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# Part of Simon Phipp's RuneQuest/Glorantha Site

Glorantha is Copyright Issaries Inc, RuneQuest is Copyright Hasbro Inc
Glorantha is a Fantasy world setting and RuneQuest is a Fantasy Game.
All articles on this web site are game rules or background to the Fantasy setting and are not intended to be taken in any other way.

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Simon E. Phipp

Copyright (c) 2000 Simon E.Phipp
Created On 30 December 2000
Last Updated On 30 December 2000

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# Easy Climb Tree

Once, long ago, a daughter of Aldrya was bored, so she set a contest for the people of Votankiland. She produced a beautiful golden fruit that cured all ills and made the eater eternally young and she placed the fruit inside a basket of thorns atop a tree of thorns, each thorn dripping with a deadly poison. She said that whoever could climb the tree and take the fruit could claim her as his wife, but that failure would mean death. Many tried, including the best climbers amongst the Votanki and even some spider-limbed trolls, but all felt the deadly bite of the thorns and fell lifeless to the ground. All the time, the daughter of Aldrya laughed and smiled for she took their vigour and strength as they fell.

At last, a son of Votank took up the challenge and appealed to Aldrya for help against her cruel daughter, but the Forest Mother would not intervene. Instead, another daughter heard and offered to help. She gave him a single seed and a charm and told him to plant the seed close to the Thorn Tree and sing the charm. This he did and a new tree sprang up, tall and straight, with a knotty and strong trunk. When he saw this, the son of Votank climbed the new tree and reached inside the basket of thorns. When he climbed down, he was met by the Cruel Daughter who said that he must eat the fruit and claim her as his bride. Votank's Son said that a husband and wife must always share everything and gave her the heart of the fruit while he ate the flesh. At this, the Cruel Daughter fell dead at his feet, for the heart was of poison. Aldrya's other daughter came to him and became his bride, gifting his people the secret of the EasyClimb Tree.

The EasyClimb Tree can be found throughout the Elder Wilds and Balazar. It is normally found beside another tree or near a cliff or rock where something good can be found out of reach. It allows the hunters of Balazar to climb at a bonus (+50%) and to easily reach the intended target. If a hunter sees something good that he cannot get to, he will make a note of where the thing is and will go to the Clan Shaman. The Shaman will take an EasyClimb seed and plant it next to the required spot, then will cast Accelerate Growth, gained from one of Votank's Daughter-In-Law cult, and allow the hunters to climb to where they want to go. [1]

This has been used before to gain access to the otherwise impenetrable Citadels, acting as Siege Ladders, and even on HeroQuests to climb mountains or even to reach the Sky. One Heroes have even used the HeroQuest to escape the Underworld by climbing an EasyClimb Tree, but he started the climb as a young man and reached the surface an old man with a wife, children and grandchildren.

Votank has a subcult that provides Accelerate Growth to its members. The subcult is only open to men who have performed the EasyClimb HeroQuest and has gained a wife as part of the Quest. In fact, Votank has many Daughter-in-Law Sub Cults, normally the Son and his wife are not named or are only named as Votank's Son and someone else's daughter. Because of the closeness between the Votanki and Aldrya, the Daughter is often one of Aldrya's Daughter as many of Votank's sons married daughters of Aldrya.

## Notes

1. There is an Amazonian tribe that plants a quick-growing, easy to climb tree near thorn trees where they want to pick the fruit of the tree. In fact, very few of these thorn trees can be found without the other tree growing nearby.

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