Re: Re: Failure at the end of a HQ

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 11:21:13 -0700

> > Orpheus
> > has a successful HQ to Hades until he looks back to make sure Eurydice
is
> > following him - in game terms he rolled a fumble and he went to
negative
> > carryover (nasty quest event, that)).
>
> I would count the "don't look back" as part of the quest itself:
> "Hades made a single condition: that Orpheus might not look behind
> him until she was safely back under the light of the sun."
>
> Plenty of heroquests involve fleeing enemies, but I can't recollect
> any myth where the hero has trouble crossing back to the normal world
> after a success.

My point is that "Don't look Back" would be the test on the "Homecoming/Crossing Over Station" on the Orpheus quest. The test is not "Does he get back to the mortal realm?", it is "Does he bring Eurydice with him?". I'd class the station as "Critical", in that failure at the station means you fail the quest (Eurydice goes back to Hades instead of following you into the land of the living). Failing the test does not mean that Orpheus is stuck in Hades, by this point he is guaranteed that he will get back to the mortal world.

RR