[b]Ultimate decision: Go to the Ironwood[/b]

The matter is settled: the party will brave the Ironwoods. It's certainly a safer option than heading through the Fungiwoods, and you won't have to attach masks to the oxen. The caravan heads northeast, into the coppery mist. The trees start to grow grayer as you move along, their branches less curved and their bark more rigid. The leaves under your feet feel dryer, and the sound of birds chirping starts to fade away. 

[h2]Ironwoods[/h2]
[h3]8 Hours Until Sunset[/h3]

You are now deep in the Ironwoods. What you could generously consider trees now jut straight-up, their roots forming jagged blades and their branches forming a weblike labyrinth of metallic rods. The leaves under your feet interlock perfectly, jingling and clanking ever-so-slightly as you put your weight on them. As you walk, you feel the penetrative stare of sharp-edged metal flowers, their gemlike stigmas staring at you like beautiful lenses. [i]Stories tell of people foolish enough to try and chop down an Ironwood Tree. The few survivors of such an attempt tell of the very woods rising up and stealing their attackers away with wicked limbs and molten tendrils.[/i]

 Vertebrate life has all but disappeared from view, only to be replaced with beautiful arthropods. Scintillating beetles perch on Ironwood trees, buzzing their golden wings at you as you pass by. Arachnid contraptions made of wires and hollow girders skitter out of view as soon as you come near, their sinewy legs working in mesmerizingly mathematical ways. [i]The many products of the Ironwood are worth quite a bit to collectors, though actually collecting them requires braving the defenses of the Ironwoods themselves.[/i]

 The road ahead of you is uniform, just like every inch of flooring in the Ironwoods. The only thing that denotes your route are the telltale scrape marks of the Ironwood Deku. [i]Though the Deku are violent towards outsiders, they guard the only way out of the Ironwoods.[/i]

[h3]7 Hours Until Sunset[/h3]

 You come to a massive, silver wall. You can scarcely see over it, though it seems the trees on the other side are plumper and greener. If ever there was evidence for the existence of thinking life in the Ironwoods, it would be this. [i]The Ironwood Deku are masters at erecting defenses. Some say they form their defenses by erecting the soil itself.[/i] 

The wall is uniform throughout, though every few yards features a strange triangular shape touching down to the floor. The shape seems to be engraved thinly into the wall, as it has left no indentation in its forming. As you approach the wall, you can hear faint scraping noises from behind it. Perhaps you can catch whatever's on the other side's attention?