A ritual is a major undertaking. Your clan is investing a great deal of magic, not to mention goods or cows sacrificed, and risking a leader's life. This shouldn't be done lightly! It's wisest to ride to the Gods War only when you have a strong quester and the circumstances are good.

Your quester's skills are the most important factor in ritual success—but far from the only one. Their religion and personality matter; so do those of the chief and the rest of the clan circle.

Your choices back in clan creation matter too. Some Famous Events make certain rituals easier; others help various paths in other rituals. (If you chose the Brass Bazaar, being good at trading is part of your clan's mythic character, which makes Ekarna's ritual easier for you.)

In order to perform any ritual, you have to know the corresponding myth. Typically, you learn myths by sacrificing to the god the story centers on (except in the case of Taming the River: since you no longer worship Reladivus, you sacrifice to his father Elmal, who acts as an intermediary). You can sometimes learn myths from other clans (though this isn't reliable), or during events. And you will always start the game knowing one or two rituals, depending on your choices in Clan Creation.


Note that because Taming the River is the only ritual not connected to the first clan division choice, you can start the game knowing both this myth and another.

You can't perform a ritual unless you have positive clan magic—you need at least a point in reserve. And rituals cost magic. Taming the River, with only three stages, costs three points; the other rituals cost four. And if you get lost in the Gods War, each scene you experience there will also take a point of clan magic.

The treasure the Solar Mask of Yelm, obtainable by exploring the ruins of Elempur (after you've heard rumors about a sinkhole opening up there) will refund the magic you spent on a ritual—but only if the ritual is successful. (The Solar Mask of Yelm is an awesome, awesome treasure. Don't trade it away.)

Should you become lost in the Gods War, each scene you experience there will also cost your clan a point of magic.

It's entirely possible to end up with negative magic after performing a ritual.

You can only perform one ritual a year, even if you have clan magic left after performing one. So choose carefully!

Additionally, you should not perform the same ritual too often. If you try to perform a ritual twice in less than five years, a penalty will be applied, making the ritual harder.

You can see which rituals fall under the penalty by looking at your Rituals list. Rituals you've performed successfully within the last five years are marked with a Magic rune (looks like an R). You shouldn't repeat those yet! Rituals you performed long enough ago that a penalty no longer applies are marked with a Magic rune framed by two lines. Rituals you failed the last time have a backwards Magic rune, and ones you have never yet attempted have no rune at all.

If you have to perform a ritual "too often" (this usually happens for me with Busenari's ritual, as extremely large herds can cause your pastures to wear out very quickly), take what precautions you can in the form of Sacred Time magic and generous sacrifices.

If you go longer than seven years between Gods War rituals (any rituals, not performances of a specific one), you will suffer Divine Disfavor, making it harder to use magic that relies on the gods. While this is a bit of a pain, it's not a serious enough issue to justify performing a ritual you're ill-prepared for.

One more thing: you cannot ask for a reward that you already have active, and some such rewards last seven or more years. So if (for example) you want the "Protection against the forces of Water" reward from Taming the River twice in the row, you will have to wait seven years in between, not merely the five required to avoid a penalty. (You can check which ritual rewards you have active by checking "Other" on the Magic Screen.)

As usual, the magic you allocated during the most recent Sacred Time matters. However, it's more complicated than you might think. Rather than Ritual magic helping with rituals across the board, different magic allocation can help different choices within the rituals. For example, many combat-related options in Elmal's ritual are easier if you devoted magic to War.

Sacred Time magic can only help you out in rituals if you put at least two points of it in the relevant area. One point of magic won't matter once you're in the Gods War, sorry to say.

The example clan here has covered all its bases! However, this requires an outrageous amount of magic and also a very specific clan circle composition. In practice, there will almost certainly be areas you can't devote enough magic to to make a difference. And not all magic types will come up in all rituals!


War, Ritual, Diplomacy, and Harmony magic help a great deal in several rituals. On the other hand, Crafts magic is only useful in Taming the River, and Health magic only comes in handy in the endgame rituals. And Wilds magic is in the middle—it's very useful in Dostal and Inilla's rituals, but hardly comes up outside of them.

One more thing—keep a little magic in reserve! You can only perform a ritual if you have positive clan magic. So don't allocate it all!

(If you do, or lose magic during the year, the Ceremony Venture can give you a bit of magic. Or you can ask a clan that owes you a favor to give you some.)

