Episode Six - A Blast From The Past?
From Black Country Role Playing Society
Outside the cave it was dark. Fires were lit around the perimeter to keep out the beasts and the Tribe of Gom retired to the caverns to eat, talk and sleep.
It was Chief Turok's turn to tell the story tonight and the tribe's children gathered expectantly around him after the meal. It had been a good day for hunting and there was plenty of Dorgan meat to go round today. The women of the tribe were busy drying and smoking the surplus for the more lean times ahead.
Excitedly the children cried out for their favorite tales; How the Sabretooth was tamed to be Turok's loyal companion, the appearance of the mysterious Black Stone and the joining of the Tribes to fight against the terrible Sleepers. After a few moments of reflection, he decided to tell them of the coming of the Outsiders, when he was but a young man himself before the tribes were united.
Long ago, when the Valley was much more fertile and was open freely to the Outside and the Dorgans were many, the mightiest of them all - Gwanji ruled the Valley with fear. Many a warrior and hunter had been lost to the fearsome teeth of the terrible Dorgan. Only the most skilled and lucky could avoid the attentions of Gwanji and the other Dorgans.
One day Turok was out hunting for the tribe, when he heard a great disturbance - the familiar roar of Gwanji about to devour her prey. Suddenly loud cracking sounds could be heard. Turok sought out the source of the sound which was not far and that was when he first saw the Tribe of the Outsiders and their great horses. There were five of them - four were sat upon giant horses making cracking noises with their iron sticks. One of their number, a dark skinned one - even darker than those of the Tribes and the Blackfeet, threw a red stick into the mouth of Gwanji and raised his iron stick at the mouth of the dorgan and made a cracking noise with the stick. A great gust of flame and smoke swept over the area accompanied by a deafening boom! Turok hid, his ears ringing with the sound for several moments.
When Turok next looked - an unbelievable sight greeted his eyes - the great mother Gwanji was dead - her skull shattered into a bloody pulp. Blood and flesh lay everywhere. The Outsiders were collecting some of the meat while one of their number, called Jack, was covered with blood, washed himself in the stream. The dark skinned one sliced off a talon from the carcass - this one Turok later learnt was the mighty warrior called No Name Metal Crafter. Or more simply in the tongue of the Blackfeet, he was called Smith.
The Outsider tribe's leader was a pale skinned man called Great Heart of Tony. A wise and cunning man, unlike his brother One Heart, he told his fellow Outsiders to move on quickly as the scent of blood carried on the wind to attract other dorgans. Turok agreed with his wisdom and listening carefully he could hear the cautious approach of hungry dorgans. Turok was disappointed that he would not be able to harvest the flesh of Gwanji. The tribe gathered their great horses together and rode on them away. Turok saw that the one called Jack had one of the holy animals - the tiny horse with them. Turok decided that he must follow them and free the holy animal.
The strange coloured men obviously came from Outside the Valley. Judging from their trail, they must have followed the River from the West, but in slaying the Gwanji, the Valley to the West was now blocked by a great rock fall. The Outsiders had to move east along the Valley and Turok carefully followed, but somehow the Outsiders knew and Great Heart captured Turok. Turok was not scared, but wanted to speak to them. What did they want? Where did they come from? They may have slain the great mother, but there were many others ready to take Gwanji's place.
The Outsiders spoke strangely in the tongue of the Blackfeet. Hardest of them all to understand was their shaman called Si, who came not from Outside but a place called the Land of Scott. He was however part of the Outside tribe and was a skilled medicine man. Si had as many questions to ask as Turok did. Turok leaned from Si that they were scouts for their tribe exploring the path of the river. Turok told them of his tribe and would take them to the tribe before nightfall to escape the dorgans if they freed Turok. Great Hart and the others agreed and set Turok free. Turok in turn freed the tiny horse, which seemed to anger Jack and Great Heart, but they did not act against Turok.
They all arrived at the caves of the Tribe which are the very same caves used by the Tribe of Gom. Back then, long ago, every tribe called themselves the Tribe. Turok introduced the Outsiders to the Tribe, Chief Gungron and Shaman Mangron. Turok told them of the deeds of the Outsiders and how they slew the great mother. Smith then offered a great piece of the flesh of Gwanji to the Tribe and Chief Gungron ordered the tribe to celebrate with a feast. Just as now, back then, with the fall of night, bonfires were lit outside the caves to keep away the dorgans. Everyone ate meat and drank sweet beer. Si talked long into the night with Chief Gungron and Shaman Mangron, while Great Heart and One Heart taught the children and young men to play cards for the pretty Blackfeet beads. Jack made strange noises on his string box and shared some of his fire water with the men of the Tribe. Smith shared his with the women and in particular one woman, Shera.
Turok turns to the children and states that Shera is indeed the mother of the Tribe of Gom's greatest warrior, Jane.
The next day, Turok led the Outsiders to the Eastern Chasm, the way through which the Blackfoot traders used to arrive at high sun on the day after the full moon. Before leaving Smith gives Turok the Metal Blade. It is the same blade that Turok used during all his great adventures, before it was lost during the War against the Sleepers.
It was not long before the Blade was tested. Just before reaching the Eastern Chasm, the Others were stalked by two pack of slygons - smaller than dorgans, but more cunning and nimble. Fortunately the Outsiders saw this and charged on their large horses against one pack. Their iron sticks made their loud cracking noises and the slygons blood soon ran freely. The second pack however closed in and Turok sent the Outsiders quickly through the chasm. Climbing quickly upwards and out of sight, Turok saw the Slygons approach and file down through the chasm in pursuit. Using the Metal Blade, Turok loosened several rocks and unleashed a rock fall upon the slygons below. With nowhere for the agile creatures to escape to, they were all crushed beneath the falling boulders sealing the chasm.
At this point the children cheered at the brave deeds of their chief and their mothers came to collect them to put them to sleep - except one. Jane stayed behind to talk to her chief. She had not yet taken a mate - it was not right for a warrior in her prime to take one just yet.
"I would like to hear the story of how you went with Shera to the Outside to find Father. How you rode the iron dorgan, travelled to the stone forest and made the river flow again after they had dried," she asked.
"That", replied Turok, "is a tale for another time and you are too old for stories".
Jane retorts, "One is never too old for stories about the Outside and their tribe. One day I will go and take my revenge upon the one who wronged us - the Outsider who betrayed us!"
On to Episode Six - Epilogue
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