A dark tree was an evil intelligent tree that looked like a cypress tree, but slightly darker and devoid of moss. It was known to grapple and bite. It lived on drinking blood from humans and other intelligent creatures that wandered into its native jungle.[1]
Description[]
Resembling a darker version of the harmless cypress tree, the dark trees grew to 18–20 feet (5.5–6.1m) in height, with a span of branches 40 feet (12 m) across. There were reports of dark trees growing to twice that size, possibly due to their long lifespan.[1] They were covered in wet and slimy bark.[3]
Discerning a dark tree from a normal tree was not an easy task. Only the trained eye could spot two dark eyes set in the bark just above a maw that resembled a natural crack. Unlike treants, one could hardly mistake the evil aura surrounding the dark tree. This was the only warning most adventurers felt in their stomachs before the tree tried to grapple its unaware victims or slash them with its branches.[1]
Behavior[]
They enjoyed tormenting their prey before killing it. They did not speak, although they had a huge maw when opened.[1]
Abilities[]
Travelers fending off a dark tree and a flying snake in the Wood of Dark Trees.
Dark trees also had the ability to confuse their victims using a mental attack.[3] Reports claimed that adventurers got lost in the deep forest after combat with a dark tree, wandering around mentally confused.[1]
Combat[]
Normally a dark tree would try to grab its victim with its two arm-like branches, and once held immobile, it would attempt to drink the victim's blood with its gaping maw.[1]
The layer of moisture and slime on a dark tree's bark made fire a surprisingly ineffective tool when combatting them. However, it also made them susceptible to magical cold.[3]
Ecology[]
Dark trees prefered to dwell in dense jungles where the forest canopy could keep them shaded from direct sunlight. While they could subsist on photosynthesis, they preferred to drink blood,[2] especially the blood of intelligent prey.[1] A dark tree could only reproduce after consuming a large quantity of blood, at which point it would enter a year-long process in which new dark trees would begin to bud off of it, culminating in it breaking apart into 2 to 5 new but identical dark trees.[2]
They were native to the Shining South. As of 1372 DR, travelers had reported encountering these dangerous and huge plants in the Aerilpar Forest of northwest Durpar (aptly called the Wood of Dark Trees); the Forest of Amtar, the Ajmer Forest, and the swamp of Rethild in Dambrath; the Toadsquat Mountains in Luiren; and in the Granuin Forest of southeastern Lluirwood.[1][3][2]
History[]
A warrior confronts a dark tree.
It was said that a Halruaan wizard and necromancer called Benauril wanted to create the dark trees as servants, intending them to be not unlike treants, around the mid-to-late 1100s DR. The experiment went horribly wrong and the servants slew their master. They then spread from the site of their creation in the Aerilpar Forest—which came to be known as the "Wood of Dark Trees"—into the surrounding forests.[1][2]
Dark trees were one of the many species of sentient plants that the priesthood of Rillifane Rallathil were particularly known to seek out and destroy.[4]
Appendix[]
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See also[]
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 62. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Tom Prusa (1993). The Shining South. (TSR, Inc), p. 94. ISBN 1-56076-595-X.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 James Wyatt, Rob Heinsoo (February 2001). Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn. Edited by Duane Maxwell. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 31–32. ISBN 0-7869-1832-2.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 123. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.