Characters:
Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Preventative Measures
Now knowing one method to nullify Baelynna's complusion, the Triumvirate proceeded back to Segreta in secret before rejoining their retinues and trekking through the snow to the capitol of Tauschun, Kaskorata, to speak with Ulrich. Mielikki arranged an audience with the child King Peter to keep up the pretense of conducting trade negotiations, and they made a deal for human food in exchange for earthling farm labour, then went to Ulrich's office to "finalize" the deal.
They asked him what he knew of Halberst, and he was aware that messengers they had dispatched were not returning, but little more. Pomegranite relayed that Baelynna, the goddess of bloodlust and thought had taken over the College using the Path of Thought, and that Emperor Curzo was missing. Ulrich nodded for him to continue, and he said that they were now seeking protection from this mental domination. For that, they needed a Magister of the Path of Blood, but they couldn't go to the College and figured Ulrich might know one.
He confirmed that he knew a friendly magister in the city, but suggested an alternative to boiling their brains: would it not be possible to use the Path of Secrets to hide away one's consciousness, such that they compulsion being placed upon them was ineffective? With a flash of insight, Pomegranite suddenly realized that not only would it be possible, but that he already knew almost exactly how it could be done. (Secretly, he'd already suspected this, but had hesitated to bring it up because it might make him seem more suspicious.)
A Blood Magister named Gunther was summoned, a tall, flushed, middle-aged human who had an athletic build but had perhaps eaten too many pies lately. Ulrich vouched for his discretion as he was both a personal friend and also deeply trusted all other Magisters. In Ulrich's estimation, he would stay silent even up to the point of torture. Nonetheless, to keep information from spreading, Gunther was told that the Eyes Demon had been capable of some form of mental control and had escaped during the Demonwar.
Gunther opined that boiling the brain would theoretically work, not knowing it had already been performed on Pomegranite, and then stayed the rest of the night to assist the two Magisters of Secrets in developing a more preventative measure using their Path. By the next morning, they'd worked out the spell, but it was an involved process that took a long time: they could ward an individuals mind for only about twice as long as they spent building the ward uninterrupted. Any more and they risked damaging the mind. While they could protect a small group, armies were beyond their abilities.
Once Gunther had left the next morning, Ulrich asked what they were really doing traipsing around the Empire in the dead of winter. Their trade negotiations had been nothing urgent, and could surely have waited for spring? The earthlings glanced at each other and then revealed the truth: they had killed Terra. Ulrich froze for a second, then sighed and said he almost wished they hadn't told him. Perhaps due to his duties as spymaster, he then began working out who all knew of this.
The elves and dwarves, obviously, as well as their personal retinues. It was likely Baelynna knew, if she had taken direct control of Pomegranite. Pomegranite mentioned that Terra had seemed to have been talking to someone through a hand mirror, though when Granmarg looked at it he had only seen white flame. The flaming eye that appeared in the sky, and later, the moon, were suspected (by Uthemar, primarily) to belong to Consus, Blue Lord of Victory and God of the Moon and Secrets.
The gods having some way of communicating over long distances was concerning, but there was nothing they could do about it without knowing more, and Granmarg had destroyed the mirror. Next, if they were targeting the gods, what were they going to do next? They couldn't exactly stop now that at least two knew of their attacking Terra even granted they might not know she had been killed. While she was clearly extremely dangerous, they at least knew where Baelynna was; Carmenta was last seen "travelling west" into Halberst half a year earlier, while Consus was a complete unknown.
Mielikki pointed out that, according to the apocryphal prophecies Pomegranite had discovered, they believed Consus would have appeared somewhere in Wrost. Ulrich pondered for a moment, then asked if they were sure this was the same Terra they'd encountered in the Highland Forest. That one had been made of earth and had a glowing crystal impaled through her torso, while the one they'd killed had apparently looked like an elf. They had a gut feeling that it was the same being, despite the lack of evidence. Similarly, Granmarg claimed that the Flesh Orb that had attacked from the southern isthmus had been Clio.
From a strategic level, there were other concerns. Tauschun had been mauled by the series of wars. The mercenary Dietrich had left after draining their coffers, while Tharivol was dead after going mad, and the Knights of the Blazing Sun had been wiped out in the final battle in the Segretan War. Further, something like mounting an invasion of the College would require political legitimacy, meaning they'd need to get the Triumvirate Emperors' approval. Uthemar was already in the conspiracy, but Curzo was missing and Edelina was a zealot. Her brother Eremon was in line to succeed her, but he was also the archbishop of Lumene.
Spiritual Matters
With the implication left hanging in the air, the earthlings took their leave. Pomegranite wrote a letter to Uthemar informing the elves (and dwarves) that Ulrich was joining their alliance against the gods. He also cast an illusion on a letter so that none could read it but the designated recipient, and had the Imperial Messengers deliver it to the Elven Forest. Then, the earthlings marched through the spring thaw to the Highland Forest.
