Dragon Age The Joyguard (formerly Hype Train) [Spoilers]

So as soon as you get to Arlathan forest near the Veil Jumper Camp you start seeing all these tree people. Some of them are clearly in positions of terror and horror and seem to even look to be being consumed by the dirt itself before they were frozen in wood. I assumed, oh, these are tree people from the fall of Arlathan in ancient times. Like the notes and echoes we had in DAI about how the pathways closed, they starved to death. Or the floors disappeared and they fell to their doom. But no. They are current Dalish living in Arlathan and the release of the Evanuris and thinner veil has made the magic go weird. There is a journal where a small group’s feet “became wood” and their Keeper, in the same predicament, instructed them to pray and get their last words out because this was it, they would not be saved. Tied in with how we got the quest, which is we spoke to a spirit crying out about the pain in their legs as they became stuck to the ground

More docks will open as you progress the main quest, and all the sealed doors are gated by lvl 20+ bosses that you need to defeat outisde of the crossroads