The room is comfortably warm. This is due to the fact that there is a blazing log fire surrounded by a rather large ornamental hearth. The wood blazes but appears not to burn. There are two tapestries on two walls, filling the whole of each wall. They depict terrible battles between knights and demons. Red wine comes to mind. There are several comfortable looking highbacked chairs dotted aroundf the room, and one armchair.
They are pine trees, dark and forboding. Tall, dark green with black-brown trunks. They seem to whisper conspiratorily.
The path narrows as it goes on, becoming less and less visible. Boulders dot the edge of the path here and there. Clouds seem to form a ceiling and the dense pines form walls to this narrow corridor along which I traverse.
It is a stream, gurgling sweetly but with an edge of darkness, leaving me with a deeply ingrained feeling of suspicion. The water itself is pitch black. There is no vegetation and no animal life around the stream.
It is not elegant, but rough, sturdy and well-used. It is ancient, wooden but tough. There is (surprisingly), a clearly defined filigree, depicting not a scene but a complex pattern of lines and circles. On the underside is an admirable carving depicting a man in a cloak kneeling with his head bowed, the cup grasped in his left hand, appearing to shine.
It is of larger than average size for a key, yet not burdensome. It is made entirely out of a tough wood, the same texture as the cup, but this key is deeply black, even darker than the water in the stream. I do not know what it unlocks, but I am uneasy as to the answer.