The Fingers of The Fallen is a vast and haunting expanse of towering, overgrown mesas that stretch across the southwestern coast of The Barren Badlands, their jagged peaks reaching skyward like the colossal fingers of a fallen titan. Once a desolate land of barren stone and cracked mesas, this region was forever changed by the Conjunction of the Realms, when the boundaries between the Plane of Faewyld and the Prime Plane collapsed, intertwining their realities.
A Realm Transformed
Prior to the Conjunction, the Fingers of The Fallen were lifeless—dry, windswept spires of stone, a maze of crumbling buttes and shadowed ravines where only the hardiest desert predators roamed. But with the incursion of Faewyld energies, the mesas became overtaken by strange and vibrant flora, their surfaces now blanketed in mystical vines, bioluminescent moss, and sprawling canopies of iridescent leaves. Alien flowers bloom in hues unseen by mortal eyes, some exhaling hypnotic spores that lure prey to their doom. The air itself hums with the faint whispers of the Faewyld’s lingering influence, making time and distance feel erratic within the twisting labyrinth of stone and overgrowth.
The valleys between these massive mesas have become treacherous hunting grounds, where predatory creatures from the Faewyld now prowl. The most feared among them are the Mist Drake, cunning and lethal winged beasts that lurk within the swirling fogbanks that coil around the peaks, striking unsuspecting prey from above. Their venomous breath can dissolve flesh and stone alike, and their piercing screeches echo through the labyrinthine canyons, a harbinger of certain doom.
The Maze of Overgrowth
Traveling through the Fingers of The Fallen is a dangerous endeavor. The terrain itself seems alive, shifting unpredictably, with winding pathways through the valleys disappearing or leading to places they should not. The overgrowth often plays tricks on the mind, with illusory mirages leading travelers astray, forcing them deeper into the wild labyrinth. Some of the flora are carnivorous, capable of entangling or even draining the life essence of the unwary.
Despite these dangers, there are those who dare to brave the depths of the Fingers, seeking out rare fae herbs, hidden ruins of lost civilizations, or perhaps even answers to the origins of the titan said to have fallen here. But few return, and those who do are forever changed, their eyes glinting with an unnatural luminescence, as if they had glimpsed something beyond mortal comprehension.
A Place Best Left Undisturbed
Many now regard the Fingers of The Fallen as a cursed place, a borderland between two realities, where the influence of the Faewyld lingers in unsettling ways. Even seasoned adventurers speak in hushed tones of the shifting pathways, the hungry wyverns, and the strange visions that plague those who wander too far.
Perhaps the truth of the Fingers of The Fallen is lost to time, buried beneath the twisting roots and ancient stone, waiting to be unearthed by those foolish or bold enough to seek it.
Legacy
Some scholars claim that the mesas resemble not just fingers, but the outstretched hand of an ancient titan, turned to stone in some forgotten age. Old myth and folklore speak of a celestial being who fell to the Prime Plane eons ago, their massive hand reaching out in their final moments before being consumed by time. With the Conjunction of the Realms, fae energies have seeped into the land, perhaps rekindling remnants of the titan's essence, manifesting as unnatural storms, whispers in the wind, or shifting rock formations that seem to rearrange themselves when unobserved.
Others believe the Fingers of The Fallen are simply a geographical anomaly, a relic of an age long past, its transformation into a fae-touched wilderness merely a side effect of the Conjunction. However, those who enter these towering spires and return often speak of strange dreams, of a buried heart still beating beneath the stone, and of shadows moving just beyond the edge of vision.