Oliver Bernuetz

The Glorious Sons, Part 2

After leaving Heartridge the PCs find themselves part of an ever-growing group of young, and no-longer-so-young, Alakoringites who have all “volunteered” to serve in the Emperor’s army. Carpathia Three-Boots, it seems has scoured the region known as the Land of Heroes to collect every able-bodied young man in the region. (Hopefully the war won’t spread as far as the Land of Heroes, which has been severely weakened militarily speaking). Exactly 160 young men have joined the Glorious Sons. It seems to be a large force to the PCs but most are woefully inadequate at fighting.

Carpathia and his Templars herd the recruits from the gentle rolling hills of Sylila to the southern edge of the Dara Happan lowlands. The change is gradual but the countryside goes from the relatively wild hills where most of the subsistence is from cattle and sheep herding to the long settled and flat lowlands where the rivers are very important and mostly crops are grown. The stolid Dara Happan peasants stare at the “wild” hill folk who are in a state of sensory overload. The Sons are up before dawn to perform their devotions to Yelmalio. Then after a hearty breakfast of barley porridge they break camp and march until nightfall eating their noon meal on the march. Carpathia's aim is to keep them distracted and tired during the trip so they can’t cause trouble. The whole trip from Sylila to Alkoth takes about 10 days in total.

Author’s Notes: My preliminary research for the area was a little hasty so my original background for this campaign turned out to be inadequate. I’ve hopefully fixed that and I have posted a corrected version of the first scenario on my website

Background for the Taming of Votankiland

Much has changed in Dara Happa since the events described in Dara Happa Stirs. The Emperor Karvanyar died fighting the Pentans in 945. His brother Sarenesh succeeded him the following year and ruled until 960. That year Sarenesh was forced to abdicate. Since he had three sons (Heredesh, Sassacar, and Verenmars) the High Priest of Dayzatar divided the Known World among them, giving Heredesh Yelm’s Portion (Dara Happa), Lodril’s Portion (Carmania) to Sassacar and Dayzatar’s Portion (Saird) to Verenmars. But Veremars had heard a prophecy foretelling that “someone destined to unite a people in greatness” was going to be born in the Land of Heroes (a region between Dara Happa and Saird) so he coveted it. His brother Sassacar was suspiciously agreeable and the Land of Heroes, rightly part of Yelm’s Portion, was gifted to Verenmars as well.

The three sons of Sarenesh lived at relative peace and so did most of their successors but things have changed recently. In 1042 the leaders of the Empire of Wyrm’s Friends were betrayed by the dragonewts and slain by dark troll assassins. A great battle was fought against the EWF and the Dara Happan forces were victorious. The kings of Saird being the closest to Dragon’s Pass have long turned their attentions away from Dara Happa and Carmania. Those kings have well earned their sobriquet of dragon slayers in the years since the kingdom was founded. The successors to Verenmars have either forgotten or ignored the prophecy about the Land of Heroes. That portion of the Land of Heroes on the north-western bank of the Eurustus River has fallen under Dara Happan rule and with the great defeat of the EWF a major purging of the region occurred to remove all EWF taint from the region. (A great deal of the Orlanthi taint was removed as well in the process).

The year is 1079 ST. Two years ago during the Mountain War the Emperor Kewetdevsus the Besieger was slain by the Carmanians. His successor's name is Kumardesh. Shah Massantar rules Carmania and it was his army that slew Kewetdevsus. It is against him that Kumardesh wishes vengeance. Meanwhile Suzaraug the Warhound, King of Saird keeps his face turned towards the dragon lovers. The Dara Happan armies have gathered for war but await the forces of Alkoth before they engage the Carmanian forces.

Timeline

Here’s the events that happen in this part of The Taming of Votankiland campaign. Things can easily be added or deleted as needed. Events are described

1) Clayday, Harmony Week, Sea Season

After ten days marching the Sons arrive at their training campsite south of Alkoth. Setting up of the camp.

2) FireDay, Death Week, Sea Season

This is a Shargashi holy day. The episode described below occurs.

3) Windsday, Fertility Weed, Sea Season

The footrace occurs.

4) Wargames

The event known as Wargames occurs sometime after Fire/Death/Sea and before Fire Season. See below.

5) Find the Ball

This event occurs in Fire Season sometime. See below.

6) Freeze Day, Truth Week, Fire Season – Field Trip!

