Monster girl village

You glance at the map in your hands, as you had for the past few hours. It had adequately helped you to navigate the main roads on your journey northward, but it failed to prepare you for the winding, branching mountain roads you're expected to travel. You're fairly sure you'd followed your directions adequately, but the branch indicated by the map should have come up a couple of miles back. You take a swig of water from your canteen, wiping the sweat from your brow. You give it a shake, feeling only a little more water in it. The crags around you shield you from much of the sun, but no amount of shade can fully shield you from the summer heat. You lean against a rock, pondering what to do. You gaze at the sky as you rack your mind, trying to find a way to reassure yourself of your course. A bird passes overhead, a black shadow silhouetted against the sky. On closer inspection, you think you see a humanoid shape to the bird. You'd been told about the monster girls living in the mountains, but told not to worry about them. The reclusive monster girls generally kept to themselves. Idly, you wonder if some of the traces of snakes you'd seen could possibly be lamia sunning themselves. After a few minutes of musing on monster girls, you decide to double back, and see if you might have missed the road you were meant to take.

As you backtrack, the mountain rises into sheer walls, forming the path you'd taken. You press on, coming to the approximate location of the branch you missed. You poke around, finally coming upon a gap in the rocks that wasn't visible from the direction you initially came in. Looking at the gap, you realize that there must have been a recent collapse that closed off the path. You look for a way around the blockage, trying to find any way to climb around the blockage. Your investigation reveals the reason for the rockfall: the crags around you are made of brittle, crumbling rock that likely wouldn't support your weight. Weighing your options, you decide to try to squeeze your way past the blockage. The rock seems relatively stable, and the path beyond seems very shady. Compared to going back a couple of miles to where the rock walls are more stable, and then scrambling for a mile more in direct sunlight, the risk seems worthwhile. You steel yourself, and give the largest rock blocking your way one more firm shove. It seems to hold fast. You exhale, narrowing your chest as much as possible to squeeze through the small gap. You squeeze the right half of your body through with some effort, panting with exertion. The rock pressing on your sternum restricts your breathing, urging you quickly squeeze the rest of your body through. You plant your right foot, and begin pulling the rest of your body past. As you apply pressure to your foot, you begin to slide on some loose rocks. Paying it no mind, you press on. By the time you realize your mistake, it's too late to correct. You slip, kicking your foot out from under you. You slip, falling onto your back, your foot kicking into a stone. You hear a crack, and look immediately at the source. You realize exactly what you kicked: a stone supporting the slab you were squeezing past, now decidedly less whole than it was before. You look at your left leg in a panic, realizing that the slab was was about to come down, directly on your thigh. You scramble backwards, trying to extract your leg before the slab can fall on it. You nearly succeed, but the slab falls on your leg, right above the ankle. You cry out in pain, and frantically try to free yourself. This only beings further pain. Stilling yourself, you try to calm down and assess the situation.