GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 33: To Kill A Goddess

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

 

Royal Audience

Queen Baelynna opened with an odd question, asking Pomegranite what he knew of the origins of his people.  He gave the response that the temples taught: Terra had created the earthlings and they sprang fully-formed from the earth.  There was also a theory, from the College magisters, that involved the intersection of the Paths of Earth and Life.  She nodded, and bade him explain the meaning of his visit to the College.

 

Pomegranite said that he had come looking for the Imperial Messengers that had never returned, and to discover if any of their neighbouring provinces needed aid dealing with the sudden appearance of the mazes in their cities.  Upon learning that Halberst had a new queen, he had decided to investigate the College.  Baelynna replied that, as he could see, things were under control here, and credited the earthling terramorphers they had been loaned with putting the city back together.

 

He inquired if the College would continue its research into stopping the Void Beast, and Baelynna offered her assurance that she would do everything in her power to help, though she would leave commanding the armies to a greater general than herself who should be returning soon.  The earthlings would likely know him as Consus, the Blue Lord of Victory, god of Secrets and the Moon.  Pomegranite then expressed some surprise at Baelynna having taken the throne, as no other gods had done so.  She replied that there were none more suited to rule, and surely he had seen her subjects were pleased.

 

She then asked what he made of the College itself, to which Pomegranite replied that he had been trained here, and between being a neutral territory and the research into crises like the Void Beast, it was clearly a force for the good of the Empire.  Baelynna asked for his thoughts on the College's philosophy of magic, namely that it was focused heavily on how best to use it for the purpose of making war.  In his view, some sort of magic for defense was necessary, but the curriculum could certainly do with a greater focus on non-violent magics, such as terramorphing.

 

Pomegranite was curious if she knew the source of the mazes, and Baelynna replied that she expected it was the work of Consus.  He would likely reveal himself to her soon, and she could confirm it upon their reunion.  Pomegranite expressed doubt that the god of Secrets would be so easily found, which she admitted with a chuckle would be true if he wanted to remain hidden.  Pomegranite asked if the Imperial Messengers could be sent on their way, which elicited laughter.

 

Was he truly such a taskmaster that his messengers could not enjoy even a few short months of celebration?  She could dispatch her own subjects if it was that urgent, but asked that the earthlings be allowed a respite.  That got Pomegranite thinking: were the magisters working on the Void portals celebrating?  No, regrettably that was an existential threat, and so they were only allowed to join the festivities for half of the day.

 

Queen Baelynna ended the audience with a personal request: she asked that Pomegranite meet with High Magister Eva.  As the Goddess of Thought, Baelynna had discovered a dark compulsion on Eva's mind, and freed her.  She now had a rather interesting story to tell, and it was Baelynna's opinion that it would be best if Pomegranite heard it from someone he trusted.  He agreed to meet with her, then asked after Grand Magister Curzo.  Baelynna claimed he had gone to Lumene before her arrival to discuss something with Empress Edelina.  When he returned he would no doubt agree with his colleagues that she belonged on the throne.

 

Truth or Madness? 

Pomegranite took his leave, rejoined with his advisors, and was led by an adept to Eva's chambers high in one of the spires of the College.  When she opened the door, the High Magister smiled widely and embraced Pomegranite in a hug; quite strange as they were hardly good friends.  Pomegranite backed away awkwardly, then, leaving his advisors to stand guard outside, the two went into her chambers to discuss something that was apparently of dire importance.  Once they were alone, Eva explained that a compulsion had been placed on her mind by the elf Uthemar.

 

During the election to determine the next Grand Magister, she had discovered that Curzo was immortal and, she suspected, an elf who had clipped his pointed ears.  A man with his description and personality appeared multiple times throughout various records under different names, always disappearing mysteriously after several decades.  He seemed to always show up at important events and tilt things to favor the elves.  Considering Uthemar and Curzo were both Triumvirate Emperors, that gave the elves control over two thirds of the Empire.  The dwarves also seemed to be backing the elves, which meant the earthlings would have no political power.

 

Pomegranite pretended to take her accusation seriously while simultaneously using what he knew of the Path of Secrets in reverse, trying to find a hidden compulsion.  If it was there, he couldn't find it, and besides, Baelynna was a god.  He asked what Eva thought of the new queen, and she claimed that she was helping them against the Void Beast and had freed her from Uthemar's compulsion; Baelynna was clearly on their side.  Eva then gave Pomegranite a list of names that "Curzo" had used over the centuries so he could see the evidence for himself.  Most had been active in the Segretan League, but one, "Wendel Dumont" was depicted in a painting of a ball held in the Kingdom of Halberst centuries past.  That painting now resided in the College's archives.

