GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 37: The Conspiracy Revealed

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

 
Two Names

Now sitting in front of her, Mielikki realized that Edelina might have had a hand in Eremon's death given how it secured her rule.  He went down the line of succession in his head: first two of her cousins, Duke Henri de Solei and Duchess Juliette de Capan, while third in line was Luana.  The rest of the audience was uneventful; Edelina was somewhat placated by Mielikki's assurances that every army in the Empire assembling in her province was not a threat, but they were unable to press her on whatever secret knowledge she was concealing.

 

Pomegranite had his agents look into the others who were present for Astraeus' return and got some leads.  Prince-Consort Louis had recently taken up the Dwarven Game, a wargame which had become popular in Lumene that Mielikki was familiar with, and was by all accounts quite good.  Baron Philippe, Hugo's son, seemed genuinely touched by the earthlings' condolences for his father's death despite their war several years back.  Henri and Juliette were both still in the capitol as well, though Juliette was close to the church and Henri was a drunkard and a gambler.

 

Meanwhile, Granmarg and Thicket overheard a rumour that mysterious white lights had started appearing in Courcillon at night.  They were said to appear in mirrors or windows, and with no obvious source.  Mielikki arranged for a chance meeting with the Prince-Consort and arranged a game for that evening while the others went to hunt the white flame.  Louis was glad to know that the game was popular in the Highland Forests as well, and expressed his regrets over their province's relations, noting that it was all politics and nothing personal.  Hopefully, their people could meet in more friendly terms such as this going forward!

 

Louis' played with aplomb, but it was clear to Mielikki, who had learned to play during his time with the dwarves, that he was a big fish in a small pond.  The Game had only just become popular in Lumene, so naturally its players wouldn't be a match to the strategies learned over centuries.  He moderated his play, making it appear as though the game was close to get in Louis' good graces.  It paid off when during their polite conversation Louis noted that, while the Book had been able to predict almost the exact location and time of Astraeus return, it had gotten his name wrong, of all things.  Edelina was quite irritated that the god she had worshipped all her life was apparently actually called "Aerdaeth Miniamne".

 

Mielikki recognized this as an elven name, or perhaps more accurately, two, given no elf they had ever met used a surname.  It matched the style of the one Luana had named,  Sonvelliss Doltoran, as well.  His mind turned to Eva's alleged elven conspiracy and the names of Curzo's supposed past identities, but those were all human names, mostly Segretan with a few from Halberst.  Still, he wondered if there was some sort of code concealing Curzo's real name.

 

The White Flame 

Meanwhile, out on the moonlit streets of Courcillon, the rest of the triumvirate followed a map Thicket had drawn noting the sightings of the mysterious lights.  The sightings seemed to be growing more frequent in and around the palace.  As they couldn't get inside without some risk, they would search in the surrounding district.  After hours of fruitless searching, they regrouped and planned to call it off.  Just then Pomegranite happened to spy a flickering light on a shop window.  He approached to investigate closer, and observed that the "flame" was a humanoid shape with pointed ears, that was carefully surveying the area and the stars overhead.

 

Pomegranite moved out of cover, approaching and greeting the Outsider, who turned to look at him.  Recognition flashed across its face, followed by a mask of pure rage, and the window flashed solid white before a mile-long plume of white flame erupted out.  Pomegranite fell to the ground to dodge, and it set a building ablaze further down the street.  Thicket quickly moved over and extinguished the fire by terramorphing sand onto it and then returning everything to as it had been.  Strangely, nobody raised the hue and cry or came running to see what had happened.  The window the flame had been in was now melted to slag.

 

The others asked what he had seen, and Pomegranite relayed that he thought he had seen a dwarf; who else would attack him unprovoked?  Thicket and Granmarg turned to look at each other, then suggested they try to find the outsider again.  Granmarg suggested they check the outskirts of the city, and by chance they happened upon the flame again.  This time they all got close enough to get a good look, and Pomegranite noted that it was the same figure.  Granmarg and Thicket noted that it was very clearly a male elf.

 

Pomegranite wove an illusion around himself to appear as an elf, followed by a spell that converted his speech to elvish and elven speech to the common tongue in his ears.  This time, his greeting was responded to with words rather than a pillar of flame.  The elf asked, in elvish, what one of their kind was doing alone in the streets of a human city in the middle of the night.  Pomegranite replied that he was here ahead of the elven army to investigate the demon sightings, which prompted the elf to ask what he'd learned.  Responding truthfully, he said that none had been seen since the second attack.  Perhaps now the elf in the window could introduce himself and explain what he was doing.

