The Hallowtree

A HAUNTED TREE DEEP IN THE DIMWOOD

Deep within the gloomy forests of the Dimwood, a lone tree lies in a clearing. In stark contrast to the robust and hearty woods surrounding it, this tree stands gnarled and twisted, its once strong bark petrified to a pale grey. This is the Hallowtree, said to be the location where Nishiji, architect of the Third Great Schism, was finally defeated. His army crushed and abandoned by his generals, the fiendish Nishiji attempted to hide within the lone tree’s hollow. The blinding light of Daybringer, the mythical sword of the battlemage Damoclen, led the armies of the Lilac Alliance, a courageous alliance of kings, princes and nobles, to the calcified tree. Stolomir, eldest son of the Widow-King who was betrayed by Nishiji, cut the treacherous fiend down upon its roots. Since that time, the knotted and misshapen Hallowtree has held an air of unease and disquiet. Long thought haunted by the nearby villages of Surogorod and Volgorod, its area of the Dimwood is normally avoided by hunters and foresters. Centuries ago, a coven of woodwitches bound the tree in thick-woven ropes of grisreed to confine the evil spirit of Nishiji within, but over time the ropes have slacked and loosened. Today the tree and its resident parliament of death’s head owls are cared for by the eccentric moonmage Svarta, who lives in a small cottage on the edge of the clearing. Every full moon she performs a ritual cleansing ceremony to keep the cursed nature of the tree in check.

Even before Nishiji’s downfall upon the Hallowtree’s roots, it was regarded as a site of preternatural activity. Death’s head owls, themselves long thought to be omens of impending doom, have always congregated upon its gnarled branches. Tradition among the woodwitches of the Dimwood holds that the air surrounding the tree is especially thin, allowing one to easily reach across the veil and contact the spirit world.

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