GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 38: A Terrible Secret

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

 

To Halberst!

Edelina wanted the people they'd just imprisoned in a hole in the ground to be treated before they marched south, as most of them were likely her subjects.  The other Emperors didn't think they could afford to delay the march on Halberst, so a compromise was reached where the less-capable Blood Magisters were left behind while the rest continued on with the armies.  This meant that while the imprisoned would suffer more injury due to brain boiling, the armies wouldn't suffer too much.  Mielikki questioned one of the first batch to be cured but learned nothing; everyone who Baelynna had compelled looked to be peasant farmers.

 

On the march, the commanders stayed in clusters near a Magister of Secrets, to maintain the mental wards against the Path of Thought.  The earthlings were covered by Pomegranite, and Tauschun by Ulrich, while the others had to find someone within their armies.  The elves were capable of great magic on their own but lacked the specialization of the College, and so they needed special assistance, which they received from Grand Magister Curzo.

 

In order to avoid ambushes, they deployed a large vanguard.  With outriders along the flanks, this left the majority of the army safe inside a protective bubble.  Rather than scouting in force, they continued to use small detachments which Pomegranite oversaw.  He caught onto a number of conflicting reports, which meant some of them had likely fallen under Baelynna's sway.  They were left in position but noted so that her tendrils could be cut out when battle began without giving anything away.

And Then There Was Silence

One day as they marched along the road to the College, all sound suddenly stopped.  Mielikki was able to prevent a panic through orders given by standardbearers, and after a minute or so the effect vanished and they could hear again.  Thicket noted that this was possibly a similar phenomenon to the horns announcing the Demonwar and the drums Granmarg had heard on his march near Tauschun which had preceded the Flesh Orb.  Perhaps a new god had entered the realm.  That or the dwarves were up to something.  Pomegranite nodded in appreciation that someone else was finally taking his dwarven conspiracy theory seriously.

 

The army's progress was slow, and the column so long that by the time the rear was arriving and making camp, the vanguard were already leaving.  This slow pace let them notice something they might otherwise have missed; in a farm that lay slightly below the road, the triumvirate spotted a perfect straight line of dead wheat stalks a dozen feet wide.  Pomegranite dispatched Bird to take a look and draw what it saw, and through crude scribbles on the dirt they saw that the line connected to other lines further out.  If only all those birds hadn't died in the rookery, they could have transformed society...

 

The lines were straight, but Thicket couldn't discern any meaning from their layout.  They looked irregular, with none at the same angle, and none perpendicular, parallel, or repeating.  Thicket blamed Bird's poor map drawing, and so Granmarg and Pomegranite volunteered to go walk through the fields to the nearest intersection see if they could find anything.  Their journey through the seven-foot high field and back took several hours, and when they returned they brought with them the deformed body of a dead calf that had a second head growing out of its neck.

 

Granmrag had a problem.  If it was to be assumed that this was tied to the silence and the return of a god, which was this supposed to be?  Going by the Paths the gods were associated with, Animals would be Astraeus, and he was already in Lumene so that was out.  Healing and Life would be Carmenta, who had supposedly already come back in Baronde, but they admittedly hadn't ever met her personally.  Change would be Clio, but he thought she had been the Flesh Orb.  Even then, the apocrypha containing Clio's myths came from Tauschun, and the old faith had been stronger in the south, nowhere near where they were now in northern Halberst.

 

They brought the calf's body to one of their own earthling Magisters of the Path of Healing, who thought it was born malformed and died naturally, but a Change Magister from Tauschun they took it to was adamant that the calf had been fatally mutated by the Path of Change.  When Granmarg asked how powerful a practitioner would be required to cast this kind of spell, he was informed that while weaving a mutation that duplicated the brain was extremely difficult, whoever had tried this had failed, so it could easily be an amateur.

