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• Apr 9, 2023

  Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Wandering Tower

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  I’ve been wanting to write this entry ever since I started doing the Let’s Read of the first Monster Manual and Monster Vault, more than four years ago. It’s my favorite entry in the entire book.

  The Lore

  

  At the dawn of Nerath, a number of knights went a-questing for the fabled Sunspire, a tower sacred to Pelor that was said to house a beautiful maiden. The knight who found it would receive the god’s blessings and the maiden’s hand in marriage. One such knight eventually found the tower, and went inside at the maiden’s invitation. He was never seen again.

  When the armies of evil encircled Gardmore Abbey, they managed to get a messenger through the siege, carrying a map to the location of their most precious artifacts to be delivered to the Emperor of Nerath. The messenger ran until a thunderstorm forced him to seek shelter. He found an inn he didn’t remember seeing before, whose rotund proprietor promised he’d find all he desired inside. That night, the messenger laid down on his bed and was never seen again.

  Prince Rande the Lost of Nerath gained his noble title after tracking down and slaying a foul doppelganger. He found it disguised as a lady of noble bearing living in a fancy manor house. He slew the creature and took her manor for himself, moving in with his entire household. Servants and nobles alike began disappearing one by one, giving rise to rumors that the Prince had usurped an innocent woman and her ghost was seeking vengenace. Finally, the Prince himself vanished along with the whole house, leaving an empty plot of land behind and adding “The Lost” to his titles.

  Years after the fall of Nerath a group of dwarven adventures came to the Nentir Vale seeking the Lost Tower of Fastormel. They found the tower, but their initial attempts at gaining entry failed. An old dwarven wizard eventually answered the door, claiming she hadn’t heard the visitors knock. She invited them inside. The party’s rogue sensed something was wrong and tried to convince his friends to stay out, but they didn’t listen to him. The last thing the rogue heard before fleeing were the screams of his companions. When he later returned there with a well-armed rescue party, the tower was nowhere to be found.

  Did you know that mimics never die of old age, and never stop growing?

  The Numbers

  Yes, the Wandering Tower is a centuries-old mimic. It’s helped along by a group of mirror mimics who play host in order to lure potential victims inside. It’s also followed by a swarm of blood ravens who feast on any remains it leaves. These appear in every one of the more detailed vignettes in the book itself.

  Blood Raven Swarm

  This is a Large swarm of Tiny creatures, and a Level 14 Skirmisher with 138 HP. Blood Ravens are Natural Beasts, and their main reason for following the tower is for access to easy meals. Their Swarm Attack aura (1) deals 10 damage to enemies caught inside, and if they start their turn on the space of a bloodied creature they can take move actions as minor actions.

  The swarm’s sole attack is Blood Beaks, which damages the target and weakens it for a turn if it’s bloodied.

  Mirror Mimic

  This is an interesting variant of the Impersonator Mimic from the MM3. It’s weaker and more suitable as a hench-thing for the tower, but it also has different psychic tricks.

  Mirror Mimics are Level 15 Lurkers with 118 HP. They have a ground Speed of 6 and Phasing, meaning they can move through walls. They attack with Slams that do decent damage, and their main mimic power is Body Duplication. This lets them attack the Will of an enemy. On a hit, they take the target’s form and teleport up to 3 squares. They also create 3 duplicates of the target within 3 squares of it. The duplicates can be attacked and have the same defenses as the mimic, but any damage destroys them. Telling them apart from the original mimic requires a DC 35 Insight check. The mimic can make all of them move its speed with a single minor action, and can use Body Transfer as a minor action to discreetly switch places with a duplicate. When it does this, its next attack deals extra damage.

  By a strict reading of the ability, the PCs need no rolls to pinpoint their duplicated friend - they are only required to distinguish between the original mimic and one of its illusory duplicates. That’s not a problem, however, because when a duplicate is destroyed, the duplicated PC takes damage as if the mimic had hit them with an attack!

  Body Duplication recharges when the mimic has no active duplicates, so keeping it active is going to be its main priority. After that, it’s going to constantly switch places with a copy and focus its attacks on the duplicated PC. It’s going to be very annoying to fight unless the PCs can consistently make those Insight rolls. If the party doesn’t have an Insight specialist, this thing is going to punch above its weight.

  Core of the Tower

  The Wandering Tower can replicate any medium-sized building. Once its mimic servants have lured one or more victims inside, the Tower waits until they are at rest with their guard down, and then its core will attack them. That’s the part that actually does the eating and digesting, and houses the being’s vital organs.

