Between the Whisper Marsh and the Kaduun Mountains lies the haunted Sapwood Hollow. Within the valley the serene river Maintau flows through Sapwood Grove and into Sapwood Lake. By day, the grove and marsh are calm. At night, the region reveals its haunted secret. In a perpetual cycle of life and death, the leaves on the trees sprout and blossom from morning to afternoon, after which they turn yellow and orange and have withered away by evening. During the night the forest is a graveyard of wooden skeletons. Under the shimmer of the moonlight They come alive, the Cold Ones. Twisted ephemeral constructs, the demons of Sapwood Hollow.
Held together by roots and vines, and animated by the channelled essence of life, they are driven to defend the grove against intrusion, as nothing shall disturb this cycle, or otherwise the ancient sin underneath Sapwood Lake will awaken, and rattle the region once again.