<em>The group going after the horses...</em><br/><br/>The skeletal horses' trail led through the trees, up over a small rise that overlooked a clearing in the forest, empty save for a great oak tree at its centre, its ancient branches withered and leafless. For once the sky was visible, and scarlet moonlight and starlight dimly illuminated the crater-like clearing in turn. The tracks continued down into the depression, where a haze of inky darkness swirled at ankle height, all the more obvious thanks to the pale light streaming down from above. And at the base of the oak's gnarly trunk, was a perfect semi-sphere of pure darkness so strong not even darkvision could penetrate it.<br/><br/><strong>"Go away! I'm not good to eat!"</strong>The voice, belonging to a young woman, seemed to come from the tree's direction.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><em>The group staying with the wagons...</em><br/><br/>While the repairs were going on, the first disconcerting sign that something was amiss was the unnatural silence. Even in such a forest of ill repute as this, there was wildlife - rodents, insects, bats, the occasional owl, and such - but now the trees were completely devoid of any hint of the vermin that scurry through the night. The second and much more undeniable sign was when the haze of inky darkness rolled in at ankle height, chilling one's feet even through the boots, like a very low-lying fog. Dark shapes could be spotted flitting between the trees, always at the extreme edge of what one could see, never venturing close enough to get a clear look at them, keeping their distance... for now.<br/><br/><strong>"Shadows!"</strong>Samual hissed.<br/><br/><strong>"Do you know why they call this the forest of shadows?"</strong>Pachski asked grimly. It was a rhetorical question, because he continued while unshouldering his crossbow,<strong>"Tis on account of the Shadows that come after you if you stay in one place too long. The undead, incorporeal, strength-draining kind. And it looks like we've just overstayed our welcome."</strong>