212. Bristletooth
The village of Bristletooth is laid out the same way its people make their fishing nets: a series of small, tight knots of buildings connected by long well-worn paths between them, curving around the lake as if holding it back. Other than the watchtowers at either end, all the buildings seem to be housing or storage, with no central gathering places or accommodations.
You gather waves, nods, and similar greetings from the few people you pass. Everyone is hard at work, dragging nets through the lake waters, scything down swaths of grain, feeding pens of hogs, and other daily chores. Even the children are hard at work, helping to mend nets or gather reaped stalks into baskets. No one rushes to greet you, but nor does anyone seem perturbed or surprised by your presence. Their eyes flick to Jupi’s and Adri’s scythes, but lose interest when they see each blade locked against its snaith.
Approaching the midpoint between the watchtowers, you come upon a middle-aged man and a quartet of children between maybe four and nine years old. A dozen large cuts of leather lie on the ground between them, covered in the well-preserved bones of several kinds of fish, birds, and land animals. As you watch silently, he explains the purposes of the differences between the skeletons: the long and thin spines of a fish, the thick legs of a boar, and the light wings of a goose. He then quizzes the children, showing them one bone at a time, asking them to figure out which animal it belonged to, and why.
The man sees you and nods, indicating politely that he’ll talk to you when he’s done with the lesson. It goes on for another half hour, and is surprisingly detailed given the ages of the children. Pairing up the children, he hands them a few bones and points at a nearby boar pen. Without going inside the pen, each duo is to figure out which part of the boar each bone comes from, and to report back as soon as both teams are ready.
He introduces himself to Jupi and Adri, and then to the rest of your group, as Neffin, welcoming you to Bristletooth. Explaining that the village doesn’t get many visitors, while there are not any inns or rooms for rent, he’s sure one or more families would be willing to feed and house people for the night, in trade for a few hours of news and tales from Deeproot and beyond.
Eyeing the gear apparent on your persons, he points to the east past the watchtower, around the lake, which he calls Clearmaw. He tells of a small ruins there, barely larger than Bristletooth itself, though he admits it doesn’t seem to hold anything of interest beyond the occasional trinket.
The lake Neffin calls Clearmaw was called Kaw Lake, OK by the Old Ones.
If asked about the empty watchtowers, he explains that the village hasn’t seen significant machine activity in years. Not visible from here, a northeast finger off the lake holds a Snapmaw nest, but they haven’t come close to this side for many seasons. The jungles beyond are just as thick as those along the road you came, and seem to deter machine presence. No one in the village actively hunts machines, and the villagers don’t use machine parts for labor or construction. The rare remains of a fallen machine found on the trips to and from the markets at Deeproot are sufficient to allow the villagers to maintain their few metal tools. Neffin is confident this is why the machines leave the village alone.
If asked about directions or locations, Neffin will give an overview of the area and its hazards.
The road to the south, seldom used and in poor repair, abandons the river a few hours from here, just after threading the river and a ruins and forking west and south. The road to the west parallels the Salty River, arriving at the Salty Desert after two days’ walk. He advises you to stick with the road and avoid the river, as the latter is the home of innumerable Snapmaws.
The south road cuts a midline between two large ruins, a day’s walk from here and a day’s walk between the two. While the road is through open plains, the area is called Threadmaw Valley because people would rather climb a mountain than stray too far and risk the almost constant machine presence on either side. The road ends at the Southtap, not even an hour’s walk from the midpoint between the ruins.
Neffin cautions you from following the river south. From the point where it joins the Salty River, on to where it joins the Southtap, is a string of Snapmaw nests and overflying Glinthawks.
None of the villagers have any more specifics of what lies farther south than that, only second-hand tales of even larger lakes, rivers, and ruins.
Investigate the ruins at entry 213. Visit the Snapmaw nest at entry 214. Follow the river south via entry 215.