You signal for some scouts to advance, and wait a little while until they return to tell you that the forest ahead is clear. You ride with the caravan beneath the wide boughs of oak and beech trees before the forest begins to thin and you see a clearing ahead. In the clearing is a village. The flock of sheep you saw earlier are there, grazing peacefully on the grass that covers the ground between a number of low, wooden houses and farm buildings. You see a fish pond and allotments for vegetables, the soil freshly turned. A small staircase leads up an outcrop of rock that looms over the northern edge of the village, and atop this sits the tower you saw from the marsh. Otherwise, the village seems to be deserted.
As you watch, a procession of people begin making their way down the stairs from the top of the outcrop. They're dressed in simple clothes for the most part, though the woman at the front of the procession wears a clean, white tabard over her farmer's smock. She smiles as she sees you, and opens her arms in greeting.
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