GURPS Movie Replay: Event Horizon

Premise

The movie Event Horizon.  The PCs are crewmembers of the Lewis and Clark, a rescue ship that has been sent to the outer system on a secret mission.  Some spare PCs (generally the more capable ones) are in reserve in case someone dies.

 

Active Characters:

Lieutenant Commander D.J. - Trauma Doctor

Lieutenant Peters - Medical Technician

Lieutenant W.F. "Smithy" Smith - Pilot 

Ensign F.M. Justin - Engineer

 

Reserve Characters:

Captain S.J. Miller - The Captain

Lieutenant M. L. Starck - XO, Comms Officer

Lieutenant T. F. Cooper - Rescue Technician

Dr. William "Billy" "Sam Neill" Weir - Scientist working for the United States Air Command

Summary

A New Mission

The crew woke up from cryo having reached Neptunian orbit, but while the others coughed out fluid and stood up, Peters experienced a vivid dream of her child leading her through the woods.  The child ran off, and no matter how hard she ran, she couldn't catch up, and soon they were out of sight.  She woke on the floor, choking and gasping for air.  It took her a few minutes to collect herself before she could check on their ridealong, Dr. Weir, who was doing fine.  Justin made a crack about how it must be nice to have fancy healthcare, but Weir took it in stride.

 

Justin started to ask what they were doing out here, but was interrupted by Miller who said that a briefing would be held on the bridge in five minutes.  When they met up, Weir was given the floor, and he announced that they were here to rescue the Event Horizon.  Everyone gasped, as they recalled that the ship had rather famously exploded during its trial run.  Weir continued, explaining that USAC command had received a signal, garbled but definitely from the Event Horizon, a short while ago.

 

The reason they had been dispatched so urgently, is that the Horizon was not just any ship: she bore the first ever prototype gravity drive, an engine that could, theoretically, enable travel faster than light.  Everyone gasped, while DJ muttered "Impossible...", and Justin exclaimed that such an engine would defy the laws of physics!  Rather condescendingly, Weir began to explain the basics of how the drive functioned, though nobody present would understand the theory.  Essentially, graviton particles were used to form a singularity that warped spacetime itself.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 53: Path of Creation

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Preparations

The Triumvirate returned to the Highland Forests, but while the army continued home, they stopped in Socerne and Frilothurn to see the ongoing terramorphing and wait for the elves.  It was several weeks before the exhausted elven refugees arrived, and though there were only several hundred, they were accompanied by scores of animals of all kinds.  Mielikki did his best to conceal his distaste for the beasts while observing the elves, and realized that none bore any reflective items.  Likely in response to Consus and his ability to appear in mirrors.

 

After some quick discussion, it was decided that they would settle in the rural northeast.  As they did not need to eat, they would only minimally disrupt the earthlings in the region.  As Triumvirate Emperor, Uthemar could also have just ordered them to accept this, but deliberately eschewed use of his authority.  While they were getting settled, Pomegranite approached him and broached the subject of using the portal to the Path of Earth under Bedrock for the purpose of combating the Void Beast.

 

Considering their High Priest was currently indisposed and that the remaining priesthood tended to be more conservative, Uthemar noted that it might be difficult to get broader approval for such action, and decided that he should be the only non-earthling to enter initially.  When these intentions were made public, Thicket insisted that this was overstepping his authority, and required that Uthemar get the other two Triumvirate Emperors' approval.  Mielikki chimed in to request assistance from elves in exchange; those who knew about animals were to help bring back the hawk population that had collapsed in Socerne.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 52: The Liberation of Segreta

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Escape

Pomegranite came up with an excuse to separate Barbena from the rest; he wanted a dwarf to take a closer look at the stone of the step pyramid.  He extended his cloak of Secrets to cover her as well, and the two returned to the base of the structure, where instead he asked her what she really knew about this place.  She was still evasive, but admitted that, though she had never been here, the stonework appeared to be dwarven.

 

They returned, and Mielikki suggested they go back into the labyrinth and search for a way to drop the obelisk hanging from the ceiling.  It should land directly on the sarcophagus, killing the necromancer and avoiding a difficult and lengthy battle.  The others disagreed, and so they walked toward the step pyramid.  When they reached the top of the first tier, they were blinded by a green flash, followed by a peal of thunder.  They exchanged glances, Pomegranite remarked "Business as usual", and they continued up.

