Path To Godhood Session 9: The Three Lions

Characters:

Ajax Karo   -   Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and Plagues
Neilos   -   Aspiring God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis   -   Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths

The Assembly

The Tetrarchs sat on a raised dais, while Neilos made his case for instituting public trials, the Urbosan nobility in the crowd arguing with each other and him over the proposal.  One horrified noble asked if he was planning to cancel public executions; the crowd gasped, and one noblewoman fainted.  The ensuing discussion about whether trials overseen by the Tetrarchs would help stop the Eniadnan spies took several hours, and was only settled when Pan Metaxas intervened and brought up that the nobility would appreciate the new trials if they were accused of espionage.

It was all for show, as the gods had already secured the votes of three of the Tetrachs, and after some haggling between Pan and Lamia Michelakis, the new law was instituted.  The assembly continued on, but the gods left; they didn't care about the nobility's struggles with crops being seized by the battling armies on the highlands.  Instead, they headed to Natasa's to check in on the Acantha situation.  After a short wait in the lounge, Natasa emerged from the dungeon, lightly spattered with blood.  Apparently Acantha had given up enough of her co-conspirators that they were confident they could take down most of the spy ring, so they could start the trial the next day.

The Trial

The trial was held in the city's amphitheatre, dug into the base of Mt. Fotia, with nobles looking down from hot-spring balconies.  The Tetrarchs held court, with Neillos behind Pan, and Acantha was brought out.  The evidence Arethusa had found in her quarters turned out to be orders signed by an imperial official, and several co-conspirators testified that Acantha was the leader.  It wasn't particularly dramatic, but she was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Path To Godhood Session 8: The Circle's End

Characters:

Ajax Karo   -   Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and Plagues
Neilos   -   Aspiring God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis   -   Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths

The Konstoninus Estate

While waiting in their apartments, Neilos tried to use his powers to fill in the missing half of the map of the Raptis estate, but they weren't working.  A while later, Kallisto came to fetch them and took them out into the street to rendezvous with the 10-man goon squad she'd been able to call up on such short notice, and they headed to one of the side entrances of the Konstoninus estate.  Kallisto was sent forward to intimidate the pair of guards into letting them through on "Hunter's business", and they parted and unlocked the door, but stayed at their posts.

As they crossed the grounds to the inner doors, Kallisto suggested going in loud because nobody other than herself (and possibly Ajax) were remotely capable of stealth.  This lead to a discussion of how suitable their powers were for taking prisoners (Neilos somewhat, the others not at all), and a decision for the gods to take point as they headed to the second-floor apartments, where prisoners would likely be held.  Predictably, their large group was spotted by a lone man who cried out that there were intruders and ran off.

Neilos grabbed him with some decorative flowers nearby, and the party decided to rush forward and engage the foe before they could organize themselves.  They spilled into a long hall where 15 armed men were trying to form up and the two forces clashed.  Up the stairs, a dozen of the house Raptis guards in blue tabards waited, blocking one hallway but not intervening.  What was left of the warped mirror was brought out, and several of the enemy drew shards of it, but the gods wisely sent their goon squad in to engage the shard-wielders while they hung back and tried to use their powers.

Path To Godhood Session 7: The Warped Mirror

Characters:

Ajax Karo   -   Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and Plagues
Neilos   -   Aspiring God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis   -   Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths
Ursula Bearclaw   -   Klutzy Woodswoman and Aspiring Chelak, God of Bears and Independence

The Meeting

Just now realizing that they hadn't discussed any plan with Natasa, Neilos asked what they should do in a whisper.  She replied that they would listen in on the meeting to determine if Voula Raptis was associating with the Eniadnan spies, and then move in to apprehend them.  From where they were, she couldn't hear anything, so she snuck under the bridge on which the Tetrarch, carrying her child and speaking from behind a circle of her guards, was meeting the spies.  The negotiator for the spies had the pale white skin of a Mantean, which was somewhat odd, as the spies were supposed to be Eniadnans working with the local Urbosans.  None of the gods felt sneaky, so they held back, ready to charge up a rough incline to the left when Natasa gave them the signal.

Apparently Neilos' ears were sharper than Natasa's, because he was able to hear the discussion from their hiding spot.  Sure enough, they were negotiating the terms of the spies bodyguarding Voula in exchange for "the mirror", and once the deal was struck, a shrouded object was brought forward by two guards, the disturbance in the formation revealing a lion wearing bright silver "armour" beside her.  The cloth cover was removed and beneath was what could only generously be called a "mirror".  It was as though a fine 6' gilded mirror had been stretched and twisted, now utterly useless.

The gods were inflicted with a sense of imminent doom upon seeing it, and Neilos froze in shock, rendering them unable to further hear the conversation.  Ajax walked Neilos back into the passage they'd come from to try and slap some sense into him in a place where they wouldn't alert the others.  One of the spies came forward to inspect it and seemed to approve, so the two groups went to leave.  Natasa signalled to Steidis and Ursula to launch the attack, but they failed to notice her, so she walked over and in hushed tones told them that it was go time and began to sneak up the incline, followed shortly by Ursula.  Steidis apparently had other ideas and went to check on Ajax and Neilos, leaving Natasa and Ursula alone.