Foresthome: Ashbury & The Clan Lands

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County of Ashbury, map scale: 8 miles per hex

 
 This piece of land was key in the new kingdom’s western expansion.  Clans just north in their vast forest hesitated a long time before joining, leaving Ashbury as the sole gateway around Lake Lynn.  At first very quiet and somewhat remote, it grew rapidly when outsiders began transiting from east to west.  It was the farthest north one could sail, other than the Eastfollow River.  Since the northeast was either well-spoken for or at risk with the Gulons, remaining options were to settle here or travel west along the aptly-named Northlake Trail, from Green Bay to the junction with the Wessith Trail.  Yannifey immigrants commonly follow that route as well as merchants who seek to avoid the League of Eight.

In its distant history, Ashbury bore a very different name given by an ancient race that had settled the region.  Eventually, these people retreated as a result of the clans’ resilience to foreign occupation and the successive waves of outsiders moving in.  One town remains that still bears an old-style name—Shog.  Some say it describes the way the old invader was “shoggen” (as in shoved out), others use it as an expression of awe and dismay which find its root in the terror that primeval occupants and their alien sorcelry inspired.  Shogg!  But in truth, it refers to a darker place deep within the souls of Shog-born residents, so terrifying that no one ever looks there for fear of what they might find staring back at them.  Ill-inspired introspection aside, what lies in the dungeons beneath Shog is anyone’s guess.  In a century past, the town was burned to the ground to exorcise its primordial evils.  But fire doesn’t reach below ground.  Perhaps this has something to do with the latent darkness of the native psyche.  Time will tell.

Countess Ashbury is of the original dynasty that had received this land from the first monarch.  The family coat of arms displays a phoenix rising from its ashes, referring to the Town of Shog reborn from its destruction.  The latest and very young countess is among those who feel the reviled presence somewhere within.  Druids tend to her health and education, advising her on affairs of state and training her to focus her mind upon her work as a way to placate emanations of chaos troubling her.  A faint voice calls her in the night, beckoning her deep below the city and disturbing her sleep.  She may only find rest with herbal medicines and the care of her druids.  The head of the countess’s guard, her lover, has been arguing the need to mount an expedition to put an end to the trouble (and to loosen the grip druids maintain upon the young aristocrat).  Palace druids object to the expedition, primarily because they worry about what it may unleash.  There is talk instead of making sacrifices, precious items of amber or silver that can be obtained from Hârnmayne and the Queen’s Lands.

Elsewhere in the county, the Darkmoss and Argolan Rivers are fairly shallow.  Only the former permits navigation by small galleys or longships up to Snarewood.  This village marks the northern limit of outsider farmsteads.  A ferry barge is available to cross over to the village of Hopwater.  Woods cover a large proportion of Ashbury.  It belongs to forest giants.  These peaceful beings have been recognized as a force of nature, connecting with trees in ways that only treants and dryads fully understand.  Their territory extends from the western fringes of Blackroot Forest to the Lonely Forest, some twenty miles past the Argolan.  What is known about them is that they survive by preying upon a curious sort of moss that creeps in the shadows of the woods and attacks the unwary.  Forest giants are known to be able to appear or disappear from sight without any explanation.  Although some have spellcasting abilities among their clans, most do not, and the mystery remains.  Although occasionally giants show up for meetings at the local Clan House, they more commonly rely on rangers as their representatives.

Forest Giant: AC3, HD12**, MV 120’ (40’), AT 1 + boulder, Dmg 7d6, Save F12, ML 10, Int 15, AL L.  Special Attacks: throws boulders (ranges 80’/160’/300’).  Special Defenses: pass-plant (as the druid fifth level spell, three times a day), eye-seeds (see description below, once a day).  Shamans and wokani exist with druidical spellcasting ability up to C7 or MU7.

Creeping Moss: AC can always be hit, HD 2*, MV 3’ (1’), AT 1 constriction, Dmg 1d6, Save F1, ML 7, Int 0, AL N.  Special Attack: drops on a prey (hits automatically and causes 1d6 dmg per round).  Special Defenses: indistinguishable from normal moss;  a defeated foe’s flesh, bones, and any other organic matter are digested at the rate of 1 hp per Turn.  The moss remains in place, covering any leftover treasure.  Another may slowly creep above, on a tree trunk or beneath an overhanging branch.  Creeping moss goes dormant when temperatures are near freezing or below.

Forest giants stand about 30’ tall.  They look gnarled like old trees, with skin ranging from brown to birch-like gray, and hair from dark green to black.  Enjoying a deep bond with nature, they may heal normal trees and treantkind (6d6 hp) alike with a single touch.  They and the neighboring blackroot respect each other despite their opposing alignments, and do not intrude upon each other’s territories.  Forest giants are immune to forest wight attacks.  They also maintain very good relations with other woodland beings.  On a dry day, a giant may release a cloud of dandelion-like seeds.  The giant breathes upon them to give them a direction in which to float, at the rate of 7’ per round.  Anyone caught within should sense an odd draft defying any other breeze that had prevailed earlier.  A forest giant can see and hear anything within the cone of “eye-seeds”, which can reach up to 12 miles in length and 4 miles in width.  The entire process lasts a little over 12 hours.  When they sleep, forest giants meld with tree groves until sunrise.  If killed, their vital force is released, affecting nature within a 600’ radius: vegetation doubles in size, dead or dying trees are revived, bushes and brambles thicken and expand wildly, spores and pollens fill the air regardless of season, and creeping moss breeds wherever possible, generating at the minimum 3d4+3 creatures.  Any life form such as treantkind are instantly healed and may permanently gain one or more HD.  Blackroots and most undead, however, would be slain immediately.  Treants will often move over-sized trees resulting from the death of a giant, and relocate them deeper in the Lonely Forest where they may survive many centuries.

