The Root of All Evil

The Root of All Evil is the first chapter of the first book in the series, Threat From Beyond. It follows the Legends of Altmar as they travel to York with a caravan, and investigate strange happening in Silver Woods. The chapter introduces the main questline for the campaign as well as major supporting characters.

Plot
After an attack on their caravan, the party meets the King of Ithilia who tasks them with a dangerous mission to explore the Silver Wood, where something is very very wrong.

Synopsis
While the characters travel with a caravan bound for the city of York, each with their own reason, the Ithilian Caravan is attacked by a company of soldiers from Leon. Despite being caught by surprise, the travelers jump into action and save the caravan from being plundered, dispatching many Leon soldiers. Rikkert wonders why Leon soldiers are attacking caravans, especially with harvest and winter approaching. The caravaneers are grateful for the protection and the company travels on, stopping for the night in Nemaha. After a local captain is told of the attack, he sends a messenger off to his superiors in York to inform them of the grave news. The next day the party arrives in York where they are informed the King himself has requested a personal audience with them. They are escorted to the great hall and meet Sidd Kingsley, King of Ithilia. King Sidd offers his sincere thanks for rescuing his people from Leonian soldiers, and questions them about the nature of the attack, hoping to gain insight into his enemy's tactics. He invites them to stay in the palace if they wish, but suggests they might be interested in strange things going on in Silver Wood. He tells them to speak to Willow Massini, Countess of Lothruin for more details. Rikkert finally gets paid.

After spending the day in York, the party decides to join together and investigate what is going on in Silver Woods. They travel south to Lothruin, and after some smooth talking by Baravio gain an audience with the Countess, who informs them that unusual things have been happening in the forest such as increased monster activity, unnatural darkness and unease within the forests borders, and rapid growth of the treeline and canopy. Niavara confirms all of these things. Willow suspects magic or a foul monster is involved and offers to pay them if they can discover what is causing the strange happenings. When the party reaches the edge of the forest they notice the gnarled and twisted overgrowth and the dark foreboding feeling within.

Stepping into the forest the party soon discovers a rotting cabin within the woods slowly being consumed by overgrowth. After finding a message in a bottle at the bottom of a well, written in child's handwriting pleading for help, the party follows footprints deeper into the forest, where they are ambushed by the cabin's former residents,now zombies and ghouls, who attack them. The group notices the soil in this area is strange and ashy, and continue deeper down this path where they are ambushed by animated plant creatures who attempt to kill them. After dispatching them the party continues on however after getting lost they find themselves in a strange grotto that glows with a strange shimmer. Continuing through the cavern they see a shining ball of light that beckons them to follow. Deciding to avoid the strange light they go deeper into the forest where small pixie-like creatures dance around them. Eventually they are ambushed by forest druids who capture them and take them to a glade deep within the Silver Wood.

Upon entering the glade they find a Unicorn wounded by some unknown force. The Unicorn tells them he is called Kirin and he is a forest spirit tasked with protecting the forests of Altmar. He informs the party that bizarre creatures from an unknown place have entered the forest and are causing the area to be warped by foul magic. He informs them that they can be found at a small chapel built by humans many years ago near the edge of the forest. Small forest spirits lead the party to Arlien's Chapel, a holy place for the cult of Athonlaurism. Upon entering, the party finds the invaders Kirin warned them about.

After dispatching the imps on the main level, the party heads down to the cellar to find a horrifying glowing portal and a vile entity and its minions fiddling with a strange glowing orb. After a difficult fight, the party defeats the beings and throws the orb into the portal, shutting it off. Kirin thanks them as they leave the forest, and clears the path for them to leave safely. He notes that what happened here could be the vanguard of something much worse, and urges them to remain vigilant. They report back to Countess Willow who seems shocked and tells them they must inform King Sidd immediately. She shoos them off, after paying them and asking them to send the King her warmest regards.

King Sidd is alarmed by this news, especially that such a horrible thing occurred in a holy place. He thanks the party for dealing with this problem for him, and asks Rikkert if he has ever encountered a monster such as this. Rikket informs the king that this is something else entirely and Sidd recommends taking the corpse of one of the slain imps to the Magicians in Fallharbour, noting that Baravio could lead them there. The party agrees, and Sidd invites them to the festival tomorrow evening.

Bestiary

 * Soldier (Leon)
 * Zombie
 * Ghoul
 * Blights
 * Pixie
 * Imp
 * Spined Devil

Trivia

 * First appearances of: Sidd Kingsley, Willow Massini, Darien Sharpspeare, Kirin
 * The episode's title refers to both the beginning of the story (as roots are the first part of a plant that grows) and the gnarled roots of the trees in Silver Wood.
 * Baravio was controlled by the DM for the first section of this adventure, until his player arrived when the party reached the Silver Wood.
 * Due to the construction of the adventure, roughly half of the prepared encounters for the forest section of this chapter were not used.
 * The party missed two encounters that foreshadowed an adventure planned for Book 3.