<div class="top-nav"> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Home">Home</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Character Main Page">Characters</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Factions Index">Factions</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Locations Index">Locations</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/World Lore">Lore</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Map">Map</a> </div> The story of how Dark Wood became the evil place it is today is known only by a few isolated mountain druids who continue to pass the story down to their brethren. A cult of half-elf druidic sorcerers worshiped the underlying forces of nature in a beautiful rich and diverse forest full of all manner of woodland creatures. The druids spent their entire lives in pursuit of the primal knowledge of nature’s energy and the life force that governs all things on the planet. At some point during this pursuit most druids experience “the draw”, an evil force which attempts to pull the druid away from their pursuit of the natural and into the realm of supernatural where great power and knowledge is promised with great ease. This “draw” is issued forth from the other world, the realm of devils where evil entities tempt and bribe the realm of men in trade for evil favors. The leader of the cult of druids fell for just such a ploy. He was a man of great power and knowledge who lost everything in a gamble that he would regret for the rest of his very short life. The exact details have been lost to the sands of time. What is known is that the leader of the druids (while under the control of a great devil) gathered the group of druids at a stone circle for a grand spell. This spell would link the physical world with the spirit. It would bring the entire forest into a permanent communion with the life force of the planet (or so the devil whispered the lies into his ears). After many hours of chanting the spell was finally complete. It tore the very physical world asunder, creating a great rift in the middle of the forest. Through this rift poured copious numbers of evil monsters and their devil slave masters. It seemed as though the devil world was replete with reinforcements. Within just a few short hours the devils swarmed through most of the forest killing animals, fairies, and centaurs as they went. They didn’t stop there; After the forest was seized the very devil who tricked the leader of the druids gathered all of the druids (save one* who escaped the onslaught) to have them slain in a dark ritual sacrifice to the great lord of the devils. The druids were lined up at the same stone circle where the spell was cast. Each one was bound to a stone where they were decapitated one by one. Each of the heads was buried in a secret location in the forest. The great devil cursed the druids to spend their undead lives searching the forest for their heads. The druids refused to acknowledge the curse, instead choosing to pursue the devils and the monsters of the forest. Each night the evil druidic sorcerers rise as headless corpses, doomed to forever wander the Dark Wood searching for monsters and devils to slay, on a constant never ending hunt for their tormentors. Each night the evil druidic sorcerers are slain. Upon the next sunset they rise to once again continue to the hunt, trapped in a cycle of torment and despair. # Session Reference - [[Session 1]] - [[Session 3]] - [[Session 6]] - [[Session 7]] - [[Session 10]] - [[Session 11]] - [[Session 12]] - [[Session 13]] - [[Session 15]] - [[Session 16]] - [[Session 51]]