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Utilizing the only North-South road from Enamoria into Sheridan Provence on the west side of the Khardran Mountains was the most expedient but also the most heavily guarded part of the new orkish frontier. Raliric and his group were wise to stop for the night. The lands from here on in were not going to be so friendly and his troops will need all the energy they can get.
The suns began to set on this brightening and as the light retreated, the darkness advanced. It enshrouded the camp site in an erie cloak that was only held at bay by a fully fueled camp fire. Along with the darkness came a sense that eyes were set upon the unwelcome occupants of the Maevewoods. The Maevewood forest used to extend alot further south into the Sheridan Provence but orcs have hacked and hewed upon the trees of this great forest for many eras using the wood to fuel their forges to make yet more weapons and armorments to torment nature and humanity. Now the forest which Raliric and his forces now rest is but a shadow of its former self and really has been reduced to a simple finger that despirately tries to hold on to its grip in the Sheria.
The scouts sent out by Ral had nothing to report visually as the forest has a tendancy to hold on to its secrets quite well. The woods themselves had somewhat of a magic aura about them as anyone with arcana learning could sense however faint the aura was. There was something else though. Ever since crossing into orc lands half a brightening ago, all those in the party that were unbound magically have come down with what a common person would attribute to a head cold. Everything from speaking to others to focusing for the purpose of spell casting or telepathy seems muffled, almost like putting cotton in ones ears. For telepathy, this makes sentences and images garbled and fractured. One could only speculate if this was attributed to the forest or something else more sinister.
It was a good 40 miles from the trade road which Raliric was camped off of to Autumnus to the east. It was an unknown distance from the campsite south to the Narim ruins though that distance would no doubt be alot longer having to battle through orc armies to get there. There had been no news of Autumnus' fate since the fall of Narim almost 3 seasons ago not even word if it still stood or not or if it was swarming with orcs as Narim surely was. Nothing but open ground and the coast was to the west of the campsite location.
A few candlemarks would pass in the darkness but it was not a carefree night. Noises were abound throughout the woods surrounding the camp. Many of the noises were only audible by those with keen hearing but those noises that could be made out were those of animals. It was not clear if they were the sounds of nature that inhabit the woods or that of animals with evil intent regardless, their grunts, whimpers, and snarls seemed to radiate throughout the darkness and seemingly close enough to keep a guard on edge.
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