Devourer of The Henge

The Henge
The southern woods housed The Henge, a warding seal set by the towns founders to keep Woebrook safe from "Hellspawn." ("Hellspawn," was a blanket term used to describe any creature not mentioned in the bible, torah, or other recognized major religious text.)

The Henge was made from mysterious, powerful stones shipped from a far away mountain. It successfully protected the town from "Hellspawn" for two decades before The Devourer's arrival.

In 1722, The Devourer of The Henge was spotted, roaming wooded lands to the south of the town. The protective magic of the stones proved completely ineffective against it.

Origin
Never established with certainty.

Death
The fight with The Devourer of The Henge was brutal, and those involved agreed it was better let to be forgotten.

After the creature was vanquished, the remaining founders attempted to rebuild The Henge with the shattered stones, but the warding ritual proved too difficult, and the magical effects of the stones was greatly diminished. The shattered remains of The Henge were used the stones to build a tomb for The Devourer in The Heart of The Woods across the river to the northeast.

After the Death of the Devourer, the Christopher Dewfort devised a new way to invoked The Henge Ward's ritual to protect the town from future harm. He impressively managed to isolate the magic's fundamental components and write a version of the spell that could be cast without the use of powerful, rare stones. Unfortunately the effects features of this lesser ward were be far diminished, and the ritual was much more cumbersome and messy to perform.

Secrets
The stones used to make The Henge contained massive crystals. Crystal magic derives its power from the firmly repeated crystaline structure and patter of its atoms.

If presented one at a time, The Henge Ward takes an inverted mystic imprint of any creature that is presented during the multi-month attuning ritual. Species must be presented in their entirety and free of excess debris (clothes, ect.) or they will not be protected. The presentation process involves locating the geometric center of the warding object and placing an exposed creature (alive or dead) in that location for 12 uninterrupted minutes, during this time. Only forces instigated by the warding object can be allowed to influence or physically alter the creature. Creatures must, otherwise, remain perfectly still during the 12 minute attuning process. For this reason, it is usually easier to attune a dead specimen. All attuned species are exempted from the magical effects of the ward.

The Henge Ward was particularly strong because the power of the stones allowed for a much faster attuning cycle. This cycle was fast enough that live specimen could be attuned with ease. The warded perimeter was created by placing crystals in hidden locations all around the town. If these crystals had been moved while the ward was active, the shape of the ward would have changed.

The River Ward is much weaker. Because the patterned crystal forces of The Henge stones are not involved, attuning cannot be accelerated, and attuned crystals cannot be used to extend its range.

The Devourer exploited the warding magic of The Henge by casting a spore onto The Henge's pedestal during the attuning ritual process. The Devourer's spores are now well known (in this region) and easily recognized by students of the occult.