KING ARTHUR PENDRAGON 5.2

THE COMING OF THE KING

BY THE TIME I started playing their games in 1982, Chaosium already had something of a reputation.  Though no one was using the term back then, Chaosium appeared determined to be the first real publisher of what we now call "Indie" games.  While most publishers were either trying to "fix" D&D, rip off D&D, or adapt D&D to other genres, Chaosium was cornering the market on deeply literary, art house products, seemingly disinterested in the pop culture trends informing the developing RPG hobby.  At a time when Tolkien and Star Wars increasingly determined the conventions of tabletop role-play, Chaosium was drinking from a very different well.  Just look at the history.   

Chaosium's first RPG was RuneQuest--a game inspired by ancient epics and the academic theories of thinkers like Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell.  RuneQuest had no orcs, no knights in shining armor, no recognizable Dark Lord.  There were no jovial halflings, singing elves, or dour dwarves.  Instead, RuneQuest featured a bewildering array of invented gods and exhaustive ruminations on mythology.  The most polite word for this game was "niche." Soon after, as the entire point of contemporary RPGs seemed to be accumulating levels and treasure, taking down bigger and badder adversaries, and climbing to greater heights of power, Chaosium followed RuneQuest with a game that  turned all the burgeoning conventions of RPGs on their head. Call of Cthulhu, a game based on the writings of pulp writer H. P. Lovecraft had its characters spiraling into despair, madness, and death.  These weren't heroes, they were investigators, and horrifically out of their depth.  Add to this the fact that in 1981, outside of French academia and those lucky enough to own hand-me-down Arkham House collections, Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos" was practically unknown, and Call of Cthulhu becomes a very art house choice for a company's second RPG. 

Fantasist Michael Moorcock was certainly better known than Lovecraft, but the publication of Stormbringer that same year was yet another example of Chaosium refusing to "just do" Tolkieneque high fantasy like everyone else.  Moorcock--who years later would be nick-named the "Anti-Tolkien"--famously rejected the creator of Middle-earth in his classic 1978 essay, "Epic Pooh." By making Stormbringer their third RPG, Chaosium doubled down on its own rejection of expected fantasy RPG tropes.  Three years later, at the very height of Star Wars fever, Chaosium yet again zigged while the rest of the industry was zagging with the hard science Ringworld.  Based on the works of acclaimed writer Larry Niven, Ringworld was another example of the emerging Chaosium pattern; go with the literary rather than the cinematic, the niche rather than the popular.

That Chaosium not only succeeded with these games, but in fact became an established brand through them, says something about the times.  Before video games, binge-watching, or the Internet, nerds were bookish.  The first generation of gamers in the 70s and early 80s didn't just read Tolkien, they read Howard and Poul Andersen, Fritz Leiber, Roger Zelazny, etc.  Gygax's Dungeon Master's Guide came with an impressive bibliography.  Thus, when eleven-year-old me first encountered Stormbringer and Call of Cthulhu back in 1982, the first thing I did was go back into the literature, reading every piece of Moorcock and Lovecraft I could get my hands on. RuneQuest had had a similar effect on me.  I read everything from the Iliad to Eliade.  Literature was the primary fuel for roleplaying.

Timing is everything, however, and the moment when Chaosium forever defined itself as a gateway drug into classic literature came in 1985, just as the rest of the hobby seemed to be turning away from literature towards television, cinema, and eventually—in a predictable display of inbreeding—itself for inspiration.  With Dragons of Autumn Twilight sitting on bookstore shelves, marking the dawn of an age when games now produced their own insular literature and mythology, Chaosium did exactly what they always did and went in the opposite direction.  Greg Stafford, who had already given us Glorantha, wrote his love letter to Sir Thomas Malory and 15th century Arthurian Romance.  If Call of Cthulhu was Chaosium's greatest commercial success, this game was their greatest artistic one.

It's name was King Arthur Pendragon.   

A winner of Origins awards for Best Roleplaying Game Rules and Adventures, the Diana Jones Award for Gaming Excellence, and an inductee into the GAMA Hall of Fame, Pendragon is ranked 5th in RPG.net's highest rated games, and consistently mentioned by both gamers and game designers as a groundbreaking and seminal work. Stafford himself viewed the game as his "masterpiece."  At the end of last year, Pendragon returned home to Chaosium with a new edition, "5.2."  A more polished revision of its two previous editions (5 and 5.1), the new Pendragon is the definitive incarnation of the game.  If you like your games literary, thoughtful, and thrilling, Pendragon needs to be on your shelf.          

