"So anyway, what are you two doing going up this river anyhow?" The lad asked, having talked their ears off the last hour. Moving up river was tiring work, but this boy had rowed and talked, rowed and talked, rowed and talked. Perhaps it was the fact he like as not did this every day as a living, but it was still a sight to see. It was almost impressive for a dwarf too. The Grannic River was a long one, snaking up from the peninsula of the Seven Cities and the Nevrazym Dale all the way into the bosom of the Blackwood, or so the longshoreman had said back in Cavlarck.
"'Nothing but trouble is what you'll find in the Blackwood' my paw always says." The boy declared, then thought for a moment. "Except for trees. There's a whole lot of trees. And monsters too...probably some towns as well.
"Shut up, boy," The second of the rowers grunted. He was a dark man, with an almost dwarf-like beard and corded muscles. His back was to the two travelers, and he rowed in silence save such lovely comments as that. Luckily it seemed they knew their business, keeping the boat afloat and keeping the goods the traveler's had stored behind steadied. Attached to the small boat was a strange raft; a contraption with wooden bars that stood up like some cage, carrying their cart, supplies, and even the donkey was seemed too busy lapping at the water through the bars to be afraid.
The trees had grown notably darker as they rowed further northwards, away from the Sea of Swords and the Seven Cities so rife with intrigue and chaos. Good money to be made there, and work. But you were as likely to have it or your craft confiscated by a rival city. The Blackwood had little in the way of competition, word had it. Now the boat began to turn ever slightly toward the shore, and the two rowers perked up as if they had arrived at a destination, though there were no markings and little in the way of space to make landfall.
@Jb@Tony Pajamas
Hundreds of miles to the north, another unlikely pair were making their way south through the foothills of northern Andred. Grim were they, and fell to look upon. Much like the Northern mountains they had descended from. Torsten had passed through southern Norgard, past the Halls of the Jotuns in the Hruntigmir Mountains, otherwise known as the Frostfells, and made it into the Northern Marches where he met Vanhel, realizing they both had a common destination. It has now been two weeks since they passed Umber's Cairn, right at the beginning of spring when the snows have finally melted.
Staying away from most Andredian villages and settlements save for the occasional waystation, their journey had finally bore fruit for the two companions. For they had passed a simple glen to find themselves face to face with two massive trees, darker in hue and far more robust than any trees they had come across for weeks. A northern relic in the soft, southern lands of the 'civilized' nations. Perhaps you see it as a welcome sight, or perhaps you feel as if the stories you sought to find out about the legends of the forest were true.
Whatever the case may be, the treeline stood as a great wall daring them to enter, with the two large oaks a veritable gateway into the realm of grimdarkness. As the two dare approach, they are greeted by a strange revving, stuttering sound. An echo that belies the direction they known to listen to, though they soon know the direction. A strange shape coalesces around the 'gateway' before their eyes. As it forms, the two see it is truly large!
It looks to be some form of boar-like creature, though instead of two tusks along its mouth, it has three horns along the center of its snout, like a strange porcine whooly rhinoceros. Torsten and Vanhel would only be able to reach it's shoulder if they stood next to the ginormous beast, and though it does not seem to be antagonistic, it grunts and smells the grass just at the entrance to the wood they seek to enter. Pawing the ground with its hooves, it seems content to nibble upon the foliage just before them. Perhaps they could find another way in, off a beaten path to the east or west? Perhaps the beast would bring good meat or make a fine trophy... or perhaps it is best to let sleeping pigs lie.
@Flagg@Gunther
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