  The core is a Huge Aberrant Magical Beast, smaller than the building it’s mimicking (which will be part of the battle map!). The walls and furnishings of the building remain part of the mimic and can also attack the PCs. This is modeled in several different ways in this stat block and the next.

  The Core of the Tower is a Level 18 Solo Controller with 716 HP, a ground speed of 6 with Phasing, Darkvision and Tremorsense 10. It’s immune to domination and has 15 acid resistance. It’s One With the Tower, meaning it can’t move out of the Tower and is immune to any effects that would transport it outside. Rounding out its Solo Survival Kit, we have the Undaunted trait, which downgrades any stuns inflicted on it to dazes.

  The core fights by extending tendrils from itself and manipulating the surrounding terrain, which is also itself. Its basic attacks are Reach 3 and consist of Slams that slide the target 3 squares and Grabs that do almost the same amount of damage and have an escape DC of 23. It can also, as a free action on its turn, target a grabbed PC with the Maw of Doom, sliding it 3 squares to a space adjacent to itself or to a wall and dealing a big chunk of acid damage. This requires an attack roll against Fortitude, but does not end the grab.

  The most combat-relevant minor action the core can make is use its Rippling Architecture to attack every enemy in a Close Burst 5 and knock them prone on a hit. It can also create additional doors on the map, which start out jammed shut (break DC 25), or shapeshift into something suitably large, using the same rules as an object mimic: can’t attack, has 10 resistance to all damage, DC 32 to notice it’s a mimic. It will likely start the fight this way, and the door ability will be used to place any doors the PCs see when they enter.

  Living Wall

  This is a hazard that’s sure to be present on any fight against the Wandering Tower, since it represents its non-core natural weapons. The book recommends choosing 8 contiguous squares of wall on the map and designating them as this hazard. Pseudopods and acidic maws extend from this wall to attack PCs when it activates.

  The Living Wall is a Level 18 Hazard that has slightly lower defenses than the mimic’s core, and 25 HP per square (200 for those 8 recommended squares). It’s very tough, being immune to necrotic, poison, psychic and ongoing damage, as well as to all forced movement and conditions. It has Resist 10 acid.

  Its attack is Reach 3 and though it deals only light physical damage it has cruel riders: hit targets are pulled 1 square, restrained, and take 10 ongoing acid damage (save ends both). It can attack two targets with one action, and each attack can originate from any of the wall’s squares.

  A square that takes 25 damage is destroyed and can no longer serve as the origin point for an attack, though I guess it still blocks perception and movement. If the core is dazed or first bloodied, the wall is disabled for a turn.

  Final Impressions

  I love this! It really stretches the mechanics of the game to give you an encounter against an actual building who wants to kill you. The most likely fight against the Wandering Tower will involve every stat block in this entry: the Core itself on a building interior map with a number of Living Wall squares, a mirror mimic servant, and the Blood Ravens ready to attack anyone who tries to get out. That’s a very chaotic Level 20 Encounter for 5 characters, going into the epic levels if your party is smaller.

• Apr 7, 2023

  Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Vestapalk

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  The fourth and final dragon described in this book.

  The Lore

  Vestapalk is an adult green dragon who lairs in the Cairngorm Peaks. He’s very typical of his demographic in that he’s an evil asshole whose favorite food is the flesh of sapient mammals. Every time he kills an opponent he considers worthy, he marks another scar on the inside of his right forearm to remember the occasion. He currently has nine, most of which are ill-fated adventurers who tried to loot his hoard.

  Until recently, Vestapalk used to hunt in the Stonemarch region beyond the vale, but he’s begun flying into the Vale more and more often, which has the population of Winterhaven in a fright. One of the reasons for this is that the dragon has started receiving prophetic visions in his dreams. These showed him sitting proud as the overlord of a kobold tribe, and he decided to see if there was any truth to them.

  Most kobold tribes Vestapalk encountered ran scared from him, but one did not. The Greenscale tribe was led by a wyrmpriest named Tiktag, who had been receiving similar visions, and who welcomed Vestapalk as his awaited ruler. The dragon’s support turned the Greenscales from just another embattled kobold tribe to a local power that’s busy securing territory between Winterhaven and Lake Wintermist.

