Adri Forest (AH-dree or AY-dree)
An ancient deep forest that stands contested between the Kingdom of Ahlissa, the North Kingdom, and the inhabitants of the deep woodland itself.
This vast, ancient broadleaf forest is filled with game animals and fine wood. It has shrunk in area by about half since the Great Kingdom was founded, thanks to land-clearing for farms, fires, logging, and woodcutting. Resources from the Adri include wood for shipbuilding, homes, furniture, and weapons; game animals hunted for furs, food, and trophies; fruits and nuts; and fish from the Harp River. Excluding Innspa, the only settlement of note here is Elversford (pop. 1,000), on the east bank of the Harp, eight-five miles east-southeast of Innspa. Armed foresters led by rangers resist incursions by Ahlissa and North Kingdom. A half-dozen druidic faiths are present, notably that of Obad-Hai, led by Archdruid Immonara (N female human Drd13 of Obad-Hai). Ehlonna's faith supports the rangers and is very militant. A legendary ancient elven city is said to lie at the heart of the Adri, in a dangerous region called the Coldwood. No elf will ever go there or allow anyone else to do so. The Adri Forest is perhaps but half the size it was when the Great Kingdom was founded, but it is still large and shelters many peoples and creatures. The whole of the forest has been regarded as part of the Great Kingdom historically, though the lands west of the Harp River were considered part of Almor or Nyrond for a time. As detailed in this chapter, the forest can be divided into three distinctively different regions: • The ancient, deep forest woodland. Here, few humans enter, and the terrain is fraught with danger.• The remaining bulk of the woodland. This is home to foresters, rangers, bandits and others.
• The city of Innspa and the forested hills. The hills abut the southern extension of the Flinty Hills range.
Fauna & Flora
About 90% of the mass of the Adri is mixed deciduous woodland, with the broad and sluggish Harp River cutting a swathe through it to the west. The forest is plentiful with game, and its fringes always have seen their share of nobles out hunting. In addition to deer, the rabbits of the forest are plentiful and are trapped for food, as are squirrels, mink-like animals, and larger birds. Fishing is productive along the banks of the Harp. Add to this good supplies of mushrooms, herbs, fruiting plants, berries, and tubers, and the riches of the forest are easily enough to support the 25,000 or so people who dwell permanently within the forest confines.
Races other than humans are rare outside the deep forest. There are a few hundred wood elves, no more, and very few high elves or forest gnomes. The demihumans who live in this forest keep to themselves, and they defend their homes with snares, tripwires, pit and net traps, and poisoned weapons. There are so few of them that they do not take chances with outsiders. This applies even to the normally peaceable gnomes.
This is a surprise to many who do not know the history of the forest. The elves have a good reason for disliking this forest, as the history of the Coldwood reveals. Likewise the gnomes, who might have been expected to have taken to the wooded hills, shun them. Their avoidance is explained in the notes on Innspa and the hills below.
This leaves a human population which, though sizeable, is sparse in terms of people per square mile. There are areas of the Adri where no man has ever set foot.
So far as costs and availability of goods go, food is readily accessible, but most other goods are almost unavailable at any price—save for such simple weapons as spears, bows, arrows, and battle axes.
The Forest Folk
Foresters
Most humans who live here make a living from fishing, trapping, hunting, and plant gathering. Thus, they are foresters rather than woodsmen. Most of the folk who make a living taking wood from the forest for the manufacture of spears, bows, arrows, and ships live outside the forest in farmsteads and small hamlets. These woodsmen grow more determined and callous in their cutting down Adri wood because their lords demand it of them. The foresters react in different ways to this invasion and to the much more threatening incursions of other factions; bandits, humanoids, and militias. Some have reacted aggressively by setting lethal traps for those who come to their forest, others have retreated into the deeper woodlands or to the new, larger, fortified settlements which have sprung up or grown larger over the past few years. Decades ago, foresters lived alone, often with their families, in timbered huts, except in areas where indigenous forest humanoids were anything other than a rare menace. Now, this is unusual. Groups of families live together, and ditches and palisade walls protect their dwellings. These settlements have been built (or are being built now) deeper into the forest—deeper than settlements into other forests. The main threats to the foresters come from outside the forest rather than within. The Adri foresters are a mix of alignments, but are predominantly chaotic. A forester whose family has a few chickens for eggs and a goat for milk is virtually selfsufficient, needing perhaps one trading trip a year to buy leather, cloth, cooking pans, and a few other finished items. They are tough folk (Con of 6+2d6). They are also suspicious of any outsiders, and with good reason. Foresters' hamlets (any population of 30+) are regularly patrolled, day and night. The forest men favor leather armor, longbows or short bows, spears, and battle axes. But some have weapons taken from the bodies of militia from beyond the forest—longswords, heavy maces, and the like. They tend to band together in small groups to hunt, check traps, or collect berries and mushrooms. In many areas, the foresters have taken to smearing plant and berry extracts on their skins to disguise themselves in the woods.Rangers
