|
ARRIVING AT THE FORTRESS |
It is not an easy task. No, we are not near any road, hunting path, anything. We are in the depths of the jungle. That's why its difficult to find us, and even harder to get out. In case of a raid, it will be about impossible for the Raiders to send coordinates back for reinforcements. It's a 15 day trek into the jungles to get to the Fortress and a 15 day trek back out. Tarns can not get through the canopy of the jungle. It's completely unrealistic that a huge tarn can come down through a thick canopy that doesn't even let in full daylight. That means that you walk, drink water and fish on your way here.
There is no moat, no drawbridge, no outter village.Inside the heavily guarded walls is the village and a free standing stone building: the Fortress itself.
In certain seasons of the year the Fortress itself is vacant. When the rainy season comes we migrate to highlands in the jungle to a group of huts - even deeper, and more secluded, and many times more difficult to find. We remain there until the flooding recedes and we can move back to the Fortress.
|
REGION OF LAKE NGAO |
Lake Ngao: Second of the great equatorial lakes, lake Ngao, named for its oval shield-like shape (the word Ngao is native Schendi dialect for shield), is said to be as large as lake Ushindi. It is fed by a single river, the Ua, at its eastern edge, and drains into swamps and marshes which border its western shores and fill the 400 pasangs that separate it from lake Ushindi.
Then the marsh reeds parted
and I saw, before us, sparkling in the sun, broad and shining, the waters of
Lake Ngao. "How beautiful it is," breathed the blond-haired barbarian, in
English.
It had taken us fifteen days to reach the sill. We had lived by spear fishing,
and drinking the fresh water of the marsh. The sun shone on the wide, placid
waters. ---Explorers of Gor, 25:277