If you are so fortunate as to obtain the Solar Mask of Yelm, don't lose it! This is a treasure that refunds the spent magic after a successful ritual. You can find it by sending an exploration party to Elempur, once you've heard rumors about a sinkhole opening there. (After that event, Elempur will be marked on the map—it's in the valley, where the Black Eel meets the Oslira.)

Various spirits and treasures can help with the various tests in rituals, as well. For example, the Bear Spirit can help with one-on-one fights, and the Fire Spirit can aid questers seeking to perform divine feats of magic. Spirits only help if you've bargained with them recently and their ability is active; treasures (such as the Soft Shoes, which helps sneak past the wary, or the Golden Honeycomb, which reduces skepticism) work passively.

The Ceremony venture can help with ritual preparation, giving you an edge. It also gives you a point or so of extra clan magic.

Some events also have the option of preparing for a ritual. If successful, this will help you out if you perform a ritual within the amount of time specified (usually about a year).

You can ask other Rider clans to send worshippers, which can significantly improve your chances of success. Persuading them is a test of Diplomacy vs. Skepticism, falling to your best-skilled circle member.

If the Cenala schism is an active source of conflict (that is, some clans believe, some don't, and they're wary of or dislike each other), you can count on the aid of all the clans that agree with you about Cenala. Mind that this certainty goes away when you convert the last holdout or broker a truce! (In other words: there's a benefit to letting the schism last—as long as you've got some company on your side of it.)

While Riders aren't as intense about it as Wheels, they do expect reciprocation. If you never aid other clans with their rituals (comes up during events), don't be surprised if they start refusing to help you in return! So try to establish a reputation for being willing to pitch in. This means that, when other clans come to you asking for help with rituals, you should consider helping them.

Other factors that can help you out here are having a temple to the relevant god, and having a chieftain who worships that god. (For example, if you have an Inillan chief and a temple to Inilla, persuading other Riders to help perform "Inilla Forage Finder" will be significantly easier, because it will be obvious to them that Inilla is a goddess you take seriously.)

And of course, their general opinion of you also matters. (Since succeeding at rituals does wonders for your reputation, you'll probably find it much easier to get help once you've done a few of them.)

You can also ask the Wheels, whose pantheon is broadly similar to yours but has some key differences, for help with those rituals that are based around shared myths. However, it's generally harder to get them to agree, and may not always be worth it.

Your circle composition may hinder you here—remember that Wheels are sexist jerks who also really dislike your god Hyalor. Wheels will be less likely to help if one of your leaders worships Hyalor, and they won't approve of a clan with more women than men on the circle. Likewise, if you have a circle member outspoken in their hatred of Wheels, or a female circle member who's outspoken about her wish to live in a matriarchy, Wheels will notice that! Still, you can sometimes persuade them. It may be a little easier if you have a worshipper of Relandar on the circle. (The test is Diplomacy vs. Skepticism, same as persuading Riders to help, and can be helped by the Golden Honeycomb and the Snake Spirit's active ability, like any Skepticism test.)

Their different practice can actually cause some issues—mainly with regard to goddesses' rituals. Since the Wheels are extremely sexist, their presence can actually hinder certain options that rely on expressing female power and assertiveness. And in rituals where the Wheels' god Samnal appears, insulting or attacking him will naturally offend any Wheels helping you out!

The Wheels have a tit-for-tat approach to ritual aid: if they help you, they'll expect you to do the same for them in the future—and be slighted if you don't. And because (again) of their sexism, helping them with goddess rituals can be an issue: even if the ritual is successful, if the noblewoman you send isn't a skilled enough magician to protect your clan from ritual contamination, you may anger the goddesses by reenacting a story that disrespects them.

Finally, while you and the Wheels share many gods, they don't hold all of them in the same esteem you do! It's easier to persuade Wheels to help you honor some gods than others. Elmal is easiest, as his importance as the leader of your semi-shared pantheon is something you actually agree on. Inilla, who the Wheels regard as little more than a slave in Elmal's household, is the hardest.

You have a few gods that the Wheels dislike and do not worship: your hero-founder Hyalor and your trade goddess Ekarna. Naturally, you cannot ask Wheels to help you with their rituals. Instead, you can bolster your chances by sending warriors to whoop against a Wheel clan. If you successfully intimidate them (depends on the combined Combat and Diplomacy of your best-skilled circle member, as well as their preexisting fear/respect/mockery of you), that will help the ritual.

