Ebonwood Forest
Across the River Ebb, Ebonwood closes around the road to Sarnath. Blue light drifts between dark trunks as the dead patrol the paths Ebstone still depends on.
The Sarnath Road
Traders, pilgrims and supplies once reached Ebstone along the Sarnath Road. Broken cobbles and deep wheel ruts trace its course past forgotten shrines and abandoned camps. Off the main route lies an overturned coach in Sarnath colours, its horses dead and drag marks leading into the undergrowth. Few merchants will risk the journey now, leaving Ebstone’s remaining goods without a safe route to market.
Blackstone Fort
Nearly two centuries ago, Baleron Quince built Blackstone Fort to force Ebstone under Sarnath’s rule. The forest has reclaimed the ground his soldiers cleared, but the fort still stands across the old route east, blue mist gathering around its broken walls. Beneath them, soldiers’ tombs have been forced open from within. Warnings scratched into the stone recall a conquest the region has never forgotten.
The Nekramancer & His Thralls
The Nekramancer has claimed Blackstone Fort and raised its dead into an army. His soldiers carry rusted swords and bows, scraps of old uniforms hanging from their bones. Blue light burns in their empty eye sockets as they patrol in organised groups, attacking travellers and guarding the fort’s approaches. More crowd the forest after dark, and generations of bones beneath Blackstone give their master plenty of soldiers to replace those he loses.
Nekra MaelBrackenbast
Ebstone’s children grow up on stories of Wilbon of the Woods. Beneath Ebonwood’s trees, those tales take the unsettling shape of Brackenbast, a towering spirit of living wood. It watches strangers with red eyes and answers without speaking, twisting its long fingers and body into letters. Its knowledge reaches deep into the forest and Tidefall’s forgotten history, but it expects riddles or secrets in exchange. Its hatred of the Nekramancer gives travellers a reason to seek it out, though its bargains demand care.
Blitswry Bluff
The Storm strikes Ebonwood’s southern edge with its full force, tearing branches from the trees and carrying howls that villagers and bog farmers have learned to fear. Gouged bark and churned earth mark the passage of something heavy through the woodland. With undead repeatedly sighted among the trees, even the locals have abandoned this stretch of coast.
The Blitswry Hound