GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 22: A Sense of the Divine

Characters:

Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

 

What Makes A God

The Triumvirate sent a messenger to inform Ulrich of their goddess problem, and then decided to screen their advisors for those who were true believers.  Most of them were in the clear, though several were unsure what difference it made whether she was truly their god or a "only" a being capable of all the same feats.  Mielikki's all claimed to not believe, but he had his suspicions that they were just saying what he wanted to hear.  They finally found a single sympathizer in Groutite, one of Granmarg's men, though even he was hardly a zealot, and when questioned as to where his loyalties lay, suggested that they could work out their problems with Terra if they went and talked to her.

 

Granmarg didn't accept this fencesitting and they escalated into an argument about Terra killing the priests.  Eventually, this was settled by Granmarg stating that in the event of a hypothetical civil war in the Highland Forests, he would surrender to the people rather than kill earthlings, even if that would result in the earthlings he was supporting being put to death, because at least he wouldn't be personally responsible.  After a bit more discussion with the other members of the Triumvirate, due to his insistence that he wouldn't send "anybody else to go die", Granmarg went to meet with Terra.

 

The crystal sphere, or New Temple, as it was coming to be known, had been readily adopted by the priesthood, and many of the faithful packed the outer ring of chambers.  When Granmarg announced himself to an attendant priest, the man bowed and led him in to the heart of the geode where Terra's personal chamber lay.  On the way, Granmarg asked if any more people had been killed by Terra, or if that had been a one-time thing, and the priest replied that only the one group of heretics had been smote.  They arrived at the doors to Terra's chamber, and the priest ushered Granmarg in.

 

Terra was on an eight foot high dias, looking down at Granmarg as he asked to speak.  She called him by his name, and noted that he was a member of the triumvirate, so she was clearly somewhat informed.  First, Granmarg asked why she had returned from her own realm, and she replied that Friedrich had asked her to, because the people of the Highland Forests were in great need.  Next, he asked what assistance she would offer, and Terra replied that with her power, she could assist with all manner of things, from the end times to simply seeing that more food was produced.

 

Granmarg pushed her on what exactly she could do about the end times, and Terra said that, for a start, the volcano that would wipe away all life would be "done away with", but that otherwise it depended on what form the end times would take.  She would also require consultation with her fellow gods.  Though she could not communicate with them yet, they should be returning soon.  Granmarg then asked if she knew about "Centichorro, the many-legged beast that will devour all magic", and yes, Friedrich had informed her of the Void Beast, though she hadn't known its name.  Naturally, as ruler over her realm of earth, she could attack and defeat it if or when it drew near to that realm.

 

Though he pointed out that the Void Beast seemed to eat magic, she was confident that what mortals referred to as magic was much less than the powers that gods commanded.  Setting that aside, Granmarg asked what would happen after the end times were averted, but she was non-committal, saying that all the gods would decide together.  Finally, Granmarg arrived at his final question.  Was it true that she had killed the earthling priests?

 

Yes.  It would not do to have heretics poisoning the minds of the faithful.  Granmarg pointed out that even so, surely there was another, less fatal option, but Terra insisted that the price for disloyalty being death was the point.  He argued that, if that was the action she took, it would rally more to the cause of those who denied her, and it would only result in ever more dead heretics.  Terra proclaimed that if that was the case, then let it be so.  Granmarg replied that there were some things that even the gods could never change, and then exited Terra's chamber.

 

Into The Portal

Figuring that they needed to scout out Terra's realm, Thicket volunteered to go through the portal with Granmarg as a bodyguard.  They walked through the glowing green disc and found themselves suffocated by stone and earth, which Thicket easily terramorphed back, leaving chamber in the emptied space.  With only the pale blue light from Granmarg's lightning fists, they could see little.  There was no path suggesting where Terra or Friedrich had come from on their way through the portal.  A minute's observation proved that despite Thicket's magic, the earth was moving back in.  Still, it wasn't shifting anywhere near as much as it had been on the Bedrock side of the portal, so they could take their time.

