From: ANDOVER@delphi.com
Date: Thu 26 Sep 1996 - 23:11:45 EEST
It's Not Easy Being Grim Chapter One -- Part II -- The Breath of Thanatar
As the ceremony ended, Gim Gim could feel the vast presence of the Mouth
withdrawing. He knew from experience that most of the Cultists would take some
time to recover from the overwhelming experience of the presence of their God.
This temple, unlike most Krarsht temples, had a largely non-human membership,
including obvious chaotic monsters. He could only assume that the Mother Mouth
did not take her usual care here because of the nature of the "neighborhood." He
shouldn't complain, he thought, for it was that shortage of members that could
"pass" in Pavis that had helped make him so major a figure in this temple so
quickly.
He turned to the broo he knew was next to him, murmuring in Pelorian, a language
spoken by frew of the other cultists, "Fineman, let's plan the visit." Although
a broo, Fineman was easily the most intelligent one Gim Gim had ever encountered
(not that the competition was very great). And, of course, he was illuminated,
and like Gim Gim, a member of several cults. Gim Gim knew him well enough now
that he understood his purpose -- spreading the doctrine of Gbaji to the members
of the anti-Chaos cults.
Fineman's methods were a bit direct, but no one could complain about his ability
to control the most unpleasant collections of chaos monsters that Gim Gim had
ever encountered.
The hard part of working with Chaos, thought Gim Gim wryly, was that it was so .
. .chaotic! You couldn't always count on the creatures to act even out of
self-interest. That applied even -- or especially --to the Chaos Gods. Krarsht
was an exception, perhaps because Krarsht, ironically, was a God of Order, which
apparently was not the same as Law.
As an illuminate, Gim Gim had long come to realize that chaotic beings inspired
in themselves the same feelings as the Storm Bulls sensed -- he wondered that
the Bull's worshippers had such an odd empathy for the creatures they hunted --
probably just a result of the fact that Wakboth was Storm Bull's nephew, after
all, if legends were true.
But illumination offered chaotic creatures release from those feelings, if they
chose to use it. It had half released Fineman, into an odd obsession with
illuminating Lightbringers.
As long as Gim Gim kept to his arrangement of occasionally notifying the broo
illuminate of the travel plans of Orlanthi adventurers, Fineman could be
trusted. And as long as Fineman was with him, he could help control any of the
more dangerous broo gangs he might run into.
As the two of them murmured "Krarsht" to the groping undead, and climbed the
ladder leading back to the main tunnel (Gim Gim made sure to go first -- thewre
was no point in touching something just touched by a broo), Gim Gim thought how
much easier it would be for him if Krarsht deigned to tell Her worshippers all
that She knew about Her tunnels. But, apparently, even when She built a new
temple for one of Her followers, She left it up to the consecrating Tongue to
find out on his own what the set-up was.
Therefore, Gim Gim had concluded that the most likely place to find a full map
of the tunnels had to be the Thanatari, who were, after all, knowledge seekers,
of a sort.
The blind priest below, not much more communicative than his master, had never
revealed to Gim Gim how he had made the arrangement with the Thanatari that
provided him with undead trolls and trollkin, both zombies and skeletons, to
protect his own temple (as if krashtkids and krarshtides were not enough).
Despite his previous negotiations with them through third parties, the Thanatari
had a well-deserved reputation for taking anyone's head, or body, or very mind
if they desired it. Luckily, he felt (or hoped) that they knew enough about Gim
Gim not to want to attack him, and nowhere near enough to understand what his
mind might give them.
They were unlikely to disturb the arrangements that kept the Chaos in these
tunnels in relative peace. On the other hand, getting them to pass out
information wouldn't be much easier than getting it from Krarsht and Her
priests.
As the two stepped into the main tunnel and out of the range of the Darkness
Altar, they could see again, by the light of the torches held by the two
monstrous creatures that had preceeded them up the ladder. They had four arms,
a head with no mouth, and and shark-teethed oval mouths where their chests
should be. These were krarshtkid/broos, something which Gim Gim had never seen
before, and would be happy never to see again. He had trouble envisaging how
even a broo might rape a krarshtkid.
Gim Gim glanced in both directions up the three meter wide tunnel. He knew that
more than a kilometer to the East along the main tunnel was a barricade held by
the trolls, while the underground road to Pavis led to the West.
Tonight's trip would take him off this main route. To Gim Gim's knowledge,
besides the Krarsht temple he was leaving, and the Thanatar temple he was
travelling to, there were temples or shrines down here to Thed, Malia, Bagog and
Vivamort, as well as a tunnel that led to the old Cacodemon site on Ogre Island.
