100 Strange Forest Encounters
So I'm going to start regularly posting some tiny dungeon images with a thematically linked random table. Once a month might be a good aim but let's see how we go.
The picture above is this month's tiny dungeon. I'm not going to go into detail about what the fruit thing is or the squirrel statue or the well of pure darkness. Does this dungeon involve Fruit Goblins? I don't know. Does it involve a swarm of undead squirrels that try and stuff you full of cursed acorns? Again, I don't know. Does drinking the well water give you a free spell that has a chance of progressively mutating you every time you cast it? Stop asking! But if you have a hollow tree or a hole in the ground in your game you now have this little doodle to go with it.
A pig stuck up a tree with no indication of how it came to be there.
The sound of singing leads to a sunny rock by a stream. Looking into the water reveals bones
lying on the stream bed.A bloody boot with a foot still inside.
A group of outlaws encamped in the woods. They weren't expecting company and pretend
to be traveling performers, hiding any stolen goods or wanted posters with their likenesses
they may have.An invisible ogre is crying as they crash and trip through the woods. They think they've died
and become a ghost. They were cursed by a 'thin man' for urinating on a circle of stones.A knight stumbles through the woods in antique armor. They seem disoriented and claim
to serve a long dead noble.An elderly hermit collects medicinal herbs. They have a vast knowledge of the various
forest plants and their uses.A confused, naked villager would like help finding their way home. The last thing they
remember is the moon and the pulsing of blood in their head...A hollow tree contains small offerings of fruit, flowers, bone carvings and wine skins.
An untended campfire with meat on a spit - anyone that eats some will be relentlessly
pursued by invisible fae hunters only they can see.A long train of hairy caterpillars, crawling across the forest floor, leads to a dungeon entrance.
A riderless horse lies on the forest floor. It seems sick. Unless some cure is found it will burst,
releasing swarms of tiny spiders. Any that escape into the forest will rapidly grow to giant size
within a month.You stumble upon an ancient burial mound overgrown with trees. The dry, dead thing inside
offers mead and jewels in exchange for conversation and news of the outside world.
Time inside the barrow passes slower than time outside.By The Gods! That tangle of mud caked wool, those gnarled horns like the roots of a storm felled
oak - that's Rambo the legendary lost sheep!An outlaw guards a log over a swift stream. Anyone stepping onto the log finds themselves
facing a giant guarding an enormous causeway over an icy chasm.
You could just go around and get your feet wet...
A talking tree tries to convince you to eat its fruit. Doing so transfers its curse to you
- transforming you into a talking, fruit bearing tree.An enchanted tree is suffering from some sort of infestation and offers a reward if you agree to
shrink down and head into its trunk to kill the queen.A beautiful horse grazing in a sunny clearing - those attempting to ride it find its hide shifts and
adheres to their skin as it runs into the nearest body of water.A pack of wolves attempt to lead the party to their den where a human infant is playing with
their cubs.A bird follows and watches. It will talk to one specific party member but only when others
won't overhear.A solitary stone. Once encountered the stone continues to appear every so often along the
party's route.A small tree that looks a bit like a human figure. Any cuts or breaks bleed like a wound.
Those injuring the tree may wish to be far away come nightfall.A small clearing where the time of day is the inverse of the surrounding forest. If it is night in
the clearing, four lichen covered stones stand in a circle beneath the stars.
If it is daylight, four figures, alien and beautiful, dance in a circle. They would like you to join
them. Once you start dancing it is hard to stop - until night falls in the clearing that is.A circle of time worn statues of incredible detail. They look like a group of adventures encamped
for the night.The wind moans through a dead hollow tree. The twists of the trunk resemble agonized faces.
If the wood is burned shadows detach from any creatures standing in the firelight and attack.A mossy boulder turns out to be an enormous snail. It will try and escape… slowly.
A goblin holding a fabulous jewel crashes through the undergrowth and begs to be hidden.
You can hear the baying of unearthly hounds drawing closer. The jewel glows like moonlight
on snow.The faint lines of buildings can be seen underneath the bracken and briars. A voice from a well
in the center of the ruins has stories to tell. At night the vampire emerges.
A knight and her squire off to find honor or death.
A herd of deer passes encircled by warm mists. The trees above stir with hidden guardians.
Everything within this area of forest is part of a mycelium hive mind - trees move a little more
than you'd expect and animals a little less. Both sway slightly, even in the absence of a breeze.A stagnant pool is home to something with long snatching limbs, lidless eyes and a gift for mimicry.
