"Ahh, yes, the dragon," Sydon said, dryly. "It's a good thing we brought one of our strongest fighters, who can also fly and is also a dragon," he said, looking around for exaggerated effect. "Oh, right, we didn't because the dragon killed her once before. I'm sure we'll be just fine."<br/><br/>"Hush," Sak'bas said. "We have more than enough strength to overcome these trials."<br/><br/>Sydon muttered something, most likely unkind, but was disciplined enough to keep it quiet enough it couldn't be heard. Over the forest, anyway.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, as they headed in, they weren't able to keep far apart - the path was narrow, twisting, and winding, meaning the line of sight was kept at a few dozen feet at most. Even when the path switched back on itself, the forest was thick enough to make it impenetrable from the other side.<br/><br/>After a little over two hours of walking, the forest clears, and a broad lake of dark water fills the majority of the resulting glen, leaving a fifteen-foot-wide path around the lake’s edge. Dozens of black swans glide along the lake’s surface, apparently unimpressed by the immense but strangely silent whirlpool that churns at the lake’s center. Along the forest edge, many of the trees seem to be dying or dead, their twisted branches drooping and their trunks scarred with disease and burns.<br/><br/>"Well, this just keeps getting better," Sydon muttered, patting the black swan corpse hanging from his belt.