A Tabloid Article by Linden Dunham

“In the forest… is a monster.”
Who Will Love Me Now? PJ Harvey (Written by Nick Bicat and Philip Ridley)

Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom: British tabloid papers have run a series of stories claiming a monstrous creature is at large in north western Gloucestershire. Eyewitness accounts claim that the beast is a pig or wild boar grown to enormous size and possessed of a highly aggressive temperament. There are reports of the animal smashing through heavy duty agricultural fencing to ravage crops and livestock, ramming vehicles intent on killing the occupants, plus stalking and ambushing the hunting parties assembled to stop the its depredations. The monster has been christened “Moose Pig”, a name once used to refer to The Beast of Dean, a massive boar like creature that terrorised the region in the 18th and 19th centuries.

With its security section having failed to deal with the threat International Cereal Corp (ICC), the UK’s biggest agri-business and a major regional employer, have offered a sizeable reward to anyone who can bring them the carcass of “Moose Pig”. Professional hunters, outdoor sportsmen plus various chancers and no-hopers are converging on the Forest of Dean intent on claiming the reward. Perhaps the player characters feel like joining them?

The Lie of the Land

The Forest of Dean, often known simply as The Forest, is a region whose exact
boundaries vary, depending on context. Historically it’s a relatively small area, based on its status as a royal demesne (land held directly by the Crown under the feudal system) used for hunting. Geographically, it’s a much larger extent, a heavily wooded plateau lying between the Rivers Seven and Wye.

The Forest has a long history of timber production, coal mining and iron working. The latter two industries declined in the twentieth century. Parts of the region are agricultural in character. Sheep wander freely under a centuries old custom permitting them to graze on common land. They are sometimes a hazard to traffic.

Wild boar have been living in the Forest of Dean since the early 21st Century after a mass escape from a farm, and a subsequent dumping incident where an entire domestic herd was released into the region. The two escapee populations merged, interbred, and have been making a nuisance of themselves ever since, digging up gardens, attacking domestic pets and damaging vehicles. There are a number of towns and villages in the Forest. They tend to be industrial rather than rural in appearance reflecting the region’s working past and its proximity to the South
Wales Valleys. ​

Meet the Monster

There are three possible explanations for the seeming re-appearance of Moose Pig in the Dark Times.

  1. Moon Pig: Martin Boll, a German Gnome, and amateur student of natural history has recently rented a cottage in the area. He claims to find the relative quiet and isolation of the Forest conducive to his studies and writing. In reality Boll is a Were-boar who lives an itinerant lifestyle, travelling around the world and staying in areas with large boar populations. He hopes to blend in with the local animal population but the nature of his condition is such that sooner or later his Were-boar persona loses control at the full moon and does something drastic, forcing him to move on. PCs who research Boll’s background thoroughly discover that as well as living in Germany he has resided in Eastern Europe, Australia and the Far East. He has departed from each region subsequent to a serious incident involving an aggressive oversized boar and resulting in loss of life. Boll’s empathic abilities enable him to identify the PCs as a serious threat. He will try to attach himself to the PC’s group so that he can keep tabs on their investigation. In human form he is a rotund, jolly man, gregarious and seemingly eager to help. He is of course highly dangerous in Were form, especially at full moon. Boll sees the loss of life and damage caused by his lunar rampages as regrettable but not something he has much control over. Any remorse he might have is outweighed by his survival instinct. If confronted while in human form he will try to fight his way out of trouble.
  2. Pig Daddy: ICC have re-started farming wild boar in the region. Previous attempts resulted in mass animal escapes, and a persistent problem with fast breeding boar that has defied culling attempts. ICC claim their farms are secure and are intent on marketing boar meat as a delicacy to Gnomes and corporate types. An experiment with growth hormones aimed at increasing meat yield has created a monster pig that broke out of an agricultural research station and escaped into The Forest.
    Constantly hungry, the creature has cut a bloody swathe through the region’s wildlife and livestock. ICC want the beast dead, and fast, before somebody traces it back to them. They are prepared to use third party contractors to run the creature down. However, the PCs find themselves accompanied by a grim faced and taciturn corporate liaison officer. This ICC employee has been tasked with impounding and then destroying the boar’s carcass once the animal has been dispatched. He is quite happy to give the PCs the same treatment if they get in his way.
  3. Pig Man: An ET controlled genetics lab has set up in a derelict industrial estate once home to one of The Forest’s major employers. It is devoted to creating Moreau Weres, possibly for use as soldier beasts, possibly just for the ETs’ amusement. Who knows? The aliens are insane after all. One of the Weres, created by mixing human and boar genetic material has escaped and wants revenge. Previous incidents have been the unhappy creature lashing out in its anger. Now it’s getting organised: Using its animal empathy powers the Were has assembled a troop of boar with which it plans to attack and destroy the ET lab. It isn’t that bothered about who gets in the way. The PCs may well arrive at the lab to find themselves caught up in a three way scrap with the boar army and the aliens.

Complications

The PCs investigation may be hindered by the following:

  • Hunters: Other people are hunting Moose Pig. These can range from locals armed with shotguns, ICC security personnel trying to make up for their past failings, other minion hunting groups, and maybe professional hunters equipped with big game rifles. The PCs may encounter one or more of these as they explore The Forest. As potential rivals of the PCs they won’t be very friendly at first but appropriate skill rolls might win them round.
  • Save the Boar: Attitudes to feral boar in The Forest are ambivalent. Many locals regard them as a menace. Others see their reintroduction as something to be welcomed – the creatures are a potential asset to the region and/or represent a resetting of the ecological balance. In any event the boar are not without friends, and some people will take direct action to defend the animals. This can range from sabotage or theft of hunters’ vehicles and equipment to violent assault. An armed ambush by a gang of Eco-Warriors isn’t out of the question.
  • Unfriendly Locals: The Forest has a not entirely underserved reputation for insularity. “Deliverance” inspired jokes about its population by other Gloucestershire residents are probably a bit below the belt though. Nonetheless, in the bleak rural milieu described in Dark Conspiracy it’s legitimate for the people the PCs encounter to be unwelcoming, even hostile, to outsiders.
  • Little Pigs: The Forest’s existing boar population provide the potential for confusion – large males may be mistaken for Moose Pig – and danger: The Forest boar are often active in the daytime and are used to the presence of humans. They won’t automatically retreat at the sight of the PCs and may become aggressive if approached, especially if they have young with them.
Sources/Acknowledgements

I have to acknowledge a large debt to 1984 Aussie horror film “Razorback”. Sometimes billed as “Jaws in the Outback” it draws at least as much from “Moby Dick”, and a lot from the early 1970s rural/small town dystopia of “Wake in Fright”.