Climate:

Description:

This area of the badlands has accumulated sufficient signs of ill-fortune to ward off most visitors. The few small villages that once scratched a living out of the land have long faded into memory, rumors claim that Amikitsik devoured them all.
To the north, hills striated with different colours give some shelter from the wind, while to the south the open plains stretch out into dunes, where the sand will roll over anyone foolish enough to travel there unprepared.

Landmarks:

• Ill-Painted Hills - Unlike the rest of the Cursed Lands, the ill-painted hills doesn’t have a track record of disappearances; everyone always returns. Granted those people are rarely still the same. The hills have bands of colour running along them in twisting spirals. No one has ever determined what geological events could have caused the strange patterns.

• Dunes of Despair - The dunes to the south are constantly shifting, so no path lasts for more than a week. Bones are quickly covered and uncovered by the ever-shifting sands, including those of any who tried to cross without a good plan and a dose of luck.

• Crescent Crater - Something formed a crater long ago that gives the nearby plateau its name. During heavy rains the southern edge that rises up and defines the crater will hold water to create a small lake. Called the ‘Pool of Lost Souls’, the lake looks perfectly normal, most of the time. But no animals drink there, and travelers are warned away by an ever-changing set of signposts. Whenever the moon is reflected in the water, spirits can be seen upon the surface, white forms swirling with a will of their own. No one has ever seen them up close and returned.

• High Moon Plateau - The plateau is nestled in the middle of Crescent Crater and is the only place that trees grow in the Cursed Lands. The higher someone climbs the greener the vegetation until they find a forest and Amikitsik’s Shrine atop the plateau.

• Amikitsik’s Shrine - Tucked away in the middle of the forest, is an unassuming shack with pelts adorning its floors and covering the open windows. The single room inside holds an altar on which one can find any manner of things: berries from the local forest, simple jewelry made with wood and stone, and small animal bones. No one stays at the shrine overnight.

• Unexpected Statues -Scattered around the landscape, posed in a mixture of natural and hard to believe poses, are statues of animals and humans formed from the local red sandstone.

Lore:

The Crescent Crater is estimated to have been formed some five thousand years ago. How High Moon Plateau sits proudly in the middle is a mystery. Scientists have had bad luck researching the area, and no one has been able to take rock samples to get an accurate age. Visitors to the area will occasionally report seeing a large white wolf, after which they are encouraged by locals to visit the shrine and leave an offering before night fall lest misfortune find them.
There are a few stories about how the Pool of Lost Souls came to be:

Amikitsik wandered through one day, and saw a reflection to rival her own in the pool’s waters. Her attack on it was so vicious that it caused rends in reality itself, drawing the lost spirits to the pool.

Tafiin dropped a cursed silver medallion in the pool, which drew other creatures there trying to retrieve the medallion. Many perished, and their spirits still linger in the pool.

For the statues, the stories also vary:

There is a cockatrice lurking in the hills, turning creatures to stone.

There is a hermit artist living in the hills who makes the statues. Some report finding a hut in the shadow of the painted hills, complete with chisels and sketches, or even occasionally the artist seen from a distance.

Original location inspiration by hRhianne & secretrealm