Cumbers

Hags of the Mountain Wood

 

Cumbers are a vile dark creature created when a Shadowfell consumes a Nymph forest. These shadowy mirrors of the nymph live for decay and rot. Where a nymph might capture a man for 'love', the cumber will snatch away a man for a meal. But not before she tenderizes the meat with torture. Her forest is covered in a haze, preventing full sunlight to reach and nourish the flora. The bond between herself and her tried is flayed by shadow and that tree has shifted out of the material world into Etu Enur, growing at the heart of the corresponding Shadowfell on that side of the barrier.

 

The only confirmed location of these creatures is in the Forest of the Cumbers in the Kingdom of Marras of Southern Jerain. It is unknown how many there are in the forest. For over two centuries no one has entered the forest, because, for centuries before that people that go in do not come out. Only a single path cuts into the forest, the Cumber Road, leading to the the Dark Tower. Those few souls that must travel the road do not let their eyes stray off the path, for fear of seeing a Cumber out there in the mist filled shadowy woodland. The road is protected from these creatures by lights, but they are known to probe it for weakness. The soldiers that must travel the road with their prisoners carry a sharp stiletto designed to pierce their own hearts. If the lights were to ever go out, every soldier knows running would be futile, and being taken alive is a fate worse than death.


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