  Tiktag has great ambitions - he wants all others to fear him as his tribe fears Vestapalk. I’m not sure he believes the dragon is a god, like his followers do, but he does definitely think there’s something mystical about their partnership, since Tiktag’s divination rituals have become amazingly accurate when done at the dragon’s behest. The dragon, meanwhile, believes he might have been chosen for greatness by the Elder Eye.

  Though they would be loathe to admit it, the kobold and the dragon have come to see each other as friends. They’re almost always together and Vestapalk even allows Tiktag to ride on his shoulders for safety.

  The Numbers

  We get stats for both Vestapalk and his tiny friend.

  Tiktag

  The wyrmpriest is much more powerful than is typical, being a Level 6 Artillery monster with 56 HP. As a kobold, he’s Small, has a Speed of 6, Low-Light Vision, and the Shifty ability that lets him shift as a minor action.

  Tiktag will always be found close to his dragon friend, and the Prophet of the Elemental Eye trait gives him 5e-style Advantage on saves when he’s within 10 squares of Vestapalk. He’ll fire Poison Orbs that do poison damage from the safety of his perch, and use his poison Dragon Breath (close blast 3) when they happen to be close and bunched up. If an enemy moves adjacent to him he can use Fierce Rebuke once per encounter to attack their Will. The enemy is pushed 3 squares as an effect and either immobilized on a hit or slowed on a miss. When that power is spent, the priest needs to resort to his spear to discourage melee attackers.

  Once per encounter he can use Incite Faith to give every kobold ally within 10 squares 5 temporary HP and allow them to shift 1 square.

  Vestapalk

  Our main event is a Large green dragon, and a Level 13 Solo Skirmisher with 524 HP. Most of his abilities are similar to the green dragon described in the Monster Vault, but he’s the first Adult example you’re likely to see if that’s the only other monster book you have (the MV has Young and Elder variants). He has a speed of 10 with Forest Walk, and a flight speed of 14.

  Like a typical green dragon, Vestapalk can use Action Recovery to shake off the Dazed, Stunned, and Dominated conditions at the start of his turn, and the poison in his veins works as a damaging aura when he’s bloodied. He can also use an Instinctive Flyby at his Initiative count +10, flying his speed with a +4 bonus to defend against opportunity attacks and making a bite or claw attack along the way. This is a free action - if a condition prevents him from using free actions, that condition ends instead.

  The dragon’s bite inflicts ongoing poison damage and his Claw attack lets him shift 2 squares on a hit. His breath weapon (recharge 5+) deals immediate and ongoing poison damage, halving both on a miss. He can use a Luring Glare as a minor action to slide a target 3 squares, and has the standard Bloodied Breath ability.

  All of that is standard green dragon stuff. He also has two exclusive abilities: Tail Sweep is a reaction that lets him attack any enemy who ended his turn next to him without moving, dealing decent physical damage and knocking them prone on a hit. And instead of an in-turn flyby attack, he can Share The Mad Visions with every creature in a Close Burst 2, which deals psychic damage and pushes targets a number of squares equal to their speed. This deals half damage on a miss, and Vestapalk can shift his speed as an effect. This powerful ability recharges when he’s bloodied.

  Final Impressions

  This sure is an odd pair. The level disparity means it’s a bit hard to fit them both in an encounter. If you’re at the level where Tiktag would make a good boss, Vestapalk is going to splat you. If you’re at a level where Vestapalk makes a good boss fight, you’re going to splat Tiktag.

  I would suggest either making them separate encounters at different times in the PC’s career, or increasing Tiktag’s level. Note that Vestapalk would actually be kind of reluctant to use Share the Mad Visions if the little kobold is around, since that ability is not selective.

• Apr 4, 2023

  Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Vampiric Mist

  

  Vampiric Mists originally appeared back in AD&D 1e, in Dungeon Magazine 17. This is their 4e debut, with lore appropriate to the Nentir Vale.

  The Lore

  Ancient legends tell that the Witchlight Fens mark the spot where a demon lord was slain at the dawn of time - the region became a swamp when its corpse fell there.

  In slightly-less-ancient times, a lich whose name has been lost to history established a lair in the Fens with the goal of finding the remains of this demon lord and reanimating them as a super-powerful undead creature. Accompanying the lich was a coven of nine vampire lords, its loyal retainers. These vampires were tasked with hiding and guarding the lich’s soul vessel.

  Some time after that, one of the lich’s enemies, a powerful hag, came to the fens in search of its soul vessel. She had created a custom ritual to destroy the vampires, and she enacted it there, but it didn’t have the desired effect. Her magic succeeded at destroying the bodies of the vampires, but their essence remained and coalesced to form a new, more dangerous creature. The hag left without finding the artifact, which remains in the Fens protected by its gaseous guardian.

