Hollowbane Woodlands

Geography

The Hollowbane Woods derive it's name from the hollowed out, blue smoking trunks, trees and branches which can be found all over this sickly forest. It's flat ground carries a few rivers and lakes which run down from the peaks of the Dragonmountains and features a massive valley between a pair of mountain ranges, where the northern part leads to the Carrion Corax Passage and the Ravenwoods while the southwestern exit leads to the Dyskhari plains.
The soil here can be found cracked, forming disturbing elevations or sinks with blue pulsating veins running across the ground like roots to the trees. The selfsame trees believed to have caused these malformations of the earth, by growing strange roots that push the elevation up in some places while leaving others lacking in dirt.
The woodland also gets more hilly and uneaven the closer to the mountains one gets, which features many caverns and hollows. Meanwhile, the more central part of the region has the rivers lead to a central basin though, with a small patch of marshland covering it.

Ecosystem

The Hollowbane's nature is clearly perverted by an eldritch sickness, known as the Huntmarshall's Curse. It's plague is widely spread through the roots of the plantlife, which causes many organisms to function weirdly in tune with their nature. Shrooms for example often tend to spring to life, carrying a bestial intelligence and the feet and arms needed to act out on it. Ravens, crows and other birds are enthralled to have their eyes used by the foul masterminds that lurk in the shadows, while the rest of the animal kingdom within fights itself for survival, but just die to become mindless soldiers for the Hollowbane army.

Ecosystem Cycles

As the seasons change, the creatures of the Hollowbane become more or less dangerous and active. During the cold winter nights, the woodland is the most haunted and smaller armies often rise from it's hollows to prey on surrounding territories. This tends to calm down towards the spring season and during summer the creatures within tend to stay away from conflict, even if foolish travelers brave the woods during this time. Though broad daylight attacks in summer has happened.
The reason for these changes are likely to be linked with the inhabiting Mandrake and their strengthening resolve come the colder months. It's logical to conclude then that as the chill empowers them, they try to avoid combat during states of weakness, while prefer to attack durning periods of strenth and darkness, for the best possible odds.

Climate

The climate around the Hollowbane is usually on the colder scale. It's unkown exactly why, but the winter starts early and ends late here, though the summers still remain warm. It's believed that this colder climate has something to do with the unnatural gasses which pour from the infected trees and plantlife, which spreads some form of cooling eldritch substance into the air. Thankfully, it seems this substance does not affect anything else but the temperature.

Fauna & Flora

The flora of the Hollowbane is all sickly and twisted. Trees growing upwards to then spiral out into broken, cracked forms with blue gasses emitted from their insides are just the norm. Others are blue, frostbitten straws of grass, plants and even bushes with odd berries, which look like a mix between blueberry and roses that has the same strange substance rise from them like some form of smoke. There roots of these trees also pulsate with blue baubles like blood coarsing through them. Which, if cut, starts to also spray a freezing liquid around it.
The same sadly goes for the animals. All chilled to the core and zombified. Elks with bare skulls, bears with patches of putrid infections, lined with thorned growth piercing their skin and boars with the upper body of manlike creatures are just a few horrors to be found within.

History

The Hollowbane Woodlands was once considered part of the Ravenwood, known as the Southern Ravenwoods. After the Dyskhari wars one peculiar fiend known as Zobert and his minion Rekitach managed to free the Mandrake Queen from her clutches. The result was quite devestating for the southern part of the woodlands, which rapidly fell to her corruption. Most likely due to an alliance with the fallen goddess of nature granting the said Abyssal Lord powers far beyond most of her ilk.

Type

Woods