Our laws are strict; indeed strict enough to pass for just in a poor light. There are a great many crimes in our world that warrant death, or a lifetime of imprisonment. Yet, the king in his wisdom, decreed that we offer these condemned criminals another choice; a way of life that would serve the kingdom and possibly save it.
The king sent them to Moonshadow, to seek out the opening of the other portal, a promise of amnesty for all should they succeed.
It is said that, to date, some six hundred prisoners have been sent through the portal to the fort. They are well stocked with food, supplies and other necessities of survival in that abyssal realm. This, however, has done little to assuage the vast attrition rate inherent in these expeditions. Then again these men and women were dead already, better they serve as salvation to the kingdom than rot on a gibbet or in a cell yes?
Alas there have been some who spurned this second chance and deserted; men and women who have found other small warded hideaways to live out their lives on cursed Moonshadow. They prey upon others for food and supplies, and are almost as great a threat as the denizens of that umbral place. Of course these are only minority cases, or so the reports tell.