 

The elf asked to be granted one more question: who was leading this elven army?  Pomegranite refused, and in turn the elf stated that he was seeking a great and fearsome artifact from ages gone by, though it seemed it was no longer here.  What he had found suggested that it lay far to the south in a different human kingdom.  With a sudden shock, Pomegranite realized the elf was lying, and more importantly, that he had seen through his illusions.  He asked on whose behalf the elf was acting, to which the elf gave the name Theirastra Miniamne.  His flaming eyes watched unblinking to see how Pomegranite responded.

 

The spymaster didn't recognize whoever that was, and asked why he was being tested.  The elf squinted his eyes and made one final query.  What were Pomegranite's kind?  In turn, he tried to deflect, but the elf shook his head and said he wanted a clear answer for once.  Begrudgingly, Pomegranite gave the dominant theory from the College: earthlings were born from a mingling of energies from the Paths of Earth and Life.  With that, the elf bade him good evening, as it would surely be one of his peoples' last.

 

Before he could leave, however, Granmarg leapt from hiding and rebuked the elf, shouting that he hoped he was not a representative of his kind as this was an affront.  If they met again, Granmarg would pay back whatever he did twofold.  Then he clapped his hands together and shot a bolt of lightning at the window, obliterating it.  As with Terra's mirror, it didn't seem like the elf had been destroyed, but Granmarg had been able to see a grimace of pain on his face before he vanished.

 

The triumvirate reconvened and went over this new information.  Mielikki noted that if there was some sort of elven conspiracy going on, they'd have to choose who they spoke to carefully.  Presumably the elves that had helped them kill Terra could be trusted, but even that wasn't certain.  The elven army would be arriving shortly, but in the meantime perhaps they could go look at some archives of the temples of Astraeus.  Pomegranite had to field several questions on the nature of the Paths and how they correlated that he was, as a war Magister, unequipped to answer.  One thing he did relay is that the colours assigned to the Paths by the College were to match the (supposed) patron god of each Path.

 

Demon Boils

With only a few days left before the elves showed up, the earthlings split up, with Thicket and Granmarg going to assist Marshal Hans Hessen in the search for demons while Mielikki and Pomegranite would attempt to find something useful in the archives of the Grand Cathedral of Astraeus.  Hans Hessen was exhausted, the search thus far having turned up no demons.  Thicket offered to look over the reports, and found that the references to terrain in several regions were changing over time.  Hills were forming where before there had been flat land, but this had gone unnoticed due to poor communication between the three provincial armies.

 

They marched out to the nearest of these new hills, deep in a forest, which Thicket found with ease by using his powers to notice a hollow underground.  He terramorphed a tunnel into the side, but was stopped when they arrived at a blockage of pulsating flesh.  Granmarg punched a hole in, which released a flood of Bile that gradually settled until it was "only" ankle-deep.  Torches were brought and they entered the hollow.  It was a wide oblong cavern, with dormant curled-up demons covering every surface.

 

Granmarg had his advisors cage several demons, and in the process discovered that they were connected to the walls by an umbilical cord.  When the cord was cut, the demons would rouse from their dormant state and attack.  Cages were found, and ten demons loaded into them while the rest were slain.  

 

Meanwhile, at the Grand Cathedral, Mielikki and Pomegranite had just been informed by a priest that non-believers would not be granted access to any archives.  They happened across Duchess Juliette in the nave, and approached to see if she could be manipulated into aiding them.  Mielikki started by mentioning how, though they hadn't interacted often, he was sorry to hear of the passing of Eremon, who had been a great man.  She thanked him and held out her hand, which he took and kissed as was Lumenian courtly procedure.

 

Juliette was curious what a pair of earthlings would be doing in the Cathedral of Astraeus, a god they did not believe in.  Mielikki claimed to be looking to better understand the human Minervans they had taken in several years ago, and figured no source would be better than the Grand Cathedral.  The duchess wrinkled her nose and stated rather bluntly that the Minervans were of Mont Villay, and that nothing about them would be found here in the capitol.

 

Using his ignorance of human faith as a jumping off point, Mielikki suggested that perhaps it would be best if he could learn the official version of things as well, something that Juliette was more than happy to assist him with.  The bishops, she claimed, were in conclave until a new archbishop could be elected, which would take some time.  As such, they'd only have to deal with the rector, who she was on good terms with, and sure enough they were granted access to what they sought.

 

For the next several days they poured over ancient and dusty tomes of a faith they did not believe in, looking only for mentions of the elven names they had learned.  They found nothing.  Conclusively so, at least, so they knew they hadn't missed something, but it was still a dead end.  Just as they were finishing, Uthemar and the rest of the elves arrived at Courcillon along with Emperor Curzo.  With King Barrend and the dwarves having arrived a few days prior, only Halberst's army was missing from the assembly.

 

Conspiracy

With the powers of the Empire now assembled, a divide quickly formed regarding the captured demons.  Granmarg and Ulrich pushed for their confinement and study, while everyone else wanted them destroyed.  Presumably this would be brought up at the summit of the Emperors the next day, which neither would be able to attend.  Before that summit, however, they had a chance to convene the members of their conspiracy to discuss what was to be done with Lumene.

