Chapter 12
by 
Chunger
What’s on the Agenda?
Into the Muskeg!
You begin your quest into the muskeg. You head dead west from town. As the buildings thin out, the coastal plains take over. Soon, you see a small wooden sign, dilapidated and ramshackle. Moss and weeds have taken over the sign. You pull the moss off the sign. Finally, you can read the sign, notwithstanding the lichen that filled in each letter. The sign reads
“Mind Control Muskeg GO BACK OR YOU’LL NEVER ESCAPE!”
You pick at the Maritime Sunburst Lichen and find the the lettering is a bright cherry red. A great vote of confidence, you continue into the woods. Soon, dead trees reach up towards the heavens, spires shooting out of the ground. The dead forest thickens, as more trees arch up towards the sky. You start noticing small bodies of water. As you continue along the very unbeaten, barely visible path, you see a living aspen. The first live tree. And, aspens don’t live long, so that means that the growth here is relatively recent. As you continue, the path starts to have more short-life trees, such as balsam firs. Then, those trees merge into relatively longer living trees, such as birch, basswood, elm, and spruce. Averaging near 170 years compared to the aspen and fir’s 80. After a bit, you start to find red pines, white oaks, sugar maples, and white ash, averaging about 350 years in a lifespan. Soon the forest is immensely dense and well diverse. This good and healthy of a forest must have been cultivated. You know you’re getting close now.
You continue on the trail and see a small hut. You continue through to a small village. A large, very thick sugar maple stands in the center, the village seemingly built around it. You stealthily approach it, making sure to stay out of sight. You find it to have a small hole and a hollow center. Hopefully the villagers don’t know that the tree is diseased yet. However… You climb through and find almost an intentional looking niche inside the hollowed out tree. You climb inside and can fit comfortably - this tree must be near 400 years old! This can be the base of your operations.