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As you settle for the night, an unnatural frost creeps over your resting place, extinguishing the fire’s warmth. From the shadows, a gnarled figure emerges—a hunched hag with glowing eyes and an unnerving smile. “Sleep if you must, dreamers,” she croons, “but every dawn you’ll find yourselves right where you began. Only through my will shall the cycle break.” The air crackles with malevolence as her curse takes hold. You feel the weight of her words settle into your bones.
Your rest will not be respite… it is a trap.
The challenge is clear: break the curse or remain forever lost in a waking nightmare.

Setting:
The cursed Veilwood Forest surrounds you, with towering trees and mist-drenched paths that seem to twist and shift when you aren’t looking. Grythessa’s lair lies at the forest’s heart—a hollowed-out, ancient tree pulsing with dark magic. The path is treacherous, as the curse draws hostile creatures to thwart your progress.
Player Configuration:
- Recommended for 4-6 players.
- Suggested levels: 3-5.
Main Challenge:
- The Curse Mechanic: If the players take a long rest, they wake up back at their initial starting point, as though they never progressed. The curse undoes all travel and healing, and magical exhaustion begins to weigh on their bodies. This cycle continues until the curse is broken.
- Players must manage their resources carefully and prioritize strategy over attrition.
NPC Characters:
- Hag, Grythessa the Weaver of Cycles:
- Motivations: Grythessa cursed the adventurers for trespassing into her sacred domain or interfering with her schemes.
- Abilities: Powerful curse magic, illusions, and summoning spells. Grythessa wields magic that interferes with time and perception, forcing players to doubt their progress.
- Personality: Smug and manipulative, Grythessa delights in tormenting her victims. She taunts the players as they grow more desperate.
- Fey Trickster: A sprite bound to Grythessa’s service but sympathetic to the party. It can offer cryptic hints about the curse and how to break it if the players earn its trust.
Tactics:
- Grythessa creates false paths and mirages, wasting the players’ time and energy.
- Minions such as enchanted animals and animated forest creatures (e.g., wolves, treants) harass the party to deplete their resources.
- In her lair, Grythessa uses the terrain and her illusions to divide and confuse the group while summoning shadowy creatures to fight for her.
Possible Player Actions:
- Avoid Resting: The players must rely on potions, healing spells, and other means to restore health without taking a long rest.
- Find the Ritual Components: Scattered throughout the forest are ritual elements needed to counter the curse. Players must solve puzzles or overcome combat challenges to gather these.
- Confront the Hag: Direct combat with Grythessa is risky but can end the curse if successful.
- Negotiate or Trick the Fey Trickster: This NPC may reveal a shortcut or provide help if the players can be persuasive or clever.
Potential Outcomes:
- Breaking the Curse: The players successfully complete the ritual or defeat Grythessa, ending the cycle and freeing themselves.
- Succumbing to the Curse: If the players fail to break the curse, exhaustion and resource depletion will likely doom them to a futile cycle.
- Making a Deal: If the players negotiate with Grythessa, she may lift the curse in exchange for a dangerous favor, which can lead to future plot hooks.
Further Ideas:
- Breaking the curse could shatter the veil protecting Grythessa’s lair, revealing an ancient evil tied to her power.
- A hidden artifact tied to the curse may prove useful in future adventures but comes with its own risks.
Treasure:
- Cleansed Cursed Artifact: Once purified, it grants the wielder the ability to cast a single spell related to time or foresight (e.g., Augury).
- Potions and enchanted items left by previous victims of the curse.
- A cache of Feygold and rare materials, valuable for crafting.
Experience Points (XP):
- Exploration, gathering ritual components: 500 XP.
- Defeating Grythessa’s minions: 1,000 XP.
- Outwitting or defeating Grythessa: 2,000 XP.
- Breaking the curse without resting: 500 bonus XP.
Grythessa the Weaver of Cycles

Grythessa appears as a hunched figure with a hunched back, sharp claws, and glowing red eyes that pierce the soul. She thrives on fear and despair, using her magic to toy with her victims and trap them in an endless cycle of torment.
Monster Level: 5 – Hag
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Habitat: Veilwood Forest
Stats
- Armor Class: 16
- Hit Dice: 5 (36 HP)
- Move: 30 ft
- Morale: 10
- Attack Bonus: +5 (Claw Swipe, Hexbolt)
- Saving Throws:
- Strength: +1
- Dexterity: +3
- Constitution: +1
- Intelligence: +2
- Wisdom: +3
- Charisma: +1
Attacks
- Claw Swipe
- Melee Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft.
- Damage: 1d6+1 slashing.
- Hexbolt
- Ranged Magical Attack: +5 to hit, range 60 ft.
- Damage: 2d6 necrotic.
- Effect: Target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 15) or suffer disadvantage on their next attack or ability check.
- Dark Curse (Charges d6)
- Grythessa targets one creature within 30 ft. The target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 15).
- On Failure: The creature is cursed with magical exhaustion, reducing their movement by half and imposing a -2 penalty to all rolls until the curse is lifted.
Special Abilities
- Curse of Eternal Beginnings: A unique curse causing victims to awaken at their starting location after a long rest, undoing their progress. This effect persists until a specific ritual is completed or Grythessa is defeated.
- Illusory Terrain: Grythessa can create illusory effects in a 30-foot radius, confusing and disorienting adventurers. Creatures must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 15) to recognize the illusion.
- Summon Minions (1/Day): Summons 1d4 enchanted wolves (AC 14, 2 HD, 1d8 damage) to aid her in combat.
Treasure
- Enchanted Hourglass: A relic that allows minor control over time.
- Spell Scrolls: Illusory Terrain or Curse Ward.
- 500 Feygold in her lair, along with various potions.
Combat Strategy
- Grythessa prefers indirect combat, using Illusory Terrain to confuse enemies and her Summon Minions ability to create diversions.
- She uses Hexbolt to weaken targets and relies on Dark Curse to hinder the strongest attackers.
- When severely injured, she retreats, leaving behind traps or minions to cover her escape.
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