THE ONCE AND FUTURE GAME 

Pendragon is, obviously, a game set in Arthurian Britain.  Given 1500 years of telling and retelling these stories, however, that covers a lot of ground.  Specifically then Pendragon is the unofficial Le Morte d'Arthur RPG.  Despite Stafford's discussions of the English, French, Welsh, and contemporary versions of the cycle (and how to include elements of them in your campaign), what is clear is that Thomas Malory lies close to the heart of the game and defines its parameters.  This means Pendragon is a game about knights; there are no rogues, no barbarians, no clerics, and no magicians...at least not as player characters.  There are no dwarves or elves (again, not as player characters).  Your character is an armored warrior in a feudal system of vassalage, and expected to follow a code of chivalry.  It also means that your character's traits and passions are going to be front and center in the game.  Malory distinguished his bewildering array of knights by focusing on their personalities; Galahad was chaste, Gawaine lecherous, Argravaine a bit cruel.  Lancelot was defined, for good of for ill, by his passion for Guinevere.  Because these things were important to Malory, they are important in Pendragon.  Finally, it means this game is going to be a bit anachronistic.  Malory's work was published in 1485, roughly a thousand years after the period it was set in, and the world he portrays looks a great deal more like his than post-Roman Britain.  Pendragon deals with this in a very clever way, which we will get to in a moment, but players need to be prepared for shining  armor, jousts, and courtly love.

Pendragon campaigns tend to cover the same period of time as Le Morte d’Arthur as well; namely from the reign of Arthur’s father, Uther, up through Arthur’s “death” and being spirited away to the isle of Avalon.  This is about eight decades of game play, and to accommodate this Stafford builds in the conceit that player character knights have one adventure per year.  Aside from the adventure itself, there is a year-end winter phase, when the GM and players manage the knight’s estate, arrange a suitable marriage, and go about the business of producing heirs who will then become the new player characters when the original ones are too old for adventure.  A player then might end up roleplaying three of four generations of characters.  It’s not merely a clever way to get through the whole of Arthur’s reign, but also goes to the root of another very authentic Malory concern…lineage.  Arthur’s story is, after all, just as much Uther and Mordred’s as it is his own.  

Pendragon uses this pacing to do something else rather extraordinary.  When the game begins under the reign of Uther, it is very 5th century Britain.  The armor is a bit anachronistic (Norman), but the character’s estate is likely to be a ruined Roman villa or a wooden motte-and-bailey castle.  Life is Hobbesian; chivalry is not yet a thing and there is nothing resembling courtly love.  Magic and the supernatural are also quite rare.  Yet as the game passes through phases of Arthur’s reign, the arrival of the King unleashes a sort of magic over Britain.  Time accelerates, so that you race technologically through a thousand years of medieval history.  By the end, heavy plate armor, magnificent soaring castles and towers, high chivalry and courtly love all exist.  At the same time, magic increases.  Supernatural creatures and Fae knights make their appearances, as Britain becomes idealized and enchanted.  Of course Arthur’s death will end all of this, and the Dark Ages will rush back in, but for one brief, shining moment, there was Camelot.  Stafford brilliantly made Malory’s anachronisms a feature rather than a bug in a way that also allows groups to experiment with “different” Arthurs…one phase can be the historical Arthur, the next the old Welsh Arthur, later the English Arthur or the French Arthurian romances.  

The system itself is something of an evolution of the classic Chaosium “basic roleplaying” rules and a precursor to the engine driving Hero Wars and Heroquest.  It uses a d20, with the player attempting to role less than or equal to his rating in a skill or trait.  A critical success is achieved by rolling exactly your target number; if your skill is 16, rolling a 16 is a critical.  A 20 is always a fumble…unless your rating is higher than 20, in which it becomes a critical.  It’s a clever way of making sure that higher skill matters, rather than a critical being just a roll of a 1.  This universal mechanic handles all die resolutions in the game.

Since the player characters are all knights, they are distinguished from each other though what is probably the real centerpiece of the game, the system of Traits and Passions.  Lancelot was no doubt a great warrior, but we remember him for his love for Guinevere. Likewise, Arthur is revered for his sense of justice more than his jousting score.  To be true to the genre, the same has to apply to the characters in the game.

