<Jane Williams:>
DP p 42
"Old Top When Orlanth released Little Big he untied the bonds here. Little Big leapt to Sartar's Knoll, then to Whitewall?, and then out of sight."
I have no idea what Litle Big may be, but that story obviously leads us to a landmark called Little Big's Footprint at Whitewall, and a HQ in which the questor takes the part of Little Big and leaps from Whitewall to "out of sight". I would suggest doing the Old Top and Sartar's Knoll stages well in advance, then pausing (a year or so?) before the final leap. How to get out of Whitewall, plan 13b. But where do you land?
<Nick> My follow-up -- the blowing of 'Little Big's Horn' could be like that beautiful Peter Jackson moment when Gimli sounds the Horn of Helm Hammer-Hand at the end of the Battle of Helm's Deep... :-)
<Jane> Quite clearly, he does have a horn. And a Battle. What with all that leaping, he's probably some sort of antelope-type creature. One Horn... ancestor of the unicorns?
The Battle of Little Big's Horn
I'm not quite sure what was going on here, but there was a battle between various beings to possess Little Big and his Horn with its wonderous properties. Orlanth won, and being keen on freedom, instead of nicking Little Big's Horn, freed him in return for a promise of friendship. Little Big then leapt away...
Why "Little Big"? One big horn and one little one? Tiny ram with huge horns? My only other thought starts with a limerick about an Old Man of Devises, and we probably don't want to go there :( <Jane>
the Horn
<Nick Brooke:> Did he have a Horn? :-) If he didn't he does now. :)
My suggestion: It's two metres long, bronzeish, and rests on a pedestal in the north quarter of the the Great Market.<John>
I'm not sure why his Horn got left in Whitewall, though?<Jane>
It's probably a ritual or quest-obtained copy. <John>
Nor what happens when you blow it?<Jane>
<Jane, later>
Since then I've been unable to get a silly nursery rhyme out of my head. Maybe if I write things down, it'll go away.
"Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn
But where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
He's under a hedgerow fast asleep."
Phew!
Right, this is obviously all about Heler. Blue, sheep: Heler.
Where does Little Big come into it? He's one of Heler's sheep. Or rather, a very agile Ram. That horn is very curly.
What happens when it's blown? Helps herd sheep (or cows)? Summons them? Wakes people up? Wakes Heler up? Or is that Voriof who's asleep ("the boy who looks after the sheep")?
You know, this typing aloud and random brainstorming after too little sleep is bad. I think I just found one of the props Kallyr uses to retrieve Spring in OiD.
<Yak> Maybe it is the lunars who blow the horn? This might be a neccesary part of the Heler acid rain heroquest/attack. Makes a nice lunar commano raid - sneak into the heavily defended city just long enough to blow the horn then escape. All sorts of high-jinks possible!
<Jane>So blowing the horn summons Heler but in angry mode? Ready to attack whoever nicked the horn off his prize ram? How come the Lunars know this and the Orlanthi don't?
Actually, I like the idea that the Orlanthi know it summons Heler, but no more, and haven't quite thought through the myth :)
<Oliver> That's bizarre. I swear I read this after suggesting the walls might be made up of some of Heler's sheep turned to stone. I have a bad feeling that Little Big's horn can be used to awaken the sheep or waken Black Beauty...or is that Little Big instead? Weird.
<Jane>
And I wrote it before reading your stoney sheep. Synchronisity, or some long word like that?
But if Little Big leapt "out of sight" by being turned to stone, this is less useful as a means of escape :(
<Oliver> Actually I had a better thought. Maybe he landed at Whitewall had a brief battle with Black Beauty, lost a horn and then leapt away?
<Jane>
Nice thought: that is what would happen if two rams and one flock of ewes got together. But the Escape HQ now involves landing here, fighting, losing, dropping a very valuable personal item or ability, and then escaping to an unknown location. Less and less useful for the defenders :(
<Oliver> Whatever works best for the story. (Though I had a weird image of Broyan and group doing an Odysseus and escaping clinging to the underside of some giant sheep. Perhaps not.)
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