"That makes sense! Do you also tie your hair back so that it doesn't get all in your face?"

Once he's down on the ground:

"You're welcome! I hope we made it easier for the other knights!"

Rolith emerges from the courtyard just in time to hear that last comment.

"Based on the numbers Glumbert passed on via Sir Baumbard, we shouldn't have too much trouble mopping up what's left," he confirms. "You've done us a great service, again, and you'll be very welcome to stay at the keep whenever you're next passing through the area. For now, you and Twilly had better get going if you want to get to Falconreach before nightfall. The latest patrol reported that the main road between here and the river is blocked by fallen trees, so you'll have to go a longer way around, and then there's still the hydra to deal with!" 

"Aww, man! Too bad I don't have Belkar's jumping ring!"

He could maybe use Animate Rope to help climb over the fallen trees, but that might be unexpectedly dangerous and Elan doesn't really want to end up stuck in a pile of trees.

"Before we go, do you know if Sir Valance has a map of the Surewould Forest, or if there's someone in Falconreach I could ask about that?"

"We can ask my friend Robina! She adventures in Surewould Forest all the time, I's sure she'll know where all the sneevil forts are!" 

"Oh cool!"

With that settled, Elan doesn't see any reason not to leave right now.

This time nothing interrupts them leaving! 

Twilly skips along cheerfully beside Elan, humming a little tune as they head east along the main road. 

Elan joins along? He's decent at improvisation.

Oh! Well, in that case, Twilly will actually sing the words! It's a silly, cheerful little ditty about how nice it is to walk in the woods. The verses are about all the lovely things you can see, like sunshine, trees, flowers, and cute little animals. And the chorus goes:

"...but everything's better with a friend at your siiiide, yes everything's better with a frieeend!" 

Yay! Elan can pick up the words to the chorus pretty quickly and, if the tune admits, do call and response with the verses.

Yay! 

Still singing, they reach a fork in the road. Twilly gets to the end of a chorus and stops singing long enough to point down the south fork, which is signposted Sunbreeze Grove. "Down that way is the ferry to Sunbreeze Grove, where Lady Celestia lives! We's going the other way, though." 

He leads Elan straight on, following the signpost that says Falconreach. 

"Okay! When do we turn to go around the fallen trees?"

"When we sees them, I guess! Twillies doesn't actually know the other path...I hopes we don't get lost!" 

"Okay! Ummm… I think moss grows on the south part of tree trunks? Or is it the north part?"

Twilly giggles. "Moss grows on all sides of tree trunks, silly. We's got to use the sun! It's afternoon, so the sun is in the southwest, and we's going east. If we ends up too far north or south we can just walk along the river until we finds the bridge." 

"Oh, okay. I thought there was something that grew on one side of something else…"

He doesn't remember where he heard it, though. And there are more important things to focus on! Like:

"That's the hydra bridge, right? Are hydras here lizard monsters with long necks and if you cut off their head they grow back two more?"

"Hydras is giant water snake monsters with lots of heads! Twillies not sure if they grows back or not, though. I knows they's Water element, so maybes you should use your new Energy sword to fight it!" 

"Oh yeah! Also I think Sir Pluss said that it would give me a bonus to dodging, which is probably helpful if it has a bunch of heads."

He decides to swap it with his regular rapier, which can go nice and snug in his backpack.

Now he is wielding Static! It's made of blackened metal that crackles with static electricity. He feels energised and a tiny bit lighter on his feet. 

A bit further down the road, their way is blocked by the trunks of several old oaks, which all seem to have fallen at once and are lying across the road in a massive, impassable jumble. There's a clear path leading off into the woods to the left; it's un-signposted, but looks well-trodden. 

Whee!

"Oh, I think I see the new path!"

He points.

Twilly peers down it. 

"Twillies not been down that way before, but it looks like it goes the right way?" (The path bends around to the right, the way they want to go, not too far in.) "If it's tricksy and turny we's can just go through the woods."

"That makes sense to me!"

He kind of hopes they can stay on the path.

"It's too bad neither of us is a beaver. Or a woodchuck!"

Twilly giggles. 

They walk along the new path for a bit.

It does seem to be going in the right direction, but it's a noticeably worse path. The main road was straight, broad enough for a cart to pass along it, and had the wheel ruts to prove it. This path is winding and barely wide enough for Elan and Twilly to walk side-by-side most of the time. The going is slow and uneven, with plenty of tree roots, brambles, and rocks to trip over. People clearly walk this way enough to have trodden a path, but there's been no attempt to clear it beyond the natural wear of their feet. 

They're well away from the main road and walking through deeper forest, the underbrush thick on both sides and the afternoon sunlight struggling to reach down through the thick canopy of leaves above. 

Elan starts being more mindful of tripping hazards after the first couple times he encounters one with his feet, but that still doesn't really stumble-proof him.

"Jeez," he gripes after one such stumble, "I was kinda expecting to be back on the main path by now…"

"Ha! Another victim falls prey to our carefully prepared ambush!" 

Two masked bandits leap out from the bushes on either side to block the way forward, while another steps out behind Elan and Twilly to cut off their retreat. Rustling in all directions suggests there are more bandits hidden out of sight. 

"The Darkwolf Renegades have you surrounded," one of them declares. "Your gold or your HP—now!"