You are in a forest on a path. The path proceeds to the west and south. The underbrush to the east is impassable. In all other directions, you see more trees.
There is a wise, old man here. You know he is wise because of the bright gleam of truth in his eyes.
The man says, "Hello. I'll follow you as long as you're on this path."
He also says, "I used to travel over the whole region here. Now I stick to this path. There are 28 areas to explore, plus the 4 areas in my cottage, which is farther down the path. Finding q gets you access to 5 more areas, for a total of 31 areas in all."