The Well of Wisdom

by Nikk Effingham, based on notes from Glorantha Con IV Compendium, as related by Sandy Petersen.

Introduction

This is an Orlanthi HeroQuest, although obviously it will have to be modified depending upon what specific type of Orlanthi culture you use (Sartarite, Hendreki, Invisible Orlanth, Otkorioni etc...) it should be suitable for any GM to easily use (although I'm sure few players will be willing to enact it). It is described here in it's full Godplane form i.e. the HeroQuester travels directly to the HeroPlane rather than doing a Practice Run version. As always, I am certain that a GM adapting this to a practice run version would have no problem.

It certainly is a powerful adventure, with the most difficult part being the survival of the survival of the infamous Baths of Nelat that Orlanth, and only Orlanth has survived (although there are hints that some Water Gods have also undergone some form of test, whether it be the Baths of Nelat, and survived to drink from the Well). The HeroQuest is two-fold, it allows the Orlanthi to rescue Mastakos from Daliath's Realm, and to drink from the Well of Wisdom. A cut-down version, whereby the Baths of Nelat and the Well of Wisdom stations are not used, is far more common, where the HeroQuester merely rescues Mastakos.

Those who succeed in this Quest have achieved the impossible, only Orlanth himself has survived, and tasted the True Wisdom contained within. Why then have I written this HeroQuest? Because not only are there ways around the Baths of Nelat, it is important to have as many major myths of a cult written in HeroQuest form as possible.

This is written using my HeroQuest rules, although conversion to other rules systems should not be too difficult. Just substitute Personality Traits for Passions and ignore notes on gains in Runic Ties.

This Quest is a "divided by five" Quest, all skills are divided by 5 for purposes of resolution.

The Myth

In the Great Darkness, when the Devil's forces had taken the Camp of Umath, and trolls reigned as Kings over men, Orlanth was finished with battling for it got him nowhere. He went to Ernalda, his wife, and said "There is always another way.", and she was happy that her husband had learnt that violence was not the only option. Without violence, Orlanth had to seek out a new way to stop Chaos, to force Darkness back underneath it's rock, to restore light and hope to the world.

First he went to Issaries, and asked if he knew of a way to accomplish this, but Issaries bemoaned that neithr troll nor Devilkin would listen to words of peace, trade or good will, and that when he tried they did evil things to him. He said Chalana has only just finished sewing his tongue back on after the Black Lord tore it out.

Second he went to Chalana, and asked if she could heal the wounds of the world. She bemoaned that all of the wounds of the world wanted to remain wounds, that the trolls wished to remain trolls, that Chaos wished to remain Chaos, and that nothing would stop that. Whilst they remained, she said, then there was nothing she alone could do.

Third he went to his brother Humakt, who muttered that this was his bed, and he would have to lie in it alone. Humakt then left to search for his lost sword.

Fourth he went to Lhankor Mhy, and asked if he knew of a way, for he was full of knowledge and information. Lhankor Mhy bemoaned that none of his ancestors, nor any of his tomes, had ever spoken of saving a Dying World, and as no-one else knew how could he?

Lastly, always last, he went to Eurmal Littleshit. He asked the trickster if he knew of a way to save the Cosmos, for he knew so many tricks. Eurmal said that if he did he had forgotten, and if he didn't he couldn't remember.

Brooding, Orlanth went to his Stead. His companions knew none of the answers, and in the past they were always the people who had helped. Orlanth paced a spiral pattern into the ground, as he tried his best to think what to do. Someone, he surmised, must know the answer, and once he had the answer he could save his people. Someone, out there, must be able to tell him what to do.

After seven days and seven nights Orlanth remembered something, a half forgotten whisper he had heard one day. Whilst fighting against the Ocean People and Sea Beasts (which was a long time ago by now) he remembered them talk of the Well of Wisdom, once or twice, which lay deep in the oceans. It could grant the drinker the Wisdom of a Thousand Sages, so he had heard. Orlanth went again to his companions to ask if they had heard of such a place, but all said no. They had never been near the Sea People, and had never overheard the rumours that Orlanth had.

Orlanth took his sword, his axe, his spear and all jars of his woad. "I shall find this Well," he proclaimed, "I shall ask the King of the Oceans to take me there!" With that he travelled to the south, and dove straight into the oceans. He swam deep into the dark depths, farther than he had ever been. Only Vadrus had ever invaded this far. When guardians and soldiers came to fight Orlanth, he told them to leave, and his voice inspired fear enough for them to flee.

At the bottom of the ocean he entered the Kingdom of Magasta. Here he met the God, and was loath to attack him for Brastalos was there and she was Orlanth's kin. Faced with such odds, even Orlanth knew that a fight could be deadly for both sides. It was luck, skill and experience that saw Orlanth through the Kingdom of the Sea.

Onwards he went, further down and deeper into the bowels of the oceans. He was confronted by Varchulanga's Children, but each that came forth to do battle with him was defeated and tossed aside, but even Orlanth the Mighty was left battered and bleeding by the end! Soon he came to the Baths, where Daliath lay on guard. Orlanth talked to the god of Wisdom, and demanded entrance. Daliath refused. He asked for entrance, and Daliath refused. He bartered for entrance, and Daliath refused. At last Orlanth went to his knees and pleaded that for the sake of his people, and the entire world, he needed to drink from the Well of Wisdom. Daliath consented, but warned him it would not be easy. Orlanth said nothing ever was, but Daliath said "Compared to the Baths of Nelat, anything you have ever done is easy."

At the lip of the Baths, Orlanth met Mastakos, the Charioteer. He was bored, and hated being condemned to servitude underneath the oceans when he could travel so far above the waves. Orlanth agreed to release him from the watery King's servitude, but exacted an oath of fealty from him first and demanded he remain waiting for when he returned from the Baths. Mastakos told Orlanth he would not return from the Baths, and so Orlanth said that should he perish then Mastakos should follow his soul to the Realm of the Dead, but Mastakos told Orlanth that not even souls can survive the Baths of Nelat.

Onwards went Orlanth anyhow, for fear was not in his heart, only courage and responsibility to his people. He went forth into the Baths, and waded into their searing heart. Here he felt pain like no pain he had felt before. He felt his sins, his wrongdoings, burn away in the agony of Nelat. His skin peeled away as he was punished for bullying others in his youth. For plucking out Yinkin's claws as a joke, his eye melted away. For every wrong word he ever said a hair from his head was burnt away until he was bald. He felt his bones break and dissolve away as retribution for every wound he had ever inflicted upon someone not deserving of it. He felt his heart burst as payment for stealing, bribing, hurting and paining those around him. He felt his lungs tear in half for every lusty thought he ever had. He felt his legs buckle and sizzle, until nothing was left of them, for every thought of fear and cowardice that had entered his mind. But Orlanth refused to die, not even for his Sins would he stop. Clawing out of the Baths, he was but a skeleton with a soul and only a single thought in his mind - Salvation! From the Well he drank, and Wisdom was his. He returned and told Mastakos to take him back home, and he returned on his Chariot.

Soon after Orlanth announced that he had to undo a past mistake, and travel to the center of Hell, to the Realms of the Dead, and demand that Yelm return and together they would fix the Universe. Thus began the Lightbringer's Quest.

Author's Note: It was deliberate on my part that I did not explain how Orlanth got past the Kingdom of the Sea. The vagueness is necessary for the Quest, plus it allows the GM to make up a variety of myths with different methods that Orlanth used to bypass Magasta.

It is sometimes said that Orlanth began his LBQ after the Hill of Gold, and it is sometimes said he started after the Well of Wisdom. Being a bit of a Lunar, I think they're all true.

Preparation

Any worshipper of Orlanth can sacrifice for this HeroQuest. It can be sacrificed for on any Waterday of any week in Sea Season. If a Quester intends to undergo the Quest which does not have the Baths of Nelat station and the Well of Wisdom station then they must sacrifice for the remaining stations seperately, at the cost of 2 POW per station. This means that the full version is cheaper to buy in POW than the adjusted version missing stations.

