Sensing agreement, Exantrius leads you down into the valley, through the trees in the direction of the smoke.
As you approach the source, you begin noticing strange things in the trees: Stretched hides painted with awful faces in blood, strung up bonus, and more than one apparently human skull.
"Just for show, no doubt," Exantrius reassures you. "If they wanted violence, after all, they'd be much better giving no warning at all, rather than begging us to question our courage that we may turn back!"
Soon you can see large tents, strung up between the trees, shaped by the growth of the forest. They are patched together, cured hide and tendon, but appear to be well-crafted: The are rolled over upon each other, probably water-tight. The sides are painted with large red shapes, patterns, and runes -- too bright to be stale blood.
As you approach the encampment, you see no figures (or rather, make Spot checks

)... Exantrius calls out something in a foreign tongue (anybody speak Hobgoblin?)