having armed and plotted, you can do nothing but wait, tell war stories of murder and mayhem, and lie to each other about your sexual exploits. Finally, a woman with an air of authority approaches and beckons. She leads you off to a craggy overlook, where you see nothing but desert for miles. "Now, the goblin tribe should be grazing their flocks to the north of your entrance, and the mercenary band should be south. there are some homesteads nearby, surrounding an old abandoned fort that the mercs have taken up as forward base. Yo can find a road to civilization to the south as well - it runs mainly east through the hills and west down into the fertile lands. The gobbos know to expect someone with the Omega symbol, so you should be well received by them, if you behave yourselves. Off you go now." And with that, she gestures down the hills before you, and you set off, uncertainly. It is rough going, and you are forced to climb here and there. it is especially challenging for the giant tortoise, who is clearly not made for this kind of terrain. It feels like an hour passes while you clamber over stones and down embankments. You grow increasingly uncertain as to whether you have missed a turn or somehow failed to find the transport spot - but the instructions were clear - keep going - so you do. All at once, all of you get dizzy, and are forced to sit or fall where you are, one even dropping off an embankment onto the ground below. Dinged, but not otherwise damaged, you sit for a minute, holding your heads and trying to silence the buzzing in your ears. Finally, you stand, able once more to inspect your surroundings. You are in hill country overlooking a broad expanse of valleys and hills, growing dim and blue in the distance. the sun is low in the east, where you can see only the hill on which you stand, a treeline above your location obscuring the view beyond. To the west, you see, in valleys a distance away, smoke rising lazily to the sky, signalling settled life. the sounds of early morning nature are calm and typical. A fine day for murder.