Taking its name from the unusual clarity and confusing behaviour of sounds trapped beneath the heavy canopy of cherry, ash, black oak, holly and maple, the Echo Woods is an ancient and mysterious forest that marks the northwestern boundary of the River Kingdoms. It has been, and still continues to be, home to Goblin citadels, Azlanti towers, Ogres, Fey, Bandits, Kellid Barbarians and even mighty Green Dragons yet none of this has stopped people from trying to settle amongst the trees, in clearings created by woodcutters or even in the ruins of civilizations past.
On the northwestern fringe of the River Kingdoms, just south of Mendev and the Worldwound, waits Echo Wood. Travelers usually just pass through, traversing Crusader Road on their way to join the fight in the north. But sometimes they linger, finding gold and glory in the frontier lands. Perhaps they stay to take up vows as a Hellknight at Fort Inevitable, or a Knight of Iomidae at Fort Riverwatch. More likely they end up in Thornkeep, a wretched hive of scum and villainy, where Goblins walk openly and free, death hunts with the full moon, and evil sleeps fitfully bellow.
There’s money to be made in the Echo Woods, if only you know where to look, but the wood protects itself through agents of balance. It isn’t unheard of for woodcutters to vanish, leaving behind the tools of their trade. For bandits to chase after the sound of fleeing merchants only to wind up in the mouth of a dragon. For all of its dangers, new rumors have begun circulating about withered crops, poisoned water, completely decayed bodies of recently missing persons, and massive swarms of insects flowing like a river through the trees and brush. Is some new evil lurking in the depths of the Wood? Or, perhaps, something very, very old?
Welcome to the Echo Woods… Tread lightly…
