147. Hanuli’s Heel
You make your way to the southeast watchtower and climb the 25m ladder. The Nora could take lessons from the builder of this tower. Like much of the architecture, river stones and mortar shore up the base, with well-supported timbers forming the rest. It feels solid, and does not sway with the wind as Nora towers often do.
As Pehiri predicted, the young boy who is supposed to be standing watch is not present. From your vantage point, you assume he is one of the people splashing noisily in the Southtap a hundred meters away. A pair of bows and a pile of arrows sit in one corner, dusty and unused.
Surveying the land, you can see across the treetops of the uncleared forest, over houses and fields of the village, and what has to be tens of kilometers in every direction. The land here is exceptionally flat, without a single mountain on the horizon, or even a large hill. From the banks of the river to the highest point you can see, you’d guess the difference in elevation can’t be more than a few meters. If the Southtap ever flooded, the village would be in serious trouble. You can’t help but think of the dam at Tapwash, and wonder whether the waters would make it this far if that dam broke.
Any Nora, Oseram, and Carja characters would find this experience mildly disturbing: without any landmarks on the horizon, a navigation error could send you hours off-course, even within a single day. It’s not a wonder the Utaru rely so heavily on rivers for reference.
The glint of metal and blue light catch your eyes from grassy fields kilometers outside the farmland of the village. It’s impossible to make out details at this range, but from the way they move you’d guess Grazers and a Watcher. Another pack, kilometers from the first, moves in similar patterns, with the larger bodies of Striders. Counting packs, you can see more than a dozen in various grass fields, each docile and unconcerned. You see no Glinthawks in the sky, nor even anywhere for them to perch.
To the south, at the limits of your vision, a multi-colored break in the forest might be the ruins of the Lonely One mentioned by Pehiri. Unlike the towering ruins in Carja and Nora lands, this one barely shows over the treetops.
Nothing else catches your attention. If there’s a Cauldron here, it is well-hidden, and does not have the telltale signs of increased machine activity.
To visit the Lonely One ruins, go to entry 146. Otherwise, follow the Southtap east toward Sparking Shores with entry 150.