The Flenching Forest
Location: Abyss / Layer 8—Skindjur
The Flenching (or Flensing) Forest is a living nightmare of jagged crystalline trees and razor-sharp foliage, a place that hums with menace. Unlike a typical forest, where life thrives in harmony, the Flenching Forest seems to exist solely to maim and torment. Its trees are not wood but a translucent crystal, their branches ending in wickedly sharp edges that glint like blades. The ground is a thick carpet of broken glass shards, crunching and slicing underfoot. The forest pulses faintly with an eerie light, as if it were breathing, its crystalline canopy casting fractured shadows that seem to move independently of the light source.
The trees of the Flenching Forest appear immobile when you observe them, but when they think you’re not looking, their branches reaching out to slice at berks in their reach. The wind moans faintly with a discordant melody as the wind passes through the razor canopy, disorienting those who linger too long. Worse still are the glass fleas, tiny, insect-like creatures made entirely of broken glass shards. They form glittering swarms, which would be quite beautiful if they didn’t try to cut at your flesh with their serrated limbs. Planewalkers who survive these attacks often find themselves infected with shard rot, an agonising condition where tiny fragments of glass embed themselves under the skin, growing slowly and painfully over time.
The forest’s flora is no more welcoming. Among the crystalline trees grow hemorrhagic vines, thin tendrils that look like veins and arteries that hang from the trees, and drip a viscous red sap. This liquid can be harvested and used as a potent healing salve—but only by those willing to endure the excruciating pain of harvesting it, as the vines lash out with needle-like thorns when disturbed. The rarest plant in the forest is the vampire’s kiss, a flower that grows only where fresh blood has been spilled. Its petals can be ground into a salve that thickens ones skin, enhancing its strength [+1 to natural AC] but leaves permanent scars on the user’s body.
Conversely, the most common plant here is razorvine. Some graybeards reckon that this might be where the horrible plant originated. It certainly grows fast here, although it likes the damp smoggy climate of Sigil even better,
The harsh beauty of the Flenching Forest is undeniable—the surreal landscape of shimmering light and crystalline elegance—but it is beauty born of malice and cruelty. The place is generally avoided, except for the brave cutters who come here seeking ingredients for potions and spells—which are abundant, if one can survive long enough to claim them.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt