The Island of Aulcmog

The party goes to the Poison Jungle in search of the Mother Temple (or Light Keeper’s Temple), spoken of in the Foxwood Scroll. In order to enter the jungle, the party must first procure some special masks that will allow them to breathe the air in the jungle, otherwise they would die from its toxicity. Once there the party will need to survive while fighting insect type monsters and eventually find the lost temple. The jungle itself will need to be traversed by walking along huge petrified vines, climbing hanging roots of plants, catching a ride on the back of a large flying creature, and by sailing across a small lake atop a large floating leaf. Once the temple has been found, the party will go inside.

Geography

The Poison Jungle, located off the coast of Foxwood on the Island of Aulcmog, was not always the way it is now. For millennia it was known as the Cradle because it was believed that on this particular island, man was created and that this is the birthplace of humanity. Some of the first known traces of man indeed are from this island and for thousands of years, the forests were expansive, beautiful and grand. There were trees that grew there called Mother Trees, and grew to be hundreds of meters tall and so thick around that people often built entire cities into them. They created a canopy over the islands so that everything beneath basked in filtered sunlight. Historians believe that it was a paradise. However, after a secret sect of priests called the Light Keepers took the Key of Alda and the Foxwood Scroll to the Temple of Salamar on the Isle of Basaan, the forest began to transform. From the center of the forest, and eventually making its way to the coast lines, the island transformed from a beautiful paradise to a poisonous, sickly morass. New toxic plants began to grow and take over the healthy green ones, turning them into thistles and pods containing poisonous gas. The mother trees petrified and some crumbled into dust. Deadly insectoid creatures began inhabiting the forest and everything good and green died. Today the island in completely uninhabitable, and few ever dare to enter the woods. It has been this way for over 400 years now, and what used to be has passed into myth and legend. The toxic plants have never left the island nor has any other surrounding island or the mainland of Foxwood been infected. Today, it remains a mystery as to what happened or how it became this way.

Fauna & Flora

Not much is known about what lives on the island anymore. What is known is that everything growing there is infectious and filled with toxins. Large, sickly looking plants grow with enormous pods that release poisonous gas into the atmosphere. The mother trees that grew there in ancient times past have now petrified, turning a pale shade of green and grey. Thick vines have covered the ground and have grown up into the trees that serve as roads and pathways for travel, although nobody dares to explore the woods now for fear of asphyxiation from the toxic air. 
Large insectoid creatures have been spotted living in the jungle now. Some hundreds of feet long and some that even fly. Not much is known about them our the habits, anatomy, or diet. All that has been recorded is what can be seen from a distance. Rumor has it that there is a way to explore the jungle without breathing in the toxic air, but not many dare to try, for what would be the point. There has never been an interest in mapping the island, or exploring its ruins for the threat of death is far to great.

Alternative Name(s)

The Cradle, The Poison Jungle, The Toxic Jungle, Isle of Death, The Forbidden Isle, Woods of Abandonment, The Dreadwoods, The Fog of Death

Type

Island

Location under

Foxwood

Included Locations

• The Ancient Foxwood Temple