Pteryxcat » Clan | Lair | Nesting Grounds

Pteryxcat's Clan

Ancient Lair

hidden in the

Clan Info

Dark brambles tower above the ground, a millennia-old artificial mountain range to protect shadows from the roiling mass beyond. Opportunistic plants cover the outside, lichens and tough herbs mixed with boil-like fungus crept out from the plagued plains below.

Further into Shadow, trees grow directly on the brambles themselves, roots sinking deep into pockets of soil accumulated over centuries. A dark forest grows under heavy cloud cover and lancing spears of sunlight; tall spruce, pine, hemlock, cypress, an occasional towering maple, all dripping with mosses and ferns.

Beneath the canopy the twisting brambles make for a hazardous floor, latticed with fallen trees. Gaps show where the rot has given way, dropping forest detritus down hundreds of feet to the lightless ground. Berries peek from under dense foliage, sparrowmice chirp from the understory alders, and flying fawns pick warily at creeping vines, gliding to the next bramble at the slightest noise.

Here, scattered through the trees, are traces of habitation. Holes dug into the forest substrate; a tree bridge cut too cleanly to have fallen on its own; a hint of a trail, cut off abruptly by the curve of a root. Ropes course through the canopy, barely visible through the trees, dotted sporadically with glass charms. A resident might find pathways or insect-lures, running across or threading traces of magic through to light up cables one by one; an uninvited guest attempting to do the same would be lured away by the shifting lanterns, or fall from the many decoy offshoots, down into the lightless void beneath.

If a stranger or traveling friend has found their way to the forest, it may be best to pluck a string and sit tight. Going by the look of this place, the dangers you might find by searching for the lair on your own would be far worse than the dangers that might find you if you stay where you are. Someone friendly is sure to come along eventually, right?