The Yemalio worshippers among the Sons travel with Carpathia and the Templars to the Hill of Gold in Vanch to perform the heroquest known as "Yemalio Serves His Father".

Housekeeping

Whoever has possession of the Spear of the Dawn is called Balazar by Carpathia Three-Boots. This name, like nicknames throughout time and space quickly sticks to the spear bearer. (His fellow Heartridgers can go by the names Elkoi, Trilus and Dykeno (the masculine form of Dykene) if they haven’t already chosen names.

The Trouble With Orlanthi

Among the recruits Carpathia has gathered are a sizeable contingent of lads from clans way, way back in the hills whose people still follow Orlanth. Oddly enough exactly a quarter of the total. Carpathia was doubtful about mixing Orlanthi and Solars together but he decided that he couldn’t afford to be picky. Unfortunately the lads prove to be a source of tension. This is mostly due to their ringleader Alakoring (no, not that one). Alakoring wants to be the living embodiment of Orlanth on Genertela and this means he sticks to what he sees as a fairly strict script of Orlanthi behavior. This includes copious amounts of bad poetry and a constant competition with any followers of Yemalio. For some reason he’s decided to focus his attention on the young Balazar.

(Actually, it’s the iron spear. He saw through The Spear of the Dawn’s illusions right away. He’s decided to single out Balazar as a competitor since he and Balazar have the only magical iron weapons in the Sons).

The competition quickly escalates to ridiculous levels, especially if Balazar encourages Alakoring. For example if Balazar takes four pancakes for breakfast Alakoring will take five. If Balazar is sent to fetch a javelin for Carpathia Three-Boots Alakoring will do his darnedest to beat him to the armory and get back first with two javelins. This competition is a constant source of amusement to the entire camp. Alakoring’s fellow Orlanthi think it’s all a bit rich. However they are prepared to go along with it because it provides some much needed amusement. The Templars think it’s a riot, the slingers are amused but puzzled by it all and Carpathia ignores the rivalry as long as it doesn’t escalate to the point of unnecessarily endangering any of the Sons.

When Alakoring was born to the chief of his village a wise woman took the auguries and had a vision showing that he would be a great hero someday. The vision showed a distant mountain and a magical sword. Alakoring doesn’t feel that the Glorious Sons has room for more than one hero and he’s determined that he will be that hero. Alakoring bears many of the virtues of an Orlanthi hero. He’s brave, heroic and generous with his friends. He bears a magical iron longsword that he found on the very outskirts of Dorastor. Travel there is of course forbidden but Alakoring foolishly accepted a dare to go there. He set off with a party of his friends and kinfolk but only he returned bearing the sword. He feels a great deal of guilt over this and is determined that he will become a great hero and avenge his dead friends and kin. The sooner the better.

The main camp is set up following the same pattern as Yelm’s great city. It is a circle divided into four quarters each representing one of the traditional camps of Solar mythology. The East Quarter is the Yellow Camp which represents Insight. The West Quarter is the Red Camp representing Sovereignty. The South Quarter is the Green Camp representing Strength. The North Quarter is the Alabaster Quarter representing Wisdom. Carpathia Three-Boots explains all of this to the Sons as two of the Templars draw a large circle on the plain south of Alkoth. Once the outer circle is drawn the circle is quartered by the addition of paths laid along the inner boundaries of the camps in the form of a large X.

He chooses four of the Sons seemingly at random to lead each camp. One of the chosen is Alakoring Windbearer and another is Balazar. The other two are called Gromit and Walls. He tells these leaders that they can dice for the privilege of choosing which camp they and their followers will occupy. He tosses a set of gold knuckle bones down and gestures for them to roll.

To simulate this get the player portraying Balazar to roll for him or herself and allow the other PCs to roll for Alakoring, Walls and Gromit. Whoever wins gets to choose their camp first. Alakoring’s choices in order of preference are:

South – Green - Strength

North – Alabaster - Wisdom

West – Red – Sovereignty

East – Yellow – Insight

Neither Walls nor Gromit have any actual preference. Balazar’s choices are up to him or her. Once the camps are chosen Carpathia instructs the remaining Sons to choose their camp. The numbers interestingly turn out to be perfectly equal at forty per camp.

The leader’s first task is to lead their camp in scouring the fields for enough fist-sized stones to outline their camp. They are each provided with a large pail of paint of the appropriate colour to decorate the stones with. Once enough stones have been collected and painted tents are erected and everyone is allowed to go to sleep before the training begins.