If you have a treasure sacred to the god honored by the ritual you're doing, you can have your quester bring it with them into the divine realm. This gives you a slight boost to your overall odds of success, and having a treasure can unlock extra options in some rituals or if you find yourself straying from the ritual path. But beware—if you trade the treasure away in the Gods War, or if your quester dies, you will lose it for good.

You may sacrifice up to 35 goods, 35 herds, and (in the case of Gamari Horse Mother only) up to 17 horses. Each of these is a separate slider. You do have to sacrifice something, but can select any amount on one, two, or all sliders.

I usually sacrifice 35 goods for most rituals—less may be enough; I like to err on the side of caution, since a ritual is a major undertaking. However, I've often gotten away with much less, especially when I had allocated Ritual magic during the last Sacred Time (while Ritual magic does not help with everything you can do in a ritual, it does help your sacrifices reach the gods, including beginning-the-ritual sacrifices).

If you're performing a ritual the second time in less than five years, you may want to sacrifice extra to help overcome the penalty you'll be dealing with.

For each ritual, you must choose a quester to take on the god's role (or in the case of Gamari Horse Mother, act as advisor to the goddess). This quester is chosen from among your pool of available nobles, and cannot be a shaman. (There is one partial exception: Nyalda's ritual requires a secondary quester to assist the main one in a single stage, and this secondary quester, who represents Nyalda's kinswomen as a group rather than a specific goddess, can be a shaman or even a Raven trickster.)

Most rituals are restricted to either women (for the goddesses' rituals) or men (for those dedicated to male gods). The rituals Ekarna Four Trader and Taming the River don't have such restrictions, and women who worship Osara can perform Elmal Path Guardian with the same advantages as Elmal worshippers.

And—perhaps obviously—you can only choose as quester a noble who is currently at home (i.e., not off exploring the far reaches of the map) and healthy (you can't send someone who's sick abed into the Gods War!)

The quester's skills should be your primary consideration, but not necessarily the only one.

The recommended skills represent one way through the quest (typically the one that most resembles the god's canonical actions). Other paths may exist, and a nontraditional quester may be better suited to them. For example, a heroic combatant can get through Hyalor's ritual by fighting everything, even though that's not what Hyalor did in the myth! (This can be understood as the quester embodying a lesser-known aspect of the god; for example, while Hyalor's warlike qualities aren't generally emphasized, he is still a warrior.)

A worshipper of the focal god will have an advantage in the ritual. (Osara worshippers also have this advantage when performing Elmal's ritual, due to Osara's closeness and similarity to her father.) This isn't enough of a factor to outweigh a large gap in skills, but it can act as a tiebreaker if you have multiple candidates for a ritual. And if the difference between two questers' skills is marginal and the "worse" one worships the correct god, they may actually be the better candidate.

Personality also matters. This is hard to pin down, but an aggressive or warlike noble may be good at the ritual paths that involve hitting something with a sword each stage. A noble who never shuts up about the Golden City is very motivated to defend it, given the chance—this can give them an edge in Taming the River. On the other hand, a xenophobic clan member might struggle with Ekarna's ritual, which involves striking mutually beneficial deals with various outsiders, and someone who hates Wheels might have trouble cooperating with their patron god Samnal. If your potential quester is someone you've gotten to know in the course of the game, consider if their personality might help or hinder them. (If none of the top candidates have made an impression, though, don't worry about it! And as with religion, don't pick someone with extremely lackluster skills just because their personality seems like a good fit for the ritual you want to do.)

Finally, your heroes—Yatakan, Ayvtu, and Beren the Tall—all have special advantages at many warlike options in rituals. This doesn't make them infallible, but it does give them an edge.

You can check on your potential questers without committing to a ritual—in fact, you can do this even if you don't know the ritual yet!

On the Magic screen, click the Ritual button. Then click/highlight the ritual you're interested in, and click on the button with the man-and-woman icon. This will show you all the clan members who can perform the ritual, including their skills and religion. (See the first image in this section, which shows potential questers for the Hyalor Tablet Maker ritual.)

Note that in the Steam version of the game, candidates are initially ordered by Combat, no what the recommended skills are. This is a minor bug that has already been fixed in the iOS version of the game.

Your quester cannot give you advice during the ritual—but you can click/tap their portrait to be reminded of their skills.

