"But the
forest does not forget
Who it was delivered it,
And who slew the Stag so White,
Cut
the trees off from light."
"When we have restored that which has been lost, The Lost will Return, and we shall walk in our Green Forest again."
Prophecies of the Seer Akilia
On 5 Tekrim 2500 Yvonne, S'ar-Ak'hera and Quázil set sail up the River Garf from Fobren, with various baby hydras and other pets. Their aim was to explore the wilderness of the Upper Garf Valley, as part of a Grand Tour of Anarea planned by Yvonne. Unknown to them, also in the area were Hellish advance parties of the Great Crusade, that was later to meet its end in the two great battles of Garf Lea on 21 and 24 Weven 2500. Following an encounter with one of those parties on 12 Tekrim, Yvonne and S'ar-Ak'hera scouted the Evil encampment of Tarost, providing valuable early intelligence of the Evil build-up in the area. That was the first of many encounters with orcs in the North West Forest. Deserters and those who escaped the slaughter and Peacing of Garf Lea still survive in the darkness of the woods. Unable to return home to the Underworld, and with a number of skilled trackers, they have adapted to their new environment, and have become known as the forest orcs. The Great Crusade brought profound changes to the North West Forest.
On 13 Weven 2501 Glersh the Dread and his crazed anti-druidical followers, survivors from the Great Crusade, seized control of the Sacred Grove of the North West Forest. They set fire to the twelve tall pines, hewed down the ancient Yew of Life, and on the stump sacrificed the High Druid and the White Stag. As Glersh ripped the heart from the Stag and offered it up to HAERIM, MORCOR and KASHAT, the growth at the heart of the North West Forest was perverted into corruption, and the horror that was the Dark Forest began. The Forces of Evil were triumphant, the Druidic Cult of the Seekers of the Lost was driven insane, and all hope appeared lost.
But on 3 Kemel 2502 a party led by Jafat of Heaven defeated Glersh and his followers in the Desecrated Grove at the blasphemous heart of the Dark Forest, drove away the Dark Forest, restored the Sacred Grove and brought a delayed Spring to the Overworld. The Aldalië (Tree People) Druidic Cult of the Calaquendi took control at the sacred heart of the Forest, and the long process of regrowth began.
On 6 Jerem 2503, a night of Full Moon and the last day of Spring, the wolves of the North West Forest were howling crazily, all fired up by the red wolf-shaped shooting star of 20 Varech. Startled, a frightened young yearling stag fled from the howls, like a white streak in the twilight. There were several sightings that night of the Return of the White Stag, that most enigmatic of symbols of the North West Forest.
The rumours spread faster than the stag ran. The forest orcs were hunting the White Stag. Glersh the Dread had offered a reward, which might be gold, a magic item, a Demon Power, elven women to rape, or all four. The White Stag had to be taken alive, and brought (without eating it) to the Hell Well town of Vaken (taken by Harrek of Grinen 11 Lastra 2502), to the abandoned camp of Tarost, or to a secret location in the Deep Forest. The Aldalië were also offering a reward, which might be jewels, a magic item, a Druidic Power, willing elven women and boys, or any three. The White Stag had to be saved from the orcs, and brought safely to the Sacred Grove, or to some secret stone circle. The White Stag had already been captured, or killed. The wolves had it. The Seekers of the Lost were back. There were as many conflicting stories as there were rumourmongers to tell them, or adventurers and forest orcs to follow them.
On 4 Oscow 2503 human and elvish adventurer volunteers gathered in Deephaven, the old Druidic settlement of the semi-mythical Cult of the Seekers of the Lost near Deep Circle, the Sacred Heart of the Deep Forest. It was destroyed, along with the Cult, in the time of the Dark Forest. After re-establishing the Sacred Grove at the Heart of the North West Forest the previous year, the Aldalië were now rebuilding the outlying Circles, such as this. There were a few survivors of the Seekers, of varying degrees of sanity, and a number of outside volunteers trusted by the Druids who had been brought in to assist. The plan was to have everything ready for a reconsecration ceremony on Midsummer’s Day, 26 Oscow, but there was still a lot of work to do. The adventurer volunteers were assigned to scouting duty. Their mission was to help clear the Deep Forest in the local area of surviving nasties from the Dark Time, defeated orcs from the victories at Garf Lea, and other undesirables. There were also wild rumours flying around that the White Stag had been seen in the area, though nobody could be found who would admit to having laid eyes on it himself.
The Wilderness Expedition of Yvonne's Grand Tour from Tekrim 2500 was the first major wilderness run in Anarea, following the Dungeon Expedition to the Altar of Toorm. As a sequel to the previous year's special 1-off run to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Anarea, I ran a new expedition into the North West Forest over the weekend of 14 & 15 October 2000, in which we explored some of the themes connected to this area, which had been designed in some depth since Yvonne and her companions first encountered orcs in the Garf Valley.
The Deep Forest was simulated by the real-life Kielder Forest, which was populated by pre-designed monsters. There were no random encounters, and it was possible to explore the Forest in character. This gave a very different feel to previous randomly-generated wilderness expeditions.
This time, we did not have a Lawful party, which I could use as a meta-device to enforce player co-operation. But given the dangers of the Deep Forest, the party needed to work together to survive, especially as they were lowish-level characters.
The 1-off was also distinguished by the relevant systems having sufficiently designed in time for the run, but the point is worth repeating that Anarea is not really about the systems. It is about role-playing, and enjoying the experience. There are no victory conditions, just the satisfaction that comes from having taken part in an enjoyable game with one's friends.
This was the original note for players to design characters for the 1-off:
"If you wish to take part in the Return to the Deep Forest, design up two 8th to 9th level characters (roll %iles for the first two decimal places of experience) in the usual way for a starting character in the mainstream Champions of Anarea (on 4d6, except Sz, and including another %age roll for luck). All characters should be plausible volunteers for a scouting expedition into the North West Forest. You may spend up to 4d4 * 1000GP RUD at the Shops to equip each human / elvish character or 3d4 * 1000GP RUD to equip each orcish character.
"Players may design characters for a human / elvish party or for an orcish party. Ideally, you should design both. That will give me the option of running either, or even both. You will all be running together, and may co-operate in the character generation. A human party should include Seekers of the Lost. An orcish party should include sniffers (specialists at the Th Scent Activity).
"Email your spreadsheets to deepcircle at anarea.com or to darkones at anarea.com (as applicable) with your applications to join the expedition, explaining why each character wishes to be included."
P.R. Wild, 8 & 28 July 2000, 22 October 2000
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