Where do we go from here?

“It seems like there is no rush, but we shouldn’t be complacent and we should think about what to do next,” I said.

“I’m betting on gnolls being a part of this.” Lucas said. “If we return through the forest, we’d probably come upon their city again.”

“Can we like… not, though?” Maria asked. “It’s so nice here and we aren’t in a rush.” She had a pleading expression. “Let’s go explore that way.” Her finger pointed towards the endless expanse of grassland and flowers.

Again, I studied the two directions we could go in: the beautiful grassland that seemed heavenly, or the dark and uninviting forest that no doubt held considerable danger.

“Maybe there’s some treasure waiting to be discovered out there,” Maria added to sweeten the pot for everyone.

There was no good argument for going into the forest, besides the possibility that if our main challenges were there, we would get out of the dungeon faster. The reality was though, there was no guarantee we were able to tackle what lurked there anyway. Also, staying here for a while might allow whatever turmoil was currently brewing outside to subside a bit. Maybe if enough time elapsed the gnolls who had been chasing us would return to their empire.

“I don’t pick up any reason to prefer one way over the other,” Jessica said.

No one seemed to be in a rush to leave, especially after our recent brush with death. Those fifteen minutes of running for our lives shaved a few years off all of us.

After enjoying the calm for a few more minutes, I said, “Lead the way Maria!”

She rushed to the front with Jessica and the two talked as they walked. I returned to my position at the back and re-summoned my undead troops by using Temporary Grave before putting them away with Vast Shadows. I didn’t need them right now, but they could be called in full at a moment’s notice.

Strung out along the field, we had broken formation for the first time since we departed the apartment complex, but I didn’t feel particularly worried about it. There was nothing in sight for miles, and with Jessica detecting even those enemies that might be beneath the ground, nothing could come close to us without her being able to warn us.

The forest edge was never far away, extending to the horizon, always there reminding us of the possibility of dangers within. We walked and walked and yet the scenery in front of us never changed. Endless blue skies, green grass and beautiful flowers for eternity. “Haven’t we been here before?” Mark asked. He had been brooding silently, and wasn’t distracted by the conversations of others. “This is familiar.” He seemed to have noticed something no one else had.

Everyone paused and looked around carefully, “Wait, this is the hill,” I said. “We’re back where we started?”

“Unless the scenery just reuses itself and we truly are moving,” Lucas pondered.

“Are we slowly moving in a circle?” Glenn asked.

“The forest edge looks as straight as can be,” said Jessica, “so it can’t be that.”

“We can test it,” Anna said. “Half stay, and half walk.” Her suggestion was a good one. If some kind of teleport was putting us back here, the group that departed would pop back shortly after leaving.

“Let’s move away from the forest edge first.” I suggested. There were no guarantees that while we were divided some monster might burst out and attack us on a whim.

“I’ll go, who else?” Jessica said. “Mike you should stay, your undead are worth several people. If I detect any problems, we’ll come back immediately so there should be no danger.” It was a good assessment and sound plan.

“Fair, who wants to go with Jess?” I asked. In the end, Thomas and Alan were her companions. Their group now had a tank and a healer, so a small skirmish shouldn’t end up deadly if something happened. The rest of us moved a bit further away from the forest and then patiently waited for them to disappear over the horizon.

We watched them walk for about ten minutes before they went beyond a rise. Without an accurate way of keeping time it was impossible to tell exactly, but after what seemed like half an hour, Anna spotted them coming up from behind us. That pretty much confirmed the landscape was sending us for a loop.

“Seems like the forest is our only option,” said Lucas.

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I felt he was right. The dungeon itself was forcing this decision upon us. “Let’s take the remainder of the day off, sleep well tonight, and we’ll start exploring the forest in the morning?” I suggested. There was no guarantee we’d have the opportunity for a proper sleep once in the forest. I was assuming it was safe enough here, but who knew where we actually were and what the dangers were?

No one complained about spending the night in this lovely place. Even just the scents were refreshing and new compared to the staleness outside the dungeon that I’d become used to. The entire place smelled like fabric softener, and I couldn’t get enough. Sleep didn’t come easy that night for me, but unlike the previous dungeon there was at least a day and night cycle.

I was woken for my shift on guard duty by Jessica, first thing in the morning with the sunrise. Even the grass and flowers around us had a layer of dew upon it, nothing I could see was fake or artificial. It was miraculous to think all of this was created at the whim of some powerful being. A snap of their fingers could erase us, or give us paradise. A bittersweet thought. After enjoying the dawn for a couple of hours, in the company of Alan who was sharing the shift with me, it was time to wake everyone. We breakfasted on rations and got ourselves ready to explore the forest.

