Gelbi doesn't really react when you mention Oakgate. It's just a small forest in the south to most people, and the university are only interested in it because they've found some dusty old buried ruin they want to poke around in.
Forenrond, on your way in to Wildemill you pass the church you and Bart liberated a few weeks ago. There's scaffolding up the side and it looks as though they're rebuilding the porch and roof. A few tents are pitched outside, and a group of men in winter coats chat with each other around a fire, having downed tools for the night.
Incidently I've just traced your route to Oakgate and it's a bit like a reverse chronological timeline of all of Shankley's adventures to date. Hopefully this should give you a bit of an idea of where you're heading, too.
At Wildemill you manage to find a warm bed at The Staggering Squire, though the innkeeper takes a bit of convincing to allow a huge bear in to the stable. The wine and ales served are heady and strong, and Thoon's offered a few extra drinks on the house when the barman recognises the sigil of Wenta on his shield. Breakfast the next day is fresh bread with fruit dipping sauce.
You're setting off before Gelbi and Ivan, so your two groups say farewell and part ways. You're on your way to Arrow, a village famed for the high number of King's Bowmen it produces each year.
At about noon you see ahead of you a roadblock that bars the way to Arrow, wooden stakes buried in the wet ground branch left and right at 90 degree angles from the road. A standard flaps on a flagpole in the chill autumn wind and three figures stand at the gap in the stakes on the road. Bill stops the caravan and whistles for you to come forward.
Bill Brassknuckles wrote:What do you make of that then, lads? Wasn't here last time I travelled this road, but then I've not been down here in at least a month. Want to go ahead and see what the fuss is, or should we soldier on together?