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Home/Lore/Books/Great
Wall/Volume 2 |
"Of course, Cetelt knew it was too
steep for any kind of foundation, but his boys and girls they were fanatic like
and tried anyway. Three times they tried to build there only to see the whole
thing crumble."
"Cetty said that the only thing a castle would get him would be some young punk
looking for a seige. That reminds me of a joke: There was this young girl who's
father tried to protect her chastity." [I have omitted this rather vulgar
anecdote to speed up this narrative.]
"Sooooo, after about a year Cetelt snaps, like I said, and calls all o'his
people around him and sez, 'You all wanna do something? Then build a wall. A
wall betwixt these fine people, (meanin' the halfies) and the foul breath of
dooms that constantly threatens them' [I think he meant the goblins of Runny
Eye.]
"So his punks, feverish with love for the old boy, went a working. None too fast
now. You gotta 'member, these were adventurers [said with a sneer], not real
workers like you and me. So, by the by it takes 'em fifteen years to finish this
one little wall. Lazy bastards. Why, in my day I coulda shown any one of 'em how
the world really works.
Not a one of 'em knew their arse end from..." [Another tedious monologue
deleted. I bought more grog for Dremond]
"Well, thash it really. As shoon as the wall was done, Cetty took a big long
looky-poo and marched through the gatesh. He said, 'Hold these gatesh for my
return.'
He shouted a few curses and was gone. Then he haded into Runny eye and hashn't
bin sheen shinze ..ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz."
[At this point he Halfling woman that was serving us, Rollies, was kind enough
to recount her version of the events]
"Oh, yes, I remember when Cetelt came here and decided to retire. He could not
seem to be rid of his hangers-on. They begged him to do some task for him and he
obliged them by asking that they build a fort on Cair Leima. I'm quite sure that
Cetelt, having taken quite a shine to us wee folk, was intent on giving this
land some protection from the goblins that roamed incessantly here. But Cetelt's
people were not architects, alas. They never could get the foundation for the
fort right and it tumbled down, again and again."
"Finally, Cetelt ordered that a wall be built across the breadth of the woods.
He had it built tall and strong and cleared the trees on the bad side so that
the goblins could be seen coming from quite a ways."
"Strangely enough though, as soon as the wall was finished he shut himself on
the bad side and with a shout of, 'I will be rid of this curse!' dissapred. It
didn't take long for his people to weary of waiting fo rhim and to trickle out
of these parts; looking for other adventures, I would wager."
"Now the wall stands mostly undefended and the gates are rotted off. Some still
stand the vigil, but most halflings have little to do with them. There are more
merry persuits here on the edge of Rivervale."
[Rollies left me then and I left Dremond to his cups. The wall has since come to
be known by the denizens of Rivervale as the Great Wall of Serillis, for one of
their gods, though there are many who remember how it came to be, and who
sometimes call it by this name.] |
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