Moss Pond

From Praemal

The Moss River begins at a chilly underground spring that comes to the surface in the Tulgey Wood, where it forms Moss Pond, named for the high mossy rocks surrounding the dark pond. Skunkbottom Flats lies to the north, beyond a thick buffer of ancient trees.

Geology

Moss Pond is a Kettle pond, formed when the glaciers that once covered the Anvil Plateau retreated, leaving this depression full of icy water, which is today fed by an underground spring.

Light technically reaches the bottom -- those who've swum deep have reported finding plants down there -- but to human eyes, it's almost impenetrably dark.

History

Once famously the lair of the river troll who killed the maiden for which Maidensbridge is named, the pond has been a swimming and fishing hole for the residents of the barony since it was settled by the Prustan humans. The pond is northeast of the hamlet.

In recent years, however, the pond has again taken on a darker aspect, with lone swimmers and fishermen vanishing. The resulting grim reputation has given rise to a number of rumors among the peasantry, who no longer come to the pond. The trails leading to it have become increasingly overgrown as a result, making it ever more mysterious and forbidding.

In IA 721, adventurers from Maidensbridge, while looking for a pair of missing children, discovered that the pond was once again home to one or more river trolls.