I divided up initiation into three parts. There were most of the women who went off to do the Earth woman initiation. (In fact looking back on it this should already have happened in Earth Season.)
Then there were the men and the adventurer type females. They were told
that there were two possible paths they could follow: the path of
Orlanth or the path of Heort depending if they wished to imitate those
who went with Orlanth to Hell or those who stayed and guarded the stead.
They were also told that the path of Heort was easier but less likely to
reward them spectacularly or lead to the cults other than Orlanth. All
of my players (with one cringing unwillingly) chose to go with Orlanth.
(If they had gone with Heort I would have used Jane Williams' excellent
guide to the quest to the Starheart. They would have earned just one
spirit spell at initiation.)
There was one female character who wanted to go with them. She was told that Vingans normally went on the path of Heort but I decided to use an Orlanthi all for the purpose of keeping my party unified.
They were then given the drugged mead and armed in cuirbolli and bronze helms and given a selection of weapons (spear, axe, sword, javelin and so on) as the priests read from THE ARMING OF ORLANTH. They were then sent out of the stead with much drumming and shouting.
And when their heads cleared from the drugged mead they found themselves on a black plain with stormclouds overhead. Listen rolls. And they hear a man and a woman arguing. As the initiands approached they both turn to them and cry "My Lord, I request your Justice!" They notice the woman has a child with her and are reminded of the Six Virtues of Orlanth.
The judgement they have to make is in a case copied from KoDP. The man has discovered that his wife has born a child not his. He was warned of her pre-nuptial affair with another but thought this a tactic for lowering her Bride Price.
(They did rather well at this, both enquiring into Law and offering a
reconciliation based on Honour and Hospitality.)
The satisfied party (in their case the wife) then says to them: "Look over there and you will find friends to guide you on your way."
Beneath a tree they find a scroll, which contains THE WESTFARING from the Lightbringers Quest (which is what they are re-enacting) and a quarterstaff tipped with an Issaries rune. (In my Glorantha they have already got a 5% RW Sartarite.) Tapping the staff on the ground causes the path they have to follow to be briefly illuminated. They go on and enter a dark forest.
They next encountered the puniest Dragonsnail I could generate who had the Chaotic Befuddle ability which could have been turned back on him by using their nice polished shield. A nice fight ensued in which one player (the cringing one) ran into the forest and got himself lost (and had to be found again with a critical tracking roll).
They next came to a Dark Troll being pushed back towards a cliff by a group of zombies with mauls. They aided him rather than going on in safety and helped him throw the zombies off the cliff. They were badly wounded at this point but the troll healed them and asked if the cringing character was food as he was feeling peckish. Sadly they said they had to let him go on with them.
A little way on they found a flask wrapped in green and white ribbons which contained a Healing potion as a token of meeting Chalana Arroy. They then saw in the distance a group of people with torches around a tree in which dangled a figure they recognised as the clan Trickster, Brigpice. The people were dressed in black and white robes with Law runes on the hem and seemed hostile to Brigpice. The cringing player was in favour of talking to them. The others pushed him forward and he distracted them with debate about Logic and Theology while the others cut the Trickster down, grappled him as he tried to hop away and made their escape. (Guess which cult is really interested in this fasttalking foolish coward?)
After much whining and protest ("You don't wanna go there! You don't
want to do that!") the Trickster showed them to a cave. At the end of
the tunnel was a cave with a deep drop and a stone pillar in the centre
of it about which whirled the winds. On top of the pillar was a golden
crown. Someone pointed out that Piety (one of the above mentioned
virtues) had not yet been tested and on a Cult Lore roll I told them of
the practice of testing your faith in Orlanth by throwing yourself off
Kero Fin and letting the winds carry you. They resolved to jump
together. All did but the aforementioned cringing coward. They all
(all!) failed their jump rolls. I then let them roll POW x 5% in
descending order of POW. The one who made it first got a POW gain roll
and they were carried by the winds up to a ledge on the pillar. By my
fudging things (cowardly of me: I should have killed him) the one who
didn't jump got a second chance and rejoined them. They raised the crown
(bearing the runes Sun and Mastery) together and light flooded back into
their world.
They found themselves on the hills to the east of the Greydog Inn as the sun both rose in the East and in their hands. Below them to the west they could see the Heort path initiates rising up from their battle with the inhabitants of the Marsh and the person who made a critical also spotted people packing away black and white robes marked with Law runes and Brigpice staggering back to the Inn for his morning drink.
And then they were back in the mundane world and the crown was only a wooden replica gilded with gold foil. And they were adults of the tribe.
And for next week: Has anyone done a list of canon (i.e. printed)
Orlanthi/Sartarite names?
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Michael Cule
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