[DM]
Before the Leilon Five made their mad dash out of the swamp towards the north there was a moment of peace.
Arya had approached the Lizardfolk chief and the second in command (a shaman of some sorts?) and asked them questions. They seemed willing to answer after seeing the protections the party had made on their behalf.
[Arya]
Arya would continue: "when did these changes start and in what way?"
[DM]
The chief looks up, his snout scanning the horizon.
"Mordain used to be..." he hesitates and asks Hissain something in draconic before resuming. "Paradice."
"The waters were sweet and pure and life took hold and grew strong. There was no danger to be found, only bounty.
We had glorious purpose, standing in awe of the Gods. This was before time itself began, the memory of it falling from one chief to the next.
The changes were not gradual but sudden and sickening.
When the Gods left the world it began dying. But we have persisted. It is our peoples hope we will find the Gods and beg them to return to us."
[Arya]
Arya looks around the area: "Did it just happen to the entire place or did it seem to come from somewhere and then been growing and expanding?"
[DM]
"Merdain was cast into shadow all at the same time. Where the palace stood however it is much darker, a place my people do not go as it is perilous.
Even your dreams turn against you at the center and many a tale speak of kin slumbering and then never found again."
Hissain, the advisor adds with a raspy voice. "However the swamp has been growing, that is true. Beyond the confines of what used to be Mordain. Where we stand now would have been it's border but a few generations back."
Nodding the chieftain continues "It shall grow till it consumes the world and then all will die. Unless we find the gods and beg them to return."
[Arya]
"Where was this palace?" Pausing for a moment, thinking, she would continue: "Who lived in the palace? Did it go down before the changes or as a part of it?"
She pauses again, she doesn't understand the concept of gods and unsure of how to continue. "How will you find the gods?"
[DM]
"You ask many questions stranger. I do not wish to hold them from you for the people outside of Mordain are ignorant of the doom. But there is much we do not know, much that was lost in time."
A long scaly finger would trace a tough outing of the Mere of Dead men before stabbing down in its centre.
"The palace was here." [Hex 122, 123, 139] "When the gods left they took it with them. Many of our people were there but were cast down into the dark waters. Few survived."
The chief looks downwards and while his scaly face is hard to read you spot a hint of sadness.
"We do not know how to find the gods. Other clans seek in their own ways. We just seek to survive now."
Arya (Sandra) — 07/08/2024 11:46
"Not meaning to make you uncomfortable by questions, we want to help, and the more we know the better. Do you know what the gods looked like? Were they like you? Or like any of us?"
[DM]
The chiefs head turned on its side, looking at you in curiosity. "Like us? No they are Gods. They were made of the light itself."
Arya (Sandra) — 07/08/2024 12:04
[Does Arya know of anything that looks like it were made of light?😝 Her thought is that their "gods" were people living here way back, possibly Merdelain, so she is thinking about if they could have been perceived as being made of light or if it is only how the lizardfolk talks about them now to make them sound like more than what they were. Or their "gods" could be something else entirely, like creatures that were actually made of light or looked like that.]
[DM]
[Give me either an arcana or religion check]
[Arya]
[Arcana 18]
[DM]
You know of creatures that shed light but being made of light? Nothing you've heard of barring the will o wisp.
It does occur to you however that making light using a spell is a relatively trivial task.