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# Outline
# Note 
*This has been modified version from the original adventure (full credits, below). It has been changed to fit the world of Antheros and the Haven Irregulars campaign.*
 
# Introduction 
For as far back in time as the tales of history stretch, the area bordering what is now the Lands of Launewt has been a foreboding, practically impenetrable forest. When the lords who ruled the various borderlands united to form the Council of Launewt a century ago, the forest was in the same physical condition as it is now: thick, dark, and expansive, said to be so dense at the center that sunlight pervaded the foliage only on the brightest days.
 
The forest is also, as it has always been, home to all manner of vicious animals and evil-minded denizen. The animals are generally only dangerous when one intrudes on their territory. The more intelligent evil creatures of the forest, however, often come out to the borderlands to make trouble. In even the oldest historical accounts, mention is made of sporadic raids by the evil creatures on villages and outposts in the borderlands. These tribulations have long been a fact of life for the citizens of the Lands of Launewt – bothersome, sometimes to the extreme, but usually not mounted by a large enough force to do any lasting damage.
 
On rarer occasions, the forest dwellers have collaborated in organized mass assaults. The provinces and communities of the Lands of Launewt have defenses that are not easily breached – but large villages have been known to be overrun and plundered by hordes of attackers. The cumulative effect of a series of these organized assaults can be devastating – stripping from an area the size of an entire province virtually all the area's material wealth and a good portion of its able-bodied citizenry.
 
Two generations of men have come and gone since the last time a group of such assaults took place – but now there is evidence, at least in some people's minds, of a conflict that threatens to escalate into another costly war. A minority faction in the Council of Launewt believes that the so-called sporadic raids have, of late, become systematic and purposeful; several villages have been plundered in a short time.
 
But most of the council members have turned a deaf ear to the assertions of their more cautious fellows, insisting that the raids do not fall into a pattern and maintaining that occasional conflicts of this nature are not worthy of the Council's attention, and should be left for the local militias to deal with. A splinter group within this majority has a neutral outlook; its members realize the dangerous potential of a united enemy, but hesitate to believe that there is a single force capable of consolidating and unifying all the evil humanoids of the forest.
 
Such differing opinions don't mix well. As a result, the Council of Launewt is in turmoil, its normally well-ordered decision-making process now paralyzed. Nothing is being done, even to the extent of preparing a contingency plan just in case the minority turns out to be right.
 
The council members predicting a mass invasion have gathered physical evidence and information to support their position: items like small, strange darts smeared and smudged with a harmless, fungus-like substance; stories like those told by men who claim to have ventured close to the forest's edge in pursuit of an evil band, and then turned back after glimpsing dark, shadowy shapes in the underbrush.
 
None of the evidence gathered so far has swayed any of the other council members, though. They assert that the darts are simply ordinary objects, and since the fungus coating is harmless, it must be symbolic, and not dangerous, in nature. As support for their position, they cite examples of strange short swords and other weapons recovered from the sites of battles – their blades so pitted and poorly worked that they bear mute witness to the inferiority of the creatures who forged them. The tales of dark shapes in the trees they dismiss as nothing more than fable, stories invented by terrified peasants and soldiers as a way to gain a certain measure of notoriety – or to hide their cowardice.
 
In hopes of obtaining conclusive evidence to support their position, several members of the minority faction have sought the aid of small groups of adventurers who would be willing – for a price, of course – to brave the evils of the forest and get at the truth of the matter. During the last few weeks, several bands of explorers have set out on missions into the forest. So far, none of them have been heard from – meaning, perhaps, that they have met and fallen to stronger adversaries, or perhaps that they have thought better of the whole idea and decided to not enter the forest after all.
 
Now, another such opportunity is being offered to a band of adventurers who seem more stalwart than any who have gone before them. A young lord of the Council of Launewt, after seeing his father die in a recent raid on his family's home village, has collected a few scraps of information that he hopes will demonstrate that the threat of an evil invasion is indeed real, and will encourage this new group of adventurers to seek even more information – and avenge his father's death at the same time.
 
“Goblins are not the most reliable source of information one could want,” says the young lord, “but there seems good reason to heed something I heard about just three days ago. Several of these vile creatures were killed during one of their raids into our countryside. One of them, just before it died, became delirious and babbled almost incoherently about someone or something called 'Arron' – perhaps the name of a leader, or the name of a ruling order the goblins pay homage to. One of the goblin's babblings translates roughly as 'victory will belong to the noble.'
 
“We know that goblins are certainly not 'noble' – and, from what we have learned about them, they do not see themselves as noble. These words, if they are more than just the ravings of a mad gob-lin, seem to point to the existence of an evil force stronger and more devious than the goblins themselves. But the exact nature of this force is still unknown to us.
 
“I strongly suspect,” continued the young lord, “that the creature or organization called 'Arron' is responsible for pulling together the evil creatures of the forest into a fighting force that threatens the life and property of every resident of the Lands of Launewt. As revenge for my father's death, I want proof that the evil designs of Arron have been ruined and the threat to our homeland destroyed. I offer you 5,000 gold pieces as a reward, plus the gratitude of everyone in the Lands of Launewt. Even those who have foolishly refused to recognize the threat will see the wrongness of their views when your proof is put before them.” 
 
After the adventurers accept the young lord's offer, he concludes his instructions to them with a brief description of how to get to the edge of the forest. It is at this point, on the fringe of the unknown territory, where the adventure begins.
 
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![[forest-of-doom-cover.png]]
 
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**Completion Date:** <br>
 
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### World Anvil Metadata
**Id:** 6b9d7813-3339-4536-919e-f73d2250c9ae<br>
**Entity Type:** Article / plot<br>
**Category:** Module: Forest of Doom<br>
**Tags:** FoD-plot
 
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