🧭 Red Tree Adventure Backstory | Setting the Stage & Preparing for Session 1
This Red Tree adventure backstory prepares you, the Game Master, to run The Red Tree of Grudges with emotional weight and full narrative understanding. Before the players arrive in Rybalka for Session 1, you’ll need to know what came before — the unresolved grief, hidden truths, and spiritual fractures that shape the frozen frontier.
If you’re just joining us, begin with the Introduction to the Red Tree GM Guide and Session 0 – Character Creation & Regional Origins before diving into Session 1.
📜 What Came Before – Red Tree Adventure Backstory
Kristiane Leonid, once a healer and the wife of Mayor Igor Leonid, was exiled from Rybalka after Igor discovered her secret love affair with Sholaya, a Vikmordere ghost speaker. Rather than risk scandal, Igor chose silence — and cast her out.
Kristiane died far from home, protecting Sholaya’s people from a deadly threat. Her body was buried at Loi’Tok, a sacred mound deep in the wilderness. But Igor never told their daughter, Anastasia, the truth.
Years later, Anastasia returned to Rybalka after years of arcane study in Mohkba. When she finally learned what her father had done, she was overwhelmed by grief and rage.
Together, Sholaya and Anastasia performed a powerful ritual. Sholaya drove a weapon into the Red Tree of Grudges, an ancient spiritual locus hidden deep in the Dark Wood. She planted a grudge against Igor Leonid in the tree — an emotional scar carved into the spirit of the forest.
This is where your story begins. The Red Tree didn’t appear suddenly. It was always there. But now, something inside it has awakened.
👥 Key Characters in the Red Tree of Grudges
Understanding these individuals — their pain, silence, and guilt — will help you bring Rybalka to life in Session 1 and beyond.
🧱 Main Characters
Igor Leonid
- Mayor of Rybalka
- Proud, secretive, and politically cautious
- Burdened by loss and haunted by the past
Kristiane Leonid (deceased)
- Once Rybalka’s spiritual heart
- Died far from home, defending others
- Erased from town memory to protect Igor’s legacy
Anastasia Leonid
- Recently returned from Mohkba
- Grieving, confused, and furious after learning the truth
- Emotionally vulnerable and deeply tied to her mother’s fate
Sholaya
- Vikmordere ghost speaker and Kristiane’s former lover
- Keeper of painful truths and ancestral memory
- Planted a spiritual grudge in the Red Tree in retaliation and mourning
🧩 Supporting Characters
Dragana Kostareva
- Klavekian inspector from Mohkba
- Accompanies Anastasia on her return
- Cold, rational, and a constant reminder of imperial scrutiny
Sulwotik
- Rybalkan Vikmordere totem crafter
- Maintains the spiritual defenses of Rybalka
- Respected elder who shapes ancestral warding through sacred carving
Sulwe
- Sulwotik’s sister and a midwife
- Oversees mystic protection and the community’s spiritual health
- Wise, quiet, and deeply rooted in tradition
Bakinqa
- Known as the “Devil of Dark Wood”
- Devil-aligned alchemist and manipulator
- Dwells in a spider-haunted cave and fuels spiritual corruption from the shadows
Uhguku
- Vikmordere saboteur and cousin to Sholaya
- Helped Bakinqa introduce hel-tainted substances to Rybalka
- Spreads unrest under the guise of guidance
💔 Why This Red Tree Adventure Backstory Matters
The Red Tree of Grudges is a story of grief made manifest — of emotional wounds left untreated until they take root in the land itself.
This isn’t a dungeon crawl. It’s a spiritual unraveling.
- Kristiane’s exile fractured a family.
- Anastasia’s pain fueled a grudge.
- Sholaya’s ritual gave it a voice.
- Igor’s silence let it fester.
And now, the Red Tree listens.
When emotions go unspoken and wounds remain buried, they grow — and they grow twisted.
🎯 Prepping for Session 1
Session 1 begins as Rybalka reaches a breaking point. Anastasia has returned, but is slipping away emotionally. Dragana pressures Igor for accountability. Sulwotik and Sulwe sense the protective totems weakening. Villagers are on edge.
To prepare:
- Review each NPC’s emotional position and recent actions
- Introduce subtle spiritual symptoms: dreams, tremors, haunted silences
- Establish tension — not from monsters, but from people
Let your players arrive in a place not just broken by winter — but broken by memory.
🧠 GM Tools & Links
📚 Continue the Red Tree GM Guide Series
You’ve completed the Red Tree adventure backstory and are now ready to run Session 1.
Next up:
👉 Session 1 – Welcome to Rybalka