The Emperor’s Pentian Quest



Send comments and/or criticism to Simon E. Phipp
Created On 3 November 1997
Last Updated On 3 November 1997
Copyright (c) Simon E. Phipp 1997

Introduction

I originally designed this as a Quest so that the PCs in my campaign could HeroQuest with the Red Emperor at least once - they owed him a favour and he was going to call it in. The session worked out really well with the Emperor’s Shield trying his best to make the Quest work, the Emperor’s Shadow getting whatever he could out of the Quest and the Emperor’s Breath trying to make the Quest fail. Fortunately the Emperor had a few tricks up his sleeve and managed to foil Brankist’s evil plots and succeed in the Quest anyway. We enjoyed it, I hope you do too.

Mythos

The Sun Horse ruled a land far away and held in his herd many magical horses which only a few Heroes could ride. However, the Sun Horse did not pay attention to the Emperor, as it never had, and would not pay these horses as tribute. The Emperor decided to travel to the Land of the Sun Horse and take his tribute. So, he set off with only his Spear, his Shield, his Breath and his Shadow as company. He met and befriended, avoided or defeated many foes until he reached the paddocks and selected the best of the Horses for himself.

Description

This is a Quest designed by the Emperor himself and set in Pent. It gives the Sun victory over all the elements and thus may be used by other HeroQuestors. It also provides minimum risk to the Emperor himself and can be used to punish nobles in the Court by making them come along as the Emperor’s Attributes.

The Participants

The Quest is designed for one person to play the role of The Emperor. Different people then take the role of his Breath, his Spear, his Shield and his Shadow.

Traditionally, the Emperor is a Yelm Imperator cultist; the Emperor’s Spear is a Yelmalion or Shargshi, the Emperor;s Shield is Polaris or Yanafal Tarnils; the Emperor’s Breath is a tame Orlanthi and the Emperor’s Shadow is a troll or Spindle Hag cultist.

However, almost anyone can fit the role, especially when the Emperor himself is participating.

Format

The Emperor must travel and meet a Friendly, Neutral and Hostile person from each of the Four Elements. The people met may change at the GM’s whim, but I have included the ones that the PCs met when I ran the Quest. Then he reaches The Paddocks.

Dark FriendDaughter of Xentha
Dark NeutralSon of Argan Argar
Dark EnemyBurning Slaves
Water FriendMist Woman
Water NeutralLorion
Water EnemySteaming Geyser
Earth FriendThe Unplowed Nymph
Earth NeutralThe Rolling Hills
Earth EnemyThrower of Mountains
Sky FriendGriffins
Sky NeutralRainbow Bridge
Sky EnemyFlaming Warriors

The Paddocks

Each person encountered will Challenge the Emperor who will make a Response. Depending on whether it is a Friendly, Neutral or Enemy encounter, there may be an Exchange of Gifts, a Giving of Gifts or a Combat. At each stage, the Emperor may decide to fight, but this normally only happens when Enemies are met.

In the Exchange of Gifts, the Emperor’s Chosen Attribute must give a gift to the person encountered both the Attribute and the Emperor will receive a Gift in return. If the gift given is worthy then the Attribute may retain the Gift after the HeroQuest is over, otherwise the Gift is lost.

With the Giving of Gifts, the Emperor’s Attribute must give a gift or the person encountered will become an Enemy and attack.

If the Emperor is attacked then he will defend himself as best he can by saying things like "The Emperor pushes his Spear forward and Parries with his Shield". This means that the Emperor’s Spear must advance and fight the foe while the Shield protects the Emperor. The Shadow and Breath may play no part in the combat unless the Emperor uses them. The Emperor may do this occasionally to punish or hurt fellow Questors.

The Stations

Daughter of Xentha

 She appears as a pitch black woman, riding a jet black unicorn, carrying a mace and sling, spear and bow. She was part Xentha’s Conquering Army which invaded the Sky World.

Challenge:Who enters the Realm of the Skies?
Response:The Emperor shows her his Shadow, proving he is of Darkness.
Exchange:The Daughter of Xentha gives the Emperor Xentha’s Cloak. This is a HeroQuest ability to summon Darkness for 1 hour - each personal Magic Point or Support Point expended creates a 1m radius pool of darkness, so 10 MPs would create a 10m radius pool.

The Emperor’s Shadow must give Xentha’s Daughter a gift of Importance and Power.

If the Gift is not worthy then the Shadow will not be able to use Xentha’s Cloak after the HeroQuest is over. The Emperor, of course, can.

Son of Argan Argar

He appears as a man on foot carrying a mace, sling, long spear and shield. He is accompanied by 7 Dehori and has an enslaved Fire Spirit.

Challenge:Who dares enter the Realm of Night?
Response:The Emperor brandishes his Spear and says he is here to hurt The Sun Horse.
Gift:The Emperor’s Spear must give the Son of Argan Argar a gift. If the gift is unworthy then he will attack.

