Overview

As dusk crawls under the canopy of night, you find yourself laying under a canopy of many trees. From behind those dark branches, the sky is just about visible to you and the orange embers from the campfire you've set up at your side float and dance upwards to join the stars. The ache in your muscles is soothed by a warm, heavy blanket you've brought on your journey and the smell of dry wood mixed with pine tree needles calms your mind. A calm wind caresses the leaves on the branches above you and carries the smells deeper into the forest ahead, leaving an idle rustle between each tree it visits on it's way. Your breath levels along with the forest and the ambient sounds of nocturnal insects lull you to sleep. Your eyelids grow heavy, the rhythmic beating of the forests' heart matches your own and it's darkness carries you until you hear something snap.

A twig broke somewhere behind you and the grass rustles where footsteps would part it. Your instinct drives your arm to shoot towards your knife, afraid that its some wild animal but when you raise your head to the source of the noise, you see a silhouette of a person and they rush to speak.
-"Pardon et moi! I- sorry, didn't mean to scare you..”

You lower your blade. This robed individual has their hands up and illuminated by your campfire you can see elf ears and a lit smoking pipe hanging from their lip.
-”It’s my bad, I shouldn’t have sneaked up like that. I was simply looking for a place to camp and saw a light... You’re quite far off the beaten trail and it piqued my curiosity. I hope you forgive me.” The man sounds anxious but genuine and doesn’t seem threatening. You relax your shoulders but remain skeptical and ask why is He this far from the trail. The man takes the pipe out from his mouth and smiles sheepishly.
-”Oh.. well, I really don’t have a good excuse other than I was traveling to the desert to visit a dear friend and on my travels I like to take an unexplored path… “ As he talks you notice the smell from his pipe is not as bitter as regular tobacco, its more pleasant, and the man himself smells strongly of medicinal herbs and for some reason dry hay. You raise your brow and after some deliberation, invite the man to sit by the campfire.
-”Thank you.. You never know if what you find in these woods is trouble or perhaps something wonderful like a fellow traveler.”