Sajra the swyn’s lair ·
1½ days into the
Great Wood
· Book I pp. 371–377
Truth
A dome-tomb of the
Green Lords,
mostly intact, wearing a hill and three old oaks. Forest Folk left offerings here.
A Fae named Thornthumb lived in the outer halls for centuries until last autumn, when
Sajra the swyn
took his mind, his hoard, and the tomb. Sajra collects beautiful things — including children.
Inner vault still holds a
mummified Green Lord,
warded by loyal Fae. Sajra wants that vault. The kids are in the shrine. Pryder is not yet enthralled.
“The hill looks like a hill until the oaks, and the oaks look like oaks until the singing.
Two children’s voices. Too many mouths.”
This table
Book names: Tiwlip (Woods child, last winter), Wynfor (Stonetop raid), Pryder (just taken).
Swap for whoever this village has already lost.
Sven: children in a monster’s collection. Violence against the innocent is the whole wound.
Dagmar: 1½ days is ground he knows. Folk glyphs, wasp-hum, the unwholesome thing he’s been smelling in the Wood.
Geralt: a Maker tomb with a living hoard and a sealed inner vault. Power, if he can get past the Fae.
Homefront: crinwin have already raided. Leave Sajra and the next child goes before harvest.
Thornthumb
Displaced Fae · plant-sway · collector · oathbound to stay away from the tomb, Sajra, its servants, and its possessions.
Instinct: to get his hoard back without breaking the oath.
If they have not met him, he can find them on the march or at the tree-line. He will help against Sajra.
He will also swindle them. The book assumes they already promised not to steal from the hoard — treat that as a Fae oath if they said it.
“I am not allowed the hill. You are. Bring me what was mine and I will name every hole in the stone.”
“The snake thinks it is a king. It is a magpie with a long belly.”
Site rule — interior
True in A–G. White marble, plant-and-chimera scrollwork, often marred. Dark, but the stone throws light.
Damp, cool. Wooden archways that grew there. Crude graffiti in Green Lord script. Lazy wasps. Distant voices that might be kids, or crinwin.
Halls 10 feet wide, burial niches 8–24 per hall. No bodies. Some niches hold junk shrines (bones, potsherds, flawed Value 1 finery) — crinwin aping Sajra.
Burrows (S) on the map: 18 inches. Sajra and crinwin only. Kids or Thornthumb could squeeze. PCs and Pryder cannot.
HP 3; Armor 1 (reflexes) Damage claws, rocks, choking (hand) Special qualities climbs and jumps like a squirrel Instinct to covet
Mimic noises, words, cries for help
Hide or vanish into the trees
Snatch something and dart away
Half are trusted (replace cautious with zealous). New flee at half lost; trusted fight to death. Track a wave, not all ~30.
4 sentries outside · 4–10 on Pryder · 3–6 asleep outside · 3–6 asleep in the Great hall · 10–15 off foraging · up to 5 doing crinwin stuff.
Alerted: 2–3 keep tabs; rest rally at the Entrance. In 10–20 minutes, once ~10 have gathered: mimic Tiwlip/Wynfor crying for help, lure to the Entrance, swarm.
Unaware: eating, nest-work, fighting over junk, bullying, mimicking Sajra or the kids.
Wasps
(crinwin.html):
swarm =
(ignores armor) and writhing; anything else is Defy Danger +CON.
Each later swarm hit steps the die up (max d10). Flee: roll +CON; 7+ escape and pick 1 (10+) or 2 (7–9): take swarm damage · mark a debility · run into another danger.
HP 20; Armor 4 (resilience), 2 vs bronze (scales) Damage bite & constriction (hand, close, forceful, grabby) Instinct to indulge its ego
Appear out of nowhere and lock eyes
Hold its prey fast with gaze and soothing words
Plant a suggestion in its victim’s mind
Turn the weak-willed into fawning servants
First time they approach the hill, roll the
Die of Fate:
Sajra’s disposition
1–3
In shrine (E), alert.
4–5
Off hunting. Back in hours, or 30–60 min after wolf-howls.
6
In shrine (E), asleep on a big meal. Sluggish.
Uses burrows to flank. Hits loners and small groups.
Priority: itself, then ego, then hoard / lair / kids. Crinwin are expendable.
Compel against their will: they mark XP if they obey. Resist = Defy Danger.
Hill
ApproachExterior
“A wide low hill in last year’s grass. Three bare oaks. Briar. Worked stone in the dirt if you look.
Children singing — the same two voices, over and over, from too many throats.”
Ask: Dagmar, you know this song — what is it? Geralt, how do you know that’s crinwin and not the kids?
Folk glyphs on the surrounding trees, faint:
reverence,
premnitsi (“the receivers”), istina (“truth,” or… “oracle?”).
Rotting cabbage, bad eggs. Hum that isn’t bees. Papery nests in the oaks.
Sentries
4 on watch in the oaks, often “singing.” asleep in nests. others outside doing crinwin stuff.
Notice PCs: stop singing, bird-call. Others hide. Sleepers wake and stay put.
Briar arch, north face → Entrance:
“Soil to the knees. Daylight dies two steps in. The marble still throws what light you brought.”
