wood and herbs. They
also extract salts and trace minerals from the geysers and hot springs. They keep to
themselves for the most part, and they move quietly through the trees on moonlit nights,
when there's less chance that they'll be spotted or disturbed. Their trips have given rise to
many tales of ghosts in the hollow.

Tactics: The gnomes prefer to stick to business, but they keep a sharp lookout for
Diobemun, and that makes them a little bit jumpy. Their first reaction upon meeting the
PCs is to scatter, and after that they try to hide. Read or paraphrase the following when
the gnomes first hear or spot the PCs.

"Intruders!" shouts a voice from somewhere ahead. "Run for it, everyone!" The
sound of small, running feet fills the air, along with bumps and muffled grunts, as
though the fleeing creatures had bumped into one another.

If the PCs pursue, the bard tries to negotiate.

"What do you want with us?" says a gnome with brown hair and skin. "Are you
looking for foxglove? It's a little late in the season, but I have some in my bag. Or
maybe you came for rue. Or wormwood? Oh, don't tell me you came for bilbane! It
blooms only once a year, and that's not till next week! You wouldn't take our
 bilbane, would you?"

"Sir," says another gnome, touching the leader's shoulder. "They probably want
blackwood. Why don't you just tell them where it is and save us a lot of trouble? It's
obvious they're going to take it; we may as well surrender it before they torture us."

"Quite right, Terbin," says the first gnome. "Very well, you have us. It's over there,
across the clearing and through the trees about 100 yards. If you catch sight of a tree
that seems to move out of the corner of your eye, pay no attention. It's just a magical
defense around the grove of incredibly valuable, worth-a-king's-ransom blackwood
trees. When you get there, say 'I've come for blackwood and I'll do anything to get
it.' That deactivates the magical protection on the trees."

The gnomes are really just trying to get rid of the PCs by directing them toward the
treant. No blackwood trees are in that area, but if the PCs obey the gnomes or ask
Diobenum about blackwood trees, she flies into a rage and attacks.

The gnomes really don't want to fight, but if pressed, they try to keep their distance as
long as possible by fleeing through the woods and firing their arrows.

You reach a clearing that is not as inhospitable as most and even spot a woodland
animal that is about 70ft away. A small deer is grazing in the middle of a field of
grass.

Allow any reactions but anything to spook or harm the deer follows with:

Just then you notice a few feet away a sharp fin pokes above the surface of the grass.
As the deer continues to graze the fin slowly reaches a few feet from the deer as the
ground shakes and rolls and then bursts open to reveal a terrible armor plated, bullet
shaped creature. With it’s short powerful legs and huge snapping maw it scoops up
the little deer and proceeds to bite down and swallow it whole.