Jade Fern Grove much too young

This is a thread prompt for The Corpse Gardner! Any number of wolves welcome, you can choose if you're injured or not. :) Written by @Behati (Karm). If you choose to pursue the shadow, I will post again - just tag Behati!

To the north of Jade Fern Grove, where the foot of Noctisardor Bypass creeps into the forest, there is a large crater. The ground just caved in one day long ago, dropping fifty feet and sloping into darkness where forest meets rock. In the warmer months, greenery spills in from all around the rim, and a sparse forest of saplings gives the place the look of a tree nursery. In the autumn and winter months, it is a large, empty bowl.

You (both of you, if there's more than one) wake up at the bottom. You don't remember how you got there - did you attempt to climb down into the pit? Looking up, it seems ludicrous to think that the idea would even have crossed your mind; it has been raining for two days straight, and the various paths to the bottom are treacherous even on a dry day.

As you recover, fragments of memory begin to return. You recall the sharp scent of lemons, and the rather strange image of a skull hovering by your face as you slept.

To the east, where the pit descends into the darkness beneath the mountain, you detect a flicker of movement. A shadowy form disappears from view before you can make heads or tails of what's going on.