The Man Whose Shadow is a Tiger
Inspiration: The Book of Tigers, Arnold K (Goblin Punch): http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/inventing-tiger.html
A few hunters make names for themselves by hunting big game beyond the World’s Edge. Though giant serpents, hearth beasts and displacer leopards are fearsome foes, the most respected quarry is the King of Cats, the tiger.
So unnatural is it for a tiger to be prey and not predator that the tiger lays a curse upon the one who slays it.
Which curse depends on the breed of tiger. The white tigers of the Imperium - with stripes of red that darken after their first taste of sentient flesh - lay the curse of ash so that all food that their slayer eats has the consistency and taste of ash. The black tigers that were found stalking the ruins of Bergolast - perhaps escapees from an ill-fated menagerie - curse their killers to speak only in a voice just quiet enough that their words cannot be made out.
I could tell you of the stripeless tigers of Zhuriman or the three-headed tigers of Serpantia. In the Devil’s Fingers, lion prides make war with a green-furred, grizzled tiger. Some say even the humble Gorean Grey lays a curse upon its death.
But rarest of all are the orange-red tigers with black stripes. When a person slays one of these tigers, their shadow disappears. Over the next week, their shadow - in the form of a dark tiger - stalks them. Some time on the eighth day, it attacks. Either the hunter slays the shadow or the shadow the hunter.
The shadow leaves footprints on the world. After a hunter kills a tiger, he might dull his fear at a tavern only to find a pawprint birthmark on the tavernkeeper’s face. If he cuts his hand on glass, the blood will drip in stripes down his hand. The wind roars in the trees, where once it rustled. His doom approaches.
A man, haggard and worn, arrived at the Gushing Ruby last night. He has a tiger skin - yet to be cured - rolled up beside him. He casts no shadow.
Hooks
- What happens if a hunter successfully slays his or her shadow?
- What if someone else slays the shadow?
- Do Gorean Greys have a death curse?
- Tell me more about these other breeds of tiger.