Characters are defined then by 13 pairs of opposed Traits, the sum total of each pair being twenty.  Pairs include Chaste/Lustful, Merciful/Cruel, Valorous/Cowardly, etc.  If your Chaste is 13, your Lustful must 7.  If Chaste increases, Lustful goes down.  These act as general guidelines how to play the character, unless the Traits rise close enough to 20 that you start earning “Glory” (a form of experience) from them.  Thus, if you are renowned for being a Chaste Knight, and earn Glory for your chastity, acting Lustful will probably require a roll.  If you fail your Chaste roll, you can act however you like.  If you succeed you must be Chaste, or else suffer a penalty (such as the Trait being reduced).

Passions have an even more profound effect on the game.  These can be things like Love, Loyalty, or Hate, usually targeted towards a specific person or group.  Passions can be rolled against to become inspired by the passion, gaining a bonus for a success and a larger bonus for a critical.  On the other hand, failing them, or fumbling them, can drive the character into depression or even madness.  We turn again to Lancelot as the perfect example of this.  His Love for Guinevere (or Amor, before they became actually lovers), could inspire him to fight furiously for her if she is endangered or abducted, but a failed roll could send him years of madness as a hermit in the woods (all of which has happened in the cycle).  This may not seem terribly realistic my modern standards, but it suits the reality of Malory perfectly.

THE LATEST EDITION

Pendragon saw a first and third edition under Chaosium (there was never a second edition, or rather the project was scrapped).  These were largely consistent with each other.  The fourth edition, however, was a departure, including a player character magic system and broadening the scope beyond just Arthurian knights.  The 5th edition, crafted under the direction of Greg Stafford again, brought the original focus squarely back.  It was followed by edition 5.1, which mainly corrected the numerous mistakes in the 5th edition text and included the errata.  5.2, then, is nearly identical to the text of 5.1, but it is a completely new full-color layout and gloriously illustrated.  Compatible with the previous fifth editions and their sourcebooks (you will absolutely wish to have a copy of The Great Pendragon Campaign, a year by year walk through of Arthur’s reign complete with hundreds of adventures, stats, and a bestiary), it is the cleanest to read and the most pleasing to look at.  With RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon is part of the Chaosium holy trinity and it is only natural to have them all back in glorious color editions now.  The game’s influence over the latest edition of RuneQuest is obvious, and it feels “right” to have it back.  And Chaosium seems committed to the line, with a sister game, Paladin, that uses the Pendragon engine to bring to life the Charlemagne Cycle, already available.

Ultimately however it is not Pendragon’s position in the history of the hobby that keeps it in print; it is the fact that it continues to offer a play experience not available anywhere else.  It’s devotion to its literary roots ensures a voice and style authentic to 15th century Romance, something no other game really does.  It doesn’t come off as D&D in Camelot—or even RuneQuest in Camelot.  It feels utterly true to its inspirations, and thus entirely unique.

      

       

THE RIVER OF CRADLES CHAPTER TWO: POINTS OF DEPARTURE

POINTS OF DEPARTURE is itself a bit of departure.  The six episodes of Six Seasons in Sartar followed a heavily scripted plot line, chronicling the coming of age story of its protagonists as well as the tragic demise of their people.  The first chapter of The River of Cradles was a transition, picking up where Six Seasons left off and tying up loose ends.  Points of Departure, then, is the first entirely "player-led" episode.  As the young heroes prepare to leave Sartar for Prax in a quest to liberate their clansmen who have been sold into slavery, their players were left to decide what their characters would do before saying goodbye to their homeland.  Beralor and Kalliva decided to commit to the cults of Orlanth and Vinga; Leika took her father south to the Kolati shamans of Stormwalk Mountain to heal him and for herself to be initiated into their spirit society; and Kalf heads north to Enjossi lands to marry the woman he loves (a story that began in The Sons of Orlanth and reached its climax in Harvest).  

This means that for you, gentle reader, Points of Departure presents four "mini-episodes."  Two are cult initiations, one is initiation into a spirit society, and the last is an Orlanthi wedding.  The fifth and finale episode, "Point of Departure," brings the united heroes to the border town of Svenstown, their first taste of Prax, and a meeting with a deadly duck...