The Quester must go alone unless he somehow uses other HeroQuest magics, rituals and spells to allow close associates to accompany him. In any case, only the Quester may enter the Baths of Nelat.

Well of Wisdom
5 points
HeroQuest spell
This spell can be cast by any worshipper of Orlanth. It can only be cast on Waterday of any week in Sea Season, Storm Season or Dark Season. It must be cast on a coastline, there is no way around this. For the spell to succeed, not only must a successful Ceremony roll be made but a Piety (Orlanth) roll must be made on 1d100, triple the effective Piety if the spell is cast in Storm Season. If a failure is rolled the Quester is deemed not worthy and may not try until the next appropriate Season.

The Ceremony itself takes only five minutes to enact, the Quester must strip naked and dance, covering themselves in woad and ask for the gods to take him to the Godtime. It must be cast near midnight. If the ritual is successful, the area suddenly darkens entirely as the stars go out. The character is now in the Godtime and can enter the HeroQuest.

Station (i) - The Ocean Dive

In this station the Quester dives deep into the ocean depths towards where Magasta lies. The character must survive many days of swimming at extreme depths. While this station seems quite simple, there are numerous problems with swimming for this long, and at those depths.

First, the HeroQuester must devise a method to breath water for long periods of time, a Breath Air/Water spell will succeed, as the spell does not elapse on the HeroPlane, but the downside is that if, at a later point, it is dispelled, the Quester will die. Heroic powers are far more reliable, like the ability Beowulf had to hold his breath underwater.

Secondly, the character has to be a good swimmer, three Swim rolls need to be made to get to the bottom of the ocean. The Quester can add their Piety Orlanth to their swim skill. Each swim roll takes you further down (inflicting greater damage, see below), and further away from the surface. A failed swim roll means the Quester has stalled and cannot get any further. Three fails and the character gets lost, and re-emerges at a varying depth somewhere on the oceans of the mundane plane, within about 200 key miles of where they started. The same occurs if the Quester fumbles.

Thirdly, the Quester will take damage from the immense, crushing pressures that build up as they swim many key miles beneath the surface of the water. No normal protective magics like Shield, Protection or Resist Damage work - not even magics specialised against crushing damage from mauls or maces can help, although magic designed to protect against all forms of crushing damage works fine. To simulate this, the Quester takes damage. After succeeding in the first roll the Quester can take 3d6 damage to all locations from pressure. After the second roll the Quester can take 8d6 damage to all locations from the crushing weight of the ocean above. After the third, and last, roll the Quester is at the bottom and takes 30d6 damage to all locations as the weight of the entire ocean rests atop them. If a location takes more than half the total damage it can take then that location is so damaged that it cannot be healed until after the Quester has resurfaced and left the HeroQuest. The location is simply unable to heal whilst the sea pressure is still pressing against it. Also, after all three rolls have been made, a CONx1 roll must be made or the Quester simply dies from the overwhleming pressure.

The Quester also suffers damage from the cold. Without protection they will suffer the effects of frostbite if they are lucky, and death if they are not. After the first swim roll they take 2d6 cold damage to general hit points, after the second swim roll they take 6d6 damage to general hit points from the cold, and after the third they take 10d6 cold damage to general hit points, and the rolled damage is then resisted on the resistance table against the hit points in each of the Quester's locations - if the damage overcomes the locational hit points then the location suffers extreme frostbite and is rendered useless. If it is cut off it can be regrown. If a lethal location suffers frostbite, the Quester dies. Again, this damage cannot be healed until some source of warmth is provided to fight off the extreme temperatures.

Lastly, the ocean depths are dark. Very, very dark. The Quester can see nothing without a light source, a good light source. A simple light spell will illuminate precious little - any actions involving sight or vision (such as combat) are at -20% (remember, this is applied after your skill has been divided by five). A Sunbright spell or the ability to see in the dark will succeed.

The Quester can turn back at any point and simply swim back up. A Quester who swims back up always succeeds and never fails to swim perfectly. However, to retreat is to incur penalties should the Quester ever try again (see below).

