The Village of Anlomar
To the east and west can be found desolate wilderness in the form of a very anemic tudra, which eventually ends at the foothills of the stone giants keeping the impoverished people from any hope of exodus. What the wolves would leave behind, a sheer deficit of calorie would finish, leaving them no hope of escape.
A ways north of the village begins the cursed woods that separate Anlomar from Castle Naraz beyond. A tangled snarl of ancient growth where the vampires let their necromantic creations roam free.
A few days ago...
A desolate wind blew through the dusty fields outside of Castle Naraz, raising short lived devils in it's wake. It had been a particularly dry season, and the poor denizens of Anlomar were faced with yet another possibility of famine troubling their already delicately difficult existence. The pair of wretched figures were toiling in the fields, trying to coax the poor soil to give them a few more life sustaining tubers. With makeshift tools and sweat they did their best to eke out a meager existence.
They were working on tilling next to the long–dry riverbed, hoping that the soil adjacent to the dusty clatter of stones had some traces of the nutrients that once coursed through. One of the figures had a rather deep cough, great rattling things that often left behind bloodied lips. It's companion tried their best to politely feign disinterest as the continued working. No reason to accentuate the obvious; sooner rather than later only one would remain, while the other would falter and expire. Small comfort, for they both knew that shortly thereafter the hollow remains would arise again and set off for the accursed forest.
It was sometime just past midday, when it happened. One of the figures gathered what little energy they had left to forcefully jostle the other. In a lethargic exchange, they remarked at what their eyes were seeing. A continuous trickle of actual flowing water moistened the stones to their right. They spent a few minutes marveling—For there had been precious few rain this season, and none for a few days—before deciding that their fruitless labors could wait. Wearily and with only the dullest curiosity, they began to follow the water's origin, up to where an opening in the foothill's rocks awaited.
In through this small cave they ventured forth, the water's flow still leading the way. They reached a small aperture within the cave, just beneath chest height. Kneeling down for a closer look, their minds were forced to stagger at what they saw. Standing horizontally, they beheld sunlight refracted through draining water. Water that seemed to fall down sideways through the air towards them, only to then trickle down the cave's floor.
They wouldn't know what it was, but a doorway had opened to another world. They heard voices beyond. Healthy, robust, jovial voices. They summoned what little strength they had and began to shout.