Vanganth and the Cleansing Leap
Incorrect date, above. (Recap 3 is unfinished, with a small gap between where it leaves off and the start here.)
As should become obvious, this recap is written from the standpoint of Barlo Ofun, Pavis native and Vanganthi Devotee, also sworn to be the Protector of the Rass and more specifically, Gilli.
Brothers, sisters, kin by blood born or shed, gather round here so I can boast of my great deed here in this, the valley of our clanhall! I am Barlo Ofuhn, son of Martri Threewife of our clan, the Ofuhn. You know me, I have travelled widely, seen danger, killed men and learned Vanganth's magics. You have heard my story of how I won the Conjured Sword of Flame, how I killed the oathbreaker Chagreus Clarios in single combat, how I saved the children of Tink from the Stink Broos. Now, now let Orlanth fill my lungs and the clear voice of Issaries convey my words as I tell you the Quest of Vanganth and the Cleansing Leap!
So, as I told in the story of the Ghost of the Protector's Sash, I was sworn to these Rass, who we think are cousins, and they were determined to call on the River Lord, Zola Fel. I breathed deep and smiled my inside smile, because I know, as you know, that the Water Lords cannot stand before the Storm, but are always beaten down and driven away. So our stories always say, and so I confirmed with my own magic. Listen!
Gil, the goldentongue for those Rass, he worked some path to gain us passage to a secret meeting of the River People. You remember how a few weeks ago, you couldn't find a boat for cows or threats? That was then. North we went, and soon came to a huge mass of boats all tied up surrounding the temple barge we have all seen on their holy days. All around us on the boats, everyone is face down praying.
So, we make our way with some water boy guiding us to the inner ring of the boats, and some scrawny river priest asked us this: "Are you blood of the water? Are you here out of duty and love? Will you sacrifice your lives for that duty, for that love?" Now, the air was thick with water, and that water was thick with magic. So smooth-talk Gil, he knows something that makes it so he can answer "Yes" to each of these, and that seems to satisfy the river priest that asked the question.
They ask us on board, where it's clear they are in the middle of something really big. There's a weaponthane of theirs, the closest thing I've ever seen to a dangerous looking waterboy, he's stock-still in front of the pool of water at the center of the boat. He's got that scaly sa-metal armor all over him, and he's giving off some sort of blue light. One of the priests, hight Fasasch the Deep, he explains that the High Priestess, Revered Animah the River, is ill with some sort of chaos sending that is also tainting the river. The whole of the river people are preparing that thane of theirs to enact some quest called the Cleansing Leap. The blue armored thane is going to take the place of Zola Fel, and they want us to take the places of his captains and advisors. And they say they've been waiting for us!
The Rass kin, they like to talk, and they talked like they were all mule traders then. They decided that they would give the river priest the tiny aluminum pitchfork that I had found on the body of their dead great-uncle. When they did this, it made all the river priests get excited, until they had to shout out to the praying waterboys like this: "Here, delivered by blood of the water, is the Lesser Trident of the Cleansed One, that we may be armed as Zola Fel was!" With that, the people left off their praying for a few breaths and cheered.
To show us proper respect, they take us to the High Priestess, even though she is sick, like I said. And there I see two things--even healthy, this is a big fat woman, and now, she is very not healthy. Chaos was on her, making her sick so that she couldn't get off her couch, making her look green, and not a healthy green. She surprised all those Rass by explaining she was their great aunt, and that she remembered their mother. Cam, the Rass kid, he seems spooked the whole time, and says the place was full of powerful spirits, like that was a big surprise in a temple. There Animah made a deal with the goldentongue that she would come to their manor stead on the Real City Hill if they succeeded in the Cleansing Leap. She had Fasasch put a mark on our palms. See, here is mine.
When we came out, a bunch of young water warriors were chanting over the trident. They handed it to blue boy, and it grew to be a respectable weapon size. They all looked relieved at that. Then it was that Fasasch explains what's going to happen. At midnight, they're going to open the way into the beginning of the Great Darkness, when the whole world went bad. You all know that story. We all know what Orlanth did when that happened. But Fasasch, he explains what Zola Fel did, and how his friends reacted, and what happened then. So that's how I know the secrets of this quest, because the priest explained it to us then and gave us all roles.
The eldest male Rass is Greylord Asher. He played the role of the River King's Seer. Gilli, the White Healer, she acts the part of the Wise Blue Woman. No, I don't know what that is. Me, I was the Leader of the River King's Warriors. Gil acts as the Herald of Magasta the Ocean Lord. Senech, the fool, became the King's Cupbearer. The youngest boy, Cam, was the King's Ward.
