fragment of a letter describing strange incident in Tarsh

From: markmohrfield_at_zoomtown.com
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 15:12:45 -0500

You were quit right, cousin, that the story had been exaggerated and distorted in the retelling. To think that the Crimson bat and the Crater Makers would be required here, and all furthest reduced to cinders! The truth of what happened is less dramatic, though perhaps just as strange. There we were, preparing for the annual harvest festival when we were greeted with the sight of a Moon Boot hovering above the city. This caused quite a bit of excitement, as they are even a rarer sight in these parts than in the Heartland. Speculation on why it was here ranged from a visit by the Emperor himself to, among the more conservative inhabitants, the delivery of the Crater Makers or some other powerful magical unit which would destroy the city. I was about to point out the unlikelihood of any of these when suddenly, an object was dropped out of the boat. At first I thought it was some magician about to show off his flying magic, but the object continued to plummet straight towards the earth, and was soon followed by a second, then several more. It was a local with some far seeing magic who first discerned the horrible truth; “Oh Great Goddess, they’re DURULZ!” he shouted. The next several moments were utter chaos as the creatures began to hit the earth. Several struck the road in a manner I can only compare to sacks of soggy grain, and one fell right through the roof of a small building. My notion that this might be some novel form of execution was dispelled when the Moon Boat stopped discharging the things and landed. Now things become even stranger. I saw a man on the boat opening a hatch, only to be attacked by emerging Durulz. I must say they seemed surprisingly organized considering their reputation. At this point the authorities finally arrived and managed to get things under control, though I gather several durulz , including one notable bandit named Yozarian or somesuch, managed to escape. It turned out that the whole thing had been organized by a minor noble name Arthur Son-of –Carls, the man I had seen on the Moon Boat. Apparently he was a member of the Cult of Freedom and had actually been trying free the Durulz publicly as statement of support for these creatures! As he was led away in chains, he was heard to say “Goddess as my witness, I thought Durulz could fly.”

Happy Thanksgiving
--

markmohrfield
e-mail: markmohrfield_at_zoomtown.com


End of Glorantha Digest, Vol 11, Issue 334


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