The Dark Wood

The Dark Wood is a dense deciduous forest. Magical entities and terrible creatures reside within. A traveller from Thais to Port Hope must choose between traversing the northern reaches of the Plains of Havoc or passing under the boughs of the Dark Wood.

Many travellers to the Dark Wood misunderstand the true dangers of the area. Although the forest is rich with monsters, and difficult terrain for any traveller that requires the use of the caravan, it is the danger of absolute darkness that renders the journey most perilous. The threads of sunlight that are allowed into the woods are jealously devoured by the canopy's dynamic leaves, which gives the floor of the forest a supremely dizzying shifting optical effect. It is in these lightly lit areas where the monsters reside. Deep within the dark woods is a region known as "The Void" wherein no light can pass. Some travellers insist that the void is unnatural in nature-- a relic left by dark-worshippers. Some lost travellers have sworn that in the void they have felt the brush of human-like hands, intermixed with those of the treee branches, urging them away from the light. Many travellers do not return from the void, and those that enter it are advised the depart immediately.

Some explorers have intentionally attempted to map the void, but these efforts undoubtedly prove to be fruitless. The greatest explorer of 1000 years past, a wood elf by the name of Veylan, wrote this famous scripture on the matter:

"These woods are not to be reasoned with.  I have ventured farther into them than my soul has desired, and farther than my map allowed.  Once, in the stifling darkness, I swear to have found a temple.  It shone not as light, but as infinite darkness, blacker than the black of the void, as I could sense only the outlines, but so particularly so that I could see it in the greatest detail.  I could see the forms of humans-- not humans, but perhaps their brothers, passing between themselves an infinite chain of books, tomes that I could feel resonate in my heart from a great distance.  In approaching this temple, I eerly found that the dark, as it became even moreso, became the light.  And before I could explore further, I was once again into our world, blinded by our ungodly sun." --Veylan, Tome of Earthly Detail, ed.3.

There have been several attempts to destroy or to thin the forest, however it has invariably regrown itself the next day, even under constant watch.

FUN FACT: The forest outskirts contains armadillo-bears. These are very small and mostly friendly towards other creatures. Children from Thais often attempt to venture into the woods on dares to collect these creatures, and those that do keep them as pets.