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Before you can announce your decision, Elle holds up a hand for you to pause. Judging by the frown on her face, something must've occurred to her. You know her well enough to hold your tongue, so you gesture for her to speak.
“Will?” Elle asks carefully, “I don't think we should go hiking up the mountains after dark. I don't think that's a good idea.”
“But if we hike up by day, there won't be anyone there,” the young man argues, “These men, these groups, they come out at night to light their fires and hold their rituals. If we want to find them, it'll have to be by dark.”
“Why not go up by day and wait for them?” the oracle suggests.
“I highly doubt they'd show up,” Will insists, shaking his head with a stubborn frown, “I don't think... ahem. With all due respect, Miss, I don't think you understand. This is their territory. We're not going to sneak up on them, or ambush them, or anything else. Our best hope is to come to them by night, and HOPE that they let us find them.”
You're not entirely sure that you WANT to find them.
“That sounds like a decision for later,” you tell them both, “For now, I think we should check this point on the map. It was obviously important, or else they wouldn't have marked it down. It'll give us a chance to test out the mountain, too – we can see how tough the hike is, and how dangerous it seems. Then we can discuss our next moves. Fifteen minutes to get ready – I don't want to waste any more time.”
As your party splits up to gather their gear, you return to your room and glance down at the note fragments. Kneeling down beside them, you push a few pieces of the charred paper around. It's little wonder that nobody wants to discuss them – together, they paint a picture of madness and death. The thought that the same fate might be lying in wait...
“Hey, Bard!” Ariel calls out, a sly edge in her voice, “What happened to not wasting any more time?”
“Everything I do is important,” you sneer back, “So really, I never waste any time.”
-
The map doesn't seem too difficult to follow at first, until you realise that the mountain is threaded with countless narrow, winding paths. They cut through looming slabs of rock and twist madly back and forth. As you follow the map as best as you can, you feel the occasional stab of paranoia. Will's words keep coming back to you – this is THEIR territory, whoever “they” even are.
“If we just keep going uphill, we'll be going in the right direction,” Will announces, a brittle optimism in his voice, “Unless we go too high, and then we'll need to backtrack.”
“Great,” Ariel mutters, “How will we know if we're too high up?”
“Um...”
“Great,” she repeats, “What are we even looking for?”
“I think it might be a cave of some kind,” you answer, waving the map at her, “So keep your eyes open for some kind of entrance. We should be getting close... if I'm reading this map right.”
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