Gray Forest The Grey Forest , also spelled the Gray Forest and also called the Tsurlar Forest , was a forest located between the Vast and the nation of Impiltur , lying south of the Earthfast Mountains . History . Moon elves once lived in the Gray Forest several centuries before the 14th century DR . However , when hobgoblin s and various other creatures began to encroach on their lands , the elves fought a losing war against them . They increasingly lost ground and some were driven out , but the rest were unwilling to give up their homes . The Gray Forest moon elves faced extinction . Thus , their last act was to transform themselves into grand gray - barked trees , so that they would never leave . However , a population of wood elves remained in the Grey Forest . In the Year of the Dawndance , 1095 DR , they joined an alliance with the cities of Impiltur and the dwarves of the Earthfast Mountains . Led by War - Captain Imphras Heltharn , this alliance fought to repel the hobgoblin hordes of the Giantspire Mountains . By 1372 DR , a new leader had risen to organize the hobgoblins of the Gray Forest . Some claimed he was a werewolf , others a vampire , and he was said to command dire wolves that aided his tribe in battle . A Cult of the Dragon base was operating in the Grey Forest . On Tarsakh 1 , the Year of Rogue Dragons , 1373 DR , Maestro Taegan Nightwind , an avariel , informed Impiltur ' s Council of Lords and Regent - Queen Sambryl of the existence of this base and of a cell in the nearby city of Lyrabar . An Impilturan army marched into the Grey Forest after it , but on Tarsakh 12 it was routed when its own dragon allies were affected by the Rage of Dragons . However , the army rallied and with the aid of Vorasaegha , a spirit dragon , they attacked and destroyed the Cult lair on Tarsakh 16 . Locations . In amongst the ordinary trees of the Gray Forest could be found circles of the grand , gray - barked trees with dark leaves that the moon elves had turned themselves into . Alithyn ' s Copse was a grove of weirwood trees of great age and grandeur . Small shrines dedicated to Eilistraee could be found in the Grey Forest . Inhabitants . The Grey Forest once had two elven populations . The moon elves were either driven out or transformed themselves into trees centuries ago , leaving the wood elves . Hobgoblins also dwelled in the Gray Forest . In addition to their forest homes , they also kept lairs in the Earthfast Mountains . A small Eldreth Veluuthra cell was active in the Gray Forest . They oscillated between assaulting the hobgoblins and alerting them to human s trespassing in hobgoblin territory . The Cult of the Dragon had a hideout in the Grey Forest , which was destroyed by the Impilturan army in Tarskah , 1373 DR . Legends . The sage Othla Multar theorized that drow occasionally emerged from a passage to the local Underdark in the neighboring Adhe Wood and crossed into the Tsurlar Forest . There they traded with pirate vessels that anchored in hidden coves . Around 1371 DR , rumors of werewolves in the Gray Forest drew monster slayers and trophy hunters to Impiltur in search of exotic wolf pelts . However , one band couldn ' t find anyone to guide them , and so they idled in Hlammach . By 1479 DR , elderly folk living outside the forest told a tale that there was once a great war between the elves ( or " eladrin " ) and goblinoid s of the Gray Forest , that wiped out both peoples . Only the circles of gray - barked trees remained to mark their presence . In this time , the Gray Forest was said to be haunted , and few people risked journeying inside it too long or too deeply . Those who did told stories of ghost s , strange creatures , and peculiar hills that mysteriously appeared and vanished again .