Dearthwood

The Dearthwood is a coniferous forest in the shadow of the Stoneheart Mountains. Brambles and briars grow in the thin, alkaline soil riddled with ponds and lakes tainted with lye. Contrary to popular wisdom, the safest drinking water comes from murky, bug-infested waters — provided the drinker first boils the liquid to kill any pathogens. The source of the toxic material remains a mystery, though some druids and rangers speculate runoff from the neighboring Stoneheart Mountains transports the metal hydroxide into the small streams and groundwater supply. Others counter that its roughly equal distribution throughout the Dearthwood confirms the lye leaches up to the surface from an underground source. Regardless of its origins, the contamination stunts the trees’ trunks and needles, causing them to shed their spiny leaves at an accelerated rate. Because the trees and undergrowth grow close to the ground, moving through the Dearthwood often requires hacking through the brush with a sharp blade or other suitable tool. The proliferation of living and dead vegetation makes the forest vulnerable to forest fires from lightning strikes or carelessness.
The Dearthwood is sparsely populated by man and beast alike. The handful of villages scattered around the Dearthwood rarely number more than 100 individuals. Trolls and ogres prowl the woods searching for elusive game animals or wayward humanoids. Small populations of goblins, hobgoblins, gnolls, and orcs also paradoxically band together in search of prey. Adventurers periodically poke around the Dearthwood’s hills, which some believe are wild elf burial mounds dating back to the age when the Great Akadonian Forest covered much of the land.

Type

Forest