  There’s a deserted clearing in the Fens that contains a single slab of stone in its middle. That is the territory of the monster known as the Crimson Deathmist, who endlessly roams it looking for new victims. It prefers the blood of elves and other fey, but it will kill anyone it can reach. It has been a very long time since anyone who encountered it has lived to tell the tale.

  The stone slab conceals the entrance to a catacomb complex where the lich’s soul vessel is hidden. The fate of the lich itself is unknown. Maybe it’s still in the Fens somewhere, or maybe something peculiar happened to it to take it out of the picture without destroying its vessel.

  Not all vampiric mists have such an epic origin. A more common and less powerful variety appears when a vampire who is forced into mist form has its resting place destroyed before it can get there. To avoid permanent destruction, the vampire will sometimes shed its physical form by an act of will, becoming a vampiric mist. This causes it to lost most of its intellect and memories, and to become a creature of hunger and instinct. They’re still smart enough to team up with other evil or predatory swamp dwellers like hags, vine horrors, and outcast lizardfolk. There’s always the danger the mist will turn on these allies if they have blood and victims become scarce.

  The Numbers

  We get several varieties of vampiric mist here, which I guess come from different types of vampire, or vampires who met different ends. One of those is the late-Paragon Crimson Deathmist, but others hover hungrily around the late Heroic and early Paragon tiers.

  All of them have Darkvision, immunity to disease, 10 Resistance to necrotic and poison damage, and 5 vulnerability to radiant damage. Their ground speed is 0, but their flight speed is a 5 with an altitude limit of 2. That means they never land, but also can’t fly beyond melee reach.

  All of these creatures have the Mist Form trait, which lets them move through openings of any size and occupy the same space as other creatures. They also count as Insubstantial, taking half damage from everything but fire, force, or radiant damage. Fire or radiant damage additionally makes them lose this trait for a turn.

  Lesser mists have an aura (1) named Siphoning Presence that prevent enemies inside from spending healing surges, and deal 5/tier necrotic damage to enemies who end their turns inside. When the aura deals damage, the mist recovers 5 HP. Being inside the mist does count as being inside its aura. They are Medium.

  Vampiric Mist

  Our basic model is a Level 9 Skirmisher with 85 HP and all the standard traits listed above. It can shift its speed as a move action using the Shifting Mists ability, which ensures it will never move normally. Its basic attack is a contact Life Drain that targets Fortitude, deals necrotic damage, and makes the target vulnerable to necrotic damage for a turn. It can also spread a Wave of Lethargy (recharge 5+) that attacks a Close Burst 2, deals a bit of psychic and necrotic damage, and slows for a turn.

  This thing is almost impossible to pin down. With multiple mists in the same encounter, some can “prime” targets by hitting them with Life Drain to make them take increased damage from a Wave of Lethargy.

  Vampiric Mist Corruptor

  I guess this is what you get from a more traditional D&D vampire who was capable of using a dominating gaze and really leaned on this ability. Corruptors are Level 11 Controllers with 100 HP and all standard traits described above.

  As soon as the fight starts they’ll try to hit someone with their Corrupting Gaze, which dominates (save ends) on a hit and deals necrotic and psychic damage as an aftereffect. This recharges whenever the creature doesn’t have a dominated victim!

  After dominating a PC, it will attack the others with its bite, which deals necrotic damage and slides 2 squares on a hit. Perfect for dragging other PCs closer to the dominated one.

  When the mist is first bloodied, it will let loose a Deathly Howl that hits a Close Burst 5, pushes 3 squares on a hit and forbids targets from spending healing surges (save ends).

  Don’t add more than one or two of these to an encounter group. It’s no fun for anyone if the whole party ends up dominated.

  Chillborn Vampiric Mist

  This is a cold-themed mist. It’s a Level 9 Soldier with 85 HP and all standard traits described above. All of its attacks do cold and necrotic damage. There’s a bite that slows for a turn and the Grasp of the Cold Grave that immobilizes for a turn.

  These mists lack marking capabilities, but their attacks are still very good at making movement difficult for PCs. It could easily be reskinned into some other frost-themed ghost without any changes to its stats.

  Crimson Deathmist

  The legendary Crimson Deathmist is a Huge entity, and a Level 19 Elite Soldier with 328 HP. It’s faster with a flight speed of 6 and an altitude limit of 3. It is however slightly more vulnerable to radiant damage (10 instead of 5).

