At the appearance of the rather strange-looking crew, some of the villagers around the upper-surface of Mu'urth-Doriel stiffened, though the rest seemed thoroughly uncaring and passive. As the dockhands movd to secure the Hydronomus, several men - not armed, but oddly intimidating - moved towards the new crew with a peaceful, yet cautious demeanour. Clearly, these villagers were all used to dealing with pirates. One of them, judging from his attitude and way of speech, the one in charge, stopped short in front of the newcomers, causing his companions to halt some distance behind him. The man gave a little nod before saying, "Greetings, strangers; the Serpent God watch over you. You stand in the fiefdom of Mu'urth-Laan, so granted to us by the grace of the seas.“ He smiled benignly at them, "Normally, I would ask what you were doing in these lands, but your arrival comes with ... special circumstances."<br/><br/>He stepped aside to allow two cloaked men with robes so long they fell over their feet and obscured them from sight to advance forward. They left a glistening trail of something that resembled greenish slime where they moved; one arm held in each of the cloaked figures' arms was the mermaid they had sent to scout ahead. One of the cloaked figures inclined its' head slightly, revealing a golden serpentine orb. "Query: Who daresss to sssend a ssspy into the Ssserpent Godsss landsss...?" The cloaked figure tugged on the mermaid's arm, causing her to squeak and flounder.<br/>