Library quest still in effect, Num Muddyboots slow travels NW along the main road from Lettersnarling to fortress Brushedlashed.
(click thumbnail to expand)
At library-less Brushedlashed, a funny little thing in inventory population occurs. Num trades an +iron battle axe+ to peasant Nish Whipstars for a large iron knife. After spending the night at the tavern, then waiting one hour intervals to settle his bill with the tavern keeper (never happens), Num notices (during the site offloads) that Nish has been given another knife and has received a decoration upgrade to his «+iron battle axe+».
(click thumbnail to expand)
With little else to do, it's time to head NE for fortress Paddlefolds.
All the dwarven settlements in this area lie along the mountain range called The Last Tower. When Num had just started out, the mayor of hillock Drinkabbeys had mentioned a roc residing somewhere in The Last Tower. When operating out of hillock Fortresswaves during his stint hunting wolves and bears, and when traveling in slow travel mode, Num has avoided being too close to the range.
Fast travel mode protects your character from the danger of stumbling onto a hostile site as you'd see a zoom-in and know there was some sort of lair, camp or cave in the area.
In slow travel mode, the only useful precautions for early level characters (<lvl 6) are keeping ambusher and visible tracking on with an eye out for damaged vegetation/tracks, staying close to the main road, only coastal travel, and/or travel over mountain ranges. Num decides to keep with the main road and cross mountain range The Last Tower to reach Paddlefolds. This seems to be the safest path.
At library-less Paddlefolds Num asks about the surrounding area and is told there are deer, elk and moose in The Forests of Trailing. Again it sounds like there are untold numbers of outcasts, but Num wagers a guess. Maybe some of these non-soldier/non-civilian mentioned aren't outcasts of the sort commonly expected? Who are these non-professioned humans, elves, and dwarves?
(click thumbnail to expand)
Num crosschecks the mention of Atu Palmterror the human and the location in the "Bring up specific incident or rumor" menu. The location Spideryboils crops up in the grouping of sites that are of bandit origin. This is a hidden history world where it's possible not all information is made available to the questioner.
Num leapfrogs via fast travel in the direction of The Forests of Trailing and tundra and brings down a bull moose after passing on a lone deer and flocks of reindeer. He was hoping for muskox, but moose is just as good.
(click thumbnail to expand)