Explorers Log 29

An Exploration of Caleb’s Woods

By Gerald Daniels

Today I’m diving deep into one of the densest forests in all of Delanith. It’s called Caleb’s Woods. It’s quite the mysterious name when you think about it. Who is this bloke Caleb and why did they name a woods after the fella. I’ve heard tell in some of the older villages on the outskirts of the woods they have different names for it and that Caleb’s woods isn’t its true name. They also warned me against going too deep, so what do those yokels know.

Anyway fellas let me tell you, these woods are thick. On the outskirts there’s signs of light hunting from the surrounding villages but there's still an overabundance of monsters around here. Like we are talking monsterpalooza of some of the most fascinating creatures you could imagine. Oddly they don’t seem as hostile and more surprised to see me. Heck I’m pretty sure at one point I interrupted a few Bunnys playin poker with a dropbear and a pig in a wizard hat. I mean I haven’t been drinkin much but what the hell? How is that possible? But I’m getting off topic.

When your entering the outskirts of Caleb’s woods it seems to be mostly younger trees, getting progressively taller, older, and more massive as you move toward the center. In the outskirts sunlight can still filter down on you, but as you get deeper and deeper the grass slowly disappears as does the light and your stuck climbing over tree roots and dead and dried leaves in utter darkness as monsters roam around you. Occasionally you’ll find the odd clearing with beautiful springs untouched by men for many years but they tend to be defended by powerful monsters. And occasionally you’ll come across bits where it seemed like a forest fire raged but was put out mysteriously before any real damage could occur. It made me consider starting a fire to see what would happen. But the moment I drew out my flint steel and bent down I was rushed by an angry dropbear out of nowhere. I took it as a sign and gave up my attempts.

I’m a bit of a monster connoisseur however I was seein critters I had never heard of before deep in those woods. As I got deeper and deeper it got quieter and quieter and I started to feel like something more intelligent than your common monsters were watching me and slowly the attacks on me stopped as long as I kept in a single direction. If I tried to turn toward the left of my position at any time I’d very quickly be attacked by powerful monsters that pushed me back as I had to flee from them in fear. However eventually after a long trip I managed to make it to what felt like the center of the woods and before me was a tree bigger than any skyscraper in Discord City.

It took me ten minutes just to circle the base of this tree that towered over me in a way that made me feel truly insignificant. So I did what any man in this case would do and drew my axe and tried to fell that bloody massive tree. However despite my strength and the strength of my axe even with a few brews in me to dull the pain in my hands I couldn’t lay a damn scratch on the forkin thing. Not only that when I unleashed one of my most powerful abilities it just made a dull thud like the forkin thing was hollow. How could a bloody massive forkin tree be hollow inside. I made camp at the base of it for the the night and throughout the night I had nightmares of being trapped in the woods forever. In the morning when I woke up it felt like I was being watched something fierce and I could have sworn I heard the tree moan in pain so I got my ass out of those creepy ass woods as fast as I could and it had nothing to do with the fact I somehow ran out of beer. Anyway the way out was oddly easy as if the forest itself wanted me the hell out. I was barely attacked and it took me a third of the time to get out as it did to fight my way in.

On my way out the village I stopped in for the night seemed really surprised to see me again. I quickly replenished my liquid courage but for the life of me couldn’t get up the energy to make a second trip in. As I approached the border of the forest it seemed like the woods themselves were watching me and the path I came back on seemed to have vanished.

If you ever intend upon attempting to explore this village I recommend you bring a good reliable source of light, a group of friends to protect each other, your best gear, and of course a lot of beer.

As always this has been Gerald Daniels exploring the weird parts of the world so you don’t have to.