Description
The slow but constant flow of bloodwater rippling through the Bloodmire can be deceptive, for the canopies above and impenetrable depths below hide abundant wildlife. Ferns and vines sway ever so slightly, bringing a muted dripping as red condensation falls back to the ground. Isolated sunbeams struggle to bring a muted orange light through breaks in the branches above. A hard metallic tang assails the nose, and every surface is slick with the ever-present bloodwater.
- The Bloodmire constantly emanates a cacophony of insect buzzing, frog songs, and rustling undergrowth. The distant splashes of bestial conflict are frequent both above and below the bloodwater.
- The tree trunks of the swamp are not particularly dense, but they have disproportionately dense canopies. Emphasize how difficult it is to see the sky through the frequent mist and wildlife. Sunlight that does make it through the canopy is tinted with a red haze and makes the bloodwater glisten like a sickening ichor.
- The majority of plant and animal life in the Bloodmire carries heavy risk of disease, requiring experienced naturalists to identify, hunt, and prepare food safely. Make sure to play up the subtly acrid scent and slight color differences when adventurers successfully avoid diseased resources.
- The Verdant Heart is a small grove at the center of the swamp that seems completely untouched by the bloodwater of the region. Travelers who make their way into the depths of the Bloodmire will need to use the currents emanating from here, and its anchored position, to safely navigate.
- Visitors will find that the Bloodmire is often overwhelmingly hot and humid, seemingly unaffected by the Time of year. This, in conjunction with the constant thrumming of nature and limited view of the sky, makes the tracking of time and position very difficult.
The Bloodmire’s dense canopy, hazy red mist, and lack of civilization’s touch make navigation difficult. Most settlements and landmarks have no pathways to or from them and require the help of navigational tools and a good sense of direction instead. As such, navigating to even a familiar location without becoming lost requires intense preparation and no small amount of luck or skill.
Traveling in the Bloodmire
The speed of traversing the Bloodmire is limited by its flooded state. Sailing is most ideal, though the dangers are not entirely mitigated. Using tree roots, branches, and lashed bridges to navigate takes twice as long due to the difficult terrain. In either case, travelers must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw for each day of travel or become diseased (see the Bloodmire Diseases table) and roll for random encounters once per day.
Travelers without a boat who risk swimming through pools of bloodwater in exchange for a faster travel pace must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw each day of travel or become diseased (see Bloodmire Diseases table). They also roll for random encounters twice per day.
Example Encounters Table
| 4d10 | Encounter |
|---|
| 4 | A corrupted Shadar-Kai portal that allows instant travel to Shadaesmyr. |
| 5 | A hidden, quicksand-like pool of diseased blood. Each character must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become diseased (see Bloodmire Diseases table). |
| 6 | 1d4 carnivorous plants. The same number of characters must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or suffer 2d8 slashing damage and become diseased (see Bloodmire Diseases table) as the plants’ vines slice into exposed flesh. |
| 7 | 1 bloodmire treant |
| 8 | A grove of abundant bloodfern. Spending 1 hour gathering yields 1d4 pounds per character, up to a maximum of 30 pounds. |
| 9 | A fallen bloodbark tree. Spending 1 hour with an axe yields 2d12 pounds per character, up to a maximum of 48 pounds. |
| 10–13 | 1d4 giant mosquitoes (60%) or swarms of giant mosquitoes (see appendix B) (40%) |
| 14–17 | 1d3 giant blood eels |
| 18–21 | 3d4 giant frogs (50%) or giant snakes (50%) |
| 22–25 | 1d6 crocodiles (25%) or hunter sharks (75%) |
| 26–29 | 2d4 quippers (70%) or stirges (30%) |
| 30–33 | 2d6 fugitives (outlaws) hunting for food. They leave peacefully if given rations/supplies, but otherwise attack. |
| 34 | 1d4 Crimson Legion imps prowling for violence. |
| 35 | A dense cloud of diseased insects. Each character must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or become diseased (see Bloodmire Diseases table). |
| 36 | Old Shadar-Kai ruins buried under mud and submerged in the swamp. Murals of the war can be found with a DC 17 Intelligence (Investigation) check. |
| 37 | A battlefield from the war. Angel, elven and fiendish weapons and armor long corroded (90%) or intact (10%). |
| 38 | A partially submerged shadar-kai monument depicting a bold warrior. A successful DC 18 Intelligence (Religion) check recognizes the ancient hero as Freya. |
| 39 | A Garkain. |
| 40 | An intact Shadar-Kai portal that allows instant travel to the Verdant Heart while a waxing crescent moon is overhead. |
Navigation
Travel through the Bloodmire would be difficult enough if it were a normal swamp. With its myriad of dangers and oppressive red mist, a navigation check (roll on the Bloodmire Navigation DCs table) is required to reach any specific location without becoming lost, even if previously visited.