Keep in mind that many choices depend on combinations of two skills, rather than one. For example, Inrana here is Renowned in Leadership and merely Good at Combat, so she shouldn't try to fight her goddess's enemies there! But she might be decent at Intimidation (combines Leadership and Combat), because she's strong in one of its component skills. And Singing (Diplomacy + Leadership) combines her two best abilities, so she should definitely take singing options if they're available!

Rituals are made up of stages. Each one sets out a situation and requires you to choose one of several ways to get through it.

There will be several options, each of which pits some skill (or combination of skills) against a test. For example, a quester trying to avoid a fight through bluster might face a test of Intimidation (Combat + Diplomacy) vs. Bullheadedness, while one following in the steps of Ekarna trying to make a trade deal with the Goose People might be represented as Bargaining vs. Foreignness. In either case, the quester's skills are the primary factor, but various spirits, treasures, and blessings may affect the difficulty of the test. (For example, the Salmon Spirit can help with tests vs. Foreignness.)

Sometimes you'll also experience BestSkill tests (i.e. BestSkill vs. Bullheadedness). BestSkill isn't a skill in itself, nor the best of all the quester's skills, but the best of some specified set of skills. For example, one BestSkill test might use Food or Bargaining, whichever is better, while another might use the best out of Combat, CombatLore, and CombatMagic.

Each stage (not counting the "reward" stage) costs 1 point of magic. Most rituals have 4 stages and cost 4 magic; Taming the River is the exception, with one stage essentially repeated three times. (Special endgame rituals also work a little differently.)

Some choices are easier to pull off than others, and some hew closer to the myth than others. Very few are objectively wrong.

Each success increases, and each failure decreases, your quester's chances of earning a reward at the end of the ritual.

In addition to their skills a wide variety of factors can help or hinder your quester, including their personality, your choices in clan creation, the composition of your circle, what rituals you performed last Sacred Time, and what spirit blessings and treasures you happen to have. Think of it as your clan's mythic character. Your history and the things you currently focus on give the clan as a whole strengths and weaknesses, and these can matter in addition to the quester's own strengths and weaknesses.

If a ritual goes poorly, you can choose to ride for home, abandoning the ritual. This option ends the ritual with no benefit. However, it preserves the life of your quester and prevents you from losing clan magic or other resources in further ritual stages.

Sometimes, failure during a ritual can get your quester lost in the realm of the gods. This doesn't seem to happen in Taming the River or Busenari Light Finder, but it can happen in any of the other rituals.

There are opportunities in the Gods War, but the dangers are great. Your quester may gain skills or a treasure, but they're likelier to die, age decades in an instant, or lose skills.

General advice: consider your quester's skills and your ancient enmities.

Several options will only show up under particular conditions—for example, Erissa worshippers occasionally have chances to solve their problems by healing, and if you went to the trouble of getting Wheel clans to help with the ritual you just messed up, there's a situation when their aid can come in useful.

As with ritual stages, each Gods War scene you experience will cost your clan a point of magic.

It's possible, though not easy, to return to the ritual path from the wider Gods War. On the other hand, if you fail a check or run away from a scene, you can end up in a different part of the Gods War.

Your quester appears at the scene of a terrible battle between a water god and a plant god, who are wounding the earth as their elemental followers look on in horror.

This scene is referred to in code as Hell Crack, the name of a chasm in modern Pent (a vast plain somewhat to our east and very much to our north, as far as I can figure out). The Hell Crack is so deep that one can climb down to the Underworld through it—which should give you an idea of the scale of this battle!

Keep in mind that the water god obviously represents the Forces of Water, and the plant god indirectly represents the elves—both potential ancestral enemies. If one of them is yours, you should think twice about siding with it. And your stance on Cenala (daughter of the elves' chief goddess, remember) can matter as well.

As of June 2021, this stage is currently bugged in the Steam version of the game, so that fighting your ancestral enemy incurs a penalty. David Dunham has confirmed that this is a bug. (It's been fixed in the iOS version of the game.)

• Personality: ProEnemy/AntiEnemy (perhaps only for Water ancestral enemy), Xenophobe, Waffler, Arbitrary
  
• Other Bonus: You spread the Cenala revelation. (Accepting the revelation but not spreading it might be a smaller bonus.)
  