Carpathia tells the Sons of his intentions to remain until the end of Fire Season so they can train. And train they do. Carpathia and his men put the Sons through a grueling regimen of training that involves getting up at the break of dawn to offer worship to Yemalio followed by a hearty but uninspiring breakfast of barley porridge, a few bits of delicious dried fish from the Oslir and some bits of dried fruit. Then they spend the day sparring and running and drilling. The only day they get any time off is Fireday when they spend most of the day in devotions to Yelmalio. This extends even to the Orlanthi who Carpathia insists at least become lay members of the cult.

Training lasts from Windsday, Harmony Week of Sea Season to Godday, Illusion Week, Fire Season or roughly 14 weeks.

The Glorious Sons’ Equipment

What the Glorious Sons received as equipment is the following:

• Hard leather vambraces and greaves (2 points of protection)
• A linen cuirass with a golden sun emblem in the centre of the chest (2 points of protection)
• A linen kilt (2 points of protection)
• A metal helm (4 points of protection)

This adds up to 11 ENC and -4 penalty to SR. They also receive the following weapons:

• 1 short spear
• 2 javelins
• 1 target shield
• 1 short sword

This is a further 7 ENC.

Weapons

Type	SIZ	Reach	Damage	AP/HP	Combat Manoeuvres	ENC	Load	Range
Short sword*	M	S	1D6	5/7	Impale, Slash	1	-	-
Short spear	M	L	1D8	4/5	Impale	2	-	-
Target shield	L	S	1D4	4/12	Impale	2	-	-
Javelin	H	-	1D8	3/8	Impale, Pin Weapon (Shield)	1	-	30 m

On top of this everyone is expected to carry a backpack containing the following:

Equipment	ENC
2 weeks trail rations	1
Backpack	1
Bedroll	1
Belt	-
Boots (Common)	-
Cloak (Common)	0.5
Flint, striker & tinder	-
Gloves (Common)	0.5
Sack (Large)	1
Spare water skin (empty)	-
Water flask (full)	1
Total	6

Any additional equipment will have be added to the encumbrance of the assigned gear, i.e. 24 ENC.

Tactics

Carpathia explains to the troops that they are now skirmishers in the Dara Happan army. As such their jobs will be to scout and harass the enemy. If they face heavy infantry in battle their job is to run away after a round of missiles and then once they are out of immediate charge distance they can regroup and go back to pelting them with missiles. In the case of Carmanian cataphracts their job is to get out of the way and leave them to the phalanxes. Lighter infantry and missile troops are to be their natural prey.

The Sons spend a lot of time practicing tactics that will improve their survivability. The Templars don their plate and pretend to be Carmanians for many of these exercises. The Thunder Delta slingers who spend a lot of their time down by the river show them how to fight missile troops and other light infantry.

During the training each of the Sons gains soldier as a profession and receives the following skills:
Common Skills: Athletics +5%, Brawn +5%, Evade +5%, Resilience +5%, Javelin +10%, Spear and Shield +10%*
Advanced Skills: Lore (Tactics)

*Players can substitute Sword and Shield if they like.

At this point they can also spend the remaining 50 points of their free skill points. However they cannot dedicate more than 10 points to any given skill. These can of course include their new professional skills.

Because Carpathia and his Templars are all quite devout they include a lot of religious instruction with their day to day training. This allows everyone to make one experience test as though being taught by someone with a 45% skill in Teaching.

For example Balazar, Lore (Yelmalio) 33% makes his experience test. He rolls a 42 and fails his roll. His Lore (Yelmalio) goes up 1/5 of his INT score (13 so 3) plus 5 points.

Another benefit they can gain is that each week of the 14 week training period can be used as an improvement roll for increasing either STR or CON.

For example Trilus the Glorious Son has a pathetic CON of 4. He’s decided to increase his CON during the 14 weeks of training. It takes 4 weeks before his CON increases to 5, After 5 weeks his CON is now 6, after another 6 weeks his CON is now the somewhat less pathetic value of 7. So after 13 weeks of strenuous training his CON has gone up 3 points!

These characteristic improvement points cannot be combined with other improvement rolls and do not extend past the 14 weeks the Sons spend training.

2) The Drummers

This episode is included to add some Gloranthan colour to the scenario.

