The ravine twists and turns several times, growing deeper and deeper, the sides getting steeper and steeper. At some point the sun comes up and the air begins to heat up, but here in the narrow ravine you are shaded from the brunt of it - at least, until noon draws nigh.
The ravine seems interminable. After an hour of walking, you expected you would have seen other ravine intersecting it, or for it to join up with a larger river bed, but this is not the case. Indeed, as the morning draws on, you start to get more and more impatient with the Test. When will it begin in earnest? You don't remember the Tests for the students in previous years lasting more than an hour.
Just when you are thinking of voicing your aggrivation, you round a bend in the ravine and see a wider space ahead of you, perhaps the bed of what once was (or sometimes is) a small lake, about a hundread yards wide. The sides are still quite steep, and you can see no exits other than the ravine from which you entered. The air is blazingly hot here, and getting hotter.
In the center of the lake is a boulder, about ten feet wide. Next to it is a sign that says "Communal Well. Free water."
In front of the sign is a wizzened old goblin. He has no weapons or significant equipment of any kind. He seems to be waiting for something.
