Firestone Hot Springs You're saying the words that I want you to say

Note to self: this is around the same time Raleska went home.

This place smelled... weird. While she was used to the smell of salt by the coast and pine everywhere else, the absence of both was a surprise, and the strong sulfur-rich fog in the air made her nose curl. It took a while for Stryx to adapt to the smell; it wasn't the most inviting thing in the universe. As she investigated the area she found a small pool of steaming water, and then another, and another - some large, all misshapen and equally vibrant.

Because of the smell in the air she could not keep track of anything else - she was nose blind. Stryx had entered the scene with a strong hunger and now it was diminished, practically gone entirely, and she had to fight the urge to gag. She'd been plenty of places and the only comparison to this pock-marked landscape she could think of was the boggy westland.

Ahead of her, beyond a thicket where the fog was trapped like foaming milk, something moved. It looked round and large, and brown, all indications that it could be a bear. She ducked and moved so that her path hugged the brambles, trying to slink around the bushes and the supposed threat before she could be spotted - or possibly maimed.