Pinehollow

Old pines and still hollows, fog in the low ground, pitch and timber on the rivers.

Landmark

the Kingpine

Folk

pinefolk, beaverfolk of tarred-timber towns

Dragon

Needlefall

Climate

cool and damp under old pines; still mornings with fog in the hollows; long grey winters with little snow

Hazards

the hollow fog, log jams, wolverines, the lynx, getting lost

Trades

pitch, pine tar, rosin, timber, pine nuts, soapstone, elk antler, marten fur

The hollow fog

A bank of fog lies in the low ground until about ten, and a weather of fog keeps it all day. The dew keeps every track: whatever walks through the bank leaves a dark trail in the grey dew, and what is buried or hidden shows as a dry patch. Nothing above sees in: flyers, ravens, Needlefall's omen and Needlefall in a fight lose whoever is inside the bank. The bank is chill.

You will notice: A white sheet with a flat top lying in the hollows with pine crowns standing out of it, needles dripping, rime on the webs at its rim, and the towns' fog bells ringing.

What helps: Moss Boots, Wool Cloak

The log drive

The beaverfolk send felled pines down the rivers. Logs ride the current, pile into jams at bends and break loose. A log is ground: step log to log to cross a river anywhere while the drive runs. A log rolls under a running walker unless shod (you slip and are swept a few tiles, soaked, your torch out). A jam that breaks throws its logs: a crushing hit on anything in the channel or within a tile of its banks. River beasts keep away.

You will notice: The drivers' calls and the boom of timber upstream before the logs come; logs nosing round the bend; a jam groaning and leaning before it breaks.

What helps: Caulked Boots, Pike Pole