One-Word Prompt #153 - Ebon Hollow

The forest opens to reveal a desolate graveyard, its boundaries marked by shattered iron gates lying rusted and half-buried beneath creeping vines. Cracked mausoleums dot the landscape, their stone walls broken and gaping, as if something clawed its way out. Overturned sarcophagi spill their contents across the moss-covered ground, their lids askew or shattered into jagged pieces. Crumbling statues lean at unnatural angles, their once-somber faces eroded into hollow, lifeless expressions. The air here is thick with decay, and a faint, unnatural chill seems to seep from the ground itself. The stillness is oppressive, broken only by the occasional groan of a tree or the soft rustle of unseen movement among the ruins.

Ebon Hollow was once the heart of Noctilath’s power, a meticulously crafted garden of death and magic where he conducted his darkest rituals. The hollow was a sanctuary of malevolence, its towering mausoleums and intricate monuments reflecting his mastery over life and death. Here, Noctilath forged the Brass Scepter, a phylactery designed to house his soul and complete his ascension into lichdom. It was in the Ebon Hollow that Noctilath’s ambitions reached their zenith—and where they ultimately unraveled.

When the seven heroes confronted Noctilath, their battle destroyed much of the hollow’s enchanted beauty, leaving it a ruined graveyard. Mausoleums were shattered, statues toppled, and sarcophagi overturned in the chaos. The Brass Scepter was broken into seven shards, and with no vessel to contain his soul, Noctilath's essence seeped into the dimension itself, corrupting the Ebon Hollow and birthing the Bleak Forest. The hollow, once a symbol of his power, became a desolate reflection of his failure, its twisted ruins a physical manifestation of his fractured soul.

Now, Ebon Hollow lies at the center of the Bleak Forest, serving as both a graveyard and a prison. Its broken structures are steeped in Noctilath’s despair, and the very ground pulses faintly with his lingering malice. The hollow is the forest’s heart, the place where Noctilath’s essence is strongest and where his influence twists reality itself. It is here that the seven shards of the Brass Scepter must be reunited to free Noctilath’s soul, an act that could either end the forest’s curse or unleash a greater darkness upon the multiverse.

One-Word Prompt

In the comments below leave a single word. I'll use that word to stock Ebon Hollow. There are 13 total locations.

1) No proper nouns

2) Keep it clean

3) One word per patron

4) The words "defenestration" and "mirror" are banned from overuse