• Other Penalty: Water ancestral enemy (bug)
  
• Follow-Up Choice: What form does the aid take?
  • "Magic."
    • Test: Magic vs. Divine
      
    • Magic: Ritual
      
    • Other Bonus: The Fire Spirit can help with the Divine test
      
    • Failure: Quester finds themselves elsewhere in the GodsWar.
      
    • Notes: Costs a point of clan magic.
  • "Fighting the water god."
    • Test: Combat vs. Monster
      
    • Magic: War
      
    • Other Bonus: Dostal's help in fighting monsters (a ritual reward) might be of use here.
      
    • Failure: Quester dies.
      
    • Notes: If the quester successfully fights the water god, the plant god will increase the quester's Combat and Food skills by one level each.
  • "Distracting the water god."
    • Test: Combat vs. Stunt
      
    • Magic: War
      
    • Other Bonus: The Antelope Spirit can help with that Stunt test
      
    • Failure: Quester finds themselves elsewhere in the Gods War.
• Success: The plant god returns the quester to the ritual.
  
• Notes: If your quester is strong in Combat, fighting the water god is probably the best choice due to the special rewards for that choice, although it is also the only option that can kill the quester.

• Personality: ProEnemy/AntiEnemy (only if Elf ancestral enemy?), Xenophobe, Waffler, Arbitrary
  
• Other Bonus: You reject the Cenala revelation
  
• Other Penalty: Elf ancestral enemy (bug)
  
• Follow-up Choice:What form does the aid take?
  • "Magic."
    • Test: Magic vs. Divine
      
    • Magic: Ritual
      
    • Other Bonus: Fire Spirit
  • "Fighting the plant god."
    • Test: Combat vs. Monster
      
    • Magic: War
      
    • Other Bonus: Dostal's aid fighting monsters (ritual reward) might be helpful here.
      
    • Notes: If the quester is successful, the water god will increase their Combat and Food skills by one full level each.
  • "Distracting the plant god."
    • Test: Combat vs. Stunt
      
    • Magic: War
      
    • Other Bonus: Antelope Spirit
• Success: Quester returns to the ritual path.
  
• Failure: Quester dies (fighting) or is aged and finds themself elsewhere in the Gods War.
  
• Notes: If your quester is strong in Combat, fighting the plant god is probably the best choice due to the special rewards for that choice. However, that option is also the most risky, as failure there will kill the quester rather than aging them.

• Test: Magic vs. Divine
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Other Bonus: Erissan quester; your chief is a woman; your chief has the Matriarchal personality trait; Fire Spirit
  
• Other Penalty: You get a penalty on this choice if there is no Nyaldan ring member.
  
• Success: Nyalda returns the quester to the ritual she was working on.
  
• Failure: Your quester finds herself in another part of the Gods War.
  
• Notes: This option is only available if the quester worships either Erissa, goddess of healing, or Nyalda, goddess of the earth.

• Test: Mythology (probably Lore + Magic) vs. Elusiveness
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Personality: Intuitive (bonus; note that Beren has this trait)
  
• Other Bonus: Fox Spirit
  
• Success: Quester finds their way back to the ritual.
  
• Failure: Quester appears elsewhere in the Gods War.

• Test: Diplomacy vs. Resentment
  
• Magic: Harmony
  
• Personality: Traits checked include Pragmatic, Waffler, Warlike (probably penalty), Teamwork (bonus), Individual (penalty?)
  
• Other Bonus: Quester worships Ekarna; the Rose Spirit can help with the Resentment test
  
• Success: The gods cease their battle and join forces help the quester return to the ritual.
  
• Failure: The gods simply ignore the quester, allowing them to pick another option.

This moon is not the Red Moon that will cause later Orlanthi so much trouble, but the legendary Blue Moon. (Also known in this game as the Water Sun, because if it's important and in the sky the Riders will call it a sun.)

This event doesn't seem to reflect any known human story. Perhaps the quester has found her way into a Mostali myth...

This is the only Gods War event that has a treasure as a possible reward.

The Mole Spirit may help throughout this event, though this needs testing.

• Test: Diplomacy vs. Foreignness
  
• Magic: Diplomacy
  
• Personality: Xenophobe, Miser; ProEnemy/AntiEnemy might be checked if they are your ancestral foe
  
• Other Bonus: The Salmon Spirit can help with the Foreignness test
  
• Other Penalty: Mostali ancient enemy? Grabbing the moonstone might also be a penalty.
  
