Shadows of Chaos: Deep Forest and the Rift

Deep Forest: an artifact worth the risk?

The Deep Forest map lists entry through /join deepforest, from the Back Room's Continue the search option after It's a Book Wyrm!, and from Anka's Transformation Go Now button. It warns that walking through the mist displays a cannot-see message. Anka's NPC state says the Hero should help in ForestReach first. Her main quest group is gated behind It's a Book Wyrm!; all fourteen main task panels are individually once-only, the first has no previous-task clause, and the next thirteen require the previous quest.

The community replay entry places this scene on joining Deep Forest for the first time per login, before The Eye of the Beholder is complete. Drakath asks Anka to explain what she expects the Plane of Monsters artifact to reveal. Anka says it belonged to the Queen, may even be part of her, and is connected to and resonates with her. She distinguishes it from the source of the Queen's power, calling it the core of that power instead.

Drakath says he does not see how the artifact will help and asks why they should care. He says the Queen is dead and dismisses her, while Anka says seeking truth is her work as a Loremaster. These remain their respective views and claims.

After Drakath calls the plan a terrible idea, Hero asks, “Is it?” Drakath answers yes and says he knows how dangerous the Queen is. He describes her power as intoxicating, calls the Queen treacherous, then warns that an artifact that was hers cannot be trusted. The community record then presents two alternatives, each with a different response from Drakath: one argues for taking a chance to solve the mystery and draws his rebuke; the other agrees another way is needed and draws his promise that they will find one. The record does not show which option was selected.

Drakath orders them to find the rift, close it, and seal off the Plane of Monsters. The scene records his instruction, not its completion.

The native dialogue matches the community exchange, but the brief “Is it?” reply has no encoded speaker name even though the community transcript labels it Hero. Native control evidence contains two distinct choice buttons and routes them to different response sections; the community button text varies in punctuation from the native visible labels. Native text repeats the rift-closing order in both branch outputs, while the community transcript prints it once. Both alternatives and the duplicate native lines remain authored content; they do not establish a selected choice or completed closure.

Anka's early NPC dialogue acknowledges why Drakath is upset: she says the Queen betrayed him after he worked to free her. She nevertheless urges Hero to reconsider losing this chance at the truth, argues that the Queen is dead and there is nothing to fear, and says they cannot act until they find the tunnel. These are Anka's account and reassurance, rather than independent proof of the Queen's fate or the expedition's safety.

Reading the Book of Monsters

Anka calls the Book of Monsters legendary and says it contains the Queen's deepest secrets, but its monstrous script is unreadable to her. The Eye of the Beholder therefore asks for twelve Monstrous Corneas from Creeping Gaze so they can see and think like monsters. The earlier ten in its description is struck through; the objective is twelve. The Double-Edged Sword adds ten Monstrous Tongues from Eldritch Stalker as a symbolic aid to understanding, explicitly not a conversation with the book. So Ichor-y then requests six Monstrous Ichor from Terrarsite (Level 61) to paint across the pages and reveal their meaning. Each of these three tasks lists 11,000 Gold, 32,500 Exp and 1,000 Chaos Militia Rep. The main quest source's Terrarsite spelling differs from Terrasite in the map roster and later task.

Reveal the Words asks for one Text Revealed by clicking the book on Screen 1, applying the ichor as Anka instructs. Its listed reward is 0 Gold, 5,000 Exp and 250 Chaos Militia Rep. The completion text has Anka say she believes she knows what to do, while her next NPC state calls the writing opaque—more a riddle than a history—and insists they must solve it.

The independently inspected native BookAfter artwork makes the three clues readable: “Your path is hidden behind a shroud. Pierce the veil and light the way.” “Order gives way to chaos and the mist dissolves.” “The way down is revealed but not to all. Only the mother and her children.” The second and third passages omit commas present in the community quest quotations. These words are drawn artwork, not indexed text objects. The isolated BookBefore rendering overlays authored layers, and BookDuring shows untranslated glyphs; neither supplies a confident complete English transcription. The source class names do not establish which page a live player saw.

Light, chaos and voices in the mist

In Shining Time, Anka reads “Pierce the veil and light the way” as a reason to gather ten Luminous Glands from Deep Truffle. Light the Way then calls for eight placements around the glade using the map's arrows. Its completion text identifies the newly appeared mist as the next clue. Anka's corresponding NPC dialogue quotes “Order gives way to chaos, and the mist dissolves” and says they must dissolve it before continuing. Shining Time lists 11,000 Gold, 32,500 Exp and 1,000 Chaos Militia Rep; Light the Way lists 0 Gold, 5,000 Exp and 250 Rep.

Chaos Gathers asks for twelve Elemental Chaos in total across Creeping Gaze, Deep Truffle, Eldritch Stalker and Terrarsite (Level 61). Anka proposes attuning themselves to the Plane of Monsters and says she will work some alchemy with the materials. Hold your Breath requests seven Corrosive Venom from Terrarsite (Level 61), whose venom she hopes will cut through the mist; she warns against inhaling it. Both tasks list 11,000 Gold, 32,500 Exp and 1,000 Chaos Militia Rep.

Disperse the Mist asks for eight mist interactions, spreading the venom near its edges, and lists 0 Gold, 5,000 Exp and 250 Chaos Militia Rep. Anka's completion response says it worked; her NPC dialogue qualifies the result as mist thin enough to cross in certain spots and asks Hero to meet her on the other side. The map separately documents a cannot-see warning for attempts to walk through mist. The request and dialogue do not establish an unrestricted passage or a completed crossing by a particular player.