  This monster has all the standard traits, but its Siphoning Presence is renamed to Impending Doom and upgraded. I has a radius of 2 instead of 1, and restores 10 HP to the mist instead of 5.

  The Deathmist can pull enemies 4 squares closer with its Hypnotic Lure (at-will, minor action), and then Demand Obedience from them. This is a melee attack that can target two creatures at the same time. It deals psychic and necrotic damage, with an additional 10 damage the next turn if the targets attack anyone other than the Deathmist.

  Its basic attack is a Deathly Grasp that deals necrotic and poison damage and also slows for a turn. It can also release a Terror Wave that deals psychic damage in a Close Burst 2 and immobilizes for a turn. That last one recharges when it’s bloodied.

  Final Impression

  The mists’ mechanics are cool, but what really drew my attention was the story about the lich. A lich whose name is unknown, who lived in ancestral times, who was interested in undead demon lords, and who is no longer around? That could be Vecna, whose deeds in this place let him ascend. And instead of a typical soul vessel you’d find his Eye at the bottom of this catacomb dungeon.

  If that doesn’t appeal, you’ll notice that any party capable of defeating the Crimson Deathmist guarding the entrance is at about the right level to tackle the Tomb of Horrors… You’d need to change that clearing a bit to include the three entrances, but otherwise it’s as good a place to put it as any.

• Apr 2, 2023

  Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Twig Blight

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  D&D Third Edition made many attempts to create new monsters that would grow popular enough to become iconic, and I think these little critters were one of their greatest successes even though they weren’t an intentional attempt.

  They first appeared as custom opposition in The Sunless Citadel, the very first official module for Third Edition. They had a very specific origin tied to the overall story arc of that campaign. That origin is mentioned in version, but we also see some lore that talks about them in the Vale.

  The Lore

  Twig blights look like large woody shrubs or small trees with interlocking branches. They can change shape somewhat to blend in with the surrounding vegetation, and they can also uproot and twist themselves into roughly humanoid shapes in order to hunt or migrate.

  Blights need fresh blood to reproduce and grow, using their roots to absorb it from the soil or directly from corpses. New seedlings sprout from their root systems, as many as a dozen at a time. They’re very fragile early on, but mature quickly and after a few days are big enough to start ambushing small creatures.

  The first blights originated from the Gulthias Tree, which grew from the stake used to slay ancient vampire who went by that name. Some people speculate that repeating the process to create a similar tree could create new varieties of twig blight, though of course few are unbalanced or evil enough to try.

  Our Vale-specific story is about a lonely pig farmer named Fellis, who was the first to discover these creatures in the Vale. A strange new bush appeared overnight in his slaughter shed, and soon it began sprouting seedlings. Fellis loved the little scamps, giving them names and playing them tunes on his flute. His neighbors were very worried about all of this weirdness, but still regularly went there to trade for pig meat.

  During that winter, however, severe snow storms tore through the region and made regular travel impossible until the thaw. When Fellis’ neighbors managed to get to his farm again, they saw that the man, his family, his pigs, and even the cat had all been killed. All that was left was a number of pulsating bushes sprouting from their corpses. Several nearby villages banded together to burn out the infestation, but a few individuals managed to escape into the surrounding woods. So now we can add “twig blight infestation” to the list of everyday disasters that can fall upon the people of the Vale.

  Twig blights can survive from normal soil nutrients and sunlight like mundane plants, but they vastly prefer to have access to a blood supply. Their numbers increase rapidly when they can find a big source like a slaughterhouse or battlefield, though even a single corpse is enough to let their reproduction cycle continue. When their current blood supply runs dry, they’ll uproot themselves to look for more. If can’t find a new victim or supply quickly, they’ll take root again and wait in ambush.

  Twig blights can even be found in dungeons, ruins, caves, and other places never touched by the sun. Without access to light, they become even more bloodthirsty than usual.

  Some powerful creatures try to make use of twig blights as unguided boundary guardians by seeding them along that boundary. However, the creatures are fickle and as likely to follow the wind to nearby settlements as they are to stay in place.

  Twig Blights are monsters. They have some intelligence and can even speak Elven, but they only use that to set up smarter ambushes. They only see other creatures, sapient or not, as food sources, and only interact with them through violence. You might be able to keep them contained for a while if you supply them with enough blood, like Fellis did, but their reproductive cycle will ensure their population quickly outstrips the supply, at which point they’ll begin hunting for live prey (which means you).