 

Following up on his and Granmarg's conversation with Theren, Pomegranite arranged an audience with Uthemar.  He had clearly already heard from Theren, but played coy and waited for Pomegranite to broach the subject first.  When he did, Uthemar was immediately truthful and told him everything he wanted to know.

 

Questions and Answers 

Ever the pragmatist, the first question he asked was that, if the Forbidden Paths had been sealed to imprison the gods, then could they now unseal the Forbidden Paths and use them against the gods?  No.  Consider, Uthemar lectured, Consus, whose associated Paths were Secrets and the Moon, neither of which were Forbidden.  The Forbidden Paths were sealed because they were too dangerous to allow others to use them.  Surely Pomegranite understood, having experienced the Path of Thought firsthand.  

 

Next, then, could they be certain that the Terra they had slain and the Terra they had encountered in the Highland Forests were the same being?  They had looked nothing alike.  Uthemar had a theory, that Terra had seen the earthling High Priest in her realm and changed her form to something closer to his.  Once she had gone east and was around orcs and halflings, she had returned to her original form of an elf.

 

On a similar note, did he think that the Flesh Orb that had attacked Tauschun had been Clio?  They had recently found other signs of Change on the march in wheat dying in a pattern and the two-headed calf.  Uthemar wasn't certain, though he did note that Clio's sigil when she had been a tyrant had been a spiral, so intersecting lines didn't match.  Pomegranite mentioned another theory, that the Orb had been a creation of Clio, and Uthemar nodded that it would be possible for her to have Changed something into that form, but her other Path, that of Creation, was only for unliving things.  Making life from nothing would need the Path of Life.

 

Changing subjects, had Uthemar been alive at the Sealing?  Yes, he had, and he'd participated in it.  Would it be possible to seal the gods away again?  Potentially, but when they had sealed them, the tyrants had all been living in the Paths.  For that to work this time, they would have to force them back in.  Did it seem like Terra had gotten stronger since the Sealing?  Impossible to say, they had ambushed her successfully and he hadn't been at the frontline anyway.

 

Pomegranite wanted to know the elven names of the gods, which prompted Uthemar to ask why.  If the earthlings had figured something out, he'd like to know.  The spymaster divulged the details of his encounter with the White Flame Elf, who had attempted to bait him with the name Theirastra Miniamne.  Uthemar nodded and acknowledged that had been Terra's name.  What about Aerdaeth Miniamne?  That would be Astraeus.  At that point, Uthemar relented and told Pomegranite the rest of the elven names of the gods.

 

Did the gods have some sort of hierarchy with a clear leader?  No, they had been more or less equals.  Some were aligned, while others weren't, and they could probably use that against them, but it was also a double-edged sword.  For instance, Theirastra and Korellis had been quite close.  The White Flame Elf Pomegranite had met with was almost certainly Korellis, and so their meeting had gone about as well as anticipated.  Similarly, Aerdaeth and Theirastra had been wed.  Baelynna was a loner, relatively speaking, which made her a good target.

 

Pomegranite asked what he knew of the origins of the earthlings.  Consus hadn't known what they were, which meant earthlings were younger than the Sealing.  Uthemar met his gaze and, shifting to a suddenly more serious tone, asked if he was sure he wanted to know.  Pomegranite asserted that he was a scholar and so had a duty to learn, even if it was uncomfortable.  That didn't stop him from choking when Uthemar informed him that he would have to go speak with King Barrend of the dwarves to learn more.

 

Had demons existed prior to the Sealing?  In a sense; demons had existed, but Demonwars hadn't happened.  Was one of the Paths the home of the demons?  Again, yes and no, as they were the creation of Carmenta.  The Paths of Healing and Life had given rise to the demons?  Of course, what else but Life could give rise to living beings?  Again, there was good reason for the Forbidden Paths to remain sealed.  What about the horns that played prior to the Demonwar?  That was the sound of reality being torn asunder.  The drums and the silence were likely the same, but from another realm.

