The dirt road to the Grey Marsh Territory was a quagmire of mud. A column of several thousand people trudged forward, slithering through the thin mist.
They were artisans from the territories surrounding Sword Tooth Province, traded to this legendary sanctuary by their lords for a piece of paper.
In the column, a young carpenter named Thomas clutched his thin linen clothes tighter around himself. His straw sandals were long soaked through with filth. 'The lords said they were sending us to a "good place,"' he thought, 'but since when have they ever been so kind?'
Thomas wasn't alone. Most of the people in the column wore terrified expressions, their hushed whispers filled with speculation about forced labor and the whips of overseers.
But as they neared a place called Shiyan Town, the scenery began to change.
