Characters:
Ajax Karo - Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and PlaguesNeilos - Aspiring God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis - Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths
Mannapping
After seeing that the silver charm dispersed the stormclouds that usually followed Keti, the gods decided to use her to abduct Firuz. The plan was for her and Ajax to accost him somewhere, beat him into submission, have Ajax tie him up in a net, and then have Keti fly away, with Firuz trailing behind, far enough back that any charms he had on him would be out of range. As a backup plan, Evenia and Neilos would be waiting on her boat in the harbour, and Steidis would be waiting outside of Eniad, waiting for a signal from Neilos to start lighting things on fire as a distraction.
Neilos suddenly realized that Keti had come within range of the charm and hadn't instantly flown into a rage about being charmed by Evenia, which suggested that either Evenia's powers persisted or that she had never charmed Keti in the first place. Steidis made the net + rope easily enough, then Ajax and Keti took it and walked to Eniad to learn Firuz' appointments for the next few days to find a place to ambush him en route, and to retrieve Evenia and her goons. The guards at the gate found the giant net odd, but let them through.
Jibril Malik, whose arm was still in a sling after his wrestling match with Adlai, was more than willing to point Ajax towards another gathering that Firuz was to attend. Working off of this, Ajax determined which bridge he was most likely to cross during his transit. Evenia was not enthused about having to trek back through the swamp two more times, and said that this would be the last time she helped them other than the original agreement to make Neilos fall in love with Meda.
Neilos, Evenia, and her goons took her boat and made it through the water gate into the harbour, with Neilos hiding in a barrel and using his powers to turn himself into a bundle of wheat. Steidis took up position outside the queue by pretending to be a beggar. Keti and Ajax took up position on the bridge, and she gave him the charm so that she wouldn't have to worry about it and could just run away when nthe time came to use her powers, while Evenia's goons parked her boat underneath it and then disembarked.
Ajax spotted Firuz, and realized that the man had no escort of guards; they'd really lucked out. He and Keti approached Firuz and then beat him up; Ajax bound him with the net, and Keti started running then took to the skies. Guards saw this, though, and charged towards Ajax with their spears levelled, easily catching him as he started to run away. He threw the charm into the harbour and called forth a portal of flies which he stepped into and disappeared, but not before getting lightly stabbed by the one guard who had caught him.
Since everything had gone according to plan and she hadn't been needed, Evenia sighed and got her goons to take her boat back to the swamp before the water gate could be closed. In the queue to enter Eniad, Steidis saw Keti fly over the city walls and realized he also wasn't needed, so he returned to the farmhouse. Fortunately, Keti was smart enough to fly in the wrong direction as a decoy before later circling back to the farming village. Evenia and Neilos arrived at the spot where they'd stored the God Galley, and found Ajax cowering in fear of the wide open spaces.
Interrogation
Neilos teleported back to the village, leaving the others to walk, arriving just after Keti and Steidis, and took over the interrogation. Firuz was actually quite helpful, and answered whatever questions they asked with no resistance. He was pissed off that they'd decided to beat him instead of just asking him first, but that didn't seem to matter much. At Neilos' direction, Firuz removed his charms, and Steidis moved them away, and then they started asking questions.
- The only "weakness" the charms had were the engravings and the silver; if either were destroyed, they would cease to function
- He had known about Neilos, Keti, and "AjaxKostis", and that they were gods, but didn't know who Steidis was
- The silver was from the eastern holdings of the Empire, where other gods had already seized divinity. Silver was sacred to one of them, and the engraved symbols were from their temples
- Though he wasn't sure why, the energy from this other god conflicted with theirs
- As far as he knew, these other gods couldn't enter the city of Eniad
- People with charms included the Emperor, some of his children, including Zeyyed, and one nobleman who had asked for one several days ago
- There were more charms scattered around the palace
- Firuz was an oracle of sorts, with the ability to see into the future or to choose the best option from a list, and had found out about the charms through his own abilities
- The Emperor wanted to stop the gods in the "West" from becoming powerful enough to restrict his own actions, as those in the East already did
Through their discussions, they learned that Firuz was in bonded servitude to the Emperor (and "branded" with a tattoo of a lightning bolt holding chains); while he enjoyed all of his needs being taken care of, he was not allowed to leave the city. Neilos offered him his freedom in exchange for assistance, and he agreed. They asked if he knew of any secret paths into the palace, and Firuz explained that he could use his abilities to find the "best way", but he would need his charms back, unless they had another set of "oracular knucklebones" lying around.
Neilos conceded, and the charms were returned. After throwing them several times and going into a trance, Firuz informed them of a bricked up tunnel connecting a guardpost in the castle walls with the palace gardens. Before they could ask him more questions, Firuz informed them that he could only do this so many times before having to recover, and that it wasn't consistent, so they had best only ask questions they needed the answers to.
