Alyana had a dazzling smile, letting the three men introduce themselves in their fashion and giving them a personal greeting each time. She shook hands with whoever allowed it and patted Oz on the shoulder, clearly enjoying his shyness. From what little she said, she seemed a well traveled woman. She would have had to be, being out in the middle of the Blackwood with naught but a crazed merchant for company. The women straightened her belt, as it was laden with traveling items like a seax and sacks of food and maybe even coin, and she began to walk with the men. 

"Norgardians? You're far from your homeland." She remarked, leading them southwest. Or was it northeast? No, they came from the north. Even now the Blackwood seemed to swallow up any sense of direction, much like some of the more enchanted forests in Torsten's homeland where village elders warned naughty children to keep in bed at night or something from within would sneak into any norgardian village and snatch them away. In fact, the three warriors might have passed through such forests in the north, and yet this one seemed even dimmer in hope than those beast infested places. "Then again, I suppose Andred is the next region south unless you count the marches Bania claims as its own." 

She had a peculiar accent that Torsten might need to think on, as it was subtle and not Andredian in its inflection. She smirked once Oz lifted up the merchant, though she seemed impressed with the big man's strength. "Sorry about him." She said earnestly, and then perked up once Torsten asked about her father. Alyana chuckled. "Oh, I don't expect you to have heard of him. He's a merchant, though thankfully not like this one. I just figured you Norgardians introduced yourselves by stating who your father was. Maybe I am stereotyping."

Despite the gloom of the forest, the next few miles weren't dangerous to the four travelers and their fat man baggage. They made good time, and before the hour was up the forest began to thin for a short few paces before it disappeared entirely, and they found themselves at the edge of a vast clearing. Not large enough to be called' grasslands,' it was a very, very vast field. At the center of it was something Torsten likely had no seen before. The hollowed stump of a tree, the tree in question being large enough to hold a village of giants, or in this case, a sizeable town of humans. The entrance was a carved archway, and was well lit in the fading sun. 

If it weren't for the lights and the guardsmen standing before the entrance, it would have seen like an abandoned carcass of an old world wonder. As it was, they saw people walking into the entrance just as they crested the line of trees. 

"Oakhallow." Alyana said simply. "I hope you boys have some money, or you'll be sleeping under the stars tonight. Unless you find the forest more accommodating." 
[@Gunther]