The scenario is suitable for almost any group of PCs, but works best with a party of native Lightbringers. It takes place in Ralios; specifically Delela and the desolated land of Vustria, and the PCs should for some reason be ready to follow instructions from the Orlanth high priest of the Niltelmor tribe. This is easily accomplished if they are members of the tribe or orlanthi passing through the area. If neither of these conditions are met, the GM must think of some catch that will make the PCs willing to take the priest's orders.
The party is summoned to meet the high priest in his private quarters, a very large and fine tent outside the Orlanth temple. His name is Beorlak and he asks some brief questions about the character's backgrounds. He then starts to tell them about Stein. "Stein was the perfect Wind Lord before he went mad. He was on a special mission deep inside Vustria, he and his troops were assigned to help stop the Telmori attacks on our settlements in the border areas. But Stein killed the other Orlanthi and started operating on his own, using decidedly unsound methods. He took control over a tribe of feral broos and uses them in a very brutal, but also very effective campaign against the raiding wolfmen. He has also made himself a god to his own 'tribe' - they worship him devoutly. As Stein still prays to Orlanth occasionally, we have picked up some of his statements through Divination. All of them prove him to be absolutely mad. It must be tempting for a lone human among these inferior creatures to become a god. You must terminate his activities, using any means necessary. To help you in your task we will loan you this: it is a Thunderbolt matrix with three charges, they all activate at the same time and strike the same target. Of course, officially this mission doesn't exist."
When they agree, he continues. "Stein is two metres tall and completely bald. He was noted for his mastery of Oratory and the Javelin. For the first part of your journey you will accompany a group of warriors from our tribe, led by a Wind Lord named Slaymor."
If the party doesn't come up with any questions quickly, they are led off to meet Slaymor. Beorlak answers any queries in as few words as possible and will under no circumstances whatsoever admit his suspicion that Stein has gone Riddler.
Slaymor will greet them and explain that he and his warriors leave for Vustria tomorrow morning. The PCs are given some rations and a place to sleep in a longhouse.
That night all of the party, the residents of Outmark and some people from the surrounding area gather around the stockade. It is a circular wall of wood poles, approximately 15 metres in diameter, with a gate and a walkboard on the outside.
Inside the stockade, a naked human sits with his head between his knees. Then the moon comes out, and it's full. The naked man raises his head and moans - then he howls and starts to change shape into a wolf. The gate is opened and two bulls with Fanaticism and powerful Protection spells cast on them storm in. The audience cheers and the fight is on. Since all of the combatants have excellent defenses, not much blood is spilt. But the audience shouts with joy each time the werewolf is bashed around by the bulls. When the fight starts to wind down because of exhaustion, all spectators who know the Ignite spell (mainly housewifes) are allowed to use it on the wolf. Since there are so many spells and no way to put out the fire (and some undisciplined orlanthi threw in a few Disruptions for good measure), the werewolf dies an agonizing death. After this spectacle, the celebrations last long into the night.
The next two days are hard travelling without much distance being covered. Slaymor explains that all of Vustria is like this ever since Arkat - "curse his name" - was here. At times the PCs can feel the earth rumble beneath them and once they witness, off in the distance, a whole hill tumble down.
On the evening of the second day, scouts report that they have found some human and wolf tracks further ahead. The tracks led to a cave in a hillside and to avoid detection by the Telmori, the scouts did not investigate any closer. Slaymor declares that an attack will be made at dawn tomorrow, and that the PCs are welcome to take part in it (if they do not, they will be regarded as cowards).
The attack begins with 10 warriors circling around the hill to catch anyone trying to escape by some secondary entrance to the cave. The rest of the troop gathers at the foot of the hill, some 500 metres from the cave. Slaymor orders the bagpipers to start playing: "It scares the shit out of them". As the orlanthi march up the slope, the defenders try to organize themselves but have little time to do so. These Telmori are not werewolves, they are "Pure Ones". As there are only four adult humans and five wolves present, and they lack any sort of armour, the fight turns into a massacre.
Just as the PCs reach the fighting they see a small girl, maybe 8 years old, push over a large boulder that lands on an orlanthi's head. He dies immediately. If they do nothing about it, she is killed by one of the other warriors. After the battle is over it turns out that this was the only orlanthi casualty. All of the Telmori (including 7 children) were slaughtered. The Niltelmor warrior is burnt and his ashes spread to the winds.
