Timbers of the Furnace

The terrain is dominated by unusual evergreen trees, high in stature and covered in deep brown bark. They reach high up into the sky with dozens of interlocking branches even on the smallest of the trees and create a canopy that is not without similarity to the jungles on the Southern Continent. Though unlike the warm jungles of the south, this forest is nearly devoid of all warmth. Even though the sun is high and the months indicate that it should be summer a traveler can see their breath under the boughs of the great trees after a few moments of travel from the forest's edge. Only slender rays of light penetrate the high canopy of the forest and their presence dwindles the farther from the edge of the forest that a traveler chances to wander, these cease to be a source of comfort eventually as the forest grows dark. Under the brightest part of the day the Timbers are only dimly lit, they quickly fall into darkness long before the sun sets and necessitate the use of torchlight or magic to find one's way.     Though these dark woods are the fuel for the great furnaces of the Dwarves you will struggle to find a stump or a felled tree regardless of how long you look. The forest is ancient and grows uncannily fast, overtaking open areas and plunging them under the knit bows of the canopy. The Dwarves have cut the trees for a thousand years and it is as full as it ever was in story or in song, if anything the forest has grown in size over the years and has crept down the mountains slowly towards the plains as if it yearns to spread over the continent in earnest. Because of this, you will find no settlements and no permanent structures within the Timbers save for the dwarven road that is said to have been strewn with anvil dust from the first forges made by the Dwarven lords that remember the hand of Crommel as they were shaped from stone.  

Those that enter the Timbers for any length of time are no greater than fools. Nothing lasts there, no structures save for the road of old. Even the stalwart stone of the Dwarves crumbles under the test of time in the dark forest.

— Unknown Resident of the Great Furnaces

  In the winter these woods become inhospitable for anything that is not adapted for life in the arctic and the dark. Temperatures drop and leave a layer of ice on wood, stone, and earth alike. Snow is usually kept up on the top of the canopy, gathering in immense drifts atop the tree branches before they finally crack and snap under the strain or otherwise let the snow pass. It is said that even the dwarven road is not safe to travel during the winter, not only because of the terrible temperatures and total darkness but also because isolated avalanches from the treetops can occur without warning. Many a traveler has met their end buried under tons of snow, crushed to death in the most merciful of circumstances, or trapped and forced to freeze slowly in the worst of situations. The Timbers are treacherous at any time of year but they are a fool's errand to anyone that wishes to see the light of day again during the winter months, it matters not if you are an Elf or a Druid the woods have no care for the lives of travelers.

The trees in the Timbers seem to display a certain amount of sentience despite not having the same magical properties or essence found in other forests or jungles. The amount of natural magic in the trees themselves would pale in comparison to that of the Fairy King's Wood for example but the amount of sentience or will that the trees have in the Timbers is uncanny and defies explanation of the wisest. There are stories of the trees speaking to each other in discernable languages that hiss, crack and mix in with the passing winds of frost. It is not uncommon for paths to shift and change, or for entire campsites to disappear along with the hapless traveler within.   There is a strong belief that the forest hates things that walk upon two legs, without regard for even the Elven folk or those of Fey Ancestry and there is little in the way of lore or song to account for this. Travelers that venture off the road never return, even experienced Dwarven woodsmen that use the enchanted road have frequent causalities that simply vanish without any sound of battle though it is unknown if they are killed silently or if the sounds of battle are simply swallowed by the trees that disapprove of strangers. The safest practice for woodcutters is to approach the edge of the forest in a large group and fell the trees one at a time, dragging them away during the light of day. It is ill-advised to enter the forest at night or even to cut wood at its edge, there have been reports of entire trees disappearing during the night after being cut down with large ruts in the ground where something has drug the tree away. The worst stories are never told but found later, entire encampments of a hundred strong or more have been found smashed to pieces in the night with a ferocity that would indicate nothing smaller than a Stone Giant's rage falling upon the camp.   This does not stop the Dwarves from finding more careful and protected ways to harvest the wood. The fires made from these trees burn hotter and longer than any coal, bordering on the temperatures of flare steel furnaces when proper techniques are used but with more variation for several types of craftsmanship.

Only one type of tree exists in the Timbers of the Furnace. They are usually called Smelting Wood or Dwarven Wood by those that pass through the land because only the dwarves are brave enough to cut the trees down. Their proper name in magical research is: Deeproot Pine.   The name comes from the fact that their roots are longer, stronger, and seem to have the ability to respond to stimulus. The root system of a Deeproot Pine can extend a hundred yards, often reaching straight down rather than out but these seem to migrate and shift over time when they have been transplanted to other areas.   Other defining characteristics of the trees involve unnaturally tall stature, well over a hundred feet tall in common cases. They often are plentiful in terms of branches and needles, growth is restricted to 30 feet overhead in full-grown varieties that interlock with the branches of other trees and robbing them of sunlight in most cases. The Deeproot Pine can thrive in areas of extreme cold with notably little sunshine, they are sustained by their long root systems that seek out subterranean water sources with incredible accuracy.