Forests of High Rock and their dangers

by Ademar de Sarne, Royal Battlemage of Camlorn, 4E 202

To most outsiders, High Rock is seen as a civilized province, with effective trade, prestigious universities and rich nobility. However, this is true only for the coastal city states and a few towns inland. Most of the Inner Bretony consists of mountainous regions, with ancient, thick forests covering the majority of the terrain, with small hamlets here and there housing the sparse population. Any attempts to civilize these wild lands are futile; any landowner with a half-intact fort can proclaim himself a sovereign king and rule his petty kingdom for years, until any real king bothers to collect taxes. People live more “primitive” lives out there, often illiterate, living off the land with barely enough metal for an axe. There are no standardized institutions dedicated to teaching magic, and so the people are self-taught (and often victims to accidents). Healthcare and defenses are provided by witches or druids, practitioners of peculiar religions, skilled in natural magic and alchemy. But, Bretons are not the only inhabitants of these harsh lands. Ancient magic still lingers in these woods - and any visitor should be cautious.

People themselves belong to various religious cults, not necessarily heretical, but certainly outlandish to even coastal Bretons. Often, you can spot a particularly massive tree in the forest and notice signs of worship around it - candles on the ground, small totems made of bones or a stone altar nearby. These are holy places to Kynareth and Y’ffre cults, venerating nature, the forest, the trees or even animals as gods. Sometimes, they even deal with Spriggans, humanoid tree-like creatures usually hostile to travellers. In rare cases, followers of Hircine build similar shrines; this is more frequent closer to the Reach (these cults choose to sacrifice Spriggans as offerings).

Mountains are home to many species of beast folk - goblin-ken, imps, giants, lamia, and of course, the Orcs. They all have their rudimentary cultures, religions and magical practices, and when encountered, will usually be hostile to humans. Orcs seem to be the most sensible of them all, having their own hierarchies, often ruling over the other beasts. Sometimes, they trade with Breton villages, and many Orcs even find their way into the coastal cities and become civilized, educated City-Orcs, our neighbours and colleagues. However, those still living in the strongholds are highly dangerous, their culture and religion making them way more violent than their city cousins.

Goblins and gremlins often follow similar cultural practices, but lack the intelligence to integrate themselves into civilized societies. They are small in size, easily scared off by a human, but when having the advantage of numbers, they can swarm any travelers. They should not be underestimated. Giants usually do not attack unless provoked, so the best advice should be to just avoid eye contact and leave.

Near lakes and rivers, you may encounter dreughs and lamias. Dreughs can be communicated, sometimes even traded with, when during their water period, although they are often hostile as well. If you see a dreugh in the water, it’s best to leave it be and it should leave you be as well. Same could be true for lamias as well, although they seem to be a bit more isolationist. However, beware of land dreugh. During mating season, they leave their waters and live on land. In this state, they are indiscriminately hostile and cannot be reasoned with. Do not attempt to fight them.

Perhaps the most dangerous creatures in the forests of deeper High Rock are the lycanthropes. Wereboars are equally as common as werewolves, as opposed to other provinces. All lycanthropes exercise immense physical strength, speed, their howls and grunts bring chill to the bones and any scratch or bite can infect the victim with the same disease. It’s always useful to carry some Cure Disease potions with you into the wild. It’s almost impossible to outrun them or escape their sense of smell, so fighting is often the only option available. Sometimes, a painful stimulus in the eyes or nuzzle is enough to turn them away, but in most instances, they will fight to the death. Using Paralyze to slow their movement, then cutting their throat is the most effective strategy we know, but requires quite some skill in both magic and combat.

Wilderness is littered with witch covens, which meet to worship their primal gods and bring sacrifices to them in exchange for power. Among these gods is of course Hircine, and the witches have a lot of knowledge about lycanthropy - rumoured to be able to cure it. However, they are also known to infect people, or sacrifice them to Hircine. They are powerful magic users, so be aware. They also might have dealings with vampires, although vampires tend to lurk in the more populated areas, with more food, such as the coastal city states. Vampires in the inner forests are rather rare.

The forests of High Rock are dangerous, but also beautiful places. When traveling through, there is much to be wary of. The only advice that is guaranteed to help in most cases, is to always travel in as large numbers as possible. The wild is unforgiving to strays.

Since it felt rude to post this much, but to ignore the Theme of the Week, I wrote this piece to contribute.