Slaymor can explain that this is what is meant by "engaging the enemy offensively", and that the only good Telmori is a dead Telmori. If the PCs protest about having the children killed,Slaymor argues that it saves the trouble of killing them when they have grown up - it is much easier to do it now. Besides, all Telmori are Chaos, haven't their priests taught them that?
The journey continues on the following day. At midday, three humans in rags are spotted, fleeing from the party. They are on the other side of a ravine and the orlanthi's bows are unstrung. Slaymor raises his spear and casts three Lightning spells in quick succession. The fleeing men all fall down and are taken prisoner. Sniffing the air, Slaymor exclaims "I love the smell of ozone! Now we will make our little expedition a profitable one." After another hour's march, a very high and smooth standing stone is reached. Slaymor places his hands on the stone and concentrates for a while, then he proclaims that the party will rest here for some hours. As evening starts to fall, a group of twelve dragonewts approaches. They stop 200 metres off and send a small one forward. Slaymor speaks to it, whereupon they go over to the prisoners and the dragonewt starts feeling their legs and arms. Now the PCs can hear it say "Good flesssh, good flesssh". The dragonewt gives some dragonbone to Slaymor and departs with the prisoners.
Next morning the PCs are taken up on a hilltop by Slaymor, where he shows them the land towards the north. They can see fog or smoke rising from the ground, covering a vast area. "Stein has his base somewhere north of the Fogland. This is as far as we were ordered to escort you. We will head eastward now, so our paths must divide. I wish you good luck with your task. You will need it to succeed where Colban could not."
If asked who Colban is, Slaymor will start to explain that he was a rune lord sent to kill Stein - then he stops and thinks that if Beorlak didn't tell the PCs about Colban, he probably shouldn't either. He and his men leave after giving the PCs some food and goodbyes. Slaymor's parting remark is somewhat cryptic: "You will notice when you are near Stein".
The farther north the party travels, the stronger a strange feeling goes that they are closing in on Stein. There is some unknown, somewhat offensive smell in the air and sometimes the earth groans.
After three or four hours, the adventurers spot a couple of crucified Telmori and some wolves hung by their necks. They have been dead for several days. At their feet, piles of skulls can be dimly seen through the fog. The skulls are mainly human, but numerous other species are represented as well: wolf, troll, broo, dragonewt, horse etc.
Rain starts to fall; only a drizzle at first, but from now on till the scenario's end, it rains constantly, gradually building up to full gale strength. The prisoners are taken to one of the best preserved temple buildings, where Stein awaits. The room smells of slow death and is only lit by a few torches. Stein, dressed in a simple white robe, looks much too weak and emaciated to be a powerful Rune Lord - he is obviously very sick, yet his eyes are as discerning and his voice as grave, profound and vibrating as ever. His lips barely seem to move, which is in keeping with his appearance, but he still emits an amazing volume of tone, which is not. He will begin by asking the PCs where they come from, what clan they belong to. If he gets any reply that places the person in question somewhere in Ralios, he will reminisce for a while about how lovely the flowers there smell at this time of year or some such trivia. He will then get started on the concept of freedom: "Real freedom, that is to be free of your beliefs. Think carefully upon this. You cannot call yourself free until your beliefs and opinions no longer burden you." After this, he starts to pay attention to what the adventurers are saying. "You are just errand boys, and expendable ones at that. You realize that, do you not?""Did they tell you why you were to kill me?""What did you expect of your journey?"
The PCs will be held captive for the next few days. Stein will visit them with food and water. He will also ply them with Illuminating debate. Some examples are given in an appendix, but don't feel restricted by these. Try to adapt your arguments to what your players know about Glorantha and how they've reacted to the previous encounters. Your goal is to make them realize that Law and Chaos are not evaluative terms, just descriptions of the two sides there must always be to existence, and that if they wish to choose sides they should do so for their own reasons, not because of their childhood indoctrination by some priest. Stein, for instance, has chosen to be true to his original assignment, but in his own way. If you can't convince them, so be it. The universe still doesn't care.
The PCs are now free to do as they please. The broos are to perplexed by the death of their god to take any action; they don't even defend themselves if attacked. If the adventurers start slaughtering broos, make them roll for disease resistance. That will probably dampen their enthusiasm for genocide. If they don't return the matrix to Beorlak, he will send bands of Niltelmor warriors to find them and try to get them excommunicated.
