Scene 9: La Ciudad po el Rio
The voice from within instructs you to wait there for the elders.
After about ten minutes, a small hidden door opens at the base of a timber wall. Three figures emerge, dressed head to toe in slick leather outfits with masks that feature long beaks. Any character with the History: Pre-Rifts skill will recognize these outfits as being something worn by plague doctors in Europe from the Dark Ages through the Reformation. To anyone else, it probably just looks like they are dressing like birds.
The lead figure speaks with the voice of an old woman in thickly accented Spanish. "Hola, I am called Maria Anna, and I speak for village. You were sent away for your own protection as much as for our protection. This village has been infected by a plague from out of the Rifts, and we have no cure for it." She nods to the figure to her left, a bent older woman in a plague doctor outfit. "This is our Body Fixer, Maria Lucia." She nods to a tall and skinny figure to her right. "And this is Father Roberto, our Priest."
"The wild dead will be out tonight. They come every month on the same night, but if you hide within your robot, they will leave you alone. You would be too much trouble while the village is the easier target, especially with our strongest villages weak and sick. We have our plans for the walking dead when they come for us."
"I suggest going in one of two directions to be safe for the night. You may cross the river here. The water is shallow enough, and the walking dead will not follow you to the northern side of the Rio Grande. You may travel due west and you will reach another village in some Golden Age ruins within half a hour on horse. The people there are much less friendly than even us, but they will accept you, lumberjacks."
Maria Anna is a Vagabond who is eyeballing the group. She has decided that you are an okay enough bunch. She adds, "Congratulations on your recent wedding."