Thursday, March 27, 2014

All At Sea (what thing lurks within the deep fathoms, unbeknownst to men?)

Over at the Outer Sanctum, a game is a foot. The circus is at sea.

I found this on the web which may flavour the broth:

Sea Monsters From A to Z!
Art by Georgi Markov. (Check end of the post for a link to his whole portfolio)
Welcome to Sea Monster Week on Tor.com! In honor of the launch of Shark Week over on the Discovery Channel, we’ve decided to dive into the world of some of our favorite creatures ever with articles, book excerpts and more.
But just what is a “sea monster” anyway? Well, we’ve given ourselves a pretty broad definition to work with. Here’s the Stubby the Rocket definition:
Sea Monster (noun): Any sufficiently awesome water-dwelling creature that we perceive as being monstrously cool.
So, with that in mind, prepare yourself for the greatest A-Z list of sea monsters ever compiled, just below the surface of this blog.
 
The Architeuthis attacks a sperm whale in the Natural History Museum
A
Abe Sapien (Hellboy): An icthyo sapien, transformed as the result of a strange ritual.
Aquaman (DC Comics): Sovereign of the sea who can breathe underwater and can communicate with sea creatures (either in their own language or telepathically—pretty cool either way).
Afanc (Welsh Mythology): A lake monster who is sort of like a crocodile, beaver or a dwarf.
Architeuthis (Real Life): A giant squid.
Aspidochelone (Medieval Bestiaries): A gargantuan whale or sea turtle that would trick sailors to landing on its back, then drown them. Snap.

Blinky the Three-Eyed Fish
Battletoads (Battletoads): Toads who do battle.
Beisht Kione (Irish Mythology): Fishermen are afraid of this thing. Its name means “The Beast With a Black Head.“
Blinky the Three-Eyed Fish (The Simpsons): A fish with three eyes, mutated by radiation.
Bloop (Real Life): Mysterious, extremely powerful, ultra-low frequency sound detected by NOAA. No one knows where it comes from. Probably a monster.

Cthulhu Rising by somniturne on deviantART
C
Capricorn (The Zodiac): A goat with a fish’s tail.
Carcharodon Megalodon (Prehistoric Times): A giant shark that lived in the Cenozoic Era.
Cetus (Greek mythology/constellation): Most of the sea monsters taken out by Heracles and Perseus were referred to as “Cetus,” which could mean an extraordinarily big fish, shark or sea monster.
Champ (Cryptozoology) The name given to the legendary lake monster which supposedly resides in Lake Champlain, located along the Vermont-New York-Canadian borders.
Charybdis (The Odyssey): Basically a giant whirlpool (or monster who causes massive whirlpools) designed to screw over Odysseus.
Chessie (Cryptozoology): Like Nessie, only in the Chesapeake Bay.
Clover (Cloverfield): A weird rip-off of Godzilla that stomps out of the ocean.
Creature from the Black Lagoon (Creature from the Black Lagoon): A Gill-Man who only wants to be left alone.
Crocosaurus (Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus) A large, dinosaur-like crocodile.
Cthulhu (H.P. Lovecraft): One of the Great Old Ones. Part octopus, part human, part dragon, all badass. Watch out.

Dinoshark
D
Dianoga Trash Monster (Star Wars): A thing with one eye that pokes out of trash pools but has lots of tentacles below the surface.
Dinoshark (Up From the Depths): Pretty much a shark who is from the Mesozoic Era and enjoys chomping and has a toothy dinosaur face.
The Dobhar-chú (Irish Folklore): Monstruous water hound—a dog/otter combo thing which some people claim to have actually seen.
The Terrible Dogfish (Le avventure di Pinocchio): In the book, the thing that swallows Pinocchio. Called “Monstro” in the Disney movie (where it’s more of a whale).

Elephant koi
E
Elephant koi (Avatar: The Last Airbender): Giant fish that are fun to ride.

Fiji Mermaid
F
Fiji Mermaid (Real life): A sideshow creation consisting of the top half of monkey and the lower half of a fish.

