Editing Tarred and Feathered

{{TErow| 2 | Snakes and [[Dreadnought]]s | {{h|Henrietta|0=}}: What a surprising place this was. No, not pleasantly surprising; quite the opposite. Many of us, the survivors of the crash, might not have made it even to the next morning; this damp, reeking forest felt not merely hostile, but plain full of hate towards us, as if in retaliation for our airship having made a huge clearing in the crash, knocking over dozens of giant trees—I couldn't even begin to imagine how old they were. Luckily, the wood of these giants was moist and soft; they broke upon colliding with our ship’s strong hull and slowed down our fall, helping us involuntarily to make a relatively soft crash landing. Alas, there were fatalities. Six crew members had gone missing—probably fell overboard during the fall. Wounds and contusions claimed the lives of another four. In the first hours after the wreck, we lost two more sailors—some swift beast dragged one off into the bushes and we never saw him again, and the other got bitten by a snake he failed to notice in the grass and died almost instantly.<p>{{h|Wynona|0=}}: “Attention here! Back away from the bushes and trees, immediately! Anyone who doesn't have a job assigned, go to the ship and stay there!” - [[Wynona]]'s voice rang out.<p>{{h|Henrietta|0=}}: I had banged my head pretty hard against the bulkhead during the fall, so I was lagging behind on my commands, not to mention that I had not the slightest idea what to expect from this place. Hadn't it been for my unexpected companion and her vast knowledge, our expedition might have ended this very night, for the simple reason of all its participants’ death. But no: while I was coming to, the dark elf all action, showing the men which trees could be cut down and which ones should never be approached, where and from what to make fires, how to tie and trim clothes to prevent dangerous small critters from reaching the body, how to get thirst-quenching liquid from thick snakelike vines, and whatnot. My vision was blurry, and it looked as though there were three or four [[Wynona]]s running around the camp at once, barking orders, encouraging, slapping the slow learners, swinging axes, and blowing up stinking smoky bonfires to keep insects away. At length the elf, puffing noisily, plopped down beside me on a log. In her hand there was an outlandishly disgusting-looking centipede—[[Wynona]] was biting through its shell rings and sucking something out. Hadn't I hurled back while we were still falling, I surely would do it now—though it would seem that anyone who had enjoyed eating freshly taken out, hot, earthy and ironey [[armadillo]] liver should not be sheepish about any kind of exotic outdoorsy food.<p>{{h|Wynona|0=}}: “How you feeling, commander? Let me take a look at you. Oh, your eyes are all red, not a good sign after a head injury.”<p>{{h|Henrietta|0=}}:“I'll live, thanks. It'll pass. I'm not dizzy anymore, and, uh, not even nauseous.”<p>{{h|Wynona|0=}}: “Well, thank the gods for that. Listen, we can't stay here. We've crashed in the worst place imaginable—there's a huge anthill and some “witch cauldrons”—those are pits brimming with snakes. And just about everything I've seen here—at least what I've recognized—is as poisonous as my ex-mother-in-law's tongue. Back while we were still up, I saw a cleaner, drier area to the east of here.<p>{{h|Henrietta|0=}}: “So that's where we'll go. Thank you. If not for your knowledge and skill, we’d…”<p>{{h|Wynona|0=}}: “Don't mention it. I knew this could happen, and that's another reason why I asked you to take me on. By the way, I saw something else—might be important. Remember that huge, bloated bubble of a ship that flew behind us?”<p>{{h|Henrietta|0=}}: ”Yeah, that's an experimental cargo model. It's got two gondolas, one for the engine and one for the hold.”<p>{{h|Wynona|0=}}: “Now listen: I saw this hold part fall off from its balloon and come apart in the air, and from it some metal hulks fell out. That ship was already flying pretty low when it happened. If those things are good for anything, we should go look for them—they may have survived the crash. I think we should check north of here.”<p>{{h|Henrietta|0=}}: “Really?! Those are [[dreadnought]]s! We requisitioned them for our expedition so that they’d help us haul heavy loads when and if we decided to make a permanent camp. Well, camp or no camp, we could really use these machines right now. What if we get another visit from those... birds? Lizards? Whatever those flying things that got us in this pickle are. Let's see how they like some heat ray treatment!”</p>}}

