Setting out early, following Cyr's lead, the party makes excellent time along the river back. An hour and a half's travel brings you to a bend in the river where the forest canopy opens up and you can clearly see a mountain range towering above the tree tops, much closer than you'd expected, it's tops shrouded in clouds and mist. Just a little further on you reach the canyon that matjala had described to you, and only a short ways in, you realize that it is indeed aptly named "Thorny Gorge". There is a small shrub that grows here that constantly pulls at your clothing and equipment with its spiky branches.
The going is slower here, but you press on through the bottom of the canyon where the snagging plants grow only sparsely. You notice that you seem to be traveling constantly along an uphill gradient. After a few more hours walking, you finally come to the stream that Cyr tells the party flows down past the gnomish village and finally to the sea cliffs on the western side of the Isle. The mangroves grow much taller and straighter here, their roots rising above your heads, and their tops barely visible at the heights they reach.
You follow the banks of the stream west a ways until, rounding a blind curve, you suddenly come to a sort of miniaturized bridge.
"Ah, this is the place," says Cyr, matter-of-factly.
Crossing the bridge leads you into denser and thicker woods, and oddly the bridge does not end on the other side of the stream, but instead continues on at a gentle uphill gradient. You follow along the bridge for a short while, and finally it leads you out into a forest clearing where the tree canopy gives way to the bright light of the sun.
Blinking in the bright light, you stop to let your eyes adjust, and slowly become aware that the clearing is full of small, conical huts, each adjacent to its own small flower and vegetable garden. In the middle of the clearing a much larger version of these huts dominates the view
As you look around the area though, there doesn't seem to be anyone about.
[sblock="Perception 18"]There are signs of recent activity though, like a hoe left out in a garden, a water pump left running, and several sets of footprints leading to the big house.[/sblock]
So, is the consensus that the party would like to continue on to Laughing Glade from here?[/sblock]
I'm glad someone else took it though.[/sblock]
[/sblock]