VINGA THE DEFENDER

THE CANDIDATE is taken by the sisters of the local Vinga cult and prepared (in this case it was Kalliva's own mother, Korolmara, and her lieutenant Stora).  Her initiation happens sometime in either Earth or Dark Season, based on the arrival of the Defender Storm.  The girl is washed and painted with woad, then rearmed and armored.  If her hair was not already red, it should be dyed here.  She is given a short skirt to wear over her armor, and given a shield, sword and javelin.

Woad--in my version of Glorantha--is frequently used in Orlanthi rituals and slightly hallucinogenic.  It is my adaptation of the soma used in ancient Vedic rituals.  As the magic in the herb takes hold, the sisters chant and beat swords against their shields.  The ritual leader sacrifices a bull.  Before she enters the Otherworld the candidate is given a ritual charge;

Do you vow to take up sword and shield over kettle and spoon?

Do you vow to take up the javelin over the sewing needle and thread?

Do you vow to leave the comfort of the hearth to take up guarding the stead?  Will you help the helpless?  Will you protect the defenseless?  Will you avenge the wronged?

The candidate affirms that she does, and crosses into the Otherworld.

Stands alone at the darkened stead of Orlanth (perhaps it looks much like the stead she grew up in).  The winds howl around her, the sky is pitch black.  A blizzard rages and the snow is waist deep.

She knows that Orlanth her father is gone on the Lightbringer's Quest.  She knows that Elmal has left his post to deliver his torchlight to the Shiver Bone clan.  She knows that Vinkgot is out hunting Varudi, who killed her brother Barntar.  She alone remains to defend the women and children shivering in the endless, eternal cold.  

Perhaps she goes to check on them in the stead.  Or perhaps she choses to patrol the perimeter.  If she goes into the stead she finds the children wailing and the women shivering; the hearth has gone cold and cannot be lit.  She realizes there is no sign of Mahome.

If she patrols the perimeter, or goes searching, she finds Mahome out near the gates, buried in the snow and half dead.  If the hearth goddess dies, all the hearths of the Vinkgotlings will go out forever.

The candidate will know that Vinga surrendered her cloak to keep Mahome warm.  Once she does this, she triggers an Extended Contest with a Base Difficulty.  She hears the creaking winter wheels of Valind's chariot, its ice ram mounted on the front.  The blizzard intensifies as the Winter God rolls like a juggernaut towards her.  She needs to defend Mahome!

In staging this conflict, stay close to the mythic beats.  Vinga should use her javelins to fight, and at some point should summon the Defending Wind (if the candidate does not voluntarily do so have the Wind spring up around her anyway).

If the Contest goes in her favor, Valind will turn and flee, making the snows rise behind him nearly as deep as the trees are high.  Vinga should leap and run after him across the treetops, hurling her javelins.  If the Contest ends in her favor, Valind will flee the stead beyond the farthest boundary stones, and Vinga returns to Mahome and leads her back to the stead.

If the Contest goes against her, the candidate will be buried in the snows and awake suddenly back in the ritual space.  She has failed and cannot attempt to join the cult again for another year.

If she is victorious, she is now an initiate of Vinga.  She can use her Benefits of Victory bonus for things like knowledge of cult myths and interaction with other members.  There will be much feasting and celebration as a new sister is welcomed.

Notes: This is based on the myth recounted by Greg Stafford in The Book of Hurtling Mythology, page 72.  I selected it for initiation because it is described as the event which "catalyzed her committed powers."  When initially running this, I also included the following myth on p. 73, in which a Chaos obscenity kills everyone in the stead and Gustbran forges her despair and rage into the blade "Vengeance."  In retrospect, I decided the fight against Valind ("Vinga the Defender") is complete enough; the story of "Vinga the Avenger" could be saved for the initiation into becoming a Devotee, or a later Heroquest.

ORLANTH TRIUMPHANT

The candidate is initiated on Windsday, Movement Week of whatever the current season.  The initiation begins just as Orlanth's Ring prepares to enter the Pole Star.  

Surrounded by initiates of the cult, he is presented to the Wind Voice (a Wind Lord can also perform the rite).  He is stripped naked and painted with woad as drummers and pipers fill the night with music.  

As the magic of the woad begins to induce a trance-like state, the Wind Voice anoints the candidates brow with woad, drawing the Runes Air, Movement, and Mastery.  He delivers the charge;

Son of Storm, in the light of the Disruptor, the Raider, the Donkey Holder, the Third Outlaw, the Dragon's Head and the Three Brother Stars, you now set foot on the Path of Thunder.  I mark you Farmer, I mark you Warrior, I mark you Chief.  Do you dare to walk in the footsteps of the King of the Gods?

