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Chapter 27 - Kliuev
Since I am unable to place Blackchapel (as seen here) with any confidence, much of my reasoning in Release 2 no longer applies.
However, I think we can still guess at where Kliuev is.
When Morrolan et al travel from Blackchapel to Southmoor, it appears they leave Blackchapel in the summer of 244 or shortly thereafter (I'm guessing around the 109th day based on my estimates of the seasons).
We will now advance in time by something like a year from the time of our previous chapter ... As we look upon the village [of Blackchapel] now in full summer of the 244th year of the Interregnum ...
In the winter of 245, around the 253rd day of the year:
it is well known that if one travels far enough south, one eventually reaches the sea [they are skirting the Eastern Mountains, on the Eastern side] ... it is winter ... I must remind you that when we left, well over a year ago--indeed, closer to two years--we were in no small hurry. And, moreover, we had no way of knowing that we would be unable to cross the mountains, but rather would be forced around them ... should we see about procuring horses, now that we have completely abandoned all thought of finding a pass? ... As we are skirting the mountains, we should find no ground that will be too difficult for the animals.
They stop at the village of Kliuev and procure horses:
they arrived in Kliuev, a small village nestled into what here were called the Mountains of Faerie, although only fifty or sixty miles to the west they were part of that great chain called the Eastern Mountains ... the nearby roads that connected to the waterways which ... connected to what the Easterners called the River of Faerie, which eventually made its way to the Shallow Sea ... Let us turn here ... we will soon strike a road that will not only bring us south, but, moreover, will lead us to a bridge over whatever the next river is in these lands where it seems one crosses a river, or at least a deep stream, twice each day.
Paarfi goes on at length about how having horses ultimately increases their pace (see the lengthy explanation he goes into in Chapter 27 of The Paths of the Dead). His basic argument goes something like this:
The naive observer might believe that Morrolan, Teldra, and Arra would, in fact, slow down upon procuring mounts ... instead of traveling ten or twelve hours a day, as they had been accustomed to do, they now began, without anyone making a decision to do so, to make stages of eighteen or nineteen hours a day, with the result that, though at no time did they consider themselves to be in a hurry, nevertheless they significantly increased the pace at which they made their way toward [Southmoor].
5 days later they arrive at Keybrook:
after a good week of riding [from Kliuev] the village of Keybrook [on their way to Southmoor] was entirely different from Kliuev. It was, for one thing, rather lower in the mountains, and thus was less of a freehold for highwaymen ... Yet the most significant difference was simply that, as the mountains were lower here, and contained many passes and valleys, it was hardly a barrier, and hence, like Mount Bli'aard far to the north, there was more commerce than is usual between human and Easterner ...
[The Warlock] had evidently been resting by the side of the road near the edge of the village [Keybrook]. [Speaking Dragaeran] will be [useful] if you journey across the mountains. Or even around them, as we are now doing ... I had forgotten I was speaking to [Dragaerans]. you perceive, it is not usual in this district ... we are bound for my ancestral homelands, a county called Southmoor. / Southmoor? Well, but that is near Adrilankha, is it not? / Perhaps fifty leagues from Covered Springs, in the southwest corner.
And then, after "days and weeks" plus "eight or nine days", they are past the mountains and nearly encounter Zerika et al traveling north:
[After leaving Keybrook] They traveled in this way as the days and weeks wore on, and the mountains, which were ever upon their right hand, began to seem lower and lower ... It was eight or nine days later that they awoke to discover that the ... Eastern Mountains, were no longer upon their right hand, replaced with only the most harmless-looking hills. Morrolan and his friends looked back to the north, and saw, as it were, the trailing edges of the mountains. ... I nearly imagine ... that I can smell the sea, although it is yet more than fifty leagues distant ... There, between those hills. Do you see? / it looks ... to be a small troop of horsemen ... they are elfs ... they do not appear to be coming in our direction ... they are going north ... Let them alone then ... Southward, and a bit to the west [to Southmoor]
I believe Morrolan traveling south and Zerika traveling north both probably used the road that runs from Wilder to Barleytown to just west of the Eastern Mountains, so this passing probably happened somewhere along this road.
