Flying over Devil's Canyon reveals some gruesome sights. Huge piles of bones litter the area, not old dry bones but fresh ones with bits of flesh and sinew still hanging from them. Although most of the bones appear to be from large animals such as cattle and horses, many others look to be from humanoids. The heat makes the whole valley stink like death. Someone of a lesser constitution than a dragon would suffer greatly amidst the stench. On the valley floor, the Simvan look busy "grazing" their beasts on the bone piles. These are not beasts Merlaggon has seen before, they are large demonic looking creatures with ferocious teeth and claws. By the young dragon's count there are sixteen riders and twenty beasts. Two more Simvan standout from the rest, one who carries a staff with a ram skull on top of it (T37) and another who is twice as large as any Simvan, and truly a monster himself with what appears to be a tentacle growing out of his back! (J39)
The canyon walls are high and sheer, climbing down them would be nearly impossible without proper rappelling gear. At the far end of the canyon Merlaggon can faintly see where two ley lines intersect inside the rock wall forming a small nexus point. There is a small cave opening near the nexus, with bones piled extremely high outside of it. For now the raiders don't seem to be expecting trouble but their weapons are near and they are not far from their mounts. No doubt if they suspected trouble they would be ready quickly.