The candidate answers affirmatively.

Swear now this sacred and unbreakable oath; to keep faith with the cult, to follow the words of its leaders, to betray no secret to outsiders.

The candidate swears.

Swear too to come to the aid of the Earth Daughters, to answer the call of the Lightbringers, to destroy Chaos where you find it.  Swear faith to Orlanth and to live as he lived.

The candidate swears.

A bull is sacrificed.  The candidate is given a rattle, a runestone, a bagpipe, and a sword.  As the woad takes full hold the candidate crosses to the Otherside...

He is now a boy of five or six years.  He stands at the golden doors of the Solar Emperor's Hall.  Once he throws these open, and Extended Contest begins at a Base Difficulty.  Striding into the Golden Hall, he is awed perhaps by its splendor.  It is larger than several hides of land.  The floor is marble, as are the columns holding aloft the gilded ceiling.  Gold is everywhere.  At the far side of the hall the Emperor sits high upon his golden throne, courtiers around his feet.  His face is too bright to look upon.  Along the sides of the hall all the gods stand, watching the boy Orlanth.  

The Emperor speaks with a sweet, honeyed voice, welcoming young Orlanth to his Hall in slightly mocking tones.  He speaks of accepting the young god's challenge.

The first contest is a dance.  Yelm whirls across the marble, whirling like a dervish, his slippered feet tracing out elaborate circles over the floor.  The candidate responds with a war dance, whooping and hollering and shaking his rattle.

This counts as the first exchange of the Contest.  Even if the player wins the exchange, Orlanth loses as the guides judge Yelm the winner.  This repeats through the next two contests.

Suddenly, the candidate is a boy of 12 or 13.  He pushes open the golden doors and strides inside.  The scene is the same as before.  This time it is the contest of magic.  The Sun King shows a brilliant display of the magic of being...the unchanging perfection of the cosmos.  Orlanth uses his runestone (marked with the Movement Rune) to demonstrate the magic of change and becoming.  Again, the gods side with Yelm.

Now he is a youth of 18.  He pushes open the doors and strides inside.  This time, he catches the eye of Ernalda, watching him from the side of the room.  If he wishes to speak with her, let him.  Perhaps she gives him a piece of embroidered cloth as her favor.

Yelm plays the golden harp.  Orlanth responds with the bagpipe.  Again, Yelm will be judged the winner.

For the final contest, Orlanth is now a full man.  He strides into the Hall bearing the Sword, Death.  He sees Orlanth again, and may speak with her again if he wishes.  For the contest, Yelm will fire a rain of golden arrows upon Orlanth.  One embeds in his chest.

If the player character wins the Extended Contest, it goes like this; the golden arrow in his chest turns black, withers, and melts away to nothing.  He crosses the floor and strikes Yelm with his Sword.  The Hall goes dark.  The gods scream.  An earthquake shakes the room and the floor opens up to swallow Yelm and drag him to Hell.  Orlanth can now take Ernalda by the hand and lead her out.  The initiation ends...

If the player character loses, he collapses from the pain of the arrow in his chest and awakens in the ritual space.  He has failed and cannot try again for another year.

If he succeeded he is now an initiate of Orlanth.  There shall be drinking and feasting into the night.  He can use his Benefits of Victory bonus on rolls to know deep cult knowledge or in dealings with other Orlanthi or Lightbringers.

THE SEVEN WINDS

The candidate travels to one of the holy places of Kolat; Chalk Man Hill, Crow Top, Six Sisters, Tarndisi's Grove, Stormwalk Mountain, or some other location.  She presents herself to the shaman there.  A long period of training will follow, perhaps as long as a full year, while the candidate is made to perform menial chores (note: we skipped this phase...Leika was already trained as a Kolat spirit-talker by her father, who accompanied her here, so she was deemed ready for the Testing).

For the Testing, the candidate climbs Stormwalk alone, following the spiral path that turns seven times (one for each of the Seven Winds).  She is minimally dressed and carries no food or water.  She carries a new set of gambling sticks in a pouch as her waist, and a small drum.  At the peak she enters a cave and begins chanting to the Seven Winds, beating the drum.  She does this without stopping and without sleep.  The chant is as follows;

I call upon the spirits Before Me, the spirits on my Right, the spirits Behind me, the spirits on my Left, the spirits Above me, and the spirits Below Me.  I wait for you in the center.

