The party flees rapidly, shame stinging their wounds.
"....And don't come back!" Roars the beast behind you, with a sinister booming laugh.
...
They eventually make their way through the rest of the monastery-soon to be destroyed or owned by a Dragon, it's something of a shame you were not able to explore it more fully. Perhaps one day you may yet return...
After what seems like a hundred flights of stairs, the party finds themselves opening a heavy stone door to feel the sting of cold mountain air-and the view of the early morning sun peeking behind storm-wracked grey clouds. The lands of the Winter Kingdom stretch around them in an amazing, panoramic view. To the East, a deep blue lake with a busy current, constantly rushing out into massive waterfalls that lead into the swamp of Doomy you were able to avoid traveling through...Kawtari notices that it seems there might have once been a massive dam across the river, made of progenitor crystal-but in this age, there are only two jutting piers of broken crystal. What could have destroyed something so huge?
To the West at the base of the mountain, there is what can only be described as a massive flat plain of stone, unadorned except for it's utter lack of life. Samara can distantly espy tiny figures moving about the surface with mechanical intent...
Far to the Southwest, a lonely castle juts up from the forest like a rude finger.
You are of course, likely going directly South-where the distant chimneys of Omlett can just barely be seen after the large expanse of hills and forestlands you passed to get here.
...
Wataklano is here on the platform, along with Aldeth-there are only a few birds left...giant Black Ravens with a cranky demeanor, they eye the party suspiciously, intelligent enough to realize they'll be carrying heavier people this time than light weight Kenku. Each one has it's own individual Kenku rider-flamboyant birds dressed in fancy jackets, fluted breeches, and long trailing scarves all in garish, riotous colors-they also have trendy feathered hats (their own feathers, bizarrely) and decorative riding goggles that make them even more...um, impressive. Many of them seem to be smoking ridiculously long pipes and crow-calling to one another, but only Kawtari catches any meaning of what they are saying. It seems to her they are making bets on which of the outsiders gets which rider. Currently, the pool on Samara is pretty good-her rider will get four gold, a jug of Ghanama and a feather preening from Kalakakalans's cute sister. Sarco seems to be barely clearing hard currency, though-his pool consists of a pair of old boots, and a bawdy rhyme in the riders honor.
....
"Hey, glad you could make it, friends. I do think we should be off, don't you?" he says generously. He motions to the small flock, which consists of half a dozen smaller, quicker birds and one larger, caravan type bird-there are many small chicks sleeping underneath it's canopy, and both Coney and Akira are also laid securely in the bedding.
"You've got your choice, anyway. Take a backseat on one of the small ones, or ride the large one-it can carry half of you safely. We probably won't need you to fight anything in the air, but it might be good to have you alert. That being said, the other one is pretty comfy if you need to rest a bit...."
He glances over at Kawtari then.
"+...are you okay? You look a bit...singed around the edges.+" He signs, implying worry.