127. Hawk’s Song
The top of Hawk’s Song is swarming with Glinthawks. At any given time, there are no fewer than a half dozen Glinthawks along the cliff facing Tapwash to the northwest, backs to the cauldron opening. Another half dozen on the northeast cliff mirror those, facing vaguely toward Deeproot. Three more are in the air at any given time, swooping low patrols over this mesa and the larger one to the south. Irregularly, one of the Glinthawks from below will fly out, drop off a container in a free space on the ground, and return inside.
Characters exiting the cauldron and wishing to not draw the attention of the Glinthawks should make the appropriate stealth checks against Tricky difficulty. There are containers of various sizes on the ground, some large enough to hide a person or two, but all are at least 30ft/10m from the opening.
The mesa surface is vaguely rectangle-shaped, oriented like a diamond on the compass points, with sides of 0.6mi/1.0km and 0.9mi/1.5km. Radiating out from the hexagonal opening, there’s 10m of empty ground, 30m of assorted containers, another 10m of empty ground, and then vegetation.
Looking back at the opening, your Focus labels it as FACILITY DELTA-3/A.
The Garden
Even from a distance, there’s something odd about the plant life here — it’s too orderly. There are grasses, but they have been planted in straight rows, and are not growing wild. The same goes for bushes, hardwood trees, vegetables on vines, and more, covering most of the surface area of the mesa, to approximately 50m from the cliff edges where the Glinthawks sit. The garden has some cross-contamination and errant sprouts, looking like it hasn’t been too well tended for the last few months. An irrigation system runs through the rows, occasionally misting the ground-level plants.
A close examination of the plants reveals that there are several varieties which are not recognizable by anyone, even those with extensive botanical knowledge. Some are clearly hybrids of known varieties, while others are shapes, sizes, and colors unlike any seen before. Characters with farming or botanical proficiencies would notice several rows of fruit trees show signs of extensive grafting, some to the point where it’s hard to tell what the original fruit had been.
Scanning each group of plants with the Focus reveals the species name or hybrid identifier, along with other basic statistics including date of planting, history of care, anticipated growth rate, date of intended removal, observations on strengths and weakness, suitability for various regions, etc.
A thorough investigation of the area reveals small metal parts in a few plant beds. Scanning them with a focus reveals the part number for the identifiable ones, but nothing else which might indicate where the parts came from or why they are in with the plants.
The Path
The very southern end of the mesa has an isthmus leading to the next mesa. It seems like it used to be larger, but the edges are jagged from flood erosion. What remains is maybe 10m wide, and reinforced with the same bridging cable you’ve seen in cauldrons.
Spaced along the isthmus, which is several hundred meters long, your Focus picks up the blinking red warning of proximity mines. Dozens of them, spaced out every few meters. Observing long enough will regularly show the proximity mines perform a rolling deactivation and reactivation cycle, all along the length of the bridge. The faintest blur moves along the bridge in time with the effect — one or more Stalkers.
At the far end of the bridge, a pair of Scrappers patrol back and forth, blanketing the area in radar pings every few seconds. The pings don’t reach this end of the bridge, but they do cover a good deal of its length.
Occasionally, at the farthest range detectable by the Focus, purple humanoid shapes flicker into view for brief seconds before disappearing again. You can’t make them out with your eyes — too many plants are in the way, and whoever they are they never come out into the open.
While you watch, a Glinthawk flies up and away at speed, seemingly from inside the mesa. Your Focus can’t pick up the entrance from here, but it seems a face bet the mesa has a similar facility inside it — maybe even the same one, if you can find a connecting tunnel.
Another dozen or more Glinthawks line the cliffs of the larger mesa, following similar patrol protocols.