“Father, you should really reconsider. Flowers grow among the roots of the red-leaf tree that smelled of corpses, and the mad woman in front of the stall, I heard rumor that she had the ear of the queen now. You saw how her bindings came undue with her barely moving at all. It might not be a god, but I believe we have offended something we should have not.” he said, walking through the finely tended gardens of his families’ dwelling.

“Silence. Can’t you see I am working.” Fasthus said, taking a tap and jamming into a weak spot of the tree. The tree was harder than normal, and it took several jabs to lodge it to get at the valuable sap. When finally it dug into the tree, for a moment there was an eerie nothingness. Sound and color seemed to vanish, and when they returned, the crimson hue of the mystical tree was replaced by an eerie purple. 

Vines sprouted from the ground, and grabbed around the slavers neck. He manifested a flame within his hand and used it to sever the vines from the ground as his son stood there paralysed. As he did, more vines began to grow around him and grab it which attempted to fend them off with his conjured flame when something shot out from the tap. By time he noticed, thorns covered in the sap impaled his chest. They didn’t hurt, but as he tried to wave the fire around to save himself, it vanished. 

He seemed to attempt to recall it or do something, but could not. He grabbed the tap and tried to use it as a make-shift dagger to free himself. Fasthus called out to his son, “Help me get out of this. Help.” 

He was still stunned, but he made one step towards his father until he heard a voice, a powerful, cold, deathly whisper, “Don’t.” 

He ran.

He ran towards the city with all of his might. As he did, he noticed the area around him change and shift. Tree leaves became either blood red or oddly purple. Thorn bushes and vines sprouted at unnatural speeds, and strange face-like growths expanded outwards from wood. The strange, corpse-smelling flower began to dot the area. At times he would turn around and see more trees than he thought was there before as the forest appeared denser than was moments prior. 

He didn’t need to run far, but his mind could try to suppress the thought of what it would be like when the ghastly changes were finished, or how much land was affected by the sudden metamorphosis. 

As were, the student of the kindly one was teaching a mystic about augury. She felt something, and that feeling carried over and impacted on the mystic, who could only feel a dark, uncaring coldness from her fingertips that began to creep up her arm threatening to completely subsume them. 
When the mystic looked up to see the women’s reaction, it was a warm, genuine smile. “And so the defiler feeds the earth for his crime. I suggest avoiding the purple forest as it will be bad for your health.” There was a silence as the presence left, and the teacher continued as though nothing was the matter and continued her lesson. 

[hider= Story Summary] 
Fasthus, a slaver who used the sap of a red-star maple as part of a poison for his trade is trying to get more sap while one of his sons tries to talk him out of it as weird things have happened and it seems like he has offended some higher power. 

Fasthus ignores these warnings and attempts to draw more sap from the tree. Vines sprout from the ground and try to kill him. He uses magic to fend them off until thorns covered with the sap shot into him and he loses his magic. He calls for his son’s help as he used the tap to try to fend off the vines, but his son hears angry Sirius telling him don’t do that and he runs noticing how Sirius is turning the surrounding woods into a not-good area. 

The augur devoted to Sirius in Angebad is teaching a mystic how to perform augury when Sirius tells her that Fasthus, the defiler, is dead. The mystic feels this, but perceives this as the cold of space trying to eat him. The augur is happy, warning the mystic that going into the woods would be bad for his health, before continuing with the lesson. 
[/hider]

[hider= MP Summary]
Starting: 5/5
Ending: 0/3
-2 MP: Small Ecosystem: Shifted part of the ecosystem around Angebad to be denser and creepier. 

-3 MP/-2DP: Holy Site: The Magebane Forest 
Vengeful Woods 3: Plants and fungus in the area are unnatural shades of red and purple and grow in unnatural and unsettling shapes. Any attempt to harm plant or fungus life within the region will result in retaliation through any number of magic means, such as launching thorns, ensnaring vines, swing branches, etc. Retaliations are initially proportional to the damage inflicted, but they get harsher with each reprisal. If a person is compelled to harm the plants, then the plants will attempt to attack the person compelling to do so. If they are unable, they will instead attempt to pull the compelled person through it and to the other side of itself. In addition, they are more resilient to damage and regrow rapidly. 

Manabane Poison 2: Certain plants within the region produce a particular poison that causes people to lose the ability to use mana magic but gives them greater resistance to it. It loses its potency after being harvested except by a skilled magician devote to Sirius. The more they exposed to it, they longer the effect lasts until it is virtually permenant. In the very heart of the cursed woods, there are flowers that can cured the ailment.
[/hider]