Godzilla/Gojira
G
Giganto (Marvel Comics): An enemy of The Fantastic Four.
Globster (Real Life/Cryptozoology): A combination of the words “glob” and “monster.” Weird organic masses that wash ashore and can’t be identified as the carcass of any known animal.
Godzilla/Gojira (Gojira, et. al): A prehistoric monster who was sleeping underwater until he was rudely awakened by nuclear testing.
Grindylows (English folklore) Best known for grabbing children from the edge of lakes and ponds; in the Harry Potter series, they appear as small, horned water demons.
Gunakadeit (Tlingit Myth): A sea monster who brought a starving village good luck and prosperity.
Gungans (Star Wars): Amphibian residents of the planet Naboo. Everyone is smarter than them.

Hippocamp by Who Stole My Name on deviantArt
H
Hippocamp (Greek Mythology): A sea horsie!
Hydra (Greek Mythology/Real Life): The Lernaean hydra was a many-headed, serpent-like beast killed by Heracles. Also a genus of tiny, predatory, fresh-water animals with regenerative abilities.

Detail of Iku Turos II by Nuctameron on deviantArt
I
Iku-Turso (Finnish): Total jerk of a sea monster. Terrifying. Sometimes mentioned as the god of diseases and/or war in Finnish mythology.

Spielberg and Jaws
J
Jaguar Shark (The Life Aquatic) Murder of Esteban. Enemy of Steve Zissou. It remembers you.
Jaws (Jaws): Though it doesn’t technically have a name, we call it Jaws. Smile, you son of a b*tch.
Jonah’s Whale (Bible): Big whale that likes to swallow dudes up.
Jörmungandr (Norse Mythology): AKA, the Midgard Serpent, offspring of Loki and Angrboða and archnemesis of Thor. When he lets go of his own tail the world will end.

The Kraken. Totally released.
K
Kappa (Japanese Folklore): A water sprite. Sometimes hairy.
Kelpie (Celtic Mythology): A water horse with ghostly trappings. Sometimes appears as a beautiful woman. Not to be trusted.
Koizilla (Avatar: the Last Airbender): At the end of season 1, Aang fuses with La, the Ocean Spirit to become Koizilla: the wrath of the ocean embodied in awesome fish-monster form.
Kraken (Greek Mythology. Also, real life.): Sometimes referred to as the giant squid. But also a thing released in Clash of the Titans. (Don’t release it!)

The Loch Ness Monster (Nessie)
L
Land Shark (Saturday Night Live): A deadly creature that will get into your apartment and eat you no problem.

The Lady in the Lake (Arthurian legend): Strange woman best known for lying in ponds, distributing swords. Also, author Raymond Chandler’s drag name.
Leviathan (The Bible): The Original Biblical Sea Monster. Hangs out near the Hellmouth.
Lion Turtle (Avatar: the Last Airbender): Giant, ancient, looks like an island, gives pretty great advice.
The Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Andersen/Disney): The heroine of one of Andersen’s most beloved tales, the Little Mermaid falls in love with a human prince, and...well, the Disney version is much less complicated. Very big in Copenhagen.
Lobstrosity (The Dark Tower):  More like beach monsters than sea monsters, these things are scorpion/lobster mash-ups.
Loch Ness Monster (Real Life?/Cryptozoology):  A possible plesiosaur rumored to be living in the Loch Ness in Scotland. Often called “Nessie.” Dislikes American Idol.
Lusca (Real Life?): Caribbean sea monster. Associated with globsters. (Not with Johnny Depp).


A rare sighting of the creature know as Michael Phelps
M
Makara (Hindu Mythology): Any creature that is half land animal on top with the bottom half of an acquatic creature; so: person + seal, or wildebeest + whale. Makara!
Marsh-wiggle (Narnia Chronicles): Extremely private, pessimistic humanoid creatures that live in the marshes of Narnia. 
Mega Shark (Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus, Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus): A large Shark who is the sworn enemy of Giant Octopus, Crocosaurus and good taste.
 
Melusine (European Folklore): Female spirit who hangs out in springs and rivers. Kind of like a mermaid.
 
Merpeople (Folklore from All Over): People who live in the water. Often they have fish tails. 
 
Michael Phelps (Real Life?): Humanoid able to travel amazing speeds in the water. Resides only in human-constructed bodies of water. 
Moby Dick (Moby Dick): A misunderstood white whale who only wants to give Captain Ahab a love tap.
Mokèlé-Mbèmbé (Congo Legend): A water-based creature from the Congo River basin that some people believe to be a dinosaur.
Morgawr (Cryptozoology/Real Life?): Supposedly, this sea monster lives in Falmouth Bay in Cornwall.

