A small forest in the United Kingdom of Ahlissa that has acquired a sinister reputation after all of its trees turned into a bonelike material decades ago.
Once known as the Thelwood (a spring within it is the northernmost source of the Thelly River), this small forest straddles the border between the present-day Principalities of Rel Deven and Ahlissa in the United Kingdom of Ahlissa. The forest rapidly altered in character in 583-588 CY, when its trees changed into bonelike material. Dark sorcery was immediately suspected, and most inhabitants fled to the city of Rel Deven. The place has acquired a woeful reputation ever since.
Trees of the Bonewood
In happier times, the Thelwood marked the source of the northwestern tributary of the Thelly River and contained numerous unremarkable logging settlements under its eves. All this changed overnight in 583 CY when almost four-fifths of the wood became corrupted by an unidentified evil. The trees ossified into gnarled, twisted bone, the plants withered to dust and all manner of skeletal creatures drove the native Thellymen from their homes. The voadkyn, olves and woodsmen of the Thelwood remain displaced to this day, and the corruption now encompasses the entire forest, much to the dismay of the city fathers of nearby Rel Deven. Nothing remains for the Thellymen to subsist on, and they dwell now in miserable shanties under the walls of Rel Deven.
There have been numerous attempts to explore and understand the evil of the Bonewood (as the forest is now called). Sages and scholars from the Lycaeum of Rel Deven study samples gathered by sellswords, while Ahlissan patrols “discourage” unauthorized groups from entering. However, some slip through the net by stealth or force, and whispered tales of the horrors of the forest find their way into the repertoire of bards.
There has been talk of a mad woodsman living on the edge of the Bonewood, seemingly unaffected by its transformation and collecting scalps of foolhardy travellers. The mortally wounded survivor of an ill-fated voadkyn patrol spoke of how his company nearly penetrated the center of this evil place. He whimpered of trees bearing the animated heads of Thellymen and of the terrible seeds they implanted in their victims to create more of their fell breed. His remains were quietly (and quickly) cremated outside of Beory’s Gardens.
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