As cold, hunger, thirst, and fatigue take hold, the Extended Contest begins against a Base Difficulty.  Several spirits will appear and try to persuade her to give up and leave.  They come one at a time, hours or even days apart.  One appears as a friend, one appears as a foe, one appears as a loved one.  Each tries to tempt her into leaving, threatening, begging, persuading, etc.

The final spirit looks exactly like the candidate herself.  This is, perhaps, her own Fetch (which will not actually join her until she becomes a full shaman).  She takes out her gambling sticks and plays against the final spirit.  If she wins, she is now a member of the Seven Winds Spirit Society and selects her five Charms.  She can use her Benefit of Victory bonus in dealing with these spirits or other members of the Society.

If she fails, she must descend the mountain and cannot try again for another year.

THE LIFE-BRINGING RAINS

Before the wedding, it is traditional for the Bride to set the Groom some challenges or tests. We omitted this in our story, as Kalf and his companions already faced great danger the year before to rescue Esrala from her abductor.

The Bride appears as Ernalda.  She is painted green and bedecked with the finest jewels her mothers can provide.  Her bodice is open, bare-breasted.  The Groom appears as Orlanth.  He wears only a loin cloth, and is painted blue with sacred woad.  She carries a sheath.  He, a sword.

The Groom’s brothers stand behind him to the side.  They play the Brothers of Orlanth.  The Bride’s mothers and sisters stand behind her as the Earth Goddesses.

The Earth Priestess enters and summons the Bride and Groom to stand before her.  

P = Priestess, O = Groom/Orlanth, E = Bride/Ernalda, B = Orlanth’s Brothers

P: When young was the world, before the Darkness fell, in the Court of the Sun mighty Orlanth first heard the laughter of Ernalda.

O: Your laugh is like new music, and so pure that I would like to bring it home with me.

E: Not today, lord Wind, for when I leave here I will go to my own tribe, to my mother's house.

O: If you will promise to share that music with me again, I would take you anyplace.

E: Not today, wind lord. Not today. But please, I bid you to come once again, with whatever contest you need to get inside the doors.

P: To the Hall of the Emperor came Orlanth thrice; and then upon the fourth time vanquished him with the Sword called Death.  Then was Orlanth King of the Gods.  King of Heaven and the Middle Air, he went then to the House of Ernalda to ask for her Earth.

E: My Earth? How flattering That you, king of the world, would want the soil and its treasures. You are wise, my lord. Are you generous too?

O: Orlanth Openhand is one of my names.  All gods can speak well of my generosity; especially you, Bountiful and Beautiful.  Take this, my bullroarer. Roar it when you want me; I am yours.  

(Hands her a bullroarer.  The Earth Goddesses in return hand the Groom a chest of Earth with floors and grasses upon the topsoil.  He carries this to where his brothers stand).

P: Afterwards Orlanth went to his brothers with his present, but when they looked closely the grasses and flowers upon it were whipped and torn about, scattered in all directions. 

(The brothers blow, rip, and tear the grasses and flowers from the soil until the earth in the chest is bare)

The storm gods, tied of their plaything, tossed it back to Orlanth and laughed at his worthless gift. Angered when nothing returned to the bare earth Orlanth returned to Ernalda:

O: Liar! Perfidious Trickster! No fishwife, no slave woman, should treat me Like that! I am mocked, shamed, cheat. I am also angry, powerful, and violent: the Thunderer! Shall I show you my dread powers?

E: Most powerful and horrible lord, King of creation and Render of Terrors. Mercy please, let me repay you. Twice the gifts I will trade back for my earth. Are you just? Can you see value?

P: Orlanth, not wishing to be unjust, agreed to accept two presents back for the return of the worthless and barren earth. Ernalda gave him his bullroarer first, and he was pleased since it was certainly a gift fit for him. 

(Returns the bullroarer)

The second gift was access to the secret Treasure House of the Great Goddess herself, a simple and ecstatic thing which Orlanth never suspected might exist. 

(The Bride the Groom hands the Groom a vessel of water.  This he sprinkles over the bare earth in the chest like rain.  He turns to his brothers)

Awestruck and dumbfounded, Orlanth returned happily to his brothers. The other storm gods again laughed at Orlanth.

B: Dupe and fool, women’s wiles will ever turn your head from sense.  Look at that present you gave the goddess! Simple is he who makes deals without scrutiny.

