A group of carefree travelers, picnic basket in hand, made their way up the road from Sedgewick to Gadobhra.

Sedgewick hadn't seemed to want to let them go.

One thing after another had delayed them until it was after sunset when they set out, and long shadows stretched from the tall, pointed rooftops of the village.

First, several adventurers were trying to turn one more set of rabbits in to Runt as he locked the door to the shop.

They'd done the quest three times that day already.

Runt pointed to the closed sign, "See that? It means I'm done taking rabbits for the day."This distressed the shabbily dressed group.

Some mishap in the wilderness had cost them most of their gear and they were trying to get a little cash together to buy more before venturing into the Bunny Barrow, "What do we do with them then? The meat will spoil and none of us have a cooking skill?" Runt had several suggestions for them, but his minion training helped him just smile and pick the least offensive, "Well, I bet Jenny would love to have them.

Take them down to her house by the stream and maybe she'll give you cookies or something." With that he turned his back on them and walked off to find Ozzy.

Rolly had been having problems with lost calves.

The cows were wailing and searching for them in the bushes, and even the bulls were being roped into helping.

He eventually figured out that someone had taught them to play hide and seek.

Every time he got them back to their mothers they would scatter and race to hide in the forest.

A solution was found when Rolly walked away to meet up with the rest of the group and let Squirmie hunt them down.

Squirmie's method involved more 'hunting' than 'finding' and the terrorized calves wouldn't stray from their mothers anytime soon.

Luckily, sedgebeasts had terrible memories when it came to traumatic experiences.Runt, on the other hand, had a very good memory, and too many traumatic experiences at the claws of various monsters.

A few minutes after Rolly joined the group and introduced himself to Runt, his butterfly landed on his shoulder.

Runt let out an undignified squeal, and threw himself behind Ozzy.

He knew an apex predator when he saw one, but was confused when no fight started up.

It took ten minutes to calm him down and explain a bit about pets and shepherds.

Runt just nodded a lot, believed none of it, and scowled darkly at Ozzy.

Ben ran up with a large picnic basket, apologizing for his lateness.

He'd forgotten to bring a tablecloth and doubled back to the tavern, getting caught up in the arrival of some strange travelers.

Ozzy had to keep Suzette from heading back to 'just help out a bit'.But eventually they made it to the gates of Gadobhra and saw that things had changed once again.The last few hundred feet before the city, the woods on either side of the road now grew thick, with some of the trunks right at the edge of the road.

The trees arched over the roadway, their branches entwining and blocking the sky.

The trees couldn't block the road, but they were doing their best.

Not until the road sloped up to the city could they see more changes.Where before the road ran between two large towers, reduced to a pile of stone blocks, now it ran between restored towers - five stories tall, ending in crenelations.

A covered walkway ran between them at the third story.

Four iron lanterns hung from the walkway, illuminating the area with a bright, white glare.

A coat of arms that looked something like the ACME logo was displayed on both towers.

Suzette stared up at the towers that weren't there the day before, "Billy is certainly busy.

How the hell is doing all of this?"Ben had been spending too much time with Billy lately, and knew the answer, "Building points.

He got some when you claimed the first dungeon, and then when the first stretch of road got built.

Then a whopping 10,000 from opening Gadobhra.

He spent it all on his new HQ and the plaza and road into the city.

But he got another thousand from claiming the The Pit of the Butcher."Runt looked at the towers and the lamps, "He's going old school.

These got destroyed a long time ago.

Classic look though, I sort of like it."The road past the gates was slowly lighting up.

Every hundred feet there was a wrought iron lamppost on either side of the road with one of the bright lamps atop it.

They illuminated the roadway but little to either side of it.

As darkness descended, they watched as the double strand of lights reached the plaza and then split, going right and left.

Within minutes the plaza's perimeter was lit and then the ACME HQ lit up.

All the windows glowed with light, and the coat of arms from the gates replaced the ACME logo.

Ozzy scratched his chin, thinking, "Hell of a way to spend building points, but he's making a statement for sure.""And what would that be? It looks nice, but that 1000 building points could have bought land in the capital." Suzette had to admit it was pretty though.

Night hid the ruin of the rest of the city, leaving just the inviting path to the large plaza.

Ozzy gestured at the city, "That says 'Look at me.

I'm the Baron.

I'm ACME.

I'm in charge'.

You can't come in this way and not see that building, day or night."Runt started walking down the road, "If we don't clear some more of the stockyard, all the pretty lights won't matter.

We're burning darkness."Rolly stopped every now and then to listen to sounds.

From the left, he heard nothing.

But from the right of the roadway came the sound of night birds, snorts of large animals, and a scream as some animal became another’s dinner.

He hurried to catch up with Runt, "What's this area to the right of us? It looks all overgrown and wild - tons of animal noises." Runt gestured over a broad area, "That's the Beastwoods.

They sort of fill in the area from the gate down to the stockyards.

Used to be parks and stuff with some richer folk living in large estates.

They had this crazy zoo in the center they called The Menagerie.

Filled it with all sort of fantastical critters.""You know what's really stupid? Fantastical creatures in a city with too much dark mana.

One day all the critters broke out of the zoo and overran the area and the zoo became a dungeon.

It was a great tourist attraction for a while, but without cages and keepers, the beasts started interbreeding.

And they weren't really too picky about what they bred with.

Now the area is an overgrown forest, and the woods are full of even stranger fantastical beasts.

To make things worse, the Menagerie keeps spitting out new stuff; makes my life hell as some of it ends up in the stockyards and then creeps into the dungeon."Rolly's face lit up, "That sounds awesome."Runt rolled his eyes, "Awesome until a sharkspider drops on you."Rolly took a step off the road to look between two trees.

You have entered the Beast WoodsFantastical creatures of legend and fierce hybrid creatures known as Chimerae roam these forests.

Quests:

Find the Huntsman's camp.Kill 10 chimerae and take their tusks to the Huntsman for a reward.