Wormwood

Wormwood is the village of the Timberwalkers, and it moves with them. Every so often the tribe halts to fish and trade with the farms at the swamp's edge. The house-trees take root, walkways are strung between their branches, and small boats ply the lanes of pontoons thus formed.

That nomadic life makes the community hard to find. The Catnuts of the swamp are the only ones who always know its location. To outsiders it stays out of reach, as though the trees and waters hid its location.

It appears all at once before visitors, when nothing hinted at it a few paces earlier. Its hanging bridges, cheerful comings and goings and brisk activity contrast with the grim setting of the swamp.

The village has a single inn, the Wandering Terraces. An evening at the inn lets one hear Treefur tell his tales and Sir Peck boast of his "exploits".

Inhabitants

• Treefur: a wildcat as big as a lynx, the swamp's most powerful Shaman
• Pimprenelle: a small bat taken in by Treefur, whom she follows everywhere
• Roseau: an elderly tabby Shaman, smiling and stubborn, who mentors the apprentice meowges finishing their studies in the swamp
• Cresson: a young, hot-headed red-furred Timberwalker, crowned with green stems and yellow buds
• Scirpe: a very old Timberwalker bonded to an old lichen-covered oak
• Osmonde: a Catnut almost entirely covered in fern
• Baldaquin: a blue-gray musician tomcat who plays the banjo and leads the fireside evenings
• Blongios: a flat-billed Platypup, guide for the traders traveling to Wormwood