The balance of power among these temples was complex. Malia's diseases were
overwhelmingly effective -- against everyone except broos. The Bagog
worshippers were mighty warriors, and mighty stupid, too. Vivamort worshippers
were incredibly powerful, but few and vulnerable to the elements. Thed
worshippers were the most common, and some of their chaos features were quite
powerful, but they were as likely to kill each other as other Chaos creatures.
Thanatari, while less randomly violent than Thed's people, could trust each
other even less than the other Chaos folk -- but they had a special way to
utilize the knowledge of their captured foes. Krarsht had few worshippers, and
the most cautious ones, but the Krarshtkids could penetrate any temple -- even
through its walls. Bagog, Thanatar, and Vivamort could each "convert" others to
their religion, in their own way. Even Thed occasionally recruited through those
who over-used chaotic features. Gim Gim recalled the creature now called
Ravening, once a human.
Fineman and Gim Gim set off down the tunnels, with the two hybrid monsters
carrying torches to illuminate their way. He stopped briefly at the stream, in
order to wash the blood off his mouth and hands. Fineman, fastidious for a
broo, did the same. The multi-armed creatures with them did not bother. After
washing, Gim Gim put on one of the several masks he always carried. He had
heard that the Thanatari temple was mostly human, and he knew that its members
were sometimes in Pavis. While the leaders down there had to know who he was,
there was no point in making his identity certain to them.
Soon, they turned off the large main tunnel into a smaller one that led past a
Krarshtkid hive. The tunnel wandered for several hundred meters through a
series of descending slopes, and then straightened out again. Some 20 meters
ahead lay a pile of skulls and rotting heads, beneath a large gong. This marked
the boundary of the Thanatar temple, and it was a sign to those who knew that
they should stop and shout the code phrase for peaceful intent, a phrase in Dark
Tongue -- "I summon the Master of Doom!."
Those who proceeded further would soon find themselves under attack from the
mad head ghosts who infested the temple. Gim Gim took the opportunity to cast
his Second Sight on himself, prolonging it with the techniques of the Goddess,
and, as a courtesy, did the same for Fineman. The two krarshtkid monsters with
them, he noted, were probably nervous, for they had retreated behind the two
leaders. Of course, given their features or lack of them, it was impossible to
tell WHAT they might be feeling.
With the sight on him, Gim Gim could see the tormented spirits thronging around
the skulls -- most of them human, of all ages and both sexes, "wearing" clothes
and armor of all types, including some that even Gim Gim could not recognize.
The non-humans were less frequent but even more interesting, for they included a
few strange types that Gim Gim had not seen before. It was obvious to Gim Gim
that the chain of occupancy of this temple -- or of heads once "belonging" to
occupants of this temple -- stretched back in time to at least the Second Age.
Gim Gim thought briefly of the odd history of this city, which had joined
together both elf and dwarf, EWF and Godlearners, in that far-past time.
Thanatari might well be among the few people here, or anywhere east of Brithos,
with access to direct memories of that ancient era.
The spirits fell back as half-a-dozen of their masters emerged from the deep
gloom behind the pile of skulls and passed through them. He knew enough of the
general power relations in a temple of this sort to know that the leader of this
party would be a Doom Master, though probably not the Doom Lord, depending upon
how big this temple actually was. From his limited knowledge of this cult, he
knew that very few of its temples held a full complement of members. He did not
mean to inquire too deeply about the structure of this temple.
The Thanatari here all seemed to be human, with the exception of one huge
scorpion man and an undistinguished-looking broo. With the odd double vision of
the spell on him, Gim Gim noticed that the huge scorpion man had a tiny spirit,
while three of the four humans had something strange about their spirits. The
fourth human, evidently the leader of this group, intoned a phrase in
Darktongue, which, as far as Gim Gim could understand, went, "I, the Doom Master
Tralor, offer you passage from the Hand of Than, the Horn of Atyar, and the
Breath of Thanatar." Following this only moderately encouraging phrase, the
lead member of the Thanatari party, a very large and strong man who looked
harmless enough except for the fixed grimace on his sallow features, handed
Fineman and Gim Gim each a little talisman, made of a human finger bone, human
hair, and a shard of tarnished silver in the shape of a horned skull. Once each
of them cast magic into this talisman, they would be safe from the attacks of
the ghosts.
Since their escort was not offered the talisman, Fineman spoke a brief phrase in
what must have been the tongue of broos, and they remained where they were.
The Thanatari broo wandered over to a gong, and struck it once, paused, then
struck it thrice more. What purpose this act served, Gim Gim had no idea.
After casting their little bit of magic into the tokens they held, , Fineman and
Gim Gim stepped forward, a bit tentatively, into and through the spirits. The
spell worked. But the party of half a dozen moved to surround them. Gim Gim
observed that the man behind him held a garotte, while the scorpion man at the
rear of the party held his stinger over his head, ready to sting either Fineman
or Gim Gim if ordered to do so. Gim Gim, however, had left fear behind with
humor many years ago, so he marched into the temple.