  The Numbers

  Twig Blights are Small Fey Humanoids with the Plant tag. They have ground and climb Speeds of 5 with Forest Walk, and Darkvision. They have Resist Poison 5 and the non-minions have Vulnerable to Fire 5. Their signature trait is Rooted, which reduces forced movement from pulls, pushes, or slides by 3 squares.

  Like their original 3e incarnation, they’re early Heroic opposition.

  Twig Blight Seedling

  A seedling who just grew big enough to hunt. It’s a Level 1 Minion Skirmisher. Their claw attack lets them shift 2 squares before making the roll, deals poison damage, and has a small damage bonus when the target is granting them combat advantage.

  Their tactics are simple: surround and kill.

  Twig Blight

  The classic model is a Level 2 Lurker with 28 HP. It can turn invisible for a turn with a standard action, and surprise opponents with Blighted Claw attacks that do heavy poison damage and weaken (save ends). Even a miss still does half damage and weakens for a turn.

  If the blight can’t become invisible, it can still attack with basic claw attacks that do a typical amount of poison damage.

  Twig Blight Swampvine

  This is a new variant! It could be that classic blights adapted themselves to a swampy environment… or it could be that someone out there did prove the stake-tree theorem. They’re particularly common in the Witchlight Fens along the Nentir River.

  Swampvines are Level 3 Soldiers with 42 HP. They’ll use their minor actions to pull targets close using a Swamp Vine, which also grabs them (escape DC 13). If a grabbed target attacks someone other than the swampvine, they take an automatic 5 poison damage. They can also make basic claw attacks that do poison damage.

  Twig Blight Swarm

  A big bunch of classic twig blights that decided to stop being subtle. It’s a Large Swarm made up of Small creatures, and a Level 5 Brute with 74 HP. It’s Swarm Attack aura deals 3 damage to those inside, and while it looses its specific vulnerability to fire it’s still vulnerable to close and area attacks like any other swarm.

  Its version of Rooted makes it completely immune to being pushed, pulled, or slid, and its Swarm of Claws basic attack deals poison damage.

  Final Impressions

  I’m sure there are lots of people who will be happy to have official 4e stats for Twig Blights. Their explicitly unnatural origin and their monstrous disposition tends to make them better “guilt-free” low-level opponents than your usual selection of humanoids.

  This incarnation of them is also quite tricky for low-level PCs to handle, since a lot of their early powers rely on forced movement for their more interesting effects.

• Mar 31, 2023

  Let's Read Threats to the Nentir Vale: Treants

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

  Treants appear in the MM1 in a generic form. Here we see not one but two specific treant factions present in the Vale.

  The Lore

  Before the hillfolk, before the Tigerclaw, before even the elves, the Nentir Vale was covered by a single, vast forest. And in this forest, the treants ruled. They feared no one, not even the mighty dragons, for the entire region was under the protection of Malorunth the Eternal Ash, a gigantic tree who as also a powerful archfey.

  One spring evening, however, Malorunth died under mysterious circumstances. The once vigorous tree was now entirely petrified, leaves falling from its brittle branches in droves. With Malorunth dead, its blessing left the Vale, and the dragons who coveted it were quick to capitalize on the opportunity, arriving in large numbers.

  The battle that followed between treant and dragon was called the War of Endless Branches, and it’s because of this war that the Nentir Vale looks like it does today. Draconic magic and breath weapons cut a swathe of devastation across the center of the region that created the large open area there, and separated Winterbole Forest to the north from Harken Forest to the south.

  The dragons would go on to win the war and move into the “cleared” area. They were powerful, but what really brought them victory was the growing distrust and suspicion among the treants themselves, which caused them to stop working together and turn on each other.

  You see, the deciduous treants began to think their coniferous relatives had something to do with the death of Malorunth, and this suspicion festered enough that they began voicing it aloud for everyone to hear. Arguments turned to fights, and soon the treants were more concerned with their brand new civil war than with keeping the dragons out.

  This civil war caused the conifers to migrate north to Winterbole forest, where they would eventually begin venerating the archfey of winter known as the Prince of Frost. The deciduous treants stayed in Harken Forest, paying homage to the petrified corpse of Malorunth, which still stands today. They believe the Eternal Ash will be brought back to life if its murder can be avenged.

