GM Reference
GM Running Notes
Session Prep & Path Epilogues
📋 Session Prep Checklist
Before Each Session:
- ✅ Review player goals from last session
- ✅ Check which NPCs they're investigating
- ✅ Prep 2-3 random encounters from travel table
- ✅ Update Nessa's intel (what does she report to Thornwraith?)
- ✅ Decide on Verdant Curse threat level (peaceful wilderness vs. active attacks)
- ✅ Have GM screen open for mechanics reference
🎭 NPC Secrets to Track
🍞 Nessa Bramwell (Double Agent)
Who She Pretends to Be: Varen's informant, helpful baker
Who She Really Is: Thornwraith's spy, evaluating party
What She Knows:
- Highroot location (won't give it easily)
- Thornwraith's plan (won't reveal unless party recruited)
- Which soldiers are sympathetic to Verdanya (Greymark on the list)
Her Goal: Determine if party can be turned against Ironhold
Red Flags (if players investigate):
- Basement locked (Insight 14 to notice nervousness)
- Delivers "bread" to eastern quarter at odd hours
- If followed: Secret tunnel to rebel supply cache
If Exposed: Flees to Highroot, warns rebels party is coming
🎖️ Sergeant Greymark (Dying Father)
Secret: Ashlung, weeks to live. Daughter (12) also sick in Ironhold.
Moral Conflict: Duty to Ironhold vs. sympathy for Verdanya
Quest Hook: Needs 3 Mourning Roses for daughter
If Party Helps:
- Grants trust, shares intel about recent attacks
- "Doesn't see" party leaving toward Highroot
- May provide supplies or distraction
If Party Refuses:
- Becomes hostile, may sabotage mission
- Could report party to Varen as unreliable
🌹 The Thornwraith / Elara (Broken Savior)
Not Evil, Just Desperate: Lost everything, became monster to save others
Her Plan: Steal Spring Eye → Endless Winter → Verdant Curse ends
What She Doesn't Care About: Mass starvation from endless winter
Can Be Reasoned With (Path 3):
- If party proposes recovering BOTH Eyes → restoring balance
- Presence or Instinct 17+ to make her consider it
- Briar will resist ("Too risky! Stick to the plan!")
Humanize Her: Show refugees she saved, children who call her "the Green Mother"
🔄 The Three Paths (Decision Tree)
Path 1: Help the Thornwraith
Sessions 6-8:
- Party joins rebels at Highroot
- Plan heist of Sylora's Roost (Spring Eye)
- Combat: Verdant Guardians + Sylora's Avatar
- Sylora warns: "Winter will devour all"
- Steal Eye → Endless winter begins
Consequence: Verdant Curse ends, but Verdanya freezes. Ironhold celebrates, then realizes food supply gone.
Epilogue: Rebels declare victory. Starvation begins. Elara doesn't regret it. Party haunted by choice.
Path 2: Stop the Thornwraith
Sessions 6-8:
- Party betrays or refuses Thornwraith
- Combat: Escape Highroot (Briar + rebels pursue)
- Return to Varen, get paid (200 gold)
- Verdant Curse continues spreading
Consequence: Ironhold "wins" but both nations still dying. Party rich but world doomed.
Epilogue: Varen dies of Ashlung weeks later. Verdanya falls to Verdant Curse. Briarcrest wall collapses. Party chose lesser evil, but evil still won.
Path 3: Find Another Way ⭐ (TRUE ENDING)
Requires: Player initiative (not handed to them)
Clues to Plant:
- Archives mention "TWO Eyes of Sylora" (one stolen, one at Roost)
- Kael overhears "returning the Eye" → implies other Eye exists
- Sylora's Avatar: "Without BOTH, seasons die"
Sessions 6-10:
- Convince Thornwraith to delay Spring Eye theft
- Plan heist of Ironhold vault (recover Winter Eye)
- Combat: Vault guards + Varen's agents
- Return BOTH Eyes to Sylora at Roost
- Natural seasons restore
Consequence: Balance restored. Verdant Curse solvable (takes time). Ashlung curable (Mourning Roses grow normally). Both nations can rebuild.
