Which way. what where?

Thorn made his way through the soulless forest, entertained as much by the scenery and life about him as he was wondering who came up with such a dark-theme name. The place was a veritable maze between the thick foliage and the lower-lying fog. More than once Thorn had paused to get some twigs or vines off of the sword strapped across his back.

Landmarks here seemed a tricky thing when so many of them looked similar and had similar smells on them. The idea of mapping this place seemed a horrendous task. How would he even start? There had been spots of land he’d traveled and felt like it lacked a lot of solid landmarks to put on a map but here there were too many.

Thorn’s mind pondered how he’d work his map as he passed by a familiar-looking rock and tree. The realization he had been here before was quickly replaced with the realization that this spot was individualized enough to be recognized!

If Thorn had to guess he expected lightning had struck the tree, considering the top of it had been blasted away. The trees roots climbed over a boulder that was relatively the same size as Thorn and while it had roots growing on it, there was no moss he’d spotted on it. Moss was everywhere so was the rock intentionally put here or had something kept moss from growing on it? Regardless, it was finally something that really stuck out to Thorn.

Thorn shifted his right front shoulder, rolling the joint a bit and loosening a bit of rolled parchment from where it was stuck in a bit of his leather swordbelt. A bit more rolling of the shoulder before a long stick of chalk also rolled out and quietly hit the ground. Thorn lay down, pawing open the scroll and started sketching. The chalk was held in the side of his mouth, angling his head he’d finally figured out the easiest way for him to control the chalk. The tree and rock got a few rough lines to represent them, a ‘z’ over the tree to symbolize a bolt of lightning. It was a start. Now, he needed to find the end of the forest to various sides in relation to his fresh landmark.

Thorn waited a few minutes before rolling up his scroll an tucking it and the chalk away. With that he went back to exploring. There was no straight walking in here but after some zig zagging he was able to find an exit to the forest. Thorn didn’t stop there but went back where he’d come from, making sure he knew how to get from landmark to exit.

Thorn would repeat this, starting at his landmark and heading eastish till he found another exit to the forest. Thoron spent two days in the forest, always returning to his rusty lighting-blasted tree and spending the night there.

Once his map was finished Thorn said goodbye to the rock and tree and left the soulless forest.

WC: 507

"Thorn Carpathius"