Come the Hour of the Pole Star, we had all been taught the words to say, the things to do and not do, and given gifts to aid us. Water sloshed around, the priests chanted, we all stood behind the glowing water boy, who we were only to address as "Zola Fel." We all stepped forward to the pool, and the boat faded away around us. The chanting of the priests disappeared, drowned out by the worst noise you can imagine. The whole universe groaned and howled. All of us looked to the center of the world, expecting to see the Great Mountain that all of us see in the spring rituals--but it was not there! Instead, a terrible void sat at the center of the world, thousands of miles away, puking out chaos monsters and raining armies of horror across the world.
Some of the people around us, who had not been there a momemt before, some of them fell over dead then. Everyone screamed. The River Lord, he saw the terrible void that appeared where before the world mountain had been, and he left off his invasion of the Earth. He returned to his stead, which the priest called the Brown Palace, and he asked his advisors what to do. There we, who were his advisors, answered as we had been instructed.
First, Zola Fel asked his Seer, who was Asher, what had happened. Asher says "It is the end of the world, and hope and life are gone from the world." This made Zola Fel angry.
Then he asks Gilli whether there was any hope. She was the Wise Blue Woman and she said "Hope and love cannot be killed, but healing requires sacrifice." This made Zola Fel sad.
Next he asked me if we could win, for I was his right-hand thane, the leader of his warband. Filled with the knowledge of Storm's great victory to come, I replied "I lead your men, and they have never met a foe they cannot defeat and we will conquer for our lord." This made Zola Fel strong.
Now came word from the Guardian of the Brown Palace, who was a son of Golod and the ugliest thing I had ever seen. He sent word that there was a messenger there from the Court of the Sea, and he demanded free passage to see Zola Fel. This was granted.
Then Gil came among us, arrayed as the herald of Magasta. His voice rang with doom, and the fish women in the hall wept. "The Heart of the World is broken, leaving only a void which will consume all. My Lord, Emperor of the Oceans, Magasta the Monster Lord, calls all his bond-men to him to fight this. Come now, come quickly or the world is ended."
"Bring me my Goblet!" Zola Fel cried, and much to everyone's surprise, Senech the fool brought the cup, and did not drop it, and gave it to Zola Fel, though later Cam saw he tried to steal it. Zola Fel drank down the cup and his wounds healed.
He took up his weapons then, and bid us do the same. "I have ever taken the course set for me, and shall not fail it, even if it changes as it does now." He made to leave the protection of his hall. "I feel the fear and pain of the world," said Cam, who was the King's Ward. "and I beg you for protection." Here the River King spoke as he tightened his byrnie. "Follow me downriver. I will show you how to be a Man."
At the Gates of the Brown Palace stood a huge throng of river people and fish people, many who look like nothing that remains in this world. They begged their King not to leave them, and the King ordered the Herald to explain their mission and convince them to support his decision. Though some grumbled as we passed, Gil convinced them to pray for us, and some pressed food and water into our hands.
At the edge of the River King's camp, a great host of warriors was gathered. They begged their lord not to turn away from their ancient foes, but instead to continue until all the dry world was theirs. Many of them were bachelors, and wanted to capture earth goddesses as their concubines.
Zola Fel said to me "These are your men. Do you lead them?" "Of course I do!" I replied, and stepped up to bring them to heel. The loudest voice among the fish-warriors was a scaled man called Hith Snake-spear. He was the horniest one, too. Oh, my brothers and sisters! He was mighty--tall as two men with arms as big around as my head. His spear glowed green in the foggy air, and Cam said it watched what happened. But he was wounded, and further, he was ignorant of the runes on my arms and what they meant.
He tried to make me fight him. I cautioned him. "But we are both thanes of the same lord, and no matter what decision, he will need all our strength." He saw the wisdom there, and proposed a contest and a wager to settle it. So I kept my smile to myself and said "Very well then. Can you jump?"
No, wait. Don't laugh so hard. It gets better.
"Jump? Can I jump?" He swelled with pride and pounded on his chest, then spit on the ground. Then he bragged "With my Lord, I jumped the very Ramparts of the Earth when we began our invasion! I have salmon brothers! I can outjump a little white thing like you!" Now my smile had to be all inside. "Very well. Let us jump straight up, and the last one to come down wins. The loser shall give over his weapon to the winner."
You're all laughing again. You'll spoil the ending! So, Hith sets aside his spear and his mailcoat, calls on his salmon brothers, and we both leapt into the air.
Now, brothers and sisters, he jumped high, like a very salmon. And it seemed to me that when he saw me continuing up past him, that he may even have tried to turn himself into a sea-mist. But up I rose, riding on my breath, which is Vanganth's Ram. And when Hith hit the ground with a splash, then I came back down, carefully, so I did not do anything which the river priests had warned me not to do.
I gained the Snake-Spear then, which you see by the door. And Hith Snake-Spear became only Hith Spear, and he was sorry for it, but kept his word. That is how I convinced the whole host to follow Zola Fel down the river, and then we left the safety of the fort.