• Success: The dwarves return the quester to the ritual.
  
• Failure: Quester becomes a dwarf and is lost to your clan forever.
  
• Notes: If your quester just grabbed the Moonstone, the dwarves may give bad instructions; the quester will return to the god's side, but age twenty years in the process. If the quester is one of your heroes they may suffer different effects instead (needs checking). Unknown if these results are inevitable or only happen if the quester fails the check.

• Follow-up Choice: What form does the aid take?
  • A gift of magic.
    • Test: Magic vs Despair
      
    • Notes: Your clan will lose a point of magic whether the quester succeeds or fails.
  • A soothing song.
    • Test: Singing (Diplomacy + Leadership) vs Despair
  • Healing.
    • Test: Magic vs. Despair
      
    • Notes: Option is only available for Erissa worshippers.
  • Inspiring words.
    • Test: Oration (Diplomacy + Lore) vs Despair
• Magic: Diplomacy
  
• Personality: Patriarchal, Xenophobe, Matriarchal, Merciful (bonus?), Harsh (penalty?)
  
• Other Bonus: Butterfly Spirit; possibly Erissa's Hope blessing
  
• Success: Quester returns to the ritual path unharmed.
  
• Failure: Quester returns to the ritual path, but the skills tested against the dwarves are decreased by 1 level each. (That is, if you tried "inspiring words", the quester loses both Diplomacy and Lore; if you chose "gift of magic" they will lose only magic.)

• Test: Combat vs Skirmish
  
• Magic: War
  
• Personality: Xenophobe, Daring
  
• Other Bonus: Quester is one of your three heroes; Mostali ancestral enemy. Might help to have Osara's Firearrow and Dostal's Sureshot blessings active.
  
• Other Penalty: Having grabbed the moonstone might inflict a penalty to this choice.
  
• Success: Quester returns to ritual; clan gets a bonus next time the dwarves raid.
  
• Failure: Quester dies.

• Test: Mythology (Lore + Magic) vs. Elusiveness
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Personality: Intuitive (bonus) (NB: your hero Beren has this trait)
  
• Other Bonus: The Fox Spirit can help with the Elusiveness test.
  
• Other Penalty: Having grabbed the moonstone might inflict a penalty to this choice.
  
• Success: Quester returns to ritual.
  
• Failure: Quester finds themselves in a new Gods War scene.

• Test: Hunting (Combat + Food) vs. Elusiveness
  
• Magic: Exploring
  
• Personality: Arbitrary, Merciful, Waffler
  
• Other Bonus: Quester worships Dostal, Inilla, or Osara. Quester is one of your three heroes (Ayvtu, Beren, Yatakan). The Fox Spirit can also help.
  
• Success: Quester gains the Moonstone, a treasure which helps female mission and venture leaders. Success here does not return the quester home; they will have to take another choice even if they succeed.
  
• Failure: Quester dies.
  
• Notes: This is the only known opportunity to take a treasure home from the Gods War. Also, note that having grabbed the moonstone will make other choices in this scene harder, possibly all of them but helping the moon. (It's also possible it helps with some of them—I haven't tested this exhaustively.)

Your quester finds themselves on the scene of a legendary battle between the bird riders of Jarasan and the Dara Happan Quartz Phalanx. The bird riders were eventually conquered by the Dara Happan Empire.

This is not a conflict that your quester can solve through mediation. Unless they choose to flee, they'll have to pick a side. However, there are a variety of ways they can act on behalf of each side.

Keep in mind that if your ancestral enemies are the Dara Happans, your ancestors won't take kindly to you siding with them here...

• Magic: Diplomacy
  
• Personality: Traits checked are Xenophobe (presumably a penalty, as the bird riders are definitely outsiders) and Merciful (unknown)
  
• Other Bonus: Dara Happan ancestral enemy. Also, all follow-up options here test a skill against Foreignness, so the Salmon Spirit can help you out if its ability is active.
  
• Follow-Up Options:
  • Magic.
    • Test: Magic vs. Foreignness
      
    • Notes: Your clan will lose a point of magic whether or not you succeed.
  • A martial song.
    • Test: Singing (Diplomacy + Leadership) vs. Foreignness
  • Your treasure.
    • Test: Gifting (possibly Bargaining + Lore) vs. Foreignness
      
    • Notes: Success here may lead to the bird riders giving a gift of magic to compensate for the loss of the treasure--uncertain if this means clan magic or something else.
  • Whooping
    • Test: Intimidation (Combat + Diplomacy) vs. Foreignness
• Success: The Vrimaki send a scout to return the quester to the ritual path. You will also get a bonus on your next few Foreignness tests.
  
