Good morning,
Celestial Dawn breaks across the dragon isles on the third day of the War Boat's journey. The dozens of questers headed for the island of the dragon's shattered jaws split into two main groups as they approach the bay inside. One group heads into the depths of the jaws and the bay, where the Waertagi dragonships and fleet are concentrated, and where a grand Dock made of dragonbones was fashioned. Another group heads to the tip of the jaws, where the Boat Planet is weighing anchor, and nudging gently against the tip of one fanged jaw as a convenient bridge for boarding. Singing and music come from the War Boat, calling watchers and rowers to return for its continued voyage. Waertag the Reaver's voice calls out loudly, magically amplified, over the bay:
“Helpers of the War Boat, as I faced a choice before the Dawn so do ye. My people return to the Middle World and ye may ride with them behind us; join their fleet now if ye so choose. Many have sacrificed to get us this far and bring back those who have awaited the return of the Waertagi flotilla, and their suffering has not been in vain, and the return will not be without further trials for the passengers and Sivis of our great Dragonships. But I choose to quest onwards, to finish what I began and mend what was broken. Down the River Lorion we go, down the Sky Dome onto Ssramak and then Styx past the Gates of Dusk, a Westfaring into the gloom of Hell. What awaits us there we shall learn of in the land of the Luathans, as that tale is lost. Until then, I spy two days of easier sailing ahead to the edge of the Sky-this realm is subjugated and the Boat Planet rightly restored. We need strong rowers and singers to carry us on, so join us if ye can, but there shall be no turning back once that voyage to the Black Ocean begins, until we surface again. And our Underworld quest shall make that in the Sky Realm pale in comparison with its challenges, but some shall live to return.”
You choose to join with Waertag; your quest is not done! The War Boat rows away from the bay, voices raising in the Song of the Sky Ship again, attended for a while by thousands of flapping pterodactyls that shriek forth from roosts inside the dragons' jaws. There is an awesome view of the remains of the dragon for hours, and the gradually fading sight of the Waertagi fleet behind the War Boat. The Deck Officer continues to pace the deck, shouting orders, and spreads word that the crew is too sparse now for breaks-there will be no rest for the remainder of this quest. The Uz, even, are brought from the Hold onto the decks, with tarps erected to shade some, whereas others that are less tolerant of the light summoning Shades or greater Dehori to mantle them in deeper darkness. Bog sees Syrr Kogag is still here. Shrett tolerates the situation, squinting in the light. Indeed, he again feels strongly connected with the Movement rune as he begins rowing again.
The Sky Ship continues to navigate downriver through the Celestial Dragon's archipelago, with an increasingly bright light shining from the eastern shore: the many stars, some blindingly strong, of the Celestial City and its gods, including central Polaris. Above them stares the aloof gaze of Dayzatar's Eye at the top of the Sky, its pale attention drawn elsewhere such as to the entropic void of the Chaosium and the infinite knowledge of the Cosmos. But closer to the Sky Ship, along its starboard side, the Reeds constellation comes into view, and it does not disappoint: a thicket of hundred-metre-tall golden reeds and horsetails and more lining the shore and erupting from the shallows of the Celestial River, with celestial folk plying its waters in between the titanic spires of ancestral plant life in their little boats. It is a placid scene. Some are reminded of myths such as that of Reed Boy (or his other names), who first used a reed to breathe underwater and hide from Mostali foes. Or those who created the first music here; pipes or flutes uniting Air, Plant and Sky magics. Or myths of various Boat Gods, who gained secrets here to fashion boats from reeds, or stole them from other heroes such as Anaxial to survive an epic flood-that of Wakata in the West; or Magasta. For a time, there is nothing but wonder to behold.
Wondrous as the Reeds were, the Sky Ship next passes closer to the Celestial City, to which nothing in Glorantha could compare. Also called the Inner Heavens, Upper Circle or Upper Sky, it is a marvelous and truly beautiful place, where the buildings are made of pure light and every star is a god or goddess. Gates, radial avenues and concentric streets are visible connecting a multitude of stars, 25 large ones and many small ones, which include known constellations such as the Celestial Chorus, Officers and Household; but also many ones unfamiliar to those not well versed in myths of the Sky. The divine beings of the large stars do not leave their places to gawk at the ship like the commoner stars and tiny citizens do, but all can sense the love and approval at its return to the sky. Even soldiers of Polaris and other war gods of the Sky salute the Sky Ship's passing. You look in amazement at the bright stars you'd often gazed up at from below in the Middle World, now seeing fine details of the white star-planet goddess usually called Entekos, and the perfect star Ourania, the Sky Matriarch with two “tear stars” of Musa and Supla; conveyors of inspiration and prayer. As you pass the Celestial City, you notice the Yellow Planet/Star of Lightfore, sometimes called the Young God, linked to the Youth of Yelm and the magic of Springtime; but also the Little Sun who some call Yelmalio, sun of nighttime. Emanating from the Celestial City, you feel waves of approving energy wash over you. Boamund's Fire of Justice passion swells. Ahappi and Shrett have become more tolerant/respectful of trolls.
