324

Quickly you gather your equipment and hurry back to the edge of the gorge in search of safer shelter from this ferocious storm. Through the sheeting rain you can see the rocky knoll. It is devoid of trees and undergrowth and offers no protection from the lashing rain, but when you magnify your vision you notice that beneath its jutting slate base there is a dry hollow.

You struggle through the mud and eventually you reach the hollow. Shivering and exhausted, you settle yourself down and attempt to sleep here while the storm rages unabated. Unless you possess the Discipline of Grand Huntmastery, you must now eat a Meal or lose 3 ENDURANCE points.

Throughout the long night you are awoken several times by concussive booms of thunder that roll and reverberate along the gorge. For a while you sit up and watch the wild and terrible beauty of this ferocious storm, but the fatigue of your long day’s march cannot be suppressed for too long and you find yourself drifting off into fits of restless sleep.

It is an hour after dawn when you finally decide to leave the hollow and press on with your long trek north. The worst of the storm has now passed but the rains persist and they hamper your progress. During the morning of the third day you catch sight of a trail that bisects the forest, running north to south. The heavy rain has transformed this dirt trail into a quagmire and several Eldenoran army wagons, laden with weapons and supplies, have become bogged down in the gluey mud. The troops attached to these wagons have set up tents among the trees and, to avoid the risk of running into them, you make a short detour to the east before continuing northwards once more.

During the afternoon of the fourth day you stumble upon a clearing close to the northern perimeter of the Grochod Forest. The ground here is studded with sawn stumps and the soft soil is freshly turned, indicating that this area has only recently been cleared of trees. As you look across the clearing you feel a prickling sensation at the nape of your neck. It is your Kai Sixth Sense and it is warning you that this place harbours a sinister secret.

If you possess Kai-alchemy, turn to 36.

If you do not possess this Discipline, turn to 191.