Cassiopeia's View Granny, does your dog bite?

Whenever you have time :)

A missive had been dispatched, summoning @Ransem with all due urgency, and now the elder stood in quiet contemplation, his gaze cast far and wide over the sprawling expanse before him. Herod’s hawk-like eyes swept across the horizon with the precision of one who had long mastered the art of observation, missing nothing of import. The alligator hide cloak rested beside his paw, folded neatly and held down beneath a stone tablet that had been carved with deep grooves.

He stood upon the precipice of a great overlook, where the world unfolded beneath him like a living tapestry woven in the colors of autumn. The mountains loomed like stony guardians, their snow-capped peaks piercing the heavens, while the valleys stretched far below, cloaked in the rich, shifting hues of the season. The trees, aflame with gold and crimson, whispered in the wind, their leaves shimmering like the embers of a dying fire. Lakes scattered like diamonds across the landscape sparkled in the distance, their surfaces reflecting the fading light of the sun as it dipped behind the mountains.

To the north, the signs were unmistakable. A gathering was taking place—though what manner of gathering, he could not yet discern. His sharp eyes caught the faintest glimmer of movement on the horizon, the distant figures assembling like ants from a disturbed pile.

His mouth pulled into a straight line, brow furrowing as he thought.