Falzaren will travel up with Tierra, helping her keep watch and watching the light, so as to know when to stop and make preparations for the night.

The travel out of the village is uneventful, no villagers in sight as it has seemingly been since the the party entered the strange place. It takes sometime but you eventually come to a crossroads. To the side those that were keeping a look out find a mauled corpse that has seemingly been around for a short amount of time. 

At the crossroads you see.

An old wooden gallows creaks in a chill wind that blows down from the high ground to the west. A frayed length of rope dances from its beam. The well-worn road splits here, and a signpost opposite the gallows points off in three directions: Barovia Village to the east, Tser Pool to the northwest, and Ravenloft/Vallaki to the southwest.The northwest fork slants down and disappears into the trees, while the southwest fork clings to an upward slope. Across from the gallows, a low wall, crumbling in places, partially encloses a small plot of graves shrouded in fog.

Errol:

Errol lets it all soak in, trusting his senses to warn him of danger (Passive Perception 21).  He moves towards the corpse, looking for clues to who it was or how the person died (Passive Investigation 21) as he asks, "I don't always trust signposts...Which direction does our map indicate we should follow to reach the village?"

"Hmm... To trust a signpost, or an old map. Always a difficult question that one is." Belmarm jests as he stared up at the gallows. "Strange place to put such a thing though. You'd think they'd put it closer to town for more public displays of dominance. Though, I suppose every civilization has there way of doing things." He notes, eyeing Ismark and Ireena from the corner of his eyes.

While people are studdying the map, Nadariel will have a look at the corpse. Who was it, how did they die? (Investigation 15)

(What time of day is it and what's the light like? Also, Falzaren is a strong believer in the cleansing effects of fire, so how flammable does the gallows and surrounding woods look?)

The corpse looks to be the body of a poor hapless commoner that had the foolish idea to travel into unsafe wilderness without weapons or others that knew the surrounding land. It appears that he died from the a wild animal attack. More then that you cannot tell.

The map does seem to show that the sign post is correct. If you follow the directions given it should lead to Vallaki.

It is hard to tell the time but as before the entirety of the sky is overcast with no true sunlight passing through it. The ground looks dry and as if it would burn quite well but it would be seemingly hard to put it out if it was left to burn uncontrolled.

„Ismark, Ireena, wich of those two ways would you recommend, after all you live here and we are only strangers to those roads.“

Errol:

After investigating the body (with his 21 Investigation) and finding little, Errol suggests, “We should either move on quickly or see if we can find a convenient open grave for this poor fellow in that graveyard so that we may bury him quickly.”

"Hm?" Belmarm turns to look and appears faintly surprised by the body. "Oh. Hadn't seen that there. But be that as it may, If we're taking votes then, my vote is moving quickly. The wild will see to the man one way or another. That, or the corruption of this land. Either which way, we've already had one delay in a funeral today on questionable still hollowed ground. Wasting more will just ensure we suffer a like fate, undoubtedly." He concludes.

Then at Nadriel's questioning, he has a peek for himself at the map if at all possible, then to the sign post. "Seems... rather straight forward, does it not? Besides, they've already confessed to not really being the exploring type. But that said, color me curious." He said as he too looked to the duo.

"The map agrees with the sign so for know I say that we take it. But since you are seemingly more skilled in the wild then us I will follow your lead unless it is not in our best interest to do so. That and the faster we are away from those gallows the better..." Ismark says as he glanced to the tree.

Errol:

”Very well, let’s move on following the map and the sign, since they agree,” suggests Errol, moving to continue along the indicated path.

I will watch the rear again (17)

As the party moves onward any of you that look back towards the gallows notice that for a split second you see yourself hanging on from the tree. If you look away when you look back it is simply the same random bodies as before.

When i see the ‚illusion‘, Nadariel will stop and look again. He will then use his Divine sense to check if there is an undead/fien/celestial is near.

You sense nothing, it was almost like you were just seeing something from the corner of your eye.

Tierra nods, not paying much mind to the gallows

Falzaren will continue to help Tierra watch the road and find the way.

The road seems to be safe but at points does seem to be quite unkept with areas where the surrounding brush is overgrown.

Errol:

As the afternoon wears on, Errol keeps an eye out for a secure place to spend the night, or at least a defensible campsite.