West boulder, packs off → Mossy chamber:
“A squeeze under stone that shouldn’t be this smooth. Then moss, and a slab that lifts.”
Entrance
Threshold
“Debris piled four feet at the arch, sloping down. Leaf litter slick underfoot. Saplings in the dirt.
Beyond, the floor is mud. The white stone still wants to be a hall.”
Moss and vines on the walls near the light.
Tracks: crinwin, and a drag-trail toward Central (and on to Pryder). Faint S-curve in the dirt — Sajra, to and from the Shrine.
If they’re alerted, this is where they rally and fake the kids’ voices.
Back along the ring → Entrance:
“Mud and leaf-litter again. The arch is a pale coin of daylight.”
East squeeze toward water-sound → Shrine:
“Cooler air. A pool throwing light on the ceiling.”
Central
Crossroads
“Twenty feet of sooty vault. Scorch on the floor, very old. Empty niches. Four smashed sarcophagi.
A thin channel of water ticks west through the stone.”
SE sarcophagus most intact: bones, snail shells, bug husks, a huge snakeskin (Sajra’s).
Broken statue (◇◇) in the NW rubble — dragged from E. Green Lords’
Danu, maybe.
Water comes from E, crosses here, goes to D. Follow it either way.
Rebel Fae burned the chief servants here. That’s the soot.
North, toward daylight → Entrance:
“Mud again, and a coin of sky.”
West, following the water → Mossy chamber:
“Frog-song cuts off. The floor goes soft and green.”
East, against the current → Shrine:
“Cooler. Light on the water. Something expensive on an altar that isn’t an altar anymore.”
South, the cabbage-smell worse → Great hall:
“Pillars like trees. A hole in the floor that wants to be stairs.”
Mossy chamber
TalkSecret
“Makerglass in the ceiling, glowing, gouged where crinwin tried to steal it.
Moss in crazy-quilt colors over everything. The channel rings the room and feeds the carpet.”
Frog-song as they approach; hush when they enter. Earth-smell. Soft underfoot. Pictures in the moss that aren’t there when you look again.
Trapdoor T: moss-covered slab. Secret tunnel west to the boulder. Crinwin have not found it.
Ants, snails, frogs, moths, gnats. Wasps and crinwin hunt them.
Moss spirits
Moss spirits
Horde, spirits, vain, moody
Instinct to express themselves visually
Fret over Thornthumb. Sajra is a boor. Crinwin are vile. You clearly don’t understand the work.
“He kept the light. The snake does not keep the light. The snake sits in it.”
“Do not step there. That was a year. That was a good year.”
East along the water → Central:
“The moss ends. Soot and smashed stone.”
South along the outer ring → Pryder’s hall:
“Niches. A boy breathing wrong. Eyes in the dark that are not his.”
Trapdoor, west tunnel → Hill:
“Stone, then roots, then the underside of a boulder and the Wood.”
Shrine
SajraKids
“A rectangular pool, a foot of spring-water, glowing until it leaves the basin.
Cool air. Light crawling the ceiling. The east altar is a shelf of stolen pretty things.”
Hoard: worked goods, altar and wall-shelves. Immobile, beautiful, Value 4. If they promised Thornthumb, that’s an oath.
Ask: what shiny thing catches your eye? What about the pile feels tawdry?
Furs in the NE corner (bed). Chipped ceramic urn (chamber pot). Kids eat what crinwin forage because Sajra said to.
Sajra is probably not here — disposition. If it is, this is its den.
Wynfor & Tiwlip
Wynfor & Tiwlip
Small, entranced, docile
HP 3; Armor 0 Damage bronze knife (hand) Instinct to bask in Sajra’s presence
Ill-fitting silks. Asleep or staring at the pool. Ignore PCs until someone takes them or the hoard — then they stab.
Carry them out gently: they go limp, then fight at the threshold if Sajra’s suggestion still holds. Break it with time, a spirit, or by putting Sajra down.
Hurt them: Sven will not forgive the table. Crinwin alarm. Sajra’s ego is wounded even if it’s hunting.
Spirit of the spring
Spirit of the spring
Solitary, spirit, anxious
Instinct to fuss over everything
Mile-a-minute whisper. Questions, no waiting. Hates Sajra, frets over its opinion. Upsets herself and insults herself.
“Is it coming back? Don’t tell it I asked. I didn’t ask. The pool is fine. The pool is not fine.”
“The statue went west. They dragged her. I should have — I didn’t. I’m sorry. I’m not sorry.”
North, moss-smell → Mossy chamber:
“Green underfoot. The glow in the ceiling like a held breath.”
East, toward the pillars → Great hall:
“Trusted crinwin were already looking this way.”
Great hall
NestsStairs
“Three pillars that are trees, twenty feet. A fourth already down, and the wall and ceiling with it.
Roots through cracks in the white stone. The smell is cabbage and eggs and worse.
Stairs in the middle of the floor, going down.”
Bas-reliefs all vandalized. Nests hug the pillars near the ceiling — easy to miss.
If no alarm: 3–6 trusted asleep in nests, 1–4 spying on F, 0–5 doing crinwin stuff.
