The Wretched Marshlands

The least explored place in the Howllands save the four poles. The Wretched Marshlands is a place of great evil and darkness and is said to be the gateway to The Outer Realm, in this vile land of festering swamps, Sulfuric Marshes, and poisonous streams there is much danger and even more mystery. It is said that these lands is where all of the evil and dark magic of the world is gathered and where the most powerful monsters and demons lurk in the murky waters and dense swampy forests.

Geography

The Wretched Marshlands are a place few dare to venture to, it is said to be the final resting place of countless adventures and merchants alike. The Marshlands are comprised of three separate areas that pool together to make one massive trap of bogs, wetlands, swamps, and marshes. The largest of these areas is the swamp lands, this grotesque forest of ancient dead and twisted trees and poisonous stagnant ponds is a constant reminder of how vile this land truly is. The trees of the swamp are all bent to almost a severe degree by the amount of thick black moss that hangs off of them. The ponds of the swamp are not truly ponds at all they are knee deep puddles of water held up by massive quicksand pits whose depths are unknown to all but their victims. The second largest and most dangerous part of these lands is the sulfuric marshes themselves, these marshes are a maze of moss islands and thermal vents that spew sulfur into the surrounding air of the marsh, the stench is so bad that it chokes almost all things that enter its vicinity. The marshes are dotted with both real land masses and fake moss islands that swallow up anything that mistakenly treads over it, The tree themselves are great tall dead willows that have been petrified and mummified by the centuries of exposure to the sulfuric air of the marsh, these white willows are adorned with a crown of red moss that gives them the appearance a great white bleeding beast. The third and final portion of the Wretched Marshlands is an area that is almost entirely water and trees, it is an endless bog that stretches for countless uncharted miles. The water of this bog has been poisoned beyond any for or hope of cleaning no amount of boiling or purifying will diminish its deadly effect which has lead many people to believe that it is cursed. The water is not visible first glance due to it being covered by a thick algae that resembles tall grass to an almost uncanny degree, this is only complemented by the great sick oaks of the bog that looks as if they will wink into the very water they grow out of they are covered in vines and moss of various shades of dark green and black. Despite the trees age they remain tall and strong with firm and massive root systems that some say are so bug that they inter connect all of the trees into one. All these areas spill into one central area that combines the aspects of all of the areas with one key and big addition a giant oak willow hybrid tree as ancient as the howllands itself that reaches high into the sky well above the rest of the marshes. This tree is shrouded in mystery and is completely unreachable by most living things due to the massive sulfuric vents that rest at its base filling the bottom of the tree with a thick cloud of noxious gas.

Fauna & Flora

Most of the marshlands are said to have been dead for centuries, but those who have truly ventured to is depths and come back know a very different story. The marshlands are alive and teem with all manner of vile and dangerous life from venous spiders that look like ordinary vines to water demons that can disguise themselves as lily pads. However strange a creature may be none can compare to that of the beasts found within the marshes. The visibly seen thing in the marshes are the trees, there are three main types of trees within the marshes the first is called the White Willow a strong and ancient type of willow that has been bleached white by centuries of exposure to the sulfuric gas of the marshes.The willow is adorned with a strange blood red moss that burrows into the many cracks and crevasses in the tree which gives it the appearance of bleeding. The second tree is the massive Sick Oak a great and old type of tree that has been turned to a sickly dark green almost black color by the very water that sustains it. The oaks are covered from leaf to root in a thick spread of dark green vines and moss that make the trees look like the hairy legs of some kind of giant. The Final type of tree within the marshes is the Black Cypress of the swamps, the limbs and even trucks of these trees have been bent to an almost horizontal level with the water due to the sheer amount of moss and vines that hangs off of them and accumulates atop their branches and limbs. The moss itself is a dark brown in color compared to that of the almost pitch black bark of the cypress. Despite these three types of trees there is a secret hybrid tree that lies at the very center of the marshlands and is what connects all of the life within the marshes together. This tree stands as tall as a small mountain and as wide as a village with unimaginable amounts of moss and vines hanging from its millennia old branches and limbs, and at its base a field of sulfur vents that stain its roots a ghostly white and spread a deadly fog around the tree while the remainder of the tree remains a ever darker black and brown. The marshes not only hold scores of plants but also hordes of insects and beasts that area s much one with the trees and plants as the plants are with themselves. Many of these creatures have yet to be seen by another living being but what has been seen would terrify any man to his very core. A large spider a web less tracking hunter that uses the countless vines of the swamps as its webbing, whose venom could kill a grown horse in less than an hour. But this is not the only horror that lurks within, the waters of the swamp are just as if not more dangerous then that of the land. A massive beast known only as The Teeth Beneath The Murk lies in the depths of the swamps and bogs of the marshlands waiting for its next prey and if stories are correct its known for eating the horses and mules of adventurers. The air is no more safer than the water or the ground of the marshes, like the rest of this land the air is invested with bugs and birds that would gladly make a meal out of what ever they come into contact with. The bugs being the various species of carnivorous flies and gnats that hunt in swarms along the moss islands and quicksand ponds of the marshlands, stinging and devouring even the most formidable predator while it sits immobilized from the delving muck beneath it. The birds of this land are no better than the bugs, if not they are worse they circle their prey great buzzards that lie in wait for the victim what ever it may be to make a wrong move. The final inhabitants of these lands are only talked about in whispers and only seen by raving madmen who have seen the depths of the marshes. They are the true monsters of the marsh be they demons or goblins no one is sure, but what everyone is sure of is that whatever they are they are horrible enough to make the most stoic man go barking mad and weep like a small child.

Natural Resources

Almost all of the material that has been brought back from the marshes has killed its owner and the purchaser of the material. Even so the water of the marshes is said to be cursed by water demons and thus poison to all but the most vile of creatures. While the venom from the spiders can be used to make a very potent and deadly poison that corrodes the victim from the inside out.

Alternative Name(s)

The Demons Wood

Type

Wetland / Swamp