[Author's note: If you think that the idea for this Quest was based on a song, you'd be dead right. If you'd like to hear a copy of aforementioned song buy a copy of "Below the Salt" by Steeleye Span.]
Introduction
King Henry (insert the name of your favourite local Jarl as applicable) was the founding member of the Adventurer's tribe (or clan, take your pick). He went hunting one day with the senior members of his Fyrd and had a good day hunting, taking several kills personally. As they'd left it far too late to return to their stead, the hunters took shelter in an abandoned stead they chanced upon.
That night, while they were cooking the day's catch, everything went dark and a huge shape lumbered out of the darkness, into the hall. The creature looked like a huge Uzuz and scared off all the King's huntsmen, leaving him alone in the abandoned stead. The King stood his ground and demanded to know what the creature wanted, disturbing him in his adopted home like that.
The creature demanded hospitality from Henry. Henry, being a true Orlanthi accepted his responsibility to provide it as the Jarl of the territory the stead stood on. The creature then demanded food, and ate everything presented to her. After eating the hunt, she demanded more food and wasn't satisfied until she'd eaten his and the huntsmen's horses, dogs and falcons as well.
After eating and drinking all the fare in his house, she demanded that he made a bed for her. Henry made her a bed from the heather and trees about the stead, even though she'd eaten everything he had because the traditions of the Orlanthi demanded it. Finally, after he'd tucked her massive frame into the bed, the creature asked that he gave her three more things of his free will: He sleep with her; Love her for what she is and marry her. Henry, reluctantly, agreed.
When the day broke, Henry found he was lying next to the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She was the last survivor of the family that used to live in the stead from before the darkness. They angered Orlanth when he visited by refusing him proper hospitality and they were caused to haunt the stead as the creatures of nightmares until they died or were released by an Orlanthi showing them the true meaning of hospitality.
Henry's action broke the curse and released the spirits of the stead to go to Orlanth's hall and make their peace with their God. The Woman, freed of her curse, became his wife in gratitude.
Who Should Follows This Quest
Any unmarried Orlanthi that reckons he embodies Orlanth's virtue of Hospitality can follow this quest. Often this Hero Path is followed by Wind Lords after a wife and an allied spirit.
The Hunt
To join the Hero Path, the Quester has to go hunting on his own and kill as many hunt animals as he can. Abstract this one any way you want, but the hunter has to have killed a fair pile of meat to feed Uzuz of the stead.
The Haunted Hall
The Quester must continue hunting until night fall. As night falls, it starts to rain and the Quester must find the haunted stead as a place to shelter. To find the stead the Adventurer can try both of the following methods:
If the Adventurer succeeds in either roll, he finds the stead. If the
Adventurer fails both rolls, he misses the stead, leaves the path of the
Quest and is generally exposed to some extreme weather for the time of
year.
The exact effects of exposure are left to the referee as his imagination
is probably far more vicious than mine.
Starting the Fire
When the Adventurer reaches the stead he must start a fire and start cooking some meat to attract the attention of the Uzuz. The problem is the wood is a bit green and wet. This is a good time to wheel out the "under the counter" Ignite spell, outdoor survival or cookery skill.
If the Adventurer cannot get the fire going, then he leaves the Quest and may catch a nasty cold for spending a wet night alone and cold with nothing to eat but raw meat. Yum.
The Uzuz
If the Quester gets the fire going, then the hall suddenly goes really dark (even the moon is blotted out) and something HUGE crashes through the door of the stead. Pendragon style gamers should make Valour rolls to stay put; luddite RQ Adventurers can treat the appearance of the Uzuz as a Fear spell cast by someone with 15 POW.
Adventurer's that run for the hills should loose any riding animals, their hunt and maybe a favoured weapon or two as they leave the quest.
Feeding the Uzuz
If the Adventurer stands, he must feed everything he can to the Uzuz. This is where the success of the hunt comes in: The more you've killed, the better the chance of getting through this next bit. After feeding the creature the hunt, the Quester must roll less than the combined SIZ of the hunt to sate the Uzuz. If fails he must feed her his horse (if he has one) and try again, this time using the SIZ of the horse. If the second roll fails, Oh Dear, the Adventurer must run for it, leaving the path of the Quest or he becomes the next course.
Particularly vicious or sadistic referees might like at this point to penalise failing Questers a limb or two for their trouble.
Making the Bed
Now the Uzuz demands a bed. The Quester must build a bed for the creature, using Devise or Carpentry at the discretion of the referee. If the Adventurer fails at this point, he's slung out by the creature, naked and defenceless into the night.
Sleeping with the Creature
Finally, the Quester has to sleep with the Troll, and yep, for those fans of interspecies intercourse, they've got to do the naughty deed itself. Pendragon style players should either make a valour roll or a critical lust roll; luddite RQ Adventurers can simulate the same thing by resisting a Madness spell cast with a POW of about 15 again.
If the Adventurer fails, they're slung out stark naked to run around mad for a while until someone finds them and cares for them.
The End (Or what does the Quester get out of all this?)
If the Quester succeeds in all this lot, when he wakes up in the morning he finds the Uzuz has changed into the most beautiful woman he's ever seen - APP 19. If that sort of thing is important in your game, she's also got all the social graces and is an above average farmer, leader, etc. Wherever she goes, people wonder if she's a spirit of the air made flesh (Okay, this is a bit Guinevere, so feel free to bin this idea if it's not any good for you).
In addition, if the Quester makes a POW x 3 roll and he hasn't already got an allied spirit, he'll gain one as per the normal rules.
Cheers me dears,
Ash
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