"Will the gods tell you what is right or wrong? But the gods do not care about human morality! All they want is your Power."
"Just look at the many different ways one god can be worshipped: are the Orlanth cultists in Delela and Naskorion in agreement about what their deity considers just?"
"There is no such thing as right or wrong. There is no objective good or objective evil. What is evil? Tell me that!"
"Why is for instance Chaos evil?"
"Is death evil? Death is needed to let the living live. If nothing died there would soon be no room for life."
"Destruction is necessary so that new things will have a place to grow. Without destruction, the world would soon stagnate. Is this wrong?"
"Chaos stands for destruction and Law for construction. Both are needed in the cosmos. In their inner being they are actually alike. What makes one more good than the other?"
"Take light and darkness, same thing there. At heart, they are one and the same. What do you see if you look into absolute Darkness? Nothing. What do you see if you look into absolute Light? Nothing."
"You must be rid of your fright and your hatred. If you do not befriend them, they become mighty enemies that will dominate your life. Why are you afraid of Chaos?"
"To lose one's hatred is to become free. How can you be free when you let hatred rule over you?"
"You kill for money or for your god or lord. Chaos kills because it is forbidden. What is good or evil about any of these things?"
"If there is no good or evil, there is nothing that can be called sin either. What is sin?"
"If there is no sin, then there is no guilt. They tell you that you should not feel guilt unless you have sinned. So why should anyone feel guilt?"
"Chaos hates laws because it wants to feel free. But as no one can break all laws at once, creatures of Chaos are constantly frustrated and feel an abiding hatred of the laws they do not break. This hatred binds them as much as those who follow Law. Therefore even they have to realize the necessity of laws, or they can never be free of their all-consuming hatred. Can anything be freer than a being with no hate, fear, guilt or prejudice?"
"Just as Law and Chaos must exist side by side, so must all other 'opposites'. If there were no grief, how could we distinguish joy? If there were no pain, how would we notice pleasure?"
"Would you have anything worth saying as your last words?"
"You must let fear and moral terror be your friends, or they will devour you. In a human village I visited, some of the children had been playing in the woods, even though it was forbidden. There they had met some Telmori children and befriended them. When this became known, the entire village gathered together and the children were killed by their fathers. I cried when I saw the little pile of decapitated heads. But then realization hit me like a diamond hammerblow to the head: what genius, what will, what strength it took to do this. That men filled with love could do such a thing. They were moral, but with the strength to kill without judgement. They knew that if they did not do this, humans could never be free of the Telmori."
"I want you to take these papers to my family. I would wish for them to be told the truth. I hate lies." [the papers in question reiterate his worldview and describe his methods for setting broos against Telmori]
"What a world we live in... We train our young boys to chop people into tiny bits, but the priests will not allow them to say 'fuck', because it is indecent!"
"Regarding the broo here I only have one thing to say: let them go on fighting Telmori. This way we get rid of both groups. Exterminate all the brutes!"
It is often claimed that the 'cult' of Nysalor has a Dark Side and a Light Side. The Dark Illuminates are those who use their knowledge as an excuse to satisfy their base desires without regard for the consequences, while those who follow the Light realize that if the structure of the world doesn't provide a grounding for any ethics, then people will have to provide it for themselves - morality is still necessary for human (or other sentient) life, even if it can never be objectively 'true' or 'real'. This description is accurate as far as it goes, but it's not the whole picture. The widespread acceptance of these definitions is partly due to the efforts of the Arkat cult (who regard themselves as the only genuine Light Siders, any other Riddler must be Dark), partly the result of an inclination among Gloranthans to fall back on dualism whenever in doubt. But in fact, many Illuminates don't fit either mold: some seem to act entirely at random (being barely distinguishable from Tricksters), some refuse to involve themselves with the world at all, many choose a goal in life that can hardly be described as either Light or Dark (Stein is one of these), and a few are just insane - though whether insanity is a result or cause of Illumination is moot (as is the question if Stein belongs in this category as well). As any Riddler will tell you, there just aren't any simple answers.
Final note: Our inspiration for this scenario comes from a book by Joseph Conrad and a film by Francis Ford Coppola.