The forest is an elite area I want to be challenging for even a group of 120 remorts, and an area for one of the new continents, with a miniquest connecting the two. This would give our bored 120's something to do, and introduce some new content, and get a new area on a new continent. Here's what I have so far:
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The starter storyline:
In a kingdom of old, of a distant land, (one of the new continents) a local lord had been granted one of the most prestigious appointments in the kingdom, the Shorewatcher. It was a smaller piece of land, an island that overlooked the main waterway entrance to the kingdom. Any lord in this appointment essentially had great control over the export and import from foreign lands. The chosen young lord, Cathal Mierkwood, and his young new bride, Lady Lidoine, settled into their new keep overlooking the sea.
Many great and happy years were spent within their keep, and they felt very blessed, as they expected their first born. The first of many young Mierkwoods to born in the seaside keep. But in dark turn of events, Lady Lidoine died during birth of their son, Davan. Lord Cathal, filled with a great remorse, vowed to raise his son, and to always treasure his lost love.
As the years passed, the remorse and torment grew within Cathal. He grew distant from his son and erratic in his official duties as the Shorewatcher as this terrible sadness began to overwhelm him. Rage begins to swallow Lord Cathal, angry at the loss of his bride and his love. Davan, out of love for his father, attempts to console the estranged lord. Cathal, drunken with rage and sorrow draws his sword, stabbing Davan through the stomach, nearly killing the boy.
It was this dark day in Mierkwood Keep that an ominous figure appeared. An elderly woman, a witch some said, covered in strange markings and garbed with animal pelts and bones. She approached the lord offering him a way to see his lost love, Lidoine. Lord Cathal struck a deal with the witch, and traveled with her to the woods outside the keep where she used an ancient ritual to summon forth a dark entity. This being of shadow, promised Lord Cathal that he could bring his beloved Lidoine back to him.
Through the blinding hope to see his wife again, Lord Cathal soon became the entity’s servant, and thus the beginning of the corruption. It started first in the lands around the keep. The woods began to die, replaced with a foul and murky swamp which slowly overtook Mierkwood Keep, causing it to slowly sink within its depths. The peasants, serfs, and those within Lord Cathal’s rule began to wither away with disease and death. Lord Cathal himself seemed to spread this corruption to those that sought audience with him.
All the while, the dark entity seemed to grow stronger, as if feeding from everything around him, ever promising Cathal that he would bring Lidoine back to lord. It took only a few years for all with Cathal’s domain to succumb to the tainting of the dark entity’s corruption. In all of this, Davan, Cathal’s son saw what was going on, and escaped, before he too was claimed by spreading corruption.
He booked passage on the first ship he could leave the darkening lands, hoping to escape and find help for his father. Several months at sea, the ship was struck down by a forceful storm and smashed against the shore of an unknown land. (whichever of the first two continents we chose to place the Spirit’s Forest on) Dazed and weak, Davan walked across the shore looking for any sign of life. He came upon a thick forest, not far from the shore. He called out several times with the last of his strength, and fell to the ground, as darkness swallowed all he saw as he slipped into unconsciousness.
From the forest came a momentary soft breeze and then silence. A glowing figure appeared, and walked toward the unconscious boy. With a quick flip of his hand, he motioned toward the forest and suddenly several more beings appeared and came toward the boy. These were the spirits of the forest, known only in legends as the Keepers of the Spirit’s Forest. The eldest of the spirits, Nanthyn, called for more to come and help, to which a few dryads appeared. They took Davan deep into the forest, to care for the dying boy, and save his life.
Davan only lived for a few short days, but in that time, he was able to tell the elder spirit the story of what had happened to his father and his people. Nanthyn and his spirits placed Davan within the soil of the forest and constructed a monument to the boy. But little they did know, as the taint of the corruption was within Davan, and now spread in the soil of the forest, corrupting all those within, even the eldest of the spirits, Nanthyn…
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Gameplay ideas:
With the story in hand now, the basic flow for players will be this.. They learn of mysterious deaths in a forest once thought to be safe. Granted these events in the story were to have happened many years ago. The players will learn of the events in the forest through a mob in Achaeus (or Olaria.. depending on where the forest is placed) Then they must go to the forest, make it through to Nanthyn’s sanctum, and defeat the tainted Nanthyn. Thus allowing Nanthyn to be restored, and he will tell the story of Davan, and gives the players a map to find where Mierkwood is.
Any player can go to Mierkwood, but they will need to be in a group that has a map. The Spirit’s Forest will be an elite area, meaning I want it to be a challenge for even a good sized group of remort 120’s. After getting the map, the players will need to find a ship captain brave enough to sail to an (currently) uncharted land. That ship captain will be in the alternate existing city. (meaning if they learned about the forest in Olaria, the captain will be in Achaeus, or vice versa)
Then they will be able to sail to Mierkwood, to attempt to destroy the corruption that is there. Doing this will involve some puzzle play and a bit of combat eventually leading to defeating, and then banishing the dark entity, allowing the of corrupted souls of Mierkwood Keep to finally rest.
