One-Shot: Where the Winter Berries Bleed

## Player Characters

* Pepino the Ranger is a tall, thin half-elf with baby pink hair and baby blue eyes complementing pale, smooth skin. He is the epitome of elf-dom, and also the classic ranger type with a bow swung over his shoulder.
* Sophia the Paladin is a smol and stout halfling. Her attire is... comical, really. She has a helmet too big for her head, like it was made for a dwarven child, and a chainmail shirt that goes down to her... shins. Her boots go up to her knees and look like they threaten to trip her whenever she walks. Her double-bladed scimitar and shield, however, are the perfect size and in perfect condition. She listens with rapt attention, her fiery orange hair sticking up from under her helmet.
* Moterna the Rogue is another half elf with androgynous features under a dark hood.

## Recap

In *The Smoldering Hearth* tavern in the small town of Allomad, just outside Darkfall Forest, Pepino, Sophia, and Moterna sit and listen to a storyteller's tale. Adam Cavone tells the group of a terrible creature with claws of onyx and fangs of obsidian attacking a defenseless man when- BOOM! The door slams open, allowing in the winter storm and one Mastris Nnyona, a dwarven mother of two. She cries out that her children have gone missing; they went picking winter berries for a pie but when the blizzard hit suddenly, she fears they may have sought shelter in the forest.

The three head out to find the children. They're immediately met by walls of white snow, but Pepino is a ranger after all, so he confidently leads them in the right direction. While they investigate the well the kids were last seen at, Sophia spots a large, low shape rushing through the snow silently. They follow to the forest's edge, where they find the blizzard acting oddly. Snow is built up in some places it shouldn't be able to reach due to the canopy, mini-blizzards rage in condensed area, and other areas are perfectly clear and calm.

Sophia detects magic around her, finding that the entire forest is somewhat magical, including some trees that seem to maybe be alive. When she mentions this to Pepino, he knows of some sentient trees and recalls talking about trees with another Darkfall Forest Ranger, Yorsog. They decide to just stay away from those trees and look around for clues. Mote is able to form a zig-zagging line from bush to bush where the children were dropping berries as they meandered. Pep can't find anything, which upsets him slightly. Sophia sees a low, gray shadow watching them before it backs into one of those magical mini-blizzards.

When they approach the circle of swirling snow, Sophia detects that it's made up more of magic than anything else; evocation and conjuration, mainly. It bursts out and envelops them, leaving them unharmed but much further into the forest. Nearby is the Darkfall Hold, embroiled in a fight between Daybreaks and Nightfalls. Toldac tells Gruffstone that the storm they summoned is working - just then, a Nightfall Mage ends the storm but dies in the process.

Suddenly they hear a low growling behind them and turn to see the *Devil of Candlenights*, AKA Shynngnanon, from Adam's stories. The bipedal wolf-like creature scoops up the dwarven children nearby and runs off in the form of a giant wolf. Pepino shoots the beast just before it disappears into a fading circle of snow, followed by Sophia and Mote diving into the strange, teleporting area. The two land near a dilapidated cabin in the woods, not finding much inside before the wolf approaches from outside. Shynngnanon mentions "You never did like my stories" and goes on the attack. The attacks all miss so he runs away.

Back near the Darkfall Hold, Pepino wants to kill people in the battle but is too late. Instead, he finds General Toldac and requests help saving the children - Toldac sends a couple of mages with Pep. The ranger and mages eventually find the children on a bloody(?) altar. The dwarven kids say that the inscriptions on the altar are written in poor Dwarvish, with incorrect grammar and spelling, and the blood is actually winter berry syrup. They join Mote and Soph as the former chases down the fleeing wolf and, finally, kills it.

Later, in the tavern, the story is told of Adam Cavone, a werewolf who created a fake ritual site and told scary stories to keep people away from the forest so they'd have to rent his land in Allomad.

## Continuity

This one-shot took place during the original siege on Darkfall Hold, as seen in Bran's backstory. It took place on the 30th Day of the Twelfth Cycle, 1159 PGE, about 4 1/2 Cycles before WoDaD Prologue 1.

## Trivia

* This was supposed to be a Scooby-Doo-style mystery, with the end line of *"The monster was Old Man Adam all along, and he would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for those mangy kids and him being a dog, too!"* However, the DM forgot to actually introduce the main clues in the beginning so it didn't really work.
* The battle depicted at Darkfall Hold was the original Battle of Darkfall Hold in which Bran miscast a spell and lost the battle for the Nightfalls before being taken as a prisoner by the Daybreaks.
* This was Haven's second one-shot ranger with a favored enemy of humanoids. Yikes!
* Sophia had an AC of 19. Wild!