The Dreadmere

Overview

The Dreadmere is the vast, tangled forest that encircles Gravenholt on all sides. It is a place of perpetual twilight, where mist curls low between the gnarled roots of black pines and oaks, and where the canopy often chokes out the sun entirely. Travelers describe it as oppressive and watchful, as though the trees themselves lean inward to listen. Few venture into its depths without lanterns, and fewer still return unchanged.

The forest is older than the city. Some scholars believe it once stretched across the entire region before being cut back by human and elven settlers. Others argue it was never truly a forest at all, but a living boundary meant to keep mortals away from something deeper within.

Features of the Dreadmere

  • The Ashwythe’s Black Waters: The river’s source lies far to the east, deep within the forest. Its waters are dark and sluggish, stained by tannins, but some say they carry older, fouler essences. Certain bends are known for sudden drownings, as if unseen hands drag victims below.

  • The Hollow Trees: Gigantic trees with cavernous interiors. Many are filled with bones, offerings, or ritual carvings. Some glow faintly at night, as though lit from within.

  • The Silent Glades: Clearings where no bird sings, no insect hums, and sound itself seems to dull. Hunters avoid these places, claiming they are “feeding grounds” for something unseen.

  • Greyor Marsh: Wetlands at the edge of the forest, near Greyor Farms. Lights flicker across the bogs at night, leading the unwary into quickmire.

Horrors and Legends

The Dreadmere is as much defined by its terrors as its trees. Tales differ, but all agree: the forest hungers.

  • The Wraith-Deer: Gaunt stags with translucent hides and glowing eyes. Hunters say they lead pursuers deeper into the woods, where the forest swallows them. Those who eat their flesh are said to gain visions of the past—and go mad within days.

  • The Hollow Choir: Voices heard drifting through the trees, chanting in forgotten tongues. Some swear the sound comes from a procession of pale figures carrying lanterns of bone. Others believe it is the forest itself, speaking in dreams.

  • The Dreadspawn: Misshapen beasts born of marsh, mist, and shadow. Wolves with too many eyes, serpents with human faces, and crows that repeat your own voice back at you. No two stories describe them the same, and perhaps no two Dreadspawn are alike.

  • The Bound Giants: Massive stone effigies half-swallowed by the earth. Their shapes suggest colossal men chained at the wrists and throat. Priests insist they are merely statues. The Covenant whispers they are ancient gods, buried alive beneath the soil.

  • The Pale Widow: A recurring legend of a spectral figure in white, seen standing among the trees. Always at dusk, always in silence. No one agrees what she is, but every child in Gravenholt has been warned never to follow her.

The Covenant’s Belief

To the faithful of the Covenant, the Dreadmere is not just wilderness—it is alive, a god unto itself. Its darkness is sacred, its silence holy. They teach that the forest and the river are bound together, veins of a greater being that craves worship and sacrifice. For them, entering the Dreadmere is not trespass, but pilgrimage.

Adventurer’s Note

“Steel rusts, fire sputters, but the forest endures. You may think it merely trees and mist, but look closer: the Dreadmere watches. When you step inside, it is not you who hunts—it is you who is hunted.”
—Inscribed warning, carved into the gatepost of a ruined ranger’s lodge.