As to exactly where, there are a few clues given:
- they look north and can no longer see the mountains, only "harmless-looking" hills
- they are "more than fifty leagues" (150 miles) from the Shallow Sea
- they see Zerika between two hills heading north
- they are within sight of each other
I'll address these in order:
The Eastern Mountains
As previously established, South Mountain is probably visible from about 140 miles away. Since they can't see it anymore, they must be at least that far from it.
They can still see "the most harmless-looking hills", so I think they're within sight of the foothills. Hills are generally defined as being less than 2,000 feet in elevation, so using that same calculator, they must be within 55 miles of the foothills (they see Zerika "between two hills", so they might still be in the foothills, I'm just saying they can't be outside of the visible range of the foothills).
The Shallow Sea
They believe the Shallow Sea is more than 150 miles away. Note that the peak of Tiren's Peak is almost exactly 150 miles from the Shallow Sea, and they went south around it, not over it, so they were closer than 150 miles to the Shallow Sea at that point.
Where the near miss can't be
If you put those together, there's a very narrow window where the near miss might have occurred:
Where the near miss can be
Zerika's Route
Zerika is presumably traveling along the road that I believe extends from Wilder to Barleytown and beyond to the north. This allows us to exclude all the area to the west of the road.
Within Sight
On Earth, humans can see each other from about 3 miles away (see this explanation). Dragaerans are taller than humans, so presumably they can see slightly farther than we can. I'd guess they were at most 4 miles away from one another.
This could be affected by elevation, but there's no indication that either party is at a higher elevation than the other, so I'll stick with 4 miles.
This leaves a small area about 4 miles east of the road and 55 miles tall. I guessed Morrolan was right in the middle of that area.
Near Miss
Now that we know where the near miss occurred, how about when?
Morrolan arrives in Southmoor in the summer of 247.
It was on a Firstday in the summer of the two hundred and forty-seventh year of the Interregnum that Morrolan arrived in the county of Southmoor, and, more particularly, a small barony called Bellows, located along its eastern border
To recap, using my estimates of days of the year based on seasons, he
Meanwhile, Zerika didn't even begin her journey until the late winter of 246 (277th day):
It was on a Farmday in late winter of the 246th year of the Interregnum that [Zerika and friends] set out from Dzur Mountain, bound for Deathgate Falls and the Paths of the Dead
That's a full year after Morrolan arrives in Kliuev, which obviously means that their near miss was even later than that.
Zerika arrives at Deathgate Falls "nearly a full year" later, but as Alexx points out, Paarfi is probably wrong here:
"nearly a full year after setting off on their mission". Almost certainly an error. Probably a typo or translation error for "half a year". While planning the trip, Kyttran remarked, "By the time we reach the colder climes, well, it will be at least spring, if not full summer, and thus we will miss the worst of the cold as well as the worst of the heat" (PD 279). This sentiment is not consistent with reaching the Falls in mid-winter. Later, Piro clearly states that they pursued Grita for "All of summer, all of autumn, and much of this winter" (LCB 97). This pursuit seems to have begun no more than 4 days after the battle at Deathgate Falls (LCB 50-60). The pursuit clearly ends in the winter of 247 (LCB 109).]
In total, she traveled about 2,150 miles in 121 days or so, or about 17 miles per day. The near miss is 956 miles from Dzur Mountain, so at that pace, the near miss would have occurred 956/17 = 56 days into her journey, or the 44th day of 247 (which is mid-to-late Spring).
The distance from the near miss to Bellows is 983 miles, a distance Morrolan covered in 65 days, or about 15 miles a day.
The travel time from Keybrook until the near miss is "days and weeks" plus 8 or 9 days, which Alexx approximates to be 37 days.
Assuming Morrolan traveled at the same speed of 15 miles per day that they traveled after the near miss, that would put Keybrook at least 15*37 = 555 miles back east around Tiren's Peak.
The travel time from Kliuev to Keybrook took 5 days, so again, at that same pace, that's 75 miles back.
Kliuev and Keybrook
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