Bloodmire Navigation DCs
| DC | Location |
|---|
| 15 | A location in the outskirts of the Bloodmire, or near an outpost |
| 20 | A location near the center of the mire, such as the Verdant Heart. |
| 25 | A location hidden from view, such as a sprite village, secret island, or forgotten Shadar-Kai portal. |
Becoming Lost
| d6 | Setback |
|---|
| 1–4 | Amid backtracking and great confusion, the party ends the day up to 2d6 miles in a random direction away from their destination if sailing, or 1d6 miles away if walking. |
| 5–6 | Using the gradual current of blood emanating from the Verdant Heart, the party ends the day up to 1d6 miles away from their destination despite being lost. |
Foraging
The swamp’s bloodwater is consistent throughout, and blood-corrupted game like squirrels, frogs, fish, and birds are prevalent. A foraging character makes a DC 13 Wisdom (Survival) check as normal. There is a 50 percent chance that food or water foraged in the Bloodmire is diseased. A creature that ingests diseased food or water in this way must roll on the Diseased Foraged Food table.
Diseased Foraged Food
| d6 | Effect |
|---|
| 1 | The character is poisoned for 8 hours and rolls on the Bloodmire disease table. |
| 2–5 | The character is poisoned for 1 hour. |
| 6 | The character is not nourished but suffers no other ill effects. |
Gathering Resources
Bloodbark is a resilient layer of magical wood that can be harvested from the certain kinds of corrupted trees of the Bloodmire. It takes a successful DC 16 Wisdom (Survival) check to find and harvest 1d6 + 4 pounds of it over the course of 8 hours. When bloodbark is used to build objects such as furniture, docks, boats, or coffins, it absorbs blood and prevents unsightly stains. If bloodbark is used to make a weapon that deals piercing or slashing damage, the weapon is magical, and creatures hit by that weapon don’t bleed as a result of the attack. Bloodbark can be sold for up to 1 silver per pound to the right buyer.
A bloodfern is an herb that helps to calm the frenzied or stressed mind when ingested. Most notably, berserkers and lycanthropes take the herb to stifle their rage and bloodlust. It takes a successful DC 18 Wisdom (Survival) check to find and harvest 1d4 pounds of bloodferns over the course of 8 hours. Bloodfern can be sold for up to 10 gold per pound to an interested buyer.
The Verdant Heart
In the center of the Bloodmire, a small area of lush forest clings to life. Hidden by powerful illusions are the petrified remains of Malfuriel the Betrayer.
A successful DC 30 Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Arcana) check reveals the location of the lair, although 2d4 + 4 Starlight Apparition defend it from entry. Once revealed, the petrified form of Malfuriel can be plainly seen. Freya’s blade, Silverwind, the Cleansing Breeze, juts out from the body, bathed in a stream of blood that flows from the wound. A creature can remove the sword with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check. Doing so causes Malfuriel’s flesh to revert from its stony state, freeing him to continue his rampage, and signals the start of combat. The Crimson Legion only knows that Malfuriel has returned and their curse has been lifted if he manages to escape from the Verdant Heart. If he does, the fiends rush to him before leaving the Bloodmire to continue their centuries-old war.