Burning Slaves

This is a horde of trolls, hideously burned with flames licking over their skin. They are mostly Dark Trolls but there are occasionally Giant Trolls or Mistress Race Trolls with a few Great Trolls. These are the trolls who fought with Xentha and Argan Argar when they invaded the Sky but who were burned by the Sky Gods.

Challenge:Immediate attack by flaming Sling Shots
Response:The Emperor parries with his Shield, thrusts with his Spear and blows away a path so that his Shadow is not captured and burned.
There is a danger here in that if the Shadow is killed then it will be forced to join the ranks of the Burning Slaves forever more.

Mist Woman

The Questors enter a valley filled with a warm mist. A woman appears out of the gloom.

Challenge:Who journeys so far from home?
Response:The Emperor breathes in the mist and bows gently to prove that he has a mist inside him.
Exchange:The Emperor and Breath are given Mist Cloud, for 1 Personal MP or 1 Support Point, a 1m cloud of mist lasting for an hour is produced, this reduces visibility and gives a POWx5% reduction in Scan and Search. The Emperor’s Breath must give a worthy Gift or be lost in the Mist forevermore.

Lorion

The Questors come to a raging, boiling river between two cliffs.

Challenge:No challenge, except for the presence of the River.
Response:The Emperor lays his Shield on the water and floats across.
Gifts:The Emperor’s Shield must give a Gift of importance to allow the Questors to cross. If he does not then they must fight the River in order to cross it. The Emperor may well blow the waters away and use his spear to raft his way across, while giving his Shield a good kicking....

Steaming Geyser

The Questors come to a rocky land full of pools of boiling water. Wherever they go, they will be met with a column of boiling water.

Challenge:Who crosses my mouth?
Response:The Emperor blocks the hole with his Shield, jabs it with his spear, blows cold air to cool it down and send in the cold Shadow to block the heat as he walks across.

Earth Nymph

The Questors reach a beautiful, peaceful meadow where an incredibly attractive naked woman lies seductively on the grass.

Challenge:Who passes this Unploughed Field?
Response:The Emperor lends the Earth his Spear and Shield, blows in its ear and lays on the Earth while wrapped in Shadow.
Exchange:All who "plough her field" will be given a guaranteed conception resulting in a live healthy birth at any one time in their life.
Each must also dedicate a child of theirs to the Earth during the next year or become forever barren.

Rolling Hills

The Questors come to an area of hills with great cracks and fissures in the Earth. From one of the Fissures a voice will boom.

Challenge:Who walks the Broken Earth?
Response:The Emperor uses his Spear to pick his way through the cracks.
Gifts:The Emperor’s Spear must give a gift of Importance or the Rolling Hills will roll over the Questors. These Hills are a giant gnome which will roll on top of them and do its damage bonus to all locations until they die.

The Thrower of Mountains

The Questors come to a range of mountains which have been broken and scattered around. An enormous Giant stands with his hands on one of the mountains and throws a chunk of rock at the Questors.

Challenge:Half a mountain falls on the Party.
Response:The Emperor parries the mountain with his Shield, Blows the rock away, blinds the Giant with his Shadow and attacks it with his Spear.

The Griffins

The Questors reach the top of the mountains and meet a pride of Griffins.

Challenge:Who comes here to the top of the World?
Response:The Emperor blows onto the ground and lifts himself into the air to show that he too can fly.
Exchange:The Griffins offer to carry the Questors onward to the Rainbow Bridge. The Emperor’s Breath gains the ability to fly - 1 MP will carry one SIZ for one hour. Each point of SIZ over the limit reduces the flight time by 5 minutes with 0 as a minimum (no flight). He must, however, agree never to attack Griffins unless first attacked by them.

The Rainbow Bridge

A beautiful Rainbow arches into the Sky and its near foot touches the ground nearby.

Challenge:Who would place his heavy foot on my back?
Response:The Emperor touches with his Shadow which weighs nothing.
Gifts:The Emperor’s Shadow must give a gift to be able to cross the Rainbow Bridge. If the Gift is unworthy, the Shadow may never cross another Rainbow Bridge until he returns here and gives two worthy gifts.

The Flaming Warriors

After the Questors have crossed the Rainbow Bridge, they come to the edge of the Sun Horse’s Paddocks and are met by the Flaming Warriors. These are simply Spirit Warriors but can shoot arrows as well as fight with their Spears. POW should be determined by the strength of the party.

Challenge:The Questors are met with a flurry of arrows.
Response:The Emperor blocks the arrows with his Shield, blows the arrows away, attacks with his Spear, leaving his Shadow to cover his path.

The Paddocks

These contain the Horses of the Sun. The Emperor traditionally picks a Sun Stallion, but he may choose a Hippogriff (if one is present) or an Eagle as a mount. The rest of the Questors may pick a steed from the other animals. Normally, there will be Griffins, Eagles, Hawks, Horses, Unicorns and occasionally a Pegasus or Hippogriff. The Questor must roll POWx5 in order to tame the steed, but may boost the chance with support points. Giving up one of the abilities gained will guarantee that the steed is tamed.

The Questors may now return with their steeds back to the Moon without incident.