  The war technically still rages, but it does so at a treant’s pace. There’s a battle every century or two, when one of the group manages to organize a Great March to attack the other’s territory. The fact that they must cross the entire Vale to do so makes these marches even harder to organize, and slower to happen. The last one was two hundred years ago, when Harken attacked Winterbole. The next one will probably be a Winterbole attack, but sometimes it happens that the same side will launch two attacks in a row.

  Yes, the last battle in this war is older than the fall of Nerath, and there probably are no surviving Nerathi records of it. Maybe there are a few very old elves and eladrin who remember it. And maybe the Frost Witches or Harken’s Heart druids might know, since they live in those forests. But almost no one else has any idea that a new Great March might be in their future.

  Winterbole Treants

  

  These conifer creatures consider fleshy humanoids to be annoying pests and parasites, and try to keep their territory free of them. This is made more difficult by the fact that their slice of Winterbole Forest has a lot of Arkhosian ruins and Shadowfell crossings in it, so delvers and explorers often seek those out.

  They also have an alliance with Bitterstrike, whom we already met. The dragon believes the treants to be her vassals, and they put up with this delusion as long as she holds up her end of the bargain and assists them in the next Great March.

  Like all treants, they are Fey Magical Beasts with the Plant and Treant tags. In addition to low-light vision, they have both Forest Walk and Ice Walk, ignoring difficult terrain with either or both of these themes. Needless to say this type of terrain is plentiful in their home ground. They also have Resist Cold 10 - even the minion.

  Winterbole Sapling

  These Medium saplings are energetic and aggressive, and often team up with Winterbole-aligned Wood Woads in raids against the Tigerclaw and other trespassers. They’re Level 11 Minion Soldiers with a Speed of 6. Their Slams deal a bit of damage and immobilize for a turn, and their Numbing Branches aura (1) deals 3 damage to immobilized enemies that start their turns inside.

  This makes for enemies who likes to mob and surround a single target. If even one of them hits, all of their auras will deal damage that round.

  Winterbole Rimeneedle

  Rimeneedles are the most intelligent of the “lesser” conifers, and tend to act as scouts. They’re Large, and Level 12 Skirmishers with 122 HP. It has a Speed of 8.

  Rimeneedles are probably going to start the fight with Winter’s Step, a move action encounter power that lets them teleport 5 squares and make a Close Burst 2 attack on arrival. This deals cold damage, half on a miss. It probably involves forcefully ejecting those rime needles.

  Since this is a move action, the treant can immediately follow it up with a basic slam or with Tree Stomp, which lets it shift its speed and move through enemy spaces while doing so. The rimeneedle can make one slam attack against an enemy along this path, and will additionally knock the enemy prone if it hits.

  Fortunately as a non-minion treant, it has the Wooden Body weakness, which causes it to ignite and take ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends) from any attack that deals fire damage.

  Winterbole Frostbeard

  The leaders of the Winterbole treants are the venerable Frostbeards, who can command the winter. They’re rare and seldom seen by others, but they’re out there.

  Forstbeards are Level 16 Elite Controllers with the Leader tag and 308 HP. Their size is Huge, their speed is 8, and they’re immune to being knocked prone. Their Deep Roots reduce any forced movement inflicted on them by 2 (which can negate the movement entirely), and when they spend their action point every ally within 10 squares can make a free basic melee attack.

  Their opening move is likely a Howling Blizzard, an encounter power that deals heavy cold and thunder damage in an Area Burst 2 within 10 squares, and knocks prone on a hit. The blizzard lingers as a zone that deals 10 cold damage to people who end their turns inside. The frostbeard can move the zone up to 5 squares with a move action, and sustain it with a minor action.

  Once the zone is in the battlefield, the frostbeard will likely wade inside it and begin hitting people with Slams, which it can make as part of a Double Attack. If things begin to look dicey, it can call upon the Spirits of the Forest (move action, recharge 6+) to teleport itself and up to 3 nearby allies up to 5 squares, granting them +2 to all defenses for a turn on arrival.

  I guess their main weakness, aside from the usual Wooden Body, is that they have three different things they can do with their move action: move the blizzard, use Spirits of the Forest, or make normal moves. If they’re doing one of them, they can’t do the others unless they give up their standard action. Therefore, it’s possible to play “keep-away” with them to make them fight at less than optimal strength. If you stay rooted to one spot, though, they’ll fight you with slams while pulling the blizzard to sit on top of themselves.

