Mirewood

A sickly fen of giant fungus, black pools and boardwalks, with the Thornwild walled off by living thorn. The Mirewife poisoned Stiltmoor's wells and sells the town the cure.

Areas

• Rotwood Hollow: Sporeback, Rotgrub, Wickstilt, Lurecap
• The Stilt Fen: Sedgebell, Lampgulper, Wickstilt, Murkling
• The Thornwild: Snare Vine, Thornweaver, Briarback

Notable places

The Deep Mire, The Sunken Stump, The Thorn Wall, The Hedge Mouth, The Hollow Peat, The Mirewife's Porch, The Rotten Bridge, The Moonlocked Grove, The Underroot, The Sickhouse, The Reed Channel, The Drowned Cellar.

Bosses

• Guardians: Spore Mother, Mudmaw, Briar Hydra, Wisp Matriarch
• Dragon: Blightwing
• Wizard: The Mirewife

Dungeons

• The Spore Hollow: dungeon, Spore Mother
• The Drowned Aisles: dungeon, Mudmaw
• The Thorn Maze: dungeon, Briar Hydra
• The Wisp Sink: dungeon, Wisp Matriarch
• The Mirewife's Hall: wizard's stronghold, The Mirewife
• The Root Cellar: hidden chamber
• The Chasm Roost: hidden chamber
• The Moonlocked Grove: hidden chamber

Spells

• Taught by its bosses: Miasma Cloud, Thorn Lash, Bog Snare, Spore Bloom, Leech Tether, Wisp Lantern
• Found at shrines: Venom Spit, Rot Ground, Swamp Wade, Thorn Hedge

Creatures

Briarback, Glowmaw Grub, Lampgulper, Lurecap, Murkling, Rotgrub, Sedgebell, Snare Vine, Sporeback, Thornweaver, Wickstilt.

Quests

• Briony's Moonwort
• Dunny's Eel Lamps
• Pell's Herb Bed
• Dunny's Flood Post
• Briony's Cure
• The Glowing Cap

Pieces of heart

Mirewood has 2 challenges out in the open that pay out a piece of heart (ambushes to survive, lamp runs against the clock, buried hearts). More pieces wait in its dungeons, hidden chambers and quests.

Notes and inscriptions

The Healer's Ledger (The Sickhouse)

On the sickhouse table, a healer's ledger: names, fevers, and beside nearly every one, mended. The Mirewife's mark is on the last page. She came here to help, long ago.

The Channel-keeper's Post (The Reed Channel)

At the channel's end, a keeper's post with a tally of every boat poled through, and a note pinned under it: the reeds close up again by spring. Whoever cuts them, cut them for the next one.

The Stilt-house Larder (The Drowned Cellar)

The cellar is flooded to the knee, but the shelves above the water still hold jars, all labelled in a neat hand: fen honey, reed bread, and one marked only: for the Mirewife, when she visits.

A Reed-cutter's Note

If you are reading this you found my store. Take the dry bread. Leave the boots, they are mine and I will be back for them.

The Forager’s Map

Behind the thorn wall: the silver-cap ring. Do not pick more than you can eat. They know.

The Stiltmoor Flood Post (The Stilt Fen)

A post scored with flood lines, a year beside each. The highest line has no year, only a drawing of a frog looking very pleased with itself.

The Lamps in the Pool (The Lantern Pool)

Light goes down into the lantern pool and finds the bottom paved with little clay lamps, hundreds of them, each left by someone who passed this way.

The Drowned Fingerpost (The Stilt Fen)

The wind lifts the reeds off an old fingerpost: one arm to the Mirewife's porch, one to a place called Dawnspire, and one, painted out long ago, that reads only: the way we came.

The Hedge-witch's Jar (The Thornwild)

The cracked stone hid a sealed jar of salve and a scrap of recipe: thornberry, fen honey, a pinch of soot. Good for scratches, it says, and for a sore heart.

A healer's recipe card (Stiltmoor)

For mire-fever: clean water, rest and time. They had none of the three. So I keep the fever and sell the time. Someone has to keep them alive, and someone has to be paid for it. - M.

A Seat by the Road (Rotwood Hollow)

A mossy log someone set level. Through the reeds you can make out the Hollow Peat, and the frogs go quiet while you sit.

The Dry Hummock (Rotwood Hollow)

A bench built on the one dry hummock for a long way. From it the boardwalk winds on toward the Mirewife's Porch, and the mist lies in the hollows like milk.

Hidden things

Some spots answer to the right element. Cast it there and something comes back.

• The Lantern Pool (Light): Light goes down into the lantern pool and finds the bottom paved with little clay lamps, hundreds of them, each left by someone who passed this way.
• The Stilt Fen (Wind): The wind lifts the reeds off an old fingerpost: one arm to the Mirewife's porch, one to a place called Dawnspire, and one, painted out long ago, that reads only: the way we came.
• The Thornwild (Force): The cracked stone hid a sealed jar of salve and a scrap of recipe: thornberry, fen honey, a pinch of soot. Good for scratches, it says, and for a sore heart.