[HQ Ignorance] Scene 107: The Gopher Shaman

[Lev Lafayette]

*bump*

On Sat, 2010-04-17 at 12:15 +1000, Lev Lafayette wrote:
> Scene 107: The Gopher Shaman
> 
> The Gord'Un band take the unsual collection of individuals - Aalmon, The
> Fourth and Icthya - to a solitary hut among to a few trees on a slight
> hill, about an hour from where the visitors to Pent had made their camp.
> Inside the hut, was another two Gord'Un armed with spears, and a couple
> of rought sleeping mats. Most prominent was a small shrine with a
> roughly-hewn statue of a gopher against one wall, and a hole in the
> centre of the hut's floor. "Here you enter the land of the Gopher
> people", spoke one of the primitives. "You must leave horse behind.
> Horse too big to fit in hole."
> 
> The scout spoke truly. After a small landing, the hole lead into an
> underground passageway, barely high enough for Aalmon to avoid hitting
> his head, for he was several inches taller that the Gord'Un, or wide
> enough for any to march in anything other than single file.
> Nevertheless, the Gord'Un moved speedily through the ground, one
> muttering words of Power and causing a modest light to shine at the tip
> of his spear. "Not want new friends to trip and fall", he explained
> matter-of-factly.
> 
> For an hour group scampered through the tunnels, twisting this way and
> that, passing a number of intersections and ceiling holes which grew
> more numerous in number as the journey continued, eventually reaching a
> point where they would be encountered every minute. For the strangers it
> was remarkable to see how the various groups adhered to a right-of-way
> policy at the intersections. Aalmon in particular thought of how great
> this would be in a human city, if only people could adopt it. But for
> those with short legs, such as The Fourth, it was beginning to get quite
> exhausting. 
> 
> Just when the trollkin thought he'd about reached the limit of his
> ability to run, the group stopped with one of their number entering a
> hole in the passage wall. After some moments he returned, muttered some
> words to his leader who then turned to the party. "You go in here. This
> is where shaman live. Tell you what to do."
> 
> The journey through the hole was initially conducted on all fours,
> eventually opening up into a chamber. There, surrounded by bones an
> sticks that adorned the walls, was a wild woman, dressed in furs, thin
> and of middle-age.
> 
> "I am Niantic of the Three Burrows Nest. Our tribe is Four Hills. Our
> people are the Gord'Un, sons and daughters of Grandfather Gopher and
> Flash Gord'Un. Our nests are great. Our ancestors are great. The earth
> makes us great. It is from the earth that we can trap and kill the Horse
> Demon. When the Sun fell to the sky and burned the woods of the Aldryami
> and the Chur-Un attacked the lands, we stopped them."
> 
> "We dig far into the earth, because our people are many and growing in
> number. Our sisters are fertile, our men have great seed. But as our
> tunnels grow, one digs too far. One digs where it shouldn't. And now
> Chaos stalks our homes."
> 
> "You answer the Lightbringer summons, enlo? That surprise all. Creature
> of darkness who answers lightbringer call? A trollkin not scared of the
> rays of sunshine, or the light? And travel with ... ", she pauses,
> searching her mind for the right word, "... courier of the Red Moon
> people who can stop Darkness, but wants to travel faster than a horse?
> And a tree person?"
> 
> "This I must hear more. I promise you, from the spirit of the gopher, we
> can take you where you need to go. But you must face Chaos, for we tried
> and failed - and now it stalks our tunnels. But first you must tell me
> more. You are all so strange."
> 
> 
> 


-- 
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?