The matriarchal society of the Cetaxi show Karne what mushrooms in the area are edible. In return, he helps them to make fire, and then knives, by taking bone from a giant fish skeleton on the lake’s beach, cutting parts for a knife, and then fire hardening the bone into a cutting device. He helps them to build the huts and gather food from the mushrooms, berries, and hard fruit in the area.
After a week with them, everything is set. They have shelter, food, tools, and fire - all of the ingredients for success. He has learned Cetaxi at the proficient level. They tell him that they live on a few of the islands in the lake, and that they were sent here by their shaman to help bring a tree sacred to the Cetaxi back to health and life. It sits above the village, and helping it is their ultimate goal.
The lake has several Cetaxi settlements around it in various places, but the islands are their true home. The ones on the coast tend to be settlements that have left the Cetaxi ways behind and embraced the ways of the past. The people fight against several large carnivorous beasts in the lake that will attack them, but all of hem are rare. One of them was spotted and they abandoned their boat and swam to shore while a beast tore into the boat, hoping to find one of the Cetaxi in it. These Cetaxi have no knowledge of this world beyond the lake and its shores. No other creatures visit it on this side, but there are rumors that the other Cetaxi settlements on the shores who abandoned the ways of the people have made contact with outsiders. Contact isn’t frowned upon, and strangers are welcome.