Sketch knew he had a choice to make, regardless of what the witch had told him. He couldn’t place why, but he knew that it was important for him to find the cloak that the horseman had spoken of, and not just because he’d been asked to.

On the other hand, Sketch hadn’t had much interaction with Gryms on a social level. Despite the appearance of them, and their ghoulish tendencies, he’d never felt as if they meant to harm him. However, Sketch knew they were an unknowable force of pure fear, there was no telling what their intentions could truly be.

Sketch wasn’t exactly pressed for time, he could expend the effort to locate the cloak and be at the next town with little problem. The issue arose from the fact that he had to track down a mythical object with almost no clues to go on. “Find it, you say?! Daft blighters!” Sketch shouted at the surrounding bare woods, “How about some bloody instructions!” If he’d expected a reply, he was disappointed.

He walked for a few hours as a bright early morning gave way to a dusky overcast noon, when he passed a particularly sparse copse of pitch trees. He heard a slight rustle of dried, dead leaves from the side of the trail. Sketch could swear he heard a short, high pitched laugh that was echoing from the forest.

Cautiously, Sketch stepped off the trail to follow the noise, his curiosity peaked by the prospect of yet another encounter here out on the road. He walked forward until the tree cover caused him to lose sight of the road. He heard the giggling coming from in front of him, yet every time he felt he was getting closer to the source, the sound would move ever onward with no one in sight.

After twenty minutes or so of walking, Sketch stopped hearing the ethereal laughter. He looked around him and saw an outcropping of flat grey stone coming out of the forest floor. Deciding to rest before attempting to make his way back to the road, he took a seat on the rocks and took his pipe out.

As he began packing his pipe, he heard a sharp snap of a dried twig. He turned his head in the direction of the sound, and out of the shadows of a fallen bough, he saw a pair of bright, glowing red eyes.