This is a long post, so let me know if that's a problem for future posts. One of the players is on this list, so he may jump in if I forget something.
Some notes on running the LBQ, and some replies:
What the players didn't know - and what I did not want to reveal online prematurely - was that the NPC companion was wounded by a "vampire." I used a Vivamort adaptation based on my own interpretation and a fan keyword, and IMG, "vampires" - which are actually not called such; this one was known as (a) "Living Death" - are "disciples" with applicable power levels. The PC healer and the temple she was in neither recognized nor were able to completely cure the NPC's wound (its rating equaled the rating of the Living Death's Unlife rating). The NPC was stabilized with a combination of the CA's Heal Chaos and the Red Ernaldan Healer's Achieve Balance otherworld healing feat - I made up this latter feat. There was a political situation creating a time limit for action by the PCs as well (the wounded NPC was a wanted criminal, and the bounty hunters were on her trail).
As this was one hugely incurable wound, and given the resources and knowledge of the PCs (they had limited access to other sources of knowledge due to time constraints), the LBQ seemed a natural choice as it allowed the CA healer to quest after the cure and enlist the help of companions - in this case an Orlanthi, an Issaries, and a Flesh Man.
Along the way, the group found three criminals hanging in cages/gallows at a crossroads (think the movie Willow, if that helps), and, watched over by a raven, they picked one of the criminals to free as a Trickster companion. The group had a previously unresolved involvement with Trickster in the Inner World and in the Hero Plane, so they were likely to have an opportunity to find one. The criminal didn't particularly want to be a trickster, but who does? Trickster "rode" and controlled him, at various times, especially when he tried to escape.
The group never found an LM (though the Orlanthi has learned the forbidden art of reading and so has a little LM in him) or a Ginna Jar (so far).
On 12/23/06, Simon Phipp <soltakss_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> I wouldn't do the whole LBQ, but just pick outn parts of it. We did the whole thing to bring back a clan chieftain who had dies several years earlier and it took 4 months to run, playing once a week.
>
> What I'd do is to pick out the important parts and string those together in a short LBQ.
This is what I did. The PCs prepared (Orlanth arming and other setting out rituals, vigils, etc.), sought what little support they could get, and started the quest by "meeting" on the road at the "station" wherein Orlanth and company (just Issaries in this case, no LM PC or stand in) meet Chalana Arroy and Flesh Man (both of whom had an NPC companion).
I had them roll against their piety (initiate) ratings (modified for preparation, and other abilities). The Flesh Man stand in has only Common Magic, and so rolled against his motivation.
These initial rolls (with two critical successes) set the basic carryover bonus for most of the rest of the quest. Since in my games, the Inner World/Otherworld barrier is more porous than I perceive the standard version, this carryover combined with later carryover also determined whether and when the PCs would cross over (which they did later).
I prepared handouts for everyone, based on my sources: a general LBQ for everyone, and deity/entity-specific ones for each participant. Based on the CA one, the CA acquired a blessed silver mirror, and then the handouts were scanned for clues on what to expect and how to react. Not every station was recognized; for example, the residents of "Sorcerer's Town" weren't chased off.
Because of time constraints on the group, I finished a rushed quest in two long sessions. We have taken another shorter session to flesh out some of what was rushed with a partial group, and we use one or more shorter sessions to continue this exploration.
Interestingly, the CA player expressed a desire to alter some of the PC's passivity and/or nature, and I took the part about "CA deciding to cease her passivity/inaction" from the myth to heart. As such, this was the CA leading, but the other participants performing appropriate roles.
> Flesh Man would probably be played by the person who is wounded, as he is the prime casualty. OK, he wasn't as all the gods wanted to bring someone back, except Eurmal who was forced along.
I went a different way on this, as the wounded NPC was not mobile, and the PCs include a common magic (at best) user who does not follow any particular supernatural beings. He was briefed by the other - much more pious theists - on the myths, and more or less went along with these myths. He had some blessings from the Provincial 7M Church (augmented based on his Wealth since he paid for special blessings) and his common (mostly based on ancestors, and vague) magic.
I went a little looser with this, and the PCs gained knowledge and carryover bonuses at the stations.
On 12/24/06, Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Sounds good in principle, but one problem I can see is
> that the LBQ is not about curing an unhealable wound,
> it's about bringing someone back from being dead.
