The Umbral Wood, Forest of Darkness.

Your group exits the citadel and your eyes fall upon the outside world for the first time. You take a moment to drink in the sight, committing the first sight of the outdoors to your memory as you do. The sky is dark and foreboding, black clouds roiling above like angry buzzards, but that darkness seems to lighten slightly further from the citadel. You can scent salt and sea on the air, which is no wonder as the citadel of your master sits on the southern shore of what used to be the gnomish kingdom. You can't see the sea, however, as it lays behind the citadel and, therefore, you.

So you look forward and, ahead of you, there is a wide fissure that cuts a jagged swathe in the land ahead of you. It is as though somebody cut a line into the ground in front of the citadel to make sure that none could easily approach and, a moment later, you realize that's exactly what happened. Your master must have done so, using his power to slash into the very earth until one could see red-hot molten rock churning below. Such an intimidating way to bar his enemies' path and you smile at that, pleased by your master's show of power and superiority as though you had been there when he'd done it.

The jagged "moat" is bridged by a large, wide stone pathway that reaches from the citadel itself to the land beyond the jagged slash in the earth. That path joins a more natural one of dirt that stretches into the forest that seems to dominate the land north of the citadel. You can tell that, at one point, it had probably been a more natural and normal forest of the types that elves would cavort in, but now it has been touched by the dark energy that exudes from your master and his followers and become twisted. The trees are almost monstrously tall and the bark is an oily black in color. The limbs seem to loom and stretch out like the grasping hands of living dead and the leaves that grow on them are a deep purple in color and seem to hold a sheen of unnatural oil upon them.

Altogether, you think it a very fitting tribute to the grand dark power your master possesses and the world he would craft if he were to finally bend this land to his will.

You finish taking in the sight before you and nod as you look back to your followers. Blackmane stands at your shoulder, looking to you with wide eyes full of a desire to serve and prove herself while the four other male goblins stand behind her with varying degrees of determination on their faces. There is no hiding the unease that the males feel at being outside of the citadel, though, as you can assume that the goblins haven't been a **** to send out into the world for awhile now as Rizlyx's leadership would not make them a true fighting **** to be trusted. You intend to fix that, however, and you give them a sharp growl to get their attention and meet each of their gazes until they are set straight by your overpoweringly intimidating presence.

You nod again and then gesture for them to follow as you lead the way over the bridge and towards the woods. As you do, you think you can feel a gaze burning into your back and you look over your shoulder quickly to try and catch whoever it is that is staring at you, but you see nothing but your followers. You frown at that, wondering if you were imagining the feeling, but you do not dwell upon it as it isn't important to you. Right now, you do not need to look back, only forward. That being the Umbral Wood.

Your group enters the woods and, as you do, you can feel the oppressive atmosphere of the forest pressing down upon your shoulders. It is as though the forest itself is glaring at you and exuding a predatory aura that threatens to swallow you whole. You can see how it affects your followers, each of them looking around anxiously and visibly showing their dismay at being in the forest. Even Blackmane, who had been acquitting herself quite well thus far, could not hide her uneasiness.

You, however, do not let the forest have its way with you. After all, the magic that had made these woods into what they now are was the same dark power that had created your very self. As such, you had nothing to fear from these woods and the aura of threat that came from it, you tell yourself. No, if anything, you should revel in it and you do just that, throwing off the weight of the dark aura that wished to press down on you and holding yourself tall and proud as you strode down the dirt path that had been cut through the shrouded forest.

You serve as a beacon for your followers as, when they see how at ease you are in the unfamiliar area, they manage to find their courage and follow you without hesitation. They still look warily from side to side, however, and you do not fault them that. After all, being vigilant is only right and more than wise in this place. It is only right and it is helpful as, when you come to a clearing in the woods, your vigilance is paid off as you hear something in the brush on the far side of the clearing.

You hold up your hand to halt the group's advance and then gesture for them to take cover off to the side of the trail as you crouch low to stay out of sight as you wait for whatever it is moving around in the dense foliage to make its appearance.