Basinwind Swamp

Description
A deep an murky swamp with high trunked trees which suffocate the very air below. The ground is a series of intricate sodden paths caked in mud and mulch. The deep pools of water seem dark and ominous and a low, warm mist hangs over the swamp lands. Shafts of light penetrate the thickets, letting spears of light illuminate the many bugs and flys which call this swamp home. The land is sprawling and thick with mounds, hills and caverns found throughout. Sound is muffled and limited with no real positions from where to get your bearings. Many a traveller has never returned after entering the Basinwind Swamp. The paths lead in circles and in strange locations. Footprints can be found but they often double back on themselves or suddenly stop: an ominous and foreboding reminder of the danger that lurks in the Basinwin Swamp...

Places of Note
Earnside Keep - The ruins of a hold now exist in the very centre of the swamp. It is used by travellers and those seeking out arcana as a temporary shelter from the hostile environment. Many in Sleetguard know this as a scary looking place which has a reputation for how it came to ruin.

The family who once held Earnside, the Tregan family, were known for their greed. A father, a mother, a son and a daughter. They coveted money over all else. They lived a happy albiet lonesome existence out in the swamp but they were content with their lot. A traveller with a grey cloak is said to have visited them deep one night. The father allowed the traveller in. For their hospitality, the traveller promised to return with ten thousand gold as payment. The traveller stayed the night, then left saying he would be back in three days. The family got together to decide how best to spend the money and no one could decide.

That night, the daughter awoke with a sensationally strong appetite for money. She was enraged with her brothers idea to spend hte money on repairs to the Earnside keep. She stormed into his room, grabbing a candle as she moved and lit her brothers bed on fire and holding the door behind her shut until the screaming stopped.

The following night, sure of her daughters guilt in the murder of their only son, the mother enters the room of her sleeping daughter and suffocates her with a pillow.

Distraught with the death of his children, the father stand high on the tower, looking out over the swirling mists of the swamp, ready to jump. His wife appears next to him. He screams at her "it was the traveller! It was the money!" The wife looks at the husband and says "my money" and pushes him into the thickets, many floors below, landing with a thud.

No one knows what happened to the mother, some say she still walks the swamp at night, stealing money from travellers and killing young girls...