“Formation from here out,” I said as we set off, noticing that Maria was chatting to Jessica at the front.

“Fiiine,” Maria moped before taking her place at the back again. I summoned my undead squad and followed the group into the forest. The mellow sun above disappeared from sight and the temperature dropped several degrees. We were on high alert, and any needless chatter disappeared.

The area we entered was silent. Not a single branch creaked or swayed, as if there wasn’t the slightest breath of life in this land. “I’ll retrace the way we ran,” Alan whispered. He led us in the direction we originally fled from, which would take us to the east side of the gnoll empire.

“If there are gnolls here, they might be elites,” Lucas warned everyone. I understood why he said that. From our previous experience, dungeon monsters were a step up compared to their worldly counter-parts.

The forest around us was starting to look familiar and if it was a copy of the outside world, then the first gnoll patrols would be coming soon. My body tensed in anticipation.

We traveled close enough to where the city was to be in range any patrols, and yet we found none. By the time we reached our hunting grounds to the east of the city we still hadn’t seen any monsters. A feeling of déjà vu struck me, and I became even more alert. “Careful of an ambush,” I said.

Everyone tucked in even tighter. We were nearly shoulder to shoulder as we moved, eyes scanning every direction. We walked slowly with Jessica constantly scanning our surroundings. The ambush I feared never came.

Instead, we breached the forest edge and entered into a muddy and murky land. A civilization was there, but it wasn’t a gnoll empire. It was a majestic city, like something out of medieval fantasy. The walls were pure cobblestone. Towering structures of impressive construction dotted the distance.

The walls were dozens of feet high, and below them were fortifications: pits dug deep enough to swallow a man, and wooden stakes just behind them, for anything able to cross that gap and reach the city walls.

There were watch towers at every corner, and most surprising of all were the people. There were humans garrisoning this section of the wall. Even crazier was the caravan of goods venturing through the front gate.

“Are those merchants?” Alan asked.

“It looks like it,” I said. “Assume they are human and not enemies for now.” My mind was telling me they were NPCs, but without knowing for sure it was best to not make any move that might trigger a hostile response.

“A civilization? I can get a shower?” Anna seemed the most jubilant of us, jumping to a conclusion that I wasn’t so sure about.

Richard couldn’t help but sniff under his armpit, “I think we all could use one.” Which got a light laugh out of a few of us. The situation in front of us was daunting and unknown, but at least it was a city of people and not gnolls.

“Let’s go around to the front.” Jessica suggested and I agreed. Walking up to the wall would come off as suspicious, and the guards above wielded longbows as big as a man. An arrow from one of those could be lethal, and I was sure saying ‘whoops sorry I got lost and nearly breached the side of your fortress on accident’ wouldn’t be enough to get out of the resulting trouble. I put my undead troops away too, to avoid any trouble.

We moved across the muddy and murky ground. Pits bigger than bathtubs gave us trouble every few feet. “Careful.” Alan warned before gesturing below. Half a rusted sword poked through the mud, and anyone unlucky enough to fall on it would be in for some serious trouble.

“It looks like a battlefield,” Lucas observed. There were pieces of half broken armor, shields, swords barely breaking the surface. Some of the craters in the ground were pitch black, evidence that something of extreme heat had burned in them and scarred the earth.

“That would explain the lack of grass,” Maria said, perhaps it was stating the obvious, but she liked to have something to say. “I just hope we can get in to that city.”

That slowly became my own fear. Merchant carts were lined up in the distance in front of us, hardly moving beneath the city gate. A dozen or more guards in silver armor with long spears moved carefully through the front caravan lifting tarps and opening hemp bags and wooden crates.

“This one’s good.” One of the guards patted the ass of a horse, “Move along.” Which got the entire cart moving through the gates.

“They’re careful,” I noticed. I watched to see if anyone slipped by, or even got through without inspection, but every cart without fail were thoroughly inspected. Three guards would clear a merchant at a time before ensuring him and only his goods made it through the gate.

“They’re charging a fee for entry,” Jessica said as we walked towards the line of carts. Her vision was the best, and while I could see the wider picture, the minute details of gold exchanging hands was not something anyone else would have been able to pick out.

It took us ten minutes of walking through this pock-marked land to read the back of the queue, and it became obvious why the guards were so careful. Battle had been recent in this area. The rusted swords and equipment were obviously older, but fires from whatever had happened recently still smoldered below the walls.