Quests of the First Hero

This document contains some information on various Arkati HeroQuests, an important piece I think you'd agree as Arkat was the first exponent of experimental HeroQuesting, and in earlier documents was called "Arkat the First Hero". Hopefully the information will prove useful to describe some of the more... esoteric of HeroQuests, and cast some light on what I believe to be the way Gloranthan HeroQuesting should be enacted.

Arkati HeroQuests

Obviously, first you must understand that when we speak of "Arkati" we are not speaking of a unified people or a unified cult, we are speaking of a wide variety of people proclaiming to be followers of Arkat (in fact, when we speak of Arkati we should also speak of Nysalorians and Gbaji worshippers, rare though the later be). For more information on Arkati cults, there are some examples on my main webpage, with some general details on Arkati if you click here. For the purpose of this document, however, we are not talking about any specific Arkati cults, it is up to you to decide whether an Arkati cult may, or may not, have access to these HeroQuests. As a rule of thumb, only theistic Arkati cults will have access to HeroQuests of this form, so cults like Arkat Kingtroll, Arkat Kortagisoul and other reverential cults would gain such secrets. Re-enacting Arkat's HeroPaths requires theistic worship in the same way that to become Orlanth and travel the Lightbringer's Road requires you to incarnate Orlanth as your God. Materialistic cults of Arkat, such as Arkat Chaosbane, Arkat the Destroyer and Great Arkat, which concentrate more on the worldly aspects of Arkat, revering him as a Hero, leader, or an emperor, may well have access to immediate benefits like powers, spells and political, or materialist secrets, but lack the secrets of HeroQuesting described here. Mystical cults, like those who practice esoteric Arkatism, sometimes have contact with the world of myth, but usually practice other arts and paths in favour of HeroQuesting. However, note that one of the distinguishing factors of any Arkati cult that stems from the destruction of the Dark Empire at the hands of the God Learners is that they have access to ancient HeroPlane Lore. This is not the same as the re-enactments described here, although many cults contain secrets such as "If you go west at the Knoll of Ill Repute, rather than north, and meet the nymphs of the seventh heart, and give them seven iron coins they will pass you a magical potions to render you immune to magic for one day and one day only." They may also know the location of places where you can enter the HeroPlane, or secrets to guide you once you are there. Certainly, such things are very helpful, but it would be wasteful of me just to describe reams of examples when GamesMasters can quite happily come up with their own.

So, having established whether an Arkati cult in your game has access to the re-enactment HeroQuests below, your characters actually have to get to them. This is not easy. Firstly, some of them rely upon Illumination, and non-Illuminates just simply can't get hold of them. Secondly, these HeroQuests, and access to them, is always going to be limited to those who are in the inner circles, the closed councils, the high priests, the closeted priests and the other members of Arkati cults who are "in the know". It is far from simply sacrificing a few points of POW one holy day. Lastly, Arkati may be good HeroQuests, but ever since the Dark Empire shattered the knowledge of what it takes to be a good Arkati has been lost, unfortunately. So, knowledge of the Arkati HeroQuest paths below is limited! In fact the Arkati know more about other people's HeroQuests than their own mysterious Quests! More importantly, below I refer to Piety Arkat a lot, this is in reference to my HeroQuest rules, and if you don't use them then replace it with something more or less the same. The point is that for people to acquire Piety Arkat is a tricky task, normally most people go on HeroQuests which bring them closer to their gods, and increase their Piety to the God, but in the case of Arkat there are fewer HeroPaths to do this. All in all, Arkati have to stumble along, doing as best they can. But it serves them right for being HeroQuesting-know-it-alls...

Below are some HeroPaths of Arkat. They are in note form, mainly because of the possible variation that you would get in such HeroQuests - there is certainly a lot of room for a GM to personalise these Quests for their own conception of both Ralios and Arkat.

The Tower of Dreams

Arkat met Gbaji at the Spiral Heart of Silence, at the top of the Tower of Dreams in Dorastor. Here one of them won.

The Tower of Dreams HeroQuest can be used by Arkati to summon up followers of Gbaji (i.e. people in "false" Arkati cults) and defeat them on the HeroPlane. It is a 4 POW re-usable HeroQuest.

The Arkati must be in a holy site to Arkat. Such sites exist across Ralios, such as Arkhome, Hrelar Amali, ancient palaces in Guhan or, in some cases, a temple to your own sect of Arkatism will suffice. The Quester casts the ritual and remains in the temple until their target is summoned. This HeroQuest is an example of involuntary HeroQuesting, where someone else is pulled onto a HeroQuest without his or her consent. The target must be Illuminated, as must be the caster, to represent their positions as Arkat and Gbaji. To succeed, the caster must overcome the target's POW with his own. If they fail then the ritual must be reprayed for and enacted again, and it can only be cast once a year, in the period between Freezeday of Harmony Week in Dark Season and the day before Sacred Time - this is the period between when Arkat became a troll and then marched upon Gbaji and Dorastor. A Quester only knows whether it has worked or not in Sacred Time, for if it fails then nothing happens. If it works then during the Sacred Time, usually during some secret cult ritual or some such, the target finds themselves all alone just on the inside of a tower bottom. Outside rages a vortex of magic and power, and stepping into it spells destruction. Up above is a spiral staircase that comes to a room at the top of the tower, wherein the two Questers meet and battle.