 

Though they couldn't hear the singing voice Friedrich had described, which had likely been Terra's, after some time in the darkness Thicket was able to discern a faint hum from somewhere in the distance and began tunnelling towards it.  After only a few minutes, they found the source: a seemingly permanent chamber with crystals growing out of well-tended earth.  It quite resembled the rockvineyards of their people.  Instead of typical rockflower, however, this farm was growing large clear crystals with a blue glow within; the source of the hum.  They seemed of the same kind as the one that ran through Terra's torso, though none were as large.

 

Granmarg plucked a good-sized crystal, and once it was free of the earth the glow grew brighter, and the hum louder.  He bit off a nibble and it was the most delectable thing he had ever tasted.  The only thing bringing it down was a slightly unpleasant electrical tingling in his mouth.  He offered it to Thicket, and he, too, relished in the wondrous flavour.  Thicket grabbed another to retrieve for study (and possible snacking) and, after wrapping the crystals in cloth "for safety", the duo started back toward the portal.

 

The roof and floor of the early parts of Thicket's tunnel were already beginning to warp, so it was no wonder they hadn't found the path Friedrich had taken days earlier.  As they drew nearer to the green glow of the portal in the distance, Granmarg felt something moving through the stone underneath him.  He asked Thicket if he'd noticed it, but by then it had already passed.  Humouring him, Thicket sent a pulse through the earth below them, and felt it return when it bounced off something hard.  It was cylindrical, and it seemed to be moving.

 

The two of them broke into a sprint, but as they grew near to the portal Thicket stumbled on a piece of uneven ground.  Granmarg turned back to help him to his feet just as a wurm leapt out of the earth.  It spat out a gobbet of magma, filling the narrow tunnel, and both earthlings were staggered and badly scorched as it melted their outer layers.  They made it back to the portal by the skin of their teeth, nearly bowling over Mielikki who was waiting on the other side.

 

Thicket explained that a wurm had been pursuing them, which prompted Mielikki to ask if it could come through the portal as well.  They all turned to look at its shimmering surface in horror, but no wurm emerged.  For several minutes they waited, but it seemed that regardless of whether it could come through the portal or not, it wasn't following them for now.  Thicket showed Mielikki the crystals (Granmarg offered that he could take a bite, but he refused), and he thought they should be studied by the best terramorpher he knew: Thicket.

 

Over a few nights, the Grandmaster Terramorpher determined that the crystals themselves only stored magical energies, and that the source of the glow (and amazing flavour) was the magic they had siphoned from Terra's realm.  He could easily grind them up into a potion to boost his own terramorphing, but more interesting was the prospect of impaling oneself with the crystal, as Terra had possibly done.  That would require further study, though, as just shoving a crystal through one's torso would surely be fatal. 

 

The End of Winter

As the winter snows thawed, Mielikki finally heard back from Vondal of the dwarves, and the sealed message suggested that Terra was probably a demon.  Fortunately, Vondal doubted that this was a sign of the Demonwar starting in Bedrock, as there would already be far, far more than one.  However, Mielikki noticed that the prose seemed different from how he remembered Vondal's writing, and compared the letter with older correspondence.  When the handwriting didn't match (though the signature did), he realized that someone else in the Tongs Clan, or perhaps someone with access to their seal, had written this response.

 

Two possibilities leapt to mind: either someone had forced Vondal to sign and seal the letter under duress, or one of the Tongs Clan leadership had written the letter.  Without more knowledge of who had written the letter, or why, Mielikki decided that they couldn't act on such obviously compromised intelligence.  For now, Terra was to be left alone.

 

At the College, Pomegranite's aides returned from their journeys to the surrounding provinces with reports that Lumene, Wrost, and Baronde were all interested in attending the council to discuss the reordering of the Empire.  Before they could finish their reports, they were immediately interrogated as to their thoughts on the legitimacy of Terra.  Drirtollor asked that they be allowed to return to the Highland Forests to see for themselves, while Berry figured it made no difference if they returned now or in a month once the council was over.  Sigillaria figured that if the tales of her feats were true, it seemed their god had returned.