After Disperse the Mist, Anka says the forest feels different and darker. Hero agrees that it is spookier. The community caption says unknown voices are heard, followed by giggling. Hero calls the sound creepy, says it is too much, and says they are leaving; the excerpt does not show a completed departure.

Anka urges Hero not to lose their nerve, saying they are close to what they seek and that she can feel it. She also says they have come too far to give up. These are Anka's impressions; the scene does not identify the voices or establish that the sought object has been found.

Native text names Anka for her own lines and leaves the other bodies unnamed, including the giggles and the reactions labelled Hero in the community transcript. The scream and creepy-giggling question appear together in the native body and in the supplied community utterance; their speaker encoding differs. The giggling speakers remain unidentified, and no later character identity is inferred.

Following the monsters to the way down

Monsters in the Mist asks for ten Monster Slain in total across Cthulhoid and Deep Truffle so Anka has room to work. Truffle Hunting then returns to the clue about the mother and her children: Anka interprets it as a need to have monsters show them the way. It requests eight Deep Truffles, which she calls a favorite monster snack, and Bribe 'Em All asks for five Cthulhoids Bribed using those treats. Each of these three tasks lists 11,000 Gold, 32,500 Exp and 1,000 Chaos Militia Rep.

Heading Back Home asks for four Follow the Monster interactions by clicking on and following a Cthulhoid, plus one Tunnel Found by walking to Screen 9. Anka tells Hero to give the creatures truffles and follow them home; the completion text reacts to what they have found. The task lists 0 Gold, 5,000 Exp and 250 Chaos Militia Rep. Those are the requested route and authored response, not a record that the live account completed them.

After Heading Back Home, Anka says what they sought was under their noses and that monsters led them to it. Hero says they have found it and asks how to close it. The referent is not explicitly named in those lines, so this account does not identify it as the artifact. Anka then questions whether closing it is really what Hero wants and proposes going inside just long enough to find the Queen's artifact.

The community text offers two alternatives. One agrees to go in only long enough to find the artifact, followed by Anka welcoming the decision. The other says Drakath was right and the idea is bad, followed by Anka telling Hero to return to Crownsreach while she proceeds alone. Neither branch is identified as selected, and neither response proves what anyone does next.

Unidentified voices then say Anka is going in and call her naughty. Anka asks who they are. They decline to show themselves yet and promise something more fun instead. The supplied transcript does not name these voices or establish whether the preceding options converge on a selected action.

The native text leaves the “We’ve found it” reply unnamed, though the community transcript calls it Hero. Anka's address at the next panel is generated from the current avatar username, corresponding to the community <Hero> placeholder. Native controls preserve separate “go in” and “bad idea” options with different Anka responses. Both response sections are authored to continue at ResumeMe, where the voices carry the anonymous label ???. This common timeline continuation does not establish a selected choice or completed physical entry.

The Aberration and the twins

The Aberration follows Heading Back Home in the main once-only sequence. Anka refuses to let whoever has summoned the threat keep her from what she seeks and orders Hero to kill it. The objective requests one Aberrant Horror Slain from Aberrant Horror, with 25,000 Gold, 80,000 Exp and 2,500 Chaos Militia Rep. Her completion text asks, “What! The heck! Was that?” The source records a task and reactions; it does not independently establish the summoner or a witnessed battle outcome.

After The Aberration, the community transcript identifies Xing and Xang. Each says “You killed it!” without making the referent explicit in this excerpt. Hero recognizes them, and Anka asks what they are doing there. Xing claims Drakath sent them to watch Anka; the transcript reads “sent use,” which is retained as a source typo rather than silently corrected. Xang says Drakath would not like what Anka is doing.

Xing says Anka was supposed to find the tunnel and close it, and says that is not what Anka is doing. Anka replies that she told Drakath she intended to find the Queen's artifact. Xang points out that it is down the tunnel monsters keep coming from, and Xing calls the coincidence convenient. Anka answers that the artifact is the tunnel's source and says this is where the Queen first became who she was, where a path to another plane opened for her and led her toward her destiny. These are the characters' claims. Anka's earlier statement that the artifact is not the source of the Queen's power but its core concerns a different relationship; it does not cancel her later claim that the artifact is the tunnel's source.

Anka says she has work to do and tells the twins to report back if they are going to. They ask why they would do that, with Xang calling it too predictable. Xing says they will go with Anka, and Xang adds themselves and Hero. This is a stated plan; the transcript does not show a completed entry or journey.

Native panels confirm Xing and Xang as the speakers for their paired “Aww!” and “You killed it!” lines, but the reply “Xing and Xang! I should have known.” is unnamed in native text even though the community transcript labels it Hero. Native wording corrects community transcript variants such as sent use, convienent, predicatable, and No We're. Xang's closing @Name is dynamically filled with the current avatar username, not a fixed Hero name. Anka's statement that the artifact is the tunnel's source remains her claim and is distinct from her earlier statement about the artifact being the core, but not source, of the Queen's power.

Anka's NPC dialogue after The Aberration accepts the proposed company: “So they want to come with us? Fine by me.” The line itself leaves “they” unspecified. Alongside the twins' stated plan, it records willingness to continue, without proving a completed entry into the tunnel or travel beyond it.

A separate task for the tainted forest

Life Feeds on Death is a separate task gated after The Aberration. It requests 25 Unworldly Creatures Slain across the listed sources and lists Deep Forest Sap x1 as its item reward with 2,000 Gold, 6,000 Exp, and 200 Rep. Its supplied header and panel do not say it is once-only or repeatable, so repeatability remains unspecified. Anka asks for these creatures to be removed so the tainted forest can begin to heal; her completion text calls it a good start while saying more remain in the trees.