An animal is following you. It is actually a spirit of either good or ill intent (flip a coin).
It isn't very powerful but will look for opportunities to help or hinder the party in whatever they
attempt depending on its inclination.A basket floats through the forest collecting herbs, toadstools and similar things.
Once full it will head back to whomever enchanted it.A snake slithers up and tries to start a philosophical discussion.
A disheartened devil sits on a rock. It's meant to ask you a riddle to pass but can't remember
what the riddle was.A throng of boars, wolves, elk, rabbits, hawks and capybaras come charging up and surround
the party. They stand there until convinced the party won't screw with the woods at which point
they disperse.There's a very colourful mushroom beside the path. Eating any swaps your mind with
the mushroom's."Poor Tom's cold." You meet a, somewhat addled, wild man living in a poorly constructed bivouac.
They were once the heir to a noble house but their half brother framed them for conspiring
against their father.Whispers come from a knot hole in an ancient tree. Listening to them the characters can hear
what the players are saying.A bunch of naked people in rabbit masks prepare to sacrifice a figure in a wolf mask tied to a rock.
All parties are consenting.A sword in a stone. It is a magic sword and turns creatures into stones whilst it's piercing them.
The effect is reversed when the sword is removed.Overnight a party member's shoe goes missing. A search of the area finds it nearby but
it is now home to a large clan of brownies.A bloody harp at a locked door. Playing the right tune (or a sufficiently accomplished one) opens
the door but make a mistake and the harp’s razor sharp strings will slice off a finger which burrows
away into the blood soaked earth like a grub.A collection of vegetable-like pods the size of people. If one is touched it slowly opens to reveal
a naked doppleganger. The duplicate’s speech is clumsy and their eyes never blink but otherwise
the resemblance is uncanny.An ascetic is deep in meditation on a tiny platform atop a high pole in the woods. They have taken
a vow of silence.A goblin is fused into the trunk of a tree -only their head and hands are visible. They are
occasionally fed grubs by a family of birds.
A large flat stone laden with a feast. There are enough places for each member of the group should
they choose to partake with one more remaining.
Sound is muted by the dense growth crowding in on all sides. In the canopy above tiny insects
drift through motes of sunlight thick with weightless pollen. It's just beautiful.
The frog is enormous, easily mistaken for a mossy hillock until it opens its maw to send
a giant pink tongue smashing through the undergrowth with unerring accuracy.
A hut surrounded by a fence of bone. The owner is away - for now.
A tower with a winding internal stair. The forest outside its windows is under a different season
to the north, east, south and west. At the top, a door opens onto the forest floor a year after
you entered the tower.
You meet a tree vampire. They pose no threat to you preferring to suck nutrients from trees.
At will they can explode into a floating cloud of spores to regrow elsewhere.
Their flesh is spongy and bloodless.
A tall knight in a full helm stands in the path gesturing to a pile of nuts and berries - the price of
safe passage. Standing close you may hear small animal sounds moving about inside the armor.
A crystal pool. Casting a stone into the water causes a breeze to radiate out into the forest
in an expanding ring.
Tiny bats the size of mice alert you to a disused mine shaft. Within, an undead miner is trapped
under a giant rock. It fell as they prized out a large gemstone. They'd love to get free and see if
any of their loved ones are still alive.
These bandits are confident and coldhearted. They enjoy the fear of others and think nothing
of murder.
A thief cooks a vile stew in a cave. The monster will be expecting dinner when it returns.
They listen for the beating of wings.
This giant has been asleep so long the undergrowth has all but completely hidden them.
An ancient dryad sits beside her dying tree. She holds its last sapling in a handful of dark soil
- hoping to find someone willing to plant it in a distant forest before she and her tree pass away.
A streamlet runs clear through a bed of wild mint. The water restores body and mind.
The closeness of the air and the buzz of insects seems to call the party towards a deep sleep…
An unsettlingly large pile of dung. Hopefully it doesn't contain bones.
Squirrels (or monkeys) attempt to steal items from the group's packs and escape through
the branches. Somewhere a great tree holds the trinket horde.
A band of raccoons with a sack chitter excitedly and lay out a few select treasures for the party
to consider. They are interested in making trades and negotiate via mime.
A road house in the branches of an ancient tree. Warm light and busy chatter spill from its
many windows.
Thick white mist surrounds the party. The shades of dead friends and enemies approach with
warnings and threats.A pile of arcane slag crawling with tiny oozes. The forest around the pile shows signs of mutation.