{{TErow| 3 | [[Tlamac Hundred Thoughts]] | {{h|Henrietta|0=}}: These woods feel way too weird. I've long stopped fearing the dark and unfamiliar sounds, but here, when I'm standing night watch by the fire, something makes me feel very uneasy. It's as if someone’s trying to read my thoughts and put someone else's in my head...<p>Tonight I took over [[Wynona]]'s watch just before dawn. Just when you feel most sleepy... In a bid to perk up, I took out the instrument an old mechanic had made me. Back as a kid, I had tried to learn to play the whistle, a reed flute every child in [[Eeofol]] could get happy or dreamy tunes out of. Alas, I had no ear for music at all. I couldn’t even play the most basic song, one about the silly toad, that the tiniest kids aced without any trouble. Other children would mock me, I’d get angry and lash out at them, and so it went...<p>I heard the sound of this instrument one night in [[Burton]]. It was odd and unlike anything I'd ever heard before; it spread over the wasteland like circles on water, and my heart fluttered to the sound. To my delight, playing it didn't require knowing notes by ear; [[Rougar]], a master at everything he did, was happy to show me how to play it, and made a smaller one for me. He called it a jaw harp.<p>I held the harp to my teeth and touched its tongue lightly. Zung… The sound flew over the clearing where we were camped. I sensed right away that something strange and unexpected was happening, but I couldn't help myself. The dark patch of forest produced a tall, vague figure; it walked toward me, as if fluctuating in resonance with the sound.<p>'''[[Tlamac]]: '''“I greet you, little woman. Once in a lifetime, a shaman can see the future—and recently it was revealed to me that you would come and change my fate. Well, I did not know it would be you exactly; but you hold the Song of the Spirits, the messenger who delivers our prayers to the gods. There can be no mistake: it was you I was waiting for.”<p>{{h|Henrietta|0=}}: The voice felt as if it sounded not in reality, but right inside my head. I was now seeing more clearly; an imposing [[Lizardman]] stood before me, girded with a tarnished, heavy gold chain. They say that [[lizardmen]] never stop growing their entire lives—and, well, I'd never seen a giant like this before. He was incredibly frail, though, the webbing of the outgrowths on his head saggy and his teeth worn down. I realized that he was not a warrior of unprecedented power, but simply a profoundly old [[lizardman]].<p>'''[[Tlamac]]: '''“[[Tlamac Hundred Thoughts]] is my name. If you don't mind, guest, I will come see you every now and then and tell you stories about myself, my people, and this place. I sense that you are hungry for knowledge, and I know you will need it if you are to survive here and find what you so desire.”<p>{{h|Henrietta|0=}}: “What I… desire?”<p>'''[[Tlamac]]: '''“You are lonely, little woman. You may not know it yourself, but your heart doesn't want to be alone. You fear that you may have misjudged those you have come to think of as close ones, and you may well be right. Fear not; you have already found a friend in me, and you will find new ones. Some close by, and others where... But we'll talk about that some other time. Come see me in my hut. I will tell you what you will find in these lands and help you understand how.”<p>{{h|Henrietta|0=}}: I blinked a few times, speechless, and when I opened my eyes wide again, there was no one there. Just the dark forest and the glow of the fire. I looked back. [[Wynona]] was standing a few feet behind me.<p>“Did you see that? Did you see him?! The one I was talking to?”<p>{{h|Wynona|0=}}: “Hmm. Well, I definitely saw something. Mind telling me what it was? Or who? And what was that strange music? I swear, it was all I heard the whole time—not a single word. And you know I trust my ears.”</p>}}

{{TErow| 9 | [[Couatl]]s | [[Tlamac Hundred Thoughts]] spake:<p>Back in those days, warriors knew honor. We could have stayed in our caves, protected by their walls. Still, chieftain [[Pichi Red Cloud]] brought his army out of the ground and began to prepare for battle. Our warriors were strong and skillful with sword and club... but [[Tepotl]] had the bows. One of his eye sockets was empty—it was said that he got his eye torn out by a claw of a great feathered serpent. No one had ever survived a meeting with this creature, the strongest and most dangerous being of our legends—the [[Couatl]]. It made no difference whether [[Tepotl]] had indeed fought one or had simply made up a tall tale to inspire awe in others. His other eye saw well, too well. Not only had he mastered this insidious weapon himself, but he had also trained several hundred warriors in shooting bows. Their bows were weak and they were poor shots, but they still took out half of our best warriors even before they reached their ranks.