4 Description

Jot down some notes, including any or all of the following that seem important:

• Who or what the threat is.
• How it came to be a problem for the PCs, or how they first encountered it.
• Its relationship(s) to NPCs, monsters, points of interest, or other threats.

These notes are for your benefit, so write only what's useful to you, what you want to remind yourself of later. Don't waste time or space on stuff that's obvious (to you).

Sometimes, you'll be writing up a threat and realize that it's made up of (or commands) lesser threats. When that happens, either...

• ... fully write up that other threat, as its own entry on the threat tracker and in your notes; or…
• ... pick a type and instinct for the lesser threat, and include them (in parentheses) as part of the main threat's description.

When writing a threat's description, you might identify blanks—details that haven't been established yet. When you notice such a blank, either fill it in now (with whatever makes sense) or choose to leave it as a blank that will get filled in during play.

I know that Sajra is a swyn, and I know what a swyn is, so I don't bother putting that in its description. I do note that it's dwelling in an old Maker-ruin, that it commands the crinwin, and that it collects children (including Caradoc's nephew).

As I make notes, I realize that I have some blanks. What is the nature of the Maker-ruin? Why has Sajra become a threat NOW, when it wasn't a threat just a few months ago? What other children does it have?

I decide that it's already abducted one or two other children, but I'll ask the players who has been taken. As for the Makerruin, I really like the idea that it's a mummy-tomb for one of the Green Lords. So, either Sajra was in stasis in that tomb and recently released, or it just moved there from some place further in the Wood. I can't imagine a Green Lord choosing to spend eternity with such a foul, overbearing creature, so I think Sajra must have moved in recently. Which prompts another question: what drove it here? I don't feel a need to answer that just yet, so I leave it as blank.

I had already established the crinwin as a threat (a rabble*, instinct: to covet) when reviewing my notes after character creation. They're subservient to Sajra, though, so I don't think they warrant a full write-up (yet).*

At this point, my write-up looks like this: