Yes, I meant that those are the ones where the physical, mundane aspect has gone really deep. If you physically walk even a significant part of the LBQ, it'll take years. If you do the SLBQ, and do a mega-depth-shift to turn it into the real thing, it'll take 14 days. (And you'll have to be very attuned to the HP to shift it). Or rather, you will experience several years worth of danger, and will return (or not) to find that 14 days have passed at home. (And, I suspect, you'll only get 14 days worth of healing, MP recovery etc. en route. While taking several years worth of damage.)
>This where things start to go fuzzy again; which is the "deeper" ritual
>(and therefore the deeper quest), walking the whole way mundanely, or
>performing the Westfaring ritual to get you there?
Different, rather than deeper/shallower, I think. The risks vary. If you
want to do a Westfaring, and there's nothing in particular in your way,
load up a few mules and go on a trading trip. It'll take time, but you'll
get there, with no more than the normal dangers. And you don't need any
particular ritual skills. Any bare-footed peasant could do this :) (No, I
haven't ever seen Harmast's Saga, but I've read KoS).
Now, suppose there's a bunch of large armies in the way, all of whom want you dead? You're safer doing the ritual. OK, so you meet Orlanth's enemies on the way (some of whom will look a lot like those armies), but you've got the plot on your side. And, of course, it's faster.
>> (A really, really good [HQer] might [shift to Hell] accidentally...)
>Talk about too much of a good thing. Yes, I think this is what
>increasingly happens when your "free will" is getting used up, or if
>you prefer, more of your "self" is on the HP than not. Bummer.
I was thinking less of will and more of "attunement" with the HP. Look, I'm sure we all know what it's like when you're reading a good book (or playing a really good RPG). You're there, you can see it, you can feel it. The RW vanishes, and you close the last page to find that it's dark and you're starving. Now, suppose you were an experienced HQer? You're used to turning your imagination into reality. But can you stop? You'd end up reading nothing but Mills&Boon, and that's too horrible a fate to contemplate!
Can't you just see it: the great hero turns up at the local temple. The overawed priest asks her to lead the weekly service. And the farmers find themselves in the Darkness, about to start a battle...
> I suppose that depending on how they're used, they might be seen as
> "cheating", though -- say I use part of Westfaring simply to pop into
> Halikiv because I just happen to feel like it, rather than because I
> want to Harrow Hell.
Why not? You'd have to be a very good HQer to think it was worth it, but
there's no rule against it. As long as you manage to get off the Plot
before it drags you down, of course. The risk I see is in increasing your
attunement to the HP, with the problems described above.
In fact, take a look at my web page: there's a HQ I describe in the Vinga section that does roughly this. (The main Vingan temple is situated in Dragon Pass: to get to it while there were too many annoyed dragons in the way, a route was developed via one of the Darkness battles. OK, so it wasn't exactly popular...)
Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.ukhttp://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/index.shtml
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