"These might be famous last words but...only one way to find out." he said, unsheathing his bastard sword while they were still far and away enough. He also took off his shield and strapped it to his left arm and went into a half crouch, before he and his partner made it into the brush, traveling relatively unscathed and unhindered physically. Unfortunately, the grunts, guttural calls, and occasional roar in the distance made every bush look like an enemy waiting to gut them. 

Suddenly, Markus slowed. It was almost a sixth sense, but perhaps he thought he saw movement in the distance? The Swordmage backed into a tree for cover and gazed northeast, eyes adjusting just long enough for him to see they were near the cusp of the tree line. He whispered as much to Valerie, and motioned that he was going to get a small bit closer. [i]Hopefully not at the expense of my life[/i]. 

With the care of a craftsman, he slipped out of cover and stayed below the brush and bushes the next ten paces, doing his best to keep his sword and shield low. If Valerie followed him, he didn't look back to find out until he made it to the edge of the forest. 
Before him, the forest end was slightly curved to almost encompass the border of the landscape before the two, gingerly. There was flat ground to their front and right, heavily trod with little grass other than patches here or there. Just to the left led to a series of foothills with blasted and scarred ruins that looked to be at least over a hundred years old, perhaps two. Trees, brambles, and bushes ubiquitously dotted the rises and generous slopes. 

"There's something in the air," he breathed, eyes scanning the horizon. "Various magics of some sort..." 
He was telling the truth, and it was something he was more than a bit professionally interested in, but apart of him was focusing upon the magics at first so he could truly cope with what was happening upon the barren ground before them. Scores upon scores of Orcs had laid out the mutilated corpses of their kinsmen, along with many more men, and a few Ogres and Elves. There was even a giant, fully 16 feet tall and bearded, ashen faced and slain by an opened, festering stomach wound. 

Beside this gruesome display, was a pile of skulls that rose up to rival the height of the trees that loomed over Markus and Valerie now, and Orcs feasting upon the flesh of their victims, as well as various forest critters such as doe and rabbits caught in traps. It was odd, to see such a barbaric and strange ritual, next to Orcs that feasted and laughed and spoke to one another as if they were simply rough humans. Their primitive, beastial faces that bore scars and tusks quickly brought anyone questioning their morals back to reality however. 

"I sense something up in those ruins." Markus whispered to Valerie, pointing past the Orcs to the rises in the ground and the various openings of stone within and above the earth. Despite the carnage wrought before his eyes, the magic began to permeate his senses. There was various sources but...something was very old and powerful. An ancient magic.
[@Luminosity]