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Thornwatch Encampment
Palakar Forest · Stage 3 Blight Node reconnaissance
The road climbs through a break in the wooded terraces into a concealed clearing. Cedar-bough shelters, bow racks, and low cooking fires surround a spring-fed cistern, while dryads and their allies watch the approaches from the treeline.
GM — Site and Situation
This is the Cedar Court's forward war camp and the party's base, not a hostile encounter. The preselected companion joins or reunites with the party here; refer to the existing Cedar Court — Available Companions entry rather than offering a second companion. A Cedar Court field commander briefs the party on a mature Stage 3 blight node at the center of the woods. Treat the road around it as an apparent engineered perimeter of unknown origin, NOT proof of Golden Hand involvement.
Exploration & Objectives
Provide a rough, incomplete sketch showing the outer ring, the three approaches, known pools at Moonpetal Tarn (3), Silverrun Crossing (8), and Goldfen Mere (13), and a possible connected seep at Fernmirror Pool (9). Give the party three required Watercourse Neutralizer doses, two required Blightseed Antidote doses, and separate clearly marked containers (plus one optional Watercourse Neutralizer dose for Fernmirror if available). Their mission is reconnaissance, application of Watercourse Neutralizer to infected water intakes and Blightseed Antidote directly to the two cores at the Twin Oathstones, disruption of enemy patrols, and a report before the Cedar Court assaults the node. Encourage several excursions and returns for healing and resupply.
No enemy automatically attacks this camp during the scouting phase. Track patrols avoided, watercourse feeders treated and individual seeds neutralized, and defenders scattered or eliminated. Scout reports are imperfect; the dryads do not know the true number of blight creatures. Keep the central node itself as a separate Foundry token, not a permanent painted map feature.
Thornwatch supplies Watercourse Neutralizer for feeder intakes (Moonpetal Tarn, Silverrun Crossing, Goldfen Mere; optionally Fernmirror Pool) and Blightseed Antidote for discrete exposed seed cores (two separate seeds at the Twin Oathstones). The preparations are not interchangeable. Water neutralization is containment, not destruction of the central Stage 3 blightnode; do not presume either field mixture alone destroys the mature central organism. Budget 3 required water doses + 2 required seed doses, with 1 additional optional water dose for Fernmirror, and allow return to Thornwatch for separate resupply.