Spiritwood

Spiritwood is a forest in Britannia that lies east of Skara Brae and west of Paws.

Description
Spiritwood's limits are defined by two rivers in the north and east. The river that flows to the south is called River Maelstrom and acts as the eastern border of Spiritwood. Where it terminates into the sea, the Valarian Islands are found. Spiritwood is not only known for its growth of the rare and expensive reagent Nightshade, but is also famously infested with dangerous reapers. Even wisps have been spotted on occasion, eerily pulsing in the shrouded forest. In a small mountain south of Spiritwood lies the Spirit Tunnels.

Age of Enlightenment
The Stranger first became aware of Spiritwood in Ultima IV, when the mage Virgil in Trinsic revealed that Nightshade could be harvested in that very forest at the coordinates lat-J'F" long-C'O" at the deepest night, when both moons were new. This ensured a steady supply of the otherwise rare and unpurchasable reagent.

In Ultima V, a waterfall in Spiritwood fed by River Mealstrom marked the beginning of Lord British's journey to the Underworld, and the Avatar had the option to follow this route in search of Lord British's Amulet. Also, Nightshade was still found in Spiritwood and could be harvested once a night when both moons were at equal hight at midnight.

Nightshade could still be harvested in Ultima VI as well.

Age of Armageddon
The seeming slow death of magic during the rise of the Fellowship also took its toll on Spritwood. While the ever-present danger of reapers didn't go away, the forest seemed to lose much of the mysticism surrounding it, and the destruction of Skara Brae made it more of a remote location than it already was. Nightshade could no longer be found there in Ultima VII when the Avatar returned to the realm.

In the Great Cataclysm, Spiritwood was destroyed when the continent split.

Places of Interest

 * Spirit Tunnels

The Ultima 6 Project
In The Ultima 6 Project, Shamino suggests that the spirits of dead rangers haunt the forest. Also, numerous silver saplings could be found, needed for a quest given by the Fuzzies for the planting of silverleaf trees.

Trivia

 * Due to how difficult is was to find Nightshade in Ultima IV, in Ultima V the patch is clearly marked by very dense forest, to make the harvest easier.
 * During map-creation for Ultima VII, Spiritwood was shrunk too much, in the end barely counting as a forested area. This was due to the need to deform the continent to so that more mountains could be created to house dungeons.