The strategy meeting was held directly on the pre-selected battlefield—a place known as "Withered Tree Shoal" deep within the Gray Sea Marsh.
Velin stood with his core team in the basin personally selected by Kael Shadow Song.
The geology of the area was rather peculiar. It was a small basin formed from a bed of blackish-gray rock, its ground hard and dry—a stark contrast to the surrounding muddy swamp, like a scar on the landscape.
Kael took a dry stick and drew an outline on the ground at their feet.
"I've been monitoring it for seventeen days. The beast's activity follows a fixed cycle."
"Its main lair is underground in Sharp Teeth Gorge to the south, but every seventy to eighty hours, it comes to this very area."
He jabbed the ground forcefully with the tip of the stick.
"There are geothermal vents here. The giant serpent uses the heat to aid its digestion.