3) Shieldpush

Carpathia Three-Boots is a big fan of the ancient Dara Happan game of Shieldpush. (Rules for Shieldpush will be published in Rule One issue 13). He introduces the Sons to the game and divides the four quarters into Shieldpush Teams.

Carpathia tells the gathered Sons the odd myth of The Rose and Dusky Orbs first saying: “It’s uncertain what the origins of this myth are. Some scholars purport that it describes the origins of Shield Push but most devotees of the game dispute that.”

You can play an actual league if you’re so inclined or you can just abstract the whole business with some opposed rolls. The biggest rivalry is of course that between Balazar’s team and that of Alakoring.

This is the challenge that Alakoring is prepared to wager his golden wheel on.

Side note: You can perform a Heroquest based on this but it does require a regulation Shield Push team to do so. It’s extremely dangerous for some reason and has a Resonance of 150%.

4) Wargames

Carpathia Three-Boots is sending the PCs to set-up a watch station in an abandoned farmhouse. Alakoring and his main Orlanthi cronies are going to attempt to assault the farmhouse and take them out. Everyone is armed with light clubs and heater shields. The end of the clubs have been tightly wrapped in rags to make them even less dangerous. Everyone in the watch and the assault team has a leather scabbard for their club that contains a thick, sticky paint in their camp quarter’s colour. The marks left by the clubs is supposed to let a Templar sent as an observer determine who has been disabled. Everyone is allowed to bring their regular weapons along as well but they have all been peace strapped and everyone is told in no uncertain terms that they are NOT to use their regular weapons on each other. If they do so they will be severely punished. It is up to both parties to decide how they will guard and assault the farmhouse.

The farmhouse is situated in a shallow bowl in the plains an hour’s walk from the camp. It has a single room roughly 6 by 10 metres in dimension with a cellar with a well in it. The flat clay roof is too shabby and worn for anyone to walk on but the walls are still stout. It has a rather solid wooden door as well.

Unfortunately there is a good reason why the farmhouse is abandoned. In the cellar of the farmhouse is an old well that leads all the way to the underworld. Years ago the family that lived in this farmhouse were slaughtered by a demon that escaped from hell using the well. After that the well was sealed. Unfortunately the seal was broken by the same earthquake that opened the tomb of Yazur Firelorn. No demons have made the trip from the underworld but a single dehori has made the trip to the surface. It was frightened by the proximity to Alkoth but sometimes hunger trumps fear.

A group of dehori have chosen this night to creep out of the underworld and see what they can grab to eat before fleeing to the underworld. Unfortunately this is the same evening that Carpathia Three-Boots has sent his green recruits to spend the night in the farmhouse. It’s also possible that Balazar and his friends are sent to the farmhouse instead.

5) Find The Ball

One day the Sons come back from their usual training to find all the tents have been struck. In their place a pole with a reed basket has been placed in each quadrant of the camp. The baskets are 7 metres above the ground. The poles are all well dug in and have been heavily greased to make climbing very difficult.

Carpathia walks up bearing a sand timer (like a small hour glass) and a brass horn. He addresses the Sons:

"The purpose of this exercise is to be the first group to find their own ball. In each basket atop these poles a coloured ball rests. The first group to bring their own ball to me will be the winner. The winning camp will not have to perform any chores for the rest of the week. There are only two rules! The first, no violence. The second, no flying. Flying will be met with slingshot! You will gather in the field beside your quarter to plan. You will have one turn of the sand timer to prepare your strategy. When this horn sounds you are free to act as you’ve planned.

The no flying rule will be met be loud groaning from the Orlanth as many of their members can use flying magic. A turn of the sand timer is only 5 minutes.

Camp Quarters	Coloured Ball
South – Green – Strength	Red
North – Alabaster – Wisdom	Yellow
West – Red – Sovereignty	Green
East – Yellow – Insight	White

The pole the ball is on corresponds to the complimentary Solar virtue.

This is a chance for your PCs to think up their own solution to this problem. The easiest way to get any ball down is to chop a pole down. Each pole has 6 AP and 30 HP so this isn’t an easy task. Chopping the first pole down though only has a 1 in 4 chance of finding the right ball though. (The chance obviously improves after the first pole but the other teams may have found their ball before them).

The best thing to do is to determine which pole is the right one first, then chop it down. The best way to do this is very Solar. Build a human pyramid and look at each basket to see which one has the right ball in it. This act requires an basic Athletics roll for the group and then Perception + 20% roll to see which one has the right ball in it.

