Frozen Forest

The Frozen Forest was an almost entirely coniferous forest, named for the glittering ice that sheathed the needles and boughs of its close standing trees. At the edge of the forest, most of the trees were bent over from the weight of the ice, but deeper in towards the heart of the wood, the trees stood too closely together to bend, and their uppermost boughs became welded together with ice. The forest was vast, with very few natural clearings, and no human cut roads or trails (although the Remorhaz Run ran through the northern part of the forest). The icy Alaphaer Run ran down from the Abbey Mountains and into the forest, leading almost directly to the fabled Monument of the Ancients.

Ground fogs were ever-present below the boughs; close to the ground there was an unnatural warmth radiating up from underground magma, which helped support the trees and wildlife. Abundant rabbits, squirrels, and grouse fed lynxes and owls (including a few of the giant varieties) as well as foxes, voles, and other small animals. Along the verges of the forest moose, elk, and rothé foraged, constantly moving to where they could find green shoots, and they used the lee of the forest for protection when the fierce storms of North Faerun hit. Caribou wintered in the forest, while deep within the forest lived dark fey who had no love for sentient intruders of any sort.

At various times over the ages, humans had tried to settle within the forest, but persistent hobgoblin attacks decimated their settlements and numbers and forced survivors to flee to the south. They reported finding strange ruins & foundations in the forest from previous settlements, from which enchanted weapons and other treasures had been recovered. They also claimed that fell monsters roamed in the depths below these ruins. The wizard Elminster had noted that unknown powers actively prevented dwarves and gnomes from living or mining directly under the forest.