CORRUPTED SWAMP
Tier 1 Traversal
A wretched stretch of slimy water, toxic creatures, and decay.
Impulses: Corrupt, emphasize putrescence, reveal the twisted and unnatural, sicken
Difficulty: 11
Potential Adversaries: Any Undead (Skeleton, Zombie, Spectral Guardian), Giant Rat, Green Ooze, Tangle Bramble
FEATURES
Swamp Sickness - Passive: At the end of a long rest, each PC must succeed on a Strength Reaction Roll or gain a d4 Sickened Die, starting with the 1 value facing up. If a PC fails this roll and already has a Sickened Die, they increase the value by 1, to a maximum value of 4. A PC with a Sickened Die gains a penalty to their action rolls equal to its value. When a PC with a Sickened Die would clear a HP, they can decrease the value of their Sickened Die by 1 instead. When the die’s value would fall to 0, remove it.
Is the swamp teeming with life, filled with decay, or both? What force blighted this swamp, and what signs of its origins remain?
Soggy and Slogging It - Passive: When a PC moves as part of an action, they can only move up to Very Close range. Action rolls made to move farther than Very Close range have disadvantage. Before rolling, a PC can mark a Stress to remove this disadvantage.
What creatures, living or otherwise, lurk beneath the water’s murky surface? Where or how do the PCs find relief from the stinking water?
Rotbloom - Action: Spend a Fear to dust an area within Far range in noxious pollen. Each target in that area must succeed on a Strength or Instinct Reaction Roll or take 1d6+3 magic damage and become Vulnerable until the end of the scene.
How can you tell the plants that emit this pollen are carnivorous? What nightmares or dreamscapes does the pollen’s scent conjure?
Dancing Lights - Action: At the start of a rest, you can spend a Fear to have floating orbs enthrall the weary and lure a PC deeper into the swamp. A different PC can use a downtime move to make an action roll to search for them. On a success, both PCs return to camp and can choose downtime moves as normal. On a failure—or if no one searches for them—the lost PC returns hours later, covered in mud and worse, and can’t choose downtime moves until their next rest.
What does the lost PC see in the lights that draws them into the darkness? What other glimpses of surprising beauty do the PCs encounter here?