It was only then that Gim Gim noticed that the sacrifice of a little power into
the tokens had suddenly lightened the tunnel into which they were proceeding.
So the story that the Thanatari had some special form of light was true.
What he now saw, with his strange double vision, called back to him a phrase he
remembered from his early years of poetic study:
"A dungeon horrible, on all sides round
As one great furnace flam'd; yet from those flames
No light, but rather Darkness visible
Serv'd only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all."
He did not expect the Thanatari to lead him through their inner sanctums, and he
was not disappointed. Similarly, he was not surprised that they chose to
blindfold him before he had gone very far into the now-lighted complex. At
least, they did not strip him of his weapons or possessions, nor had they
dispelled the magic upon him. They did not even attempt to remove his mask.
The man just in front of him took his arm to guide him. He assumed that the
broo was doing the same for Fineman.
As they moved deeper into the temple, his second sight enabled him to see a
variety of shapes moving about the large space they were in. A strange odor came
from one hallway -- not of rot or decay, but rather a rich -- if cloying --
vegetable odor.
Gim Gim's wandering thoughts turned to the economic question -- of supporting so
much chaotic life underground. The Krarsht temple, composed largely of
krarshtkids, at least did not have much of a problem. They could eat the very
ground around them. But how was it possible to feed such gluttons as scorpion
people on the pickings derived from raids above? The shortage of food sources
probably did much to explain the limitations on the numbers of Chaos folk, as
well as leading to the occasional internecine wars that broke out down here.
But apparently the Thanatari, like their Darkness enemies, trolls and black
elves, had discovered ways of growing vegetation underground -- judging by the
odors -- and therefore were at least potentially self-sufficient. Perhaps,
thought Gim Gim with the financial side of his mind, they bartered their food
production with other temples down here. If they didn't, here was a financial
opportunity, and, therefore, a political one.
After a while, it became obvious that they had passed out of the main hall into
a smaller space. The man in front of him released his arm and stepped behind
him. Looking back, Gim Gim could recognize that Fineman's strong spirit was
still there, with a weak spirit which must be that of the huge scorpion man and
a strange-appearing spirit which must be the man with a garotte. As always in
this temple, several ghosts flitted about them. The others had left.
He looked forwrd again to see two spirits in front of them: one with the same
odd appearance as the man with a garotte; the other a mighty blob, meaning a
strong spirit -- upon closer inspection, he saw a number of strange spirits
arrayed around it -- it took him a moment to realize that he must be looking at
a Thanatar Priest with its heads hanging upon it.
"I am the Breath of Thanatar" intoned a voice in front of him. "What do you
seek from the Horned God?"
"Information" replied Gim Gim.
"Information we have" sing-songed the voice in front of him, "but the price is
high."
"I can meet most prices," replied Gim Gim.
"Perhaps not ours" came the reply.
The triteness of this conversation reminded Gim Gim that people were as stupid
as their Gods; well, he thought, whether Gods represented their people or people
represented their Gods, or both together represented some greater third
principle, it was perhaps too much to expect much difference between them.
Especially in the case of a God without a head, who functioned at all only by
stealing the brains of others.
He repressed an involuntary sigh, and tried to get himself back into the right
frame of mind for this dialogue. "Pomposity and cliche," he said to himself,
"Pomposity and cliche."
His silence led to a further comment from the Thanatari: "Our God is not a God
of barter, but One who takes what He wants."
"I can offer you access to something you may want, but only if you give me
access to what I want."
"Vengeance on your God's enemies, I am told."
"True. But how can you offer us vengeance?"
"You may ask Fineman here. I offer Orlanthi to him, and occasionally Storm
Bulls to the Krarsht cult. I know that you, too, hate the Bull, as do I, but to
you I can offer something even more valuable -- Lhankor Mhys -- that means
knowledge."
"I want your knowledge of these tunnels around us."
"We reveal our tunnels to no one."
"Not YOUR tunnels -- the other tunnels around here."
"You come from Krarsht -- surely She tells her followers what Her creatures have
built?"
"Sometimes She does -- but mostly the Mother Mouth uses that organ to consume,
not to counsel."
"As my Master uses his skills to take, not to give -- as is proper."
"If you give something to me, you will be able to take more."
"This is wonderful," thought Gim Gim. "Brief sentences, meaning almost nothing,
and everyone thinks you are profound. This reminds me of Nysalor Riddles. In
truth, Brevity is not the soul of Wit, Brevity is the soul of Pomposity."
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End of Glorantha Digest V3 #211
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