 

Did Uthemar know more about what order the gods would be returning in?  Pomegranite explained the apocryphal prophecies he and the rest of the triumvirate had discovered.  He didn't know; as best he could figure, Dreamers had used the Path of Prophecy to foretell of these extremely powerful mages and interpreted them as being gods.  Were the Paths a creation of the elves as well?  No, they had been the homes of the original gods prior to their slaying at the hands of the elves.  As such, the elves knew them as the Godhomes.

 

Who all knew that the earthlings were in on the secrets?  Did, say, the dwarves know?  Every elf in camp knew, but the dwarves had not been informed; Uthemar would leave that up to Pomegranite.  Lastly, if it were possible to kill the gods, which Terra's death suggested, why had they sealed them away instead of dealing with them permanently?  It was simple, really; the tyrants and their followers had been more powerful than those who opposed them, and so winning a straight fight would not have been possible.  Hopefully this time they would stand a better chance at ending things permanently.

 

Uthemar asked Pomegranite to keep this knowledge among only a select few, as he would prefer if the great shame of the elves being related to tyrants did not become public.  Pomegranite agreed, and then ran over to the dwarven camp to arrange an audience with King Barrend.  When the dwarves said something could be arranged in a few days, he put forward that it was something of deep importance regarding a conversation with Uthemar, and was brought before Barrend immediately.

 

The tent was empty except for the two of them and Prince Morkral.  Pomegranite got straight to the point, revealing they knew that the "gods" were in reality elven mages, and wanted to hear from someone who had been around at the time before they were sealed away.  Barrend admitted he had been there, but he hadn't been a king at the time so his first-hand knowledge was limited.  Pomegranite explained that during his conversation with Uthemar, the subject of where earthlings had came from had come up, and Uthemar had redirected him to Barrend.

 

The king let out a long, rumbling sigh and grumbled that, for Pomegranite especially, this would be unwelcome news.  The earthlings had been made by the dwarves to be servitors, mirroring the purpose for which the dwarves themselves had been created by the gods.  With time, they came to see the error of their ways, and freed the earthlings in an empty stretch of territory in the Highland Forests.  Pomegranite set his rage aside for the moment and asked what kind of magic they had used, as surely it would require the Path of Life, but Barrend claimed that it was only partially true.  Dwarves didn't use the Paths.

 

Taking stock of things, Pomegranite stated that this would remain a secret and that he would not tell the rest of his people.  It would be too disruptive to society.  He wanted to know if Barrend had any other thoughts on the elven gods.  The king replied that while they had made their peace with the elves that had stayed in this realm, the tyrants had enslaved them and so they were against them until their dying breaths.  Pomegranite asked on the origin of demons, and it took Barrend a moment to realize who "Carmenta" was, as the dwarves also used the elven names.  He claimed not to know anything; as he had said earlier, he had not been in any place of importance at the time.

 

As for the Demongates and their destruction, they were portals that approached part of or an aspect of what the College would call the Path of Life.  When asked whether Carmenta's presence would start another Demonwar, he was unsure.  The large time between Demonwars was believed to be the time it took for the demons to replenish their numbers, but perhaps it was easier to grow them in reality than in her former realm.  He also believed that, if Carmenta was slain, the Demonwars would end.  So long as the Forbidden Paths remained sealed, that is.

 

On the subject of the Path of Prophecy being devoured by the Void Beast, what did that mean for Somnus, the god who was associated with it?  Barrend wasn't a mage, and he didn't really know.  This was unprecedented, and the College's Paths both were and were not the Godhomes.  Perhaps Sonveliss would be injured, perhaps not.  They wouldn't know until they met him... or, he supposed, if they never did.  What about the Path of Forging, which only dwarves could access?  Barrend was cagey, stating that it had been made in secret as part of sealing the Godhomes, and that it would remain a secret.   

