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“…it was just as had been described – a great spire of earth, and stone and chist rising like a spear from the plains, pitching the tents of the Urdaal in permanent shadow.
A great shock followed, for despite the warnings we had been given, seeing one of these creatures, upright and walking, standing as tall and wide a consort from the Harem-stable of Princess Imchali, threatened to twist the good humours of our minds.
I was not in the delegation that went to meet these monsters, but the caravan master returned saying that they had presented us with gifts – a smooth rock, a lump of gold the size of a mans head and 18 hides. We had presented them with just one bolt of silk and some incense. Braheem said that they had seemed most satisfied with this…”
-From the private journal of Endim Alihas, Trader-driver of the Khazim.
As the caravans have passed into civilised lands, they have continued to bring with them strange tales from the east. For the people of Jahan & Vetiver, these stories have come to life with the arrival of the Urdaal, but amongst the campfires of the Khazim are accounts that are stranger still.
For in the east, the Khazim have been witness to a miracle; the birth of a mountain.
Few lend much credence to this tale, fewer still to hush talk of strange creatures issuing forth from said miracle – large, bipedal shadows that faintly shine in the sun, accompanied by a cacophony of clicking and snapping.
Yet the tellers are persistent in their claims, and no one who has listened to such talk has ever found such telling leading to a sale. For those who are familiar with the Khazim, this story is perhaps the most implausible of all.
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