On the outskirts of the swamp the party discovers a small village, dimly lit by the moonlight, which has grown still more faint since they emerged from the cavern. Sparky looks up and notices that, although the moon has not moved from its position directly overhead, it is now in the third-quarter phase (half-lit), whereas just hours before it was in the waning gibbous phase. This fact strikes Sparky as both somehow right, but also somehow wrong. Not knowing what to make of this, Sparky keeps his observations to himself for the time being. In the village, drab stone houses with thatched roofs stand near collapsed ruins at the water’s edge. The whole place stinks of dead fish and decay. In the torchlight the party can see a few humanoids moving among the buildings.
Virtual strangers in this world, the party decides to proceed cautiously, and Hood volunteers to scout ahead. Sneaking through the village he finds that the humanoids are lizardfolk who don't appear to be dangerous. So the party enters the village and encounters an elderly reptilian man, who places his palm on his forehead then crosses his scaley forearm across his eyes. When the party tries to speak to him he kneels to the ground, trembling. Hood charms the man and asks why he's reacting to them in this way. The man, whose name is Vot, says that it is a ward against the dead. He feared that they have risen, for he saw the Exiles carting their bodies through the village two nights ago to be flung into the pit in the Wastes.
While they are speaking to Vot, a young reptilian girl sees them and runs deeper into the village to fetch Thrixl, the village protector. Thrixl, who wears a chain shirt and a longsword on her belt, provides the party with some additional information:
The Exiles are a band of Unreturned, like the party, except that they have made a bargain with the Church of Pas to serve as so-called guardians of the Wastes. Since the dimming of the sun six months ago they have been passing through the village with bodies to dump and, more recently, to raid the village of its food stores. But the village's crops have begun to fail and its people are dying so, the last time they passed through, the Exiles abducted the village shaman, Choutixi.
The Exiles make camp in a ruined tower a few hours west of the village, off the road to Cernbridge. A large ravine off the south side of the road leads to the tower. But Thrixl cautions the party to proceed carefully, for the Exiles are led by a powerful lycanthrope named Mogroth. If the party retrieves the village's food stores and returns their shaman to them, Thrixl promises to repay the party. Although they do not have much to offer in the way of riches, Thrixl believes he can persuade their leader, Bougu, to bestow the village heirloom, an artifact, upon them. It is very valuable, but more valuable to Thrixl is their shaman and the nourishment of her people.
Asked about the history of the village, Thrixl says that they moved into these abandoned buildings a few years ago to escape persecution by the Church of Pas. A band of humans coveted the lizardfolk's fertile land and accused them of blasphemy to drive them out. The Church of Pas rules the land with unwavering oppression, and the primary tenent of the so-called One True Religion is that you cannot question the One True God or, by association, His clergy. For this reason, the lizardfolk thought it best to flee and settled here, repairing the ruined buildings on the edge of the swamp to rebuild their community. For a time, they were happy--until the sun dimmed and the Exiles appeared.
Thrixl provides the party with one of the repaired buildings to pass the night, and brings them a paltry meal of dried fish and seaweed, which is all the village can spare. During the night, those on watch witness the moon, still directly above, continue to wane until total darkness envelops the land. On the last watch the moon finally begins to wax, once again bathing the village in its dim glow.
After bidding farewell to Thrixl (and enchanting her sword so that she may better protect her people), the party sets out for the ruined tower. On the cobblestone path they are unsuccessfully ambushed by an archer and two axemen.
To be continued...
