Dryad Treasure Chest

The following post has been inspired by a picture on the fantastic Chaudron Chromatique blog.

It is a well-known fact that Humans are incredibly greedy. Plant-Men are aware of this, and they take advantage of this cognisance to trap unwary human travellers to their forests and jungles.

The Dryad Treasure Chest is one such artifice. Mreli or Embyli (depending on the local flora) would persuade a pair of Dryads to grow together in an embrace around a treasure chest. This is quite a sacrifice for the two Dryads because they are then linked to the treasure chest instead of being linked to a whole grove of trees. Only a single tree from the grove remains with them and grows on top of the treasure chest.

Each treasure chest has been individually crafted and filled in by the Plant-Men, so it is difficult to generalise as to its contents. Plant-Men would usually fill it with precious treasures such as gems or magical items that carry a slight, nearly undetectable dwimmer-craft that gives off its negative effects weeks or even months after having been displaced. The idea is to affect the largest possible number of Humans.

The treasure chest itself is quite difficult to get hold of, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the greedy adventurers. The Dryads' eyes have the usual glamour-like effects, and their arms are very strongly curled round the treasure chest. The fruit hanging from the branches is brightly-coloured so as to entice the unwary into tasting it, to ill effects.

art by Cédric

Tunnels & Trolls version

Dryad Treasure Chest

(1) Each Dryad has eyes that cast a glamour-like effect onto anyone gazing directly into them. Technically, any delver looking at either Dryad must make a L5SR on WIZ or any Talent along the lines of "Resist Charm" or "Immune to Plant Magic". If the saving roll is missed, the victim remains in a lovestruck state for 1D4+1 hours; during this time, the victim wants to protect the Dryads and the chest, and will violently oppose anybody harming or otherwise messing around with the Dryads, the chest or the fruit.

(2) The Dryads won't otherwise act, but they have a combined STR of 50 around the treasure chest. This combined STR must be overcome to take the chest away. The chest weighs (1D6+4)×20 pounds.

(3) Should the delvers try to hack down the Dryads rather than overcome the STR of their arms, consider that the combined Dryads have a MR of 450.

(4) The fruit (of which there are always several available on the branches) looks alluringly delicious. Any delver looking upon the branches must make a L4SR on INT or any applicable Talent. If the saving roll is missed, the victim will rush to the tree to eat some fruit.

Roll 2D6 for the effects:
     02 | Victim is immediately turned into a Slorifing and runs away. He or she is an NPC now. The player may roll up a new character.
     03 | Victim is immediately turned into the appropriate form of Plant-Man (Mreli or Embyli)
     04 | Victim will worship Aldrya (if male)/Uleria (if female) from now on. Victim loses any magic associated with his or her former cult.
     05 | Victim becomes of the appropriate colour (brown or yellow); no other ill effect, but victim will have a hard time in less tolerant areas ("burn the monster!")
     06 | Victim becomes a plant-human hybrid. Roll 1D6 to find out which part of the body becomes vegetable: 1- head, 2- arms, 3- chest, 4- abdomen, 5- groin, 6- legs. The vegetable body part now contains sap instead of blood; it cannot be healed by human healing magic, only by Aldryami healing magic from now on. If the groin is affected, the victim can only produce children with a Dryad from now on.
     07 | Victim will forever defend vs plant magic with a penalty of 1 level, e.g., if the GM calls for a L2SR, the victim will have to make a L3SR.
     08 | Victim becomes vegetarian.
     09 | Victim becomes vegetarian and develops a hatred for non-vegetarians.
     10 | Victim becomes a frugivore.
     11 | Victim is slowly transformed into the appropriate form of Plant-Man (Mreli or Embyli), over a process that lasts 1D12 months.
     12 | Victim is slowly transformed into a Slorifing, over a process that lasts 1D12 months. Once the transformation is complete, the victim runs away. He or she is an NPC now. The player may roll up a new character.

(5) The treasure itself. The GM must decide what the treasure contains. 1 magical item + a stash of coins are suggested. The coins are important because they are possibly going to be spread amongst hundreds if not thousands of humans over time.

1D4 months after the treasure has been retrieved, the ill effects kick in. Anyone in contact with any part of the treasure, even a single coin, must make a L1SR on LK and a L2SR on CON. If the LK saving roll is missed, apply the effects of a random 1st level spell. If the CON saving roll is missed, the victim loses 1 permanent point of CON through spore contamination.