The sun had barely risen over the horizon when the first reports came in. Farmers from the outskirts of Fellbrook rushed into the town square, their faces pale with fear. As James and his companions listened to the frantic words of the farmers, it became clear that something far worse than the wraith had awakened in the surrounding woods.
"They... they came from the trees!" one of the farmers stammered, eyes wide with terror. "I was tending to my fields at dawn when the ground shook, and the trees... they started moving! They tore through the crops like beasts, uprooting everything in their path!"
Another farmer, an older man with a long gray beard, spoke up. "It's the Old Forest. No one's dared go near it for years. There are stories... stories of something ancient that lives in those woods, something we've forgotten."