Naiads of the Sea by Gustave Dore
N
Naiads (Greek Mythology): Nymphs who live in streams, wells, brooks and other small bodies of water. Generally nudists.
NTIs (The Abyss): The shiny underwater aliens (or “Non-terrestrial Intelligence”) encountered in The Abyss.

Ogopogo
O
Ogopogo (Cryptozoology/Real Life?) A  monster living in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, CA. Has perhaps been around since the 19th century. Beautiful singing voice.
Orca (Orca): A killer whale on a vengeance-fueled rampage.

Piranhaconda
P
Piranhaconda (Piranhaconda): Exactly what it sounds like. A giant snake merged with a piranha. There were actually two of them in the movie.
Poseidon (Greek Mythology): Poseidon was very big in old Greece. Big time sea god. Went under the name Neptune when he was laying low.
Proteus (Greek Mythology): An early sea god. Homer called him the ”Old Man of the Sea.“ (But never “Papa.”)

Qalupalik detail by joy-ang on deviantArt
Q
Qalupalik (Inuit Mythology): Lives in the sea. Green skin and long creepy fingernails.

The fog horn brought it out of the sea.
R
The Rainbow Fish (Hinduism): This whale-sized fish ate Vishnu once. It’s scales were made of fire, ice, grass, and lightning.
Rhedosaurus, the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, “The Fog Horn”): A dinosaur who rises up out of the sea and trashes a lighthouse, in Bradbury’s story; in the film version, he pretty much trashes the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.
Rock Lobster (The B-52’s): Watch out for these guys. They hang out with sea robins, piranhas, narwhals and bikini whales.
Rusalka (Slavic Mythology): An underwater succubus demon. Bad news.

Sharktopus enraged
S
Saturnynians (Doctor Who): Fish from Space. Occasionally buxom.
Scylla (Greek Myth): Lived across the way from Charybdis. Had four eyes, six necks and twelve tentacle-legs, with a cat’s tale and a bunch of dog-heads around her waist. Not to be messed with.
Sea Hag (Popeye): A sea witch with a weird, unrequited crush on Popeye the Sailor.
Selkies (Irish, Icelandic, Faroese, and Scottish Folklore): Two for the price of one! Seals in the sea, humans on land. Whoa.
Sharktopus (Sharktopus): Genetically engineered half-shark, half-octopus. Has its own theme song. Is the best.
Sigmund (Sigmund and the Sea Monsters): Friendly sea monster shunned by his family for refusing to frighten humans, star of trippy, puppet-centric 70s TV show created by Sid and Marty Krofft.
Sirens (Greek Mythology, Starbucks Coffee): Sea-dwelling singers of deadly songs that lure sailors to their doom. Also, apparently a symbol of being overly-caffeinated.
Snorks (Hanna-Barbera) Underwater knock-offs of The Smurfs. Hated by all. Do not, under any circumstances, “come swim with the Snorks.”
Supergator (Dinocroc Vs. Supergator): A gator who is super. Causes destruction.

A Tlanusi’ yi giant leech about to suck this guy.
T
Tiamat (Babylonian Mythology): Primordial ocean/chaos monster who created the cosmos by mating with the god of fresh water.
Tlanusi (Cherokee Legend): A giant, river-dwelling leech.
Triton (Greek Mythology): Poseidon’s son. (And the Little Mermaid’s dad).

Ursula at her most sea-monsterest
U
Umibōzu (Japanese Legend, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers): If you talk to one of these guys, they’ll tip your ship over. Just for fun.
Unagi (Avatar: The Last Airbender): Gigantic carnivorous eel encountered by Team Avatar off Kyoshi Island; feeds on elephant koi and anything else that gets in its way.
Ursula the Sea Witch (Disney): Loves poor, unfortunate souls. Part person, part octopus. Steals voices/souls. Extremely sassy.

Vampire squid
V
Vampire squid (Real life): A squid that just looks super scary, with red eyes and a “cloak” of webbing connecting its arms; its Latin name, “Vampyroteuthis infernalis,” literally means “vampire squid from Hell.”

A Star Whale with Starship U.K. on its back.
W
Whales (Star) (Doctor Who): Poor creatures who travel through space and randomly have obnoxious humans build spaceships on their backs.
Watcher in the Water (Lord of the Rings): In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and his companions are attacked by this tentacled creature, which lurks in the lake outside the mines of Moria.
Xenomorphs underwater
X
Xenomorph (acquatic variety, Alien: Resurrection): Aliens that reproduce by implanting in humans and popping out of their chests. They are relentless underwater, like a toothy, acid-blooded Esther Williams.