Downriver we went, and the waters gathered around us like our host, driving small dirty things before it. But after a time, the waters slowed, and soon we saw that the river channel ahead was blocked by a gigantic sow bearing a horde of gold-armed spearmen on its back. And more, on the left bank a gigantic, beautiful naked woman lay with her toes in the water. By the things she said, and the way she acted, we could tell she was lonely. Now let me tell you, that every man there thought that maybe a diversion in that direction would be worthwhile.
And Zola Fel was a man. It seemed that the gold-men on the pig wanted our King to turn his attention that way, too. "You must turn aside, and lie with her, or face our hot spears!" They waved these at us, and we saw the spearheads grow red and hot. They were no match for our host, and we could have beaten them and the pig they rode in on, but Cam thought of a better way while Gil kept Zola Fel from turning aside himself. "Let Hith Spear go forward!" said the King's Ward, looking embarrassed. "He wanted a earth-wife anyway." Now Hith was eager for this, and Zola Fel was minded to let him go since I had his Snake Spear, and the gold-men were happy with this and moved their sow aside. So far as we could tell, Hith was even happier as he leapt between her legs. I guess he could jump after all.
Downstream we went some more, and we saw the terrible things happening to the world. Stars fell bleeding to the earth, and far away we saw a huge zombie army marching against a screaming city. The river grew thicker, sometimes with blood, other times with less wholesome things. But behind us, in the wake of Zola Fel, it was clean. We knew, though, that worse was ahead, since it was clear the valley was blocked, because the water rose around us as we travelled. So then we came to a huge wall of slime that sat in the river. Worse than gorp, it had chaos monsters living in it, growing out of it, being absorbed back into it. Nothing good lived around it--anything clean had been eaten. It trembled with obscene excitement when it saw our host, and exuded a foe for each of us.
Cam faced some spectral eyeball, and the two stared at each other for almost the whole time the rest of us fought, then the eyeball turned itself inside out and fell apart. Senech danced around as balls of gorp flew at him, dodging and cutting with his knife. Asher took up his ugly moon-axe and chopped up an inside-out man whose organs were made of slime. Gil shot something I never got a good look at, because I faced a hideous chaos demon that leapt out of the slime wall. Gleaming bright bronze it was, shaped like the skeleton of a rhinocerous without the rhinocerous. Taller than me at the shoulder, it leapt and tried to gore me over and over. I leapt above it, below it, and finally beside it and whack! took it's head off at the spine. After, I cut off it's horn and kept it. Here it is, as proof of my words. While our fights raged, Zola Fel and his host pressed against the whole of the slime wall. Gilli the white healer stood the whole time at his back, healing the acid burns that threatened to dissolve him. And slowly, as we won our fights, and though the slime seemed much bigger than the River Lord, he made headway. Great gouts of water erupted from his arms, and the Trident was wedged deep in the slime body, breaking it up. As the last of us finished our opponents and began hacking at the slime wall itself, it broke up under the rush of water. Collapsing into tiny bits, it washed out into the delta and was gone.
We would have celebrated then, but King Zola Fel collapsed then on a sandbar, and Gilli too, right next to him, just short of our goal. Zola Fel called for his Cupbearer, but when the Senech, the fool came, he had nothing for Zola Fel.
Everyone seemed at a loss, but the priests had warned everyone that the Cup had to remain in the Brown Palace. So we prayed to what gods we could, and called on our ancestors, and those who shared blood with Gilli gave her some of their strength. Then Gilli was healed. And Gilli, healed, was able to heal Zola Fel. Now the assembled warband rejoiced and all proceeded to the edge of the sea.
There a fierce band of mermen and demon-fish watched the land. "I am a scion of Rozgal, guardian here. Who is it that approaches the domain of our lord, Magasta, Emperor of the Deep?" Said the largest of them.
As he had been told, Gil spoke then. "I am the Herald of Magasta, and I have brought one of Magasta's leigemen here, to the Ramparts of the Earth, so that he may rejoin his Emperor as he has been commanded."
Then the great sea-men looked relieved, and welcomed Zola Fel, who thanked us. "You have guided me on my new path, but now I must have new guides into a new realm. Keep my home for me, and I shall return to you." With that, he leapt into the sea, and did not rise again. Many of his followers wept, and their tears followed him into that salty realm. Some say that is why the seas are salt, for all the tears shed at the loss of the Heart of the World. Among the sobs of the warband, we began to hear the chanting of voices, and we saw fish-faces replaced with priest-faces, for all the difference there is. Then we realized we were on the temple barge to Zola Fel, and that we had done as we needed, and entered the realm of the gods, and suffered there, and conquered, and returned home.
The river people were overjoyed, and gifted us, and told us we were always welcome on their boats. They all cheered us, and helped us clean the mud and blood off us, and all wanted to touch us or something better. But Gil explained that there was little time, for now it was morning and at sunset they must have brought their father from Daka Fal, or he never would. But that is another story. Liquid Lord cleansing chaos River's reek driven downward.
Rass renewed
happy homestead
Losers leap
versus Vanganth
