Chapter 5: TRAVERSING THE WASTELANDS Dust Bowls Dust blows away from where there were once fields and meadows Winds now carry the loose, desiccated topsoil, depositing it in deep layers upon the land Where the dust takes hold, enormous bowls of it result in a worthless barren area that is difficult and dangerous to cross Footing is uncertain, as any foot sinks to the ankle, knee or even deeper before finding firm ground beneath The unstable ground reduces mobility to a quarter of normal travel speeds here, if passage even remains possible at all Travel is impossible in its deepest places, where dust might rise over a standing human’s head These or even deeper pockets can swallow a wanderer entirely, suffocating him quickly without immediate aid The slightest breeze blows dusty silt into the air, clogging the eyes and throat There is one respite among the dust bowls that makes some skirt their edges in travel: snakes and vermin avoid them since they cannot stay atop the silt and cannot breathe beneath its surface Still, there are other creatures that dwell here, sticking their heads out to catch a breath while searching for prey Salt Flats Brilliant white salt lies in cracked, jagged crystals along the parched ground Sunlight reflects painfully into any eyes without protection While mostly in powder or crystalline form, salt does collect into larger clumps, making the flats akin to crossing a hazardous boulder field The blowing salt gets everywhere, and any metal gear so encrusted rusts abnormally fast without care All living creatures shun salt wastes, but rumors suggest they harbor all manner of ghosts, specters, and creatures that can embrace its lifelessness Such tales keep most men from venturing too far into them without sufficient cause Most would prefer to travel around the salt flats rather than risk the frightening denizens within Cracked Sea Floors In the deeper southlands, dried and deeply cracked sea beds lie exposed where there were once seas above them The terrain here is very difficult, as the ground buckles and curls in enormous sheets of dried clay and mud, sea floors never before exposed to full sunlight These petrified waves of earth make movement and vision nearly impossible Other obstructions include the wreckage of once-sunken ships or the dried bone fields of dead sea creatures, jagged spines and ribcages crackling underfoot or looming larger than a thakal and diverting one’s path The uneven ground that was once the ocean floor can hide grottos and caverns deep beneath the arid surface A prize at the bottom could be shelter or an untouched spring, but any wandering creatures finding such prizes often take up residence and defend them with bared fang and claw or worse Exposed again to the sun are the souls or remains of long-dead mariners who previously lay contented after their watery ends They hate that their tombs are laid bare beneath the blazing sun A sailor once found comfort believing his spirit might swim away to eternal rest with alongside the Daragkark Quanian or congregate beneath Tharain’s watchful eyes among the broken rocks with its own kind With those two powers long departed, a Khitan mariner’s afterlife is uncertain Give wide berth to any exposed wrecks on the cracked sea floors, for many who drowned with it haunt its timbers, thirsty for vengeance and any moisture—blood or tears—from the living Natural Flora As harsh as they are, Khitan deserts are hardly devoid of life In fact, except for the dunes and salt flats and places recently buried by land storms, most areas support some plant-life and an ecosystem of bugs and tiny creatures that thrive upon them Few of these have direct impact upon adventurers, but they lend color to an otherwise bleak landscape Trees • The kuhjalo or “narrow leaf” tree grows as tall as 15 feet along a jagged, black trunk, flowering yellow blossoms just once per year • The syella or “Khitan oak” stretches 30 feet, all its round leaves gathered into a tight ball at the very top • The slightly smaller eshwell or “white thorn” dares to hang its branches and leaves low to the ground, protected by a deadly toxin on slender needles Bushes • The guplam or “blood bush” startles some with its ruddy, bifurcated leaves • Hugging the ground closely is the shevasa or “desert blanket,” tight clumps of which provide homes for many tiny rodents and lizards • The brown-leafed thucage or “hedge” grows dense branches and leaves that only insects can penetrate, often creating inadvertent hedgerows without aid 101