DMs Only: The Crying Wood

Private DM Write Up

The Crying Wood is an Immortal Power. Geographic Region - Within its own boundaries Relative Strength - Moderate Domains: Plant and Death Gifts: TBD It is not an eligible power for PCs (or NPCs for that matter) as it hates all non-plant creatures.

Post Sargrass Crossover, the Crying Wood concentrated its power and has overcome any living creature’s attempts to hide themselves from its notice within its borders. All living creatures have been eradicated from the plateau, with one exception. All former potions, solvents, spells, and magical items various games used to prevent attack by the Wood no longer work, as they are not powerful enough. Again, with one exception.

The exception is the village of Elvenguard. In the Crimson Shields game, the paladin Florin Jadenth sacrificed his mortal body to become the next protective power over the village (via use of a Teucri artifact). Florin had been combating the Crying Wood throughout its whole territory, and could, in places, prevent it from attacking living creatures. Upon the concentration of the Woods, however, Florin found it required all his strength to keep it from destroying Elvenguard. The area surrounding the village is now a constant battleground, as the Crying Wood and Florin, Protector of Elvenguard, unleash their powers against each other.

Some of the flora of the Crying Woods includes: Purple orcs. These are not orcs at all. They are some kind of a plant in humanoid form, spawned by carnivorous trees, and born in pods that hang from the branches. These ‘orclets’ are fast, and able to swarm and overpower much stronger creatures. Their claws seem enchanted, causing those they hit to fall into a deep sleep. When slain, orclets grow with magical speed into trees themselves, as if they were seeds all along.

Other plants include: Vanilla Pods – brown, about 6” long, carrying a beautiful aroma of rich vanilla. Spiny Sunflowers - grow in bog mud (which is, by the way, beneficial to the skin as a softener). These flowers shoot out spines, like arrows, at intruders, usually waiting until they are stuck in the mud. The spines are strong as steel and vary in length.

The Lizard Folk have made a treaty with The Float and now control the outlined area of the forest. They are rebuilding an ancient city they are calling Riverton.

The Beast Folk Village is an ancient pyramid that the Beast Folk of The Float colonized recently.

Cutter is a wood cutting and lumber village set up by Torbin Cook a lumber merchant in The Float.

It'lal is a surface Drow city.

History of the Crying Woods drawn from Woldian sources ONLY:

A1 - A2??? - Forest was imbued with sentience. Remained mostly dormant.

A2 - 174 - Empire of Reptilians formed

??? - Unknown event that turned the Crying Woods into a dangerous land for non-plant creatures unaligned with the forest.

??? - Drow from It'lal allied with another reptilian kingdom located within the Crying Woods. At this time the drow and reptilians were wearing amulets to protect them from the woods already.

??? - Possible arrival of Green Dragon to the Crying Woods???

A2 - 963 - War broke out between the Drow and the Reptilians who allied with the power of the Crying Woods. (What caused this war?)

A2 - 963 - Drow were driven back to their mountain, then the reptilians were attacked by the Crying Woods.

A2 - 963 - Caught unready for the betrayal the reptilians were nearly wiped out.

for 1900 years - Green Dragons lord over a portion of the Crying Woods, keeping the lizardfolk as slaves and commanding the awakened animals.

Changes to the Crying Woods (from the Ust Delmah campaign notes) Evil Karkasan was obsessed with experimenting on reptilian races in an effort to build powerful servant races. Other Karkasan disapproved of his work after a few gruesome experiments got loose. Vowing to continue his work the Karkasan in power were at an impasse. They could not bear to let him continue his work but he had not committed an offense that would be punishable by death. Coming to an agreement that he was unsafe they decided to banish him. Finding that the very forest they lived had been imbued with power from a distant age, they used their magic to bind the evil Karkasan in the land beneath this forest that would be his keeper for all time.

It was not long from this time when the forest began to reach out to attack the sentient species within it's borders. As the reptilians and drow investigated the truth of the Karkasan was kept from them. A solution was found by the drow enchanting crystals that would keep the forest at bay. An alliance was established based on this trade. The drow crafted these crystals that adorned many reptilians and surrounded their cities, and the reptilians supplied them with food and goods taken from the forest. This alliance lasted for many years as both drow and reptilian empires flourished.

This is where the Green Dragon enters the situation. Finding the Crying Woods to be a prime place to lay her eggs, she settles into a valley near the south eastern portion of the forest. After several attacks by the plants, the Dragon investigates the peculiar habits of this place. Finding the 'heart of the forest' the Dragon communes with the Crying Woods and finds the cause of her pain... the bound Karkasan. Instead of simply freeing the bound Karkasan the Dragon convinces the forest that the Drow are keeping it from killing the reptilians. With the Dragon as it's spokesperson, the forest should ally with the reptilians to drive the Drow away, then turn on the reptilians and slaughter them... only then will it be able to rest. Using the 'heart of the forest' as a focus, the forest makes a pact with the Dragon... the forest will empower her and her offspring until the last reptilian is removed from her borders.

The dragon instigates the war between the drow and reptilians, then turns to fight the reptilians once the Drow are removed. The Dragons saved the remaining lizardfolk from the wrath of the forest, and placed them in 'safe areas' to serve as slaves. By keeping a few lizardfolk alive the Dragon prolonged the pact with the Crying Woods.

• • • Resolution***

The Crying Woods as we know it today was birthed in that dark ritual. The pain of having such an evil creature inserted into the most sensitive aspect of it's sentience is the motivation behind the forests actions. Should the iron cage of the Karkasan's prison have been removed early on there would have been a chance that the Crying Woods would have reverted to it's natural state of calm awareness. The excruciating pain built up over thousands of years has permanently altered the forests outlook.

Though destroying the 'Heart of the Forest' would break it's pact with the Dragons, allowing the Crying Woods to have it's revenge on their line, this would also free the Evil Karkasan. The Crying Woods would still be a hateful place for creatures like the reptilians and Drow but the rule of the Green Dragons would be broken. There is also an opportunity for the lizardfolk within the Crying Woods to gain the status of 'forest creature' should they be able to convince the Crying Woods of their good intentions.

The freed Karkasan will be a mastermind behind many of the events surrounding future campaign events. He will have motivations that directly oppose the PC's, though in an indirect fashion. For instance, the PCs are looking for friendly neighbors to engage in trade. The Karkasan will be looking for nearby civilizations to bend to his will as experiments of servitor slaves. Dealing with this threat will be the main focus of the Drow's adventures outside of their own civilization. (We're planning on plenty of internal conflict to break-up the storyline a bit.)

The Karkasan will father many races of reptilians (possibly already has started to do so from within his prison within the Crying Woods) to serve his purposes. He will be considered one with the Crying Woods and his creatures also may be immune from the forests touch. He'll use the Crying Woods as a safe base of operations while he reaches out to influence surrounding societies. One of his goals is to take his vengeance on the other Karkasan and the society that they spawned.

AR minus about 20 years Game Time The Ust Delmah campaign took place. During that time the dragons were destroyed by player characters. The Drow attempted a peace and trade treaty with The Float, but nothing really came of it.

During the Sargrass, End is Nigh Wold event, the Crying Wood retreated and erected a plateau to keep out the interfering life forms that occasionally ran through it.