Story 1005: The Grinning Tree

They say it only smiles when it’s full.

The villagers of Ashendell once warned travelers of a tree deep in the Mourning Wood—a tree with a face that smiles wider with each soul it devours. Over time, the town fell, swallowed by the undead. But the tree remained.

And now, something new stirred beneath its roots.

Esmé Dreadmoor moved silently between the trees, her twin blades humming with spectral energy. The forest had grown unnatural—too quiet, too watchful. Leaves didn’t rustle. Crows hung suspended from the branches like ornaments, their necks twisted.

She’d been hired by a survivor from Ashendell to retrieve his wife’s locket, left behind during the initial zombie outbreak. But Esmé knew a fetch quest was never just that—especially in cursed woods.

She saw it just past a cluster of thorned oaks: the Grinning Tree.