Previous installments:
- Introduction - Part One
- Introduction - Part Two
- Introduction - Part Three
- Introduction - Part Four
- Introduction - Part Five
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After Gilgamesh had solved Lidunnamu the oracular Shedu’s conundrum:
“The animal you seek, dwells in a tree in a forest glade which has no name, but may be found lying close to a southwards-running stream and approximately five and a half miles west-by-southwest of a small recently established cave settlement of humans that has been named by them, Camp Ragfried, which itself lies around fourteen miles roughly due west of the larger village of Lasehona, peopled by beings that are like, and yet unlike humans, though not disagreeable to the human eye I think. Lasehona is in the southwest part of the forest they call, The Dreadwood. Which lies within the Kingdom of Keoland, in the sub-continent of the Flanaess, which is a part of the continent of Oerik, in the world they call Oerth.”
“Do you have enough information now, King of Uruk? I grow weary now.”
“Yes…I think we do. Many thanks for your wisdom, Lidunnamu.”
“I trust that you will use this information only for good and just purposes, Gilgamesh.”
“But of course.”
Sumu added: “My King Gilgamesh is famed for his just rule.”
This was enough information for Ur-Zababa to call upon Marduk’s wisdom and cast a Divination to determine precisely what manner of creature it was, that dwelled in the tree, in the glade, in the forest etc that had most recently seen etc.
It was a squirrel.
“Good, it should be stupid enough to easily scry on then.”
And this indeed proved to be successful. The scrying revealed a place that was resplendent with beautiful wildflowers, and colourful fungi. There was also a small-ish looking humanoid with large ears and green-tinted skin sitting with its back to the tree, patting out a rhythm on some goatskin drums. As Ur-Zababa watched, he saw a small, pretty looking humanoid with translucent wings flitter into view and converse with the drummer. They laughed, sharing some joke. She flittered away.
“The shadows are very long, my King, it is late in the day there, later than here I think. There are strange creatures, possibly daeva servants of this matchmaker of Sunaeco’s. They are small and do not look like much of a threat.”
“Keep studying the scene well, Ur-Zababa, while I summon further aid…”
Gilgamesh activated his Ring of Djinni Summoning. The djinn swirled into view and bowed.
“Greetings, Zarif, I have need of your aid.”
“What is you wish, O Master?”
“Peer into the mind of my vassal Ur-Zababa, for he escries a location we wish to travel to. I would have you take us there, Zarif. It is in a world called Oerth.”
The Djinn bowed once more. “Your wish is my command, as always.”
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Via a brief sojourn on the Elemental Plane of Air, Gilgamesh and his party arrived on Oerth on an uninhabited stretch of scrubland a few miles south of Westkeep. They did not expect the Djinn’s plane shift to accurately place them at their goal, so this was not unexpected. They had departed in the springtime of their world but here it was a warm autumnal evening and a little later in the day than in the lands of Uruk.
To what they decided to call North, they espied the walled town, as yet nameless to them; beyond it, a great river, and then marshlands beyond that as far as they could see. To the South, more scrub. West and East the scrub gave way to cultivated lands. Though having not observed the sun’s passage across the sky, and with the unfamiliarity of the few stars they could see twinkling through the dusk, and their total lack of knowledge of the topology of this world, any ideas about compass bearings were fairly arbitrary.
Colours here seemed just a little different, as if the sun’s radiance were not quite the same.
“My King, should we visit that habitation yonder to ask which way to King Sunaeco’s realm?” queried Ur-Zababa.
“I don’t think we have time to deal with that.” Gilgamesh replied. “Sumu has his Find The Path spell, and we have a location for his matchmaker, or a place she has been recently spotted, and Wind Walk still to spare. Let us go there without delay and not alert any spies working for this King Sunaeco to our presence.”
To Sumu’s relief, his prayer to Anu for him to Find The Path for them was answered, confirming that his connection to his god was not severed in this unfamiliar world. Does Anu have worshippers here? He wondered.
A gentle breeze picked up around them which Sumu knew to be guidance from Anu. “That way” he gestured towards the North.
They resumed their Wind Walking, and rose steadily to an altitude of 3000 feet to get a good look around; though after an hour or so of flight it became increasingly difficult to make out anything on the ground as night had fallen. There were two lunar crescents in the sky, both quite slim, one larger than the other, the smaller one shedding a bluish radiance. They descended to a lower altitude, and followed Sumu’s divinely-given instincts. Here and there, they would see the flickering lights of villages and other small habitations where there was evening activity going on.
Another hour and a half of flying through the night air, and they became aware of denser vegetation beneath them, and it was soon apparent they were overflying a forest.
They swooped down and hugged the treetops as they flew onwards for another twenty minutes before Sumu’s instincts told him they were close now and he pulled up the Wind Walking group to talk with them. They landed amidst dense vegetation and whispered in the darkness.
“My King we are very near to our objective now. That way to the East I saw from above a clustering of twinkling lights that may be the village of Lasehona that the oracle described. Northwards, the direction we must go in, I could see nothing to indicate a large dwelling of any kind in our vicinity, though I think I hear music from somewhere. There is a wildness of tone to it that I find a little disquieting, though somehow, also, inviting.”
“Yes, I hear it too, Sumu. Before we go further, I will employ my magics to render us all invisible, so we may better observe our hosts.”
“And I will cast Detect Thoughts, my King.” Sumu responded.
“And I, shall cast Detect Evil” said Ur-Zababa.
“Before that, give me a Tongues spell.”
“Yes O my King, at once.”
In the form of invisible mist they proceeded, concentrating on their respective magics......
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