ChalanaQuest

From: Pete McAveney <mcaveney_at_valinet.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 19:26:46 GMT

Like Jane Williams, I'm also curious about the resurrection sub-myth in the LBQ.  I am trying to piece together the LBQ so I can lead my players through it, and have been trying to determine exactly what happens in the Underworld portions of the quest. In hopes of sparking discussion, below are a few facts I've compiled and some speculations about them.

Factoids:

1. Eurmal saves the questers by getting the "spark of life" to them in the underworld
2. Orlanth sneaks into Daka Fal's hall through a mousehole (or, at least, Harmast did.)
3. Issaries the psychopomp faces a great enemy during the quest - Hu of the Nine Silences, who strikes him dumb.
4. At some point Humakt confronts Orlanth. They reconcile. Orlanth reliquishes Death to Humakt, either voluntarily or involuntarily. That is, in some versions of the story Humakt kills Orlanth and takes Death from him.

Speculation:

The questers follow the path of the dead right up to the gate to Daka Fal's hall. There they encounter the ultimate threshold guardian - Humakt himself, maintaining the separation between the living and the dead. He will not allow the questers to pass while they still live. After zapping Issaries he kills Flesh Man, who willingly gives his life to enter the halls. Humakt makes clear that Orlanth must give up Death. The other questers try to get past by negotiation, trickery, and so on, but fail. They take a side trip to the Obsidian Palace, where lots of bad things happen and they all end up dead - except for Eurmal.  He gathers (a.k.a. steals) a bit of each quester's spirit, or whatever we're calling it nowadays. After sneaking into Daka Fal's hall through the mousehole he gives these sparks of life to Chalana Arroy. She then restores life to the questers, who passed into the hall without difficulty once they were dead.

My Suggestions for a Resurrection Quest:

Station 1: Fast forward to the gate of Daka Fal's hall. Humakt stands guard there, blocking the way. The quester watches the resurrectee pass through the gate. Humakt will not talk; he just blocks the way. All attempts to pass him will fail unless the quester throws herself upon Death, in which case she's dead and the quest fails.

Station 2: After giving up and leaving the quester encounters some trolls. One of them is berzerk and immune to her magic; the troll hits her with a poisoned club, giving her a wound she cannot heal. The quester must flee or be served for lunch.

Station 3: The quester encounters Trickster, hiding in the shadows nearby. Eurmal shows her the stolen spark of life from the resurrectee. She must trust him and agree to give him her own spark.

Station 4: The quester dies from her wound, or else goes back to Humakt and offers her life to him. (Does she try to heal him in passing?)

Station 5: The quester is now in Daka Fal's hall. Daka Fal unmasks himself to the resurrectee as Grandfather Mortal. Trickster shows up with the two sparks of life; the quester must restore both of them in some sort of extended contest.

Station 6: Fast forward to the exit, skipping all that stuff about Maggotliege and the Compromise. (Option: if the quester did not successfully heal Humakt, he shows up at the exit - and he's not happy. Quester must prove that both of them are alive and belong on the other side.)

Pete McAveney

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