Once the Quester has reached the bottom of the ocean they are in the realm of Magasta and Daliath. Here, any physical action, such as movement or combat, is penalised. The Orlanthi is in another god's realm and, as such, is not as effective for he is not on his own turf. The penalty is calculated as the total of the character's elemental runes which are not either Water or Darkness, divided by 5.

For Example: A Quester has the Elemental Runes Water 27, Storm 61, Earth 12, Darkness 18, Fire 2. His total penalty is (61+12+2)/5=15%.

Station Two - King Meets King

Here Orlanth meets Magasta, Brastalos, and maybe Wachaza. It can sometimes be a combat encounter, indeed many Questers choose to try and defeat Magasta by slaying him. The problems are numerous at this station, and every clan has their own tale of how Orlanth was victorious here. The major problem with the station is that here Orlanth must face his own kin in some form of conflict, for Brastalos is a member of the Storm Pantheon. His second problem is that Magasta is a King, just as mighty as he is, and he stands in his domain, so his Kingly powers are lessened.

In the dark recess of the ocean, standing on the cold, rocky floor of the ocean bed, the Quester can see little, a vague water current signifying some sort of powerful, important location, moves past the Quester. In the bubbling mass of freezing cold water stands Magasta, as tall as a tower, with mermen, Gnydron, all swimming around his mighty, impressive form. In this particular Quest, Magasta appears as an enormous Gnydron merman, wearing enchanted quicksilver armour, hagning off of his carpaced hide, and a crown of quicksilver that reflects the Quester's light source (if any). He carries an enormous trident, and as he sees the Quester he bats aside the mermen around him so that he can come forth. Behind him, with seven giant whales shackled to it, is a sea-chariot made of an enormous kraken shell. At his side, in a blue shawl, is a smaller woman, human. She has blue-green hair, and wears signs of royalty. This is Brastalos, bride of Magasta, Queen of the Oceans, kin to Orlanth. She speaks, "Hail kin-brother. Why do you fare so low as to come to these oceans? This is Magasta's realm, and even a mighty King as yourself is not welcome here. Return now, and Magasta will avoid bloodshed and conflict. Stay, and Stormsblood will be spilt."

The major ways to get past this station is cunning and guile, the Power of Kingship or combat.

Cunning and guile always seems the best at first, but it's impossible to sneak past (any attempt at stealth is matched by Magasta's perception skills which are all 200% whilst in his own domain). I'm certain intelligent player's will think of a way around this, but just keep in mind that this is Magasta's own kingdom. Also keep in mind that trying to convince Magasta to let a Quester past is simply going to fail, Magasta and Orlanth are dire enemies, nothing Orlanth can say in the name of friendship will fool Magasta into letting the Quester past.

If a Quester tries to demand entry by virtue of being a powerful King, the player should give a speech and role-play the situation. If the Gm thinks it suitable, he should allow an Orate roll modified by how well the Quester roleplayed, and how convincing he was, and his actual position in society, a King should have no penalty, whereas a thane should be at -25%, someone with no powerful social position is at -45% and someone who has no social status whatsoever, no better than a stickpicker, is at -80%. Piety Orlanth is not added to this roll.

Combat is the most risky of the options, Magasta is no push over. Worse still, he will summon Wachaza, and Brastalos is always a problem. Firstly, Brastalos will stand in the way of any blows, and try and prevent the Quester from harming her husband (but will make no efforts to protect Wachaza). This is represented by any blow swung towards Magasta Brastalos will try and intercede by hurling herself in the way with an effective 70% skill. She can take five blows before dying. Not only does the blow that strikes Brastalos inflict no damage to Magasta, but the Quester loses 1 point in Loyalty and Love Passions to his family or clan. If he should kill Brastalos then he loses an additional 5 points in Loyalty and Love Passions to the family or clan and upon his return will be an inactive initiate as described in the main RuneQuest rules. Because of the danger of hurting Brastalos, no cult support points can be used in this combat encounter (the clan will not support the death of kin). Also, any Love or Loyalty Passions towards the family or clan are applied as negatives to all skills used in this combat. As kinstrife is a source of chaotic intrusion, if the Orlanthi fights with Brastalos, when he returns to the mundane world his family and friends will be plagued by chaotic problems. If combat begins Magasta blows his magic warhorn, and Wachaza arrives 3d6 MR later. If Magasta has been defeated by then, the Quester is safe and can carry on, if not he will have to face both gods. He can stop and retreat at any time, neither will follow.

