The Uskwood Edge
AUGINFORD · WILDERNESS BOUNDARY · LAST SAFE CAMP
The Uskwood Edge
The forest begins without a clean boundary. Ferns push through the road, black branches interlock overhead, and the last Auginford fence posts lean toward the trees as if trying to follow someone inside. A curl of blue cooking smoke rises from a low turf-roofed shelter just beyond the final marker stone.
The Uskwood Edge is the final place to prepare before the Mansions. Here the party meets Warden Elowen Reed, a practical druid who keeps a sheltered camp beneath the old trees. She offers safe sleeping, clean water, and a fire that the local forest spirits recognize as hers. She will not enter the Mansions, but she can point out the safer trails and identify the changing signs of portal weather.
Routes from the edge
- Mansion of AshA half-day hike along the old south trail. Ash gathers in the fern beds before the ruined gate comes into view.
- Between the MansionsOnce the party reaches the estate grounds, the old service paths place each mansion roughly one hour from the others—assuming the rifts have not distorted the route.
- Safe sleepingElowen’s camp is a reliable place to rest before the first approach or between expeditions, provided the party does not bring an active rift, cursed object, or pursuing danger into her ward.
Elowen’s counsel: “Do not hurry a door that wants you frightened. Sleep here, start early, and let the Ash house show its own smoke before you show it your torch.”