Dear Felicitus,
Thank you for your last letter. That juicy little bit
of gossip you passed on has proven MOST useful.
You asked how the Emperor's last progress went.
It went well for the most part, a bit dreary at times,
all that tedious ceremony you know. I say it went
well for the most part and I'm sure that from
Moonson's viewpoint the entire thing went well,
lots of tributes, lots of accolades, nubile virgins,
gold, magical geegaws, etc., etc. The part that
didn't go so well from the viewpoint of the rest
of his train was the visit to Alkoth. (May the
Goddess strike me down on the spot if I even
consider setting foot in that place again. What
a nightmare it was (and I mean that quite literally)).
We approached the place from the north. I have
never seen such a sight, absolutely enormous
walls reaching far into the sky. We saw it from
many key miles away. The locals say the walls
are actually Shargash's girdle and having seen
them I believe it. I swear on my mother's grave
that there is no structure in Glamour that you
would be capable of being seen above those walls.
Because of the towering walls it is almost always
perpetually dark in the city. The locals are forced
to rely on artificial light almost constantly and this
just adds to the charm of the place. The locals can
tell you what time of day it is by observing where
Yelm's brilliance is touching the tower tops, so the
entire city acts as a giant sun dial. The walls are
covered on the exterior with giant runes and strange
carvings which it is not safe to pay too much attention
to. Upon entering the city you are immediately struck
by three things (if one of the locals doesn't first strike
you with his mace, more on that later). The smell, as
the whole city has a carnal reek (due to the omnipresent
funeral pyres), the fact that every single male in sight,
whether child, adolescent, mature male or doddering
elder are all armed, and thirdly the oppressive
atmosphere. The atmosphere doesn't seem to affect
the locals, nor did it affect Moonson or the Arch-cenobite
(and why would it affect that bastard?) but it did affect
the rest of us. We had been warned against using any
magic that would allow us to sense or communicate
with spirits as the place is said to be rife with the
spirits of the slain. All of us followed the warning
but it didn't help one of the more overly-sensitive
Deezola priestesses who was driven raving mad by
what she characterized as the incessant pleas for
surcease by the lost souls crowding the place.
(She seems to have made the switch to Jakaleel
quite successfully though the constant giggles
and shrieks of, "Stop tickling me!" are a bit much
to take). Even I, who has never been accused of
being overly sensitive could feel the oppressive
weight of the dead there. (In fact I had miserable,
scary dreams the whole time I was there).
Moonson even left most of the healers camped
outside of the city to spare them the stress. As
oppressive, miserable and scary as the city was,
it was nothing compared to the Alkothi themselves.
Actually, the run of the mill worshipers of Alkoth
were not too bad it was the omnipresent Shargashi
that were bad. Imagine if you will a dark, gloomy
city, infested with unseen, unsettling presences and
reeking like the charnel house it is. Bad enough no?
Well, then to make the image of hell all the more
real add some hellspawn. Picture hordes of cold
eyed, dark, curly haired, bearded hellions armed to
the teeth stalking the streets and the picture is
complete. The Shargashi look at everyone not of
Alkoth as a potential sacrifice to their dark god.
(In fact Moonson was greeted with the sacrifice
of a hecatomb of "prisoners", all volunteers we
were assured. The screaming seemed to indicate
otherwise). The Shargashi are very proud of
themselves, their foul city and their dark god.
They take great pride in their appearance and all
of them have long curly hair. The adult men all
have great curly beards hanging to their waists.
They take their honour very seriously. Any slight,
real or imagined was enough reason to start a fight.
We lost two Scimitars before Moonson sent the rest
of them out to guard the healers. Unlike the other
stops on the progression Moonson was not gifted
with anything I would personally consider all that
interesting, unless you consider gilded skulls, war
trophies and dejected prisoners of war to be
interesting. All in all I consider the whole visit
to be the low point in my journeys. Of course I
have yet to visit Dorastor...
Yours as devotedly as is expedient,
Fresser
Oliver D. Bernuetz
www.gerocities.com/TimesSquare/realm/5545
bernuetz.oliver_at_cbsc.ic.gc.ca
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #14
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