Methods of Travel

In the mountains, the only reliable means of transport is walking. You can ride kanks many miles up the canyons that wind and twist into the heart of the range, but eventually you'll reach a boulder field or rocky escarpment where it would be danger- ous to remain mounted. On treacherous terrain, extra weight can easily cause even a sure-footed kank to loose its balance and fall - spilling the passenger into a boulder field or plunging both mount and rider hundreds of feet to their deaths. In fact, there are many places, such as the cliffs at the canyon heads, where kanks cannot even travel. Therefore, if you are going to travel very far in the Ringing Mountains, sooner or later you will have to rely upon your own two feet. Unfortunately, walking in the mountains is even slower and more tedious than in the desert. It is impossible to travel a straight line in the mountains. Your path always bends and turns as you move around obstacles such as cliffs, high peaks, deep crevices, and so forth. Even then, you must hike hundreds of feet up or down, often both, for every mile traveled horizontally. In addition to the extra effort of travel, one must always be on the lookout for the market hazards of the mountains. First and foremost, losing your footing can be deadly. Even if the slip does not send you plunging down the mountain, it may result in an injury that will make it impossible to travel when the going becomes truly hazardous. Second, the mountains are full of hiding places where dangerous creatures and desperate characters can wait to ambush unwary travelers. Third, the mountains grow extremely cold at night, especially in the highest places. Unless you are wearing heavy clothing or sitting up all night next to a campfire (which tends to attract unwanted attention), it is quite possible to freeze to death - especially if you haven't had much to eat. There is one last inconvenience to traveling in the mountains: it is exhausting. Of course, hour after hour of climbing hundreds of feet up and down is bound to take its toll on a person, but the weariness of which I speak goes far beyond that. As you travel higher, it almost seems that some magical force is trying to hold you back. Breathing becomes difficult, until even walking a hundred yards is enough to leave you panting and gasping. You begin to feel light-headed and dizzy, then sick to your stomach. You lose all desire to go on, and want nothing so much as to collapse and sleep forever. Even water loses its appeal, and the thought of eating seems more trouble than it is worth. I have seen full-grown men lie in the same spot for more than a day, not bothering to eat the food in their satchels and barely drinking enough from their full waterskins to keep themselves from dying. This strange malaise seems to affect half-giants and elves more than most other races, to the point where I would advise them not to enter the mountains without a trusted member of another race who will remind them to eat and drink, as well as prod them to continue moving. On the other hand, although dwarves grow as tired as anybody else, the characteristic determination of their race renders them all but immune to the lethargy so dangerous to others. Given all of the complications of voyaging in the mountains, most parties should be happy if they can maintain a travel rate a equaling quarter of their normal distance. It should also be noted that the fatigue of traveling in the mountains has no effect on running speeds (as long as one is not moving across treacherous terrain, of course). When the individual finally has to rest, however, it takes twice as long as normal to recover - and if the exertion was especially intense, he may feel sick and lethargic.