Magasta, Lord of the Oceans, Monster-God

STR	156	Move	20 swim		Tail	70/40
CON	100	Hp	120		Abdomen	70/40
SIZ	140	Fp	256		Chest	70/48
INT	34	Mp	230		R Arm	70/30
POW	230	Dodge	50		L Arm	70/30
DEX	50				Head	70/40
APP	32	DEX SR	1

Weapon		SR	att/par		dmg
Trident		1	200/140	   5d6+5+17d6(db)+spcl
Tail Slap	4	150/--	    5d4+17d6(db)+knockback

Wachaza, the Shadowy Water Killer

STR	200	Move	15 swim		Tail	100/38
CON	150	Hp	125		Abdomen	100/38
SIZ	100	Fp	350		Chest	100/50
INT	23	Mp	190		R Arm	100/32
POW	190	Dodge	100		L Arm	100/32
DEX	60				Head	100/38
APP	7	DEX SR	1

Weapon		SR	att/par		dmg
Trident		1	280/200	   10d6+10+18d6(db)+Fang
Net		4	175/--	    Attacks to ensnare
Tail Slap	7	180/--	   	5d4+18d6(db) 
Curse		10	auto/--		spcl

Wachaza carries a bag full of curses. On SR 10 he casts a Curse at the Quester, it goes straight through countermagic etc... and takes effect if Wachaza overcomes the Questers magic points with his own. Wachaza can only do this once in this combat. Think of a particularly appropriate curse for the Quester, nothing too horrendously deadly or fatal, but something so that if the Quester flees then they will still remember their conflict with Wachaza.
Runes: Death 80, Water 70, Darkness 65.

Once this stage is completed, the Quester can carry on towards the location of the where the water current is draining to. It is an enormous pit that descends even deeper into the bowels of the ocean, going through the ocean bed and beneath Lower Earth into the Inner Depths of the Water Realm, where there is no ocean floor to comfort a land-dweller, where only the gods have tread. If the character is susceptible to the crushing damage and cold damage then roll damage again as described in Station One.

Station Three - The Children of the Deep

This station is the only station on the HeroQuest where combat is a primary option. However, it is not the only option. Stealth is a good alternative at this stage, the Children of the Deep are very deadly in combat. The Quester encounters the children of Varchulanga, Mother of Monsters, meeting them one at a time. All in all, the Quester (and his allies, if he brought any) must face three of the monsters of the deep. According to Sandy Petersen even Orlanth would have difficulty overcoming them. Of course, the Quester could always have his allies face the monsters, while he continued onwards to the Well, although the penalty suffered within the Baths of Nelat would be quite terrible for such an act. At all stages in this combat, the character is not only penalised as described in station (i), but their maximum skill percentage is equal to their swim. So, if a character has Attack 100% and Parry 90%, but only had a swim of 40%, their attacks and parries would be reduced to 40%. Given below is an example Child of Varchulanga, it is up to the GM to create two more to suite his character's powers and abilities. All of Varchulanga's children have effective skills of 70% to spot Questers trying to stealth past their guard, although the speciality skill Swim Quietly (see River of Cradles) is neccessary to even attempt such a feat.

The Sleepless Voyager is an enormous 100m long whale, capable of devouring an entire island given enough time. It's skin is not smooth and clean, but rough, carpaced and carbuncled. It is the weaker of it's siblings, such as the Leviathan or the Kraken.

