#37: Forest of Staves

Age: Centuries past

Hidden or Lost?: Known only to mages and the dead

History: When a powerful wizard dies or otherwise departs this material plane, their staff is too great an artifact to leave loose in the world. The Grave Magisterium is tasked with vanishing their staff to the Forest of Staves, a demiplane that acts as a strange graveyard of wild magic, or a deadly armory depending on how you look at it.

Not actually a living grove, the Forest of Staves gets its name from the countless thousands of magical staffs that have been embedded upright in the cracked ground. Some are simple bow staffs while others are ornate lengths of burnt redwood, etched with runes or crackling with eldritch power. Each of the powerful staffs was placed by another warlock as part of a funeral rite, fused with the ground itself to ward against them ever being used again.

As the collection of magic objects in the demiplane has grown, so has the chaotic nature of the place, creating unique and dangerous phenomena not found anywhere else in the realms. There is the Wilder Run, a corridor between the staves where the spirits of untethered familiars can be found hunting anything (or anyone) that wanders into their area. Or one might stumble into the Talisman Swarm, a clanking, crashing storm of wild magic caused by small trinkets of power fallen from the staves. Then there is the Pool of the First Fallen, a small lake at the center of the forest, over which floats a simple stave, mysterious and untouched, that is said to have belonged to the first wizard.

The forest is watched over by the figure known only as The Tender. They make sure that any new staffs find a place to rest, and that no one overstays their welcome. The Tender is never seen without his crude shovel, which most believe is itself a powerful staff.

The Forest of Staves is both a grove of ancient mysteries and a tempting target for those seeking ill-gotten arcane artifacts.

1. Dead Landing 8. Spellform’s Hunting Ground

2. Garden of Loosed Curses 9. Talisman Swarm

3. The Potion Pools 10. The Midas Traps

4. The Wilder Run 11. Hut of Argos the Tender

5. Pulpit of the Silent Voice 12. Healer’s Respite

6. The Opal Flame Thicket 13. Congress of the Spirit Magi

7. Illusioner’s Monument 14. Pool of The First Fallen