Path To Godhood Session 10: The Land of Night

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

Hunting The Lioness

Ajax wasn't a fan of Pirus 1's attempt to get him to kill the other two candidates (and doubted he could pull it off anyway), so they went into a team huddle to discuss their options.  After a while (35 minutes real-time), they broke off and Steidis attempted to intimidate Pirus by threatening to tell Pirus 3, whose forces were still at full-strength, that she was wide open to an attack.  She was unmoved, and said that she knew the gods weren't on good terms with Pirus 3, so their actions would be irrelevant.  Neilos Revealed Pirus' Secrets, and asked what she wouldn't want the other gods to know.  In a semi-dazed state, she replied that she had spies in their camps.

Out of further ideas, the gods charged Pirus 1, intending to wound her badly enough that she would request them to stop.  Ajax shot out death rays, Steidis fired fire from his eyes, and Neilos fired off blinding flashes of light, while Pirus failed to activate any of her own powers, but grabbed a spear and was able to hold them off and retreat outside.  While most of her men were disabled by the sickness Ajax had spread in their camp, Pirus herself was far more capable in a fight than they had anticipated, and the gods were forced to flee.

Homecoming

Thinking he was locked out of that prophecy for now, Ajax told the other gods that they might as well go somewhere else.  Eventually, they settled on going back to Metros, and after Ajax drained the life from a lost child to stave off his steadily approaching death, they booked passage on a ship.  They ended up docking after dark, and found a group of militia dragging a dishevelled looking man out of town.  Exile was a fairly common punishment, but the gods decided to follow along in case something interesting happened.

The man was thrown out of town unceremoniously, and guards made sure he didn't just walk back in.  Ajax asked one of them why the man was being exiled, and, after a brief diversion to conceal his divinity, the guard told him: the disheveled man, Kotum, had spit in a noble's face at some party, and made some witty remark.  The noble wasn't pleased, and Kotum was quickly exiled.  Neilos, completley disregarding Ajax's attempt to keep a low profile, created a field of light around himself, which awed the guards into silence.  Once they realized who he was, one offered for him to stay with his family, claiming it woud be a great honour.

Neilos declined, as he already had a place where he lived with some other people, though he couldn't remember exactly who they were.  Ajax, Neilos' brother, knew that he was referring to their family's home, and the two headed off there to rest.  Steidis had a similar arrangement, and headed off to his forgotten family's home.  There was no fire in the hearth, but that was to be expected, as he hadn't been there, but when he created a flame, he found that there were six dead bodies of all ages literred around the building.  A brief investigation revealed little: the bodies had no visible cause of death, so perhaps it had been sickness.  They seemed familiar to Steidis, but he couldn't figure out how, and decided to stay there anyway.

Meanwhile, Ajax and Neilos arrived at their home, and Neilos walked on in, taking his blazing light with him.  An elderly woman walked out of a backroom to ask "Suraki" what he was doing.  Neilos ignored her and went straight to his bedchambers, while Ajax was left behind to explain that he was having "memory issues".  A use of Neilos' plant control changed his wooden pallet and straw mattress (formerly shared with Ajax) into an elaborate four-post bed, so when Ajax finally finished explaining things to his grandmother, he discovered that he was forced to sleep on the earthen floor.  

The next morning, Neilos woke and was greeted warmly by the other people who shared his dwelling, but ignored them all and walked straight outside, again leaving Ajax to apologize for his brother.  Steidis, meanwhile, asked around about what had caused all the people in his home to die, but nobody he spoke to had even realized they'd died.  The gods regrouped at the Great Library, and between their own research and the scholars, they gained the following clues:

• "The Realm of Storms" referred to Eniad due to the imperial lightning bolt crest
• "The Night Lands/Land of Night" referred to Syrinth, which was under perpetual night
• "The Mountain of Tears" was so-called due to the flood caused by weeping families over soldiers' deaths in a horrific war.  Recently, an unusually brutal battle in the Susaean civil war had taken place at the foot of Mt. Kniumeas.
• "The Copper Basin" referred to a lake that was a deep green due to copper in the water, which matched the description of the Green Lake north of Metros

Doros

That done, Neilos asked a library slave if Doros, the god of healing and knowledge, was in the city, and the slave replied that there were currently two in the city.  One was in the library, and he'd have someone track them down so they could meet, but the other was somewhere else, probably in the catacombs underneath the city.  None of the gods had even known that such catacombs existed, but they went to meet with the Doros in the library first.

