Eight hexes north, three northeast of Alakran.
The hills east of Shasari, dividing them from the valley province of Hana, are mainly desolate in these past years, the nomadic goatherds of those parts having been killed or driven off by Utik Bloody Tooth's band of ogres. Through these ridges with their sparse grass and thorny dells runs a gorge, 10-30 feet wide and 10-20 feet deep. And through this gorge runs a road, little grown-over but also seldom traveled, for it leads only to the upper reaches of the Hana river; the rest of the valley trades downstream. The canyon is known as the Gorge of Zi'iri by outsiders but as Haltara by the folk of Zi'iri itself.
At a turn midway through the gorge, low on a cliff face and easy to miss, is a curious set of scratchings. Locals and traders believe that once per lifetime, if a passer-by or group of them scratches a single word, sometimes continuing a sentence, then when the sentence is finished, it will metaphorically come true for all who contributed. Examples of completed sentences are:
Abundant bees to the humble, but wasps to the evildoer
When lions roar, surely in the village it is heard
The shoulders of the Happy bear no burden of the future
Overflowing Gold and Jewels To NIRNi
Lore has it that greedy wishes like the last one are granted especially metaphorically, so the "gold and jewels" might manifest as the "true gold and jewels of friendship" or worse yet, the "gold" of yellow discharge and "jewels" of red and black carbuncles.
The current unfinished sentence is
Multitudes of hanging
Add to it if you dare!
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