Nep Furrow

Nep Furrow
Nep Furrow by Enaglio
Biographical information
Race	Human (Dal Honese)
Gender	Male
Social information
Affiliation	Malazan Empire Bonehunters
Occupation(s)	Mage Soldier

Nep Furrow was a Dal Honese bush shaman and a member of Badan Gruk's 5th squad, 8th Legion, 3rd Company in the Bonehunters army. He was described as wrinkled with yellowy eyes, gnarled hands, and pierced everything - ears, nose, wattle, cheeks - the gold ornaments a startling contrast to his dark scowling face. Bottle thought his eyes still had the jungle in them.

His accent was so thick as to make many of his utterances completely unintelligible.

In Reaper's Gale

Adjunct Tavore Paran clashed with Empress Laseen at Malaz City and took the Bonehunters rogue, following the Tiste Edur fleet that had ravaged Sepik back to Lether. Tavore invaded the Letherii Empire, burning her transport vessels on the shoreline and spreading the marines in isolated pairs of squads across thirty leagues of coast. The marines moved forward into the Letherii countryside towards Letheras, the capital, with orders to kill Edur by night and stir the occupied Letherii into rebellion. Each squad had a mage responsible for hiding their presence and confusing their enemies.

Badan Gruk's squad, along with Sinter's 4th and Primly's 10th squads, landed furthest south of all the marines. Remaining together, they saw little resistance moving east and soon reached a river. Rather than slog through through waist-deep swamp muck, they stole a fisher boat and sailed upriver. They made excellent time until running into a Letherii galley in the night. Kisswhere and Sinter were lost in the water during a discharge of Moranth munitions. Forced ashore, they were pursued day and night, using up their mages dodging and ducking enemy attacks. On the first night, Badan Gruk lost his corporal after the man fell down an abandoned well shaft and broke his neck. Badan Gruk chose Ruffle to take his place. Somewhere along the way the Heavy, Masker, was also lost, but Badan Gruk, Skulldeath, and others had yet to draw blood.

Skim teased Nep Furrow asking him to bless her sharpers just as he had blessed Kisswhere's before their fatal detonation. She claimed a quick death by munitions was the only way to escape the unwanted advances of Honey. The shaman anted nothing to do with her and was clearly made uncomfortable by the "teasin' tit-woman", so she pushed further asking if he had any magicks left in his blecker.

Contrary to the Adjunct's expectations, the Letherii soldiers did not use the Malazan invasion to turn against their Edur occupiers. The marines further north saw intense action, and as they neared Letheras fighting became more desperate and their munition supplies dwindled. Hellian and Urb's squads earned the support of the Letherii slave and Indebted classes by changing tactics to slay the government officials, lawyers, and debt-holders in each village. Fiddler and Gesler's squads joined them at a tavern a day's travel from the capital just in time for a force of hundreds of Edur to envelop the village the Malazans occupied.

Three days after leaving the river, Badan Gruk, Sinter, and Primly's squads came upon the overwhelmed Malazans and turned the battle with their fresh supply of munitions. The new arrivals deferred to Fiddler's seniority, and the former Bridgeburner ordered the marines to hold their position in hopes they would be reinforced by Fist Keneb. Spotting Fiddler, Nep Furrow made a warding gesture and muttered "Yeggetan". He later complained to Bottle that their predicament could be blamed on Fiddler and the unfinished song he had played in Malaz City. Until it was finished, they would all continue dying. By the time Keneb's forces arrived, thousands of Edur followed in their wake, pushing the gathered Malazans towards the city where the Imperial Brigade awaited.

Caught between the two armies near Kravos Hill, the 800 remaining Malazans were forced to huddle under Beak's protective spell when the Letherii mages cast a deadly ritual of Chaos upon them and the Edur. The spell was broken, but the hair of all those under Beak's protection turned white. The Edur abandoned the field after their allies' betrayal, and the shaken Imperial Brigade withdrew to meet Adjunct Tavore's more threatening main force as it disembarked from the Lether River.

Keneb marched on Letheras thinking the marines deserved to be the first to enter the capital. After the marines found a hidden entrance beneath the wall, Badan Gruk's squad was among those sent to secure the city's western gate from the inside to allow the main army entrance into the city. City Garrison soldiers tried to retake the gate in bloody fighting, but Badan Gruk's squad held on long enough for to greet Adjunct Tavore and her group of cavalry when they arrived. Soon the City Garrison surrendered and the city fell.

In Dust of Dreams

(Information needed)

In The Crippled God

(Information needed)

Nep Furrow Quotes - No definite translations available

• Conversation between Nep and Skim in Reaper's Gale

"Eggit'way fra meen, tit-woman!" (Take it away from me, tit-woman!)
"Wha'?" (What?)
"You teasin' tit-woman you! Eggit'way fra meen!" (You teasing tit-woman you! Take it away from me!)
"Bliss'em clay balls? Ya mad, tit-woman? Less time I done that-'" (Bless those clay balls? Are you mad, tit-woman? Last time I did that-')
"Eggit'way fra meen!" (Take it away from me, tit-woman!)

• Conversation between Nep and Ruffle in The Crippled God

"Ey whev? [...] I een no eruch dhug, Errufel. E'en a vulf, izme. Nep Vulf!" (Why? [...] I am no roach dog, Ruffle. Am a wolf, that's me. Nep Wolf!)

Trivia

Author Steven Erikson has said that in at least in one case Nep Furrow's mangled diction was not meant to be translatable into any understandable language and he was having fun with the reader.

Notes and references

List of abbreviations • Paginations • How to reference an article