The Arkwood, the great central forest of western Harcylon, is ancient beyond mortal reckoning. And, as is the nature of such places, it has acquired a reputation for danger far beyond what an average traveler might encounter. It is said that packs of man-eating dire wolves roam its darkened depths*, and that the trees bestir themselves to squash any so foolish as to intrude upon their contemplations.
Today, an intruder might notice that an unusually large number of people have decided to ignore this reputation. In fact, there is an entire bandit camp set up here, sprawling to the very edges of a small clearing. The camp contains a mixture of human and gnoll warriors - and, judging from the zombie hyenas on sentry duty, at least one cleric amongst them as well.
Still, destroying this group of bandits is worth a thousand gold to each of three different local mayors - not to mention full salvage rights to any loot you find (aside from the food supplies that the villages desperately need back). And getting to play the part of hero isn't exactly a down side, either.
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* There is, in fact, a pack of dire wolves. But they are haughty, and aloof, and regard mere human prey as beneath their dignity.
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