With a curious fluorish of his hands and a set of strange magic commands, nothing happens. Well, the spell didn't work, but, on the bright side, the Cyclops did happen to notice the noise and has decided to search for the cause. Quite a bit frantic, the magician reaches into his pocket and throws something over the cyclops shoulder. As the projectile hits the canyon wall, you can hear a small explosion. Thankfully, the Cyclops is distracted into the canyon and away from the bridge.
Once past the Cyclops, the duo could focus on the journey past the bridge and into the threatening woods ahead. Moriander Forest is a dense forest of ancient evergreens, that because of its vast and dark nature, has become home to theives, highwaymen, and other villians who go bump in the night. Many people warn of entering into the woods at any time of day, but especially at night. Sunset is only moments away. Wouldn't it be useful if someone could sneak silently into the forest and preemptively get rid of any villians in the way.
Looking ahead at this problem, the magician says, "Wouldn't it make sense, if we just found away of magically distracting the villians, so we don't have to sneak around through the forest?"
Looking at the forboding forest ahead, the ninja contemplates out loud, "The only sensable soultion is for me to go in, disable the brigands inside, and make the way safe for you."