| Agaden Reach |
Website Links For Reach |
Information AboutAgaden Reach |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT AGADEN REACH | |
| sword of truth locations | |
| fictional regions | |
|
DESCRIPTION The Agaden Reach is a remote place within the Rang'Shada Mountains surrounded by jagged peaks, like a wreath of thorns, as well as a menacing, forbidding woods, meant to keep all away. Most who have gone into Agaden Reach have never came out. It is rumored that not even a Wizard will go into the Reach. While close to Agaden Reach, the snow-covered peaks around it can be seen shining brightly in the high thin air. Agaden Reach is the home of the Witch Woman , Shota and her companion, Samuel . Surrounding Mountains In the outer regions of the Agaden Reach, the woods are thick and dark and the trees big and close together. The trail becomes rocky and hard to walk over. The further in one gets, the less traveled the trail is as it begins to disappear into the thick forest. Calls of strange birds echo from the murk. Eventually, the trail starts climbing up steep switchbacks, and soon comes out of the trees, onto an open trail across the rock, climbing steadily toward the jagged, snow-covered peaks. Skirting the bottom of the snowcaps, the path leads over the bottom fringes of the snow, which is wet, heavy, and hard to walk through. Unless one knows the way through the pass, it can take days to make it over the peaks (instead of less than a day). Cold wind whips through the gaps in the rocks, pulling away long thin clouds of travelers' breath in the frigid air. Surrounding Woods As one gets deeper into the Agaden Reach, the path descends again into a dark wood and the heat becomes oppressive. Large trees surround the path all about, and trailers of moss woft down. Boggy patches with vapor rise from the black, murky water, and pairs of eyes watch and blink from the shadows. Hollow calls echo through the mist and vapor. The smell is rank, like the Skow Swamp . Dark forms keep to the shadows in the woods and the thick brush, sometimes letting out whoops and howls. Some stay in the treetops, just out of sight. Although you can't see them, one can always hear them, scratching, clawing, whistling, and clicking. Some of the trees within the Agaden Reach can be dangerous to travelers. The twisted roots of one of these squat, fat-trunked trees extends onto the path, whipping out, knotting around, and pulling in anything that comes in contact with them, under the tangled mass. The closer one gets to the Agaden Reach, the darker the woods around it gets. Dead branches twist together overhead, and mist occasionally drifts across the path. Sometimes the mist twirls and spins at the passing of creatures darting by, near but unseen. Agaden Valley As one approaches the Agaden Reach itself, sunlight and the sound of rushing water comes through the tangled mass of trees. The closer one gets the brighter it becomes. At the edge of the dark wood, the trail simply ends. Spread out far below is a long valley, green and bright, lit by the sun. Gigantic rocky peaks soar almost straight up all around it. Fields of golden grasses among stands of Oak , Beech , and Maple ripple in the breeze. From the dark forest, it feels like standing in the night looking out at the day. Water tumbles off the rocks near the trail, down the vertical drop, disappearing soundlessly through the air until it reaches the clear pools and streams below, where it makes a distant roar and a hiss. Spray drifts up to the trail, wetting the area. A well-hidden trail leads down the wall of the valley, past a labyrinth of brush, tight trees, and fern-covered boulders. The trail is hidden behind rocks and vines at the edge of the precipice. It offers panoramic views of the country below: the trees looking small in patches over the gentle hills, the streams meandering among the fields and banks. In places on the trail down the valley's edge there are steps, thousands of them, cut from the stone of the wall, twisting, tunneling, and turning downward, sometimes spiraling back on themselves, going underneath the ones above. At the bottom, a road leads off through the tree-dotted hills and warm grass fields. The road crosses the valley floor, follows a clear stream for a time, moving ever closer to the palace. The trees become a little thicker, closer together, each a magnificent specimen, shading road or field from the bright sun. The road travels gently uphill and at the top of the rise the trees seem like they are gathered, sheltering, surrounding a place before them. The hint of the palace spires glinting through the branches. The road leads into a shady, still, enveloping cathedral of trees where the gentle sound of water can be heard running through the mossy rock. Hazy streamers of sunlight penetrates the quiet, muted area. There is the sweet smell of grass and leaves. In the center of the open, sheltered place is a rock. Water bubbling up from a clear spring in its center runs down the sides into a little stream dotted with rich, green, mossy rocks. Palace In the center of it all, set among a carpet of grand trees, is a beautiful palace of breathtaking grace and splendor. Delicate spires stretch into the air, wispy bridges span the high gaps between towers, stairs spiral around turrets. Colorful flags and streamers atop every point snap lightly and fly lazily in the wind. The magnificent palace seems to reach joyously to the sky. The palace is large, however not as large as the palace in Tamarang or in many other places of the Midlands , although it is often said to be the most beautiful place they have ever seen by those who have seen it. Most people could not imagine that a vision of such exquisite loveliness can exist. |
|
|