Dying in the Underworld

[Harald Smith]

In the Underworld quest in SKoH, in at least one of the entryways to the Underworld, the heroes must confront Humakt and either slay him or be slain to pass. Assuming the latter occurs, at least one hero has Died in the Underworld.
If this is a Sacred Time ceremony, there seems to be a suggestion that the ‘dead’ hero returns to Life if the quest succeeds. But that the hero may be marked in some way.
There’s also suggestion that with those who die in the Underworld, you may need to bring their ‘parts’ together in order to restore them.

Has anyone played through this in HQ terms and, if so, how was this event approached?

[David Scott]

This is covered in HeroQuest Glorantha:

So You Died in the Underworld
It is entirely possible that one or more heroes will get lost or die during their quest through the Underworld. If this happens, the hero will become one of the Dead, doomed to inhabit the Underworld until their scattered pieces can be brought back to the Court of the Dead for judgment. The hero will be restored during the Sacred Time ceremonies but will bear magical scars from the time in the Underworld as determined by the Game Master.

I’d say the scattered pieces are naturally collected by your pantheon’s psychopomp and presented for judgement. Hence the idea of dismembering entities like Gbaji and hiding the parts in many different places.

[Martin Hawley]

When one of the heroes dies …
It all depends on how they died…let me try and explain how I did it in game terms…The one that died drowned, hence the “part” they lost was part of their souls…in this case as it was water related i had them gain a Flaw involving crossing water/swimming etc. as a display of their fear of water…..
It would be cool to have a hero loose some points in an apropos rune affinity depending on how they were killed in a contest that was a de facto heroquest challenge or maybe an identity challenge they would loose points in that part of their soul where the opponent opposes it (as in the cycle of elemental progrssion)

[Harald Smith]

It all depends on how they died…let me try and explain how I did it in game terms…The one that died drowned, hence the “part” they lost was part of their souls…in this case as it was water related i had them gain a Flaw involving crossing water/swimming etc. as a display of their fear of water…..

Yes, that makes sense.
So let’s say we have Korolvanth (borrowing from SKoH) killed by Humakt on the crossing to the Underworld. Korolvanth is technically dead, but can continue with his companions since he is in the Underworld now (which is where the dead belong), and he must be able to keep contact with the parts of his soul to this point (though presumably he has some physical scar now).
Beyond the crossing, if Korolvanth or one of his companions is ‘killed’ or ‘dies’, then that hero loses connection with at least some part of his soul by whatever means and his body is carried along on the Road of Souls.

I’d say the scattered pieces are naturally collected by your pantheon’s psychopomp and presented for judgement. Hence the idea of dismembering entities like Gbaji and hiding the parts in many different places.

Continuing on with the Korolvanth example, let’s say he just died at the Crossing, went with his companions and they succeeded. The companions return, but Korolvanth is technically dead, so can’t easily return. Assuming Korolvanth is Orlanthi, then Issaries comes along, collects all his scattered pieces, and guides him on the Road of Souls to be judged. How does he return? Is he simply judged worthy because of the success of the quest (or prayers of the living?) to be ‘reborn’ in the Sacred Time? And then released by the gods of the Underworld?

I can easily see that a foe could scatter your hero’s pieces and then prevent such rebirth. Or if no one survives the quest, then there is no one to return some or all pieces to the Sacred Ground/Mundane World.

Just trying to see how this part would actually be played out.

[Author]

Posts