There is a plaque in the middle of the glade. Below the pictograms is a simple sentence in your tongue: "Until we return home."
A sign says:
Skatha - Smith
All races welcome.
A small sign says:
Nursery.
Human visitors - take care.
A sign by the path says:
Asp. Keeper of the shrine
and the path.
2
35
"Sss. I know nothing of that."
0
stnd
0
A slith meanders about the farm, doing odd jobs.
"Hss. I called Ahss. Hss." It doesn't seem very alert.
"I work on the farm." It seems a very slow creature.
0
gnrc
0
"Sssss. You ask Ach-Schah. He know."
1
stnd
0
A slow moving slith is picking mushrooms.
"Hssss!" You've startled it. "I Brith! Good slith! No hurt!"
"I pick mushrooms. Hss. Mushrooms good."
1
gnrc
0
"Uhsss. Sss. I of Ach-Schah. Ask him."
2
stnd
0
A small slith watches you warily.
She makes a light hissing noise.
She says something in a slow, careful way. Unfortunately, she says it in the slith tounge.
2
gnrc
0
She replies something in the slith tounge. It includes repeated use of the phrase/word/whatever "Ach-Schah".
3
stnd
0
An old, stooped Slithzerikai, its skin grayish and cracked, leans against a tree watching his fields.
"Hsss. Welcome, humansss. I called Ach-Schah."
"Ssss." He waves his arm in a slow, grand gesture. "I farm. This my farm. I want peace. We friends here."
3
farm
0
"Yessss. You see Ahss? Brith? Sthah? They my worker sliths. Some sliths not smart, like they. They make mushrooms, I watch them, we eat, trade with humansss. Want peace."
3
peace
0
"Not all slithsss bad. We of Gnassss friendsss to humanssss." He offers you a mushroom.
4
stnd
0
An old slith with a wise, piercing, lidless gazes reclines behind the desk.
"Ah! Humanssss. Welcome, welcome! I am Asp."
"I am a healer, and I tend the shrine. And I greet humansss who come here in peace and tell them of us."
4
healer
20
4
shrine
0
"Yesssss! On the island outside! Not all of us sliths worship dark beings. We have gods of peace, which dark Sss-Thsss has turned from. Go to the shrine and bow to it, and you will feel some of what it is to be a true slith, and not a foul rebel."
"I take care of the shrine. It is not the temple, but it must do for us."
4
temple
0
"When we sliths came here, we built a great temple in a lovely swamp. It was good, and I helped build it, by Sss-Thsss and his defiled it when they took over. Now they worship dark things, and have an altar with a hunk of a dead human's broken sword."
"It is sad. Was a beautiful place. The full twelve purification pools. Gone now."
4
peace
0
"That is our desire here. Our chief, Sss-Schai will tell of our passsst, and how we came here, and of the darkness we want to help you fight."
5
stnd
0
A muscular slith works on a statue.
"Ah! Welcome, humansss! I Bass-Athai, slith stonemason."
"I work the stone. I make statues, and homes for people here."
5
statues
0
"We sliths remember the great magi and leaders of our past. And we remember them with statues. Paper rots, and carvings fade, so sliths keep their history in many, many statues. Stonemason much respected by sliths!"
5
homes
0
He laughs, a strange, sibilant sound. "We learn that from humansss. Sliths live in warrens, but when we flee here, no warrens. So make housesss. I think I am first slith to ever do so! I did not well at first. Rocks fall on our heads. But now!"
He indicates the town with a grand gesture, his strange face lit up with pride.
6
stnd
0
A young female slith pores over a leather scroll. Her eyes glow.
She looks up at you, her reptilian face expressionless. "Welcome. I am Garthass."
"I study, and prepare. One day, we will be called to defend ourselves."
6
defend
0
"Our dark slith brothers concentrate on you humansss now. But they will come for us as well. We will fight them! And if not them, I fear you humansss will one day give in to your hate for us. Our little village sits between two giantsss, waiting."
"But I see you are not like that. Or so I think. I have help for you."
6
help
0
"I brew potionsss and scribe scrollsss. You could purchase them now, if you like. Though I fear what humansss may one day do to ussss, we help them now best we can, in hope that one day peace may lassst."
6
purch
12
Garthass
23
28
7
stnd
0
A gigantic slith, green skin bright and shiny, muscles bulging awesomely, forges a slith two-tined spear.
"Ahssss! Humansss! I Skatha! Welcome to my store!"
"I forge weaponsss! My spearsss are my pride, and I love when they used! Purchasss one, and I burst with pride, that a human use my weapon! A slith spear is a mighty thing!"
7
purch
12
Skatha the Smith
37
38
7
spear
0
"We slithsss use two point spears, not like your human one-point spearsss! Make all of iron or steel! Takes great strength to make, great strength to use! It a great honor to you that we let you have them. But you pay big price for that honor, eh?"
His body shakes with laughter, but only a quiet hissing sound emerges.
8
stnd
0
A delicate slith female watches over the babies swimming around in the pools.
She smiles at you. At least, you think that's what that is. "My name is Eath. Welcome to Gnass." Her English is nearly perfect. Ever her S's sound right. She cuts them short, instead of letting them trail off.
She sighs, a slow hissing noise. "I am a sage, by trade, learning, and choice. But I fled the castle of Sss-Thsss, and my tomes stayed behind. And now my mate and I wait here for the war to end. And I take care of the little ones, because someone must."
8
sage
0
"Other of our kind want to slay you. I wanted to learn about you. I think you humans could be a great friend to us, if our dark brothers do not fill you with too much hate."
8
mate
0
"Skatha, the blacksmith. He is the finest smith I have ever met. Your kind would be well to get weapons from him. Very few of the blades I have seen in human hands are any match for his."
8
castle
0
"Yes. We lived in the castle of Sss-Thsss, north, then east, then across the water. My advice to you, if you ever go there - the throne room of Sss-Thsss is upstairs, through a locked door. There are several onyx keys in the other forts."
"They are the keys to the Castle. Going there without one is futility."
19
stnd
0
A mighty Slithzerikai with rich, dark green skin patrols the town watchfully.
He nods gravely. "I am Sss-Schai. The Sss is the slith way of stating leadership. I am ..." he pauses to recall a word "... mayor here."
"I watch over my people, and deal with the two great forces that surround us - the humans and Darklings."
19
humans
0
"I want nothing but friendship and have nothing but welcome for your kind. You seem to live much closer to the true Slith ideals than the Darklings."
19
darklings
0
"Ah, yessss. I tell this tale to any human I can, so you can understand us. The sliths here are refugees, exiles like yourselves, from the mighty slith kingdoms in the deeper caves. The kingdoms are ruled with wisdom and justice. And peace."
"We valued that which you humans valued. But there were rebels."
19
rebels
0
His face darkens with anger. "Yes. A band who followed dark powers, led by Sss-Thoss, grandfather to Sss-Thsss. They were expelled, in the mercy of the leaders, and came here, threatened by death should they return. Then the humans arrived."
"As the war started, decades after we arrived, some of us finally rejected Sss-Thsss."
19
rejected
0
"We had learned of the ways of the world we had been thrown from, and since we could never return to it, we decided to recreate it. So we came to the humans in peace, and built this town, so that you may hear this tale and see some of our true nature."
"Please. Do not judge us for what a few of us do. There are as many slith souls as sliths."
