“Life here isn’t all nuts and bushy tails.” (Lucano Volpe)
The squirrel-folk relish living dangerously, risking life and limb as they traverse the World Tree in search of their precious gossip. The tables presented below describe some encounters the PCs may stumble across if they brave the environs of Yggdrasil.
Yggdrasil Canopy Encounters
High in the all-encompassing reaches of the World Tree, the vast causeway of branch and bough stretch out to touch the farthest planes.
1 | Many a dancing foliage (see Tome of Beasts 2) force passing travelers to attend their year-long celebration. |
2 | A ratatosk runs up to deliver a summons from the Eagle in the Eyrie. |
3 | Two vine drakes (see Tome of Beasts 2) extort exorbitant tolls from travelers along a commonly used branch. |
4 | Squirrel-folk huddle in fear while an astral devourer (see Tome of Beasts 2) plagues their community. |
5 | In a sheltered bough, several oths (see Creature Codex) prepare a lengthy ritual to summon an avatar of Shoth. |
6 | A jotun (see Tome of Beasts) hangs inverted from a mighty branch, seeking to supplant Wotan. |
7 | A legendary item goes to whomever beats a thrill-seeking ratatosk at a wingsuit race. |
8 | A pod of void-touched ulnorya (see Tome of Beasts 2) hunt the upper branches, threatening all who pass. |
9 | Near the Eyrie, a two-headed eagle (see Creature Codex) permits access only to those with lore to share. |
10 | Spiders of Leng (see Tome of Beasts) hunt for workers to free their beached voidship in the branches. |
Yggdrasil Trunk Encounters
The vertical body of the mighty World Tree abounds with wooden tunnels, city-sized boles, and plateau-like growths where all manner of creatures cross paths.
1 | A war party of doom croaker ravenfolk (see Tome of Beasts) seeks to dislodge a new ratatosk settlement. |
2 | Several eldritch oozes (see Tome of Beasts 2) guard a newly opened portal to a chaotic portion of the Void. |
3 | Children of Yggdrasil (see Creature Codex) protect a sprig that may become a new Midgard World Tree. |
4 | The Magnificent Muck (see Warlock 9: The World Tree), pulled up on a bank of the EverRiver, offers passage. |
5 | A party of kallikantzaros (see Creature Codex) work to cut down the World Tree. |
6 | Two ratatosk scouts spy on Baba Yaga’s Hut, where it perches sideways on the trunk. |
7 | A forest emperor (see Tome of Beasts 2) demands travelers play esoteric games to use a convenient portal. |
8 | Seeking celestial honey, a bearfolk (see Tome of Beasts) explorer contends with giant honey bees (see Tome of Beasts 2). |
9 | In a hidden bower, a young imperial dragon (see Tome of Beasts 2) guards a clutch of strange green eggs. |
10 | An ancient titan (see Tome of Beasts) of the Southlands sits in a hollow, juggling the divine sparks of his kin. |
Yggdrasil Roots Encounters
The lowest reaches of the World Tree hide dangers and secrets in equal measures among the twisting roots.
1 | A misguided mead archon (see Tome of Beasts 2) plagues an innocent deathcap myconid (see Tome of Beasts) community. |
2 | A ratatosk agent needs to spy on a meeting between a folk of Leng (see Tome of Beasts) and the Norns. |
3 | A delegation of satarre (see Tome of Beasts 2)carries gifts for Nidhogg as they journey to the wyrm’s lair. |
4 | The first Yggdrasil tosculi hive sends tosculi (see Tome of Beasts) scouts in search of an insectile relic. |
5 | The annual migration of millitaurs (see Tome of Beasts) threatens a new portal leading to the Arbonesse. |
6 | A band of einherjar (see Tome of Beasts) seeks sacrifices to entertain Nidhogg. |
7 | Fate eaters (see Tome of Beasts) kidnap a ratatosk elder to extract critical information from him. |
8 | Valkyries (see Tome of Beasts) guarding the Well of Urd seek aid against spawn of Nidhogg (see Warlock 9: The World Tree). |
9 | A void dragon (see Tome of Beasts) offers a contest of wit to win the prize of a potted Yggdrasil sapling. |
10 | A party of shadow fey (see Tome of Beasts) use petrified treants to build a new portal to their dark realm. |
Oddities of Yggdrasil
Myriad are the trinkets and tokens found upon the World Tree, washed from the planes that nestle in Yggdrasil’s branches.
1 | A worn and battered copy of the Kobold Chapbook, published in Zobeck. |
2 | An invitation allowing access to the annual Trespasser’s Club Gala in the Marketplace. |
3 | A jar holding a viscous black fluid in which miniature ever-changing stars twinkle. |
4 | A silver crown decorated with imperial dragon scales and archon feathers. |
5 | The severed and rusted head of a clockwork humanoid, still ticking faintly. |
6 | A half-empty wooden cask of mead from Valhalla, marked with the sigil of the Storm Court. |
7 | A bone key which unlocks a sealed workshop in the Evermaw’s Ossein Academy. |
8 | A glass orb containing a seemingly dormant sulfur rat from Urgennos in the Eleven Hells. |
9 | A carved ivory locket containing the dreams of a long-since deceased fey noble. |
10 | A humanoid drifts alone and seemingly lonely, forever searching for something forgotten. |
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Harken! The next entry shall be the last of this series, and we shall end with a bang!
Until then, my friends, stay squirrely.
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