Forest of Bloody Vengeance

The **Forest of Bloody Vengeance** is a vegetal mass that occupies most of the Pinewood Peninsula and some other areas south of the Great End Peaks. It is infamous around the world due to its cursed nature, that makes the forest grow at an unnatural rate, lashing out against the people of the old nations of Voita and Malagsh. Many believe that it will take a couple of centuries for the forest to take over the Dual Kingdom completely, though what will happen once it is done is a matter of speculation.

## The Curse of the Druid

The forest has always been an integral part of the Pinewood Peninsula. Being composed of different kinds of pine and oak trees, the area was the main source of wood for the local populations. It is believed that the different city-states of the peninsula, as well as the Khenomeric Empire, used the forest as a source for wood, which probably left it considerably stripped. Over the centuries, the dependence of the local population for the forest’s resources saw it attacked over and over again. It was not uncommon to burn many areas of the forest as a tactic of war to leave one’s opponents without lumber or hunting meat. The constant war between the Kingdom of Voita and the Empire of Malagsh meant that there was never enough time to recover, and during the course of the centuries, many creatures unique to the forest became extinct.

It is believed that the event that would ultimately change the nature of the forest was the arrival of a druid. Legends say that a travelling druid, seeing the damaged the forest had suffered, decided to take action, going to the courts of both nations and begging for their long conflict to be halted. He argued to them that the destruction of the forest would bring down both nations, and all for a conflict both sides had forgotten the original cause of it. Both the voitas and the malagshians were incensed by this insolence, declaring him a madman and putting a price on his head. He was then pursued by bounty hunters, lawmen and even by the peasants of both nations, being grievously wounded in the process, having to seek refuge in the same forest. During his period of hiding, he became one with the forest, learning its intricacies and knowing all its secrets, all while healing his wounds and staying below the notice of those seeking his head. In the year 2.501 ABE, a battle near the forest caused it to catch fire, killing all life in the area, including the druid. With his last breath, he cursed both kingdoms and their people for their wanton destruction of the land and the forest, swearing that, just as they had swallowed the land in blood and fire, the forest would in turn swallow them back.

After this, both the voitans and the malagshians began noticing the strange changes that were happening to the forest. It started slowly, with nearby structures being quickly invaded and overrun by vegetation and farmers not being able to keep their farmlands from being retaken by the woodlands. Any action taken seemed to be undone during the night, with the forest moving forward and forward. And the severity of the incidents quickly worsened. It didn’t take long for the first deaths were discovered, their bodies torn up and mutilated at the edge of the forest, with blood splattered everywhere. Even though it was believed the different incidents were caused by some sort of cult, the speed of which they were accumulating was simply too great to be a mere group of murderers. All while towns and fortresses bordering the forests became surrounded by the vegetation, swallowed by plant life.

By this point, it was obvious something was horribly wrong with the forest. Those voitans and malagshians who entered it never came back. During the night, one could hear the screams of those who had the misfortune of entering the woods, and during the day, their remains were displayed at the edges of the forest. The voitans and malagshians actually stopped their fighting to focus on the cursed forest, but their efforts were to no avail. And since no outside help was coming (the world was too preoccupied with the expansion of the gnolls), both nations lost ground to the woods fast. Their armies were sent to scorch the woods to cinders, chopping and cutting down the trees and killing any animal that came out of it. They used all tools at their disposal, from onagres, cannons, explosives, burning oils, magic spells… and no matter how many acres of forest they destroyed, it would all grow back in a couple of days, causing enormous damages to the troops while they were asleep and unaware. They simply could not burn the forest fast enough, and they saw their fortresses, towns and cities engulfed by a green tide, one by one.

In a desperate bid for survival, the Kingdom of Voita and the Malagshian Empire bought immense amounts of salt from whoever would buy them. They then burnt and salted many swathes of land around the kingdoms, trying to stop the forest from growing any further. Salt was not the only thing used: any herbicide, any poison, and any cursed concoction that would turn the lands into a barren wall against the forest was poured into the lands, corrupting them seemingly irreversively. But this did not stop the woods. The growth of the forest has not fully stopped, it has only slowed down, determined to enact bloody vengeance upon voitans and malagshans.

## The nature of the curse

The Forest of Bloody Vengeance has proven time and time again to deserve its moniker. The greenery grows at an unnatural pace, quickly occupying areas that really shouldn’t like rocky terrain, mountains or dried lands. Only the constant efforts of the Dual Kingdom to keep the Salted Lands full of concoctions has been proven effective in limiting the spread of the forest, and even these seem futile. The forest grows faster and more violently towards the northeast, in the direction of Voita-Malagsh. It also grows in the other directions, but following a much more normal rate. It was this fact that made the drunig settlers try their chance occupying lands near the Forest of Bloody Vengeance, which resulted in the founding of some of its colonies. This also proved that the violence only really affected the voitans and malagshians, and any other people can live safely near it. This has also been proven by the Setlovian Freestate, using the forest as protection against the Gnoll Empire. Using the wood from the forest has been a contentious subject for a while now, with only Drunigzar’s merchants actually using the timber from it to build ships, ships that usually are dedicated to fishing, transport or sold in the black market to people who do not ask many questions. The frequency of accidents and unsolved wrecks with vessels made out of wood from the Forest of Bloody Vengeance has also made many believe that the curse continues even once the tree is dead and the lumber processed, with many rumors around that one should never make a warship out of wood from the forest.