 

The morning of the forum with the nobles of the Highland Forests, the famously corrupt Mayor Flint requested an audience with the triumvirate, and it seemed that he had added a few more gold spikes to his jagged obsidian body since the last time they'd spoken.  The assistance of their spy network had been most helpful in keeping the reformers of Bedrock off-balance, and as thanks he offered them a large chest of green rockflower, which they graciously accepted to use as delicious bribes fare at the forum.

 

The triumvirate were all prepared to launch the forum with the twin announcements of appointing Cliffside as Supreme Commander of the Demonwar and the creation of the new Games Enforcer offices, which would be tasked with preventing corruption of the games.  However, as Mielikki took the podium, he was bombarded by shouts asking whether Terra had really returned as a woman before he could speak.  There was much concern, especially from the more rural holdings, that there had been no official announcement, and so they had been forced to rely on rumour.

 

Mielikki deflected, stating that the official position of the Temples of Terra and the High Priest was that Terra had returned, and was indeed a woman.  If any wished to see for themselves, they could go to the New Temple outside of the city after the forum.  This quieted the rabbling, and the forum continued largely without issue.  Cliffside accepted his appointment to a position that would likely never matter, and the idea of the Enforcers was received well.  There was a bit more discussion of minor issues between the various nobles that didn't require triumvirate involvement, and then it was over.  To Mielikki's chagrin, many of the attending nobles went to the New Temple to witness their goddess.

 

The Imperial Council

The triumvirate journeyed south to the College for the council, where Pomegranite presented them with Luana's artifacts, all of which were certified 100% curse-free.  Though Mielikki was suspicious that Pomegranite was surprisingly willing to part with them, they each received one item.  Mielikki took the headsman's axe, Thicket the dragonbone horn, and Granmarg the black scroll of human skin.  

 

All the provinces save the elves and dwarves had been invited, and all those invited were present.  From Lumene, Eremon and Edelina.  From Wrost, Dimitri the diplomat, twisting his hat in his hands and always drenched in sweat, and Rada the champion of the revolution.  From Baronde, King Nevil Tallfellow and his twin children, Crown-Prince Tye and Princess Tawna.  On the arrival of the latter, rumours began to swirl of a Wrost-backed unrest in northern Baronde along their border.  Though uninvited, an elven delegation led by Uthemar was also present.

Ulrich was of course representing Tauschun, and the two Great Lords of the Segretan League, Duccio de Segreti and Aginor de Torelli, rounded out the group.  Luana's absence was notable, and though she may not have held any official power in the League, she had still been the commander of its armies.  Prior to the first proper meeting of the council, news arrived of the unrest in Baronde having descended into armed rebellion, and shouts of accusations and denial echoed through the halls of the College.

 

Eremon suggested that all those present unite to crush the rebels in a sign of good-faith and to prove that cooperation was still possible in the Empire, and Pomegranite agreed with him.  As they were filing into one of the College's lecture halls for the council, one of the elven delegates handed Mielikki a note.  It read that Terra was not to be trusted, and must be stopped at all costs.

  

 

Notes:

For some reason during this session I was unable to ask a question ending in a question mark, even when deliberately attempting to.  Weird!

Granmarg sure did antagonize Terra, and yet he didn't even get smote.  How strange. 

 

Entirely unrelated to the actual game: what does uranium taste like?  I thought it was sour for some reason, but apparently it's just metallic.  Who could have guessed!

 

Mielikki was chosen to be the speaker at the forum because he has higher Diplomacy than Granmarg (14 vs 11), so naturally he failed his roll and had already used his Luck earlier.  Thankfully, Flint's green rockflower had given them a resource point they could spend immediately to win people over.

 

The dwarves are so perfidious that they managed to poison Pomegranite's player IRL.  Truly, a vile people.