As the years continued to pass the residents of Crowley began to notice that the forest was becoming strange. A once peaceful woodlands was beginning to be filled with un-natural creatures. The woods were getting darker at it's heart and this darkness was spreading out to contaminate the entire forest. Rumors began to fly that the forest was a living thing and that it beginning to take on an evil persona. The men who had hunted and trapped in the forest their entire lives began to be afraid of the forest. Many who entered never returned, and there were often chilling screams and screaches coming from the forest. The folk of Crowley had little knowledge of history, or the gods for if they had they surely would have suspected the cause of the darkness of the woods, for Lake Hemlock held the blood of the mighty dragon Ambersinestra and it was seeking a path through the forest to join with more of it's flesh in Yaxan Rise.

The forest continued to get worse and worse, and the town of Crowley began to shrink as it's residents moved out. This continued for years, until Crowley was almost a ghost-town. Finally the creeping blood gained the notice of the gods, and the Crowley felt the effects. As the gods formed the Great Chasm to stop the blood from travelling to Yaxan Rise the entire area shook with the force of it. Many of Crowley's buildings were shaken to the ground as people cowered in terror. Withing half of an hour the Great Chasm was created and the earth stopped shaking, and the people slowly regained their feet and whispered of the strange earth-quake to one another.

With the Great Chasm created the blood stopped it's advance and much of it receeded back into Lake Hemlock. The forest never returned to it's fresh beginnings for some things that are tarnished are never put back right, but it did heal quite a bit over the years after the creation of the Great Chasm. Men began to return to Crowley and life began to get back to the good old days, though the forrest would forever be more dangerous than it once was.

Many of Crowley's neighbors began to suddenly take an interest in the town as the residents began to return. One neighbor in particular looked upon Crowley with a greedy eye, for Brindyss was a large city with a king who felt that the territory from Mt. Paladia to Klembdon Climb belonged to him and it's resident's owed him for the protection that his might gave them (though there had never been so much as a foot soldier within Crowley. King Orthac Brightstone of Brindyss sent a platoon of his troops along with a high priest of Frost (the god worshipped by king Orthac) to establish a base of operations and to collect taxes from the towns-people. As the soldiers showed up the people of Crowley grumbled and shook their fists, but after a display of power from the high priest, and not a little display of force from the soldiers, the people kept their remarks to themselves and grudgingly paid the taxes to their new lord.

Present

Decades have passed since Bryndyss established it's compound on the eastern edge of Crowley. The community is now run by a high priest of Brindyss in the name of king Orthac V. Other religions are outlawed, though this law is mostly overlooked (so long and those worshipping other gods try and not become to vocal in their worship). Many of the residents still harbor ill feelings from the intrusion of Brindyss on their little town and this has resulting in creating a strong underworld in the community that works outside of the bounds of both king and priest.

The richest man in Crowley, besides the priest, would have to be Goldwood Arley - who also happens to be one of the most dispised men of the town, besides the priest. He owns the Crowley Lumber Mill on the north end of town. The mill is the strongest single source of income for the residents of Crowley. Though the mill itself is manned by goblin and orc slaves, the actual logging is done by the men of the community. Other sources of income for the town includes the furriers, hunting, some farming, and the arena.

With logging being the main source of income for the city of Crowley there are those who dwell in the forest who don't care for the town and do all that they can to prevent it's growth and prosperity. Druids, Rangers, and elves often attack the loggers as they clear cut tracts of land. These hit and run attacks has forced the soldiers of Brindyss stationed in Crowley to have to escort the loggers into the forest to insure that the king gets his taxes. Needless to say the woodland people are not very well liked by Crowley's residents, and are not usually accepted very well within the community - though it isn't often that any of them want to visit the community.

One thing that is accepted in Crowley, but not in most other places in Terragloria, is slavery. As the Hemlock woods became fiercer the hunters and trappers would occassionally be able to subdue some of the malevolent humanoids of the forest, such as goblins and orcs. Once subdued the trappers and hunters began bringing the creatures back to Crowley and selling them as laborers. Most residents of Crowley don't care for this practice and look down on those who do have slaves, but the slave trade continues on due to people like Goldwood Arley. The king of Brindyss knows about this practice and lets it continue, though it is outlawed in Brindyss itself.

Religion

Officially Crowley has but one religion, the worship of the weather god Frost. This has been the religion of Brindyss and it's high priests for hundreds of years. Though the worship of Frost is normally not exclusive in most towns the high priests of Brindyss has managed to force everyone under the rulership of the kings of Brindyss to worship Frost by law, or at least pay him homage while a high priest is near. This isn't to say that other gods are not fervently worshipped by members of the community, but officially they must proclaim Frost as their own to appease the high priest. Those who are foolish enough to offend the high priest by openly worshipping their own gods are usually staked out on the ground in a spread eagle formation for several days to face the weather as Frost might dictate. When they are released they will then have the option of pledging their service to Frost or face exile from the realm that Brindyss controls.

Everyone in Crowley, including the high priest, knows that the worship of Frost isn't the only religion of Brindyss, and especially Crowley, but officially the worship of Frost is the only religion openly practiced.

This iron hold on the religious aspects of the community has allowed the priests of Frost to remain in power with an iron hold over both the realm surrounding Brindyss and it's king. Should the high priest see a religion spring up in his midst he will do all in his power to squash it as quickly as possible, making examples of all those involved.

Logging

Though the town of Crowley has never seen a war, it has fought a bitter battle over the forest since the training of the Gorwood beatles. The beatles are huge lumbering brutes who eat wood and leaves. In their natural habitat they eat an entire tree over the coarse of a week or so. Though the woodland creatures don't care for this practice they all understand that it is the nature of the beatle and allow it to live in peace. Once the lumber mill was established the owner soon found that he could train the beatle to chop the trees, chew off the branches, and haul it back to the mill for processing. Instead of killing one tree every week or so, the trained gorwood beatles were now killing ten or more trees a day each. Large tracts of forest lands were being cleared and an alarming rate and the woodland beings decided to put a stop to it. They tried to appeal to the owner of the mill, but gold talks louder than trees so the pleas from the druids, rangers, and elves were ignored. Thus began the hit and run tactics that the druids, rangers, and elves are still using today. Goldwood Arley, the current owner, has even gone so far as to put a price on the heads of the protectors of the forest, though few bounties have been collected. This mini-war has force a wall to be errected around the mill and guards to be stationed on towers around the walls. A few direct attacks on the mill proper have been marginally successful, but every time a piece of the mill is destroyed it is simply rebuilt and better fortified.

Back