Leaving the cliffs behind, the dirt road up ahead leads to the beginning of the forest to the Northwest. To either side of the road are small shacks that look to be abandoned. They're probably used as temporary shelter for when adventurers come out here to hunt. 

Seeing one of them with a fire burning outside, Jed pulls his hood down a little further and trudges past it, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Needless to say, he fails miserably, though it seems to be his lucky day, as whoever lit the fire either isn't around or is inside at the moment.

Picking up his pace, he's almost home free when somebody shouts at him.

"Hey! Wait up!"

A tall, red-headed kid who looks to be in his early teens runs over (Well they're all tall to Jed) and stops ten feet or so away.

"Sorry traveler, I just need a moment of your time. I was supposed to meet up with my friends earlier but I was running pretty late and I haven't been able to find them. Even lit a fire in the hope of drawing their attention with the smoke. Have you seen anyone on your way here?"

Jed turns toward the kid, just enough to not look rude while still having his face concealed. He shakes his head 'no'.

"Ahh, that's too bad. They must be running even later than me! Thanks anyway, take care."

Unsure of how to answer without speaking and giving himself away, Jed just waves goodbye and walks away.

"Oh! Actually, since they haven't arrived yet, I might as well backtrack and meet up with them on the path. Mind if I join you since we're both headed that way?"

The stupid grin on the kid's face shows that he most likely won't take no for an answer and Jed reluctantly gives him a thumbs up.

"Sweet, lead the way! I'm Ben, by the way."

He waits for the robed figure to answer but Jed never does.

"So...uh... you don't talk too much, huh?"

*Nod*

"Oh, well I like talking a lot. I can talk enough for the both of us hehehe...If that's... alright with you?"

*Nod*

"It's...nice out. I like sunny days, do you like sunny days?"

*Nod*

"You're pretty short, are you a dwarf? No offense... I didn't mean it like...I was short once too you know."

*Nod*

It goes on like that for a while as they make their way toward the forest and at some point Jed just starts nodding once every couple minutes, hoping that the kid thinks he is listening. As they reach the forest trail, Jed tunes back in to what the kid is saying and wonders if he should just say he killed his friends to scare him away.

"To think that I'd meet another person who loves frogs! We have so much in common. You're very agreeable, has anyone ever told you that?"

'Aaaaand back to auto pilot we go.'

It gets darker as the canopy of leaves thickens, casting shade as far as the eye can see. The kid seems kind of jumpy, glancing at shadows and moving bushes. Even the sounds of the bugs cause him to go rigid and it's easy to tell how nervous he is in his speech. 

'Don't tell me he's afraid of the dark or something... I didn't sign up to babysit. Should've read the fine print when I agreed to bring him along.'

A twig snaps off to their right and the kid goes berserk, flailing around as he tries to hide behind Jed.

"AHHHH! Wolves! Run away, we're gonna dieeeeee!"

Some sort of furry creature that looks like a mix between a beaver and a raccoon waddles out of the brush. It stares at the two with wide-eyes for a few seconds, waiting for them to make a move. When neither of them do anything, it turns away and shuffles across the path, taking its sweet time like it owns the place.

"So... that wasn't a wolf. My bad."

Ben clears his throat and folds his hands behind his back while he pretends to be very interested in this one particular leaf on a tree.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

An hour of mental torture later, Jed spots a split in the path and a worn out old road sign made of wood. The part of it which points off to the west reads 'Civilization ahead', while the one pointing north is strange. It looks like it previously said 'Riverside Village' but the words were crossed out and underneath it someone carved 'Danger' into the wood.

As if noticing Jed's confusion, the kid walks up next to him and points at the northern sign.

"I know a few folk who used to live out that way, a bunch of refugees came into town one day and said the place was overrun with goblins. The village is their territory now and hardly anybody dares to go near the river, much less cross the bridge and go into the village."

'Hmm... head west and risk being discovered by humans and sold to an archmage, or go north and fight an entire village full of goblins... a tough choice. I'm gonna have to go with goblins. Think of the loot and xp! I bet I could even take their ears as proof after I liberate the village and take them into town. There's no way they would attack me after such a heroic achievement...I hope.'

Having made up his mind, Jed takes the trail to the north, waving goodbye to Ben on his way.

"W-wait... it's suicide that way, don't be crazy! Come to town with me, I know the best place for food. It's so good, you'll regret missing out!"

Seeing that he's being ignored, the kid frowns deeply and looks down the western path with a shiver of fear. He clearly doesn't like traveling through the forest alone.

'I hope that kid does get eaten by wolves.'

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Silence had never tasted so sweet until a few hours ago when he'd finally gotten rid of Ben. Jed has been walking along the northern path the entire time, yet there is still no end in sight. In his boredom, he'd invented this amazing game called 'Knock the squirrel out of the tree with a rock.' He was getting pretty good at it too, could probably go pro for a few years and then retire in luxury.

In all seriousness, he was bored out of his mind and just wanted to get out of here. The answer to his prayers came a few minutes later as he reached the finish line of the forest marathon. Now free of the trees, Jed could see a small river flowing south-east, with a rickety old bridge that looked like it had been neglected for a long time, bridging the gap between both shores.

Across the bridge he could see a path lined with what looked like crude totem poles, leading off to the east where a collection of huts made up what must be the remains of Riverside Village. The sun had set and it was beginning to get dark, making it easy to see several dozen torches moving around throughout the village. There were also two large bonfires near the center of the place which billowed huge columns of smoke into the sky above.

As he got within a few yards of the bridge, a hunched figure clad in rags, with greenish skin, came crawling out of a nearby bush. The goblin pulled out a chipped dagger which had probably seen better days, pointing it at him threateningly.

"You go, dwarf. Not allow here. Go or kill."

"...I... pick....kill."

With a snarl, the ugly green creature came sprinting toward him and with surprising speed it jammed the dagger into the hood and toward his throat. It goes wide-eyed in surprise as the knife bounces right off of him and looks at it to make sure it was a dagger and not a stick.

'Stupid goblin. Bringing a knife to an axe fight.'

The dumb, confused expression on its face stayed that way even as its head hit the ground and rolled away. Jed steps over its corpse while quickly dismissing the battle report since he'd gotten no level ups. The bridge creaked under his weight as the rock man made his way over the water.

'One down, lots to go.'