THE SHIVERING WOODS |
The Shivering Woods is a
secluded forest in Western Santharia,
just south of the trading town of Horth.
The area is well-known for two things: the
Larkentir trees which give the forest its name, and
the Tsváen’mol’khár, a dark elven
tribe, that once inhabited the area.
Many people avoid the woods because they fear the place to be haunted.
The shivering
Larkentir trees do nothing to counter this belief, nor do the
old legends:
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The legend reports that many, many years ago, a group of sorcerers
- calling itself the
"Silver Hand" -
took up residence in the woods even before the
Tsváen’mol’khár settled at the forest. It
is further told that the sorcerers erected a great
ring of stones to assist them in their endeavour
of achieving immortality through a
complicated spell they intended to cast with their joined efforts. No
one knows for certain what happened to the Silver Hand, but all agree
that something must have gone wrong at
spellcasting.
The dark elves made their home in the Shivering Woods about
approximately the same time the legends claim the Silver Hand tried to
claim immortality, so some sages theorize that the drow
tribe somehow sabotaged the sorcerers' plans
and desecrated the woods with their blood. Others say
that the mages indeed succeeded and achieved their goal, but that their souls
are now trapped within the stones forming the circle and now long for freedom
again, which would bring them mortality too. Well, the
legend of the Shivering Woods has birthed many faery
tales, and there are countless additional theories and
guesses as to what happened to the Silver Hand long ago.
Be it as it is: To this day, the ring of stones
still stands, but only few have
the courage to go inside the woods for fear of what they might find. True, the
Tsváen’mol’khár tribe is long gone from the woods, but
they have a number of half-drow progeny in the world, and
some may not want the land their ancestors lived on to be claimed by others.
In western Santharia, a
strange bounty hunter is starting to make a name for himself. He is a half-elf
going by the name of Greywolf. Many of the residents of Horth seem convinced
that he makes his home in the Shivering Woods, but this has yet to been
proven. In fact, it is difficult to prove anything since
Greywolf only shows himself to take a job then returns when he has finished it,
promptly vanishing afterward. The arrival of the strange
bounty hunter and rumors of his residence in the Shivering Woods cause people to
fear the location even more. Whatever secret these woods
hold is going to remain just that at this rate. The
Larkentir trees have hidden the secrets
of the Shivering Woods for millennia, and it seems they
will continue to do so for a very long time.