Dokarra doesn't want to be here.

From the bluff, he can see the Wastelands spread out for miles beneath him, their loose and rocky soil giving way to cracked earth in the distance. He can see no vegetation or signs of life - except, of course, the chimney-like towers to the east.

"What's the problem, old man? We don't have the time to admire the view."

Dokarra doesn't turn around. He's a patriot, and loyal to the king. He will do his duty and guid Falladir's advance troops into the Wastelands, but he doesn't like it. Nor does he like Lieutenant Dydrah, the leader of this mission most perilous.

"We got to go that way," Dokarra says, pointing to the west. "It'll take a full day to go around the hills and reach the river caves - we'll be safe there. - so we should set up camp here and head out at dawn. You don't want to be out there," he gestures at the Wastelands," after dark."

You must be getting senile," scoffs Dydrah. "I can practically see the river caves from here. If we set out now and avoid the hills altogether, we can be there by nightfall. It's amazing how much time we can save by simply traveling in a straight line."

Dokarra narrows his eyes, gritting his teeth behind his beard. He hates explaining himself, but he hates having his judgement questioned even more.

"You see them mud tubes over to the east? That's the top part of a R'Karg nest. For miles around that nest, there are hundreds of young R'Karg buried just beheath the ground, waiting for a fool like you to walk through.

"Few years back, Lord Brandir hired me to track down his runaway son. Finally caught up with the boy on the edge of a R'Karg nest just like this. I was too late to grab him: he was already surrounded and didn't even know it. I tried to stop him, tried to warn him off, but he wouldn't listen. Sure enough, there's a rumble, then a whole army of R'Karg come busting up from under the soil. I couldn't even see the kid no more.

"Next thing I see, Brandir's son is unconscious and bleeding, but still in one piece. The R'Karg are picking him up and carrying him off to the nest. That's the last I seen of him."

Dokarra shakes his head sadly.

"Spread out!" Dydrah commands. "We'll be camping here tonight, and I don't want us to be an easy target for any of Llovar's spies."