Further discussion about Meda bore fruit, as Firuz revealed that there were three candidates in the city, so it would be possible for Neilos to strike a deal with another. However, all three had stolen various things from the Emperor, and he knew that they had to give them back. This left the Emperor in a tricky spot, where he both needed the symbols of his office returned, but did not want to help the gods. As for the candidates, one slept in the attic of an orphanage, one was posing as a vagrant, and the third kept on the move.
As for why the Emperor hadn't acted yet, he figured it was better to know where they were rather than flush them out and risk them going to ground; the Thief candidates had proven quite slippery. Firuz then explained that the odd imperial declarations that had been announced recently were all there to counter the gods' efforts. For instance, there was supposed to be some god who needed to be denied requests from the Emperor, so he was granting all requests, and all corrosives and poisons were banned to stop "AjaxKostis".
During a lull in the conversation, Firuz asked Steidis where he should go once they helped free him. After some thought, Steidis said that he should go to Mantea, where he could cash in on being friends with Steidis (who was kind of a big deal there), or maybe Metros, where he could also cash in on being friends with Steidis (who was kind of a big deal there). Giving into his own obsession, Steidis asked what he could offer the Emperor in exchange for him allowing them to complete Meda's prophecy.
Firuz tossed the knucklebones, and came back with his results: the short list were Seyyed, Adlai Charmchi, or they if they could successfully eliminate all candidates for one god, and convince him they had done so. Steidis was curious if that was even possible, but Firuz just shrugged and said it was what he had seen. While Neilos mulled over what to ask next, Steidis asked what the deal was with the scorpion. Firuz explained simply that he'd had Calth as a pet for years, and was rather fond of him (according to him, scorpions took to training surprisingly well).
Neilos decided to wait for Ajax and Evenia before asking anything else, but after several hours, Steidis wanted to know the fastest way to get Drakkon blood, and Firuz obliged. He confirmed there were no other adult specimens when he answered only that they would have to find someone who could age the beast. Given it was a wild animal, they figured a Chelak candidate might be up to the task, but the only ones they knew of were either in stasis (Ursula) or had survived an open assassination attempt (the Man of Iron).
"Freedom"
Ajax, Evenia, and the goons finally arrived while Steidis asked Firuz about how to free Ursula, but his knucklebones didn't have an answer, which was odd. The gods decided travel to Urbos, leaving Evenia and Keti behind, but Ajax's public mannapping earlier resulted in him being accosted by the guards when he tried to enter Eniad to arrange passage. He fled through another portal of flies, and so they resorted to dragging the charms behind the God Galley in a hastily-constructed barrel that Steidis made.
Seven days later, they arrived in Urbos, with the barrel still intact. As they disembarked, they found that the city was also in the grips of a terrible plague; a dockworker informed them that Natasa had been searching for them. Neilos assured the man that they'd definitely follow up on that, but meanwhile they proceeded to Ursula, still frozen in her bear form. When the charm was brought into range, Ursula broke out of the stasis, reverted into a large woman, bleeding heavily from the side where the shard had been lodged.
She woke up, and Steidis asked her to grow the juvenile Drakkon into an adult; she was annoyed that they'd killed the mother without her, so she wanted to fight this one after she matured it. Neilos removed the charms that Ursula could access her powers, but when he did, she merely froze again. They decided to give Ursula the charm to keep, so that she could still live her life, though without her powers, she would be out of the running for godhood.
Firuz turned to leave, as obviously he had fulfilled his part of the bargain, and he needed to get some new oracular tools from the oracle here when Neilos stopped him and informed him that their business was not yet done. The god attempted to force Firuz to reveal his secrets, but the soothsayer was strong-willed enough that he was unaffected. When he showed reluctance, Steidis stepped in and threatened him with violence, which was enough to get him to go along with them... for now.
Notes:
Prophecy Scoreboard:
Steidis 6
Neilos 6
Ajax 4
Missing Memories:
Neilos Family, Mortal Name, The Last 5 Years, Childhood, Most Precious Memory (His Horse, Daisy), Mortal Appearance
Steidis Mortal Name, Family, Childhood, Most Precious Memory (His Mentor), Mortal Appearance, The Last 5 Years
Ajax Mortal Appearance, Most Precious Memory (His First Hunt), The Last 5 Years, Childhood
Something Neilos pointed out that is very important: the tunneling machine is not off the menu.
Steidis noted that Eniad is east of the god's home, just as Persia was east of Greece. Therefore, the gods there have time travel abilities, just like in Prince of Persia.
It was assumed by the players that, if they asked Firuz how best to get Meda out of the Emperor's presence, he would say "tunneling machine"
Ajax, when Firuz pointed out that the Emperor might have a point about the gods given they had beaten and mannapped him, claimed that this was actually all the Emperor's fault, and that really, the gods had been acting in self-defense. If you thought about it.
Ajax's player, who wasn't present at the time, noted that Firuz's list of favours they could offer the Emperor conspicuously did not include Firuz himself.
The gods realized that the charm Firuz had given to "some nobleman" recently was the one they'd gotten Adlai to grab for them back at the party.
This session featured Ursula's player as a special guest!
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