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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vigwyn the Unruly" data-source="post: 1684544" data-attributes="member: 20345">Approaching the LakeOOC:I have awarded each PC 225 XP for the ankheg.Slyfen checks the surrounding area with his spyglass, and sees nothing new (taking 20).The party moves on, leaving the carcass of the dead beast to rot in the sweltering heat. Death behind, fear ahead.As you make your way slowly across the grassland, the relentless sun beats down on your backs and shoulders. A dry wind begins to blow, moving the long brown grass in unceasing waves with a disconcerting sighing sound, and stirring up dust devils on the road. The farther west you travel, the closer the southern woods approaches the Allthrop road. Soon, you can distinguish individual trees, and you can just make out some of the underbrush in the inviting darkness under the canopy. The hill jutting up from the woods looms in the southern distance like the head of a giant’s corpse.As the sun reaches its merciless zenith, you finally come upon the dried lake that Nerius Bootlum told you about. The lake is now little more than a lakebed. It is all cracked mud, scattered here and there with desiccating fish and toads. Close to the edges, the bed has already hardened to packed dirt. Farther in, the mud is darker and still a little moist. Small insects buzz about over a tiny puddle of brackish water in the center of the lakebed. As you approach, the smell makes you queasy.Here the southern woods has encroached all the way to your position, and it grows right up to the edge of the lakebed to both the south and west. Making your way around the empty lake, you rejoice in the relief from the sun provided by the cover of the woods. As you examine the area, you notice two things. First, a clear, well-worn trail leads off to the southwest into the woods. Standing on the edge of the woods, you can see that it disappears around a gentle curve about 30 yards into the still, cool darkness. Second, a few hundred feet away, you discover tracks leading due south into the woods. The tracks are several days old, and the dry weather has hardened the ground—only a trained tracker could follow the tracks reliably in the woods. However, at least until they disappear into the woods, they seem to be headed in the direction of the hill.Taking relief in the shade, you sit to have your lunch as you plot your next move. It is about an hour after noon.</blockquote>

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