18 of Last Seed,
I left Pelgiad in the early morning, following the road along the base of the ridge for most of the morning. The road cuts northwest into a ravine - the directions the bartender wrote me describe it as "volcanic ravine". A fire must have burned through the ravine within the last year, as there is very little foliage save sparse groundcover and the trunks of burnt trees, a few of them just beginning to sprout back. The most interesting feature, however, are the massive obelisks of pock-marked earth or clay that dot the ravine. After observing the base of one of these for nearly half an hour in an attempt to discern their
origin, I have learned that they are the nests of incredibly large colonies of termite-like insects, about the size of my thumb, with large abdomens, small heads, and pinsir mouthparts. I broke a small piece out of the base of one using the back of my hatchet - quite an undertaking, as the exterior of these nests are nearly as hard as stone, which I imagine is an adaptation of these insects to live in a frequently fire-ravaged environment. The interior is the like texture of crumbly clay, of earthenware improperly fired. I am beginning to suspect the entirety of the fauna here is insectoid (save the mudcrabs).