The Name Tree
The Name Tree is a local tradition among the young in Greenbound Grove. When a child reaches 13 years old, they are to venture out into the silver oak cave by themselves to find the Silver Oak, camp in there for an evening, and carve their name into the bark of the tree before returning home. It's said those who carve their name into the tree will be granted good luck by the forest.
History
The traditions history begins with the village of Greenbound where a single silver acorn was planted and from it sprouted a small sapling. As time passed the tree grew extremely slowly and when the The Dead Sun Empire arrived decades later the tree was still only about half a foot tall. A few days into their occupation, the vampires burned down the temple and village center. As they were distracted, one of the residents dug up the tree and ran off into the woods with it before the vampires could find out the significance of it. They found a small cave a few miles away and put the plant in a pot planning to find a better place to hide it. The man who had moved the tree was captured by the vampires and was believed to have been trying to escape. He was placed in a cage and hung over the city for weeks before finally being let out and being a slave to the new occupying leader.
Months later the sun had returned and the people revolted against their occupiers. After having destroyed most of the town to flush out the vampires, the man quickly returned to the cave praying the tree was not dead. He had arrived and the tree was alive and well, and had actually grown a bit and shattered the pot. While he was tempted to dig it out, the tree seemed fine in the dark and even gave off a slight bit of glow to it. He decided to keep the tree there, and told everyone back in the village of where it was.
Overtime people in Greenbound would come and visit the tree and would feel a sense of calm and peace around it. Eventually it became common for younger kids to explore the little cave and see the tree on their own. Adults saw this as a chance to get kids to be a little bit braver as well as introduce them to the wilderness that sounded them. They also saw it as a way to remind kids of the dangers that the unknown in the woods posed and to be careful of what could be beyond the trees.
Execution
On the 13th birthday of the resident of the village, they are given a map and camping supplies and directed to the cave hours before sundown. The child goes on their own and finds the cave and sets up camp for the night. They are allowed to make a small fire and stay huddled next to the tree. They are told to stay in the cave for one full night and to carve their name into the bark of the tree. This usually takes about half an hour, and the tree's bark completely recovers in a few days.
During the middle of the night, there is a strange noise at the head of the cave. It sounds far off, but sounds loud from inside the cave walls. Slowly this noise will get closer and closer and the child will usually be quite alarmed by this noise. Slowly, the nightmare will make itself known and walk into the cave entrance. This two legged creature is a hunched over beast with exposed bone and loose leathery skin that screeches loudly slowly shambling towards the child.
The child will scream, cry, hide, or outright attempt to fight the Nightmare before it reveals itself to be one of the parents. They will yell out surprise and everyone in the village will walk in and give the child presents and food and celebrate their birthday. The parents will often stay with their child that night and camp out together in the cave before returning home in the morning.
In the end the child has navigated the woods to find the cave, set up a camp for themselves, stayed alone overnight in the woods, encountered a scary and "real" wild threat, and had a party after the scare to celebrate them and their accomplishment.
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