[P] It's not an adventure story, is it?

[Raymond]

If Raymond were to say he did not like this place, then one might be forgiven in assuming he liked no place - which wasn't strictly accurate. Sussuro Fields had struck him with their melancholy emptiness, but the vibes he got while investigating the summit were more of a creeping sickness in the gut, cold fish at market just beginning to turn in the late afternoon sun. There was too much rampant magic here. It would undoubtedly attract the wrong sorts, if the magic itself did not already owe its existence to the wrong sort.

Would that he could return to the simpler days, when the greatest concern to consider was the reach of your enemy's blade and the integrity of their aim.

But he would not trade his present life, good or ill, for all the simplicity in the world.

He stood a respectable distance from the unnatural circle of trees, overlooking the summit's verdant oddity and the rest of Veneror Peak's more natural slopes with a guarded eye. The air was thick with anticipation as the time for Things to happen ticked inexorably nearer, and horses from all directions trickled in as though drawn by the call of the deep magics at work.

Even from the southeast.

Interesting.

Raymond.
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around

@Florentine