Killing Malfuriel ends the curse on the Bloodmire, allowing it to slowly return to being the Syre Wood over time. Destroying the remaining fiends and Crimson Legion quarter in Shadaesmyr speeds up the forest’s recovery.
Features
Over time, the Legion managed to repurpose a handful of magical Shadar-Kai orbs, warping their
Magic to serve the legionnaires’ needs instead. These protective orbs originally warded the Syre Wood’s Shadar-Kai villages from
Divination magic, but now serve to mask the appearance of nearby fiends: disguising them as simple elves instead. The Crimson Legion imps, which are by far the most common fiend remaining in the Bloodmire, appear as simple shadow goblins when in range of such an orb. An orb has AC 20, 50 hit points, and resistance to all damage. Fiends within 1 mile of an orb are disguised by its magic.
Hazard
Diseased Swamp
Traversing the Bloodmire offers many dangers, though the foremost is the threat of becoming ill with one or more of its magical diseases. After an encounter with a blood eel, giant mosquito, or creature with ‘Bloodmire’ in its name, any character that was hit by such a creature must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become diseased (see the Bloodmire Diseases table). Casting the remove curse spell on a creature ends any Bloodmire disease affecting it.
Bloodmire Diseases
| 2d8 | Disease |
|---|
| 2–3 | Bloodburnt Rash: At the start of each of your turns when you are not under the bloodwater, you take 1d6 fire damage. This disease lasts until you take fire damage equal to half your hit point maximum in this way. |
| 4–8 | Crimson Sight: Your eyes become bloodshot, your pupils dilate, and your senses of safety and danger become twisted. Whenever you see a Shadar-Kai or humanoid, flip a coin. If it’s heads, you consider that creature to be a friendly acquaintance. If it’s tails, you consider the creature to be a hostile enemy. You consider any fiend or fiendish villager to be a friendly acquaintance, even if it’s under the effect of illusory magic. This disease lasts until you finish a long rest. |
| 9–15 | Rusting Flesh: Sometimes called the Iron Curse, this disease causes your flesh to corrode and slough off. You take 1d8 necrotic damage and your maximum hit points are reduced by the same amount each day at dusk. If your hit point maximum drops to 0 in this way, you die. This disease lasts until 7 days have passed. |
| 16 | Blood Lunacy: A rare and weakened form of lycanthropy. You suffer disadvantage on saving throws against contracting lycanthropy. Your hair begins to grow long and thick, and you gain no benefit from finishing a short or long rest during a full moon. This disease lasts until it’s cured by magical means. |
History
To fight the forces of mount celestia and bring the fight to them,
Zariel ordered Malfuriel, her chancelor,l ed legions of
Devil into the shadowfel to battle the angels in the Syre Wood: a strategically-located shadow forest that, if conquered, could provide a position for the forces of hell to take the fight away from the first layer,
Luxuria. The legions’ relentless army of martial imps and devils took the forest by surprise, quickly slaying the Shadar-Kai there and razing the villages in their path as they made their way to the heart of the wood. The forces of mount celestia finaly intervened to stop the infernal army, and Freya managed to land a debilitating strike on Malfuriel charged with a curse: binding the legionnaires to the Syre Wood and turning Malfuriel to stone.
That night at dusk, Malfuriel’s petrified body suddenly erupted, releasing a foul wave of blood that tainted and stained the Syre Wood—a blight born of his intense hatred. Gushing waves of Malfuriel’s blood swept through the wood, corrupting the beasts that lived there and twisting its plantlife into a grim husk of its former beauty. Protected by Freya’s blade’s aura, the area immediately surrounding Malfuriel’s statue was spared from his lasting corruption: creating the Verdant Heart at the center of what is now known as the Bloodmire.
To this day, the Legate’s thousands of oath-bound servants are afraid of Syre’s blade and magically warded from entering the Verdant Heart. Trapped in this cursed swamp by the sword’s powerful magic, these fiends have slaughtered every Shadar-Kai that dared step outside of the Verdant Heart, and eagerly await their leader’s eventual return.
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