<p>Each of our men fought as if he were possessed by the spirit of [[Quetzal]] himself, but it was not nearly enough. They fell, and a dozen enemies pounced upon each one who did, tearing our tribe’s best limb from limb, devouring their hearts, defiling and pillaging their bodies. The battle was not yet over, yet already the strife had begun among them, and here and there on the blood-soaked field skirmishes and squabbles were flaring up. But the [[Hundred Crawlers]], [[Tepotl]]’s bodyguards, all mighty giants, each of whom had cut out an eye to look like his leader, kept coming at the remnants of our army. Before long, they were bound to break into our caves and put an end to the [[Stone Children]]. And then my ancestor, the great shaman [[Hoatzin Rock Mind]], did what he had been preparing for all his life. He plunged a knife into his chest, chanted a spell, and turned his mind to the [[Great Serpent]]. His son, [[Xochi]], yet to earn himself a proper shaman’s name back then, pulled the blade out of his father's body, and the gushing blood sparkled red rainbow in the rays of the setting sun. From the heavens came a many-voiced roar. The [[Couatl]]s accepted [[Hoatzin]]'s sacrifice and fell upon our enemies.<p>[[Bloodied Feathers]]. That was the name the remnants of my tribe took after that battle. The [[Feathered Serpent]]s bathed in the blood of the [[Crawlers]] and their allies, and my kin dedicated the future of the tribe to their saviors. There were too few survivors in [[Tepotl]]'s army to continue living as separate tribes. They have been called the [[Nightcrawlers]] ever since, and their whole life is tracking and hunting us and our living gods.</p>}}

{{TErow| 14 | Pirates and Slavers | [[Tlamac Hundred Thoughts]] spake:<p>A hundred great turns of the firmament ago, we believed that our islands were the whole world and we, the [[Bloodied Feathers]], were its rulers. Since then, we have learned many things that have shattered our ideas as to the order of the universe... In olden times, we shied away from the [[Bitter Waters]], as they burned our skin, and only when dire need could make us board our chiseled boats and travel between the islands. After the feathered gods came into our lives, we could ask them to carry us across the waters, and we were no longer afraid to travel the islands. However, we never saw any other land than our own, even if we flew up into the sky, hugging the neck of a [[Couatl]].<p>Even long after we left the [[Halls of Blood]], we never suspected that there were other sentient beings beyond the [[Bitter Waters]], though our legends had it that there was another land somewhere, inhabited by those like us, and that the kin of our gods dwelt there as well. We remained ignorant until an enormous boat came to our shores, one like we had never seen before. Strange, bare trees grew straight out of it, and huge, tattered cloths hung from its branches.<p>We watched the beings who had gotten off the big boat. Their stay at the islands was not long; they cut down a few trees, trimmed them, fitted them to holes in the sides of their vessel, and went away. I spent several weeks thinking about what I had seen and trying to explain the event to my tribesmen, but that was not enough time to form an opinion about the creatures I had seen. One day, several boats like the first one appeared at sea; three of them carried black cloths, and two others, dirty and sluggish, looked somewhat different. They were propelled by long oars. That day, I realized that there was no peace outside our land. Of course, it would be ridiculous to hope for that; sentient beings always have scores to settle with each other, and the more of them living nearby, the stronger the desire to go for it. Several dozen bound men were brought to shore from the oar-boats. Others, like those who had come here the first time, made pens of logs, and the prisoners were placed there, driven on with blows and kicks. After a few days, other boats came and took them away, and ever since then, the ships would keep coming and going, and there was never a shortage of live goods in the pens.<p>In the old days of the [[Bloodied Feathers]], we would never have tolerated such neighbors. Our customs abhor imprisonment; we either kill a defeated enemy at once or release him if honor or higher considerations demand it. What we saw was repugnant to our whole being... but now we were weak and had to think of our future. To make new enemies whose strength and powers we had no idea of would be unacceptable. The eternal war with the [[Crawlers]] alone was straining enough... The uninvited guests never tried to get deep into our land, and we simply decided that we would avoid them. It was only much later that we learned that our enemies, much less scrupulous about their ties, had entered into dealings with the strangers.<p>A few years ago, I first saw creatures like you, little woman, among the slaves who were brought here on ships. Before I met you, I thought they were cubs; but now I realize that the slave traders had never brought any children here. Apparently, they can't survive the journey across the [[Bitter Waters]]. There are a few like you languishing in the slave pens even now...</p>}}