[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/jTwiuD4.png[/img]
[h3]The Beginning[/h3][/center]

At the edge of Fero Province's otherwise-unmarked border is a long, long row of stone cairns. They're dotted in approximate half-mile distances from each other, all the way from the lower slopes of one mountain ridge to the other, and wild grasses have begun to grow in long, windblown strands around them. These cairns, you may have heard, are a last-ditch superstitious talisman to ward off the beast by those living near the edge of its haunt.

The road that you've followed the final few miles from the last hamlet to the edge of the province has been neatly paved and upkept with cut stone, but here, where the unspoken "safe zone" ends, you can see grass and weeds growing up through the cracks.

To both sides, the mountain range that nests the Fero Province slowly sinks into sharp, forbidding hills and scree slopes as it fades into the distance. Contrasting the fair weather in the valley, wisps of dark clouds settle just behind the peaks.

Your business lies ahead, in the lazy dip-rise-dip of the lowlands. The North Road cuts a fairly straight path through the grass for about a half-mile, until it hits a scraggly line of trees that mark the beginning of the Cullis Woods. As far as you know, the occasional brave-hearted (or foolhardy) individual has ventured in, but never very far, and not all have returned. Anyone daring to try and travel further has not sent word back.

But you have your task, and an hour or so until sunset. The weather overhead is deceptively clear. You're as ready as you will ever be.

[b][i]How will you begin The North Road?[/i][/b]