The expeditioners move west to a standing stone caked in moss. There’s a shape moving there, like the moss is a blanket and the shape is moving underneath it. Edwina pokes it with her stick and is surprised when it forms eyes and a mouth. B.S.P recognises the spirit language of the leshy. The plant spirit says “go away!” Turns out it’s unfriendly to those that “don’t have the antennae or mandibles.”
A large section of the gulley further southeast is covered in high reeds and festooned with colourful flowers. A stone walkway bridges the flowers, so the expeditioners move to it. At the entrance is a great statue of a swan (Maddox recognises it as Oto, the friend and mount of the god Ikkish.) They spot a totem pole, a bulbous dome on an overgrown building, a distant stone tower, and a path leading up to the manticore’s cave. The next day they traverse the long stone bridge through the flower sea and approach the tower.
The stairs have long since crumbled, but Prold is eager for a climb. He is somewhat weary of the horse-sized dragonfly perched on the side of the tower, but becomes convinced it isn’t hostile and climbs the tower to find a gorgeous view of an unkempt flower field and a tablet written in an old language. Edwina is lifted up with a rope and recognises the script as belonging to the old empire preceding the royan. While she makes a copy, Prold spots an old shack far to the north, and a stone archway leading into the base of the southern mountain.
Next, the expeditioners brave the flowers and come to the bulbous dome. It turns out it belongs to a small resting platform. The base of the structure is hollow, and Panowin follows a trail of platinum coins through a broken grate. He comes face to face with a troll, but manages to dart out from under the shelter before it can act. The troll falls victim to it’s own trap and gets wailed on for a while before the expeditioners realise they lack the tools to deal with it’s regenerative powers. They leave the troll to it’s hideout, Millicent takes pity and leaves it some food.
On the way out of the valley, the expeditioners stop by a tree with red fruit. Edwina happens to have read about this before and realises it’s Shaborba, a mind-altering fruit that stupefies the consumer. It can also be renderered down into a coma-inducing poison, if one were so inclined.
The expeditioners leave Oto’s gulley the south way and begin making their way around the southern mountain. Their journey back to Kuljak is interrupted when they take a wrong turn and end up back at the trailhead leading to the bull-carved totem. Sitting before it now are four robed figures, humming discordently. They are afronted by the arrival of the expeditioners and yelled at to leave. (“Does the leaf not turn yellow and fall!? Does the shadow not curl away from it’s master! Leave this place ye desecrators!”) The one yelling removes his hood to reveal Bolov Grondy, his forehead and palms now painted with a red eye. The expeditioners turn to leave but Millicent inquires about Bolov’s friends. At this he grows angry, and yells more threat (“Death has touched you, Millicent. Cursed mink with wretched veins, thy mother snarls at you through red teeth. Vacate this place or I shall carve the rot from your veins and feed it to your mind!”) The expeditioners leave.
Two days later they arrive back at Kuljack. They push through the night and arrive early in the morning. The stockpiler Dove let’s them in and they take a good rest, eager to boast about their findings.