A slave led them to a dusty corner where a filthy, pale man with greasy overgrown hair and clad in sackcloth was poring over an ancient tome, his mouth open and drooling.  Neilos tried to talk to him, but got no response, so instead tried to bait him by saying "Oh hey look at this ancient and secret book!".  Doros' head snapped directly towards him, his bloodshot eyes searching for the promised book, before grunting at Neilos, asking where it was.

Neilos did the usual introductions and offered to trade knowledge for healing, but Doros didn't seem to care, monosyllabically stated he did not need that.  If they wanted to help, he did need something else, and tore a page from a book, then hesitantly offered it to Neilos.  The page contained a portion of a prophecy, referring to the "blood of the nine-headed tyrant", with borderline illegible scribbles in the margins.  The scribbles stated, in a roundabout way, that the "nine-headed tyrant" referred to a hydra, and that they grew more heads if you cut them off.  No nine-headed hydras seemed to exist, but a four-headed one was supposedly in the swamps of Syrinth.

That "conversation" seemingly concluded, they were escorted to the entrance to the catacombs beneath the Great Library by the slave, and Ajax was able to track the other Doros by the tracks left in the heavy dust.  The cramped tunnel they were in opened up into a vast chamber, which seemed to house an entire city in perfect condition, its architecture indistinguishable from Metros above.  They heard Doros 2 before they saw him, a faint jingling sound, and rounded a corner to find him staring at a clay tablet.  This Doros was a portly man, wearing a ludicrous amount of jewellry and the finery of a nobleman.

Neilos announced their prescence, startling him, and Doros 2 asked why they were down here.  Perhaps they were looking for tablets too?  Ajax embraced his inner noble to schmooze a bit and found out that Doros 2 was also interested in acquiring nine-headed hydra blood, but he'd already hired another group to do that.  On the other hand, he didn't actually have the money to pay for it.  Ajax expressed dismay that they hadn't spoken to him first, and claimed that normal men would probably be slain by the hydra.

Doros 2 interjected that he'd given the other group antivenom to deal with the hydra's deadly poison, as well as the knowledge that they could stop heads from sprouting by quickly cauterizing the wound.  Before leaving, Ajax asked what he knew about the underground city, but he didn't know (or wasn't telling).  The gods figured they should probably go to Syrinth next, but before leaving they would go to the Green Lake with Steidis so he could try completing his prophecy.

The Copper Basin

After a two day walk/wagon ride (Neilos brought his wagon, and horse, Daisy), the gods arrived at the shore of the Green Lake.  On the western side of the lake was an overgrown and ruined city, but they ignored that and Steidis put everyone to searching for the glossy black rocks he'd learned about from Atlas back in Mantea.  Before the day ended, they'd found a deposit, and mined and carted a decent amount to the edge of the lake.

First, he used the materials around him to construct a furnace that could withstand the heat he needed.  Now, he just needed the "secret ingredient".  He wasn't certain which it was, but he thought that he needed to use either his blood, or his flesh in the process.  As a test, he cut his hand to get a bit of blood, and added the finger he'd cut off in his temple, which he'd kept, then tried to smelt some of the ore.  He was on the right track, and though he still didn't know which was the secret ingredient, he would need to offer more.

To help Steidis to make a larger sacrifice, Ajax went and trapped some deer, then Life Drained the first into him so that he was in perfect health to start.  After thinking for a moment on how much flesh and blood to donate, Steidis got Neilos to cut his right arm off at the elbow.  Steidis threw the forearm and poured his blood into the furnace, and the flames grew much hotter and glowed a bright blue, only for him to pass out before refining the ore.  Ajax Drained the second deer into Steidis, but failed to drain the third, and set it free.

