Into the wild Green yonder

Resuming their trek south to the Cloak Wood, the party soon left behind the few scattered settlements and fortified inns that dotted the Trade Road below Daggerford. Although circling a majority of the Trollbark Forest, the route did pass through its outskirts before turning to take a more southerly route. The party scouted carefully for campsites whilst in the Wilds and maintained a rolling watch to ensure they were never surprised by bandits or worse.

On the one night they had to spend inside the Forest, they found a dell to camp in and defended the accesses with some sharp stakes. Sure enough in the middle of the night a group of hungry trolls descended upon them, roused from sleep it was a tough fight, though Kaddim_Sul's fire attacks proved highly effective at ensuring a downed troll stayed dead.

Skirting the rest of the Forest, they still had to pass through the Troll Hills at its southern border, as the road swung west towards the coast. The road wound through a low pass and in a rocky defile the party spotted signs of watchers in the surrounding rocks and scrub. They moved carefully and that night found the best possible spot to make camp in, though still just a slight recess in a low rock face, it gave them something to put their backs to in case of any attack.

That they were attacked later in the night came as little surprise then, a group of Orcs accompanying a pair of Ogres tried a subtle advance on their position from the east - undoubtedly the 'watchers' from earlier in the day. The party's stake defenses aided their position, though the Ogres found them little difficulty - the fight proved tough and an Orc shaman caused them to have to leave their position to deal with him. Once dispatching their opponents, the party found little on the bodies excepting a roughly scrawled note to the shaman:

"harass the Trade Road, harry travellers and disrupt the caravans, cause fear in the area and cut the cities from each other - Red Knight."

Crossing the Winding Water, the party entered the coast lands surrounding Baldur's Gate and the signs of civilisation slowly grew as they approached the great city, making their last days on the trail uneventful.