• Failure: Your quester finds herself elsewhere in the Gods War, and the Quartz Phalanx inflicts an Imperial Rebuke (causing the Divine Disfavor concern) , upon your clan. Additionally, you will suffer penalties on further Foreignness tests for a while.

• Magic: Diplomacy
  
• Personality: Checks Matriarchal (penalty—the Wheel's attitude towards women is something they inherited from these people, remember), Patriarchal (presumably bonus for the same reason), Merciful (unknown).
  
• Other Bonus: All options here test some skill against Bullheadedness, so having the Lion and/or Whistling Wind spirits active is helpful.
  
• Other Penalty: Dara Happan ancestral enemy
  
• Follow-Up Options:
  • Magic.
    • Test: Magic vs. Bullheadedness
      
    • Notes: Your clan will lose a point of magic whether or not the Imperials accept your aid.
  • A martial song.
    • Test: Singing (Diplomacy + Leadership) vs. Bullheadedness
  • Your treasure.
    • Test: Gifting (Bargaining + Lore?) vs. Bullheadedness
      
    • Notes: Success might earn a gift of magic--not sure if this means extra clan magic or something else.
  • Whooping.
    • Test: Intimidation (Combat + Diplomacy) vs. Bullheadedness
• Success: Imperials return the quester to the ritual.
  
• Failure: The Imperials reject the quester's aid, and the quester experiences another Gods War event.
  
• Notes: If the Dara Happans are your ancestral foe, trying to aid the Imperials here will earn their ire.

• Magic: War
  
• Personality: Daring
  
• Other Bonus: Quester is one of your three heroes (Ayvtu, Beren the Tall, Yatakan)
  
• Follow-Up Options:
  • Picking off the weak.
    • Test: Combat vs. Mook
      
    • Other Bonus: Wolf Spirit.
  • Facing off against a commander.
    • Test: Combat vs. Duel
      
    • Other Bonus: Bear Spirit
  • From a distance, with arrows.
    • Test: Combat vs. Skirmish
      
    • Other Bonus: Osara's Firearrow blessing, Dostal's Sureshot
• Success: Quester returns to the ritual.
  
• Failure: Quester dies.

• Magic: War
  
• Personality: Daring
  
• Other Bonus: Hero (Ayvtu, Beren, or Yatakan)
  
• Other Penalty: Dara Happan ancestral enemy
  
• Follow-Up Options:
  • From a distance, with arrows.
    • Test: Combat vs. Skirmish
      
    • Other Bonus: Dostal's Sureshot, Osara's Firearrow,
  • Picking off the weak.
    • Test: Combat vs. Mook
      
    • Other Bonus: Wolf Spirit
  • Facing off against a commander.
    • Test: Combat vs. Duel
      
    • Other Bonus: Bear Spirit
• Success: Quester returns to the ritual.
  
• Failure: Quester dies.
  
• Notes: If the Dara Happans are your clan's ancestral enemies, making this choice will earn you the ire of your ancestors—even if you succeed.

• Test: Mythology (Lore + Magic) vs. Elusiveness
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Personality: Intuitive (bonus; note Beren always has this trait)
  
• Other Bonus: Fox Spirit; possibly also Inilla's Find and Dostal's Tracking blessings

The beast god here is identified as Basmol the Lion, meaning his enemy is Tada the Green, ancient hero of Prax.

This battle does have a "canonical" outcome... but the Gods War is such that your hero's intervention can tilt things the other way.

(Incidentally, later Orlanthi myth holds that Vingkot married both of Tada's twin daughters, making Tada Redalda's ancestor.)

• Test: Combat vs. Duel
  
• Magic: War
  
• Personality: Xenophobe, Daring
  
• Other Bonus: Hero (Ayvtu, Beren, or Yatakan); since this is a vs. Duel test, the Bear spirit can also help.
  
• Success: The beast god returns the quester to the ritual path; also, bonus on your next few Duel tests.
  
• Failure: The hero hurls the quester back to the ritual path.
  
• Notes: Both success and failure will return your quester to the ritual path, so this choice may be considered the best—certainly it's the safest!

