The Wood Weald

## The Glorious Eye

* Artwork
* Symbol

The Wood Weald is a powerful fey entity of many names that has frequently meddled with mortal matters for centuries. Most notable amongst her aliases is the Glorious Eye, having served as one of the Harbingers of Hadar.

Since 9WD, she has been trapped within the Dirgevale, a Domain of Dread that serves as her prison.

## Description

Initially thought to be separate entities, the Wood Weald has maintained a number of aliases over the years, slipping between identities in appearance, words and deeds as easily as other beings change their attire. Known aliases of the Wood Weald are:

* The Glorious Eye
* Granny Juniper
* Kindred
* Mistress Willowjoint
* The Nightbaker
* Scalebreaker
* Sister Soilhands
* The Wood Weald
* The Weald Witch

The Weald Witch has been encountered through a series of horrifying visions and hallucinations, most notably so following Hassk's attempts to unattune from the Moorcrown:

*"Hassk threw a cautionary glance out one of the windows of the Golden Serpent. Figures passed by, carrying baskets and sacks alike, milling from market to shop to tavern, doing so with blissful ignorance, unawareness. A proprietor peered through the crystal glass of his own shop, musing for a moment at the trinkets on display, before moving on, out of view. Continuing to grasp tightly, the fight continuing onwards still, Hassk’s amber gaze returned back to the contents of his store - but instead found it empty, devoid of contents, for it was his shop no longer. The thorns that had twisted through the timbered planks had sprawled into leafless pines, bark black and gnarled. Nooks peered back and him, bloodshot eyes stained with gore, some little more than pebble-size, others vast, scarcely holdable within the palms of mundane hands. The planks themselves underfoot had given away, stirred dirt and mud in their place, scattered with broken withies and sprigs, brambles and bone smouldering where tattered flesh remained. A fog tinged green as sage, pine and juniper seethed between roots that clawed and writhed where they lay exposed to the air, the branches above them sharp and curled, reaching outwards as a thousand long-nailed claws."*

*"Hassk found himself now bound in place by cords of brambles twice as thick as hempen rope, barbs frying and slicing at flesh with each vain struggle. Silently it drifted towards him, save the tear of free-flowing sodden cloth catching and tearing upon outstretched barbs - though breaking through the gorse and woundwort without resistance, without slowing. Streaked in grim, countless poultices of mould, concoctions of ichor, the rags hung low, obscuring much of its form - save head and hand. It cast aside a shattered spine held tightly enough to crumble the bone, ossein remains consumed by the soil, mulched in a moment. Antlers stretched wide from withered and gaunt shoulders, uneven and heavy with shedding sanguine velvet. Wiry hair spilled, unkempt and splattered with fungus and guano, obscuring distorted features twisted into a scowl. Filled into needle-like points, the top jaw overflowed with thronged fangs, the bottom jaw seemingly absent - a maw broken impossibly wide and slick with gore. But it was its gaze, focused, singularly-wicked and malign, eyes burning with intensity, despite the cold blue hue in which they were framed. A clawed hand, its fingers thrice-too-long and jointed unevenly curled to grasp his brow, before sinking deep to pluck at his amber eyes just beneath.*

*"The tearing of ligament and flesh, scale and skin echoed through the haunting quietude."*

## History

The Weald Witch has at times found conflict with the seelie and unseelie of the Feywild alike, but unlike her counterparts is those amongst them most likely to frequent the Prime Material Plane. For this credit is given the Ancient Green Dragon Velun, known also sometimes as the Watcher of the Woods.

   By means of ancient blood and unfettered arcane presence new beings were created, many of which that followed Velun back to the lands of Ahlus when he returned, in time becoming the hags that haunt the forests of the continent - but none in so great density as those of Covengrove, the domain of the Hallowed Circle - a coven made up of Grey Marjorie, Glaring Freda and Crooked Dolores Tallowstumble.

The relationship between Velun and the Weald Witch has proved to be as tumultuous as the lands in which they first met. Decades - lengthened into centuries or compressed to mere seconds by the nature of the timewarp of the plane - pass with hatred and distrust between the pair, before being mirrored in eons of chaotic fanaticism and fervour. This has spawned further change into a sea of furore, for the Weald Witch is a being of many names. Beings of all kind pledge themselves to her with cries of victory to the Weald Witch, Mistress Willowjoint, Sister Soilhands, The Nightbaker and the Scalebreaker, but all serve the same creature. Most commonly though, for the times of great passion for the Watcher of the Woods are frequent and long-lived, she mirrors his own name, introducing herself as Granny Juniper in mimicry of her first and favourite daughter Magnhild's own title of Aunt Juniper and Velun's own moniker as the Juniper Prince.

## The Dirgevale

Much as the Weald Witch is not native to Ahlus, it is speculated that Covengrove likewise shares this heritage as a fragment of a Domain of Dread called the Dirgevale that once existed as a prison for the Weald Witch.

Reporting that he had first encountered the Weald Witch when she was trapped within a Domain of Dread called The Dirgevale, Velun state that he had, through a heightened understanding of trickery both innately skilled from his Green Dragon heritage and his long-standing fascination and involvement with the mischief of the Feywild, beguiled the Dark Powers into believing that the Weald Witch had been redeemed, and thus was no longer worthy of imprisonment.

It is stated by the Archfey Erastus that:

*"When the Darkbringer was banished, the Far Realms did not welcome them freely. They were instead shattered, splintered into an unknown number of vestiges - and the maddening chaos beyond shaped them anew. These vestiges had will of their own, consciousness warped by the infinitum that lies beyond, though each still echoes with the heart of the Darkbringer. Some found their ways to other Realms, other Domains, some trapped within them, others still roam free.”*

*“Annihilation, Decay, Plague - that is what the Darkbringer sought, the paragons of their presence. Each vestige surely fulfils the same.”*

*“The Cinder Star Hadar is annihilation.”*

*“The Weald Witch spreads decay wherever she creeps. The conclusion to be had is therefore plain. It stands to reason that they too are one of these vestiges.”*

Subsequently, it was speculated that by banishing her back into the Dirgevale, she would be trapped henceforth without means to escape. To do so, three items would be required to make the requisite tuning fork. The cold iron from the spine of Moloch, the only fiend to ever wrought true destruction in the Feywild, the blood of her spawn, and an object resonating with the frequency of the domain.

## Banishment

Following on from the death of Crooked Dolores Tallowstumble at Dirgevale Crypt at the hands of a group of adventurers, the Weald Witch surmised the group's plans, and so moved swiftly to crush any effort to cause her banishment back to the Domain of Dread intended to be her eternal prison. Wielding the entirety of the forest of Covengrove like a puppeteer, she assaulted Velenthir Estate, bringing with her a vast army of evil fey, trolls, monstrosities as well as both Glaring Freda and Magnhild Juniperspawn.

Much of Velenthir Estate was destroyed in the last stand, but the efforts would ultimately prove folly. Her remaining descendants were slain upon the battlefield, and the Weald Witch herself banished after ongoing assaults weakened her resolve, allowing Hassk to utilise the Totem of Tethering Imprecation to banish her back into the Dirgevale, an effort that would have cost him his life, if not for use of the *Death Ward* spell.