Antonica · EverQuest (original release)
Kithicor Forest
A quiet wood turned deadly: by day a confusing forest of bixies, bears and orcs, by night a battlefield where level 40 undead rise, on the road between Highpass, Rivervale and the Commonlands.
At the crossroads
Kithicor Forest stands in the centre of Antonica. Highpass Hold lies to its north, the West Commonlands on its eastern edge and Rivervale to its south, so it is a crossing point for both routes between Qeynos and Freeport. Beyond Rivervale lie the Misty Thicket, Runnyeye and the Gorge of King Xorbb, the alternate road west.
The forest is confusing to travel: few landmarks, short sight lines, no sky to steer by and few paths. Many players follow the southern edge as their waypoint between the Commonlands and Highpass. Monsters by day run from about level 1 to 13: snakes, bixies, fire beetles, spiderlings, young kodiaks, giant scarabs and spiders, orc pawns and scouts, grizzlies and werewolves.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Kithicor Forest · Allakhazam: Kithicor Forest (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Kithicor Forest
The dead at night
After the Plane of Hate opened, Kithicor became far more dangerous. At night very high-level undead, mostly over fortieth level and all aggressive, spawn across the zone: skeleton and zombie troopers and commanders, decaying officers, rotting and decayed knights, risen commanders and deceased deserters. Those that survive into the day keep walking. The guide’s safe course is to run along the walls, and even there they can charm you off.
The dead are a ghostly army, and their story is told in The Battle of Bloody Kithicor. The shadowed men also began to appear here often, hard to see until close and deadly in groups, and dark elf dragoons now ride through by day.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Kithicor Forest · Allakhazam: Kithicor Forest (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Kithicor Forest
Orcs and residents
The named orcs of the Shralok clan live in the southwestern corner, by far the toughest creatures in the forest apart, perhaps, from the enigmatic Thumper. Some players see them as indifferent, but they kill on sight, and the southern-edge route passes close to them.
Ged Twigborn, a wandering NPC in the mould of Baobob Miller, appears in the southern half of the zone with quests and items; his silent companion Irin Lunis walks toward him when she is alone. There is a Kithicor Resident faction, which killing orcs in Highpass Hold raises. Rangers can earn Ivy Etched Armour from a ranger outside Morin Shadowbane’s house in the northwest.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Kithicor Forest · Allakhazam: Kithicor Forest (zone)
Advice for the road
The guide’s writer, a ranger, rated the forest some of the best untouched hunting in the game, for newcomers and for groups across the southern edge, though the creatures carry no coin. Its warning for travellers is blunt: do not try the zone unless you are invisible, know it like the back of your hand, or are at least fifteenth level. The trail of bodies down the narrow path, and the orc shaman rooting you from above, will make the point.
Kithicor’s night army ties it to the Plane of Hate and Innoruuk.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Kithicor Forest · Allakhazam: Kithicor Forest (zone)
Lore tied to this zone
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Kithicor Forest · Allakhazam: Kithicor Forest (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Kithicor Forest