Quest Failed... From Chopping Down Another Tree

[Daktoria]

After completing a quest and getting another that asked me to report when done with a task, I went to build a boat to cross a lake to head back to some ruin I found and pick some stuff up. I walked away from the tree that gave me the quest and chopped another one down...

...but when I chopped it down, it said the quest failed while the report part was in red. I didn't chop down the tree that gave me the quest, so it's not clear why it did that. Unless trees don't like nearby trees getting cut down, this shouldn't happen.

[jorb]

In all likelihood you chopped down the tree who gave you the quest, or someone else did. Maybe you had some other quest marked, and didn't have the indicator, or w/e. Strongly suspecting user error.

[Daktoria]

No, it wasn't user error. The tree was in the middle of a forest with no water around it. I very deliberately walked to the coast of a river so I could build a boat right next to the coast instead of having to lift it over.

In fact, the same thing just happened to me in a situation that was absolutely not user error. I got a quest from a rock that asked me to hunt a reddeer. After I killed the deer, the quest failed.

The only remotely plausible explanation is if someone randomly walked out into the middle of the wilderness and chipped a stone to nothing which would take an immense amount of time to reach and do.