The Warpwoods [WIP] [PEACH]

[enderlord99]

There is a large forest (somewhere in whichever world you want to include it in) called the Warpwoods, which contains more space than an area of its perimeter should and where time behaves even more oddly.

Specifically, while most of time's features progress as would be expected...


...The days and nights within don't get longer or shorter with the seasons: daytime always lasts exactly as long as a "full day" would be outside, night twice as long as that, and twilight only a single hour.
...The seasons themselves progress normally for the landscape (including vegetation) and for creatures of the Plant or Construct type (with the exception of Living Constructs; keep reading) but, for living creatures (other than plants) they do not progress based on how long you wait; rather, they progress based on how far you travel. The faster you move, the more quickly the seasons change, regardless of what direction you're traveling in. For creatures walking continuously with a speed of five feet-per-second (or six squares-per-round) a full years worth of seasons would pass in roughly the time it takes to see the sun rise and set sixteen times.
...For the Undead, it is always mid-Autumn no matter how far they travel and how long they wait.
...If two creatures are in the same place but each experiencing a sufficiently-different* season, they cannot see or otherwise perceive each other, and treat each other as if they do not exist.


Other properties of the Warpwoods include...


...The negation of certain types of magic, including those related to time, weather, vision, teleportation, or light/darkness... except for versions specifically designed for use in the Warpwoods, and which don't work anywhere else.
...Weather that usually matches whatever would be expected of the season being experienced, but exaggerated: winter is always dark-as-night from the clouds blocking out the sun, and cold as the tundra; spring is full of rain, thunderstorms, and clouds of mildly- and sometimes moderately-hallucinogenic pollen; summers are oppressively hot and full of smoke from spontaneous wildfires; and autumn has plenty of fog, mist, and... well, see the second bullet-point in the previous section.
...No matter what the weather is like, and what season it's based on, there will always be something preventing any vision beyond roughly 100 feet.




*roughly 1/16 of a full "year" of seasons

[brian 333]

Trip and Toad flitted along the floor of the forest, beneath the canopy of ferns, along galleries and rabbit-trails which paralled the trail the biggers were using. Toad made a signal and Trip almost laughed out loud. The pair flitted ahead of the adventurers and while Toad cast an illusion of the trail turning toward the mud-flat of the Muckmarsh, Trip cast an illusion of stepping stones that lead across the vile muck that, when disturbed, smelled of dead and rotting things.

"By Jimminy, we're lost!" the halfling exclaimed.

"Fifty-two," the dwarf said.

"Fifty-two whats?" the halfling asked.

"You said, 'We're lost,' fifty-two times already."

"I did not! I..."

"Shhh!" the large human said. "You're supposed to be watching not bitching!"

"Aw Gladys," the halfling said, "I'm just..."

"Did you hear that?" asked the robed elf.

"I can't hear anything over their constant chatter," growled the half-orc as she kead the way, testing the white stepping stone with her foot before placing her weight on it.

The rest of the party followed in single file. When the elf came to the first stepping stone he paused as the rest of the party skipped ahead from rock to rock.

"Everyone come back now," he said in a calm, casual tone.

"Why?" Gladys asked.

"I'd rather not say," the elf said.

"Balhinthe is afraid he'll fall in the mud!" the halfling said, and the dwarf snorted a chuckle.

"Just come..."

But it was too late. Standing ankle-deep in the margin of the mud-flat, Balhinthe watched his comrades drop through the stiff crust of muck and plunge into the viscuous slime beneath.

If his dragonfly wings had not kept him aloft, Toad's laughter would have had him rolling in the mud with the biggers.

"Come on," Trip said between her own giggles, "We have to tell The Winter Queen."

As the golden light of summer faded to the chiaroscuro gloom of winter, the sudden horrified screams of the dwarf caused Toad to burst into a new round of laughter.

"They found... out about... the leeches!" he gasped between bouts of laughter.

[enderlord99]

I like your story, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean in relation to this thread. It seems connected, but... only vaguely. :smallconfused:

[brian 333]

It is an illustration.

Instead of listing facts, I write a short story to show those facts in action, and to hint at the many supporting facts a simple list would not even touch upon.

For example, I could have posted that the Warpwood is inhabited by pixies who play practical jokes on adventurers. In that case you would have missed:

1) Pixies using natural cover to stalk and observe intruders.

2) That pixies consider adventurers to be intruders.

3) That pixies use illusion to harrass intruders, often in conjunction with natural features.

4) Their practical jokes have a serious purpose of discouraging outsiders from trespassing.

5) They have the ability to shift between the various seasonal forests at will.

6) They have a social heirarchy and it is based, at least in part, around a queen who resides in the winter version of the forest.

Other facts could be extrapolated from the story if you choose to incorporate them in your campaign setting. You are free to use or ignore any part of the story as you wish, or to modify it as you see fit.

As an example, you may wish the fey to be rare but shy and friendly. They might help the PCs by sneaking healing and restorative draughts into the party's drinking water or cast sleep on them then guard them so that the party wakes refreshed and ready to study or pray for spells.

In any case, it is an idea for your consideration. If you like it you might begin to refine it for your setting, and if you dislike it you may say so and I will move on to other ideas rather than expand on this one.