 

At Eva's insistence, Pomegranite took his leave and went to the archives to see the painting for himself.  With the assistance of a clerk he found it eventually, and sure enough, there was a man who looked like Curzo in the painting.  While the clerk rambled on about this being a painting that must have survived the fall of the royal palace in the rebellion, Pomegranite inspected the painting more closely, looking for signs of forgery.  He saw nothing to suggest it had been altered, but he was hardly an expert.  Pomegranite stayed the night at the College and left the next morning.  Nobody tried to stop him, whether physically or mentally, and the journey back to Bedrock was uneventful. 

 

Desperate Alliance 

Meanwhile, the Triumvirate received a message from King Barrend of the dwarves, asking for a meeting in Karaz Tonkor to discuss "recent developments".  A similar invitation had been sent to the elves.  Thankfully, it would take so long for the elves to respond that the earthlings would have plenty of time to wait for Pomegranite before leaving.  Bird arrived in the council chambers with Pomegranite's report of the new queen.  It also read that he was going to investigate, and that he may not return.

 

His worries were overblown, as he returned to Bedrock with a few days to spare before they had to begin the journey to the meeting.  To show that he wasn't mind controlled, Pomegranite immediately surrendered his ritual-bonded paired imperial knives.  Without his focus, he would find it extremely difficult to utilize his Path of Secrets.  At Granmarg's request, he followed the Triumvirate into an interrogation chamber in the dungeons.  Unfortunately, bricks along one wall had been removed by the appearance of the maze, leaving it fairly insecure.

 

Pomegranite explained what had happened at the College, and expressed that while he didn't feel different, there was a good chance he was under Queen Baelynna's dominion and should not be trusted.  Mielikki attempted to interrogate him, but Pomegranite was their spymaster and a magister of Secrets.  If anyone could hide the truth, it was him.  Figuring they may as well trust him for now, the Triumvirate decided to bring him to the meeting in the Undersands.  At Pomegranite's request, they would continue to hold onto his knives.

 

Mielikki sent a missive to Empress Edelina telling her to inform Curzo that a goddess had appeared at the College, and then the triumvirate were on their way southwest.  Weeks later, in the heart of the desert, they were found by dwarven scouts who parted the sands hiding the entrance to Karaz Tonkor.  The elves had already arrived, led by Uthemar, and were in discussion with King Barrend and his brother Prince Morkral in the council chambers.  After some deliberation among the earthlings, Pomegranite was allowed to attend.

 

Barrend got right to it: there were at least four gods present in their world, and they had to be killed before more arrived.  Uthemar expressed agreement with this assessment, and all present looked at the earthlings expectantly.  Granmarg said that they too thought the gods must be slain, however, Pomegranite had recently interacted with one who could control minds.  It was possible she was viewing this meeting through him, and they needed to take some countermeasures.

 

Uthemar stated that he had some magic that could detect such a compulsion, and with Pomegranite's agreement, placed his hands on the earthling's temples.  Thin tendrils of pale energy wrapped around Pomegranite's head before dissipating, at which point Uthemar declared him free of compulsion as best he could tell.  The same procedure was repeated for the others, with a dwarven woman brought to verify Uthemar himself.  No compulsions were discovered, and so the meeting continued.

 

They discussed which target to go after.  According to the prophecy involving cities turning into mazes, Consus had returned, probably somewhere in Wrost, but that wasn't much to go on.  Similarly, the last they'd heard of Carmenta was that she'd "gone west" from Baronde several months ago.  Baelynna had the entire College at her back, which would be risky.  Terra meanwhile was known to be in northern Baronde, and alone.

Granmarg pointed out that they also knew of one other god: the Flesh Orb had almost definitely been Clio, goddess of Change and Creation.  Uthemar wasn't so sure, and advised keeping Clio on their list for now.  Pomegranite suggested they go after Baelynna first, as they knew where she was and more people would fall under her thrall as time passed.  Barrend countered that if Carmenta was travelling west, she might be present at the College, and they could end up fighting two goddesses as well as an army of magisters.

 

Pomegranite pointed out that if they wanted to bring an army of their own, they had no choice but to target Halberst.  Tauschun and the League were unlikely to let foreign armies they'd been at war with a few short years ago march through their territory for no announced reason.  Uthemar suggested they could just bring a few champions along with their personal retinues while relying on the much smaller elven army.  This proposition received general agreement.  Besides, they didn't want to leave the Highland Forests undefended.  It would be better to have most of the army stay behind.

 

Mielikki requested a slight delay in their plans, as he was expecting his deal with Duccio of Segreta to bear fruit, and he would like to acquire any artifacts the adventurers he was funding retrieved before assaulting Terra.  Since they'd be stopping in a major city of the League, the earthlings decided to travel openly under the cover of discussing trade.  Their route avoiding Halberst would likely be seen as odd, but it was that, risk causing a diplomatic incident, or forgo their retinues.

