**Type:** Mystic / Weird Site **Region:** Deadwood Periphery, within sight of the [[Lantern Wastes]] **Current State:** Lifeless, yet unfallen --- ## Overview The **Ashmarrow Tree** is a towering, skeletal husk of a once-colossal oak. Its bark is pale as bone, its branches stripped of leaves for centuries. Despite its dead state, no limb has ever fallen—every branch remains fixed, as if fused by unseen will. The roots spread wide, cracking the earth into pale ridges where **bones are often found tangled**: human, animal, and unrecognizable shapes. Locals regard the Ashmarrow Tree as a cursed marker of the Deadwood’s expansion, and some believe it to be the grave of an ancient hero, whose spirit was consumed by the land’s corruption. --- ## Appearance - **Bark & Branches:** Ash-white, cracked, and vein-like, giving the impression of a bleached skeleton rising from the ground. - **Roots:** Vast, gnarled roots sprawl outward like ribs breaking the earth. Among them, bones are unnaturally preserved, showing no rot even after centuries. - **Aura:** The air is unnaturally dry around the tree; birds and insects avoid it. On certain nights, faint whispers carry on the wind as if the bones themselves are speaking. --- ## History & Lore - **The Hero’s Rest:** One tale claims a great Duskwatch hero fell here, binding his soul into the oak to halt the Deadwood’s advance. The corruption eventually killed the tree but left his spirit imprisoned. - **Coalviel Account:** Records from Coalviel chroniclers describe the tree as a site of execution. Those hanged from its branches never rotted, their skeletons fusing into the roots below. - **Fey Legend:** Some Fey whisper that the Ashmarrow is not dead at all, but **inverted**—its life force has been drawn underground, feeding on marrow instead of sap. --- ## Magical Properties - **Marrow Echoes:** Spending an hour near the tree invites visions of the dead whose bones lie tangled in its roots (Wisdom save DC 15 to resist). - **Preservation:** Corpses buried at its base never decay; flesh sloughs away but bones remain pristine. - **Bloodroot Awakening:** Dropping fresh blood into the cracks of its roots causes the ground to shiver and may raise 1d4 skeletons (use _Skeleton_ stats). --- ## Adventure Hooks - **The Bone Whisperer:** A necromancer seeks to unearth the "heart-root" of the tree, claiming it contains the marrow of the last Duskwatch captain. - **Bound Spirit:** The spirit of the hero still lingers, but freeing him may unleash a wave of necrotic energy across the Deadwood. - **The Bone Road:** The [[Lantern Wastes]]’ ghostly lights seem to circle toward the tree once every decade. A ritual there might open a pathway to another realm—or the Rift Scar itself. --- ## Connections to Other Sites - **[[Lantern Wastes]]:** The lights of the Wastes follow patterned trails that spiral toward the tree on solstice nights. - **Gallows Stones:** Bones tangled in the roots often bear the same names carved on the Stones, suggesting a deeper connection between executions and the Deadwood’s curse. - **The Rift Scar:** Faint blue light sometimes flickers under the roots in sync with the Scar, hinting at a leyline fracture beneath. --- ## Summary The Ashmarrow Tree is a nexus of death, memory, and corruption. It offers adventurers a place of ominous visions, dangerous necromancy, and potential revelations about the Deadwood’s origins. Whether viewed as grave, prison, or inverted life-form, it stands as one of the Deadwood’s most enduring and haunting mysteries.