Both appear on the HeroPlane, and both appear without allies. If they can summon allies via HeroQuesting magic then this is acceptable, and they can aid in the forthcoming battle. Other than this, this Quest is, in essence, two Questers slugging it out. Of course, if the target is another Arkati they will believe themselves to be personifying Arkat, and they will be fighting Gbaji. If someone succeeds in killing the other, then they absorb part of the essence of the person they've slain, gaining points in runes equal to 1/10th of the runic ratings that the dead man had i.e. if you had Death 27, and are killed, your killer gains 2 points in Death Rune. If an Arkati succeeds in this Quest they gain two points in Piety Arkat, if an Arkati fails and lives, they lose five points in Piety Arkat.

This Quest can be Invoked just like any other, against a follower of Gbaji (usually other enemy Arkati). As Arkat slew Gbaji, the Invoker gains a bonus on all magical resistance rolls to overcome the target's magic points equal to the Illumination skill of the target.

For Example: The Great Knight, a member of the Old Arkat Kult Alliance, calls upon this HeroQuest in a battle against a follower of Gbaji proclaiming to believe in Arkat the Destroyer. The Gbaji follower cannot resist the Invoked HeroQuest as it is cast on the Invoker, not the target. The Gbaji worshipper has Illumination skill 27%, so if the Great Knight has POW 15 and the Gbaji worshipper has POW 12 then any spell has a (65+27)=92% chance of overcoming magic points.

This does mean that the more Illuminated the target the more useful this is, after all the target is then closer to Gbaji... This does not apply if the target has more than 10 POW than the person trying to overcome, so it does not help if you have POW 10 and the "Gbaji" worshipper has POW 20+.

Arkats Return From Hell

This is a 8 POW HeroQuest. It is rare, as are all Arkati HeroQuests. It re-enacts Arkat's self sufficient return from Death. When Arkat was slain, his soul captured, and then hidden in the underworld, he called upon his powers to summon someone to rescue him. That someone was Harmast Barefoot, who rescued him at the end of an exhaustive Lightbringer's Quest. Ever since, true followers of Arkat have sometimes been able to learn the secrets to be able to follow Arkat's feat.

This is an odd HeroQuest in that it's only use is to Invoke it after you die, at which point there is a chance that another HeroQuester will come and rescue you. Then, if you're a lucky HeroQuester, you will be rescued. It's difficult to stop such an Arkati coming back without capturing their soul, destroying their soul or going after them once they've died. Using certain rituals, such as the grisly portions, on the body also stops the Arkati from returning.

The rules mechanism for that is described here. The full HeroPath isn't described as it changes radically each and every time depending upon where the Quester is when he is rescued, and who rescues him.

The Quester first has to call the Questers to save him. This is represented as a POW+Piety Arkat roll on 1d100. The Quester gets one chance every season for holy days of the magnitude required to send HeroQuesters to rescue the trapped Arkati are held once every season. The GM can be as vague as they wish with the exact dates and times, it's not as if time is minute perfect on the HeroPlane. Note that when we speak of HeroQuesters coming to rescue the Arkati Quester, they almost never do this intentionally - certainly Harmast did not. The Quester can keep going with this roll, for many, many years if they need.

What needs to be taken into consideration is where the Quester's soul actually is. It actually has to be in the afterlife - for seven days a person's soul hovers next to their body and during these seven days this HeroQuest is utterly useless, although it does not interfere in normal Ressurection attempts. Once in the afterlife the GM must determine how likely it is that other HeroQuesters will come and save them. Normally this isn't a problem, especially if the Quester is an Illuminate and can choose their afterlife. However, some Questers may find themselves in places other than a normal afterlife, one that entails difficulty to rescue. Perhaps the Quester is a devote Humakti and resides in Humakt's Halls, and there is no way that anyone is being rescued from death from Humakt's Lodge. The same sort of things applies to Thanatar's Halls, or a Wachazan afterlife, but the soul may also be in Lunar Hell or other, less accessible places. In the case that the Quester could not reasonably be rescued, the roll automatically fails and always will - people don't just stumble into Lunar Hell and rescue people.

