The Holt of the Bloodied King
Connects to: 5.24, 08.27, 13.03, 18.07, 18.28, 21.12, 24.11, 27.09, 28.07, 29.14.36, 29.14.47, 31.04, 31.07 and 34.04.
At the heart of the Kingswood lies the Holt of the Bloodied King. At night and during the very darkest depths of winter, the Seelie Court retreats into their central Holt. Tiny motes of purplish light arise from the trees during this time – the last remnants of the Unseelie Court that once shared ruler-ship in Kingswood, before being chased out hundreds upon hundreds of years ago.
Near the Holt where the Bloodied King of the Elves of the Kingswood reigns, a great geyser bursts from the earth. It is the source of the Witchwater, a river that flows through and out of the Kingswood.
Subhexes:
- 29.07.01 (The Factions of the Elves): although the unseelie court is gone divisions remain within the seelie court.
- 29.07.02 (The Holt has Many Doors): how the elves can show up nearly everywhere in the Kingswood.
- 29.07.03 (The Prince of Men): the Bloodied King is still bound by a treaty signed with the Prince of Men, an ancient human ruler that his race has forgotten.
Connections:
- Copperhaired human children were once brought in tribute to the Holt along the Orphan‘s March (27.09).
- The elves of the Timberlode (13.03) were exiled from the Kingswood.
- The Bloodied King destroyed the Citadel of the Verlimes (18.07) 150 years ago.
- The half-elfs of Olmsted Keep (31.04) are the only point of contact between the elves and the outside world.
- Near the Holt is the grave of a fallen storm giantess who was enchanted and killed by the elves (31.07).
- The Holt includes the Library Without a Floor (28.07), an extensive library indeed.
- In the old days the line of Stodfost stood sentinel against the unseelie elves (21.12).
- The Bastard Prince (34.04) claims to be the true heir of both elven courts and has been exiled from the Holt.
- The Bloodied King once granted the Cactogre a nymph (18.28).
- Legend says that the Bloodied King once petrified the ancestral goblin tree (05.24).
- A disputed legend says that when the unseelie Queen Sinister left the side of the Bloodied King she cursed this land so that it now only rains but once a year (29.14.36).
- When the unseelie elves went into exile a few of the seelie court went with them. Those exiles are now known as the white elves of Zaal (08.27).
- After what happened after Tiamat‘s black head fell, the Bloodied King scoured all the trees that grew in a certain patch of the Kingswood (24.11).
- Elharen the Silent (29.14.47) has come here to seek aid in her personal war against the gnolls of the Burning Lands.
Hooks:
- Why‘s there such a massive geyser in the middle of the forest?
- Why would it be foolish for a human (or other species as well?) to bathe in the Witchwater?
The Holt Has Many Doors
Hex 29.07.02
Connects to: Hex 22.04.
The Holt of the Bloodied King has many doors. They can be found under the rocks on hillsides, beneath the roots of trees and in hollows in the banks of the Witchwater. Where they can be found changes from day to day but, wherever they can be found in the Kingswood they lead to the hollow hill of the Holt (except, of course, for the few that lead elsewhere…). Many wandering humans have stumbled into them over the centuries, few to return.
But it was not always so. Although there are several stories that account for the doors, the most popular is that of a young Bargainer. She was young, wild and willful and made sport with all of the beasts of the Kingswood, even riding on the back of the unicorn. One day, when she was trading words and more with a prince of the fey, she complained of the heat of the noonday sun and how dearly she would love to return to her home for refreshment when the sun rose high. He promised her that there would always be a door to her home wherever her steed grazed at midday, if she would only meet his price. She gloried in her cleverness and agreed without a second thought, for as every elf knows and as the prince had forgotten, at noon the unicorn appears not in one place but in one and a thousand, although for just the barest instant.
Since that day, the elves have been able to travel across the wide miles of the forest and return to the Holt with ease. Of the young Bargainer, little else is told for the price she paid was higher than she could have known. Of the elves who believe this legend, many fear what would happen to the doors of the Holt if harm should ever befall the unicorn…
Connection:
- An orc (22.04) tried to exploit these doors to make an attack on the Holt. It failed.
Hooks:
- Why does the unicorn appear in a thousand and one places each day at noon?
- What was the price that the young Bargainer paid that proved to be so high?
- Where is the ‘elsewhere’ that many of the doors lead?
- Did anything interesting ever happen to the humans who stumbled into one of the doors of the Holt?