Autonomous Clan Lands, map scale: 8 miles per hex

Theirs is a vast forest.  Late-comers in the sylvan kingdom, the Great Clans as they dubbed themselves, took a long time to ponder the options.  For some, this palaver came as a preposterous waste of time taking far longer than it ever should have, especially in the view of the faerie folk who were the most resistant to the concept.  For treants in the southwest, it felt like a rushed decision, although the clincher was the protection of the woods and its people.  Forest giants concurred, although it took them nearly as much time as the treants to make up their minds.  The fey, at the western edge of the Clan Lands, remained more neutral, although the idea of bringing together all the other clans, even if under an Alphatian monarchy, won them over.  In the Mourngrim Thickets prevails an overgrown darkness that has become home to creatures humans call decapus (plur. decapi or decapusses).  They and their mysterious mistress, the Green Queen, hostile to all and highly aggressive, weren’t asked.  At the center stand the shargugh clans who didn’t seem to care one way or the other, and promptly went back to their woodsy endeavors.  At last the blackroots, in a stunningly-swift decision, supported the motion.  Since the woodsmen and their twig-headed elven allies had already embraced the sylvan kingdom, they couldn’t take the risk of their sworn enemy turning their newfound allies against Blackroot Forest.  Conclusion: yea—four, nay—one, abstained or not asked—two.  The issue was clear, and at long last the council of Great Clans negotiated their autonomous membership among the great Kingdom of Foresthome.

The Lonely Forest:  The focus among the treant clans is to recover giant trees stemming from the death of forest giants.  These trees are sentient and harbor a part of the life force and knowledge of fallen giants.  These special trees are moved to the center of the Lonely Forest where they can be protected and cared for.  Once in a century, a giant tree may produce a nut that will engender a treant or, more rarely, a gakarak (Creature Catalog) .  There are males and females among treantkind, but the grand creatures have since a long time ago forgotten why.  They usually doze off when debating the issue, so convoluted the matter seems to be.  There is one thing that will spark an instant reaction from any treant, male of female: threatening a treant sapling or a giant tree.  It is believed that this forest is one of the very few, if not the only remaining place on Mystara where treants are born.  It is called the Lonely Forest because no other sentient creature is permitted there besides those favored by treantkind, and common wildlife.  Treants distrust their blackroot cousins, but will not deliberately harm them unless attacked.

The Faerie Woods:  They are home to pixies.  These small creatures build their villages high up in the trees, and have the ability to render them completely invisible to intruders.  The latter is somewhat of a shame, as these dwellings are wonderful pieces of art, with delicate carvings, magical lights, and graceful wooden architecture akin to that of ancient forest elves—it has never been established who copied whom.  Despite their fragile appearances, these tiny villages are able to weather the worst of winter and ice storms, perhaps another manifestation of faerie magic.  Although not hostile, pixies dislike visits from outsiders, whom they mistrust.  Those who did earn their confidence, usually elven rangers, may be invited as honored guests.  This involves magic reducing the visitors’ sizes to the scale of the faerie world.  It is possible they may never allow visitors to leave, ever, let alone regain their original sizes.  The annals of the land have recorded, however, several instances of adventurers regaining their freedom after taking on a quest on behalf of the faerie folk.  Almost invariably, this involves romance between a visitor and a faerie person, since they are quite beautiful and charming.  Such stories may also end in one being able to willingly take on the shape and nature of a faerie when needed, or vice-versa.  Beware, however, as there seems to be no end to magical shenanigans when it comes to love among pixies.  Aerial faeries also dwell in the skies above the forest.  They are considered a part of this region.  Other woodland beings inhabit these woods, including mostly satyrs, dryads, unicorns, flitterlings* and coltpixies*—(*) Creature Catalog.

The Feywoods:  The Fey is the name that generally refers to all fairy folk.  However, it also designates the inhabitants of this region, who would be better described as wood nymphs.  They look like elven women of awesome beauty.  Their kind isn’t unheard of elsewhere in Alphatia, but those are aquatic cousins dwelling in rivers and lakes.  Nymphs of the Feywoods are bound to trees and the land that feeds them.  Although highly magical, they are spirits of nature whose appearance, abilities, and alignments change with seasons.  They are closely allied to treantkind, except for blackroots whom they see as undead abominations.  When they turn chaotic in winter time, they aren’t “evil”, but merely unpredictable and colder, because such is nature during this harsh season—it is the time when the weak must be tested.

Wood Nymph: AC9, HD 3-18***, MV 120’ (40’), AT 1 spell, Dmg per spell, Save E3-E18, ML 7, Int 16+, AL L in summer, N in spring and fall, and C in winter.  Special Attacks: may cast Druidic spells as a cleric half their HD (rounded up), and magical spells as a magic-user one third their HD (rounded down).  Special Defenses: dimension door (once per day), blindness, death, anti-magic 50%.

Blindness may occur when a nymph is first seen (save vs. paralysis neg.)  Death may occur instead is the nymph is naked at the time of the first glimpse (save vs. death ray neg.)  Wood nymphs may befriend a visitor of the corresponding alignment if they see that visitor first (10% chance + 14% per point of Charisma above 12).  Friendship only remains true for the current season and each time that same season returns.  Seasonal abilities are described below.  Each ability is available once a day and, wherever possible, affects a 15’ radius.