Since the Great Kingdom is not noted for its many good-aligned people, that there are few rangers in the Adri is no surprise. Moreover, there is a schism within their ranks. Two powerful ranger lords compete for the spirit of the Adri rangers; one Lawful, one Chaotic. From his base at Elversford, Parren Ludern stresses constantly the need to organize forces to defend the forest. He is charismatic, and has the blood of the House of Cranden in his veins, giving him some aristocratic kudos. Parren has had some notable successes, strengthening Elversford and negotiating with Captain-General Osmeran of Cordrend in Nyrond. Osmeran instructs his elven mage Nukirien to teleport to Elversford, bringing small quantities of crafted weapons, potions, and the like in return for herbs and food which Osmeran badly needs. Osmeran and Parren also cooperate militarily. A joint venture by them recently employed foresters and rangers as a feint to lure away defenders from a military garrison outside Innspa some months ago, allowing Osmeran's men to attack those remaining in the camp, inflicting serious casualties and retrieving useful supplies. Those rangers allied with Parren wear insignia to identify themselves and their relative rank. A small limegreen stripe is worn on the right sleeve by rangers of levels 1-2; two stripes for those of levels 3-5; three stripes by those of levels 6-8; and three stripes with an inverted chevron above by the handful of levels 9+. The alignments of these rangers, perhaps 80 in number throughout the forest, are: LG, 50%; NG, 40%; CG, 10%. There are those who do not like this militaristic organization. It is too similar to the regimented life which many of the Adri people fled from beyond the forest, and it is not without its dangers. After the Innspa raid, Aerdy militias did their best to retaliate with forays against the foresters to the west. They only killed a few, but next time the retaliation might be more powerful and cost many more lives. Rangers not allied with Parren have more sympathy for the other best-known ranger of the forest, Prisstyne Carnhuis. Prisstyne's rangers form a very loose alliance, without rank or order, communicating on an ad hoc basis when necessary. They have no base similar to Elversford and travel widely throughout the Adri, not necessarily just patrolling the borders of the larger settlements as Parren's rangers tend to do. They also have better understandings with nonhuman forest dwellers, such as the wood elves, the sentinels, and the few faerie folk. Many speak one or more additional languages, such as elven or a faerie tongue. The very few half-elven rangers of the forest are almost all among Prisstyne's followers. There are perhaps 60 such, and their alignments are: NG, 30%; CG, 70%. These two groups are not antagonistic. They simply don't cooperate very much. They have different views on how the Adri is best defended, but their lack of cooperation may yet cost the forest dear.Druids and Nature Priests
There are small numbers of several nature priesthoods within the Adri. A handful of priests of Beory, Atroa, and Phyton have taken refuge here over the years, but the most important priesthoods are those of Obad-hai and Ehlonna. Ehlonna's priests often term themselves "druids," not least to challenge the authority of Obad-hai's druids. Obad-hai's priesthood is the most numerous in the Adri. Archdruid Immonara has lived in the Adri for more than 80 years, some say, and for all that there are few signs of age on her face. Immonara has many affiliations, unusually for a druid of this reclusive faith. She talks to both Parren and Prisstyne, and is associated with the Brothers of the Bronze, the Nyrondese group of druids, rangers, and others who try to protect the Celadon and Gamboge forests in Nyrond. Immonara is one of very few able to walk the deep forest in safety, and she has an unparalleled knowledge of forest lore. She knows the old mysteries and dangers of the forest, and the true tale of the Coldwood. Since Griffith Adarian's finding of an ancient relic close by (see City of Greyhawk, Folk, Feuds and Factions book), Immonara warns her other druids to be wary of travel therein. Immonara's druids are forest wanderers, rarely staying long at any settlement. They do not seek confrontations with raiding militias or humanoids as Parren's rangers often do. Very often a druid of Obad-hai just happens to be on the spot at the time, using entanglement, snares, spike growths and the like to confound raiders. The druids of Obad-hai also have friends among the wood elves, the few forest gnomes of the Adri, and other nonhumankind. They are a gentle priesthood, introverted, lacking in aggression, and they also keep confidences to themselves. They are exceptionally skilled in herbalism, and any druid of Obad-hai of 3rd or higher level is able to prepare herbal draughts and remedies which can: (a) cure 1d4 hp; (b) have a 50% chance for curing disease (if a natural disease and (c) if administered within 10 minutes of a person or animal being poisoned, allow a fresh saving throw versus the poison's initial DC and, if that saving throw is made, the herbal curative neutralizes the poison (though it will not undo any adverse effects which have already occurred). Druids of 7th and higher levels have an even more advanced natural pharmacopeia, though they do not reveal the secrets of their recipes. Ehlonna's smaller priesthood is rather more outgoing and even aggressive. It has no leader of similar stature to Immonara, but Lisara Elmhern is a fiery and exceptionally astute priestess who often speaks for this group in conclaves with rangers and outsiders. A handful of these priests have organized into a martial faith, stressing the strength of the forest and the power of the life-force Ehlonna epitomizes. This group, calling itself the Warriors of the Huntress, specializes in combat and protection spells and actively organizes with Parren's rangers and forester-fighters to attack those who threaten the Adri. The famed warrior-bard Lukan the Boar is allied with the Warriors of the Huntress, and he is rumored to be Lisara's lover.Bandits