 

Pomegranite returned to the earthlings and went straight to Granmarg.  Despite, as Granmarg later noted, being a Magister of Secrets, he informed him of all he had learned, and they both agreed that the controversial things they had learned should be kept between the two of them.  After confirming that Granmarg was ready to learn the HORRIBLE SECRET of their creation, Pomegranite also informed him that they had been created by the dwarves to be enslaved, though Granmarg was pretty confident that their chief dwarf racist was warping the truth.  The rest of the elven names of the gods were fine to discuss with the other two members of the Triumvirate, but they would both become apoplectic if they learned the earthlings were made to be slaves.

 

Learning that the gods had formerly lived in the Paths, however, gave Granmarg an idea.  Since the Forbidden Paths were sealed and couldn't be accessed, and the problem with the "gods" was that they were great magisters, then they should seal all of the Paths.  They could then defeat the powerless "gods" at their leisure, and let the Void Beast eat the rest of the Paths so no great magisters could ever seize power again.

 

As they neared the College, the details of command began to be worked out.  Since nobody wanted to end up facing Baelynna alone, and amount of time it took to cast the spell of resisting compulsion required it, it was decided to structure the armies with command consolidated into only a few points.  Mielikki would be under Grand Magister Curzo, Pomegranite would work with Theren and Hans Hessen, and Granmarg partnered with Ulrich.  Thicket's command unit of himself, Aginor de Torelli, Prince Morkral of the dwarves, and Halimath of the elves, did not have Magister of Secrets among them, and so they would be supported by a contingent of what few Magisters they have.

 

 

Notes:

While they don't have extensive information to go on, two out of twelve of the peasants "cured" in the first wave of brain boilings suffered severe internal burns.

 

Phenomenon like the silence or the horns heralding the Demonwar have now been dubbed "Harbinger Spells" by the players.  They believe that any sufficiently powerful spell (eg the kind that only gods have been seen to cast) can cause them.

 

Earthlings weigh between 400 and 1000 pounds, lighter if they're more plantlike and heavier if they're more rocklike.  This came up when trying to figure out how heavy a calf is.  Canonically, they can't ride horses because they are too heavy.

 

Mielikki's player noted that "Terra" clearly comes from "Theirastra", while Minerva makes no sense, and so the earthlings were right about the name of their god; take that humans!  They also then went on to kill her, though, so maybe it's a wash. 

 

The names for the gods in the Imperial Faith (and earthling faith) and their associated elven names, followed by their associated Paths:
Carmenta - Claramendra Danairla - Healing and Life
Clio - Ilirial Danairla - Change and Creation

Bellona - Baelynna Shanairla - Blood and Thought

Consus - Korellis Glornadonel - Secrets and The Moon 

Astraeus - Aerdaeth Miniamne- The Sun and Animals

Minerva (Terra) - Theirastra Miniamne - Earth and Sky

Eros - Eloras Nailoran - Destruction and The Sea

Medaius - Mindartis Doltoran - Magic and The Void

Somnus - Sonveliss Doltoran - Prophecy and Death

 

Mielikki's player has been filling in the missing Outer Paths.  His progress so far involves adding Paths of Seals, Godhood, and Glintstone Sorcery.

 

The players' guesses of the Paths and the sounds associated with their tearing reality asunder: 

Horns: Life or Healing

Earthsong: Earth

Silence: Secrets, the Moon, or Void?

Drums: Change 

 

Granmarg's player has come up with the term "Archmagister" to describe the elves that rose to "godhood" because they aren't real gods.  Likewise, the sound effects (horns, drums, silence) are now "Harbingers".

 

The characters that Granmarg trusts most, Pomegranite and Ulrich, are both spymasters. 

 

Nobody picked Cliffside to be in their command unit.  I guess technically the Demonwar is over again?

 

Thicket says he doesn't need a Magister of Secrets because he has the strongest will; his squad's Will is all 12 or better.

 

Mielikki's player keeps confusing the Lumenian NPCs Felix and Philippe.  The former is a child with incredible sun magic, the latter is in his late 20s.  And yet he keeps referring to him as "this sad child whose dad just died".