The Haunted Wood

An Adventure for The Black Hack, by Simon Forster

For 4-6 characters, Level 4

Across the border, along an old trail, nestled between two steep and rocky hills, lies the Haunted Wood. Blanketed in snow, gloomy and still, the wood does not like visitors. Of those few who enter, fewer still come back out, and those that do are always changed.

Why Go into the Woods?

Deep in the snowy woods is a tree unlike any other. It is said to be one of the roots of the First Tree, a link to Ancient Times and Places Beyond. The tree bears succulent fruit that is full of time; its juices flow with golden seconds and silver minutes, and eating the fruit reverses time, restoring youth, bringing the dead back to life, and even showing visions of the future. So it is said. This is reason enough for people to go into the woods, to search for the Root, to pick its fruit and taste the juices of time on their tongues. Aging kings and queens of fading beauty would sell their kingdoms for such a prize.

This adventure was written for the second edition of The Black Hack rpg, but is compatible with most other RPGs of a smiliar ilk. It comprises a lengthy random table of encounters and events in the haunted woods, as well as several key locations with their own maps and details. Plenty of new monsters, a few new magic items, and a mystery to be uncovered.

Should keep your players occupied for a few sessions, more if they get lost in the woods!