''Your Cabin''
Sunlight streams through the small windows of your one-room cabin. Its log walls and ceiling are hung with dried flowers and grasses, fragrant in the mountain air, and the dirt floor is smothered by mismatched carpets. Your bed is a simple wooden frame buried beneath a straw-stuffed mattress and a handstitched quilt, guarded by a wooden chest which overflows with cloth and cookware[[.->Secret Room]] The room is just large enough to fit your other furniture - a stained writing desk, piled high with books and scraps, and a couple of chairs arranged in front of the large cobblestone fireplace.
The yawning mouth of the fireplace, rendered shadowy by the morning light, is the one extravagance of the cabin. Several wrought-iron spits, a grill, and a small cauldron suspended from chains wait among the ashes, and a pair of antlers, hung with a wreathe, sits above the hearth. The solitary wooden door by the desk has a horseshoe carefully mounted on it. It can take you [[outside->Outside your Cabin]].
''Outside your Cabin''
The [[door->Your Cabin]] of your cabin hides beneath the brilliant yellow of the straw roof, the solitary stone finger of your chimney rising above the peak. The garden surrounding the cabin can provide much more than you actually need, and you have left the excess space to the local flora. Chest-high shrubs surround the irregular stone path, white butterflies and dragonflies darting about their ragged, colorful limbs. Towards the edge of the garden is a wooden pole with a scrap of bright blue cloth waving from it - you don't recall if that used to be a scarecrow or a flag.
Your cabin sits on a sort of small bluff or mound, giving it a fair view of the surrounding forest. Around the bluff winds a creek, which splashes through rocks and boulders before dropping over a stony precipice. If you followed the rim of that precipice, you would find yourself on a [[cliffside path->Cliffside Path]] winding down towards the lake.
Across an improvised bridge of planks, the canopy of a deep forest waits past the creek, the space between its broad trunks screened by the leaves of younger trees and a border of tall ferns. If you followed the footpath leading through a small hole in the foliage, you would find yourself in the [[old growth forest->Old Growth Forest]].
In the other direction, the forest continues to thin, sunlight playing off the gently rolling grass it gives way to. Just beyond the shadows of the forest, you can see hints of a riot of color - the tips of tall plum trees marking a forest clearing that should be in full bloom this time of year. The dirt path winding that way can take you to the [[flowered clearing->Flowered Clearing]].
''Old Growth Forest''
As you cross [[the bridge->Outside your Cabin]] and enter the forest, the landscape opens up, grass giving way to dark leaf-strewn soil bearing the trunks of tall, old trees. The canopy stretches above you, as high as the ceiling of a great theater, a tapestry of brilliant greens sewn together by silvery sunlight thread. The air here has a wakefulness to it which draws your mind ever upwards, into the worlds hidden in that great expanse of green. Here and there a tree has buckled, or toppled over from the roots, leaving a tangled monument of wood and earth shining in sunlight. In these places saplings erupt from between the twigs carpeting the soil, while the fallen log is engulfed by moss and ferns.
The woods stretch on and on as you walk the path winding between the rolling hills. Eventually you find a fence, half-swallowed by rot and moss, beyond which the great old trees thin and shrink, giving way to patches of dry, wavy grass. The ground here is brittle and sandy, and the air beyond is dusty and smells of hay. [[The path continues into a dry meadow->Dry Meadow]].
''Dry Meadow''
Birdsong greets you as you walk the [[path from the forest->Old Growth Forest]]. A thousand variations on the same melody repeats from near and far, now raspy and now sweet, now chatty and now sublime. The small brown birds dart past the golden grass, veering from one patch of tough old trees to the next as they sing to each other. There is a flash on the horizon - a storm is passing, dark and purple and incredibly tall, miles and miles from here, but in the dry, rarified air you can smell traces of it in the breeze rippling up to you over the grass. This far away, you can see the whole storm cloud shift and undulate as it crawls over the plains, the rain visible as a thin blurred cushion bearing it.
As you continue to follow the rock-strewn path, you come across a well beside a wind-twisted tree. The well is surrounded by tall grass broken and trampled by the passing of many feet. The wooden pulley holds a stout rope, and you think you can see the shine of wet mud at the bottom of the surprisingly shallow hole. The wind hits the lip of the well at just the right angle to reverberate slightly. Far away, the storm has already begun to dissipate. By locking the pulley, you could easily [[climb down->In the Well]] into the well.
''In the Well''
You climb down the well, leaving the birdsong of the [[grassy plain behind->Dry Meadow]]. The stout rope and ready footholds in the crumbling interior make descent easy. Soon you find your feet sinking slightly into the damp earth at the bottom of the well. Something glints in the shadow of a crack in the wall, just before your face - a tiny bullfrog, sitting patiently with its legs folded under it. The bulbous eyes of the frog are staring at something behind you - you follow its gaze to see a wooden door inset in the far wall, nearly hidden in the darkness at the bottom of the well. You take another look at the blue circle above you, spotting a thin cloud drifting lazily by, then push your way through the door and into the dark tunnel beyond.
The passage is pitch black, and you navigate slowly, reaching your hands out to drag along the walls. They are formed by slats of wood braced by sturdy beams every few steps, holding back the dry, flaking soil. The rains must rarely get this high up. Reaching above you, you can feel the roots of trees dangling down, weaving through the wooden supports to rejoin the soil. The tunnel is utterly silent. Even your footsteps scarcely make a sound, the ground just barely damp enough to prevent a scrape or crunch. You are left with nothing to do but step forwards over and over, for what seems like lifetimes. It is cool down here, and bit by bit the air grows more damp, the walls in turn fusing into solid stone. Before you even begin to grow tired, a thin web of sunlight grows before you - the inside of another wooden door. Pressing against it you can hear a low, dull hiss, and smell a fresh breeze. It opens to reveal a curtain of white water - here is a cave a few paces long, before a wide waterfall. If you walked out there, you would find yourself at [[the bottom of the gorge->Bottom of the Gorge]] by your cabin.
