Tollroot Warden

Tollroot Wardens are said to have sprouted where old tithing posts and forgotten tollgates decayed into soil. Folktales claim they are the result of bargains between forest spirits and weary collectors: the woods took a taste of taxation and learned to enforce it. Farmers tell of a lone warden that once guarded a ruined tollhouse, dropping bitter fruit on a band of corrupt collectors until the band surrendered their ledgers and walked away barefoot. Scholars at the Silvane Custodians have catalogued Tollroot behavior for decades, noting the trees' uncanny ability to detect coin either by sound or the faint metallic aura left on pressed leather. Archivist Brenul of Tharengrad wrote the first field notes describing a 'tithe-olfactory' receptor in the root mats, though his colleagues still argue whether the phenomenon is arcane, botanical, or a mixture of both. Tollroot Wardens sometimes become focal points for local custom: villages without coin leave offerings of grain instead, and certain watchful militias mark routes where collectors must travel empty-handed to avoid confrontation.

A Tollroot Warden stands like a squat, squat-legged tree about 15–20 feet tall with a broad, gnarled trunk that splits into thick, knotty branches festooned with dark-green glossy leaves. Its bark is mottled black-brown with streaks of resin that look like dried coin-smear; knobbled growths along the lower trunk resemble coin pouches when seen from a distance. Fruits are the size of a grapefruit, ovoid, with a lacquered, bruised skin flecked with tiny metallic grains. The root flare is wide and low, with exposed tendrils that coil like fingers over stone; small bell-like seed pods hang in clusters and chime faintly when nearby metal moves. Scale reference: a human standing by the trunk reaches roughly to the first major branch; the roots spread as wide as a cottage doorway.