While the line of people heading out of the city was much smaller than the line heading inside, probably due to dusk being imminent, it still took close to 20 minutes until they reached the front of the queue.
Below the ancient gates was a collection of buildings situated just to the sides of the street, and one large building in the center, likely a barracks or equipment storage room. The 2 lines of people were split by the building, being directed by groups of 5 guards each. On the right side of the road, the side with line Alex and G were now at the front of, 3 of the guards were off to the side, taking a break and talking. The other 2 were standing in front of them, one with a crossbow on their back, and the other not armed with a weapon, instead holding a stack of parchment and a quill.
All of the guards were wearing the same equipment. Iron plate-mail with faceless helmets, and a pale green tabard decorated with a sturdy looking tree with a wide canopy colored a slightly darker green, with the leaves being colored gold. Alex had seen the imagery on the guard's tabards all around the city on banners suspended on some of the more important looking buildings, so he assumed it was the crest of Mosshaven.
The guards, looking at them and squinting slightly, had tired but stern looks on their faces.
"Hail, citizen. What is your reason for leaving Mosshaven?"
The guard currently speaking to them, the one with the large stack of parchment, sounded as if they had said the phrase millions of times. They probably had, assuming the guard wasn't a new recruit.
G, stepping forward first, answered the guards.
"Hello sirs, my companion and I were intending to go on a hunting expedition. We had planned to return to the city tomorrow morning."
The guard was writing something on the parchment as G spoke until the other lightly shoved them. Looking a bit bewildered, they turned to the guard who shoved them.
"What was that for?"
The other guard, making sure they had the attention of the other, gestured with their chin towards something Alex couldn't see. Apparently the other guard could, as they paled a little, and an audible gulp came from their throat.
'What's with them…did something happen.'
Looking to G, who looked equally confused, he was unsure why the guards reacted.
'Well, I doubt it has anything to do with us.'
By that point, the guards had recovered from whatever surprised them and resumed wiring on the parchment, only a little more hurried than before.
"You're free to pass. The gates close at sunset and open at sunrise, so be aware that entrance into the city is only allowed at those times."
"Thank you."
Quickly thanking the guards, G started to walk forward, prompting Alex to follow suit. He couldn't help but notice as they walked that the guards kept their eyes on G as they passed.
Crossing the threshold of the ancient gate revealed the sight of the outside world. The road they were walking in continued out of the city, winding between wide fields of grain. Past the fields that stretched for easily hundreds of meters was what appeared to be the edge of a thick forest. The trees looming in the distance like another great wall, the setting sun was only barely still visible over the tree line.
The road continued south into the forest, likely to another distant settlement for trade, or maybe the remains of an ancient greater civilization from the time when Mosshaven was originally built. Not that any of it really happened more than 2 months ago considering this was all in a Dream.
Once they were out of the city, the amount of visible people thinned out rapidly, limited to just roaming around the fields or continuing down the road on covered wagons. Turning towards G, Alex pondered for a moment before asking a question.
"Now that we're out of Mosshaven, where do we go? If the forests start this close to the city, I doubt they are too dangerous on the outer reaches or there may be another wall. Also, any idea what spooked the guards?"
Slowing down a bit so they were side by side with Alex, G turned towards him.
"No clue what the guards got all jumpy about. They were staring a bit, so maybe it was the spear? No, they're guards, one armed person shouldn't trigger that sort of response…anyway, we should probably just continue down the road for a while before turning into the forest. We can just use the sun for navigation back since we'll run back into the road eventually, so we should get lost."
"Works for me."
With a crude plan, the 2 walk down the road for about 30 minutes. The road beneath them has become noticeably far more worn down than closer to Mosshaven, and looking back to the way they came only put into perspective how deep the forest was. The trees were much taller than they were at the edge of the forest, and the canopy was so thick it was already getting too dark to see past 10 feet in front. Even above the road, the trees bent and twisted in order to form an arch over the road like it was carved under an enormous dead stump. Luckily, they had easily enough created a makeshift torch with a tree branch that hadn't been too dried out.
Using their uncovered hand, G ran their hand across the flat of their spear like a match across a matchbook, creating sparks.
"That's pretty handy. Not as handy as seeing in the dark though."
"Shove it, Alex."
Unlike G, who was starting to have trouble seeing in the low lighting, Alex was still able to see fine. Not because of the nightvision skill though, as that only showed shades of grey out to about 50 feet in front of him. Instead, he was testing out the (Echolocation) skill. Letting out a short shout, he took a moment to listen. The moment Alex let out the shout, it seemed as if his hearing immediately grew many times more sensitive, able to practically feel the vibrations of the leaves above and around him. Of course, he could only tell rough locations of things at the moment, like the huge tree trunks all around.
'This will definitely take a lot of practice. And probably somewhere a lot harder to see in than here.'
G, having managed to light the branch, stood up with their spear in one hand and the burning branch in the other.
"Alright, I'm good to go."
"Alright, into the woods we go."
Stepping off the road, Alex could immediately feel the thick roots of some of the trees spreading across the floor of the forest like a massive web.
'It's like the whole forest is one huge tree. I doubt there will be much in the realm of clearings, so we'll have to go with no fire if we camp.'
The dark expanse of the forest continuing on into what felt like forever, Alex and G started off into the endless darkness. The 2 quickly adjusted to the uneven footing of the rooted floor, but that didn't help their main problem.
'I get that we haven't been out here for that long, but you'd think that the creepy crawlies would come out at night, but I haven't heard anything, let alone seen anything. All there are are trees…maybe I just need to be patient.'
Continuing deeper into the darkness for close to an hour, nothing stood out to the duo besides the occasional weirdly shaped tree or desecrated animal carcass sinking into the dirt. Eventually though, Alex saw something on one of the trees.
"Hey G, look at this. It kind of looks like claw marks. Think it could be some kind of territorial marking?"
Approaching the tree with their 3rd torch of the journey, G inspected the part of the trunk with the markings.
"I mean, it's hard to tell, but it's better than nothing. Besides, you should be the one telling me, being the hunter and all."
"That's fair. Well, at least we have somewhere to look now instead of wandering around in the dark."
Skill Description:
Stone Body-A skill unique to those made entirely of mineral, Stone Body provides an immense increase to durability, as well as making the body not reliant on air or food. Moisture is still recommended as the stone drying out could result in a drop in durability.