The Juniper Tree

The Juniper Tree is an encounter for your players based on the Grimm fairy-tale. The fairy-tale has common mythical themes. Fathers eating sons, evil step mothers and battles over inheritance.

The shortened version is that a father has a son with his first wife. She later dies of illness and is buried beneath a Juniper tree nearby. The father remarries and has a daughter with his new wife. She becomes the step-mother of his first born son. His son is due to inherit the family fortune and the step-mother wishes for her daughter to inherit instead.

The mother violently beheads the son by slamming a chest lid down on him as he reaches for an apple and then ties his head back on. She asks her daughter to offer the boy an apple and when he does not take it, the daughter strikes him causing his head to fall off. Convinced she killed her brother, the daughter erupts into endless tears and the step-mother convinces the girl to keep quiet about the boys death. The Step-Mother then feeds the boy to the father in a stew and buries the bones beneath the Juniper tree beside his mother.

The spirit of the boy enters a bird, who sings his story to a Shoe-Maker, a Goldsmith and a Miller who each give him gifts, a chain, shoes and stone.

The bird gifts the chain to the father, the shoes to the young girl and drops the stone on the Step-mother, killing her.

I have combined this story with one of my favorite myths, Tantalus, to produce the encounter for you below. Deposit this in any game you like where you think it might fit.

Yum. Apples and torture. 

The Tree 

The tree stands abandoned and untouched for years. It might even be in the same woods as the Wishing Tree or part of Titania's dark garden in The Court of Oberon.

If the players ask about the tree, the above is the story that is recited to them by townsfolk, fairies or wanderers. Most believe it to be a myth. There is rumor that a juniper tree nearby is home to a bird whose capture leads to a great fortune.

All who enter the clearing should roll a Save Vs. Magic. If the players fail, do not tell them what is going to happen to them. Just smile.

Begin timing the players for five minutes. See "After Five Minutes" below. In the duration, attempt to creep them out as much as possible and ask them again who failed, even if you know.

The tree itself is an ordinary looking Juniper tree on the surface. It is larger than the average Juniper tree with soft brown soil around its roots. A search will reveal nothing out of the ordinary about the tree itself.  Like many trees, the tree trunk is knotted and it looks as if there are faces screaming in the bark. The leaves are thick and twittering birds can be heard from inside the branches.

If the players investigate the birds, they will hear one singing a song with a childish voice. Sing a child's nursery rhyme. If you wish, play a song like this one below on your phone beneath the table.

O Willow Waly 

The berries are bright red and green instead of blue and upon closer inspection appear to resemble miniature apples. Any knowledge or bush-craft rolls will reveal that these berries have outstanding healing properties. This is a lie; the magic of the clearing has warped everything about the tree and its outward appearance. If a berry is eaten before the save vs. magic effect occurs they will need to make a save vs. poison or they will suffer one of the four effects below:

1. The character can now only consume human flesh. If they do not, they starve rapidly. During the night, if the player has not satisfied their hunger they will be consumed by bloodlust for 1D6 hours and attempt to eat anything or anyone nearby. They will only stop then their hunger is sated. They will then fall asleep with no recollection of the event. This effect is permanent.
2. The character must roll a Save Vs magic or they are polymorphed each night into a frail songbird. The songbird has double movement speed, an extra two points in stealth and once per night can sing the spell Sleep. The songbird has AC 8 , HP 2 and no damaging abilities.
3. The character becomes one with the tree. Their legs snake out into the ground and begin to turn into branches. The tree bark crawls up their legs and transforms the rest of their body. This can be stopped if their limbs are removed before the bark spreads. 
4. The player is now immune to any poison effects when eating food. They are still susceptible to drinks and potions. If they eat apples, however, their neck will severe from their head. 

If the players dig in the soft dirt around the tree they will find a pair of old red shoes and the bones of other adventurers. 

In a hole nearby the outskirts of the clearing is a skeleton wearing nothing but a dirty loincloth with the remnants of a grizzled beard. If a successful search is made, in one body hand the skeleton clutches a sandal and in the other, a gourd. This is a red herring and has no connection to the juniper tree.

After Three Minutes 

Those that failed their Save vs. Magic when they entered the clearing will suddenly be overwhelmed with hunger and compelled to eat the berries. The berries will rise up out of reach. As the berries dangle, the players hunger grows so great that anything around them looks appetizing including each other. As the berries rise, the ground around them becomes a thick black soup of soil and blood. The bones of other adventurers will bubble up from below.  A save vs. paralyse will be needed as the ground will quickly become solid, trapping them at the waist forever out of reach of the tree.

If you wish, you may allow the players to make another Save Vs. Magic to see if they can escape before they become mindless with hunger forever.

Any remaining players who did not fail their save vs magic will see things differently.  A small bird is sat singing a childish song on the branches of the tree. Their hallucinating comrades are flailing widely on the floor; clearly effected by visions.

The Bird

"Laid them beneath the juniper tree,
Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I"

If the bird is killed, the players who failed their initial save remain trapped in the clearing, hallucinating until they starve. If the bird is captured and muted, the effect is cancelled.

Depending on how cruel you are, you may wish to give the bird a 2 in 6 chance of escaping off into the forest. I like to make this easier and it can be funny to see how the remaining players try to catch a darting bird. 

If captured, the bird will look like a small black songbird. The bird has a pair of large human eyes and its voice is eerily child-like. It opens its dark beak and can mimic any child's nursery rhyme or lullaby.

The bird, once per day, can be un-muzzled and anyone in a 10 foot radius will need to make a Save Vs. Magic or be consumed by terrible visions and fear. After it has sung, it will chatter happily and remain loyal to its captors until it comes to sing again.

The effect cannot be directed. The bird sells for a high price.

Images are from http://www.publicdomainpictures.net  and Wiki Commons.