In the enormous golden rice paddies beyond the Celestial City, thousands of stars stop briefly in their work to stare at the ship in wonder, and those aboard watch back amidst their rowing and singing. But the work continues. Further on, Sky inhabitants on both sides of the river gather to welcome the Great Ship back. Even the Bright Stars of greater gods watch from their implacable positions. You see the Steward constellation watching your passage sternly on the starboard side; stalwart in his job to keep undeserving beings out of heaven. On the port side, seven-starred Evandal at the juncture of Celestial River and Desert watches inscrutably, its main Bright Star the Teat of Oropum unwavering in its light, which was among the first that humans noticed in the Sky.
As the river completes its grand turn around the centre of the Sky, thousands of sparkling fish of many sizes begin to rise around the Boat Planet, slowing its progress, while a monstrous crocodile covered in aluminium-armour plates and studded with the starry corpses of those it has eaten, lumbers towards the river from the port side. Some of the larger fish leap into the air, bursting into flames and gliding over the deck on golden wings spread wide. It seems the Sky Realm's challenge to the Boat Planet has not ended, after all! Five Star Fish swoop in, passing you twice, but Ahappi has the jump on his and wounds then dispatches it, while others fend theirs off for a while; Boamund kills his and Shrett knocks his down so Ahappi can kill it, then Bog (rowing but hungry to eat some fish) is saved from further assault and Fraud is aided, too. All of the fish are slain before they can make a third pass.
Before the massive stellar crocodile can reach the water, however, it is opposed and stopped by stars gathering from that shore, including a giant Goat-Star that gores it with her luminous horns. The crocodile lumbers back into the Celestial Desert, the fishes disperse, and the Ship sails on. Bog munches some delicious Star Fish as he rows, his muscles swelling magically with the strength of his efforts and the fine nutrition. Yum!
Just past the Fishes and Crocodile, a Dark Spot in the Sky watches from that western shore amidst the Celestial Desert. There is an ominous feeling of jealousy and spite that comes from its space that is darker than night. No direct threat emanates from that Celestial Pit, but some aboard the Sky Ship are haunted by visions. None of you have more than vague visions (you had to fail/crit your Willpower). Shrett remembers that this Dark Spot is fabled to have been the star that Sheng Seleris, fierce Pentan nomadic enemy of the Lunar Empire, inhabited and send raids from, but who was defeated brutally and the star extinguished; but myths vary. In the West, it is less significant and merely more of a bad omen. A broken invader-star and a cautionary tale.
You continue down the river, seeing the southern horizon of the Sky Dome more clearly now, where it dips down into the edge of the world and thence back through the Middle Air. But ahead lies the final resident of the Celestial River, and it soon is unmissable: the great eleven-starred blue serpent Lorion, essence of the river itself, writhes in the starry currents here, filling the channel. It raises it toothy head with beard of many rivers, and stares hungrily at the approaching War Boat. There is activity amongst the crew; something is up. Yet the ship carries forward as the jaws of Lorion open, looming overhead, waterfalls cascading off of them as the coils of its titanic body, many miles long, churn the waters into glistening foam. Tension mounts. You brace yourselves.
Lorion's watery breath, the dim star called Drowns Children, floods over the War Boat, surging over the decks. You hold on tight, and no one is swept away to their watery doom. Ahappi has tied down Bog and Shrett, saving them.
Next, Lorion's beard reaches downwards from its chin, draping the deck in clutching waterspouts groping for victims. Ahappi conjures an undine to cloak you all in protective waters, while Boamund uses Skin of Life to save you from drowning in it. This saves you-the beard of Lorion sucks away the undine, but leaves you behind safely. Others are not so lucky, losing their shields to its grasping aqueous tendrils or losing their lives to being slurped into Lorion's jaws, or falling to their deaths on the deck/river if they break free…
As the deck is awash in the struggle with Lorion, all officers thick in the fray but struggling to fend off the innumerable beard-strands of the Celestial Serpent, a call comes from the Forbidden Door's open portal-it is Waertag the Reaver: “Lorion, Manthisson Slippery father of Tanian, You meddle with fate You trespass to threat See stars of eight Whose edge you fret Whose wounds you hate”
With those words, the shining form of Waertag raises his arms to the Sky and a light comes streaming in from the west. With a blinding flash, it strikes the side of the snout of Lorion, who hisses furiously with its invisible tongue as sparks fly off its scales and waters leak forth from slashes. The light is the shape of a gigantic sword-the Sword constellation itself; to some the home of Humakt; the stars prayed to by warriors worldwide. Lorion recoils, lowering its surviving victims to the deck and retreating into the river again, cowed and humiliated.
As the Sword hovers over the Sky Ship in vigilance, Waertag the Reaver directs the Ship onwards, and it rows atop Lorion's back, thus carried more swiftly downriver toward the horizon, with the Sword soon returning to its place guarding the edge of the Celestial Desert. The shadowy Spy Star might have watched you leave, but nothing comes of it. A wave of power washes over the deck as the Boat Planet quickly reaches the end of its four-day voyage over the Sky, unleashing cosmic vitality.
Lorion carries the Boat Planet to the edge of the Sky realm and the Sky Dome downwards, flowing rapidly on glowing blue waters into the Middle Air, where you feel familiar winds again and see the Sun from below once more. But the voyage is far from mundane……
Next time: riding the rapids of Lorion back to Ssramak-and Luathan “hospitality” at the Gates of Dusk!
And have a nice Easter/break!
-John
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