 Brynwood
 HE
large forest of Brynwood rambles up and down many rocky outcrops
and steep-sided ravines, covering a large area north of Maerstar
and Sevenecho.
This trackless, tumbled terrain is as difficult to
travel through as the Stonelands north of Cormyr – and like
that infamous region, the Brynwood hides many a monster. It was
once home to many korred and satyrs, but these two races disputed
territory with each other, and in the strife that followed both
fell prey to monsters that grew steadily mote numerous, until the
original inhabitants have almost disappeared. Human incursions have
cleared much of the land between the mountains and the Tsurlagan
coast, but the Brynwood remains a deadly heart of the woods that
no human date try to fell.
Legends whisper that a clan of evil shapechanging creatures dwell
here – spell-using beings who can appear as female humans to
lure male adventurers into the forest depths and then change form
into giant spiders, wolves, owlbears, or huge snakes to devour the
hapless men. A rival legend holds that the women are human who take
animal form to discourage intruders of all kinds. A minstrel even
composed a ballad about one of them, a white-haired, scornful mage
he called ‘Snowhair the Sorceress."
 Whatever
the truth, at least three notable adventuring bands – The Company
of the Talking Shield, The Men of the Purple Sash, and The Skullsword
Reavers – have vanished while exploring Brynwood in the last
decade, and Harper rangers have been heard to mutter unhappily that
‘something evil lurks in that wood.’ One tavern-tale popular
in Impiltur tells of an ancient, many-spired castle at the heart
of the wood where the shapeshifting women dwell, devising powerful
spells. According to this story, they use magical gates to travel
to Westgate, Telflamm, Airspur, and even Waterdeep with a single
step. There, the tale whispers, they gather magic by stealth and
poison, slaying or drugging wizards and seizing what they can. One
day these ‘Bryndar,’ as the tale dubs them, will emerge
from their woody retreat to try and rule the Realms by their magic,
if they aren’t stopped in the meantime by brave (or foolish
or lucky) adventurers. The truth of this surprisingly vivid and
persistent tale remains unproven; Elminster believes that someone
or something is spreading the tale or keeping it alive in order
to lure adventurers into Brynwood for purposes unknown.
 From
The Everwinking Eye: Treasures of the Vast, Part One by Ed Greenwood
(Polyhedron #88, October 1993) as revised in The City of Ravens
Bluff. 
(Illustrations by David Bruehl)
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