An early drawing of a Yacu-mama
Yacu-mama (South American Mythology): Giant water snake, lives in the Amazon. Will eat anything that gets close to it.

A Zin. Artist unknown.
Z
Zin (West African Foklore:) Malevolent water spirits that live in the Niger River.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Circus Tricks and Publications

Over at Lulu, we have: Two new items! The huge murder mystery solo, The Poisoned Chalice, and issue one of Magic City Mayor (http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=Print+Products&keyWords=Mark+Thornton&x=7&y=6&sitesearch=lulu.com&q=)

At DriveThru, Magic City Mayor also appears as does the pdf version of Two Bites At The Cherries:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse.php?manufacturers_id=4780

Meanwhile, Mad Roy has gone beserk at character creation! What a guy!

The Roustabelles are mostly spouses of the 'Bouts'. They do all the jobs in the circus that don't involve heaving large objects about. Some are specialists in sewing and weaving and play a large part in keeping the costumes of the stars in good shape. They do the cooking, baking, feeding, laundry, and other such chores. No slackers in this bunch either. Canzoni won't tolerate it. Most are pretty tough and carry a knife (2 dice) and a lot of them are expert with a thrown rock (2 dice) or a sling (2 dice). All the circus crew fight dirty in hand to hand and are good at it.
Atts are ST/CN  IQ DX LK CH

Ann - 11 13 9 9 14
Bea -  12 14 12 9 10
Carrie - 12 14 13 9 10  - expert in charge of baking
Debra - 10 18 11 14 16 - chief cook
Edna - 11 12 15 11 14 - in charge of costumes
Fay - 17 13 12 12 5
Gayla - 12 16 11 12 12
Helen - 13 12 14 14 10  seamstress
Irma - 9 11 12 11 15
Jean - 19 15 15 13 11  seamstress
Karla - 14 15 9 11 9  former rogue delver
Leah - 14 18 (wz 18) 9 10 9 - a rogue with healing as a talent +5  expert vetanarian
Minnie - 13 9 12 17 17 - Unmarried camp girl - very popular with unmarried 'bouts'
Naoma - 13 14 12 10 17
Opra - 13 14 12 10 14
Pearl - 9  14 9 15 11
Rose - 10 15 15 11 13 - in charge of costume jewelry
Sandy - 9 18 (wz 18) 14 9 10 - a 'hedge' witch   knows some dangerous fighting magic
Tammy - 17 9 17 9 13 - expert costume maker and seamstress
Uma - 14 11 10 12 9
Vera - 9 10 12 11 14
Wanda - 12 11 12 14 18
Yalla - 18 14 12 11 12 - former warrior and delver
Zoe - 11 10 12 14 13
Queenie - 10 15 14 11 11 - seamstress
Chloe - 14 11 11 15 10

Monday, March 17, 2014

More Circus Performers

Again atts are st/cn/iq/dx/lk/ch/ and wz where important

Gorgus 14/16/11/10/16/11 former Uruk warrior level one
Toadie  12/16/10/11/9/7  would be more at home in a swamp than anyone else here
Felina    20/20/12/20/10/18 can communicate with felines of all types
Treeyahji  8/9/17/8/10/18  has good hearing and spies for Studger when asked
Blumphoma 3/20/9/3/6/7  - Murgo's lady friend - (he loves fat women) pretty helpless as a rule
Phlemm  12/12/13/13/14/12  an expert at arson
Schwarts  10/10/9/8/7/5  basically a recluse - hates his ugliness
Cameelyah  4/12/16/18/7/19/ wz 30  knows a lot of fairy magic
Frakis       10/15/12/11/13/14  enjoys displaying his hairy body to others
Flexx         12/12/13/16/10/13  does pretty good for a man with his condition
SSShuussshhanna  8/19/13/11/16/17  wz 15  can communicate with and control serpents
Seeyalla   7/12/19/9/20/17  wz 24  a true witch  can communicate with dead but hates to do so
Mergol the Mystic  10/12/18/17/16/5  expert stage magician and knows some real magic too

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Circus Folk Stats

Here are some details on the performers from Canzoni's Circus given as st/cn/iq/dx/lk/ch:

