After the Icy Plains and Snowy Mountains came the Open Plains. It was warm and the men were tired. So they took a couple of weeks to recover from their first part of the expedition.
When they started their journey again it took weeks to take them through the Open Plains....there was no population, the view remained the same empty horizon and the wind was harsh and dry.
Bu the conditions would only change for the worse. When the men thought that after the snow their ordeal would be over, they were now confronted with damp marshes, insects and the harshness of marching through water.
The scouts that were sent upfront only reported of crocodiles and snakes, and insects as big as a handpalm. So the group decided not to camp under these conditions.
Finally they got out of the swamps and reached a large forest. There they saw their first dragon ever flying over the roof of the forest, crying out his dominion.
When they entered the forest, after several day they saw a village, high up in the trees with bowmen making clear that they were not into social visits.
And so they reached the end of their journey.
Before them was a rough sea, and as Jade I was convinced, a passage to Opal. But since they had no boats or axes they had to make their way back. In the end it took the expedition four years to arrive back in Opal.
In Opal where the news of the expedition was regularly announced, they were informed that the Empress had begun her journey back to her beloved city.