Tree of Insight

Summary

Deep in Drewin Forest lies a peaceful glade surrounded by a near impenetrable maze of trees and bushes. The maze constantly shifts and changes, barring access to the selfish and corrupt and testing the need and resolve of any others who attempt to reach the glade. Fierce predators roam the maze, attacking and devouring any who remain too long.
The glade is said to be invisible from the air as a thick mist hangs above the trees of Drewin Forest, leaving the maze as the only way to reach the glade. Those wishing to pass through the maze must arrive prepared with offerings and knowledge. The entrance to the maze can only be found on the fourth day after the new moon and appears as an archway made of two ash trees wrapped in vines. To the side of the arch is an altar on which one must present an offering of sweet wine or mead along with the phrase "Oh Great Tree of Insight i beseech your aid that i may better understand the world." If the offering is accepted then the archway will glow and a faint breeze carrying the scents of a summer meadow will emerge from it.
Those wishing to proceed further must leave behind objects made of iron or steel as the entrance will shut should anything made of these metals be taken across the threshold. According to those who have made it through, the entrance leads to a small clearing with 6 paths leading out of it. 5 of the paths are ahead when you pass through the entrance, and the last will be behind.
Once someone enters a path they have to stay on it or the predators will swiftly converge on them. Navigating the maze is difficult at best as it keeps changing as you move through it. Rather than trying to find the centre the trick to the maze is finding the altars in each path. According to tales collected over the centuries from those who have returned, each path has two altars. To reach the tree you must make an offering of cakes and treats at each altar and ask a different question at each altar. Your questions have to relate to the periods of the path you chose. If all this is done correctly the path to the central glade will open.
In the centre of the glade stands an ancient beech that became sentient so long ago that even the elves are unsure as exactly when. The tree (which answers to no name) has unparalleled powers of divination and can see the then, now, and maybe. When approached it will answer the two questions asked at the altars before returning the asker to the entrance to it's maze. The tree answers truthfully, but the answers are not always what the askers want to hear, especially when it comes to the future.

Variations & Mutation

Stories about the tree have been around since the first age. Each culture has a slightly different interpretation and draws different lessons from these stories. Some like the dwarves highlight the folly of needing to appeal to an outsider for scraps of knowledge. The elves tend to focus on the benefits of asking an older and more knowledgable being for advice. Halfling and gnome versions of the myth are more about the fun people had in looking for the entrance than the tree and what it might impart. The shorter lived, like humans, dragonborn, and shifters have the widest variety of tales, drawing on the stories from the longer lived and adding a few cautionary tales of their own. The most commonly told is that of Lord Vucyn who made the mistake of asking what was most likely to cause trouble for the country he ruled. The answer "Heading the words of the one you trust the most," is used as an example of why prophecies can be dangerous even when they prove accurate.

Choose your route and do not stray. Certainty keeps wolves at bay. The past is found on the right. On the left the future's bright. Paths between to pick and mix. Then and if choose number six.