Chapter Four: The Luminescent Athenaeum
The Remnants, though grateful for the help, also seemed eager to send their guests on their way. Perhaps it was because those escorting the party to the outskirts of their village clearly would have preferred to be picking through the newly-safe debris pile. By the time they got back, all the good stuff would be claimed.
As they descended the Slope, many breathed the freshest air of their lives. Inside the Caldera it was of course always sulfury and steamy. The great clouds of steam often blew out over the Slopes, which stank besides because of the refuse deposited there. Only at the very furthest reaches of Coglinton's conurbation was the air relatively clear.
Thanks to the clarity, the party saw from a distance what must surely be the bone pile marked on their map. It was in fact the skeletal remnants of a dragon, bones bleached white by the sporadic sun. Parts of the skeleton maintained their structure, though most had since collapsed into what really could best be described as a bone pile.
This was not Skakatoa, the ancient red dragon who had ruled over what was now Coglinton, but more likely one of his minions. Still, it was a remarkable site. For all the residents of Coglinton heard of dragons, few would have seen the remains of one, save for a single skeleton which hung in the atrium of Crock Cognelius's great library.
Just beyond and slightly above the pile of bones on the party's map, a small X was carved into the wood. It was difficult to tell, as the map was crude and not at all to scale, but the only thing of any note in the direction of the X was a stand of trees some few hundred yards distant. Trees, too, were a rare site for those who lived in the center of Coglinton, where sun was hard to come by.
Reminder there remains one additional point of interest on your map aside from these:
"Further beyond that, a collection of triangles stood in a circular formation. This, too, was not a landmark known to any in the party, which was strange, because it seemed like something that would have been distinctive."