The Sleepless Voyager, use Whale hit location table

STR	850	Move	30 swim	Tail		200/200
CON	500	Hp	600	Hindbody	200/240
SIZ	700	Fp	1350	Forebody	200/240
INT	14	Mp	100	R Flipper	200/150
POW	100			L Flipper	200/150
DEX	10	DEX SR	4	Head		200/200

Weapon		SR	att		dmg
Ram		1	200	    5d6+336(db)
Bite		1	200	5d6+336(db)+devour+spcl
Swallow		5	auto		spcl
Devour		10	auto	 acid POT=POW

Anyone devoured suffers acid damage on SR 10 of every round. They can either try escaping through the whale's throat by making a resisted roll of STR versus the Voyager's POW on the Quester's DEX SR, or try cutting their way out. To cut their way out they must attack the forebody of the whale from the inside. It has 120 armour points. Once the hit points of the forebody have been reduced to negative location hit points i.e. -240 hit point, the Quester can depart.

The armour of the Voyager is 200, and even on a critical blow the armour protects for 40 damage.
Runes: Water 80, Death 60, Darkness 40.

Once all three have been defeated the Quester must make a Swim roll, or encounter another horror. Once that horror is defeated, another swim roll is required, and the Quester keeps making them until they succeed, meeting one horror everytime they fail.

Again, the Quester takes damage if they are not protected against the environment.

For every victory, the Quester gains 2 points in the passion Hate Water Beings, and two points in both Death Rune and Mastery Rune, up to a maximum gain of six points.

Station Four - The Baths of Nelat

The Quester is now in the Deep, the Silent, the Still. Here are where the Baths of Nelat are encountered. The Quester is travelling along when the water currents start stirring, moving fast and quick about him. From the Watery Depths about him, emerges a darkened, living portion of water. It is like a whirlwind underneath the ocean, spinning the water faster and faster, and in the center those with Magic Sight can just make out a vague magical soul, concealed by the murky waters.

From the depths comes a voice, like a far off cry, like a mix of human speech and whale song. This is Daliath, who demands to know why the Quester has come. "Who are you? What do you want? You have come far to arrive at the path to Dreneelo, why have you perservered so hard?"

It is not possible to bear Daliath in combat - should the Quester attempt such a feat they will be destroyed by a hoard of deep sea creatures like those met in the previous station, enough to destroy even the most poweful Quester. Even if they should escape they will be unable to find the Baths of Nelat and rescue Mastakos.

Daliath will question the Quester's worth, trying to determine whether he should allow access to the Baths:

"Do you seek the knowledge for knowledge's sake? For your own self power? Why are you here?"
Here the Quester must demonstrate self-knowledge. If the Quester lies, in the GM's opinion, then they fail, and Daliath will not allow them past to the Baths.

"Do you know of the dangers herein?"
If the answer is no, Daliath will describe the unbearable tortures of the Baths of Nelat and the very low chance of survival if anyone were to enter. It is also here where the Quester can choose to not enter the Baths and instead merely rescue Mastakos.

The GM should add as many questions as necessary of their own, questioning certain facets of the character's life if possible. The questions are less to question the character's worth and more to question whether they already have the seed of true wisdom within themselves. Of course, this is not made explicit in the Quest.

If the Quester happens to fail even one question, Daliath turns the Quester back. If the Quester should choose not to go the Baths of Nelat, he can still rescue Mastakos at the Gate and return to the Upper World.

If Daliath is satisfied that the Quester is worthy of True Wisdom, then the watery deity will lead them down the depths, taking what seems like days of travel, to a floating, rocky formation - like a spherical boulder in the ocean's bottom. A very faint glow, the only light source down here, can be seen from the top. Daliath leads them there, and at the top of the rock formation is a hole that descends to the core of the floating structure, where the light is emanating from. At the entrance to the cave is a chariot made of shells, six enormous seahorses float nearby. Chained to the entrance to the Dreneelo, the Well of Wisdom, is an indigo-skinned man. He is about six feet tall and the chain is connected to his neck. He looks drained, and exhausted, as well as slightly depressed. This is, of course, Mastakos. He will explain that he has been chained here by Masgasta until when he is needed, otherwise he is never around for when Magasta calls. He looks very upset by this. The appropriate repsonse is to free him from the chain (it has 40 armour points, not a problem for most HeroQuesters to break) in return for a vow of obediance to the Quester. Of course, if the Quester merely frees Mastakos without this vow he thanks him and then heads off into the ocean, never to be seen again. If he gives his Vow then he will accompany the Quester from this point forth, and when the Quest ends the HeroQuester will have additional powers (see Rewards below). If, at anytime, the Quester wishes to leave the Quest they can call upon Mastakos to save them by whisking them away to any point on the Mundane Plane that they want. Within reason. This also means that this HeroQuest can double as a method of teleportation.