The Land of Night

After waiting for Steidis to regain consciousness, the gods returned to Metros (Ajax hunted and drained a wild aurochs on the way) and bought passage to Syrinth, the last great city they hadn't been to.  The day before their arrival, they sailed through a wild storm, keeping a great distance from a water spout in the distance.  As they came closer to land, the twilight of day slowly faded away until it was pitch black, save for the weak starlight and flickering torches.  While walking in from the docks, they overheard sailors discussing a flying boat, and whether it had been an omen.

The natives of Syrinth were unsettling, deathly pale with pupils so large the whites of their eyes were barely visible, and pale stringy hair.  Its buildings were also clearly worse for wear; everything was dripping wet, even though it had long ceased raining, and the stone itself seemed worn down and tired.  Ajax asked around for directions to the local "smartman", and was pointed towards the astrologer who lived outside of town, in the swamp.  As they passed through, they noticed that the typical abandoned sections at the edge of the city were just gone, with nothing left standing.

They found the astrologer's dwelling easily enough: it was an alien design, curved and organic-looking, cut from a black stone, where all other buildings were pale.  As they drew closer, they heard the chirping of sparrows, and Ajax went up and knocked on the stone door.  When a reedy voice timidly asked who they were, he introduced them as the gods of light, fire, and death, and stated that they wished to speak to the astrologer.  The voice murmured that they wouldn't get involved with any gods or their schemes.  

Steidis bellowed for the door to be opened, or else he would knock it down and beat those inside with his one good hand.  They heard the clank of the lock opening, but when they opened it the speaker had already scuttled away.  The gods followed the chirping of sparrows until they arrived at the open central chamber, where a great brass telescope looked up at the stars.  A wizened old woman, clearly the speaker from earlier, nervously bustled around, looking at stone steles which depicted star charts and astrological diagrams, while the birds flitted around.

Neilos offered their help in exchange for information, and pointed out that, as the god of the sun, he might be able to contribute to her knowledge of the stars.  This caught her attention, and she asked what he knew of this "the sun", while shuffling over to one particular stele.  He refused to elaborate, and asked if she needed any assistance.  After much grumbling and muttering to herself, the astrologer said, between mumbles, that her assistant, Rini, had gone missing in the swamp.  Big girl, Eniadnan.  Blue dress.  Easy to pick out of a crowd.

The astrologer hesitated for a while, before asking if they'd met the "old woman".  Neilos asked for more clarification, and lied that he was the god of truth, and could not lie.  Ajax asked where the assistant had gone missing, and obliquely referenced the blood of a nine-headed hydra.  The astrologer blinked confusedly and told him that she had been going back to Syrinth to get food.  Ajax offered to get food themselves, if she was hungry, but was waved off.  Apparently it had "only" been three days, and she'd gone longer without food.

The gods were granted permission to use the telescope and star charts, and did so, hoping to glean revelations about their prophecies.  Ajax wasn't able to make anything out of it, but Neilos realized that the "true radiance" which he thought referred to the sun, which was a physical object located somewhere in the swamps.  Steidis, meanwhile, discovered that his "divine essence" referred to his blood, so he hadn't needed to cut off his arm.  As the gods left, the astrologer grumbled out that they could call her Agathi.

Notes:

Prophecy Scoreboard:

Neilos    3

Steidis    2

Ajax       1

Missing Memories:

Neilos     Family, Mortal Name, The Last 5 Years

Steidis    Mortal Name, Family

Ajax       Mortal Appearance

Ajax Life Expectancy: 14 days

The shards of the twisted mirror were retroactively left in Pan Metaxas' estate.  The players all forgot until well after they'd left, but nobody really needed them.

They learned that murdering children is the most efficient way to use Ajax's Life Drain power.  Kids are worth twice as much as adults!  There are no moral questions raised by this.

Nobody in Metros recognizes Steidis because he looks like charred beef jerky.

During the conversations with the Doros candidates, the players asked what happens if two gods have the same prophecy and only one of them completes it.  The answer is: they don't know, because they've never seen it happen.  The closest they got was the back-and-forth theft of the Still Harp by the Evenias in Mantea, but as far as they know, neither actually completed the prophecy.

For Steidis' blood sacrifice, we didn't use the normal rules.  Instead, I asked him how much he wanted to use on a scale from 1-4, where 1 was "a lot" and 4 was "almost all of it".