Veer north into the lakelands

Being food for the red wugs or being taken off to some muddy village by the green wugs are both fates you'd prefer to avoid. Not that you are eager to surrender yourself to the strange blue wugs, only that you think the lakelands will provide a safer path.

The more you diverge from the trade route the more pleasant your journey becomes. The sticky heat of the road gives way to cool breezes coming in off the huge lakes. You pause at a stream and drink from the clear waters. You continue on, into a blue pine wood, enjoying the fresh air and the sounds of more familiar animals. When you emerge from the woodland you are startled by your surroundings. You are almost standing on the shore of the black lake the injured traveler mentioned. It stretches to the horizon, surely as big as a sea. White, rocky shores curve around the lake and you see some of these rocks are decorated with black markings that could be natural or could be some strange symbols.

More disconcerting are the pillars or standing stones that the traveler mentioned. There are fifteen or so and they seem almost like squared columns, wide at the base with a slight taper as they rise up to heights of 15 and 20 feet. True to his description you can see that chains and manacles dangle from the standing stones. You watch from the edge of the woods and wait to see if anything happens. Nothing does.

There is no other sign of the blue wugs and it is turning to evening. You must hurry along. You follow the woodland keeping one eye to the shoreline and watching for wugs emerging from the lake. So fixated are you on the strange stones and the symbols and the lake shore that you nearly plunge headfirst into a dark, placid river that blocks your path.

You teeter on the bank and recover your balance. As your shock turns to relief you are horrified to see fins emerging from the river nearby. These fins are not on the back of a fish, but rather the heads of the blue wugs climbing from the river all around you. The fins are like ears on some and like the comb of a rooster on others. Their powerful bodies drip with river water as they stride out onto the shore.

There are seven or eight in all, they stand up straight like men and are nearly as tall. They have unwholesome blue flesh, paler on their bellies, and big black eyes that bulge from either side of their amphibian heads. They wear leathery garments around their waists and various strange necklaces and occult trophies hang from their necks.

There is no chance for you to hide, the blue wugs see you. Your only chance now is to flee or fight or simply give yourself up to them. They appear armed with tridents and nets.