Book 3: “Death On Mt. Undenkhark!” Page 55
AROUND, AROUND IT GOES, BUT WHERE T’NACAIKAKU STOPS—NOBODY KNOWS!
or
TAKING A GRUDGE ENTIRELY TOO FAR
Welcome, most honored reader!
Ah, poor Seth. He just can’t get a break. Sent to plant the Thinker’s powerful New Magic (really a highly explosive device) under the Colosseum’s arches, it would have seemed that he got the easy job (meaning he didn’t have to face off against the vampires and 722 other monsters as the Dragans are doing). But as you say on your planet, “If it can go wrong, it will go wrong,” and for Seth—it has!
Seth really did kill Tarnak’s father, Gurak; in fact, he did it exactly HERE, to be precise.
As you recall, Gurak was hired by the Thinker to escort the caravan carrying the Vanguard Z Armor, just a little side temp gig to supplement his family’s irregular diet of man flesh. It should’ve been just a routine 9-to-5 job, punch in, punch out, leave. Unfortunately for Gurak, Seth and the Dragans had set out to stop that caravan, as commanded by their father, the Iron Dragon. Both Seth and Gurak were just doing their “jobs,” at least as they understood them. Seth, however, had no idea that by slaying Gurak (in self defense, I might add), he would be embroiling himself in the Ogre ritual of T’Nacaikaku, the Battle of Blood Vengeance!
Just what does this entail, you’re no doubt asking yourself? Quite a bit, as it turns out. You see, though they may appear to be just big, blubbery monsters, Ogres actually place a great deal of weight on upholding family honor, and Ogres will avenge anyone who undermines that by insulting (including “killing”) another member of the family or Ogre clan. Of course, every action leads to a direct reaction, and the other party, whose honor has also been sullied by the revenge slaying, in turn declares “T’Nacaikaku!” and slays/maims/sullies right back. And on and on it can go. In fact, in our research on Ogre culture, we Cognescentii wizards have found instances of T’Nacaikaku going on over many generations between Ogre clans (similar, perhaps to the Hatfield-McCoy Feud on your world).
Seth, however, is not of an Ogre clan. So how did he get involved with this? He was, after all, just carrying out his mission (nothing personal!). Well, if you look carefully at our chronicle and the scenes where Seth slays Gurak, you might (if you look very carefully) see the “Witness.” Ogres require a Witness (“T’Showrin“), someone who has actually seen the insult to family honor, in order to declare T’Nacaikaku. Can you see him? Now the question for Seth is: is there a Witness (T’Showrin) waiting in the shadows to see if Tarnak is in turn slain by Seth? Look carefully, dear reader, very carefully…Seth may need your input on this. To kill—or not to kill—that is the question. Meanwhile, a bomb gets ready to explode behind our hero.
Please join me next time, most honored reader, to see what Seth decides.
Until then,
With Cognescentii blessings,