Adhe Wood

Adhe Wood was a forest located in the Vast, lying south of the Earthfast Mountains, between the North Road and the Tsurlar Forest, north-east of the hamlet of Sevenecho. It was infested with arachnid monsters.


 * Also see Spiderhaunt Wood for another forest with a similar problem.

Description
The forest was old, dense and overgrown, and the trunks of its trees stood very close together. Most of these were duskwoods and shadowtops, while felsuls and oaks were found on the southern edge. The tallest trees grew over 80 feet (24 meters) tall. As a result, the depths of Adhe Wood were kept in eternal darkness.

Inhabitants
Deep in Adhe Wood were found large numbers of ettercaps and spiders. These spiders could be of any size or variety, and most possessed bizarre magical powers and mutations, such as hooked, slashing claws or stinging tails. They were exceedingly vicious and constantly hunted both each other and those who ventured into the forest.

Legends
The many mutant spiders were thought to be the result of some magical force active in the heart of Adhe Wood, likely ancient and evil. One possibility was an artifact that mutated the wildlife, another was an insane mage experimenting on the spiders. The sage Alither believed it was a diseased or magically altered deepspawn named "the Father of Spiders". On the other hand, the sage Othla Multar thought drow were to blame, theorizing that they bred and released the spiders to guard their passage to the local Underdark, from which they occasionally emerged and crossed into the Tsurlar Forest to trade with pirate vessels.

By 1370 DR, no adventurer had successfully determined the true cause of the mutant spiders. Folk in the city of Tsurlagol warned of the many web-shrouded, bloodless corpses of adventurers lying throughout the forest.

Other Tsurlagoli legends said that an old temple lay in Adhe Wood and could be just glimpsed from the North Road. It was said to be draped in spider-webs but decorated with statues of rearing snakes with huge emeralds for eyes. It was rumored to be full of gems, but the Tsurlagoli legends disagreed on exactly which deity the temple honored. Oddly, though Sevenecho was much closer, its people maintained that they'd never heard anything about it. They wisely never went near Adhe Wood anyway.