The secret passage was identical in make to the room. Walking down the stone tile floors was only made difficult by the burning oil and heat. Trying not to slip, while trying to go fast enough to not get burnt was a delicate thing. They did not need to for long though. The passage ended in a tight spiral staircase. it went up five feet with only one hundred and eighty degrees of movement.
Gross footprints followed up the steps. The smell of blood and burnt hair. More particulates dotted some of the stairs as well. Droplets of something falling off, nothing they wanted to know about though.
After one hundred steps, their tired legs were still carrying them upward. After another hundred, the sounds of nature finally re-entered their ears.
Emerging into the light, the group stepped out of a small crack of rock. A landscape of brown and beige, orange and tan. Flatness as far as the eyes can see, only interrupted by large mesa's that towered at half the height of the mountain. Civilizations topped each mesa, capping it with life. Wagons with coloured fabric tops led supply chains heading from one mesa to the other, likely to arrive in just half a day's travel.
The air was thinner here. Breathing in was a little bit harder, less oxygen entered their lungs. The peak loomed above their heads, it and the foot of the mountain were an equal distance away. The air seemed hotter on this side of the mountain, despite the added elevation.
"What the hell." were the only words to escape Drix. Such a foreign sight, so close to home. Just on the other side of a mountain sized wall.
His back was pat with a firm hand, "What do ya mean, I thought you said you and your dad traveled this side of the mountain." Maximon laughed, walking past and following the path down.
Drix followed, realising the rest were already ahead of both of them. "Of course, and I meant it. You just dont understand everything there is to understand."
Maximon nodded, serious for a moment, "Yeah, I guess we dont, but you can take your time explaining to us." He said, looking foward.
Drix answered with his silence, shocked at the welcoming gesture. He hope it would be taken seriously.
Bloody tracks of ooze led down, toward the warm rocky dry lands. They followed it down. The ooze slowly dissapeared, leaving larger distances between each drop. Soon, it vanish all together, and the footprints of the large hob were the only trace left to follow. When they stepped the first foot into the new biome, the tracks only became easier to spot.
They led in the direction between two mesa's, both within an hour of walking distance. The size of the rock formations were great. Each was far taller than any wall built by human hands could acomplish. It would be perilous to scale up the side, falling to your death if you failed. Some parts were less sheer, a steep but not vertical slope upward to the top. Climbing these parts might lead to a long slide down, but probably would result in broken bones or tears from sharp rocks.
The vegetation around the mesa's were thin. The shrubs and bushes were cleared out, or didnt get as much sunlight. Around the path they walked, it was far thicker. Each bush and shrub was a meter or less apart. Nothing but leaves and foliage though, the only source of edible nutrients, was probably whatever lurked in the ground hovels and under rocks.
This was all observation from Drix though. Maximon, his keen and observant eyes, saw far more detailing in the interaction of the environment. From the two and a half toed footprints that dug deep into the sandstone underfoot. To the small dragging and flicking tracks of a small lizard, moving from cover to cover. Goblins, even. Their foot prints marked the ground in a way that suggested they were prey, not predator. The skulls and bones that lay a distance away from the path suggested the very thing. It suggested a new outlook on the horizon, that they might be tested as prey soon too.
The nearest mesa started to cover the sight of the setting sun. When they had entered the mountain, it was dissapearing behind its peak. Now, on the other side, the sun was setting on the horizon instead.
It was getting darker, and the tracks led further into the distance, away from civilization. Unanimously deciding on resting for the night and picking up where they left off, they decided on their destination.
They set course for the closest mesa, a large cylindrical one with many houses lining the top. The walk was not far, but tired their legs and wasted the remaining sunlight. By the time they arrived at the foot of the mesa, the sun was half gone. While the sun painted the sky in the same orange colours the rocks had, they met with a gathering at the bottom.
Many wagons of similar make and model sat in wait, their large bipedal lizard draft animals lay in wait or at a stables grazing. Each wagon was partly wooden and mostly stone, each had an identical fabric roof with only colours differentiating them. Orange, was most popular, with some red and green, then very few blue. The owners of the wagons were mostly human, all of a darker skin tone and wirey build. Thin but large pieces of clothing protected them from the sun, but kept them cool.
Pulley systems raised large wooden platforms up to the table of the mesa. Wagons stayed below, but their possesions and owners went up. A seperate platform was to the side, made for residents and travellers.
A guardsman waved them over, picking them out from the crowd.
Heading over, it was safe to say that Drix's heart was beating out of his chest in excitment. The chance to finally join and explore the far more stimulating and intelligent civilization of humans, was just above his head. A place like this was something he would take over the stone ceilings of goblin society any day. Sleeping in a human owned tavern can finally be striked off his bucket list.
As they stood on the wooden platform and began to rise up, Drix reminded himself, he is human now, semi-hobgoblin be damned.