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The sergeant narrows his bloodshot eyes and for a few moments he regards you with suspicion, but then he shakes his head and bids you farewell. Your command of the Eldenoran accent is so convincing that he does not suspect for a moment that you are a Northlander, even though your story does not ring true; there are no reinforcements expected at the river for at least two days.

You canter away from the campfire and head towards a distant ribbon of silver that is the Storn, glimmering in the starlight. Shortly you come to a highway that runs parallel to the river, and you cross over this road and descend a bracken-covered slope towards the east bank. As you approach the bank, you happen upon a derelict hut in the middle of a copse of apple trees that have been picked bare by the invading army. The hut is empty but there is some straw on the ground that will feed your horse, and so you decide to rest here for the few hours that remain before dawn.

Unless you possess the Discipline of Grand Huntmastery, you must now eat a Meal or lose 3 ENDURANCE points.

To continue, turn to 272.