There are always times, in a
good campaign, when the heroes
are "between jobs". Having come
off one grand adventure, it often
doesn't seem right to plunge them
into another crisis immediately. Or
perhaps the call is there, yet some
distance between the map and the
treasure is needed.
The Dread Forest Biyll provides a buffer zone between adventures, and can be inserted virtually anywhere the GM wishes. Depending on the strength of the party, or their need for a challenge, the denizens and dangers of the forest can be damped down to passing curiosities, or beefed up to the level of true party-wreckers.
For that reason, quantifiers from a given game system have been left out. The party doesn't have to resolve the puzzle of this forest, but any goodly group should be repulsed by the place's evil nature, and feel a sense of obligation to do something about it. But less interested or less powerful groups may simply pass through Biyll, struggling for a few days against its perils and hassles before gratefully leaving it behind, lurking to waylay later travellers at another time.
Disposition and Size
The Forest Biyll can be of literally any size the GM wishes, and placed to suit the needs of the campaign between where the party is and where they have just decided to go. Locate it in such a way that going around it would be difficult; perhaps it lies in a gap in the mountains, or between two strong rivers which cannot be passed within many days' travel in either direction. To really give the party a sense of what is happening, the forest should take at least three days of hard matching to cross. If it is so large that a week is needed to get through it, the adventurers will feel a definite sense of annoyance at the obstacles they encounter. At much larger size than that, it would be hard to justify why local governments have taken no action to ameliorate the dangers there. But in the end, the GM is free to make Biyll as much-or as little-an event as desired.
Forest Biyll will be somewhat known to all inhabitants within two days' march from any of its borders. None of the local peasants, farmers or woodcutters will willingly travel through Biyll, and they will generally point out the longer detours which exist as an alternative route, if they react well to the person questioning them. About the forest itself, they can only give an estimate (at least a third too high) of the time it would take to cross. If pressed for specifics, most will be unable to mention anything outlandishly horrible. Biyll is simply "queer", "tough to cross", "a nasty place", or "a bit too full of creatures, a bit too shy on food" for the tastes of the speaker.
Within a day's march of the forest's perimeter, signs of wildlife drop off significantly (those with outdoor experience can roll to sense this normally). Brush and trees show nothing unusual. Within two hours' march, the dark line of Biyll's edge is visible; tall trees, crowned in mist, closely clustered and blocking off any light to the ground beneath their bole.
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