Wikam  13/15/16/12/13/15  The horse rider  talent +6 for horses
Marjo    12/16/15/13/14/16  His spouse  horse talent +5
Saldo    16/20/13/19/18/17  the dog trainer  very good with canines  +4
Espera  15/19/12/18/19/20  his wife and fellow trainer  +4
Felippo  19/17/11/16/18/18  the chief acrobat - a very dexterous man  +5
Fafonna 18/16/10/15/17/17  his wife - a bit of a flirt - skilled acrobat +4
Foxey     18/15/12/17/16/17  male acrobat  +3
Fedorah  17/19/13/14/19/18 his partner  a very attractive lady  +4
Lupim      13/18/15/18/17/17  walks the high ropes and rides various cycles on them  +5
Massanga 12/19/16/19/20/20  dances on the high wires and ropes  +6
Bloch       18/16/12/17/18/17  the trapeze group chief  very jealous of his female partners flirtations
Dekker     19/15/13/18/20/18  the other trapeze man
Avera       17/14/15/19/19/20  dekker's partner, but a big flirt too. this is a rather stormy group
Santa       16/15/16/17/18/20  Wants to marry someone rich and it drives Bloch crazy.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Arena of Khaboom - Sponsors Needed

There will be 72 available opponents for this solo (I have written the combat sections for 22 so far as well as pretty much all the background text).

I like the idea of each opponent having a Trollhalla sponsor (no money is required for this!).

Here is my list so far - any other suggestions? (ignore the numbers)




  1. Tzhett  89878
  2. Yorrdamma Vrash      70888
  3. Khaghbboommm        69690
  4. Vella    64550
  5. Marrkh Guh    62405
  6. Charrl Flemmning       62369
  7. Starff Orenggk            58322
  8. Vhennrronnn   56777
  9. Uncle Cranky  56685
  10. Naharaht
  11. Jherrrii 4999
  12. Drreww           4921
  13. Ealnaatha Vaelmarrri  4548
  14. G'noll  4298
  15. Dekhurrrsio     4253
  16. Sligo   
  17. M'oskqorrg      3397
  18. Quoghmyre     233
  19. Trrrommm       197
  20. Grrraall            178
  21. Mahrundl        173
  22. Khenn Arrth    163
  23. Khayd'haik      300
  24. Anen Kram     155
  25. Perrryton         137
  26. Darrgh Tarrrho            136     
  27. Corencio         
  28. Kopfy  280
  29. Branderwydd 
  30. Simrion            188
  31. Drreww           212
  32. Mist-Tikk Foo-all        146
  33. Trrebmahl
  34. Ramsen Triton
  35. Cram
  36. Rrrhommbus
  37. Perrryton
  38. Galadrion
  39. Starrtrroll
  40. Krotaajj
  41. Grumlahk
  42. Garlahk
  43. Deviadasi
  44. Middleclaw
  45. Kroommmp
  46. Toad-Killer Dog
  47. Boggwoppit
  48. Fahrr Lhrggz
  49. Zanshin
  50. Korrraq
  51. Werrrdna
  52. Taran Dracon
  53. Mhegrrrim Skulltosser
  54. Seleuki
  55. Gaptooth
  56. Geoffreh
  57. Benbonewilly
  58. Gorg Wa
  59. Slloyd
  60. Peer Balefire
  61. Ayrik Racer
  62. Lix Oakheart



Thursday, March 13, 2014

A Good Thing

I have just had three teenages from my Friday game buy T&T rulebooks. It would be nice to think that one day they will become Trollhalla members. One has just handwritten a mini solo.

Whenever three are gathered...