Heading into the rocky boulder leads the Quester into the Baths of Nelat. Nelat is a god in his own right, and is the son of Daliath, and guardian of Dreneelo, the Well of Wisdom, and last remnant of the being known as Ivinareshesh (for more information read Missing Lands by Greg Stafford). As the Quester swims through the rocky fissures, they approach a blinding light at the center, which is Dreneelo. Surrounding it is Nelat, and collectively the two compose the Baths. Here the Quester is purified in the most extreme way possible. Should the Quester wish to attack Nelat, it is only possible in spirit combat:

Nelat

INT	40	Move	=POW
POW	1200	Mp	1200

The Baths purify you. Entirely. Utterly. Every last impurity is burnt out. The Baths not only cause immense pain and suffering, but force you to see the impurities of your soul, to see every last flaw, and to have that flaw destroyed. In game terms, two things happen. Firstly, the Quester takes damage. Damage for every sin that the character has ever committed. As a ball park figure, think of it like this, every cuss is one point of damage, every blow struck in anger is 100 points, if you got a girl pregnant and did not marry her that is 1000 points. Left your friends to fight the Leviathan so you could come to the Well of Wisdom? That'll be one million. Obviously, unless measures are taken the Quester will be dead, as no-one would be capable of being sinless to the extent that they could not be injured. The damage is applied to general hit points. Once double your general hit points are taken, the damage goes straight to POW. Obviously, most people will also have their souls destroyed by this process. Fortunately, your damage is reduced depending upon how closely you follow the values of Orlanth, for a pure Orlanthi is sinless. The damage is reduced by a percentage equal to Piety Orlanth minus 20. So a Quester with Piety Orlanth 45 takes 25% less damage, which almost certainly leaves enough to kill him.

Secondly, the Quester must face the impurities of their soul. The GM should prepare a list of what he perceives as being the Quester's flaws beforehand. The Quester must then go through this list of impurities, and qualify them. For instance, if the Quester refused to go and free a Cloud Castle of Orlanth from Chaos then they must qualify the reasons behind why they did not do it. Everytime they fail to give a satisfactory response, the GM should inflict 1 POW of damage to the Quester. If the Quester admits that they messed up, that for instance they were cowards for not facing the Cloud Castle, then the GM should just add damage to the damage total inflicted as described above. More importantly, here the Quester may meet dead souls of people that they have lost and mourned, or been responsible for, or meet enemy HeroQuesters challenging the Quester's sins. The GM should improvise at least two or three encounters, based on the HeroQuesters previous life.

If, and it really is a big if, the Quester survives, then they arrive at the center. Here the Quester bathes in the pure essence of Wisdom. Wisdom given form, Wisdom personified. The true way of seeing the world about them is brought forth. They drink from the Well and gain what is crudely called True Wisdom. The character is Wise beyond belief, and the effects that it has are described below.

Once the character leaves the Well they can ask Mastakos to take them anywhere they wish, including the point where they started the Quest. Mastakos then takes them in person on his chariot. The Quest then ends.

Rewards

Those who pass by Daliath gain the ability of Awe. When used, and worshipper of Daliath must resist their POW against the Questers to act against him in any fashion. Those who return successful from the Quest without turning back (although not neccessarily having passed thorugh the Baths or rescuing Mastakos) gain two points in Piety Orlanth and two points in Storm Rune on top of any other bonuses. Success also means the Quester gains 15% Ceremony/Orlanth from mystic insight into the nature of Orlanths myths. Those who fail, by turning back at some point, lose 3 points of Piety Orlanth. Plus, if they attempt the Quest again all damage taken in the Baths is multiplied tenfold. Should they fail twice the damage is multiplied hundred fold and so on.

