2. The Lands Less Traveled

11 Emberbloom 842, 3E

Nary a month has passed in the Crescent City, and my time here is waning fast. In barely a fortnight, I will be setting off for the lands less traveled of this great continent. The maiden of the Crescent City Inn - Telena - has been a beacon and harbor for my soul in this new world, providing not only libations and shelter, but connecting myself to a network of individuals who know the city and it’s innerworkings to a level that I could only

hope to achieve of my own accord. Of these new friends, it is a young lad, of nearly half a decade younger than myself, who seems to know every step of every individual within the city’s gates.
Tevlin Broward, though barely a man on the calendar, has shown himself to be of the most valuable type of personage – a man with knowledge beyond bounds, discrete beyond words, yet welcoming to those he opens up to. Only the second introduction to me via Telena, ‘Ford, (as he prefers to go by the shorthand of his middle name Belford), took nearly two weeks to open up his wealth of knowledge of the city’s underbelly to me. I can only assume his decision to open to me came from the same level of observation his eyes have plied to the entire city during his brief 18 years, which is to say this young man sees and knows more in a single week than most seem to observe in the length of a human lifespan.

Crescent City Inn by Collin Stephens via Bing CoPilot Image Creator

It is with Ford’s guidance I have learned of the dark spots in the governance of the Emerald Shores Alliance; the ‘black gold’ as he calls it which remains in possession of the elites, the tensions between the Olosse and the Dendralins and the power which the Greenwoodpossesses to protect itself, and most prudently – stories of the lands beyond. Though learned on an academic level through the many books I have absorbed through my life, Ford has provided me a deeper understanding of the true balance of Dendralis. The books I grew up on which spoke of the greatness of the Alliance and the mysteries of the Greenwood failed to expand upon the curiosities of the Western Highlands and barely touched upon the hidden evils of the Darkwood.
Despite this wealth of knowledge that has been poured upon me like a font from the cherub’s vase, there is a region of this land that neither Ford, nor any of our other compatriots have been able to build upon. It is this stretch of land we make haste towards in a few short morrows – the Northlands.
Due north of the Greenwood lies an old and ancient mountain range, one whose peaks have been worn down over millennia, whose source stretches

North Mountain Dreams by Collin Stephens via Bing CoPilot Image Creator

far beyond the creationary myths of the Olosse, and whose origin has been lost to the winds of time. Though the Olosse have frequented the steppes which lie to this range’s south, the range of ancient peaks has provided a barrier between the bulk of the continent and its northern shores that has not been breached successfully since many years prior to the Separation.
To reach the Northlands requires adventurers to travel by one of three paths. From east to west, adventurers may head north via the Great Eastern Corridor, through one of the few passes in the great mountain range, or via the Great Western Corridor. Each of these routes poses its own perils, but only the Great Western Corridor has seen any adventurer return since the arrival of humans to this land.

Flanked by the Darkwood until arriving at what is said to be a land covered in ice, the Great Eastern Corridor has been traveled by many who believed tracing the rivers northward would provide enough protection and sustenance for the journey. The dangers of the Darkwood, however, are not bound by the margins of the evil forest, and have such ensured no adventurer arrive home safely who has reached the diving line of the mountains north.
Crossing the mountains themselves has proven to be dangerous in the expected ways. High altitudes and extreme weather have snuffed out journeys via this path according to the few who have returned from these attempts – of course always being those at the back of the caravan, retreating before reaching the passes in which their leaders have disappeared.
The Great Western Corridor has seen a bit of success, in that those who take this path have been able to return in one piece – both mentally and physically. However, the same cannot be said for those anything these men have traveled with. The tales of this region are bizarre, intriguing, and, frankly, captivating in a way that neither I, nor Ford, can avoid.
The stories from these expeditions tell of a beautiful land at the northwesterly corner of Dendralis, a vast meadow that extends from the mountains to the east, to the highlands to the west. Flanked by a pair of massive waterfalls on either side of the corridor like a gateway, those who travel this route are greeted to what many of them have called the most serene land they have ever found. (Of course, these are the words of men. I’m am but certain the Olosse would have something to say about this assertion, as they would likely feel the same about their Greenwood.) Eager for respite from their travels, every group which has tread this region has welcomed the opportunity to rest weary bones and aching muscles.

It is, however, without fail, every expedition has been stripped of all worldly possessions within three nights of rest. Somehow, some way, overnight, their possessions disappear. Food, weapons, armor, tools, carts. Once even a mule disappeared, though it is said the stupid creature was apt to wandering and losing itself even within its own farmlands. Despite this bizarre disappearance, no man who has returned from this route has ever felt danger, nor had a sense of who took their goods, or whence they went, but return was at least guaranteed for those who have taken this route.
Named for the glowing flora under the bright moonlight, the Meadows of Luna is our team’s target for this expedition. Ford believes that burying our gear might protect us from whatever it is that disappears the goods of any who dare travel to this region. Together with a team of

Dreams of the Meadows of Luna by Collin Stephens via Bing CoPilot Image Creator

five other men to form an expedition of seven, we aim to traverse the Great Western Corridor and seek out this magical place. Should we succeed in this attempt, we will ultimately direct our course to the northern shores, seeking to explore the lands lost from the collective memory of this place.
What adventures lie before us, I cannot tell. But I am eager to explore this land of intrigue, and return with tales that will be told for generations to come. Perhaps tales that will return to the Old World and inspire a young lad to make his own journey to the New World and the Land of Trees.
-- Delvin Faroe