 

Curzo confirmed that the armies of Wrost and Baronde were already aware that they would be marching on Halberst to reclaim it from "the usurper" after the demon hunt was over.  They would not be told she was a goddess.  Next, Hans Hessen thanked Granmarg and Thicket for discovering how the demons had been hiding.  Now that they knew to look for changes to the land, the demonic threat should be dealt with in short order.

 

As for the research, Curzo chimed in, noting that they would best learn by using magic from the Paths of Blood, Healing, and Change on the demons.  Of those, the only one they had access to at the moment was Veronika of Wrost, who was a Magister of Change.  The twin heirs of Baronde were Sea and Sun, while Dimitri of Wrost was Moon.  The others would have to come from the College after they removed Baelynna, and so the research would go on hold for now.

 

Uthemar turned the subject toward diplomacy with Edelina.  Did the others think she could be won over to their cause against Baelynna?  Nobody had brought it up with her, but they didn't expect her to be turned against the gods, given her zealotry.  Uthemar and Curzo decided to attempt to win her over by painting Baelynna as a pretender against Astraeus at the summit the next day.

 

The final subject was Astraeus, but nobody knew more than the official story, and the earthlings didn't plan on bringing up the secret elven conspiracy in public, so the meeting drew to a close.  Afterward Granmarg invited Theren for a conversation with himself and Pomegranite, where, after some musing on what it meant if demons could breed in this realm, the blademaster was confronted about the gods going by elven names, including surnames.

 

When he heard the names themselves, Theren, clearly not much a spy, stopped in his tracks and inhaled sharply.  He stumbled his way through an obvious lie about elves, as the first beings created by the gods, would perhaps have a language closer to the ones the gods used.  With just a little more pressure, he cracked, and told them what he knew.

 

The Truth 

The elves were indeed the first beings created by the gods, and were also the ones to slay the gods.  The "Gods" of the Imperial Faith were those same elves.  As far as he knew, they had been perhaps the most powerful mages ever to live, but they were supposed to still just be elves.  Their new forms were strange and odd.  They had ruled as tyrants, and as such were sealed away.  If Baelynna was anything to go by, they planned to do so once again.  This had all been kept secret due to the great shame it brought the elves to be kin to the greatest tyrants the world had ever known.

 

Pomegranite asked how the dwarves tied into this, and Theren stared at him from behind his mask for a moment before saying they weren't.  But dwarves had been around then, surely?  Theren replied that they had been, as they were created by the gods as well.  Why didn't the white flame elf recognize earthlings, but did know about humans?  The humans, halflings, and orcs were all elven creations, the work of Carmenta and Clio in particular.  Theren did not know the origin of earthlings, but perhaps they had been the creation of another one of these great magisters who had been slain.

 

The rest of their questions he didn't have answers to; he was, after all, the Young Heron and simply hadn't been around back then.  Uthemar and Barrend, however, had both been present at the sealing.  One thing he did know is that the seals had been broken by the Void Beast, which was not something any elf had ever heard of.  With further apologies, he took his leave.  The next day, the summit began and was concluded with some surprising news: Lumene would join in the march on Halberst to liberate it from a rogue mage using the Path of Thought.

 

The next morning, as the troops of the Empire readied themselves for the war ahead, reports arrived from scouts of hundreds of humans approaching the city from all angles, all shouting the same thing over and over: "Aerdaeth!  The following people are responsible for the murder of your wife:", followed by a list of everyone who had been present for the assassination of Terra.

 

Granmarg and Mielikki took command of their army to arrest these people without harming them, while Pomegranite started collaborating with the other armies to find Blood Magisters that could remove the compulsion.  Thicket meanwhile terramorphed an improvised prison (read: a large hole in the ground) to confine these people until they could be dealt with.  Somehow, it all went off without a hitch, and not a single one of the "messengers" made it into Courcillon.

  

 

Notes:

Granmarg, when a building was set on fire: "Oh man we should put that out.  I guess I... punch it?".  Followed by Pomegranite: "I know!  I'll cast an illusion, so that the building will look like it isn't on fire!".

 

During Pomegranite's tense second conversation with the white flame elf, when the name Theirastra Miniamne was given, Thicket suggested that Pomegranite go "Solid Snake" and just repeat the name back.

 

Mielikki's player "realized", while idly guessing other Paths, that our second most recent campaign (which ended in 2022, goddamn) was called "Path to Godhood".  WHAT DOES IT MEAN!??! 

 

At one point, Granmarg's player said he was putting Pomegranite on his "Kill List" only to pull it up and realize that he was already on it. 

 

Pomegranite joked that this whole arc of the campaign was just so I could use the material I'd prepared for Halberst back at the start of the campaign before their alliance.