A Vow from Mastakos brings great power. Increase the Quester's Storm Rune by one, and their Mobility Rune by six. They gain the Passions of Loyalty Mastakos Cultists 4, and Piety Orlanth increases by two. The Quester also gains the Heroic Castings of Guided Teleportation and Teleportation, and gains access to the Rune Spell Command Mastakos Worshippers as a normal reusable rune spell. The Quester can also use the Mobility spell at will, with a maximum pointage equal to the character's POW. For those who do not know, Heroic Castings mean that the Quester can cast the spell and does not need to repray for it.

Surviving the Baths is worth four points of Piety Orlanth, five points of Storm rune, three points of Mastery and Magic rune, and two points in Spirit Rune, Man Rune and Water Rune.

The power of True Wisdom is more... tricky. Tertiary effects are that all training and research time is halved, INT increases by three points and the Hero never fails a Concentration roll. The true benefits are more difficult to describe. The Quester has attained True Wisdom, they are now as Wise as Orlanth (consider Solomon from the Bible and his renown and you are close to understanding what this means). If the player has been down playing themselves and their wisdom to aid in roleplaying, then stop - your character is now very wise, and roleplaying your character as dumb (no matter how dumb he may have once been) is no longer appropriate. Your character now gains the ability to see the "bigger picture". The GM can then handle the power of True Wisdom in two ways, but in both they should remember that, unless you play with Buddha's, the character is now far more Wise than the player is, having gained this Hero Ability. Firstly, the GM may just rule that on certain occassions the character "just knows the answer to the problem" due to his Wisdom. For instance, the group are asked a riddle, and a Hero with True Wisdom is there - the player of the character is never good at riddles, but because he has True Wisdom, just answers it. This game measure may not be to everyone's tastes, but certainly reflects the powers gained at the Well. Secondly, the player should feel free to ask the GM for advice on situations, and if the GM feels that the Hero could feasibly know information about the situation (such as how to best handle negotiations, how to escape the unescapable trap, how to seduce the Queen of Tarsh etc...) they may advise the player. This does not give magical access to knowledge, the Hero does not increase their knowledge, just their ability to best piece it together. GM's may decide that True Wisdom is not 100% accurate, and demand a roll to be made for the Hero power to be used to answer the riddle, to seek advice, to assemble the puzzle etc... I advise either (INT+POW)x2 or INTx3.

Also, the character should hopefully have learnt from their purification in the Baths the errors of their ways, and this intense introspection should bring about a change in the character's personality.

Invoked Powers

For a description of Invoked Powers then either refer to my HeroQuest Rules, although I stole the idea from Simon Phipp's rules. The Invoked Powers for this HeroQuest are:

• It can aid the Quester in swimming. When invoked the Invoker's Piety Orlanth (or POW, if you don't use my Passion rules) is added to their swim skill for a length of time that the GM deems appropriate.
  
• It can be used to demand the right to pass through mermen territory, or territory owned by a worshipper of Magasta or Brastalos. The character must Invoke the HeroQuest and then match their POW against that of their targets (note, this is not an mp versus mp contest). If successful, the target submits, if not then the Invoker has lost their chance to convince the target by other means.
  
• Can be Invoked for quick movement through a large body of water i.e. a lake or the ocean. The Invoker can travel anywhere within the large body of water in a small amount of time, as determined by the GM. If Invoked for travelling from Karse to Pamaltela, the GM may rule it would then take seven days to swim. However, on the way the Invoker will meet, and must fight, three sea beasts of great power.
  
• Can be Invoked in any circumstance where the Invoker is intending to rescue a worshipper of Mastakos, or a holy item to Mastakos etc... For the duration of that period, they gain their Piety Orlanth (or POW), or Loyalty Mastakos Cultists, whichever is higher, to all skills whilst they attempt to rescue him/her/it.
  
• Can be Invoked to take less damage from tests of truth, fiery pits, burning liquids, acid etc... This protection lasts fifteen minutes. Every round, when damage should be taken, the character rolls 1d100. If it is underneath their Piety Orlanth then they take no damage. If it is above, then they do take damage. This does not protect equipment or belongings etc...