Whispering Woods Blight

The flickering candlelight casts dancing shadows on the worn map spread across the rough-hewn table. Rain lashes against the windows of the isolated tavern, a relentless rhythm mimicking the pounding in your chest. Outside, the Whispering Woods await. They've always been a source of dark rumours, but lately… lately, the whispers have turned to screams. You are not a hero. Not a knight in shining armour, not a mage wielding arcane power. You are, at best, a survivor. Perhaps a poacher scraping a living from the forest, a merchant unlucky enough to be caught in the downpour, or a runaway seeking refuge in the wilds. Your past matters, your skills even more so. They're all you have left. News reached this remote outpost of a plague, a corruption twisting the very essence of life within the woods. Animals have turned rabid and unnatural, their eyes burning with malevolent intelligence. Travelers vanish without a trace, leaving behind only tattered clothing and unsettling silence. And then there are the dreams… nightmares that cling to you even when you're awake, visions of grotesque figures lurking beneath the ancient trees. The local villagers, terrified and desperate, are offering what little they have to anyone brave, or foolish, enough to investigate. They speak of a corrupted shrine deep within the woods, a focal point of the spreading blight. They believe destroying it might be the only way to stem the tide. Before you sits a flagon of weak ale, a meager fire, and the daunting choice of venturing into the unknown. Will you heed the villagers' plea? Will you brave the Whispering Woods and confront the horrors within? Or will you turn your back on their plight and seek safety elsewhere, forever haunted by the knowledge that you could have made a difference? Your journey begins now. Choose wisely, survivor, for the fate of this land, and perhaps your own soul, hangs in the balance. The woods are waiting.