OSR and Jack Vance's "Liane the Wayfarer"

That Dixieland jazz loving, Jack Vance’s story – Liane the Wayfarer – carries the torch for many an old school game. Only nine-pages long, the wayfaring is just a start.  

***

There’s Liane. He’s no good – killed a merchant this morning then fussed about blood on his shoes this afternoon. Got good advice from a wanderer, then killed him:

...dropped a block of granite large as his head. A thud, a croak, a gasp – and Liane went his way.

No good and yet he's human. Confronting unknown, arcane power, Liane panics. Enraptured by a golden witch, he swoons. Preening with newfound power, he oversteps.

***

Liane the Wayfarer’s a tale of (un)courtly love. Liane’s no Lancelot, not Sir Gawain. In Vance’s tale, Lith (as in lithesome) is Liane’s lady – and he must serve.

‘I am Lith,’ said she, ‘I am what you say I am. I ferment, I burn, I seethe. Yet I may have no lover but him who served me. He must be brave, swift, cunning.’

He serves her with a quest, or, for Liane, “wayfaring” – to steal an ancient tapestry. "'I go,' said Liane, 'One day to Kaiin, one day to steal, one day to return. Three days.'"

***

Liane the Wayfarer’s filled with Vancian magic. There’s Liane’s coronet, an ancient crown that one online reviewer compared to a bag of holding:

[Liane] turned into an archway, pulled his bronze ring over his head, down to his feet. He stepped through, brought the ring through inside the darkness. Sanctuary. He was alone in a dark magic space vanished from earthly gaze and knowledge.

There’s the spell Lith loosed – repulsing lusting Liane’s lunge:

“…twenty thin shafts darted out, twenty points pricking at his chest…”

And her explanation, “So easily could I seek your vitality…had I willed." Then there’s a spell-fest in the Magician’s Inn (e.g., “up from the tray came glittering motes, flashing the prismatic colors red, blue, green, yellow…”)

***

Liane the Wayfarer’s an unlikely story. Nothing's explained, ancient forces shape its action, and it's got a great punchline. But it's in many ways a dark one, "vanished from Earthly gaze and knowledge." If not a dark one, somehow gray, and fading.

Thanks for reading.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OSR and minis

Image
  Today is just a short one. Minis have always been a fun part of Old School Games – great for figuring out an encounter, great for getting to know a character, and sometimes just a fun thing to paint. I remember a dwarf I painted in 1979, he is long lost now, but I remember. Sometime back, I painted three hobbit bounders. Out there, now, somewhere near TenKeep, they're on patrol, and not sure what’s out there.  Let me know if you have any you'd like to post.
Read more

OSR, a solo game, and Al Shief's adventure

Image
  Sometimes a solo game is a wonderful way to explore my campaign world and to meet new characters. Tonight I'll share a game, and maybe start a story. So, meet Al Shief, a thief out near TenKeep. *** After some rough fighting near Silo Verde, the footpad Al Shief felt an emptiness in his stomach before the throbbing from an oozy place on his head. As night fell, he rose with the moon and marched several miles east, to the high dessert town "La Gama." Hunger driven, Al spied open windows in sleepy adobe house. Seemed like an easy take for something to eat. He moved into shadows to an open window.      [Al's moved silently, 25%, but he rolled a 27]. Somebody's dog came-out jawing.       [Dog's reaction roll, 2d6, rolls a 5, "unfriendly, may attack"].       [Initiative, the dog gets the jump.] Barking for everyone to hear, the damn dog lunges.     [Attack roll d20, rolled an 18, hits, damage, d3, rolled a 6]....
Read more

OSR and Fritz Leiber's "Lean Times in Lankhmar"

Image
There's something about the sincerity of Fritz Leiber. In 1979 I read his name in my Dungeon Master's Guide . It took me 44 years to read him - Leiber's an early dungeon master . This week I read Lean Times in Lankhmar , a short story set in the "City of Thieves" and featuring the heroic duo, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, who've parted ways.  "Exactly what caused the tall brawling barbarian and the slim elusive Prince of Thieves to fall out, and the mighty adventuring partnership to be broken, is uncertainly known..." What's sure is they come-back together. Separated in Lankhmar, the Gray Mouser had gotten fat, drinking hard and enforcing a racketeer's exploits among priests. Fafhrd had gone completely inward, sleeping on cobblestones and inspiring the faith of an Issek priest and his followers.  The story's greatness is in the way Leiber's plot rejoins Fafhrd and the Mouser -  1950's pulp-adventure filled with wine, brute force, ba...
Read more