• Spring:  may awaken dormant creatures, remove magical paralysis, return petrified beings to life, and cause plants to burgeon and bloom.
• Summer:  may radiate natural sunlight or moonlight (1 Turn per HD); may cast an aura of life inflicting 1d6 per HD against undead creatures (save for half damage).
• Autumn:  may render dormant living creatures (save vs. paralysis neg.)—the effect is permanent until the nymph reawakens the victims in spring, or if negated with a remove curse spell.
• Winter:  immunity to ice and cold-based attacks, may turn open water to ice, may create and shape ice as the magic-user’s woodform spell.

The Riddlesnatch Woods:  Three feet tall, with wild, matted hair, tangled beards, and ragged, brown-and-green garb, shargugh claimed this region so long ago no one remembers exactly when or how.  They get along fairly well with their neighbors, usually disappearing altogether when they disagree with someone.  Unless they need to expand their territory, even the decapi leave them alone perhaps because they smell and taste so bad.  Shargugh (pronounced in various ways depending on the local accent) often benefit from increased ranger attention, mostly to monitor decapus activity.  More than once do rangers clear out decapus hunting parties encroaching upon the Riddlesnatch Woods, taking those captured back to Greenwood for examination.  The name “Riddlesnatch” comes from a game shargugh like to play either on each other or even more on visitors.  Hidden in the bushes, they greet outsiders with a riddle.  If the answer is correct, the visitor may pass unmolested.  If not, shargugh will sneak up to the visitors and “snatch” something from them—a pouch, a bag, a weapon, a helmet, etc—before disappearing into the woods.  Shargugh, although the dominant race there, share this part of the forest with a few clans of phanatons (Creature Catalog), living higher up in the trees.

Shargugh: AC7, HD3*, MV 150’ (50’), AT 1 bite or weapon, Dmg 1d4 or by weapon, Save E6, ML 7, Int 10, AL N.  Special Attacks: pick pocket 85% chance, move silently 85% chance.  Special Defenses: hide in woods 90% chance, transport through trees 600 yards (5 times a day).  Shargugh live in symbiosis with their woods, the health of either depending upon the well-being of the other.

The Mourngrim Thickets:  A sinister place indeed, for it harbors a concentration of decapi, arboreal beasts with ten tentacles, covered with brown hair, and featuring a very large mouth filled with sharp yellow teeth.  The writhing, coiling, green-drooling, foul-smelling denizens of the dark weald were first discovered there about the time the Town of Shog was burned down.  Since then, they took over these parts.  It is widely believed by the fey and forest giants that something escaped from the ravaged town, something that was meant to remain in its dungeons.  And it reproduced.  Some time afterward, news of a Green Queen emerged.  For some, her name came through dreams—nay—nightmares from which one awakes screaming.  For others, whispers in the fronds told of her existence, a mysterious being, ageless yet mortal, a wicked force that harkened back to even more distant times.  Rarely does she communicate with clan leaders, perhaps remaining dormant until disturbed.  When she does, trouble soon follows when her minions spread out, pushing the limits of her kingdom a few hundred yards here, a mile there.  Druids suspect she may be a queen in the sense of a hive, bearing and bringing decapi to life according to an alien cycle.  Those who attempted to pierce the mystery were never heard of again or went insane, their faces and limbs partially melted.  The last to intrude upon this somber realm was an ogrish horde.  None survived, and the decapi suddenly multiplied, pushing their borders out once more.

Decapus/Hupadgh'fhalma: AC5, HD 4, MV 90’ (30’) in trees or 3’ (1’) on the ground, AT 9-10 tentacles, Dmg 1d6 each, Save F2, ML 9, Int 11, AL C.  Special Attacks: none.  Special Defenses: telepathic link with the Green Queen.  Decapi usually hang from a branch with one tentacle, and attack with the other nine.  On the ground, they can only manage six attacks.

Green Queen/Queen Mother/Hafh'drn'fhalma*: AC –5, HD 33*, hp 260, MV 0 or teleport, AT 10 bundles of ten tentacles/swallow whole or acid breath weapon, Dmg 10d6 + paralysis per bundle/20d6 acid breath (300’x10’ line), Save F33, ML 11, Int 19, AL C.  Special Attacks: telepathy/ESP*, madness (save vs. spell neg.), causes fear to characters levels 1-4 (no save), casts 2 spells/round as a MU33 + 1 spell/round as a C33 (reversible spells are reversed).  Special Defenses: immune to spells level 1-5, anti-magic 50%, +3 or better magical weapon to hit, detect magic, see invisible (60’).

The Queen Mother looks vaguely like a giant decapus, about 60’ tall and with a hundred tentacles, about 100’ in length and organized into ten bundles around her body.  Three large eyestalks sit on top of the fat lump that serves as her body, above a single wide mouth.  Smaller tendrils, about 6’ long, wriggle around the acid-oozing lips, awaiting to pull someone inside.  Her fur ranges from lime green to crimson red, rippling with strange eddies as she constantly coils and uncoils her tentacles.

