The world around us feels real enough. From the concrete of the sidewalk, to the bricks in the wall, you can see this world. Smell it. Touch it. But the Lost know there is another world beyond this one, a place called Arcadia where the mad gods of the True Fae cavort and play, changing reality on a whim. Between this world and that there is a liminal place; a between-realm known simply as the Hedge. A place of magic and wonder, of danger and death, the Hedge is all that stands between this world and Arcadia.
Final Rest: At the rear of Shady Acres there's a mausoleum with no ornamentation other than the family name Cooper above the door. While it seems innocuous, the chain holding the doors shut is serious business. Though the groundskeepers ensure the grass is cut, they always handle this end of the cemetery first to ensure they're as far away from that mausoleum as possible at the end of their shift. The mausoleum's doors often shift, straining at the chains, and those who've eaten their lunch near to it have said they've heard panting; like there was a huge dog just behind them. One or two people even claim they've seen a massive black hound the locals call Cooper's Shadow. If one steps through this Gate, they find themselves in a forest of perfectly-spaced trees, each one growing crooked and strange. They moan as the wind whips through them, and if one cuts the bark and tastes the sap it has the tang of fresh blood.
Key: One must enter the mausoleum, and light a candle. Once the candle is lit, they must enter one of the holding crypts, and stay there until the candle has burned itself out. Returning is done in much the same way, and sometimes (if one is lucky) a previous traveler will have left a few spare candles in a niche.
The Backroom Gates: The Internet is filled with stories of the so-called backrooms; a featureless expanse of damp, moldering, white rooms that seem to stretch on and on forever in all directions. It's uncertain whether the Hedge mimicked this location because it had become a common enough urban legend, or whether the "inspiration" came from someone who fell through a Gate in an office district and somehow managed to escape the sinister halls the Hedge had become. Either way, these Gates (as there appear to be several of them) are almost always found in soulless cubicle farms, crypto-harvesting operations and other places filled with cookie cutter drudgery. The Gates can be hard to find if you're looking for them, but once you're in the endless halls, just keep turning left. It may take some time to leave the illusion behind, but sooner or later the Hedge will take off its mask and the moldering carpets will give way to thick moss and waving grass, and the popcorn ceilings will become knotted vines and oddly-patterned leaves.
Key: Backroom Gates open seemingly at random. Some claim they're caused by spiritual malaise found in particular environments, others that the common belief draws the Hedge, and the hobs that hunt in the Backrooms. Those who find themselves in these parts of the Hedge often write clues on the walls as to how one can get out, but there's no guarantee of these clues' accuracy.
Prisoner's Gate: Briar Ridge Penitentiary has had its share of escapes over the years, but one of the most inexplicable was Riley Banes. Thrown in solitary, they say he cried for three days before going completely silent. The morning of the fourth day his cell was completely empty, except for a musky, animal smell that still lingers to this day no matter how thoroughly the cell is hosed down. Those who open the Gate in this place enter a bloody clearing dotted with deep pits of entrails, hooves and the other unwanted parts of a carcass. Three dozen tree stumps bear the marks of cleavers, and the stains of butchery. Prey have been killed and dressed here for a long time... and not all of the prey were mere beasts.
Key: Riley Banes was taken by the Wild Hunt, and he wasn't the last to be hauled out of that cell to run wild through the Hedge. The hunt masters heard his cries, and the Hounds dug through, ripping him into the Hedge. Entering from the mortal side is easy enough; one simply has to weep while pressing themselves into the rear corner. Not only that, but they must whisper, "Anywhere but here," five times. Those seeking to enter from the Hedge, though, merely need to find the depression under the skinning tree, and to dig it out with their hands. It's a tight fit, but the Gate always seems to stretch to accommodate a digger.
The Grotto Gate: Pirate's Cove, as it's known by most of the locals who are aware of it, is actually a grotto on a mostly-abandoned pebble beach. The tide talks there, and according to some you can hear screams from the rocks even at low tide. While privacy isn't an issue, the place is unsettling, and it gives most folks the creeps after only a short while. Those who manage to slip through enter a cavern filled with treasures, ranging from tarnished Spanish silver, to chests of gems and pearls, to sacks of gold coins from the turn of the century. Some of these treasures are decidedly products of the Hedge, however, such as moonsilver cutlasses, or the set of crossed dueling pistols which always seem to be smoking from their barrels, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
Key: One can turn this Gate's Key by entering at dawn, carrying something of value in their right hand. Sentimental value counts as far as the Key is concerned. Once brought in, this item must be left behind. It can be traded for something else in the hoard, even an item brought on a previous trip, but the Gate will not let that one treasure leave on the same trek. To return from the Hedge one needs to make an X on the wall, and to leave at midnight.
Widow's Walk: The Franklin Place is a thrice-cursed rock pile that's been bad luck for anyone who's tried to stay in it. Divorces, suicides and disappearances stretch behind it like a wake of tragedy, and while some fool comes in to buy it every decade or so, the errand always ends in tears. Local kids dare one another to break in and touch the fixture old Lady Franklin hung herself from, or to sneak all the way up to the widow's walk round the top of the house. Most never make it that far, and those who do don't always make it back down again. Those who walk through the Gate find themselves atop a lighthouse, the bright lamp inside turning as it signals to all those in the Hedge where it is. It seems with every pass of the light, though, that the Hedge is just a little different than it had been just a moment ago.
Key: To enter the Hedge one must walk widdershins seven times around the widow's walk during rainy weather. To enter from the lighthouse, though, one must walk a single rotation in a clockwise direction, always remaining within the glare of the light.
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