Frightful Forest

From a distance, the Frightful Forest appears beautiful—an endless canopy of deep emerald and shadowed gold—but that illusion dissolves once one steps beneath its boughs. The terrain is dense with briars, moss-slicked stones, and gnarled roots that grasp like skeletal hands. Paths disappear within minutes, swallowed by the undergrowth or altered by the forest’s will.

• The trees are tall and ancient, their bark dark as charcoal and etched with scars that resemble claw marks or twisted runes.
• Mists rise unnaturally fast, cloaking the woods in whispering fog that seems to carry disembodied voices.
• Phantom lights and flickering shadows dance just at the edge of sight, luring travelers off course or deeper into danger.

No accurate map of the forest exists—attempts to chart it fail as landmarks shift or vanish altogether.

Those who enter the Frightful Forest face not just predators, but the forest itself.

• Beasts twisted by dark magic prowl the glades: stag-wolves with glowing antlers, fleshless bears, and owl-headed serpents.
• Fey creatures, once benign, have become cruel mockeries of their former selves. Dryads, will-o’-wisps, and redcaps cavort in blood rituals beneath moonless skies.
• At its heart, it’s said the forest is sentient, capable of reshaping paths, distorting perception, and implanting dreams or compulsions in intruders. Some explorers report days of travel passed in a single hour, or waking to find themselves back at their entry point with no memory of turning back.

Even the Bandit Lords of nearby territories avoid the forest, often declaring it “off-limits” or cursed.

No one agrees on the source of the forest’s malevolence. Among the most persistent tales:

• That a primordial nature spirit was slain here in ages past, and its vengeful soul now animates the woods.
• That the forest is touched by the Abyss, a festering wound in the world where mortal and demonic realms overlap.
• That an ancient necromancer-king was entombed beneath the forest, and his sorcery leeches upward through the roots and soil, corrupting all it touches.

Some whisper of a "Green King", a shadowy figure said to rule from the heart of the woods, seated upon a throne of thorns and bone, whose laughter can drive a person mad.

Despite its dangers, the Frightful Forest holds powerful secrets. Rare herbs grow in its darkest corners, and several ley lines of immense arcane energy intersect deep within. A few daring wizards and cults maintain hidden sanctums here, conducting forbidden rites and studying the forest's twisted energies.

There are also scattered Flan ruins, their moss-covered stones inscribed with warnings in a forgotten tongue. The brave—or foolish—seek them out, hoping for ancient relics or knowledge, though most vanish.