Sunday 15 October 2023

Hex Crawl 23 #273: Tila'a and the Memory of Tilillu

Twelve hexes northwest, two north of Alakran.

  

The village of Tila'a is fifty-odd houses bult from massive stones of ancient times, planed down and cracked, reassembled as walls. But the roofs are of oiled cloth and goatskin stretched tight, for the dwellers have not the craft to vault a ceiling in such ponderous material. Some of Tila'a tend sheep and others goats, taking them to the broad pastures around the houses, which are not as poor as the desert around the roads, but not so rich as the fields to the north. Many fowl are also kept there, in chicken runs built of ancient stones piled low, and the children go out in the grass to find grubs and worms to mix with the chickens' meal.

These ancient stones recall a time, as those who know may read on their remaining incisions, when this was the counting-house, the tax-point and nexus to the road Nama'a of the land of Tilillu, a province of Wahattu that stretches to the salt sea, west of Pnokath. Tilillu remains, seen as a place of little ambition and less interest; and the former ruling status of this place is remembered only by its name, Tila'a, "Road of Tili." But if there was a road, its paving has been covered, worn down, or taken away.

Adventurers may come here to chase miscreants fleeing from the Caravanserai, or perhaps drawn by rumors of significant inscriptions on the stones. They may think that to the northeast, where the fields are better watered, they will find more of interest. But they are mistaken.

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