Foes In The Scarlet Forest

Once upon a time living in Scarlet was an elderly Halfling woman, whose youngest granddaughter was often sent from Fenan to visit, by walking through the Scarlet Forest. She regularly came on the sixth day of the week to delivery and collect items, and give her grandmother some company. The Halfling girl's name was Lillibeth.
One day when walking up to the elderly woman's home, Lillibeth noticed a path she had not seen before. The basket was heavy with carefully packed hens' eggs. She hurried on to her grandmother's cottage, thinking she would take that route on the way back, when she had less precious and fragile cargo. All paths lead to the edge of the Scarlet Forest at some point.
At her grandmother's, Lillibeth filled up on honey sandwiches, orange cupcakes, and stories the elderly Halfling told. Many of the stories told of the danger of making a foe of any hag.
The grandmother placed a dozen plums, some pretty flowers tied with a blue ribbon for Lillibeth's mother, and finally a tin of homemade lemon honey drops into the basket. Then, like every time Lillibeth went to leave, her grandmother again warned her not to stray from the main path, not to eat anything foods given by Hags or Fey, never to steal anything that belonged not to herself, and never to speak with anyone she did not know.
Lillibeth was so late when she left, after another round of cards she hurried home to Fenan, long the usual path. Having forgot about the other path completely. Lillibeth got home to find her mother waiting by the back door, with open arms. Then took the pretty flowers and breathed in the scent. All of Lillibeth's siblings and their spouses scurried out of the house to have a juicy plum, that they were not allowed to eat inside. They each had one until only three remained. Those were one each for Lillibeth, her mother and her father.
The next week, Lillibeth again walked alone to the village of Scarlet where her grandmother lived. Taking freshly-made pastries with her. She walked quickly, as the smell of the baked goods made her mouth-water and she had promised solemnly not eat a single bite until reaching her grandmother's cottage. Again she noted the different path, promising herself to take it on the way back to Fenan.
Lillibeth stayed only two hours, for her grandmother had an unexpected visitor. The elderly Halfling filled the basket again with a dozen plums, some pretty flowers for Lillibeth's mother, and finally a tin of homemade lemon honey drops. So distracted by her guest, the grandmother forgot to issue her usual warnings. She kissed Lillibeth on the forehead and sent her on her way.
Having plenty of time to walk homewards, Lillibeth did take the other path she had first noticed the week prior. The dogwood trees were denser there. A middle-aged looking, unfamiliar woman was sitting on a Fallen Tree, resting a while.
"Can you spare me something to eat child?" asked the woman.
Lillibeth looked down at the contents of the basket, and replied, "Forgive me lady, I have none to spare."
The woman looked annoyed but only gave a simple nod. So Lillibeth went on her way.
She walked a while more, until she came upon a playground. It looked so pretty and fun that Lillibeth put down the basket, so she could play for a while. Like she had not done since she was much younger.
Lillibeth had such fun, playing on the floral covered merry-go-round, the swing hanging from a blossom tree and watching the small golden fishes dart through the water of the stream that ran under the small bridge. When she finally tired and returned to collect the basket Lillibeth found it empty, except for the tin containing the lemon honey drops.
Picking up the basket, Lillibeth continued along the path trying to think of believable reasons she had no flowers or plums from her grandmother. She walked slowly and was not very aware of her surroundings. That was until she noticed a large plum tree growing within the centre of a small garden that only had a fence made of sticks.
The gate opened easily. Lillibeth walked over to the tree and picked a dozen low-hanging, large perfectly ripe plums. She felt like she was being watched, but when she looked over an the tiny cottage it looked empty. Feeling a little gulity for taking the plums without asking, she hurried off back through the gate, which she closed carefully.
The idea of picking some wild flowers came to Lillibeth, when she had not gone every much further. However, she did not see any flowers at all. Not until she noticed another small cottage with a lovely garden of flowers growing. Stepping closer, she found she could not reach any of the flowers from outside the fence. So Lillibeth entered through the gate. The fence was made of well-cleaned white bones. So eager to solve her dilemma she did not think much of the fact.
Lillibeth sort out flowers similar to those which her grandmother grew. She stepped cautious through the long grass to reach each of the flowers for the bouquet. Soon she had plenty of pretty flowers, and the garden still had many more. Once more she felt watched, but looking towards the cottage, this one also looked empty.
Feeling a lot more cheerful, Liliibeth continued along the path. It seemed to be whining towards Fenan. She skipped alittle of the way, until one of the flowers fell out of the basket. It was in that moment she noticed a blue ribbon looped onto a branch of a bare scrub. It was the same as her grandmother always used.
Stepping into the circle of stones, Lillibeth went and carefully untangled the ribbon. She stood a moment knotting it around the bouquet of flowers. Again she felt watched, but when looked she saw no one. That was when Lillibeth saw the yellow butterfly, so she followed it, and exited the circle of stone from the other side. Which meant she was further along the path.
Lillibeth hurried along. Indeed the path did come out of the Scarlet Forest, only twenty minutes walk outside Fenan. Reaching her home, Lillibeth was greeted with open arms by her mother.
When her mother released Lillibeth from the embrace, the girl opened the tin and took out one honey lemon drop, popping on her tongue. The light coating on icing sugar was nice on her tongue.
Her mother, as usual, breathed in the scent of the flowers. Lillibeth's siblings came out of the house. They did not notice what was happening, and each grabbed a plum. They each took a bite.
Lillibeth realised sometime was wrong, her mother's skin began to age the instant she breathed in the floral scent. It did not stop until very inch of her body was covered in extremely wrinkled flesh. She reached out to Lillibeth with a weird feeling hand.
Then the ground beneath her siblings' feet began to shift and sink. Each of them continued to eat until the flesh of the fruit was gone. They were already sinking into the soil, up to the top of their feet, before any of the halflings noticed there was a problem. Yet they did not cease sinking then. The ground kept swallowing them downwards.
Lillibeth's father came across the back garden, to see his wife all wrinkled as if past the end of her life, all his children except Lillibeth being pulled down under the ground. He grabbed for the hands of Lillibeth's eldest brother, but could not pull him out, instead himself was pulled underneath the soil. The other children continued to vanish into the soil.
Lillibeth was so panicked, that she coughed and choked on the honey lemon drop in her mouth.