Wildheart Blight Random Encounters

While travelin in Wildheart Blight, roll a 1d4 for each day of travel. On a 1, roll an additional 1d8 on the tabel below

8-7: Good Encounters

• Mystic Clearing: The players discover a small clearing where time seems to stand still and wounds heal at an accelerated rate. Staying in this clearing restores health and cures minor ailments.
• Ancient Druid's Cache: Hidden beneath an ancient stone marker, players find a cache left by a long-gone druid. It contains useful potions (healing, resistance to poison), a map of part of the forest, and a Druidic focus that enhances nature-related spells.
• Fey Intervention: A group of friendly Darklings, intrigued by the players' presence, offer to assist them. They can provide safe passage through a particularly dangerous part of the forest or aid in evading a pursuing monster.
• Grove of Replenishment: Players stumble upon a grove of fruit-bearing trees, unusual in the corrupted forest. Eating the fruit provides a temporary boost to constitution or wisdom, giving them an edge in dealing with the forest's challenges.
• Hermit of the Wildheart: The players encounter an old hermit who has adapted to life within the Blight. He offers them shelter, food, and stories that provide clues about navigating the forest or the history of the Blight.
• Luminous Fungi: A patch of bioluminescent mushrooms not only lights up a dark area but also possesses medicinal properties. Harvesting these can yield ingredients for powerful healing salves or potions.
• Forgotten Shrine: Within the forest, players find an old shrine dedicated to a nature deity. Paying respects or performing a small ritual grants them a blessing, such as enhanced ability to communicate with animals or plants within the Blight.
• Enchanted Stream: Crossing a small stream with sparkling waters, the players find that the water has restorative properties, boosting morale and granting advantage on mental saving throws for the next 24 hours.
• Rescue Opportunity: The players come across a trapped or endangered creature within the forest. Rescuing this creature earns them a loyal ally, such as a Myconid sprout or a juvenile animal, which can aid in their journey.
• Whispering Winds: The wind carries snippets of conversations or secrets, giving the players advance warning about nearby hazards or hidden treasures within the forest.

6-5: Neutral Encounters

• The Wandering Nothic: Players encounter a Nothic, a twisted creature with a deep hunger for knowledge and secrets. It offers to trade valuable information about the Blight in exchange for secrets or magical items from the players. The information could be extremely helpful, or the trade could backfire.
• Mysterious Stone Circle: The players discover a circle of ancient stones engraved with arcane symbols. Interacting with the stones could unleash magical effects, summon helpful entities, or accidentally trigger traps or curses.
• Lost Expedition: The group stumbles upon remnants of a previous expedition, including a campsite with some supplies and a journal detailing their journey into the Blight. The journal could lead to hidden treasures or into deadly traps left behind by the expedition.
• Ogre's Challenge: An Ogre, not inherently evil but territorial, blocks the players’ path and proposes a challenge of strength or wit. Winning could earn the players safe passage and a reward; losing could mean a fight or a forfeit of supplies.
• Fey Dance: The players encounter a group of Darklings engaged in a mysterious dance under the moonlight. Joining the dance or observing can lead to blessings in agility and stealth, but disrespecting their ritual might turn the Darklings hostile.
• Spectral Procession: Ghostly figures are seen marching solemnly through the forest. Investigating these spirits could reveal hidden truths of the Blight or disturb a swarm of malevolent spirits.
• Druidic Ruins: Exploring ancient druidic ruins might unlock ancient wisdom and forgotten spells, or it could awaken guardian spirits who judge whether the players are worthy or not.
• Enchanted Pond: A seemingly serene pond shows reflections not of the present but of the past or possible futures. Interacting with the pond might give foresight or accidentally draw the attention of less benevolent water spirits.
• Blighted Menagerie: The players discover a collection of animals and creatures that have been strangely mutated by the Blight. They can choose to study these creatures for scientific gain, rescue them, or use them as bait or traps for bigger threats.