• Tentacles: Tentacle bundles will initially hit for damage, whipping or slamming into foes.  With a natural roll of 20 on a bundle’s hit roll, a foe must save vs. death ray of be ripped in half.  If not ripped in half, or with a natural score of 18-19 on a bundle’s hit roll, a foe is entangled in the bundle.  Inflicting 20 points of damage to the bundle will knock a trapped victim free, otherwise, the victim is thrown into the Queen Mother’s mouth at the end of the following round.  If another victim is already being sucked into her mouth during that round, any other entangled victims are thrown preferably into a lava pit, off a cliff, or to some other deadly spot nearby.  Those hit or entangled must save vs. paralysis or be paralyzed (one check per bundle attack—lasts 1 Turn).
• Mouth: those dropped into the mouth are pulled inside the Queen Mother’s body by series of concentric tendrils, down to a huge sack of acid (20d6 acid damage/round) by the end of the round.  Three times per battle, she may otherwise breathe an acid line—if anyone is trapped inside, their remains are regurgitated and spit out as well.
• Eyestalks: the three large eyestalks on top of the beast provide her with her spellcasting abilities.  One is the clerical eye, the other two cast magic-user spells.  Attacking eyestalks directly requires a hit good enough for AC –10 and at least 20 points of cumulative damage singly or 60 points of damage with an area spell.  The Queen Mother can regrow eyestalks and damaged tentacles in a day.

What remains a mystery is who came first, the Green Queen or the decapi.  The Queen Mother can bring intro existence one decapus per round, if the planetary alignment is correct or if a massive amount of live food is brought to her.  Her progeny grows at first like an over-sized wart and bursts out amid a glop of pus, before rolling off the Queen Mother’s side.  She can telepathically call any decapus in the neighborhood to her side.  At other times, decapi hunting parties set up ambushes for the purpose of capturing prey to feed the Queen Mother.  Without them, she is nearly helpless, as she cannot move (other than teleporting) and thus isn’t suited for hunting.  She remains unable to use other movement-related spells (dimension door, fly, travel, etc.)  A few mad rangers have taken her side and may be used as a way to communicate with the Green Queen, should she decide to address the Clan Lands council.  It is unknown what powers they may have gained in the process.

Blackroot Forest:  See County of Llynmouth for details.


A greater purpose exists in the vast woods of the Great Clans.  A primeval spell was devised in eons past that would return the land to its original sylvan state.  If ever unleashed, it would provoke the uncontrollable and monstrous growth of all that relies on roots to survive within all of mainland Alphatia.  It would tear apart town, bridge, road, monument, and fortress alike in a matter of hours, eradicating the empire.  As a result of the spell, it is understood that many outsiders would perish in the cataclysm.  It isn’t known who or what created the spell, as neither druid, nor cleric, nor sage, nor all-knowing seer ever connected its language to any immortal.  It is believed not even they would be able to stop it once triggered.  The spell was devised in such a way that the mightiest of leaders from the seven Great Clans would have to speak the enchantment’s words together, including the Green Queen.  The latter’s inclusion in the spell’s design remains another unnerving mystery.  The spell’s outlandish wording can be made to appear or disappear when uttering command words.  It will materialize as an engraving on a nearby stone or within the flesh of a mature tree opening itself as if to reveal its heart.  Clan leaders gazing simultaneously upon these mind-disturbing writings are telepathically connected, no matter how far apart from each other.  As a final note, forest giants have believed as far back as they can remember (and that is a long, long, very long time ago) that the obliteration of so much life would engender guilt enough for all who bear it to turn them evil.  This warning failed to impress the Green Queen or the denizens of Blackroot Forest.

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Foresthome: Hârnmayne & Grünfold

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County of Hârnmayne, map scale: 8 miles per hex

The Land of Hârn to this day retains a fairly low population, at least outside its forests.  For the longest time, the Gulon Clans remained rebellious to any outside influence, including neighboring woodlands beings.  Gulons are remnants of an ancient race afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy.  Half-men and half-wolverines, these gulons were notorious for a ferociousness and gluttony far beyond that of the fiercest of werewolves.  They live in the large forest known as the Weeping Hârnbosks, named after the many intruders who’ve lost their lives there, and in the foothills of the Rumblesnap Mounts.  Although adjacent to the Queen’s Lands, Hârnmayne was the very last dominion to join the kingdom.  It existed as a lawless borderland well into Foresthome’s annals until Maretha-the-Furrier, a daring and clever sorceress, discovered a way to alter the curse.  At long last, the fear and horror ceased, and common people began settling the newly-established county.

Today’s gulons are no longer thought as “wereverines” but as the Gulon Clans.  These muscular man-like beings have light-to-medium-brown fur covering their heads, the back of their necks, hands, and feet, their shoulders, and their back.  They feature short bushy tails, very strong lower jaws, thick eyebrows, and dense fur drooping from their sideburns.  Beard, which many shorten to stubble length, gives the lower faces of males a dark shading akin to a wolverine’s muzzle.  Their hands and feet are clawed.  As can be expected, gulons are voracious eaters, leaving little in their plates but the hardest of bones.  As to romance, an outsider bold enough to seduce one had better have a solid constitution to survive the night.  Cautiousness ought to behoove the more adventurous, as gulons mate for life.  Although naturally jovial and boisterous, angering one is a bad idea.  Angering an entire clans is a disaster.  When challenged or threatened, Gulons shape-change into giant wolverines, a sequel to their former lycanthropic affliction.  When  in anger, gulons must succeed Wisdom checks to resist the change or to change back.  When calm, however, they may voluntarily change back and forth if it would be of benefit.

Gulons: as normal men (min. St 13, min. Co. 17, max. Wi 14; two claw attacks/round, 1d4 dmg each, or one weapon attack), ML 11, AL any, with shape-changing ability.  Gulons can speak to all weasel-type creatures, including normal wolverines.  They often use normal wolverines as familiars, despite not being wizards.  Insults, wounds, and willful attempts to harm a friend or a kin are enough to trigger anger.  Gulons no longer infect their victims with lycanthropy.

