Grove of many faces
If at first the clearing was to be kept away for the toxic spores of the mushrooms that grew there - laced with the red dust that spews from the ground of many of the mines and fissures around here. Then for a generation it was known for the demons who made it their temporary home. And yet - forever more it will only be known and taboo for the faces of the dead that haunt the Grove.
Before the demons came to Levis there were the humans, and the humans dug their mines and had their disasters and the deep places of Levis - already taboo - released their toxic might into the soils like a certain unnamable god giving gifts to the people of Levis - toxic toxic gifts that blow up from areas like the grove.
Unlike the Gnarled Grove to the north, something about the mushrooms and fungus of the area took to the iron-like powder that came from the ground here. While the trees of the grove would wither and curl slightly, the fungus bloomed, evolving and keeping the life of the area safe - at the expense of the foliads of the area, for their spores would release toxic spores to all that stayed too long. And so the clearing stayed clear, and the forest hid the land for over two thousand years.
And then the demons came bringing the change such an event always does. When the Siege of Nightmares ended, and the truce was brokered, the demons retreated to the forests and other lands, finding their freedoms and their truths. While some went north - both to the oceans and the mangroves, Xylos kept a cohort within the forest the Incubus lord wanting a quiet life with his brides. They settled into the grove, their camp flourishing with its series of tents, the Yowse Cart just sitting there as some weird trophy as the demon casually exerted his influence over the landscape.
When the witch Astrid coaxed Xylos from the grove what was revealed to be left behind was something infinitely more forbidden. The demon did not have the mores and restrictions of the people of Levis, and so had indulged one of his hobbies - carving faces of home and those he had met within Levis upon the very trees circling the area. As tall as the average foliad, coming into the grove now would be like walking into a clearing of faces, eyes watching from living bark, the red mushrooms leaving the air a haze of spores as the film would coat those faces and stain them that same red. In the centre of the clearing would sit Xylos' old throne, made from iron and left behind for the weight of it, marked with foreign runes and curved to the seat of the rump of the man who was only briefly here in the grand scheme of things, but had left his mark upon this clearing like a fingertip on a clean membrane.
Fauna & Flora
Two things frequent this grove more than any other place on Levis - the corvid with the eyes along its wings, and the angry brown-red mushrooms - whose whole being is the reason one was to stay away from the grove in the first place.
The corvid is interesting from an evolution standpoint - one can see where it used to be just an ordinary crow-like avian with a purple shimmer to its wingtips, and a large beak full of a serrated tongue. But either the magic of the region (the Fey Comet that fertilised the region in times past), the mushrooms themselves or maybe the demons that passed through here (who can tell something has changed a simple avian into something with a little more edge. Now eyes span down its wingtips, functional and blinking yellow against those black feathers that those blinking lids push back. Now hopping and gliding and using its powerful talons to climb tree limbs when it needs to get up, this corrupted bird sticks close to the grove that is its home.
The mushrooms that build much of the nature of the grove are a different thing. Like squat donuts layered slowly upwards, they have that ruddy red complexion- piling and growing over each other wherever they can find purchase - ground, rock, tree or even throne. Whatever they once were they have changed to this, growing spiny proboscis that taste the air for the nutrients they need. They reproduce daily, sending their spores into the air like pufts of confetti, which pleases the local worm population who routinely break through the ground to skim the surface and collect those spores ready for lunch.
Alternative Name(s)
Xylos' Camp, The hall of Faces, Traveller's Rest
Type
Grove
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Contested By
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I love the imagery of a poisoned gift, and the faces. It's all so spooky, it paints a really good picture ♥
Thankyou! And thanks for stopping by