> Learnng how to heal an unhealable wound isn't even
> mentioned as a side-effect, (though of course you
> could write it in). The impression given is that at
> this stage, CA can heal *anything* - but not Death.
>
> The myth you need will look more like "X learns how to
> heal really hard wounds". X may even be one of the
> various Ernaldan healing goddesses, not CA herself. If
> you cna make it "match" this particular wound, all the
> better, in terms of location, cause, or whatever else
> may be wrong with their comrade.
I had a different interpretation of this, based on the nature of the wound. I described the Living Death's wound as a soul wound, a Chaos connection to Darkness and Death (recognized as a connection to the Underworld) that was slowly leaching away the NPC's soul. This is not an ordinary wound (as a new disease would be for a CA), but was instead something of Chaos (with extra connections) that no one at the healing temple had seen before - this was a Living Death that had been buried since the Second Age (at least) and recently dug up as part of a Lunar (or Tarshite, who can tell with these things?) Weapon Research Program. Such beings are very rare and possibly something like Chaos Demigods (maybe like Delecti is?); I don't intend to introduce another one anytime soon.
So, the group travelled across Tarsh, encountering some of the "Westfaring stations" along the way (eastward, not westward, but you can't have everything), infiltrated the military occupation zone (Luathela) around the Weapon Testing Site, separated, and looked for information. There was a river in town (and the Orlanthi's Soul Vision detected a - magical? - turtle in the water below the bridge).
Orlanth visited the local Grandmother in some Dragon Ruins (which seemed to be stirring) and received the help of trolls to distract the military. At the same time, the CA was lured off by a not-completely-succumbed thrall of the living death, and she used her mirror to drive him off and escape after being unable to heal him. The Issaries, while trying to find the path (an often used ability in this quest), rolled a critical success and crossed over while leaving the path open and evident for the rest of the questers, who slowly gathered at the "Gates of Dusk" (the entry point opened by the Issaries) - along with some "sacrificial" companions brought along by the FM in an effort to deflect the likelihood of his own death.
The group descended into the "Underworld," running across some Stone Men (Dwarves. sort of) here and there, and finding the Living Death. They accepted his hospitality, and found the souls of his victims there in his hall along with what was left of the engineering unit which dug him up. They bargained with him, and the CA accepted his bite (similar to what Pranjala would do with a disease) in return for letting some of their companions to leave. At this point, the trickster made mockery of their host's promises (and hospitality) by killing one of the group's companions who was allowed to leave unharmed, the FM killed the trickster in response, and the zombies closed in while everyone fled and got lost and separated in the mazes of the Underworld, as the Orlanthi made a last stand to cover their escape.
Alone and lost in the Darkness, the Issaries confronted Hu (the group has a 10w1 link/oath connected to a now-diseased humakti hero) and sent him back to the dead - and the CA, who resolved her connection to him and learned how to sever her connection to living death. The FM was put back together by a Stone Man, as was the Trickster - though the FM convinced the Stone Man to put him back together incorrectly (which had drawbacks and benefits from a Trickster point of view). The Stone Man was delayed and contaminated and started to Grow - following the group for the rest of the time. The group found each other, and the Trickster found the cell holding the Orlanthi. The dead companion stayed dead - the necessary sacrifice now that the quest had penetrated the other side.
The group found the Styx, summoned the Ferryman, paid their dues, etc. Then, the CA (who is a daughter of a river) used her family connections to summon Styx for help and bargained with her after learning that Styx was a true death solution to living death - losing one ability to gain a connection to her great, great, etc. grandmother Styx.
They passed beyond to the Halls of the Dead - this part was rushed due to time, and passed out the the "Gates of Dawn" (the exit to the Inner World) to Inner World hall of the Living Death, who was annoyed to say the least. The CA offered herself to him again and he really couldn't resist - weakness for pure beings and all. She called on the Styx to flow through her and there was one less living death in the world (and she managed to eliminate a Chaos foe by allowing it to attack her). Now armed with the ability to sever a living death's wound, the CA can go on to heal its victims. There are other worldly obstacles to overcome (like the armies surrounding this place - these were bypassed when the Issaries managed to cross over), but those are outside the scope of the quest.
Most of these events were not planned in advance, and the solution to the living death that I had in place was quietly dropped when it became evident that it was not needed.
=====END===== Received on Thu 18 Jan 2007 - 18:29:04 EET
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