In addition to the forest's indigenous folk, at any time there are perhaps 2,000 or so bandits in the Adri. They are a varied lot. Some have been outlaws within the forest for many years, and have come to know the paths and ways of the forest. Others are army deserters or farm folk fled during the wars or the months since. And the most recent of these arrivals are as likely to die from eating poisonous fungi mistaken for edible mushrooms as from any other cause. Very few—only those who have lived here for several years or more—have any permanent, defended settlements. The majority are feral scavengers, raiding farmlands and farmsteads outside the forest for the most part. They tend to be poorly equipped and have wretched morale, although there are a handful of exceptions (see location entry for Sharpwall below).Other Folk
Perhaps 1,000 orcs, half this number of gnolls, and a handful of bugbears are indigenous forest dwellers. Their numbers have been diminished to the northeast as Hastern has recruited them (at sword-point, usually) into his militias. They present little threat to the foresters, since they leave obvious telltale signs of entering forest areas and foresters are usually able to avoid them and anticipate any serious raiding they might make from time to time. They have no major settlements and tend to roam in small bands of 5-20 or so, scavenging whatever they can. There are few faerie creatures (dryads, pixies, nixies in the river, etc.) outside of the deep forest—save for brownies. Many a forester's hamlet has a brownie living nearby, and a few have a prized killmoulis somewhere among the wooden ceiling beams. The foresters are very superstitious about these little folk, and always provide saucers of milk, beer, and food. There is a common belief that the little people like candied sweets, which are made from fruit sugars. Brownies are also friendly to Prisstyne's rangers in particular, and often leave telltale warning signs for them along their preferred trails and paths if dangers lie ahead.The Strategic Picture
The Adri is raided from many directions, but its problems are more severe in particular areas.Northeastern Forest
Here, the militias and axemen of Hastern of Naelax and his liegemen are constant raiders into the forest. Humanoids in Hastern's service make extended forays into the forest, venturing up to 50-60 miles from their bases beyond it, hunting for slaves, food, anything they can scavenge and despoil. Many foresters have left the area, but as the forays get deeper and deeper, the time comes when they will be forced to defend at least the margins of deeper settlements.Southwestern Forest
There are no organized military threats to this area, but the few creatures which enter the Adri from the wretched Almorian borderlands may be insanely powerful, intensely evil, or both. Thus, the few dangers which present themselves here are of exceptional strength. Defensive measures have been taken along the northern bank of the Harp just inside the forest here, and foresters who once lived south of that river have tended to retreat across the river to safer northern lands. The gazetteer chapter for the Almorian lands gives extra details.Northwestern Forest
The description of Innspa and the borderlands gives more details. In theory, the forces amassed in the chaotic margins of the forest could be overwhelming, but the soldiers and humanoids here expend much energy fighting each other rather than raiding the forest. This is why Prisstyne is currently so angry with Parren. She is concerned that his cooperation with Osmeran threatens to turn the attentions of the disorganized factions against the forest and, if this happens, woe betide the forest.Potential Alliance
Many Adri folk secretly long for union with Nyrond. Indeed, many have relatives there. Now that Almor has fallen, they believe that only Nyrond can preserve them from the evils of the Great Kingdom. Unfortunately, most Adri folk have little true idea of what is going on in the outside world. Most speak of the Great Kingdom as if it still existed as a single entity. Few can comprehend the state into which Nyrond has fallen. They might hear news from outside (though not often), but they do not truly understand and comprehend it. This is a naive people for the most part, too long isolated in their forest home to understand the momentous changes outside it.
Type
Forest, Temperate (Seasonal)
Included Locations
Region
Principality of Innspa, United Kingdom of Ahlissa Exports
Wood, animals, furs, food, trophies, fruits, nuts Settlements
Elversford
Innspa
Sharpwall Notable Locations
Bitterness
Coldwood
Erianrhel
Ettin's Mound
Goldchasm
Haunted Mines of Yellowretch Notable Persons
Archdruid Immonara
Archdruid Umina
Elmennanibinaquen
Karasin, Countess of the House of Garasteth
General Levialen
Lisara Elmhern
Lukan the Boar
Parren Ludern
Prisstyne Carnhuis
Location in the Flanaess
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