 

Adventure

As the first snows of winter fell, the earthling triumvirate began the long march south through the desert and into Tauschun.  They were early enough that the mountain passes to the east were still open, and several weeks later were arriving at Segreta where Mielikki was delighted to learn that an artifact weapon had been recovered that year!  This delight vanished upon discovering that it was a Sea-aspected bastard sword that none of the rest of the Triumvirate would be able to wield.  Seeing as he already had Luana's Death-aspected executioner's axe, which was the greater artifact, it would not likely be useful.  Granmarg suggested that the Sea would prove strong against Terra, but Mielikki was unconvinced.

 

During their stay in Segreta, they encountered a complication: rumour had it that Terra had left northern Baronde and was headed west to return to the Highland Forests.  The initial plan had been to wait for the spring thaw before attacking, but now they had to move or lose their chance.  If Terra made it back to Bedrock, attacking her would mean an inevitable civil war, which they could easily be on the losing side of.  Despite Pomegranite's cautioning that this could all be an elaborate dwarven plot, Bird was sent to the Elven Forest with a message that they were given chase.  The dwarves should already have arrived, and the elven army was small, so they should have been able to adapt.

 

Though it took them a month to get there, as they marched through small farming villages in western Baronde, there was no news of Terra, which suggested they were still ahead of her.  Soon, the delegation of the dwarves and the elven "army", made up of a grand total of twenty elves, caught up to them.  Uthemar was leading the army, accompanied by the Young Heron and Halimath, while the dwarves were led by King Barrend and Prince Morkral, wielding his twin greatshields, trailed by High Factor Fallond.  There were two unknown women among their forces as well: an elven archer wearing a hood and balaclava, and a one-eyed dwarf with a repeating crossbow slung across her robed back.

 

Godslaying

After days of searching, finally one of their scouts found Terra, and they enacted a forced march to a wooded area in her path where they would stage an ambush after nightfall.  The earthlings (and Granmarg in particular) would charge in under supporting fire from their retinues, while Theren would wait until Terra was distracted to attack from behind, with the rest of the elves and dwarves supporting on the flanks.  Pomegranite had his knives returned to him, despite his misgivings; they couldn't afford to leave so talented a warrior out of the battle.

 

Lit dimly by moonlight, Terra came into sight as she walked down the snow-dusted forest path right into their trap, completely oblivious.  The earthlings charged as the first volley was loosed, and as he closed, Granmarg noted that Terra seemed to be talking to a mirror she was holding in one hand.  His lightning flurry of punches went wide and she staggered backward, which placed her directly in front of Theren who landed a series of slashes to her back.  Where the blade cut Terra's flesh, it parted to reveal dirt underneath, and no blood flowed from the wounds.

 

Thicket tried his usual earth spike attack, launching it from a blind spot, but Terra apparently sensed it and stopped it from forming reflexively, while a two foot wide magic missile from Halimath missed its target in the darkness.  Mielikki readied his new Sea Sword and used its bound spell to fire a thin beam of water at Terra that tore a large piece from her midsection.  It seemed to be surprisingly effective, just as Granmarg had predicted!  Pomegranite then stepped up behind Granmarg and stabbed him in the back, plunging the knives down to the hilts.

 

Unaware of this sudden betrayl, Barrend and Morkral advanced.  The King of the dwarves struck Terra in the leg with his poleaxe, while his brother crashed into her with twin greatshields.  The force of the impact caused Terra to drop the mirror she had been holding, which now emitted a bright white light.  Those who were close could make out a flickering pale flame in the reflection.

 

 

Notes:

Grand Magister Curzo was chosen as Triumvirate Emperor of Halberst, Wrost, and Baronde.  In theory, he's still in charge, but who's to say Queen Baelynna won't just claim to be Empress as well?  If she's capable of hitting people with the "mind laser" as Pomegranite fears, she could just mind control everyone into electing her.

 

Curzo's alleged aliases, in chronological order, with province of appearance:
Teobaldo Garfagini (Segretan League)

Rigobert of Aritzia (Segretan League)

Alonzo of Segreta (Segretan League)

Wendel Dumont (Kingdom of Halberst)

Jonas of Kaskorata (Tauschun)

 

Gramarg asked if the dwarves had anyone who could use magic to detect if Pomegranite had a compulsion on his mind, but then they just had Uthemar do it... The very elf who was accused of having put a compulsion on Eva.

 

The two artifacts Mielikki has to choose between are:
Luana's Axe, +2ST (so +1 to damage)
Sea Sword, +1DX, gain the the Water Cutter ranged attack that can penetrate through a target to hit someone behind them.

 

Once again, at Pomegranite's request, his roll to command Bird was made in secret. 

Granmarg told Pomegranite to flee and tell the tale of his heroism if he dies immediately. 

Granmarg on Pomeranite's sudden but inevitable betrayal "Do I kill Pomegranite outright, or just keep punching Terra?"