The Mysterious Marker

After we awoke from a long-needed rest, we went upstairs and walked through the hole in the building (where we had battled the vulture drakes earlier).

We had no idea where to find the Centenarch. We watched the sun rise and pass overhead in order to get some sense of direction. I tried to examine the earth and the landscape around us to determine if I could find any sort of tracks, but I failed miserably. (I had not slept very fitfully last night for some reason.)

Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric, summoned the Hand of Fate, so that we could get some advice about where to go. The hand led us toward the northwest.

As we followed along in that direction, the ground became rockier, and the rocks were covered by an anemic lichen. We continued our trek to the northwest.

After another hour, we came upon an iron rod to the left of us. The rod was sticking up from the ground and seemed to light up under the grey sky (like a red everlasting torch).

Tiny noticed that on the side facing the house, the rod was flattened in the middle and had symbols etched on the flattened surface:

^
x
|

Kale, our Human Wizard, noticed that the rod was surrounded by an aura of magic. The aura extended only as far as the glow. He copied down the symbols for future reference.

Digging a bit under the rod, we found that the rod was just stuck into the ground -- there was no underlying structure or foundation that the rod was connected to.

We decided to continue to the northwest, in the hopes of somehow finding our way to the Centenarch...