If permitted as a player characters (fighters or clerics), gulons incur a -10% penalty to all experience gains.  Since a player character left the clan to go on a life of adventuring with outsiders, the shape-change ability when angered is no longer automatic.  Intentional shape-change may be attempted only once per day and lasts for one battle or 1 round per experience level, whichever is longest.  Base chances of success are 10% +7% for every additional experience level, up to 73%.  From level 11 onward, the percentage score increases +1% per additional level.  The odds of an unintentional shape change are half as much, rounded up (only when angered; rolled by the DM).  Gulons do not wear armor other than shields as it would restrict their shape-changing ability and destroy their armor.  For that matter, they wear loose-fitting garments that can be discarded when switching forms.  When changing, all equipment drops to the floor around them.  Using these mechanics, a higher-level fighter (level 10-15) may lead a clan.  Gulons can become Foresthome rangers (see previous post) connected with a gulon clan, with an additional –15% experience penalty (total -25%). 

Giant Wolverine*: AC2, HD 6*, MV 120’ (40’), AT 2 claws/1 bite, Dmg 2d4/2d4/2d8, Save F6, ML12; Int 10, AL N (regardless of the original gulon alignment).  Special Defenses: half-damage from non-silver or non-magical weapons, half-damage from cold-based attacks, relative Constitution is 19; can move at full speed in deep snow.  Giant wolverines do not infect their victims with lycanthropy.  If all enemies have fallen or fled while a giant wolverine is still in battle rage, it may attack an ally (15% chance), usually the closest.  When switching shapes, previously accumulated damage remains proportional to the previous form’s maximum hit points.

Since the pacification of the gulons, normal life began in the region.  Aside from the seat of the county in Keelmeadows, only one village was founded, upstream on the Dreeneth River.  Other settlements include hamlets with about 50-100 inhabitants each, mostly farmers and fishermen.  The town was originally a fishing port.  After some initial successes, the community failed to expand in any meaningful way as it came under regular attack by the gulons.  The proportion of forested land in Hârnmayne clearly shows the extent of gulon clan territories, and illustrates their political influence in the count’s administration.  It also explains why the paved Silkstone Road was never extended past the Queen’s Lands.  Gulons naturally object to developments aimed at facilitating outsider settlement of open areas.  Nonetheless, the Esterhold Trail came into use, connecting the Queen’s Lands with the Kingdom of Ar.  Farming communities are slowly growing along the trail, the coast, and the Falkenstone River.  Beyond Keelmeadows, the Dreeneth waterway is navigable only by smaller vessels (Norse-style longships or smaller) up to Shrubsnag.  By law, outsiders may freely travel the river but not leave its banks while in gulon territory.  The clans operate an amber mine as full partners and on behalf of the count—the other partner.  The mine is dangerous due to seismic activity under the mountain range.  The name “Rumblesnap” comes from the noise rocks often make, and the sudden snapping sound when a crack opens.

County of Grünfold, map scale: 8 miles per hex

This northern dominion is another heavily forested land, although it fared infinitely better than its southern neighbor as regards its present population.  Its history ties into the Realm of Ar more than that of Foreshome.  Much of the outsider population there grew from runaway serfs and renegades escaped from Ar.  Early on, sasquatches living in the woods, recognized the value of having allies to keep the wizards of Ar off their land.  The truth is that much of the sasquatches’ sympathy for outsider settlements originated from vast amounts of vegetables, fruit, and ale generously purveyed by their newfound allies.  Unlike Hârnmayne, the inhabitants of Grünfold, whether clansfolk or outsider, could not wait to swear allegiance to the new king.  Initially, their decision engendered a rash response from Ar, in the form of air raids and fiery attacks upon their woods and farmsteads, wreaking desolation upon wide swaths of land.  The behavior ended progressively as royal troops sailed in and reinforced the new dominion’s defenses.  Joining the empire definitely put an end any open conflict with Ar.

Sasquatch: AC6, HD 5*, MV 150' (50'), AT 2 claws or 1 boulder, Dmg 2d4/2d4 or 1d8, Save F5, ML 6 (11 in lair), Int 6, AL N.  Shamans with 8 HD exist in the clans.
 
Another war took place some years later.  Without a clear reason, masses of ogres and other horrors emerged from the depths beneath the crags, the region south of Crystal Lake and mainland Ar.  At first, their onslaught seemed directed at Foresthome, chopping down trees wherever possible, enslaving or slaying all in their paths.  Several historians surmised that some malfeasant wizard from Ar, in an act of selfish wanton spite, might have aroused these ogres and channeled their wrath toward the sylvan realm.  It seemed to have worked for some time until the ogres turned upon the tantalizing northern lands, richer, easier to penetrate for their lack of woods, and oh so packed with defenseless, juicy farmers altogether ready for slavery in the Pits of Sorrow.  The war went on for decades, laying waste to all that fell to the ogres, until combined operations from both Foresthome and Ar finally sent them reeling back to their somber domain.  Although raids still do occur on either sides of the crags, a mass ogrish invasion has never taken place again since the last battle, where ogres fell in such numbers that one could not see the ground for miles.  The event served to bring the two realms closer.

Since then, a fort and a castle remain to watch the northern Grünfold border.  Bristlecone, Whitebark, and Foxenmast are still fortified.  The Town of Shipswort houses the county’s seat and features reasonably good port installations.  In the absence of conflict, trade has grown with the northern neighbor, on land and at sea.  There was a time when sasquatch clans had to contend with gulons in the forests along the southern border.  They held their own, developing tactics to discourage their raids, mostly relying on nasty traps and drugged foods abandoned in their paths.  Over time, the gulons avoided the Grünfold Barrier and concentrated on southern outsider settlements instead.  The pacification of gulons came as a great relief and enabled the expansion of outsider farmsteads in the southern meadows.

