A book and many things to do

[Iron Dragoon]

"Elf brained, hm?"

Alyssa goes for a more detailed inspection. Could there be anything to identify them or of value?

[Anastasia]

You check in the wagon and around it. Inside the wagon are several dozen sootsnakes, lying and coiled around something, a nest of them that isn't moving.

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa moves them with her TK.

[Anastasia]

Done and done. Sitting on the floor of the wagon is a set of armor in a pile - metal armor, full plate if you don't miss your guess. You can feel heat radiating from it now, even from here.

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa uses her TK to bring it close enough to inspect, just in case it's cursed or something.

[Anastasia]

Inspecting it with detect magic, you can see it is the following.

Loot post incoming in one sec.

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa packs it away for later.

"Well, that's an interesting piece. A worth while stop."

[Anastasia]

Bastian smirks as he goes, "You're lucky, Alyssa. Those sort of finds happen, but not commonly."

[Iron Dragoon]

"I'll take what I can get. Let's keep moving."

[Anastasia]

Over several more hills you go. In time you see it - a small plain. Here on this plain of ash and ruin sits a city. A city of weathered, crumbling stone, choked by great heaps and winds of ash. The buildings are sealed up tight, several dozen in connected clusters, no gaps between them, built wall to wall. No one is about and around.

[Iron Dragoon]

"Let's observe for a bit before we do a perimeter scout. See if we can figure out how many might be wandering around."

[Anastasia]

"None. Next." Bastian doesn't even slow down, flying on. "There's a trick to getting in."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa follows.

[Anastasia]

Bastian flies to atop one of the buildings, one with the remnants of a tower atop it, just the foundations of it. Here Bastian goes into the middle and gestures, "Clear away the ash," he says, a layer of it over everything.

[Iron Dragoon]

"Aren't I supposed to be in charge?"

Alyssa does as asked.