The name’s Eurmal. Eurmal Lightbringer.
As the company of lightbringers travelled deeper into Hell they fell to arguing about which way to travel (that is to say the others argued, and Orlanth strode off decisively). After much wandering (which might, Lankhor Mhy drily pointed out, have been extended by Orlanth’s refusal to ask for directions) they found a trail of golden, glowing droplets. “Aha!” declaimed Orlanth, striking a dramatic pose, “See, the righteousness of our cause has lit our way ahead…” – taking advantage of the pause as Orlanth drew breath to begin his oratory Eurmal scuttled to the edge of the largest puddle of gold and plunged his hand into it, withdrawing a palmful of glowing, liquid fire. Turning to face his horrified companions he quickly quaffed it, burped fire, and declared “s’blood. Old emperor stabbedness the first definitely came this way.”
Orlanth, interrupted, glared – but his moment of inspiration was gone. So on the companions travelled.
After an interminable march into the yelm-lit gloom Orlanth paused – he had heard something in the distance. He hissed a whisper back to his companions to be alert, drawing his sword and rushing ahead. “Sorry chief, didn’t hear what you said there… feel a bit… s’cuse me, I think I need to shed some light on the situation…” and with that, Eurmal dropped his trousers, bent over, and from his buttocks sprang forth a brilliant golden shaft of light, pinning a giant three-headed hound in its glare just as it made ready to pounce. Recovering from their horror, the other companions joined their leader in battling the hound, trying desperately not to think about the source of the light that lit the scene and dazzled their foe.
“I think we should call this the Lightbringers’ Quest” said Eurmal, as the hound breathed its last. And its last, And its last.
“That’s… just… you…”
“Hey, look – I can do shadow puppets. Watch me do dying three headed dog.”
And though they swore no oath, the companions never spoke of what transpired. Except occasionally to Chalana Arroy, when they needed to sleep, and they could not unsee what they had seen.
But they did call it the Lightbringers’ Quest.
During the lightbringer quest the player of Eurmal may take the following actions to re-create this part of the journey, upon consuming Yelm's blood:
Pass Fire/Sky OR Fail both Darkness and Air
Pass Pow × 5 to summon the light (as combat starts)
Pass Dex × 5 to direct the light
Pass Sleight to perform the puppet show (after combat, optional)
Upon success the Eurmali may convey the Eurmal ritual ‘Dance of the Full Moon’
to the Priest at the nearest Eurmali Temple.
Dance of the Full Moon
During a worship ritual led by a priest who knows the dance, participants may spend one rune point to partake of the dance. Upon successful completion of the worship each participant who contributed a rune point (roll Illusion - a critical means they get the point back, a Fumble means the point is lost) gains the ability, until the next full night has passed, to:
Roll Pow × 5 to summon the light
Roll Dex × 5 to aim it
Any friend or foe who is transfixed by the beam (or turns to look and sees where it's coming from) must make a Pow × 5 roll to look away or be hypnotised. Those who fail may make further rolls of × 4, then × 3, and so forth each passing turn.
Failing the final Pow × 1 roll means the victim loses consciousness for a few seconds.
Anyone looking back at the beam, having looked away, must start again.
Once the beam has been summoned, the ability is gone until the ritual is repeated.
How Eurmal Invented the Sieve
As the company of lightbringers stood on the shore of the river of knives, watching Issaries negotiate with the ferryman, Eurmal found his gaze drawn to the flowing not-water. “What a fascinating thing…”, he thought to himself, “so shiny and sharp and serrated. It would be a shame to leave it here, down in the dark. I must bring this gift to the surface.”
But how would he bring this new thing to the world above? Perhaps a bag… after all, had he not stol…taken fire in just this way? Yes. A bag. But his own bag already contained fire. Probably best not to fill it with not-water. Besides, the people he had definitely not tricked into his bag (but that is a story for another time) might not-drown. “Aha!”, he thought, his roving eye settling on the heavy pack Issaries had set down by the ferry, “sure to be something in there. And Issaries will not mind, I am sure.”
So Eurmal twisted off his hand, and popped out his eye, and sent them scuttling off towards the sack to return with an oilskin bag. “This will do nicely”, he thought to himself, wiggling his fingers absent mindedly (it always felt like someone else’s hand after putting it back on) and blinking in mild discomfort until his eye was the right way up.
And so (as we all know) Issaries concluded his negotiation and called his companions onto the ferry, each taking a place as they saw fit, with Eurmal choosing a spot where the ferry was lowest to the not-water, within easy reach of the clinking, scraping, slicing torrent. Choosing a moment when everybody’s gaze was on the far shore Eurmal hooked the bag onto his dagger and trailed it in the not-water, filling it up. But the river of swords and knives is not like other rivers, and its contents are not so easily contained, and as Eurmal pulled the bag back the knives and hooks and razors and daggers and needles and many other such things pierced the hide and flowed out, leaving a bag full of holes and a rather sharp puddle in the ferry. “Oh dear”, thought Eurmal to himself, “Issaries won’t be too happy about that. Unless…”
And so, on the far shore – “Issaries! Boon companion. Oath brother. Old friend. Let me tell you about this wonderful new invention of mine…”
So it is that Eurmal invented the sieve.
A Eurmali (or one playing the role of Eurmal) in the Lightbringers' quest (or in a Eurmali worship ritual at a temple reproducing this tale) may attempt this sequence of rolls:
Sleight
Dex × 5
Fast Talk
Failure to make any of these rolls means the ritual has no effects other than normal worship.
Failure to make the Dex roll results in 3 (separate) dagger damage rolls to the worshipper's right arm (no strength bonus).
Success means the worshipper may now assert that they have the right to enter any nearby markets, and have this right recognised by Issarians present there.
