The last vestige of civilization before the Widalian Forest was the pioneer town of Widala, named for the sea of trees whose bounty allowed a few dozen hardy men and women to earn a livelihood.

The small town boasted a wooden palisade and a single stone tower bearing the crest of Incanta. The magic city had placed the area under its protection, both as a fore-warning against goblin incursions and as a valuable staging point for gathering or hunting expeditions. A mage and ten guards were constantly stationed are the tower, along with a quartermaster who kept wagons and other such things expeditions left in the town secure.

Near the tower, several taverns and hostels sprung up, accounting for the livelihood of most of the town's inhabitants. At any given time, small groups of adventurers could be found frequenting these establishments, attempting to get drunk on watered down liquor in preparation or celebration of a successful expedition.

Erwin's party would leave their horses and much of their supplies with the quartermaster, taking only a few days worth with them. The fee was nominal, since the quartermaster would be entitled to a portion of anything dead adventurers could no longer reclaim. Staying one night at the tavern, the group shouldered packs at the crack of dawn and left the town on foot, following a wide trail formed from countless boots.

The edge of the forest was tame. The trees were barely taller than a man and only small animals that scuttled away from them could be found. The path was reasonably even and cut a clear line into the forest, and the group even encountered other adventurers as they walked further in. A single stray goblin had its face casually smashed in by Otto's mace as they proceeded. The lack of reaction showed that the both the alchemist and the armored warrior had experienced battle before, though Elise felt a bit sick when she saw the gore.

The group finally reached a clearing littered with tree stumps and campfire ashes after walking for over half the day. This was the true entrance to the dangerous part of the forest, and it was currently deserted. Erwin proclaimed that he was tired and needed a break, carefully setting his backpack and potion case down before slumping down to the ground, leaning his head against a stump. Otto wordlessly put his bags down and began pitching a tent as Kynos turned to observe Elise.

Erwin was clearly tired, Kynos felt a bit winded, and even Otto's face could be seen beaded with sweat, but strangely, Elise looked absolutely fine. She had wandered around behind Kynos, eyes aglow with interest as she looked at the trees and other plants along the path. Even now, she was twirling the demilune as she walked between stumps. The others had been considerate and only gave her the bare minimum to carry, but it looked like it was a needless concern. Erwin was left to broach the subject.

“Well miss, it looks like you're the sturdiest out of all of us.”

Elise stopped wandering and fidgeted. “u-uuu, I'm n-not really...”

Erwin casually waved his hand from his position on the ground, chuckling a bit.

“It was a compliment, we're all likely to need that kind of energy from now on. The path of a researcher like me isn't easy in this barbaric world.”

Kynos shut his ears down and pitched his own tent as Erwin began another rant. He wondered how the man could look so physically tired and yet be so verbose.

An hour later, two tents had been fixed into the ground with metal spikes. Erwin had gotten up and sprinkled foul smelling potions around the perimeter of the clearing, an action every adventuring party took to doing as a courtesy. The potion was designed to keep beasts and most monsters away from the camp, increasing safety at night and making sure the clearing wouldn't become a goblin encampment if left alone for too long.

Otto prepared some bread and cheese, letting everyone partake of a light lunch before the real work in the afternoon. Kynos dropped his heavier pack in the tent and prepared a smaller backpack, which would strap tightly to his body under his cloak. As a matter of fact, all of the things he carried were tightly strapped to his body, as his fighting style revolved around quick martial movements and sharp, melee magical strikes. Elise carried a larger pack, on which she had hung her demilune. She would be at the back and stay mostly passive until there was a usable corpse.

As the two stepped out of their tent, Otto, wearing a large pack underneath his scutum shield, and Erwin, still carrying his heavy bags, greeted them. Erwin explained that he would need the equipment to carry out his experiments properly, so the fighting would be left mostly to Kynos and Otto for now.

The four of them stepped into the forest, following a rapidly narrowing dirt path into the trees.