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Clara's Confession



Clara froze in horror. The marble slab she was chained to by one slim ankle resounded as something wet rebounded from its ungiving polished surface. She felt the chill of the marble supplanted by something far colder, something that was making its way up her back to the nape of her lovely neck. The flimsy veils she had been wearing would not have warded off this discomfort and they had gone as soon as she had fallen into the hands of the Hyrkanian slavers that had been delighted to add such a rare delicacy to the cargo of living suffering they had brought to these wasted lands for the misuse of its chaotic ruler.
The dripping turned into a running stream and the liquid pooled and then spread over Clara’s shapely legs. It was warm, but not warm enough to dispell the chill that gripped her. She sensed that it was more than warm, it was sticky too and she could refuse herself no longer the image that impinged itself onto her mind’s eye. At that, she forced her eyes upwards and saw what she dreaded suspended on a large butcher’s hook above the diadem. Her brother hung high beyond her reach, eyes rolled back to show the whites, wrists cut open to gaping maws, leaking life fluid copiously to the sister stationed helplessly below.
The soldiers watched with disease. Hardened by years crossing dusty deserts and hacking a path through forests filled with night fiends, they would to a man have been quick to misuse the finely formed girl displayed so temptingly before them. But even they had no taste for this sickening spectacle, no appetite for what might happen when the far-feared lord of these lands came upon his pretty little gift. They remained as motionless as the young woman though, knowing full well what would be their fate if they failed to toe the line set by their ogrish captain. Where he was presently, they did not know. He did not need to attend in person to be certain that his men would do his will. His was such a well oiled operation that the list of those skilled and vicious men wanting to join would always be greater than the number he had executed as examples of his intolerance, of his iron fist.
Their attention was yanked away from such thoughts by a sound from the diadem. It was not a sound any of them might have expected, a sound that a cat might have made but not any cat that these men had encountered in their collective two centuries of soldiering. Deep and throaty, it called to mind a creature of the wild, a beast of dark, fetid jungles. The eyes of twenty veterans rose from the toes of their boots, as they had been schooled to do by their captain when they were on a duty at an event none of their business. Those eyes lifted to see the girl on her hands and knees, head down, lapping at the blood her brother continued to bathe the marble in.
Even then, the total discipline demanded by their captain prevented them from taking a step towards the girl or, perhaps better, from the ill-lit chamber they stood guard in. The girl looked up, first at her brother and then to her captors, and smiled, blood running down the centre of her chin and then between the hills of her breasts. ‘Fools,’ she purred. ‘Why do you not flee? I carry the Curse of the Blood Moon and you have fed it!’
At that, she tensed her muscles, slim as she was, and unleashed them, snapping the chain that held her as a cotton thread on a needle. Twenty heads rolled before Clara rested, twenty bodies were drained of their lifeblood.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

The Passing of Yallah

A rustle. Faint but audible. The first sound to break the silence in this dark, grim forest for more than five minutes, five minutes that had seemed unbounded by time. The Forest of Grubak, filled with creatues large and small, filled now with creatures waiting for safety to return to their home.

For five lingering minutes, the wolf had cowered amidst the rock-strewn dry stream bed; the bear had settled grudgingly against the trunk of the tree harbouring the hive and its honey; the serpents had intuited that the voles and mice were better left for a better moment than this. Birds had sought the air and even the fiends of the night had slunk away to find less savage souls to vie for.

A rustle. Nothing more. Nothing to give pause for thought in any other moment in the forest. But now, enough to dim the light in one fearless predator as it becomes prey for a more determined, more primeval foe, a foe without a flicker of doubt that the night was to be his.

The panther's eyes rolled glassily as the cord tightened about its neck. Legs bunched to spring, jaws distended to rip but a heartbeat later they were limp and disinterested. Those claws that had ripped life from countless beasts, those fangs that had dripped blood on every night for more than fifteen years were now no more than collectors' curiosities, trinkets for some tribal chief to show off to his women and to his young warriors. The big cat's spinal column had been snapped like a twig, such was the power in its adversary's grip, the speed that belied the years of city living.

The Cimmerian glanced about him, still coiled tight after this night of stalking a killer. His instinct was to permit himself no rest until he could be certain that no one and no thing would seek to catch him with his guard down. He had seem too many jackals, both beast and man, rob a lion of his spoils to relax his barbarian focus now. But he sensed that the forest was going back to its normal nighttime rhythm and he was soon loosening the pelt from the panther with an ease that no civilised man could have matched, even with the keen steel blade of Stygian origin that he worked with.

He needed proof of the kill if Mwagbala was to keep his word and release the girl he had stolen from Conan while the latter had been nursing his head after three nights celebrating the Passing of Yallah. His wolfish appetites meant that he would not abandon the Zingaran dancer to the depredations of that sordid lord of these lands. There were many women to be had, true, but this one was his, at least for a while, and his pride would not let any man who had betrayed him have her. Mwagbala would make a slip soon enough and his kingdom would serve to amuse Conan as its new ruler. But now it was time to get out of this ghost-riddled forest.