<div align="center"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><em>Three Days Later…</em></span></span></div><hr/><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/S9E1ABM.png)</div><br/>To the frustration of some Corvus’s guess about the Bleachlings remained true. While they continued to follow the caravan they took special care to stay a good distance away. Near enough to be seen, but far enough to be easy to overlook. The massive, walking caravan trundled on as they went, keeping it’s usual, steady pace until they had reached the edge of a dead forest. They saw the approach like little skeletal hands reaching up from the sandy earth. It meant two things, that they were getting very near to their destination and that their travel would be much slower than it had been up until that point.<br/><br/>The sun-bleached wood blocked the progress of the large walking caravan at times. Many of the travelers came out to chop down the trees that were in the way, opening up an easier route for them to travel. The wagons had similar problems at times, but were easier to maneuver through the smaller openings between the dead trees. Shifts were set up so that there was almost always a steady amount of axes swinging. Much of the dead wood was simply left aside, but the Varisians took a great deal inside, likely to fuel whatever the source of a large column of smoke that billowed out of the strange construct was.<br/><br/>The previous day they adjusted their route slightly to pass to the side of a large hill that had been spotted in the distance. It appeared like a rocky outcrop with a few dead trees growing from it. It wasn’t until they were much closer today that it became clearer what it was.<br/><br/>It appeared like a skeletal face of something like a giant lizard or bird, but it was made entirely out of metal. The jaws—if that’s what they were—were opened, the angle of it having made it appear like a pair of dead trees in the distance. There were no teeth in the jaws, but the metal was jagged as if it had been damaged in some way. It was difficult to tell<em>exactly</em>what it was, or what kind of danger it might pose from the distance they were at. One could estimate the size being somewhere between 50 and 75 feet tall, from the ground to the top of the “jaw”. If it were a skull then perhaps that meant more of it was buried beneath.<br/><br/>The lookout reported the find which caused a halt to most of the activity of the caravan. Madame Morjiana called your team together, along with Corvus to discuss options. Jo was busy making some repairs to some of the axes and Celestina remained near the rear of the caravan to monitor the situation with the Bleachlings. She passes around a spare spyglass so that each of you may take a look at the object in the distance.<br/><br/>“I’m not sure what to make of that thing,” Morjiana confesses, “However it will be particularly difficult for us to change our course now…but not impossible. It may set us back a couple days. Supplies are not<em>scarce</em>mind you, but that could stretch our reserves thin…and depending on what we find in the Invisible City…” Morjiana’s waivering tone was perhaps the first moment of doubt any of you may have ever remembered seeing within her. The elder woman has always seemed particularly sure of herself and the goal at the end of their journey, but the weight of responsibility for the rest of the people in the caravan obviously still weighs heavily on her.<br/><br/>“This is what I propose,” she continues quickly, “The six of you,” she says pointing out each member of the party: Ana Field, Kotone, Aeleth Artorle, Aphashe, Urd Alvasdottir, and Safir, “go investigate the…thing, ensure it is safe for us to pass by. Corvus will remain behind here to help guard camp with the other mercenaries. We will hold our ground here for the time being until you return. What say the rest of you?”<br/><br/>Morjiana seems open to other alternatives if any other plans come to mind, though it would likely take some convincing to make her accept any additional risk than what she is suggesting now. The distance to the “skull” isn’t very far, perhaps only a half-day’s time to walk there and back, so if you left now and spent only a couple hours investigating you would be back by sundown.<br/><br/>I am assuming that you all take the time to study the object (in other words taking 20 on your perception checks). You may pick one of the below options to roll for additional information:<br/><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li>Knowledge Arcana (Trained Only)</li><li>Knowledge Engineering (Trained Only)</li><li>Knowledge History (Trained Only)</li><li>Survival</li><li>Craft Mechanical</li><li>Linguistics (Trained Only)</li></ul>