Once the GM has determined the character is successful, they must then write the adventure/HeroQuest for them to escape. Firstly, it must be determined who comes to rescue them. Unless the Quester has allies who are experts in HeroQuesting Secrets and God Learner or Lunar knowledge, it is not possible for somebody to purposefully ensure that it is they who rescue the Quester, whether they are allies trying to make it easy on him, or enemies trying to kill him. Usually the HeroQuesters who save the character are engaged in the holy Quest of their cult, for most Gloranthan cults have myths of their gods dying and travelling to Hell, only to return once again i.e. the LightBringer's Quest, Yelm's Self-Ressurection, Sedenya's Path etc... The GM must then determine how these Quester's will react to the Arkati - they may well capture him, or demand a favour in return for his saviour. If he refuses, or fails here, the Quest is over - it is not possible for the Quester to refuse those who turn who and try again by rolling the dice next season, he must take what he is given!

Having escaped Hell, the Quester must then travel with his rescuers along their HeroPath, so if he is rescued by LightBringer's he is lucky, as they would rescue him at the end of their path not at the beginning, and the Quester would have little more to do. If he was rescued by Lunar HeroQuester's though, it would be at the start of the HeroPath of Sedenya, he would have to follow the Lunars around as they enacted the Red Goddesses conversion into Rufelza, then the Queen of Mernita, then Gerra and so on! The GM should be as cruel or as kind as he or she prefers. It should never be too easy, however.

Once the Quester returns they will find themselves geographically misplaced. If Lunars rescued them they could be anywhere in the Lunar Empire, if Orlanthi rescued them they could be anywhere along the Barbarian Belt and so on. They also appear without any equipment other than the clothes of the dead. They may also owe their rescuer's favours. Any oaths made to their rescuers must be kept by the Quester. If he breaks them then he takes his Piety Arkat passion as damage to his hps, mps and POW.

The Returning is always different, never the same. Completing this HeroQuest is worth three points in Piety Arkat, three points in Death, Spirit and Man and the Quester is incapable of gaining other rune or passion bonuses for completing the HeroPath required to get back from Hell with his rescuers. In other words, normally for completing the LightBringer's Quest you get Storm rune, Mastery rune etc... but if the Quester was rescued on the LightBringer's Quest then they do not gain these bonuses as well.

Arkat's Proof of Worth to Kyger Litor

When, in the Ancient Great Ceremonies, Kyger Litor came to the High Holy celebrations, the trolls about quivered and fell to the ground in front of their goddess as they had always done in her fearsome glory. Arkat, however, stood upright. His lip quivered, his heart stopped and his legs almost buckled, but he remained upright and standing while all others trembled. For this Kyger Litor respected and befriended Arkat, rather than treating him as weak male warrior-meat.

This HeroQuest is a 4 POW re-usable HeroQuest spell. It is not commonly found outside of Arkat Kingtroll cults.

This Quest can be repeated, although it is rare to do so. It is an excellent tool in experimental HeroQuesting, for if successful you get a quick and easy audience with Kyger Litor herself! If, as usual, you fail, however, the results can be very, very bad. It is used before Kyger Litor High Holy Day celebrations. The Arkati washes themselves in blood, and chants to Arkat, devouring the hearts of three different sentient species, one of which must be a Fire worshipper. They cast the HeroQuest spell as part of the Kyger Litor holy rituals. When Kyger Litor appears in the High Holy Day celebrations, usually all worshippers falter and fall, to do otherwise constitutes an offence to the Mother of Trolls. If someone remains standing then the Mother of Trolls takes an active interest in them, if they show any fear or regret for what they have done, any terror in their eyes, she kills them. In game terms, the Quester rolls a 1d100 and tries to roll under their POW, adding Piety Arkat or any other applicable passions, and minusing the highest Fear passion they have. It does not matter if this Fear passion does not seem applicable, the fact that they have fear in their soul is enough to make them falter in front of Kyger Litor.

For Example: An Arkati with POW 14 has the Passions of Piety Arkat 25, and Fear passions of Fear Fire 10, Fear Ralzakark 27 and Fear Mother 7. They have an overall (14+25-27)=12% chance of succeeding.

If they fail then Kyger Litor herself comes towards them and stares them in the eye, and their courage breaks. They must roll underneath their POW+CON on 1d100. If they succeed they survive, fall to the ground like the others in the chamber and are permanently demoralised. If they fail, they die and should they be resurrected somehow (no troll would allow it) they are still permanently demoralised.

If they succeed then Kyger Litor is impressed with them. Simply out, this could mean anything. Usually people only attempt this so that they can personally ask something of their deity. It is then up to Kyger Litor what she does, she is not forced to help the Quester in anyway. Simply put, this ritual gives you a fast way to talk to your God, even if it is vastly dangerous. Other bonuses, other than speaking to a god, are two points in Piety Arkat, and two points in Mastery and Darkness rune.

It can be Invoked in two ways. Firstly, during greeting ceremonies with other trolls it can be Invoked to ensure that the other trolls are suitably impressed with the character's worth and power. This occurs if the Invoker succeeds in a Ceremony roll. The second way it can be Invoked is to shrug off effects of Fear, such as Shade Fearshock, the Fear spell or a chaos monsters demoralising howl. When Invoked the character gains a bonus to resist equal to their Piety Arkat passion.