''Cliffside Path''
As you walk down the [[path->Outside your Cabin]] winding up and down the cliff, you trace the stream in its winding, leaping descent down into the gorge. Though trees rise high in tiers on either side of the rocky gorge, the occasional breath of wind parts them long enough to let sunlight through. It illuminates small pools hidden in the cracks of the valley, where trees cling to the steep walls and fish swim among eddies.
The path veers into the forest for a time before returning, leading you to a wide, shallow pool where the river prepares to tumble over a waterfall. As you wade through the pool you spot another trail that can take you down to the [[bottom of the gorge->Bottom of the Gorge]].
''Bottom of the Gorge''
You are standing at a wide, deep stretch of river fed by a waterfall tumbling down a [[steep gorge->Cliffside Path]]. The high cliff faces lining the river are populated by tiers of trees. They lean over the empty space above the river as if overflowing, a riot of rich greens and yellows broken by limbless white pillars of deadwood. All that can be heard is the endless sigh of falling water echoing through the valley. You wade through the shallows of the river, cool water swirling about your ankles and gravel shifting beneath your feet. A single rock juts from near the center of the river, one side stained dark by the spray of the waterfall.
Downriver, the receding cliffs allow the river passage. Here it bends out of sight. You can follow the gravel bank of the river around that bend. As you approach, you think you can hear the sound of [[waves->Lakeside]].
''Lakeside''
You follow the [[river->Bottom of the Gorge]] around the bend to its mouth, choked as it is by a pebbly sandbar that shines in the sun. The horizon opens up as the forest and cliffs give way to an enormous lake, whose waves lap rhythmically against the shore and stones. The cliffs stretch up and down the shoreline, high crags topped with a mob of tightly-packed trees. Even the natural stone pillars, where erosion has pulled a section of the cliffs away from the rest, have their own bird-shrouded trees clinging precariously to the tops.
Far out in the lake, where the waves mellow into a smooth surface joining the horizon, you see the only thin, wispy clouds in the bluebell skies. There, just at the edge of your vision, you think you catch sight of an airship approaching...
''Flowered Clearing''
You walk along the muddy rut leading back to [[your cabin->Outside your Cabin]], the knee-high grass wafting about you. Soon, the last trace of the forest canopy gives way, and you find yourself surrounded by wildflowers. Twisting bushes of bright yellow buds compliment low, clustered carpets of pink flowers, and here and there the dark trunk of a plum tree bears armfuls of drifting pink petals.
Towards the eastern edge of the clearing the flowers continue to the border of the forest, where the sun shines through shifting trees in beams, turning the field into a display of colorful light and tumbling shadow with every breath of wind. Deeper in, you can see the stately side of a [[ruined barn->Old Barn]] lost within the forest.
In the center of the clearing, the flowers give way to a gnarled, towering old tree, whose tough trunk spirals up from the mound of boulders its roots have guarded from erosion. Though its awkward branches are nearly bare, the clusters of leaves at their extremities bear their own white petals. You spot some small creature darting in to the shadow of the boulder, and realize there is a [[tiny passage->Root Cave]] held open by the roots, just large enough for you to step through.
''Root Cave''
You descend into the rift of the boulder as the old tree towers above you, leaving [[the clearing->Flowered Clearing]] behind. Though wild and full of crannies and tangents, the cool stone of the tunnel has a kind of orderliness to it, curving down like spiral stairs as roots snake thinner and thinner. The path eventually levels out, becoming a long cave of rocks and bare earth, held in place by a lattice of tangled roots and illuminated by small moss-lined skylights. Cobwebs cling to the darker hollows while mushrooms shine brightly in the thin shafts of light.
There is always just enough space to squeeze through, and you follow the natural tunnel for some time, the soil around you eventually giving way to solid rock. You step over the ancient bones of a beaver or raccoon and peer around a corner, finding a short drop in the crevasse of a cliff face, through which you can see [[sunlight on wet gravel->Bottom of the Gorge]].
''Old Barn''
You wander away from the [[flowered clearing->Flowered Clearing]] to the sun-bleached beams of an old barn hidden in the border of the woods. Though many of the boards have fallen away to forest-filled gaps, the rich green ivy climbing up the weathered sides make it look as sturdy and stately as an old manor. A wagon wheel, almost given over to rust, provides a frame for a small, bright-flowered vine.
As you approach, your foot lands on a flat flagstone. You look around to see that the ferns of the forest floor are hiding the stubs of old timbers in a rectangle around you, bordered by the still-standing husk of a cobblestone chimney. This barn was accompanied by a cabin much like yours, long ago.
Shafts of golden-green sunlight fan through the ruined roof of the barn, highlighting bits of old crates and barrels, and the occasional thin sapling shooting up from among the floorboards. Something white moves suddenly, in the shadow of a rafter near the back - your eyes adjust to show you a nest that several small creatures are peering at you from. Barn owls, appropriately. You leave them to their business and [[return to the clearing->Flowered Clearing]].
You found the secret room. Good job! Only cool people find the secret room. Also, only cool people follow my tumblr blog at https://dire-sloth.tumblr.com/ .
[[Go back->Your Cabin]]