Hero Wars
Issaries, Inc. |
The Travels of Biturian VaroshA Visit to Trolltown
The town held about 800 trolls and some 30 permanent
human inhabitants. They all lived in shacks clustered about the questionable
inn. The inn's owner said that trolls occasionally stayed there because it
was the best place in town. Perhaps he meant they found fatter rats there,
or some crisper bedbugs. We chose to stay in the fields with the mules. Norayeep
and I took turns all night standing with the guards to watch over the animals.
As would be expected, the night was the busy time in the troll village. It teemed with trollkin, and many trolls stopped to speak about me with the local humans. None came close that night, though. The next evening trollkin came bearing messages to visit their masters to trade. This is a normal troll custom, but I did not plan to submit to troll custom overmuch. By midnight some bold individuals had come. They wanted fresh butter, copper pots, fresh meat, new spear heads, and silver. They were awed by the plaything gimmicks I carried to amuse such primitives. They wanted to trade all kinds of troll garbage, including one fellow who came with a sedan chair filled with lead bolgs! I told them I wanted dragonteeth, animal tails, lead slingstones with the mark of Kyger Litor, and any pieces of magical lead armor they could spare. On the second night I got some items I desired. One battered drunk of a troll came by with a lead glove and a sad tale of how it was all that was left of his once-glorious son. Norayeep was so touched she even gave him a jack of fermented bison milk. Later I was pleased when I traded two pinwheels and a bronze hammer for eighteen tails of various herd animals. I realized that whom I traded with was one of the troll hunters who delight in stalking the flat plain to kill Eiritha's beasts -- yet he was delighted by those toys! I think the troll mind is more complex than most people credit. The village priestess approached my wares on the third night. She was borne by a sedan chair carried by six burly trolls. A Karrg's Son came before her, clearing the way. A swarmy herd of trollkin dashed about. Several armed guards blackly watched the crowd. The bearers set the sedan to earth as if they were one troll. The priestess never touched the earth, but instead a trollkin ran and sprawled where she was about to put her foot: for trollkin, very well trained. I noted that some better-dressed trollkin followed after this regal presence, evidently to heal those damaged by the impact of her feet. She spoke in halting Pavic, which I understood less well than Darktongue. She would not use her language, mine, or Norayeep's. I realized she either wished to keep her words secret from the other trolls or that she thought I could not bargain in a language I hardly knew. She offered me a necklace of animal skulls and lead beads strung upon knotted human hair. She offered me a set of 12 wooden staves, each one meter long and topped with a differently-carved monster head. She offered me a log which had seven dragonteeth and parts of eight others stuck into it. She offered to trade to me the spells of Blinding, Summon Ancestor, Counter Chaos, or Crush. She asked for Create Market, Path Watch, Sever Spirit, or Turn Undead. Her demands smacked of Heroquesting, and Eye-whisper said she was followed by many spirits, some of them her ancestors and others bound. Of the spells she wished for, I had but two, and one had been used to make our meeting place. If I gave up Path Watch, any ambushers might find us easier pickings. I bargained, finally got a Summon Specific Ancestor, plus the skull necklace and the dragonteeth. I also gave her a pair of silver earrings worth 200 Lunars, and 320 clacks. When we were done, she turned, saying in Darktongue, "The Path opens before me. Business is soon at hand." Then she threw the clacks to the crowd, who trampled many trollkin as they fought for the money. |
