Gereon and the Forest of Mythic Germany

“This is as far as we go,” Ulric said. He pointed to a large boulder blocking their path.

“Oh, Ulric...” Runa said, throwing her arms up in the air. “I thought you knew the forest better than anyone else!”

“Well, I do!” Ulric replied. He threw his hands up in the air. “But this isn't just any forest! This is old. Very old and very dangerous!”

Gereon leaned against the boulder scratching his stubbly chin. His eyes wandered beyond the stone blocking their path and into the darkness of the forest beyond it. How far did it stretch? What was on the other side? Were there more boulders? More danger? Was it all worth it?

The creaking of a branch behind him caught his attention and he whipped around with his knife drawn. There was nothing there, only swaying branches of dark green leaves hanging from twisted, black tree trunks that stretched up toward a lightless sky.

Ulric sighed and reached for his sword but Gereon stopped him. “No, wait! Listen!”

He held up a hand and silence filled their little bubble of reality within the dark woods surrounding them. The only sound they could hear echoing across the seemingly endless expanse of trees was a slow drip-drip-drip of water dropping into stillness somewhere nearby. Somewhere too close to be safe, but as long as they didn't move from their spot, it should remain silent in their presence. Hopefully. Now he just had to figure out what made that creaking sound...

Ulric sheathed his sword and stood near Gereon with Runa standing between them and facing whatever lay beyond the boulder that blocked their way forward. She drew her bow but didn't draw an arrow from her quiver or string her bow yet; she was waiting for something, or someone to appear. And then it did. A small squirrel crossed in front of them on a thin branch far overhead and startled Runa who nearly loosed an arrow at it before remembering herself and lowering her weapon again. Unfortunately, she'd seen what that squirrel had been carrying in its mouth: an acorn with one end chewed off revealing a little white grain inside something that looked remarkably like bone and skin peeled off revealing pink flesh underneath that was smeared with blood when she got close enough to get a look at it better. It took all of Gereon's willpower to not vomit right there in his shoes as the realization hit him full force: there was something out there that liked eating human beings and that thing had been chewing on his body parts until he tasted like an actual squirrel's favorite treat...

Runa put her finger to her lips after noticing Gereon's paling face and pointed ahead at another tree where another squirrel - or maybe even the same one - had appeared higher up on a different branch closer to them than the last one had been on its way back down toward whatever hole it had dug into the earth beneath its tree home to stash away its prize for later dining only to return again once night fell upon this part of Germany's dense forest... There would be no getting past this place without engaging whatever lurked beyond these boulders if they wanted to go any further into this haunted place before nightfall came upon them... "We have to cross over," Gereon whispered as quietly as he could while pointing ahead at the shadowy mass of trees where they stood between them and whatever lay beyond them in this cursed forest... There were no other paths open to them except back down the mountain towards home where they would never find their way out of those woods alive... If they were going to make it out of here alive, then crossing over would be required because staying put wasn't an option anymore now that he'd found food belonging to whatever human-eating beast hunted these woods looking for more tasty treats like themselves so close by... They had no choice now but to fight through whatever waited for them if they wanted to go any further into this cursed place before nightfall came upon them! They had no choice now but fight!