DISCOVERY · mottswood cenote

Map location · Image

Rising with the sun had become normal in Jinx's world. It suited her all the better; she was out before many of her pack mates, doing her duty as a Horizon Ridge wolf, patrolling the pack's perimeter, and most importantly, making herself look good to Akhlut. Today, however, Jinx abandoned her duty, choosing to walk along the mountain range to the north of the Ridge's claimed beach instead of through the forested outer boundary. As far as she knew, there was nothing in that direction... Imagine her surprise when she came upon a pass that took her into the heart of the Sunspires, outside Porcupine Ridge.

That was not Jinx's interesting find of the day, but nevertheless she logged it in her mental map of Teekon as an interesting way to bypass the shadow of Blacktail Deer Plateau. It wouldn't serve for reaching the wilderness in any efficient length of time, but nonetheless, would be handy for going into the mountains without Hawkeye's express permission. The arrogance of the pact, and the weakness of Akhlut's acceptance, still bothered her... but she thought nothing of it today.

In the corner of the range, where mountain clashed against mountain, Jinx had found something interesting: a limestone sink hole, easily several hundred feet across, beneath which glistened a pool of water so clear and blue one could almost consider it unreal. Nearby, a network of cave entrances attracted her attention, and by following one—the rightmost, as it turned out—she found herself down in the basin of the great cenote. Her head tilted back to gave up at the hole she had seen from above, to find great swaths of moss hanging into the cave system from its lip, no doubt home to many an amphibious and reptilian animal.

The water itself was tantalizing, and she found to her great surprise when she bent to taste it that it was pure and fresh. Water filtered up through the ground, and water falling as pure rain from the skies, contributed to this pool, and accounted for its clarity and its clean taste. The water extended deeper into the cave system, but the rocky "shore" Jinx stood upon did not go that far; it was a small haven, but it was largely for show alone, since there was only one strip of land along the southern edge of the water that one could walk on.