Terrain Across the Lands

There are many different types of lands, some familiar, some strange. There are large swaths of farm land, prairie, rolling hills, and other travel friendly types of terrain. Within these hospitable lands are places few go, and those that do either vanish or return with horrific stories. These terrible places are dark and foreboding, and all are taught the signs to look for when entering an unfamiliar place.

Among the most common avoided places are large forests. Every large forest has stories tied to it of lumber crews entering and never coming out again. People can recognize a dark forest by the sound. A forest that is not to be entered does not emit one sound. No bird songs, no rustling off leaves by the wind, only a pervasive and deadly silence. These forests are considered cursed and anything that is said to come from them is also considered cursed.

There are also a number of swamps in the lowlands. Many are normal swamps, which are avoided purely out of them having no use, but there are a few that are truly terrifying to travel through. These swamps are were the dead rise. Many travelers have drowned when passing through swamps, and their lifeless bodies are destined to forever drag others down with them. The only way to know if the swamp you are about to travel through in tainted is the smell. Although all swamps have a pungent order, a dead swamp has a particularly terrible smell that causes someone to smells it for the first time to vomit.

Mountains are normally a nightmare for your average traveler. Sheer cliffs, powerful winds, and freezing temperatures are only some of the troubles that need to be dealt with on an average mountain. When traveling over a mountain great care must be taken to avoid golems. A specific breed of golem wanders mountains randomly, its only mission is to seek out and destroy invaders. Any mountain can have a golem crossing it at any given time. There numbers are not large, but they are believed to be responsible for many deaths over the years.

There are other dangerous locales dotting the land, some with a specific and known danger, and others that are mysteries because no one ever returns from them. Many places that were once safe become deadly destinations for reasons completely unknown, and known danger sometimes vanishes for no reason.