As you emerge from the edge of the forest, the sight before you stops you in your tracks. The castle, once a proud bastion of the region, now lies in smoldering ruin. Its walls are shattered, crumbled into jagged heaps of stone and ash. Far to your left, the remnants of a fierce battle stretch across the field. Broken weapons and armor are scattered among the lifeless bodies of men and horses, a grim tableau of chaos frozen in time. Not a single figure stirs, and the oppressive silence...