6) Field Trip

Near the end of the training period Carpathia Three-Boots is planning a trip to the Hill of Gold. He wishes to perform the Yemalian heroquest Yemalio Serves His Father. This is the traditional initiation ceremony of Yemalio worshippers. Carpathia is joining the ranks of the Light Sons and is going to initiate any of the Sons who wish to join the cult as initiates.

Yemalio Serves His Father

Carpathia addresses the Sons:

“Tomorrow the Templars and I depart for the Vanch Hills. Anyone among you who wishes to become an initiate of Yelmalio is welcomed, nay encouraged to travel with us and undertake the heroquest we will be performing.”

The gathered Sons start chattering excitedly and exchanging glances. Before anyone has a chance to reply though Carpathia holds up his hand and speaks again.

“I must emphasize that only Sons who wish to become initiates may join us. I also have to state that none of the Orlanthi worshippers are welcome. I do not believe that I need explain the reason behind this. This ritual is only for Sons wishing to become proper initiates of Yelmalio. At some point in the future if any of the Orlanthi wish to become initiates of Yelmalio as well I will arrange something. However this time the ceremony is only open to the other Sons.” He says this all without apology. The Orlanthi shrug nervously and look at each other, then assure their fellow Sons that they will do nothing to harm their heroquest.

The ceremony is meant for those seeking to change their status within the cult. Only about forty Sons are interested in becoming initiates, and no one other than Carpathia is ready to change his cult status. (Carpathia is going to become a Light Son). The senior most Templar is left in charge of the camp and everyone is quickly made to realize that there will be no goofing off during their absence. Training will continue as usual.

The party leaves the camp before dawn on Wildday, Illusion Week, Fire Season. Carpathia’s intent is to reach the site of the Hill of Gold before the dawn of Fireday. The trip can be as eventful or uneventful as you like. This close to the Empire the countryside is fairly peaceful. It is roughly 160 kilometres as the eagle flies to the town of Bikhy. It will take 5 days to walk the distance. The plan is to walk to the banks of the Bokisin River and then follow it until they reach Bikhy.

Carpathia is not a fool and certainly would not take a bunch of green lads into outright danger. He hopes that no one will be performing the Hill of Gold quest while they are at the Hill. He is no God Learner and is going to re-enact the myth of Yelmalio Serves His Father. He is sure that the enhanced chance he has of performing the quest will ensure that their quest will not be hijacked. When they reach the temple of Yemalio at the Hill he makes arrangements to lead his new initiates on their quest the next morning.

The HeroQuest

The heroquest “Yelmalio Serves His Father” has a resonance of 50% meaning the difficulty at which each stage is tested against is 50%. All the stages are at the base chance of difficulty and three out of the five stages must be passed in order to become an initiate. (Normally initiation would be automatic if they were the sons of initiates themselves, but none of the lads questing with Carpathia are).

Stage 1 Movement

This stage requires a successful test against Athletics.

Stage 2 Bravery – The Griffon

This stage requires a successful test of either Combat to scare the Griffon, or Influence to persuade him to let you pass.

Stage 3 Kinship – Shargash

This stage requires a successful test against Lore (Yelmalio) to remind Shargash of your kinship.

Stage 4 Persistence

This stage requires a successful test against Persistence to be brave enough to continue.

Stage 5

This stage requires a successful test against Lore (Regional) or Lore (Yelmalio) to finish the quest.

When they stand before Yelm all they can see is a blinding presence. This is because they are unworthy in Solar eyes to worship Yelm directly so they are unable to perceive Him. If they managed to pass three of the stages they become initiates and have the option to accept a gift and its required geases. See page 189 in Cults of Glorantha for the gifts and geases. This gift takes the physical form of the gift.

After this stage the heroquest is over and when they leave Yelm’s court they find themselves back in the mortal world.

As he is leaving the throne room Balazar is drawn to a window. Beside the window stands a god wearing a blue robe embroidered with stars and holding a copper-covered book. The god gestures at the stars outside the window and says, “The future.” If Balazar looks out he sees an unfamiliar landscape of rolling plains and hills. A strange stone arch bridges a stream. When he looks back the god has vanished. If he looks out the window again he sees nothing but fog.

All he can do is leave the throne room like the others.

The NPCs

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