The hooves of a few goats, heavy with goods from a traveling merchant, knock on the poorly mainteined stone road that winds up from Brittlerock and leads into Martens. The echo of their steps bounces back from the tall cliffs that overlook the route, scattering through the few trees that started popping up as the distance from Martens’ Sorrow increases. Looking back, the pavement break up into smaller rocks and gravel,
This was once a trafficked crossroad, but is now left abandoned. A bunch of houses sit in ruin, getting eaten by roots and crumbling on themselves, right around the intersection. One of the buildings has seen some hasty repairs, and has a few goats fenced in, as well as two unsteady carts stationed outside.
From here, one can see one of the main roads twisting up the dark rocky ridges, heading into the mist of High Hamlet, while at the other end the pavement flattens, seemingly more well maintained, heading into a thicket of pine trees just tall enough to hide Ridgeburg behind them.
Characters
- Bertram, a middle-aged man making a meager living by bartering out carts to travelers coming from Grimrise Hollow, and goats to the ones going the other way. With the years, he became a spy for the Charred Ones on the other side of the valley, in exchange for wood deals from Blacktimber