Shipswort is the traditional jumping point from mainland Alphatia to the southern tip of the Yannivey Islands. It is one of the few gates through which immigrants from the insular dominion reach the mainland.  Unwelcome in Ar, many head straight for neighboring Hârnmayne.  Some continue on to faraway Westford to find employment with horse and cattle farms.  Poor, filthy, barely able to speak the local vernacular, they are often abused and unjustly treated among outsiders.  From the point of view of the clans, they are just another wave flowing by.  Following the wisdom that today’s meek might be tomorrow’s lords, the clans remain more neutral toward them.

The Wander Waters River is a very shallow waterway.  Even longships, favored vessels in these northern climes, travel upstream with great difficulty.  As the name suggests, its riverbed shifts its path randomly from one month to the next.  The reason has yet to be discovered, although locals speak of elemental creatures haunting the waters.  So far, the indication remains to be confirmed.  The fact forest breweries dump their sludge into the river might have something to do with its odd behavior.  One beer-maker, however, has found that the dregs of production can be compressed, salted, mixed with butter, and sold as tasty snacks to the sasquatches who seem to get high on the stuff.  To outsiders, the substance merely tastes like salty, rancid dirt pies.  New laws are being debated at the Clan House in Shipswort to restrict the evil concoction before the problem gets out of hand.  And yes, Grünfold beer is a thick, dark, and potent beverage, due to unique molds growing there.  It is one of the county's main exports.

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Foresthome: Llynmouth & the Queen's Lands

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County of Llynmouth, map scale: 8 miles per hex

The county at the mouth of the Eastfollow River stands as one of the most powerful dominions in the kingdom.  Its present lord, Count Llynmouth, has been petitioning the queen for its elevation to a duchy, a quest he may yet succeed.  As a note in passing, many counts bear the names of their dominions, which isn’t customary in Alphatia.  The tradition comes from Cypric customs relying upon kin or family names in addition to one’s personal name.  Since Alphatians favor individual names, Foresthome counts often change theirs to that of dominions, appending them with numerals to connote their proper places in the land’s annals.  It is so that Fallwick of his original name took on the pseudonym Count Llynmouth, Thirty-Eighth Lord of the Line.  Should the county be elevated to a duchy, the beneficiary would change his name to Duke Llynmouth, First Lord of the Line.  Naturally, this could cause some confusion in the annals of the land, and thus names of proper pedigree are recorded with the appropriate coronet or crown symbol drawn above them, wherever they appear in the text.  Should one be touched, a brief ghostly vision lights up, depicting the lord in question turning toward the reader and uttering a historical quote, motto, or epitaph.  Leave it to Alphatians to come up with animated annals.

Two rivers cross the land, the Eastfollow River flowing from Llyn Lake and the Aragh flowing into it.  The former is a major river, allowing navigation by the largest ships.  Small vessels may navigate the Aragh up to Crowne-Feather.  Much of Llymouth’s wealth comes from merchant traffic on the Eastfollow and its nearby trail.  It is a point of contention with the League of Eight.  Because the merchant guild’s charter does not include the Eastfollow, the counts have made it a point to forbid league ships from sailing beyond Green Bay’s port.  Naturally, representatives of the count and of the guild often aim at each other bittersweet comments and dark looks.  Llynmouth is the county with the most leverage on the league.  Merchandise arriving in Green Bay must be unloaded at the port and picked up by another ship to continue from there, which gives the counts a great opportunity to inspect and collect duties.  Generally, the starboard side of a dock is reserved for lakebound ships while the opposite side accommodates riverbound vessels.  This is intended to facilitate ship-to-ship transfer of merchandise.  Major warehouses and granaries store the remainder.

Note from the Author:  the trail names probably should be edited on the map.  The Rathmore Trail should continue across the Anaragh toward Rathoon, while the one connecting with Taragor should be renamed accordingly.

Law in Llynmouth is definitely a notch above the nearby baronies or Tuttleby.  The county prefers natives of the Yannivey Islands as the mainstay for hired hands in charge of common police duties.  They are well trained for the job and particularly reliable (at least from the point of view of the counts), often communicating amongst them in their native vernacular.  They’re a rough bunch who aren’t easily intimidated, which explains why the League of Eight has so far avoided direct confrontation with the counts.  County troops often patrol the trails and otherwise concern themselves with the protection of the counts.

Llynmouth, due to its size, has to contend with commensurate challenges.  Although farming and urban population remains obedient and homogenous, essentially human with a halfling minority, several forests surround most of the county, including the Thumping Woods, the southern half of the Brierhills, and fringes of the Blackroot Forest.  The latter is the realm of a darker species of treants that can feed on the blood of the living.  For better or worse, “blackroots” are nonetheless denizens of the forests and have earned recognition as such among the kingdom.  They never leave the somber confines of their domain, relying on trusted druids as their representatives at the county’s Clan House.  Brierhills are home to other clans of bushmen, such as those inhabiting the nearby baronies.  Finally, the Thumping Woods harbor a unique race of creatures simply called woodsmen.  The name is meant literally, as these ogre-sized beings seem to be made of bendable wood and covered with smooth birch-like bark.  Woodsmen and bushmen are ancestral allies and sworn enemies of the blackroots.

Blackroot: AC2, HD 8***, MV 60’ (20’), AT 2 branches + blood drain, Dmg 2d6/2d6 + special, Save F8, ML9; Int 12, AL C.  Special Attacks: blood drain (-1 Strength; victims rise as forest wights); Special Defenses: immune to sleep, charm, mind- and plant-control effects.  Blackroots sometimes imprison their victims, keeping them alive for regular blood drains.  Greater Blackroots lead their clans, 16HD creatures with corresponding magic-user abilities heavily weighted toward necromantics.  Although treant-like beings, the latter possess statistics and abilities similar to odic spirits.  Blackroots can be Turned by clerics as vampires and odics.

