Phost

Phost trees are similar to shaggy-barked Oaks, with leaves twice as broad as they are long. The Phostwood trees have a phosporescent quality after they have died and begun to rot. A branch of the Phostwood tree will give off a glow sufficient to light a 5 foot radius area. This effect contributes to the eerie light of the Phostwood forest.

Description

Living as long as 300 years, phost trees are unremarkable until they die and begin to decay, at which point their wood glows with a soft and foreboding light, sometimes called "phost-fire". Rotting phostwood trunks look ghostly when spied on a dark night. As a source of illumination, phost-fire sheds light 5 feet in all directions. Over time, phost-fire dims, the wood slowly turning to dust. Nothing made from phostwood is permanent. Even the most skilled woodworker fails to produce a lasting product from phostwood. However, its evanescent nature is attractive to artists who wish to express the fleeting nature of mortals in the eyes of the gods.

Wood

Impermanence aside, phostwood serves many practical purposes. Small amounts of decaying phostwood are used like candles to illuminate dark places. Heavier bundles provide sufficient lighting for larger workspaces or even as signals atop watchtowers. Many an adventurer has been known to pocket a small amount as an emergency light while exploring shadowy passages. Glowing phostwood radiates no discernable heat, so carrying it is quite safe.
A luminous paste is made from Phostwood. It is mashed and pulped, and made into a semi-solid pomace which is visible at night. It can be used to make trail markers, signal runes, and is even used by scouts and rangers to make marks on their equipment or upon their person to silently identify themselves to friends in the darkness. Luminous Paste is stored in jars sealed with hard sap to preserve freshness.

Leaves

Phostwood leaves have a width twice that of their length, giving them a broad and somewhat bulbous shape. As far as botanists have been able to discern, the tree's leaves play no part in the still-unexplained phenomenon of phost-fire. Those same leaves, however, display a remarkable hydrophobic tendency, repelling water at a very efficient rate. Seeing this, it is no surprise that woodcutters, travelers, and artisans make ready use of phostwood leaves as a layer of rain protection. Though the leaves are too delicate to be stitched together, if properly glued down with sap or tree resin, they fully protect the user from rainstorms for a period of several hours, after which time they begin to separate and tear.
If ground with mortar and pestle, the leaves may be treated by an herbalist for smoking in a pipe. When lit, the mixture causes the pipe's bowl to glow dimly. The enjoyment of smoking phostwood leaves is said by connoisseurs to be an acquired taste.

Roots

Some legends hold that ancient humanoid tribes who first settled the region worshipped phostwood trees as incarnations of their deities. Little evidence supports this claim. However, a few elder elves assert that phostwood roots have been used for generations as ingredients in powerful, dream-inducing aromatics. A cleric can transform the fine, fibrous material extracted from phostwood roots into incense of meditation.