Re: Zorak Zoran at the Hill of Gold

From: simonh_at_...
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 16:02:28 -0000

> I was wondering about the Hill of Gold in terms of HW and the Quest
> Challenge.
>
> The ZZ cultist hops over into the other world, ambles up to the HoG
> and enters a Quest Challenge with the member of the Fire Tribe he
> finds there pitting some aspect of himself against the "Fire
ability"
> of the challenger (An affinity presumably?)
>
> The "problem" is that if the person he challenges is a (Y)elmalian
> Heroquester (I think they both include HoG in their myths don't
they)
> then they most likely don't have the fire affinity in the first
place
> (since their god lost it to Zorak Zoran back in the God time...)

I think you are missing a crucial distinction between people, even heroes, and the gods. Ordinary people do have fire powers of a minor, yet distinct order. We can light fires, and make fire where there was no fire previously using just sticks and stones.

Take the example of a heroquester who quests and loses his fertility. Even a hero who worshiped a god who had no fertility powers (like Humakt maybe) would still be able to have children. A hero who lost those powers on a quest wouldn't. Likewise I think a Yelmalion who lost his fire powwrs on a quest would never be able to interact usefully with fire again.

> Meanwhile they are challenging for Immortality (IIRC) which they
get
> if they manage to lose the challenge but survive. Hmm, sounds like
a
> win-win solution to me - both sides can succeed in their challenges
> without the other failing, and the relative bonuses mysteriously
> appear from nowhere - I'm sure I'm missing something!

You are risking a lot more than your fire powers. A Yelmalion who successfuly completes the quest will lose their fire powers. A yelmalion who fails in the quest is almost certainly dead.

Simon Hibbs