Forest Wight*: AC5, HD 3**, MV 90’ (30’), AT 1 touch, Dmg energy drain, Save F3, ML12; Int 5, AL C.  Special Attacks: as per conventional wights; Special Defenses: immune to sleep, charm, mind- and plant-control effects (such as entangle spells); can operate during daylight.  Forest wights look entirely like bushmen although unable to speak or control plants around them.  They never leave the confines of their woods.  They normally stay dormant during the day, buried amid the forest ground until summoned or disturbed.  In the latter case, they rise from their natural graves and surprise the unwary (80% chance).  Their victims become forest wights within 1d4 days.  At sunrise, they sink back into the ground, leaving no trace of their existence, and feed upon the blood oozing from their blackroot overseers.

Woodsman: AC3, HD 4+1**, MV 90’ (30’), AT 1 large club, Dmg 2d4+2, Save F4, ML10; Int 10, AL L.  Special Attacks: Smash maneuver (see Fighter Combat Options) + possible knockout, stun, or delay effect (save vs. paralysis; Delay if saving throw failed by 1-2, Stun by 3-4, Knockout by 5+); Special Defenses: immune to sleep, charm, mind- and plant-control effects (such as entangle spells); mimicry which renders them invisible when standing still among trees.  Greater Treants act as clan leaders, 16 HD creatures with corresponding druidical spell abilities (despite their Lawful alignment).

Legends say that woodsmen are an offshoot of ancient treants, who grew human-like legs and arms.  They sprout roots at night while they sleep, drawing nutrients from the ground, and retract them at dawn.  They are also known to eat fallen leaves, nuts, and acorns, or drink water, if not fermented berry juices during celebrations.  Because of this, woodsmen are perfectly capable of venturing away from their forests into far less hospitable places, such as human towns or dungeons.  In a cold environment, they either go dormant or suffer a –2 penalty to Initiative.  They build villages from the remains of fallen trees, mud bricks, and grass, sometimes using great rocks as part of their structures.

Aside from their abilities, woodsmen live very long lives, perhaps as long as those of treants.  In the course of their breed’s existence, elves were encountered and befriended.  They fought a battle against a powerful invader from the north during which many fell.  It was tradition among woodsmen to share their sap, as blood-brothers would, and so, they offered to do the same with their elven allies.  It was a fateful gesture, as blood mixed with sap sometimes led to unexpected consequences.  Some of the woodsmen turned mad, twisted, and evil, and fled to the woods now known as the Blackroots Forest.  Some of the elves were altered differently, progressively becoming bushmen.  Since then, remaining elves moved on to pursue other aims and vanished from the annals of the land.  Woodsman clans hit their great clubs against hollow tree trunks to communicate with each other at a distance, causing the familiar thumping heard in this forest.  The sound is intended not only as communication, but also as a way to unnerve and disorient an enemy as to where an attack may come, in addition to rousing any sleeping treants in the area.

The Queen's Lands, map scale: 8 miles per hex

This crucial corner of Foresthome marks the starting point of the monarchy.  During the long years of struggles between forest clans and successive waves of outsiders encroaching upon their territories, one newcomer managed a lasting toehold.  Alphatians with a certain taste for nature and things of the wilderness established an outpost at the mouth of the Eastfollow River.  Relations with native clans were at first more than frosty.  Over the years, these eccentric newcomers eventually took the party of the clans against abuses perpetrated by other Alphatians from the north and the south.  What are now Imperial Territories already constituted a dangerous, monster infested wilderness that these renegade Alphatians were able to address to some degree.  Whether they harbored an ulterior motive or acted out of genuine unselfishness remains unclear to date.  Nonetheless, relations with nearby clans thawed and a dialog ensued.  At first, bushmen established trade rights which became a de-facto alliance.  Naturally, woodsmen followed, and from there, word got around by way of much thumping across the forest and lengthy treant mumbles passing from rustling crest to burrowing root and back through limb and acorn across valleys and over the hills until other clans learned of the new and auspicious happening.

Choices were made.  Bargains were struck.  Quarrels were settled.  Bows and wands were lowered.  Oaths were taken.  Treaties were signed.  And a crown was woven of gold and forever leaves at last to be placed upon the head of the one who’d pledged to defend them all.  Thus was born the United Kingdom of Foresthome, under the guidance and protection of an Alphatian monarch.

It was agreed that humans would inevitably come to settle in the area.  Rather than fighting continually against unending waves of a swelling sea, wisdom prevailed that its flow ought not be stopped but instead channeled around the forests, preserving them against the tide.  An Alphatian monarch would be better able to sway Alphatian people, as long as the Oath of Preservation was respected.  Open lands were conceded to enable the flow of human settlers, and laws were written to keep everyone in their proper places.  Such an immense kingdom demanded administrators to govern locally in the name of the king.  They were chosen among those closest to the throne, and land enfeoffed in the order of family statuses.  These vassals were Alphatians, like their monarch, for the same reasons and with the same duties.