  Harken Treants

  

  The deciduous treants of the Harken forest are quite standard as far as rules go. They use the standard stat blocks for the Treant and Bramblewood Treant from the Monster Vault. They do often work alongside wood woads, so we have a couple of stat blocks for those in addition to the (by now slightly outdated) basic stats from the Monster Manual 2.

  Their leader is the most exceptional thing about them: Mysteriphal is the oldest living creature in the entire Vale. He was there when Malorunth fell, and swore to forever protect his petrified husk. As mentioned above, Mysteriphal believes Malorunth will return to life once his murder is avenged. In our narrative present he’s a huge fire-and-curse scarred thing, any hints of his former kindness and nobility long gone.

  Wood Woad Druid

  I guess the existence of these guys explains why the Harken treants wouldn’t be allied with the Harken’s Heart druids. They’re Level 14 Skirmishers with the Leader tag and 145 HP.

  The druid only has a speed of 5 and no Forest Walk, but it’s immune to the Immobilized, Restrained, and Slowed conditions. It will likely try to approach a squishy PC and use Polymorph Into Plant on them. This targets Fortitude, and does what it says on the tin. It lasts for a turn or until the druid drops to 0 HP, whatever comes first. The polymorphed target is considered stunned, and gains Vulnerable 15 to fire. This recharges whenever the druid misses with it, so he can keep trying until it sticks.

  If the polymorph attack doesn’t look like an attractive option, the druid can hit people with his cudgel, using either basic attacks or a darting strike that lets him shift 2 squares before or after the attack.

  His leaderly options include Earthen Stride (at-will, move action), which lets the druid and an adjacent ally shift 2 squares; and Nature’s Boon (minor, encounter) which gives a plant ally 25 temporary HP.

  Wood Woad Juggernaut

  This Level 15 Brute is Large instead of Medium. He has 160 HP and fights mostly with his powerful slams. He will charge if at all possible, since he has Resist All 15 while charging.

  Once his preferred opponent is within his melee reach of 2, the juggernaut will try to tag them with Nature’s Reign (recharge 5+), a more damaging strike that also inflicts ongoing 10 damage (save ends), and heals the juggernaut for the same amount whenever the target takes this ongoing damage.

  Mysteriphal

  The leader of the Harken treants is a Huge specimen, and a Level 20 Solo Controller with 768 HP. This probably makes him the most powerful individual in the whole Vale. Everything about him hints at his tremendous age, from his scarred look to his stats. He ponderously drags himself at a speed of 4 without Forest Walk, but is immune to poison since he has had time to build a tolerance to all of them.

  As an Ancient Entity, Mysteriphal automatically downgrades the Dominated and Stunned conditions to Dazed. His long fighting experience gives him Threatening Reach 3, but he’s even more flammable than a typical treant. He takes ongoing 10 damage (save ends) when he takes fire damage, but while on fire his melee attacks also deal an extra 10 fire damage.

  Mysteriphal’s powerful Reach 3 slams damage and push the target 1 square, and he can make four of them with a single standard action. If someone in reach deals fire damage to him, he can make a free slam against the offender as a reaction (which will already benefit from that bonus fire damage).

  He also has several other tricks he can surprise his opponents with. Instead of slamming he can use a Reverberating Word that attacks all nonplants in a Close Burst 3, deals heavy thunder damage, and dazes for a turn. This is perfect for use with an action point, since it lets him do this and still punch his enemies. It also recharges when Mysteriphal is first bloodied, so that second solo action point also has an easy pre-defined use.

  As a minor action he can use a Reach 3 Root Grab to grab a target (DC 25) and pull them up to 2 squares. He can have up to four different creatures grabbed this way. This doesn’t deal damage… unless Mysteriphal is on fire, when it benefits from the bonus. And if you think you’re safe by putting some difficult terrain between Mysteriphal and yourself, the wily old treant can Teleport 4 squares as a move action (recharge 4+) and reach you anyway.

  PCs fighting Mysteriphal might want to consider avoiding fire attacks. While they’re still effective, they also make him much more dangerous.

  Final Impressions

  This is a tragic story all around. Probably only the treants themselves remember why they’re fighting, and barely anyone else would remember they’re fighting at all due to the long quiet periods between Great Marches.

  The truth about Malorunth’s death is a mystery literally older than mortal civilization, making it almost impossible to solve. And even if our nearly-Epic PCs manage it, it’s probably still not enough to get the treants to end their war. It might have started over this murder mystery, but after millenia of conflict both sides have plenty of reason to keep hating each other.

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