I often write boxed text for new in-game locations. I find it easier to think through the sights, smells, and other sensations during GM prep and write them out, rather than improv’ing when I’m trying to write a game. Here’s one such location.
The road cuts west and north, following a ridgeline around the edge of the Damycian foothills near Rissimo. As you get further from Braem, the road becomes more overgrown. The tiled stone and patches of gravel blend into the dirt as if it hasn’t been used much in decades, if not centuries.
The tree canopy here becomes dense, blotting out the sun as if it is perpetually dusk. Often the trees themselves are bare towards the ground, while the arching boughs high above are laced together under a dense tangle of leaves.
A few miles west of Braem, you see an old stone bridge crossing a rather wide creek. Water spills down a rocky gulley in the foothills above you. The water sparkles, much like the aether-infused water you saw running through Auldir, though a bit less vibrant. It rolls through stair-stepped arches beneath the bridge, down a series of cascades, and finally over the rim of a ravine, plunging into a pool that disappears into the verdant foliage below.
The smell of petrichor fills the air near the bridge. Even in the harshness of winter, you feel a strange warmness, almost radiating from within.. Your mind becomes a bit hazy, your senses the tiniest bit duller, and a sense of peace and presence washes over you.
As you approach this winding creek, you notice the forest take on a golden glow. Dapples of light–not reflected down from the sun, but up from the water–dance on the underside of the leafy canopy. Across the bridge, the road slowly winds itself down into the ravine and, you see it shimmering across the rock walls surrounding the waterfall.
As you reach the bottom of the ravine, you hear a dull roar echoing all around you as the waterfall plunges into the pool below. A humid mist has settled here. What bits of the road are visible seem to follow the little creek running through the forest.