Forest

**Overview** Gallery

The **Forest** is an important location within the lore of all three of Garage Heathen's games. It is mentioned in *Your Amazing T-Gotchi!* and *Schastye*, and can be visited in *Who's Lila?*.

It has no address, but can be accessed by at least two different points: the Veil in the Hospital, or by using the yantra at the Burned Apartment.

## In *Schastye*

The Forest is a pivotal plot element in *Schastye*. It is first mentioned when Ivan Yatuow fell asleep one evening while on a walk with his friends and ended up having a dream. He described the trees there as emitting a white crackling noise, as well as faint music that was not of human origin. He also knew somehow that the trees were sycamores specifically. He wandered around the forest for hours or perhaps even days, until eventually he reached the edge of it, with nothing but darkness ahead of him. He decided to step off this edge, and began falling down at an unnaturally slow rate. As he fell, he looked up to see a gargantuan creature on the underside, which is later revealed to be The Emperor (known as the Nameless God in *Schastye*).

After this, Ivan woke up in Ryibkin's Apartment and began his partnership with Ryibkin, working together to eventually return to the Forest so they can meet the Emperor. They did this by consuming Teth Mushrooms, meditating extensively, and using their minds to construct a car that would take them to the Forest. They eventually succeeded, entered the car and began driving away, while still in Ryibkin's living room. The room crumbled away around them, and they drove through a fractal landscape composed of ever-changing shapes in a whole rainbow of colors. Eventually, they reached the Forest and stepped out of the car. They found the Emperor in the center of it.

## In *Who's Lila?*

### Characters

* During the Fool, High Priestess, and Hanged Man endings, a character resembling William can be seen standing at a river bank and then walking away. It is ambiguous whether this is William himself, Lila, The Stranger, or someone else entirely.
* The Stranger can be found in the Forest, but only in the area accessible from the Yantra.
* This is the only location where The Emperor can be encountered and spoken to, after checking the Stranger.
* If the Tomiho color palette is active upon entering the Forest, the girl from *Your Amazing T-Gotchi!* can be found standing on the river bank.

### Points of Interest

* A projector. Upon first encounter, it is simultaneously projecting and receiving the image of Lila's face. The attached reel can be tampered with in order to obtain different endings.
* A boat sitting on a riverbank. It is decorated with painted-on mushrooms and the sigil of Lilith. The handle of the oar is also fashioned in the shape of Lilith's sigil. Climbing onto this boat will lead to either The Fool, The High Priestess, or The Hanged Man ending, depending on what was done with the projector.
* A telephone pole not far from where the projector is located. It lets out a harsh electrical buzz sound at all times but will occasionally also play a Morse code sequence. Once translated to English, it reads "Lila is the mystery of who Lila is."
* A car which can be found in an area accesible through a gap in the rocks bordering the Forest. Checking it reveals it to be a GAZ-24-02 “Volga”, a Russian car. This is a connection to *Schastye*. Checking it also gives the "Classic" color palette.
* Another small gap in the rocks allows the player to explore the entirety of the Forest map.
	+ If the player chooses to walk off the edge of the map, they will begin to fall down, and a massive entity, most likely the Emperor, can be seen on the underside of the map. This matches what happens in Ivan's dream in *Schastye*, as well as something that Wheeliam says.
	+ This is also what makes it possible to encounter the T-Gotchi girl up close (see above).
* When accessing the Forest via the yantra, the small Emperor statuette from *Schastye* can be found on the ground. This gives the "Lucid Dream" color palette.

### Endings

There are several endings that can be obtained in this location.

* The Fool
* The High Priestess
* The Hanged Man
* The Emperor Reversed