Witherwight

The creature was little more than a hollowed husk of a woman, bark-skin peeling in strips from her arms. Her eyes glowed a dull blue, and when she spoke, it was not words but the sound of leaves skittering across dead stone.

— From the field journal of Archivist Mavrek, “Echoes of the Forgotten Grove”

Witherwights are strange, mournful beings bound to the dead and twisted trees of Velomorne. Said to be spirits born from places where the mist thickens and light cannot pass, their thin, bark-skinned forms drift between the grey trunks, draped in black vines. Their glowing blue eyes lure the unwary into forgotten groves, offering illusions of warmth and safety. Travelers speak of losing time and memory in their presence, as if the trees themselves hunger for what little life remains. Some ancient stories call them the “Mournful Maidens” — but no one agrees on where they first came from.

Habitat

• Abandoned, dead forests
• Clusters of petrified trees near old veilgroves
• Places where wards have long since faded

References:

Beware the Hollow-Rooted Maidens, who plant sorrow where the mist sleeps.

— From the children’s primer, “Rhyme and Ward”