Epilogue: Hope. Slow recovery. Elara transforms back (mostly). Greymark's daughter survives. Briarcrest wall heals. Party are heroes of BOTH nations.
⚙️ Verdant Corruption Mechanics
Wither Tokens
Gain Token When: Severe damage from Verdant-Born creature
Roll Fear Die Each Time: If result ≤ current tokens → permanent transformation begins
Transformation Signs:
- 1 Token: Moss on skin, eyes flicker silver
- 2 Tokens: Bark patches, voice sounds like wind
- 3 Tokens: Thorns grow through fingers, painful but functional
- 4+ Tokens: NPC, body claimed by Verdant Curse
Clearing Tokens: End of session, all tokens clear. GM gains Fear equal to tokens cleared.
Death with Tokens: Body taken by Verdant Curse, becomes guardian of that location.
Optional: Embrace the Wild
Player Choice: Accept tokens for power
Powers (1+ tokens):
- Speak to plants (learn recent events)
- Natural weapons (thorns, +1d4 damage)
- Detect Verdant-Born within 60 feet
Risk: Each session, roll Fear die. If ≤ tokens → lose humanity (memory/emotion/bond)
Roleplay: Cravings (sunlight, soil, blood), plant dreams, fading human connections
🌙 Week-Long Day/Night Cycles
Effects on World
- Sleep: Characters sleep when tired, not by clock (flexible schedule)
- Navigation: Week-long sunrise/sunset (8+ hours of golden light) → Hard to track time
- Faint Divinities: More active during transitions (ask for offerings, grant blessings)
- Verdant Curse: Grows faster during daylight, dormant at night
- Mood: Long twilights feel dreamlike, unsettling, beautiful
🎲 Improv Tools
If Players Go Off-Script:
They Want to Warn Sylora Early:
- Roost heavily guarded, don't trust outsiders
- Verdant Stag test (combat or peaceful offering)
- Sylora's Avatar appears: "I know what comes. The choice is theirs to make."
They Want to Kill Varen:
- Guarded, paranoid, has contingencies
- If killed: Ironhold sends bounty hunters
- Doesn't stop Thornwraith's plan
They Want to Negotiate Between Factions:
- Ironhold demands Thornwraith's capture (non-negotiable)
- Thornwraith demands Verdant Curse ends (non-negotiable)
- Only Path 3 (recover both Eyes) satisfies both
They Ignore Main Quest:
- Varen sends reminders (letters, agents)
- Thornwraith proceeds with plan (time pressure)
- Briarcrest wall collapses (urgent side quest becomes main quest)
📊 Difficulty Tuning
If Players Struggling:
- Greymark offers supplies (healing potions, rations)
- Verdant Stag guides them partway to Highroot
- Nessa gives clearer hints about Thornwraith's location
- Reduce Verdant Corruption severity (tokens harder to gain)
If Players Breezing Through:
- Ironhold patrol recognizes them near Highroot
- Briar's test is combat (not just social)
- Nessa exposes them as spies (harder to gain rebel trust)
- Increase Verdant Corruption severity (tokens on any severe damage)
✨ Atmosphere Tips
Describe the Verdant Curse:
- Beautiful + horrifying: Flowers bloom from bones, moss breathes
- Silver veins pulse through bark like heartbeats
- Whispers in the wind (plants "talking")
- Colors: Sickly emerald, pulsing silver, crimson roses
- Week-long sunsets: Everything bathed in gold and shadow
Describe Verdant-Born:
- Not monsters, people becoming plants
- Thorns grow through skin (painful but they endure)
- Eyes flicker silver, voices rustle like leaves
- Some embrace it (power), some resist (horror)
- Children with moss hair playing, adults with bark limbs working
Describe Ironhold Occupation:
- Checkpoints, patrols, soldiers tired and scared
- Locals avoid eye contact, resentment simmering
- Greymark trying to keep peace, knows it's failing
- Thorn wall a constant reminder (protection + prison)