During their travels through the desert, the sun began to grow larger and larger in the sky, and the air grew uncomfortably hot. Thicket, in a display of terraforming mastery, quickly excavated and reinforced a bunker out of the desert sand, and all but Granmarg went inside to survive whatever came next. Granmarg stood outside, arms crossed, as the air began to shimmer with heat and the world turned red. This lasted only a short time, though, before the sun receded and, for the first time in years, returned to its normal hue and set at the appropriate time. Since it was now dark several hours earlier than they'd expected, they rested for the night in the bunker.
The only problem they faced on the rest of the journey home was that their sleep schedules were now out of sync with daylight. Mielikki noted that they now had another target for their kill list in Astraeus, the Sun God, and that he was likely in Lumene. Upon arrival at Bedrock, they were pleased to find the city unrazed, and discovered they had a few missives waiting in their chambers. Edelina had sent word that Curzo had left for Wrost, but she had sent along another messenger to hopefully get their message to him.
Politically, the province had remained calm without their presence over the winter, though there was much grumbling that the winter nobles' ball had been cancelled. The Terran faction of the priesthood was still the most powerful, but were largely aimless without her direction. Further, Terra being absent for over a year now and (allegedly) taking on an elven appearance was leading to some discontent. Granmarg argued that now was the time to weaken the office of the High Priest, but Mielikki and Thicket steadfastly refused; the Temples of Terra were the cornerstone of the Highland Forests, and this bad high priest would eventually leave office.
Instead, they proposed convincing High Priest Friedrich Quarry that Terra wasn't their god using facts and logic. An audience was arranged, and while they waited, the Triumvirate checked in on some things. They went to Cliffside's estate to see how he was, and learned that after all the excitement of the Demonwar that he was happy to just be managing his estate again. They had had a poor harvest last season, so planting this spring had to go well. Granmarg checked in on his own family's estate, not something he usually cared for, and found that their harvest had been poor as well. Mielikki theorized (with no evidence) that the failure of crops was due to the introduction of animals to the Highland Forests.
The day of the audience came, and Friedrich Quarry arrived at their chambers in a rather cheerful mood. He kneeled and asked what he could do for the Triumvirate on this day. Mielikki, Thicket, and Granmarg launched into their points marking Terra to be a false god.
- Terra was referred to as male in their scripture, yet was clearly female
- Terra had taken on a new form in Baronde, and was likely just a shapeshifter taking whatever form it thought would best convince the people around it at any given
- Terra had abandoned them shortly after her alleged return, having done nothing substantial for the earthling people
- Terra brought animals back to the Highland Forests
- Terra had murdered several of the priesthood, which was clearly an evil act
Friedrich mistakenly recognized these concerns as a crisis of faith, and unshaken, and addressed each point in turn:
- While the earthling faith traditionally portrays Terra as male, the Imperial Faith's Minerva is portrayed as a woman. This is something where clearly the truth of the matter had been lost over time
- Terra could shapeshift because she could control all earth, including herself, and there was nothing wrong with appearing more familiar to the other species, especially when, as they knew, she had clearly resembled an earthling when he found her in her realm
- Terra had been gone for millennia and a short journey to Baronde wasn't out of the question. Besides, they were in the middle of a famine, and Terra was the god of all peoples, not just the earthlings
- The elimination of animals from the Highland Forests had been a political decision, not a spiritual one, and if they made mistakes it was only natural for Terra to set them right
- The deaths of some of the apostate priests was unfortunate, but Terra had smote people in the past prior to her return. For one, the earthquake that collapsed the Mountain's Maw and revealed her portal had killed many of the priests which would likely have become apostates. All natural disasters were to some extent the will of Terra. This had happened before and would happen again.
Mielikki pretended to be comforted by Friedrich's words, who clearly believed that he had calmed the nerves of the Triumvirate (and in particular, the two arch-reactionaries Thicket and Mielikki) and took his leave. Since Terra wasn't coming back, they could just leave things in the Highland Forests for now and go hunt down Curzo. They'd go to Wrost through Lumene, but would hug the border with Halberst to hopefully avoid whatever human sun god had just returned there (Pomegranite: "I think his name was "Sungreta").
Notes:
Some may say that boiling your brain to cure mind control is inadvisable, but it works!
During conversation, Ulrich noted that they had seen the flaming eye on the moon in Tauschun as well.
Mielikki's character was worried about the sun god being prophecized to return and kill all non-believers, but was then reminded that all the prophecies say that.
The roll to convince the "earthpope" that god wasn't real was only at a -8.
There was much conversation about "pressing the Civil War button" or "putting my key into the Civil War football". Granmarg wants to just get it over with, thinking it's inevitable. Pomegranite doesn't want to start one if they don't have to, because it'll result in the deaths of many earthlings ("and they shouldn't be killed just because some other being is in their heads"). Mielikki is generally quite cautious and won't do it unless he's confident they can win quickly, though he's laying the groundwork with things like his drawing up a list of officials loyal to them and those who would need to go. Thicket thinks it's not necessary and that everything will just work out.
Pomegranite on reading the spy reports from the few personal spies he has constantly monitoring the Dwarven Undersands "The report says there are dwarves, a lot of them" "My god..."
The sun god's actual name is Astraeus, but every player has forgotten this because it's been a few months since the last mention of him.
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