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Treant, Evil (Blackroot)
The domain of Tepest has long suffered under the evil of the three hags who rule it. Their wickedness has seeped into the land, permeating it and poisoning even the plants and beasts of the forests. Perhaps the most awful example of this corrupting taint is the dreaded Blackroot. This evil treant dwells southwest of Lake Kronov, near the borders with G'Henna and Markovia. None who pass through these woods do so without attracting his notice and, if care is not taken, his wrath. Blackroot is a foul and terrible thing. He stands just over 18 feet tall and looks like an ancient oak. His bark is grooved and rough, providing excellent protection from physical attacks. His branches are long and gnarled, never sprouting leaves or showing even the faintest hints of bud or blossom. When he wishes to be seen for what he is, a gnarled face appears to form from the fissures and grooves of his bark. A great and terrible maw, shaped like an inverted V, opens up beneath two knotty eyes. Blackroot, like most treants of any alignment, is able to speak with the animals of the forest. His evil is so pervasive, however, that the traditionally neutral animals of the forest near him have become neutral evil. Thus, even the most innocent creature in Blackroot's realm can be a potential enemy for PCs, reporting their every action back to their treant master Blackroot speaks the languages of Tepest and each of its neighboring domains. He seems to have no understanding of writing, not recognizing it as a form of communication. Combat: Those who enter the forest attempting to destroy Blackroot are seldom seen again. If they are not destroyed by the wilderness which he commands, they usually perish in combat with this ancient, evil creature when they find him. Blackroot can attack twice per combat round, inflicting 4d6 points of damage with each blow that strikes its target. His tremendous strength and mass is such that it enables him to crumple even plate armor as easily as if it were cardboard. Blackroot's thick bark provides him with excellent protection from most attacks. However, his plantlike biology makes him very vulnerable to attacks made with magical or mundane fire. Any weapon or spell that employs fire gains a +4 bonus on the attack and inflicts an extra +1 point of damage per die. In addition, any save that Blackroot must make against fire-based attacks is made with a -4 penalty. Because of this vulnerability, Blackroot will quickly attempt to destroy anyone who is careless with fires in his woods. As he is well aware of the danger that such enemies pose, he prefers to act indirectly against them, directing the savage wolves of Tepest and other animals of the forest to destroy fire-wielding enemies for him. Only if these means fail will he seek a direct confrontation. All evil treants are very dangerous; Blackroot is even worse than most, having grown in soil tainted with the evil of Tepest's three hags. This infusion of evil has given him several magical abilities that most of his kind do not possess. Once per day he may cast the following spells as a 12th-level druid: animal friendship, animal growth, animal summoning I, animal summoning II, anti-animal shell, anti-plant shell, call woodland beings, charm person or mammal, create water, entangle, hold animal, hold plant, locate animals or plants, plant growth, putrefy food 6 drink, repel insects, snare, speak with animals, speak with monsters, speak with plants, spike growth, summon insects, wall of thorns, and warp wood. Blackroot has no need of components for his spells; they are all simple acts of will. Blackroot has the ability to animate the trees of his forest, causing them to obey his mental commands. It takes one round for an animated tree to uproot itself, but once this is done it is fully mobile. At any given time he may have two such followers doing his bidding. These trees conform to the statistics for mature treants, having 10 Hit Dice and inflicting 3 to 18 (3d6) points of damage with each of their two attacks. They are not actually intelligent but do serve as extensions of Blackroot's own consciousness. Trees under his control must remain within 60 yards of their master, or they revert to their normal status. Habitat/Society: Blackroot began his life as a tree, not a treant. He was a majestic and noble plant towering above the other trees of the forest and fairly radiating health and stamina, indeed, so wondrous was this fine oak that a sect of druids settled around it to protect and nurture the ancient plant. It was not long, of course, before the hags who rule Tepest took notice both of the tree and its protectors. They saw that more and more people were turning to the ways of the druids, venerating nature and its "balance." Such a shift in attention away from the action of the vain and terrible coven was unacceptable. In order to set things straight, the hags decided to destroy the druids. In order to make certain that others learned the druids' lesson, the hags set down a powerful curse on them. One by one, each of the druids was transformed into a twisted and putrefied tree. So sinister and terrible to look upon were these new trees that the people of Tepest began to avoid the woods. They took to calling the regions southwest of Lake Kronov Brujamonte or Witches' Wood. As these newly created trees took root, the other flora and fauna of the wilds began to change until they too were twisted and corrupted. The great oak, however, they reserved for special attention. In their horrible iron cauldron, they brewed a special draught. Composed of things dark and dreadful, it was practically liquified evil. When their brew was done, they took it out to the forest and dribbled it on the roots of the tree. Every night for a month the trio gathered around the tree at midnight and repeated their dark ritual. In the end, as a full moon the color of blood rose into a cloudless sky, the great oak's transformation was completed. With the hags dancing and cackling over their success, Blackroot was born. Over the years, this once-great tree has become more and more evil. Now shriveled and twisted, a nightmarish reflection of the resplendent plant that he had once been, Blackroot rules the Witches' Wood. Through the plants and animals of the forest, he keeps a careful eye on all that transpires in that vile place. While he is not under any form of mental domination, he does the bidding of the hags out of respect for their greater evil and in the hopes that he might one day replace them as the master of Tepest. Ecology: Blackroot survives on & diet of human, demihuman, and humanoid flesh. Because of the large number of goblins that infest the woods of Tepest, he is frequently able to satisfy his hunger without molesting travelers on the Timori Road. From time to time, however, he becomes hungry for sweeter, human flesh. Generally, this happens about once a month. Anyone who enters the forests of southwestern Tepest will instantly become aware of that place's evil nature. The trees produce bitter fruit, the streams are brackish, stinging insects are everywhere, and thorny undergrowth hinders progress in every direction. Adventure Ideas: The players might come into contact with Blackroot and his forest entirely by accident. Such an encounter could easily occur as they traveled the Timori Road into or out of Tepest. Blackroot frequently orders his trees to attack caravans and parties traveling on that highway to satisfy his hunger for flesh. On the other hand, the destruction of the druid cult could also be used as a motivation for the PCs to enter the Brujamonte. The very nature of this corrupted wood should entice any druid in the party to examine its mysteries. Groups without such a person in their company could easily be contacted and hired to learn what happened to the druids who once lived in Tepest. Adventures centering on Blackroot should focus not only on the destruction of the evil treant but also on the restoration of the area. This was once an area of great natural splendor and, with a great deal of effort, it might someday be restored to that state. Of course, the hags who rule Tepest (detailed in RR1, Dark Lords) are certain to take notice of anyone who attempts to destroy their handiwork. They take great pride in the malignant ugliness of the Witches' Wood, and player characters attempting to set right the changes that they have made in the Brujamonte are certain to be looked upon as challengers to their authority. As such, the hags will simply seek to destroy them. |
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