Nettlewood — The Dark Forest

The spider cave in Nettlewood where Screech Sagg was found webbed up

Nettlewood

Overview

Dense coastal forest north of Thistletop on the Varisian coast. The party emerged here after transiting the astral plane. They pressed north through it to reach Thistletop.

Geography

• Lies north of Mosswood along the Varisian coast.
• Dense with tangled briars, thorns, and nettles. Some patches reach 20 feet high near the shore.
• Approaching Thistletop by land requires navigating these tangles.
• Goblin trails thread through the briar maze to Thistletop's hidden tunnel entrance (C1).

Terrain Notes (from RotR source)

• DC 14 Survival to find a route through; DC 24 to find the goblin trail.
• Each hour of wandering: 30% chance of poisonous stinging nettles or goblinberries (Fort DC 12 or take Dex or Str damage).
• The forest is not a jungle — it is dense coastal briar-forest. The campaign account's use of "jungle" is the Creative Director's flavor description; the terrain is dense overgrown forest with thorns, briars, and nettles.

Campaign Context

The party emerged from the astral plane into the Nettlewood. The trees were vast and old and did not welcome them. They pressed north toward Thistletop. This positions the Nettlewood as the transition point from the planar sequence into the Thistletop arc.

Notes

• "Nettlewood jungle" as used in the campaign account is the CD's flavor description. Canonical terrain: dense coastal forest, briars, thorns, nettles to 20 feet high. The game can use the dense-forest aesthetic with the CD's jungle flavor intact.
• The Nettlewood presses to the southern approach of Thistletop. The party approached Thistletop from the south, through the Nettlewood, in the first assault phase.