A wizard has been dumping magical waste here.
A noise off the path leads to a tiny nest containing wooden dolls resembling the party.
A noble bathes in a forest stream. Their clothes are draped over nearby bushes and a fine
horse waits by the bank.
At dusk you spot the light of a well maintained hut. The elderly hermit within offers food and
lodging for the night. If the party all sleep within the hut they awake in a pile of leaves within
sight of their destination. Rudeness or hostility to the hermit will result in them and the hut
disappearing. The next day's travel is exceedingly difficult as roots trip you and stones find
their way into your boots.
A giant owl attempts to snatch a party member away to its nest where a goblin has been
impersonating its chick for an entire season.
A dryad is missing a limb. She loves a mortal who used to play in the branches of her tree as a
child. The now grown mortal has been asking for more and more pieces of her tree as gifts.
Soon they will arrive with an axe looking for wood to build a cabin.
A carpet of snaking vines tries to ensnare the party long enough for the carnivorous flower
heads to take a bite.
Clouds of Butterflies rise from the undergrowth and alight on the adventurers, crawling on their
arms, trying to enter their mouths, to drink the nectar from their eyes - the butterflies are attacking!
The scream of saw blades and the groan of crashing timber-- a huge machine of metal, gears
and smoke is clear cutting this section of forest.
The path ahead is blocked by a procession of forest spirits that stretches through the trees in
either direction. They don't seem malevolent but drawing their attention could be perilous.
A scarecrow wanders the woods. A crow nesting in their chest does the talking and can
explain that they grew tired of laboring on a farm and wanted to see the world.
A nearby river or lake has burst its banks and the forest ahead is a perfect mirror vibrating
with the triumphant song of happy frogs.
A strange vessel consisting of a wooden gondola suspended below a now torn and deflated
bladder has crash landed in the branches of a tree. It is hard to convince the pilot that they
have not in fact reached the moon.
A tree with multiple names notched into its trunk. When a name is carved an assassin of
wood and vines emerges to seek out and kill the person named before returning for payment.
Spores from a profusion of fungi fill the air in this section of forest. Some solution will need to
be found for the party to be able to breathe.
A strange small figure with warm golden skin calls for help in the branches of a tree.
They quickly rot into nothingness upon touching the ground and another fruit goblin grows
from the branches of the tree. They want to see life beyond the forest.
This well kept cabin belongs to a ghoul. A diary beside the bed details their struggle to
avoid eating living humans. They have lapses. Soon they will be home with a sack of take away
from a village graveyard.
A sack suspended from a tree branch contains at least one demon.
The trees stir as a dragon flies overhead - searching. Is it looking for the party or something else?
If it doesn't find what it's after it will fly off in the direction of its lair.
The ghost of a murdered traveler appears to the party, their slit throat bleeding over a
silver necklace. They point the way to a shallow grave just off the path. In the next town a member
of the Inn keeper's family wears the necklace.
A little off the path the tops of the trees are woven into a bower and the forest floor is littered
with items (all blue and some magical). The giant bird who collected them might not take
kindly to thieves.
A shrub starts following the party. Its intentions are uncertain.
A smoking crater contains a porous rock. A crawling, red weed is spreading from it to the
surrounding woods.
A wanted poster for an infamous outlaw is nailed to a tree. It offers a decent reward.
A woodcutter is having a debate with her axe - apparently the sap of the tree she was cutting
has instilled consciousness in it.
This area of the forest is so saturated with living force that wooden objects sprout leaves and
try to take root in the earth.
A tortoise lies on its back in the path. The spirits of the forest watch unseen to see what the
party will do.
Animals graze a windfall of berries under the boughs of a large tree - they are shrinking as
they eat.
The party encounters a trophy hunter and their servants on the trail of a fabled beast.
They hope to mount its head above one of their manor's many fireplaces.
Agonised roars lead to a wounded beast, easily large enough to swallow an adventurer or two.
Its fearsome temper isn't improved by the magic weapon lodged in its paw.
- The war machine lies rusting. Flowering vines twist through its gears and tiny birds nest in
the barrels of its arcane weaponry. A deep ravine is bridged only by the fallen trunk of a giant tree. Within the spiders wait patiently,
surrounded by their bundled treasures.
- A talking frog claims to be the ruler of a nearby kingdom. They're not interested in kisses but
an armed insurrection to reclaim their throne would be great.
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