Elan nods seriously.

"Okay! Good luck and don't turn into fruit chunks! Oh, and you should probably make sure the skeletons are the dumb kind and not the smart kind with a soul hidey place."

Mmm, fruit chunks. Elan should see if there's any other fruit he can grab before he and Twilly go to the library.

Lunch is plentiful and delicious, although the mood is brought down a little by Rolith, Baumbard, and a few other knights making battle plans over dessert. 

Maya is working away at her desk when Elan and Twilly enter the library. 

"Hello, Elan! Captain Rolith said you'd be stopping by. I have your reward for helping in the infirmary yesterday." She holds out a little bag of coins. 

"Oh yeah! Thanks, Maya!"

Elan puts the money in his bag; he can count it up later.

"Do you have a map I can look at that shows where Falconreach is? Especially if it shows the Surewould Forest, too."

"Of course! It sounds like you want to see a map that shows the whole kingdom..." 

Maya finds an appropriate map and spreads it out on the desk. 

"Alright, here's a map of Greenguard! Oaklore Forest is this patch of trees here, and this is Oaklore Keep, where we are right now!" she explains, pointing to each place on the map. "If you follow the main road east, across this river here, you'll get to Falconreach in a few hours of walking—at least, when there isn't a hydra in the way. I hope someone deals with it soon! Anyway, if you keep going through Falconreach and past it, you'll reach the south-western edge of Surewould Forest pretty quickly. Do you know where in Surewould Forest you're going? It is quite big." 

On the map, Surewould Forest looks at least twice the size of Oaklore Forest, and stretches a long way to the north. A darker patch of forest, sitting to the south of Oaklore and Falconreach, is labelled as Doomwood. 

Elan studies the map studiously.

"King Splurt said that Boxlord Ulp lives in the south part. So probably here or here?"

He points at the two southern protrusions.

"Maybe Sir Valance will have a sneevil map of the Surewould Forest. Or maybe he knows someone in Falconreach that has the same job as him!"

He looks at the map some more. There's that snowy part up north, and then a part that's still pretty north but not very snowy, and a bunch of mountains, and a desert…

"What's doomy about Doomwood?"

"It's full of lotsa skeletons and zombies and vampires and werewolves and witches and—" 

"It's in an area of permanent night, which makes it something of a haven for undead, werewolves, and other creatures of the night," Maya elaborates. "Apparently it's always a full moon, as well. Historical accounts disagree on how it got that way, but the oldest records speak of a thriving, independent human kingdom in that region, with no mention of the darkness, so it seems like it wasn't always like that!"  

"Whoa, weird! I wonder how that happened. Maybe a wizard stopped time there? Except for the people and monsters, I guess. Are the trees all… night trees?"

"What's a night tree?" 

"Oh, it isn't a real thing. At least, I don't think it is? But trees need sunshine to live, so probably the trees there are either all dead from no sunshine or they can use moonlight instead."

"Well, it's not a region I've studied in great detail, but I know people live there. This map just shows the town of Amityvale, one of the bigger settlements in Doomwood, but there are smaller villages too! And where there are villages and towns, there have to be farms. So, somehow, the moon in Doomwood must be able to grow plants!" 

"Weird!"

Botany is not one of the topics that can nerdsnipe Elan, but it's still pretty cool.

He looks at the map again. He should probably get going…

"Are those two places really in the clouds?"

"Yes! Aeris Battlespire and Dragonsgrasp are both flying castles. Aeris Battlespire is a duelling arena where you can test your prowess against other adventurers, earn ranks, and win prizes! And Dragonsgrasp is the home base of the DragonLords—you should ask Sir Baumbard about it if you want to know more. I don't know a lot about it because only DragonLords can go there, and they're a bit of a secretive bunch! 

"Whoa, cool! I don't think I've ever heard of a flying castle before. Or a place where adventurers could have competitions like that. Wait, I think there was that Iron Mage thing that my friend got kicked out of before we met…"

Baumbard didn't seem super secretive to Elan, but maybe that was because they were hanging out with Rolith. Elan can understand, though. It seems like the Dragonlords care a lot about protecting their dragons!

"Anyway, thanks for the money and showing me the map! Oh, do you want some moglinberries we picked?"

"Oooh, that would be lovely, thank you!" Maya will take a small handful of moglinberries. "Good luck and safe travels! Be sure to stop by the next time you're in this area." 

"Okay!"

Elan and Twilly leave the library, where they will very definitely next go see if Sir Valance has a sneevil map of the Surewould Forest or knows someone in Falconreach who does.

Sir Baumbard intercepts them, face tinged an unhealthy green. 

"Elan, just the person I was looking for!"

He lowers his voice. "Might I ask you to do me a favour? I may have...slightly...overindulged at lunch, and when I took Glumbert out for a quick scouting flight just now, I got terribly...airsick," he admits. "I'll be no good at all in the air for the next few hours. Would you go on the bombing run in my place? I know you have a quest of your own, but you made a good impression on Glumbert earlier, so you were our first choice." 

"Hi!"

He listens to Baumbard's request. Airsickness from a dragon is no laughing matter! Just ask Roy.

"I'd love to help! I've never ridden on a dragon, though, just horses and donkeys…"

"Honestly, it's easier than riding a horse in many ways. Unless you're afraid of heights—you aren't, are you?" he thinks to ask a little belatedly. 

"Woooooo! Wind Walk is the best cleric spell ever!!"

"Nope!"

"Oh good, then you should be fine. Glumbert knows what he's doing, you don't have to steer him like you would a horse, and I'll help you strap yourself into the saddle so you don't fall off. All you have to worry about is dropping the lightbombs"—he hands over a satchel full of small roundish things—"onto the biggest clusters of monsters." 

"Cool! Do I have to be careful with them while we're flying?"

"Well, if you fumble one and drop it early, it'll still detonate when it hits the ground, so try not to do that right above the castle. But they won't explode in the bag if you jostle them a little too much, if that's what you're worried about. It takes more force than that to set them off."