• Test: WedCultures (Diplomacy + Magic) vs Duel
  
• Magic: War
  
• Personality: Xenophobe (bonus?), Daring
  
• Other Bonus: quester is one of your three heroes; Bear Spirit
  
• Success: The foreign hero rejects the quester's aid and hurls them back to the ritual path.
  
• Failure: The foreign hero accepts the quester's aid, and they follow him back to his clan, abandoning yours.

• Follow-up Choice: The foreign hero kills the lion god, and your quester feels a powerful urge to follow him and join his clan, abandoning their own. How do they resist?
  • With a prayer to <ritual god>.
    
    • Test: Magic vs. Divine
      
    • Magic: Ritual
      
    • Other Bonus: Shrine or temple to ritual god (temple being better); a circle member or better yet your chief worships the ritual god; the Fire Spirit can help with the Divine test
      
    • Notes: It doesn't seem to matter whether the quester themselves worships the ritual god or not.
  • With a prayer to Zarlen the Wanderer, who always returns.
    
    • Test: Magic vs. Divine
      
    • Magic: Ritual
      
    • Other Bonus: You have at least a shrine to the ritual's god; a circle member or better yet your chief worships Zarlen; Fire Spirit
  • With a song of clan deeds.
    
    • Test: Singing (Diplomacy + Leadership) vs Openness
      
    • Magic: Harmony
      
    • Personality: SongQuoter, Xenophobe
      
    • Other Bonus: Quester worships Relandar, high clan mood, quester is one of your three heroes; clan is bullheaded? The Dog Spirit can help with the Openness test.
      
    • Other Penalty: low clan mood; clan is openminded?
• Success: Quester returns to the ritual path.
  
• Failure: Quester follows the hero home to his clan, and is lost to their own.

• Test: Mediation (Bargaining + Diplomacy) vs Foreignness
  
• Magic: Diplomacy
  
• Personality: Checks Xenophobe, Peaceful, Warlike
  
• Other Bonus: Quester worships Ekarna
  
• Success: Quester returns to the ritual, and their Diplomacy skill increases somewhat.
  
• Failure: Quester finds themselves at some other Gods War scene.

• Test: Mythology (Lore + Magic) vs Elusiveness
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Personality: Intuitive (note: Beren has this trait)
  
• Other Bonus: The Fox Spirit can help with the Elusiveness test
  
• Success: Quester returns to the ritual path.
  
• Failure: Quester experiences another Gods War scene.

Your quester finds themselves beneath an enormous dragon as it falls from the sky—dead, wounded, or (knowing dragons) simply in the midst of a very bad dream.

(This could be a bunch of myths—this dragon becomes a mountain range when it hits the earth, and a lot of Gloranthan mountains are secretly dragons.)

This is the end of the line. Every option basically has the same two results: success returns you to the next stage of the ritual, and failure simply kills the quester. And it isn't easy to succeed...

The main reason not to run away in other Gods War scenes is the likelihood of ending up here.

That said, you do have options. Which god does your quester call on to save them from imminent squashing?

(Advice: if your quester is important to you and you asked Wheels to help, call on Samnal. Otherwise, go for the god your quester and/or the clan as a whole has the strongest connection to.)

• Test: Magic vs. Divine
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Other Bonus: Quester worships Elmal; your chief worships Elmal; you have a temple to Elmal; quester is one of your three heroes (Ayvtu, Beren, Yatakan); Fire Spirit

• Test: Magic vs. Divine
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Other Bonus: Quester worships Gamari; your chief worships Gamari; you have a temple to Gamari; quester is one of your three heroes (Ayvtu, Beren, Yatakan); Fire Spirit

• Test: Magic vs. Divine
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Other Bonus: Quester worships Nyalda; your chief worships Nyalda; you have a temple to Nyalda; the quester is one of your three heroes (Ayvtu, Beren, Yatakan); Fire Spirit

• Test: None (automatic success)
  
• Notes: This option appears only if Wheels agreed to help support your ritual. (If it shows up under other circumstances, that is a bug and the dev team would like to hear about it.) And if you take this option, you will owe a favor to every Wheel clan supporting your ritual.

• Test: Magic vs. Divine
  
• Magic: Ritual
  
• Other Bonus: Quester worships Zarlen; your chief worships Zarlen; quester is one of your three heroes (Ayvtu, Beren, Yatakan); Fire Spirit