Facets of a Forest [fleshing out a setting]

[Pinjata]

My PCs will soon roam into a forest, Fangorn type(they are in Faerun, Wood of Sharp Teeth). Since I'm not a master of description (there are trees ... err, tall), I've a few times asked here for landscape descriptions. It was amazing. Immersion for my players was much more powerful, then with my landscape presentation skills.

So I'd like to ask for a few more forest descriptions - just small cuts, parts of forest, I can insert into their travellings. Can be an interesting tree, moss, a feeling in a forest, perhaps something that happens at night, creaking of wood, small lake, an encounter(noncombat) with a animal, dead trees, ferns, etc.

Well, I'm not all THAT bad anymore with these descriptions, but collective imagination of playground really provides best stuff, so I ask here.

thanks, guys

[TrashTrash]

Steer clear of the "gnarled oak" trope. Please. As a player and avid reader, the amount of times a tree, oak or not, is described as being "gnarled" is both pretty boring and, honestly, kind of impressive.

Now I'll get to the point.

It's pretty common in forests for the ground to be very soft if you go off the path, partially because of all the leaves, excrement, etc. and partially because of the ground not being compacted quite as much. It's also pretty cluttered, with various natural objects falling pretty much everywhere.

Spoiler: Use for this info

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Walking through the forest, you notice that the ground is soft and gives a little under your feet. Here and there, mushrooms, sticks, logs and rocks lay on it, almost begging one of you to stumble over them.

There's lots of places where forests have seen brush fires, ones not quite strong enough to burn the trees but still enough to leave blackened ground and the smell of burning. Usually, they're from people being careless with burning things.

Spoiler: If you need it, here's some narration you can use

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As you walk through the forest, you pass through an area of black ground, burnt out by some sort of grass fire. The trees have scorching on the lower trunks, and the whole area is black, grey, and brown. A bald bush with singed branches catches your clothes as you walk past. You pass the remains of a shoddily made fire ring, meant to keep some campfire contained but failing miserably in its task.

BUGS. Let your players experience the lovely wonders of the bugs a forest contains. Quick tip, a fire with green matter will make smoke and drive bugs away. You don't have to tell them this.

Spoiler: Things like this

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You wake up in the morning to discover ants crawling on your kit. They've been attracted by the food, found you, and decided to explore. (Maybe let them jerry-rig some sort of solution or let them conveniently find a natural repellant nearby.)
AND/OR
As the sun begins to set, bugs begin biting any exposed skin. The bites itch badly, and the more you scratch them the bigger the bumps get. (Again, let them deal with it themselves or present a possible solution, like one of these.)

[Trandir]

Spoiler: The Traiding Pond

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While the party is exploring the forest they stumble upon a pond. His water is murky and from that direction comes no sound while they can still ear the wind running through the branches and the animals behind them.
The pond is surronded by a wall not higher than 2 feet and strangely clear and well maintained but there is something unusual about it: no plant grows near it, the closest tree is 3 meters away and not even a leaf touches the soft ground in the pond's proximity.
Upon closer inspection the pond seems full of some sort of mud, black as the night that renders impossible to determine how deep it is. If a creature stands by the pond long enough eventually a figure will emerge from the liquid: a shifting mass that takes the shape of animals or humanoids and that changes it in an instant but always completely covered by the thick substance thus appearing smooth and without particular traits.
The entity will then present itself as a merchant that handles the most valuable wares of all: truth, lies, secrets, questions and answers.
The creature will then proceed and ask to the one that has been there for the longest time what he is willing to pay and after it receives an answer and the payment it will give back something of equal value:
Material things are worth an advice, the more you give the more usefull it will be.
A secret will fetch you a secret, you receive a secret that is seeked by number of people that is at most the same that want to know the one you gave him.
A truth is worth a truth, a priceless thing is either worth more than anything or less than everything so the Pond will decide what truth award you.
A lie is worth nothing, as such the pond will give an unvaluable advice that is unfortunately a lie.
Questions are not worth much, everyone has more questions than answers but there is value even in the act of questioning itself, the pond knows this very well and will provide a new question whose answer will help to solve the first one.

After the Pond provides the wares he promised it will descend into the liquid once more untill another client arrives

Not sure if this is what you wanted but I am trying.

[Pinjata]

Thanks, Trandir. I really appreciate the effort, but TrashTrash(What a name? Reminds me of this :D) got it PERFECTLY right. I need descriptions, small things. And these so far will do nicely.

I'll use Trandirs' pond too. With all cool descriptions, this should fit in nicely.

[GloatingSwine]

You may find this video helpful in making your forest feel more foresty:

[TrashTrash]

Thanks, Trandir. I really appreciate the effort, but TrashTrash(What a name? Reminds me of this :D) got it PERFECTLY right. I need descriptions, small things. And these so far will do nicely.

I'll use Trandirs' pond too. With all cool descriptions, this should fit in nicely.

Ah Fraggle Rock. I do choose to emulate the wisdom of the great Marjory every day. Glad I could help!

[Imbalance]

What season is it?

[ZeroGear]

"As you make your way through the underbrush, you duck under the branch of a stray evergreen, some of the needles falling on your shoulder as you pass. The soft rustling of grasses and the occasional snap of a twig are the only ambient sounds you can hear aside form the far away calls of small birds. Weaving your way through the thick, rugged trunks, a small hare darts by, disappearing into the bushes as quickly as it had appeared."

Does that help?

[Kaptin Keen]

The trees here are massive giants, boughs so wide you walk around them, rather than just between. The crowns of the trees are oppressive, a green roof so high it would be fit for a titan, and so thick and dense as to throw the forest floor into virtual darkness. Little grows in this soil, due to the lack of light - but what does grow, does so in profusion: Mosses and mushrooms are everywhere, some luminous, all slippery and oversized. The sounds here are not the sounds of a forest: No birds chirp, no squirrels rustle in the undergrowth. Instead, strange squelching sounds are all around, unrecognizable animal sounds echo through the darkness. You see flashes of greenish light, like from the creatures of some massive ocean abyss.

You do not feel at home here. You certainly do not feel welcome. Propably, you feel like lunch.

Spoiler: OOC

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Queue molds and slimes, shamblers and shriekers, muconid - all the monsters you rarely get to use (if you're me, at least =)