4-2: Dangerous encounters

• Ambush by a Slaadi hunt: A group of Blue Slaadi has infiltrated the forest, using their shape-shifting abilities to mimic the forms of ordinary woodland creatures or even people the party has met before. The encounter becomes deadly as the Slaadi reveal themselves and attack, attempting to implant their chaos spawn into the adventurers.
• Encounter with a Night Hag Coven: The players stumble upon a coven of three Night Hags who are in the midst of a dark ritual. The hags, seeing the players as a threat—or worse, potential components for their spells—attack with powerful magic, calling upon the forces of the Blight to aid them. The hags might also attempt to flee to the Ethereal Plane, prolonging the conflict and increasing the danger.
• Ogre Mound Siege: The players accidentally wander close to an Ogre mound, where a tribe of Ogres led by a particularly brutal Ogre Magi prepares for war against encroaching Blight creatures. The party must fight their way out or possibly negotiate their way through a tense and potentially treacherous parley.
• Corrupted Grove Sentinel: A once-guardian @grove has been corrupted by an infusion of dark magic, making it more aggressive and powerful. It now sees all intruders as enemies of the forest and attacks with devastating natural magic and the ability to call upon the forest to ensnare and attack the adventurers.
• Troll Pack Hunt: The party encounters a pack of Trolls, including a couple of the stronger variants (perhaps a Dire Troll and a couple of regular Trolls), hunting in the forest. With their formidable regeneration abilities and aggressive nature, these Trolls pose a significant threat, especially if the party is not prepared with fire or acid to stop their regeneration.
• The Whispering Horror: As night falls, the party is stalked by a group of Whispers. These spectral entities are nearly invisible in the darkness and use their ability to petrify to turn solitary party members into stone, isolating them from help and picking them off one by one.
• Venomous Trap by Myconids: While typically neutral, a colony of Myconids has been driven to deadly behavior due to a mysterious sickness spreading through the Blight. They release toxic spores when the party inadvertently steps into their territory, causing hallucinations, paralysis, or even death if not quickly treated.

1: Deadly encounters

• Moss Wing: A powerful ancient Emerald Dragon, drawn by the corruption of the Blight, sees the party as invaders in its new territory. The dragon uses both aerial attacks and its ability to manipulate plant life, causing thorny vines and giant roots to impede the party's movement. Quick thinking and finding cover in the dense underbrush or caves might provide the party with opportunities to hide or escape.
• Morgweth the Night Hag: Coming upon Morgweth during one of her more vulnerable moments when she’s transferring souls into her soul bag, the party has a chance to catch her off guard. However, her wrath is terrible, summoning shadows and casting curses. Quick action to disrupt her ritual might give the party a chance to escape, or finding natural hollows to hide as she unleashes her initial fury could save them.
• Invasion of the Slaad Lord: A Slaad Lord, a formidable leader among the chaos-infused Slaadi, has made its way into the forest. Its goal is to expand its brood by infecting as many creatures as possible. The party can encounter this monstrous entity surrounded by its minions. Escaping through clever use of the terrain, like leading the chase into narrow, rocky areas unsuitable for the Slaad's bulk, could provide a survival path.
• Troll King's Hunt: The party stumbles upon a hunt led by a Troll King, a giant among his kind, accompanied by a retinue of other high CR trolls. They use their regenerative abilities and sheer strength in an overwhelming onslaught. The adventurers might need to set controlled fires or use natural chokepoints to slow their advance, allowing for escape.
• Labyrinth of Echoing Thickets: While navigating through a section of the Blight known as the Echoing Thickets, the party triggers ancient, protective magics that create a disorienting labyrinth around them. Ghostly apparitions and real dangers blend seamlessly, creating a puzzle they must solve quickly. Understanding the nature of these illusions or finding the heart of the labyrinth to disrupt the magic could be key to escaping.
• Wendigo begins hunting the party, stalking them at a distance, taking joy in hunting them down.