Forester

Forester
Icon
Rank	Expert
Affiliation	Free stalkers
Technical
Class	red_forester_tech

A living soul! Well hello.
― Forester

Forester (ru. Лесник) is a stalker who appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky. He is also a cut character in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Background

The Forester is an original resident of the Chernobyl area, who lived there long before the 1986 incident in a village near Limansk. He made a living as a park ranger in the Wormwood Forest (currently western Red Forest), alternating between tracking down poachers and guiding field trips. When the Chernobyl power plant exploded, he refused to be evacuated and stayed behind. After the second explosion at the station, he discovered his ability to sense and bypass anomalies. With the help of a Compass artifact he found, he was able to escape from a Space Anomaly, something that STALKERs cannot do.

Forester is also a technician, but he only does repairs.

Appearances

Clear Sky

He resides in the tower of a shut down mine on the outskirts of the Red Forest. Forester is known throughout the zone by his ability to find a safe passage to sought reaches of the Zone. He tells tales of himself venturing into a Space Anomaly where he found himself trapped. He says the Zone itself granted him an artifact that allowed him to navigate out of the anomaly, in which he gave the artifact the name: "Compass."

Unfortunately, he was mugged by a group of Renegades, stealing his Compass. When Scar speaks with Forester during Scar's trek to find access to Limansk, Scar is asked to get his Compass artifact back from the Renegades in return for a safe route into Limansk. With the Compass returned, Forester helped guide a group of Mercenaries out of a Space Anomaly. Forester appears to be an accomplished hunter aswell.

Job

The first job Forester gives is to go to the Military Warehouses and find out about the status of a group of missing Mercenaries.

His second one is to get his Compass artifact back from the Renegades in the old mine near his outpost.

When done he will reward Scar with an upgraded Vintar BC. This sniper rifle is upgraded to Tier 1 in accuracy, recoil and magazine size, but not the Tier 2 upgrades of reduced weight and increased flatness. Tier 2 upgrades cannot be installed. In fact, none of the upgrade options show up when offering the weapon to an engineer. However, the accuracy of Forester's Vintar BC is greater than that of a a tier 2 upgraded default Vintar BC, making it a superior choice for most stalkers.

Related missions

• Talk to Forester: Forester lives in the deserted hut. He can help you find a way to get to Limansk. Talk to Forester.
• Bring the Compass to Forester: Thanks to the Compass, Forester managed to get out of a space bubble several days ago. The artifact should prove helpful once again to get the mercenaries out of their bubble. Bring Forester the Compass.

Bugs and flaws

• There is a glitch where the player can get as many upgraded Vintar BCs as they want - the player must pick the first one, close dialogue and again talk to Forester to repeat process.
• Forester's greeting phrase script is activated when the player approaches at a distance of a few meters, not in the character's field of view. Because of this, the character can greet the player from behind an obstacle.
• According to the script, Forester's head is always turned towards the player. If Scar stands behind him, he will turn his head 180 degrees.
• The water level in his mug is constantly changing. Technically, this is explained by the fact that the liquid in the mug is a puddle.

Trivia

• Forester is the only character in the game series who is a local resident of the Zone.
• The only known stalker at the time of the events of Clear Sky who knows how to use the "Compass".