The room is nearly bare. A simple canvas and wood cot lies propped against one wall, several old, moth-eaten couch cushions have been tossed on the cold wooden floor. There is an unpretentious brick fireplace in one side, but no fire is burning. In fact, it looks like a fire hasn't been lit in a very long time. There is a picture, framed in rosewood, of a cabbage on the wall opposite the fireplace. There are no windows in the room.
The "forest," if you can call it that, has but a few dead trees, stunted and barren, with a single immense redwood growing up in the middle, unnaturally drawing sustenance from the dry, rocky ground and stunted vegetation.
The "trail" is nothing more than a dirt path, thin and difficult to see, with occasional animal droppings along its length. The path twists and winds with no apparent purpose, doubling back on itself, changing in size, for a near-eternity. The dirt is covered with sharp stones and either rat or weasel droppings.
Oddly, the path crashes to a halt against a huge lake, so deep that you cannot see the bottom. The ground around it is lush and covered with many beautiful types of plant life. Where the path ends, there is a canopy of mimosa tree branches overhead. The water is pure and clean, and very cold. Out over the lake, it reflects the clear azure sky, deepening in hue towards the middle.
The vessel is a tremendous drinking horn of the type Thor used in drinking competitions with the giants. It is made of the horn of some immense beast, most likely of god-like proportions, and decorated with intricate carvings, scenes of battle. The entire thing gives the impression of cyclopean size and ageless immutability.
The key is as big around as my wrist, and it is chiseled and polished from a huge block of solid onyx. It is as black as fear, and carved with reliefs of strange alien creatures of ethereal beauty. The key must unlock a vault of solid iron, containing relics from aeons-old civilizations. Now if I could only carry the key to the vault (the key must weigh about 90 lbs.)...