Wasps in the nests and pillars. Agitate → swarm.
Unstable pillars
Advance a box each time a pillar is struck, or as a GM move.
North → Central:
“The soot-vault. Water in the floor, ticking.”
West → Pryder’s hall:
“The niche. The boy. The small jealous things.”
East → Shrine:
“Cooler air and stolen shine on the water.”
Stairs down → Inner tomb:
“White marble that was never sacked. The air changes. Iron on your belt feels loud.”
Inner tomb
LinearFae wards
Below G. The book leaves this for later; the moves live here so you are not flipping chapters. Kids first is enough for a session.
Antechamber
“Hexagon, twenty feet. Featureless white. No soot. No graffiti. Your iron hums like a lie.”
Iron or steel on them: the way to Humility will not open. Leave it here, or go back up.
No fight. The ward is the door.
Hall of Humility
When you enter the Hall of Humility, choose 1:
Tell a moment that left you humbled and small before the natural world → proceed to Gratitude.
Tell a personal triumph, pride, self-satisfaction → you exit into the antechamber.
Skip, force, mock it: the hall puts them back in the antechamber, iron or no. Repeat until they choose.
Hall of Gratitude
Shifting tableau: ancient people living and learning at the feet of tall magnificent beings.
When you enter the Hall of Gratitude, roll +WIS.
10+: witness someone learning a skill now taken for granted — describe it — then Offerings.
7–9: you are living one of those lives. Describe the task for the Makers, and how you know it isn’t yours. Mark dazed. Offerings.
6−: savagery, sickness, hunger, want. Tell a hardship you suffer most cruelly. Mark all three debilities. Tell how you find yourself. Offerings.
Hall of Offerings
“Two of them. Twelve feet, wood-skin, goat legs, antlers, no mouths, three white eyes.
They plant those trunk-arms and swing forward. Creaking wood.
Something that was on your left is on your right.”
HP 14; Armor 5 (resilience, skill), 2 vs iron (hide, skill) Damage powerful blows w/disadvantage (close, reach, forceful) Special qualitiesFae nature, telepathic, cannot lie or mislead; subtly warps local time and space Instinct to protect its master
Lock eyes, then teleport them away
Act in tandem, without hesitation
Require an oath of good intentions
Lay a wasting curse on oath-breakers
They want an offering, a vow of peace and respect, then they judge.
Know Things: interesting — Folk called them Priemnitsi, “Receivers,” for a great oracle. Useful — gifts new since the Green Lords (or vivid memories of such) land well. This place is out of time.
Deceive them (even with true words): roll +WIS. 10+ they don’t see it; 7–9 they probe — come clean or double down; 6− they have you.
Moves: lock eyes and teleport you away · act in tandem · require an oath · wasting curse on oath-breakers.
They loathe fighting. If they do, they fight as a pair.
Portal here to the false afterlife — only if they let you, or you force it.
“What do you bring. What do you bring.”
“Peace. Respect. Say it. Mean it.”
“The master dreams. Do not wake the master.”
Burial vault & afterlife
Vault is sealed — no physical door. Body, canopic jars, grave goods inside.
Spirit lives in a
Fae domain:
dusty halls, feral gardens, discarded wealth, surly bound Fae. The Green Lord’s soul swings from boredom to manic fits; the Fae on hand cobble threadbare glamour of half-remembered deeds.
Theme: promises, deals, loopholes. Time does not behave.
HP 24; Armor 4 (potent wards), 0 vs fire Damage mighty blows (hand, close, forceful) Special qualities tethered to canopic jars; can sense all that happens in its tomb Instinct to preserve its glorious afterlife
Animate its preserved corpse
Overawe anyone in its presence
Twist, mutate, or transform living things with a gesture
Wield nearby plants and beasts as extensions of itself
Regenerate its corpse, even if burned, unless its canopic jars are destroyed
It does not want to leave the dream. Threaten the afterlife, the jars, or the corpse, and it will inhabit the body.
Regenerates even from fire unless the canopic jars are destroyed.
Twist living things with a gesture. Wield plants and beasts in the tomb as limbs.
Stairs up → Great hall:
“Soot and wasp-hum and the smell you had almost forgotten. Iron is just iron again.”
Payoffs
Kids out: fever, silk, Sajra’s voice still in two of them for a while. Homefront: a debt, a feast, a fear that the Wood takes children.
Sajra dead: trusted crinwin may fight on; new ones scatter and become a pest threat. Thornthumb wants in. The spring-spirit weeps and thanks them in the same breath.
Sajra fled: it will collect somewhere else. Next season, another child, or a hunter who doesn’t come back.
Hoard: Value 4 if they can move it. Oath to Thornthumb if they swore one. Fence it in Gordin’s Delve and you buy a different kind of trouble.
Left the inner tomb: correct for a first pass. It waits. Geralt will think about it.
Collapsed G: inner tomb buried with them or without them. Doom as written.
“The Wood is louder on the way home. Every bird is a bird until it isn’t.
Behind you the hill is a hill again, if you don’t look at the stone in the grass.”
Moss spirits
Wynfor & Tiwlip
