It has been quite some time since you first headed out on the road.  The last town you were at you fled in a hurry, having broken into a supposed 'eldritch library,' only to find a collection of blank books that had clearly been manufactured en masse somehow.  None of the books had even been opened, and yet all of the tomes looked authentically real on the outside, dust and wear abundant upon the leather covers.  Unfortunately, this false library had some very real security within the manor you'd broken into, and while only a few fleeting glimpses of you were gleamed, you'd seen it within your best interest to make haste, following up upon another source of eldritch lore.<br/><br/>A nobleman, the last of a line of spellcasters such as you yourself, is rumored to have the largest collection of ancient eldritch and other 'forbidden' lores upon the entire continent, and some even claim it to be the largest upon<em>all</em>the continents.  The home of this noble, a surname of Verrlin and an ancient elf you are to understand, unfortunately is on the other side of the continent, within the northern mountains that had been liberated from the orcs who once roamed them freely, but now only exist in tribes.  You've determined the fastest route would be to head to the nearest port town, New Nyridan, just to the east, though an overland trip may easily be safer than risking a several week to month journey upon a vessel likely to be dominated by men, let alone the natural forces and great aquatic beasts known to plague ships... and then there were the occasional pirates...<br/><br/>But alas, you need to head north-east to Korves, a trading town within the southern forests, and from there you can sort out the rest of your trip to this seemingly legitimate lead.  The current road you are on is the main trade route from the south leading into Korves, and is clearly well traveled.  As it is heading through a rather dense forest, trees lay upon either side of you as you walk on foot, though at the moment nobody is within eye or earshot of you; you are alone upon the dusty road.  It is currently midday, not a cloud in the sky, and again you are upon foot.  It will be several days before you reach the trading town, and it has already been over a week yet, and a full day without any sentient contact.<br/><br/>In the distance though, you seem to  find a man standing against the woods, leaning against the tree nonchalantly.  As you approach however, it becomes far more obvious that he is not so much standing against the tree, as he is pinned to one.  The man's head lay loose upon his shoulders, his arms limp against his sides along with his legs, and the only thing holding him up is a scythe blade shoved all the way to the haft of the weapon into this man, and likewise stuck into the tree behind him.  The blade, you will easily notice, is of fine construction, true masterwork quality and possibly beyond that, and is supporting the entirety of this man's weight.  The man, a grizzled sort who was wearing fur and leather, dressed as some sort of vagabond or naturalist, also had a buckler strapped to his right arm, and a longsword had it's blade buried in the dirt a ways just beneath his hand, as if he had dropped it.<br/><br/>Just what had happened to bring about this man's fate?<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Spot DC15 to spot an obvious trail showing signs of a struggle heading deeper into the woods<br/>Listen DC20 to hear nearby humanoid voices, and in particular one woman's screaming and angered words</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>