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For two days you follow this trail through the great Forest of Salony. During your ride it strikes you that the weather seems to be reflecting the nature of the people who dwell in this region—cold and inhospitable. They do not take kindly to strangers, especially those riding alone.
On the morning of the third day, you reach a small village called Hopforst which stands at the edge of the Great Forest. To the west of the village you can now see the snow-capped mountain peaks of the Ceners, and to the north stretches an open expanse of rough grassland dotted with thickets of larch and pine.
As dusk is drawing its curtain of shadow over the land, you see in the distance the decaying walls of a derelict city. A broken sign by the roadside says that this place is called Amory, yet the newish track which branches off the road and avoids the city gate tells you that travellers on this road no longer visit here. It has begun to rain again and you are quietly dreading having to spend another night out in the open. Tempted by the promise of shelter, you approach Amory and enter the city by a gate that hangs haphazardly from its hinges.
