Dead Zones- Areas with strong connections to the negative energy plane.
The Six Dead Trees
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What foul magic created these trees? What force could posibly pervert nature in such an obscene way? I couldn't come within one hundred yards of each tree as the stench of their corroded husks sapped the strength from my bones.
The Six Dead Trees can be found where six druids were destroyed attempting to stop the flow of the Obsidian Tide. The guilt the Druids felt for failing their mission and the negative energy of the Dead Lands delivered these six druids into undeath, twisting them into degenerated and decaying trees.
Beholding the Rehy'a Biga Fey (ancient Orcish for "Trees of Death") is perceiving death at it's lewdest. These massive trees tower over 200 feet, blocking all sunlight from entering it's domain. While living trees have a protective covering of bark, the trunks of these trees are covered with stringy flesh; discolored, rotten and foul smelling. Blood constantly oozes from the trunk and courses through the black veins on the surface. Undead swarm around the trees like Kes'Trekels swarm around a dying desert wanderer. They do their best, thinking and unthinking Undead alike, to protect the trees, as that is their curse. These undead were the followers of the failed druids and so are charged with protecting the trees.
Special Note: The sap from the Dead trees is used to create T'liz's. For more information, click
here
.
The Bayery
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Travelling southward towards Gretch's stronghold my encounters with the Undead increased ten-fold. Weary from my exhuasting journey I sought refuge in a cluster of buildings I noticed on the horizon. I made a terrible mistake, as these buildings seemed to act as a beacon for the walking dead, beckoning them from miles around to seek shelter in their obsidianized walls. I barely escaped with my life that night--I suggest you make your way around this accursed location.
The Bayery is a huge complex located twenty miles north-west of Gretch's tower. It is comprised of three large obsidian coated buildings, each holding two spheres of obsidian. These spheres measure 10' in diameter and emit an eerie red-brown light. The glow comes from the incredible amount of energy stored inside each of them, the energy of the Grey. Gretch used these enormous obsidian orbs to store the Negative energy he had collected from the Grey when conducting his early experiments for Rajaat.
The Obsidian Dome
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About three hundred yards from Gretch's keep stands a twenty foot tall, beautifully polished obsidian dome. This amazing piece of architecture radiates extraordinary cold, blue-colored energy. It is my belief that this dome is the tool Gretch used to control the multitude of Undead at his command. Anyone foolish enough to wish to use the device must fight their way through a field of Grey Zombies, a task that will most likely end in death.
Gretch used the Obsidian Dome to amplify his Undead control, granting him power over thousands of the unliving. Before he disappeared, Gretch enchanted over two hundred skeletons and other weak Undead with the power to draw energy from the Grey. When the Undead are destroyed, their ability comes into use, regenerating their bodies to unlife again. It takes 1d6 rounds for the Undead to fully regenerate. For more information, see the Grey Skeletons Monstrous Compendium entry.
Using the Dome is simple: aim any Necromantic spell at it and the effects will be improved ten fold. Spells from any other school are sent back at the caster, with no amplification.
Minn' on
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On my third day of exploring the Dragon's Back Mountains, I found the source off all the ash that clung to the mountainside. Thirty feet above my head was a glimmering, yellow portal, spewing forth an amzing amount of grey, white and black ash. No heat eminated from the portal, in fact, their seemsed to be a slight chill in the air. How this got here, I will never know. perhaps the ancients had some arcane use for it.
Minn' on is an area located just one-fourth mile east of the Dragon's Back Mountains. It is what's known as a "Miny Gate", and is a connecting point between the Plane of Ash and the Prime Material plane. It was formed during the time that the Obsidian Tide swept across this region, and was responsible for destroying many of the flying creatures that would have been otherwise unaffected by the great disaster.
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