The Dreadwood Forest

The Dreadwood, as it's commonly known, is a massive forest covering much of the interior of the central Azure Coast region. Although the forest is a rich source of natural resources, including timber products, precious metals, and exotic animals, it frequently spoken of in hushed tones by outsiders due partly to widespread superstitions that suggest the Dreadwood is "alive," or home to some malignant primordial force. Such ideas owe in no small part to the fact that the forest grows extremely quickly, especially along its western borders where it is constantly seeking to expand its shadowed canopy. Many of the towns of the interior like Burle and Burnside are engaged in a never-ending struggle to hold off the forest, cutting and burning swathes of knotted trees that seem to spring up over the course of days and weeks, rather than years.
Travelers can venture into the Dreadwood in various ways, although each poses its own unique challenges. Orc clans, gnoll packs, and mysterious sylvan beasts prowl the forest, while late-night fireside tales tell of whole cities swallowed by the forest in ages past. The town of Forestguard sits at the forest's eastern margins and several tributaries of the Great Everdow River have their origins in the Dreadwood. These channels offer paths into the woodland interior, as does the Kingfisher River in the southwest. Groups to the west of the Dreadwood can also strike east into the forest from various points along the Northern Road, a great undertaking from years past that links Saltmarsh with the northern city of Chinle  and runs along the Dreadwood's western border with the Plains of XXXX.

Type

Forest

Related Reports (Secondary)

• Session 4.7.1b Report - On to Forestguard!