The Land of the Dead

South of the westerlands, across the Bay of Sunset, lies the land of the dead. It is visible from sea, and from some of the taller mountains in the land of the Gwynn such as Ober Winfrey, but all most people know about it is that if you set foot on it you will die. Sailors are occasionally shipwrecked here, but none are known to have survived. Rumors exist of brave explorers who have come seeking riches, or knowledge, or just adventure, but for the most part, these are third or fourth hand stories.

The truth is, the beach is almost perfectly safe. It is a pleasant white sandy beach looking out over the crystal clear waters of the bay, about 100 meters wide. Behind the beach is a jungle. The single odd feature of the beach is that here (and in the entirety of the land), no restful sleep is too be found. Any intelligent creature that attempts to sleep has their dreams filled with nightmares. And as they push their way into the jungle, the danger only increases.

It quickly becomes clear that the jungle is not an ordinary jungle. The colors are too vibrant, the air too alive, for that to be the case. It is filled with all kinds of vicious creatures -- venomous snakes and frogs, insane chipanzees, and rabid velociraptors. Paths lead into the jungle, but they quickly lead nowhere, or narrow until brushing up against the plant life is inevitable and deadly. Vines turn out to be strangler vines, venus fly traps increase in size until they can eat a Goliath, and trees are increasingly covered with razor sharp thorns dripping with a clear lethal poison. Sinkholes open up randomly, swallowing men whole.

It is not well known, but there is a river leading into the Land of the Dead. The few books that refer to it call it the River Styx. It flows away from the ocean, and as it leads deeper into the jungle, its waters began to turn black. They become deadly poison, and wickedly corrosive to only but the most well-spelled boat, and they are increasingly swift the closer to the Mountains of Madness that they run.