Bolan Drops

As is known the Darkenfold is divided into two distinct geographic regions. The Northern Plateau consists of the Uplands, Troll Glade, and the Powder River Country. The Southern Plateau consists of the Millorian in the west and the Downs in the east, both comprising the heart of the Darkenfold. It is not always easy to tell where one begins and the other ends as the forest floor is broken by many lesser features. Alice’s Bluff is divides the two, but the bluff is only 25-30 miles long. But the line travels from the Bluff East to the Hollow, curves south to the long line of hills known as Mount Judy. These last mark the northern fence of the River Basin country, a low, flat region that stretches from Mount Judy to the Mistbane, known as the Wingnut Bottoms or Wingnut Bottomlands.

The Bolan Drops are part of this country. They are distinctive in the River Basin from the Wingnut because, where that region is flat, the Bolan Drops are not. They Drops are a series of ridges, each higher the further north one goes. The ridges themselves are roughly 40-60 miles long and run east and west, however, there are multiple shorter ridges that fan out in every north and south and along all points of the compass after that, making the entire country one of broken hills and ridges with general line of march on an east/west axis.

The ridges are cut and splintered by a host of deep gulches, carved out of the land by years of rain and run off. Near the top, along the ridgelines the gulches are filled with tangled scrub, brush and small, dried up trees that eke a living out of the sparse soil. Deeper in the gulches where the sun struggles to reach there are older trees, far older trees. These well watered ents feed on the rich soil and the water and grow fat, their girth at times a dozen feet or more. Their canopies are broad and thick and hang low to the ground. Oak vines thrive here, crawling across the ground and coiling around the base of the old forest giants.

Travel in the gulches is a little easier, the ground is soft and water plentiful, but anyone passing through feels the ominous presence of the trees.

~ Harvest of Oaths