The path continues curving to the left (from the direction you're traveling). Eventually, it leads you closer to the pond. As you reach the final bend, you get a better view of what's there. The path becomes a small causeway that juts partway into the pond and terminates in a disc-shaped platform. A man sits at a table in the middle of the platform. He's still some distance off, but he appears to be human. It looks like he's wearing a purple jacket and eating something out of a metal bowl. A large scroll seems to be levitating alongside him for him to read.
The same aggressive vines from earlier spring up and block the path. And as before, other vines push open a trail that leads away from the pond. At the end of the trail, in the opposite direction from the causeway, a figure in a white robe beckons you toward the trail. Then the man in purple gestures, making an arcane symbol in the air, and the vines blocking the stone path toward him crumble to dust. The figure in the white robe stomps angrily and shakes a fist. Echoes of booming laughter from the man at the table reach your ears and he too beckons you toward him.
Jekaena: "In case anyone is wondering, I have no idea who either of these people are."