Lodric, Valurel, Mardo, and the Wolf.
The tall orc does not immediately answer Valurel's pointed question. Falling to one knee near the golden oak, Thune sniffs the ground while feeling the texture of the new oak. Standing, the Widowmaker strides down to the jumble of broken stones at far ends of the oak's gnarled roots, feeling the stones and searching the ground for some unknown spoor. Nearby, the wolf growls is distress, its eyes glancing between Heroes and orc. As the orc moves, the wolf moves as well, but never coming closer than 20 feet. Thune merely ignores the beast.
Slinking through the underbrush, Mardo comes within several feet of the mighty orc. Well over seven feet tall, Thune does not carry the brutish build of his brothers. Instead, this orc seems built for speed. In addition to its armor, the orc carries a black, unstrung bow across his back and two heavy, long knives, more like shortswords, with bone handles on a worn leather belt. A few pouches hang at the orc's waist, but their contents are unknown.
Finally, turning to look at first Lodric, then Valurel, the orc stands to his full height, one foot raised on a gnarled root like some savage conqueror. With a growl like thunder that surprisingly displays little emotion, Thune speaks with a heavy Norther accent. Most likely where the rest of your companions went, Snow Fey. The Golden Oak you planted here has sundered an Old Way. The Dorn girl and her captors followed the Old Way into the Darkening Wood. Here Thune's eyes narrow ever so slightly. As you must know.
Thune's attention drifts from Valurel and his bow and Lodric to the trees above. Standing silently, his head twists slightly as if he were listening to the trees. With a sniff of the wind and a suprising grunt, the rangy orc strides down the gnarled roots to the cracked stone and heads south into the forest...
Herger, Starhl, Kaela, Ladriel, and Cyz.
The oppressive darkness and foreign setting only enhance the fear and despair in the Heroes hearts. Stepping down into the cold water, they find it waist high (thigh high for Herger). Chilled by water, the Heroes shake and shiver as they trudge through the muck. Heading for the trees, they find that solid ground is not near. Instead, they find a vast, gnarled forest dotted with weathered ruins and small mud islands.
Hearts beat fast at the strange noises in the swamp. A splash from some unknown animal nearby. The tittering that fades, only to reappear. The scabble of claws on bark in the trees above them, lost in the darkness that Kaela's green stone cannot pentrate. For the first time, Ladriel seems panicked. Out of control. Desperate. She is disconnected from the Whisper, and without it, she has lost herself.
Kaela and Herger lead the way, the green stone raised ahead in Kaela's hand. How long they walk through the cold, mucky swamp is lost. Starhl is sure he spied the sun peaking through the dark leaves and skeletal, twisted branches above. But, the darkness does not seem to fade, the trees above seeming to drink any light from the sun.
When hope seems finally lost, and the swamp will not let them escape from its clutches, a ravine wall rises above them, its height lost in darkness. The wall is wet with cold springs that drip and turn the dirt into slick mud. Surprisingly, a narrow trail winds precariously up its side into the darkness. However, hope is not coming. Immense spider webs coat the trees and ravine here. Dark shapes move in the webs, colored in a green sheen by Kaela's stone. The tittering is loudest here, welcoming the Heroes to the ravine wall and its path, and the first sign of possible escape from the cold clutches of the swamp...