The transition wasn’t that simple.  Not all clans fully trusted the human monarchy and its promises.  As a sign of good faith, it was agreed to allow the largest forest at the heart of the kingdom to govern itself while still remaining faithful to the crown.  Amendments were spelled out to balance the power of counts with those of the clans.  The last to join the realm were warrior tribes of the western grasslands and what are known today as the Marches of Ogresfell conquered at swordspoint to stem the horrors living deep below the crags.  While this took place, neighboring Alphatian powers grew as well, in particular Ar and Bettlellyn.  Foresthome’s monarchy was seen then as a renegade state.  During the formative years of the empire, many clashes took place as an attempt to strike down the sylvan power and seize its lands.  Alphatians who’d already settled there fought alongside the clans to defend their right and their property.  It sealed the people into a coherent nation, and the kingdom survived.  At last, the empire stabilized, and recognized Foresthome as a legitimate state.  It wasn’t so long afterward that the sylvan realm was welcomed as a respected member of the empire.

Much of the original monarchy’s wealth came from the deepwater port of Hepira, the old capital, and large silver mines in the Brierhills and the Frownsridge that are still active today.  Their shafts and tunnels reach far beneath the surface.  At first, the Alphatian outpost included the area surrounding Hepira, which later expanded southward along the Eastfollow River.  At its greatest extent before the unification, it included lands presently devoid of woods.  It incorporated bushmen woods when the new kingdom was founded, adopting its present size and shape.

Ever since the counties were established around Llyn Lake, trade has been booming along the river, at Hepira and Greenwood, the present capital.  The royal court moved there as a way to foster closer ties with bushman allies.  Duties and tolls are very low in the Queen’s Lands precisely to attract business and growth.  Trade around Llyn Lake was sluggish at first, as the towns were growing and lands were developing.  To accelerate the process, an early monarch founded the League of Eight.  In exchange for substantial infrastructure investments and shipbuilding on the part of financial backers, the monarch agreed to a permanent charter allowing the new guild many prerogatives, such as paying very low taxes to the royal treasury and virtual immunity from county laws.  Since the monarch in question was one of the financial backers, it didn’t seem like a problem at the time.  It quickly became and still is a very profitable operation.  Since then however, the charter has been a growing embarrassment, but since the crown still owns a significant share of the business, nothing changed.  In view of the threats looming at Foresthome’s doorstep, cash is very much an issue.  In past conflicts, the League of Eight has been useful as a source of loans and ships.  It helps explains why the successive monarchies tolerated the guild’s rather muscular business habits.  A point of contention remains in the decision of Llymouth counts to block League ships from accessing the Eastfollow River, this being one of the reasons why the county’s status wasn’t elevated to that of a duchy.

Law enforcement in the Queen Lands remains the direct responsibility of the Queen’s Army, although the Royal Guard reserves for itself the duty to ensure the security of the queen, and investigates any matter relevant to the palace, the court, or the monarchy.  The latter includes a small network of spies.  The Royal Guard, the Queen’s Army, and the Her Royal Majesty’s Navy answer to different commanders who take their orders from the queen herself.  Law in the forest is relevant to bushmen.  It is subject to their own customs, although the queen’s laws are enforced whenever possible.  The monarchy also relies on a Fellowship of Rangers who are warriors familiar with woodlands and who enjoy some druidical abilities.  Their mission is to assist the clans and act as their representatives in Clan House meetings, if requested, or as the crown’s representatives among clan lands.  Part-hunters, diplomats, and wisemen, these warriors wield a tremendous amount of trust, usually spending years learning a clan’s ways before gaining their confidence.  Many identify with their assigned clans, although their allegiance remains to the crown.  Theirs is a thankless task when confronted with a conflict of interest.  Occasionally, some “go native” entirely, and are stricken from the fellowship’s records, though they may still act as their clan’s representative.  Rangers are also responsible for monitoring the respect of laws regulating encroachment upon the woodlands, or an unwarranted expansion of wooden areas.  They also watch borders in wilderness areas, usually looking for monstrous activity.


Foresthome Ranger are fighters or elves with special skills including tracking, awareness, clan lore, druidical spells, and clan powers.  Their alignments must match their associated clans (in other words, they can be Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic).  Naturally, the fellowship knows what rangers to assign which clans for best results.  If rangers are allowed as player characters, a –20% penalty applies to all to earned experience.  Prime-requisites are Strength and Wisdom.

Tracking: the base chance to follow a set of footsteps is 65%.  Five factors can be rated from easiest to hardest, which then modify chances of success.

   

• Terrain: A. soft soil; B. grass and bushes, C. hard-packed dirt or dusty stone; D. stone surface or swampland; E. through a secret passage.
• Num.: the number of individuals tracked.
• Size: refers to the size of the creature(s) tracked, from very large to very small.
• Time: the number of days or partial days that have elapsed since tracks were left.
• Precip.: the number of hours rainfall or snowfall lasted, if any (or wind in a sandy desert).

Tally bonuses and penalties listed in the last column (Difficulty Rating) for each of the five factors, and apply them to the base 65% chance.  If the ranger’s percentile roll scores equal or less than the modified chances, the tracking attempt succeeds.  The target score cannot be any higher than 99% or lower than 1% regardless of modifiers.

Awareness: Rangers are only surprised with a 1 on a d6.

Clan Lore: is a Wisdom-based skill that enables a ranger to know customs, traditions, and the historical background of the chosen/assigned clan.  If warriors of the clan have a bonus to their attacks against a hated foe, the ranger benefits from it as well (no skill roll needed).

Druidical Spells: rangers can cast druidical spells as clerics one third their experience levels (i.e. level 1 spells at their third experience level, etc.) regardless of their actual alignments.

Clan Powers: subject to DM moderation, a 10th level ranger may learn one special defense available to clan members, if any.  One more may be learned for each additional 5 experience levels.  Special attack can only be learned if all defensive abilities have already been mastered.

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