(The entire wedding party looks at the Earth chest.  The Priestess holds her hands over it, and a miracle occurs...the grasses and flowers grow back richer and more lush than before)

P: Their words seemed truth. The earth that had been blown bare was now again covered over with luxurious growth, made fertile by the rains the Wind Lord had shed upon Ernalda’s body.  This time it was even thicker and richer, like the higher lands where trees had never grown before, or the dryer lands where grass had not been before. Orlanth was incensed. In a blind rage, with roarers roaring and hail pelting, he thundered to Ernalda again.

O: Pitiless liar! Deceiver and foolmaker! My heart will turn and my eyes will be opened If I let you dupe me again. That was not worthless which you took from me! I was robbed. You are the Taker.

E: Powerful lord, Shaker and Destroyer, You abuse me, you are unjust. I did just what you told me, I do not lie. Would the land bless me if I were untrue?

O: I see many things Ernalda, Treasure of Treasures: Each thing you give me Is less in my hands than in yours, is not what you told me it was, is useless to me and mine. I see black spots of anger before me.

E: Great God, Keeper of Kin, clear the spots from your eyes: look again. One half of the wonder is yours! Your rain, fruitful wonder, spread my beauty, Be worshipful: Help keep this bounty eternal!  I need your aid for protection. I need your presence for my happiness. I am yours!

P: Orlanth saw the truth of this and kneeled—though he were King of the Gods, before his bride to be. 

O: Great woman, bountifully bosomed, my sword is yours to sheath.  My rains yours to transform into life.  I am yours.

(He kneels and gives her his sword.  She sheaths it, and kneels, handing sword and sheath back to him)

E: And the fruits I bear are yours.  I shall sheath your sword, I shall clothe your body, I shall feed your belly, and the fruits I bear shall be in your name.  I am yours:

O & E (standing and holding hands in unison): We are ours.

POINT OF DEPARTURE

In the story, the three player characters returned from their initiations in time to participate in Kalf and Esrala's wedding.  As they feasted and celebrated, Kalf and Esrala vanished to consummate the marriage.  In my Glorantha, women have the right to pick or refuse their husbands; the Orlanthi do not have arranged marriages.  Even parents have no say ("no one can make you do anything").  Esrala's mother had a scene earlier with Kalf where she was "feeling him out" regardless.  She wanted him to know that he, as a clanless cottar with nothing to bring to the marriage, was preventing Esrala from a choice of wealthier, more prosperous husbands.  In the end, however, she was convinced by Kalf's devotion to her daughter.  In marrying, Kalf will be joining her clan, and any children born will be raised as Enjossi.

I also give Ernaldan women the power to conceive or not.  It is a power they earn in their adulthood initiation.  Esrala asks Kalf if he would like her to give him a child.  He says "yes," fearing that he may not return from Prax and would like to leave something behind.  If and when he comes back from Prax, a son or daughter will be waiting for him.

After the wedding, goodbyes are said, and the heroes head for Swenstown.  Korolmara, as a leader of the rebel Sons of Orlanth, has suggested they meet a former ally of hers there, A Sword of Humakt known as Targan Ironbeak (note: this was the players' first experience with a Gloranthan Duck, and they loved him).

We played up much of the strangeness of Prax here; even though Swenstown is still Sartar, coming from their isolated mountain valley seeing the pygmy Impala Riders or a troop of trading baboons was a shock to them.  Then have their first encounters with hazia, which Leika becomes a fan of.  

Targan introduces them to an Issaries Goldentongue named Teolrian Soudatch.  He is headed to Pimper's Block to trade.  Invoking their shared Lightbringer Oaths, they persuade him to accept them as caravan guards, and to assist them in Pimper's Block track down their sold kinsmen.

Finally, a bit of conflict.  Leika has taken as a companion a Telmori warrior named Three Bears (she met him during the events of Harvest and the pair of something of a forbidden romance subplot going).  A trio of local Uroxi spot him, and hot to exterminate Chaos, pick a fight.  The player characters did well against them, with Targan finally threatening them off with his icy, deadly duck stare.  And so we are reading to pick up next time with Chapter Three: No One Can Make You Do Anything. 

Final note: stay tuned!  My reviews of Pelgrane Press's The Yellow King, the Spire sourcebook Strata, Monte Cook's Invisible Sun, and Cubicle 7's new Warhammer Fantasy are coming this month as well.