 

At the summit of the pyramid, they found that the sarcophagus was gone, and in its place was a smouldering hole.  Garmnrag was chosen to step up to the edge and take a look, and he reported that it was pure black inside the pyramid.  They tossed in a torch and it dropped, then bounced off of something invisible and halted.  It took a moment to realize that this must be the same stone as the light-absorbing obelisk above the pyramid.  After finding some rope, Garmnrag was lowered in, and purely by touch confirmed that this was just a rough hole.  There was no hidden chamber he could find.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 51: The Labyrinth

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Charge!

The necromancer's puppet, this time some sort of craftswoman, was in much less ornate garb than usual, though still covered in caked-on makeup to hide the decay.  Mielikki and his champions charged forward, nimbly dodging all of her spells, though Smugbrush's wrist was grabbed by her rotting hand and he could feel his life force drain away.  With a mighty swing of the flat of his Sea Sword, Mielikki bent the undead's arm back at an unnatural angle, freeing his companion, who then followed up with a thrust from his spear.

 

The puppet grasped Mielikki's neck, but was beheaded by Felix before it could begin to strangle him.  With their commander disposed for the moment, the undead hordes were driven back again, all the way back into the great stairwell that led down into the darkness of the Labyrinth.  Granmarg's forces rushed up to reinforce them, while across the river, Pomegranite made his play.  The temporary bridge bridge they had secretly prepared was deployed, and they crossed the river unopposed.  Thicket fell back from the north to follow Pomegranite.

 

The three commanders descended into the Labyrinth, while Thicket took over the combined army to hold the entrance with Curzo, Morkral, and Barrend so more undead couldn't follow.  At the same time, the necromancer's most recent puppet stopped moving, leaving the elven ghost as the only enemy commander on the surface.  For the next while, wave after wave of undead crashed into them, while the ghost took its time to fly in, wear them down with repeated blasts of ocean water and green lightning, and then retreat before they could retaliate.  Undead died by the hundreds, but under the ghost's assaults, Thicket fell and had to be carried from the field, leaving the dwarves and Curzo to assume command.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 50: Bridgecrossings

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Segreta

Curzo, Pomegranite, and Ulrich worked in concert to cast a large illusion that could be triggered at any point to "summon" a pride of lions, which would disrupt the undead when they appeared.  The other earthlings continued with their earlier preparations until they were done as more and more undead poured out of the Labyrinth.  They were already going to be in a losing battle if it came to attrition, so better to take to the field as soon as possible.

 

After their allies' retreat in the face of the unnatural lightning storm days earlier, they first had to cross the River Fiume.  Fortunately, there were a multitude of crossings, so they could pick their battles quite effectively.  Mielikki and Granmarg took the southern flank with intent to charge forward while Thicket held firm on the bank of the north bridge.  Pomegranite had a trick up his sleeve and would move up the center, where there was as yet no crossing.

 

The ghost soared across the northern bridge and tore into Thicket's west-most formation, ripping open a breach for the undead horde to flow into.  To the south, the undead advanced more evenly, and Mielikki charged to confront them while Granmarg held his flank.  Another clearly self-aware undead in nobles' clothes met Mielikki and his escort on the field and mockingly wondered aloud why they had declined to pursue negotiations.  Up close, it was clear that makeup and perfumes had been caked on to obscured the fact that this body was dead and rotting.  He pointed a finger at Mielikki accusatorily and a disembodied purple hand shot forth.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 49: Negotiations

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Torelli

There were no traces of whoever (or whatever) had broken into their tents to steal the artifacts.  From that point on, Pomegranite would ward all their tents to alarm if someone entered.  They made it to Torelli without further issue, and found it in ruin.  The great spires had tumbled and broken under the tidal wave, and a layer of silt still lingered over the countryside.  More undead worked within, but again, none came out to confront them.  While they planned their assault, a messenger arrived from the east bearing word from Emperor Uthemar.

 

The eastern force had taken the city of Liguria without encountering the necromancer controlling the undead, and had taken light casualties, but those who were wounded did not recover as they should have.  As the western force had seen, the undead only attacked when one got very close and were not guided by any kind of intelligence.  They had been concentrated in the Labyrinth and judging by their clothes, some were raised from the dead recently.  If they had been working toward some greater task was unclear.  As the necromancer was not in the east, they warned that they may be in the west.  As a final note, Luana had arrived in the Elven Forest, and then continued on to Baronde.  None of the other leadership of the League had been found.

 

The scouts returned and reported that, unlike last time, the undead were not digging a hole.  Many of the undead seemed "fresh", their flesh intact and clothes only just beginning to rot.  Of note, there were sounds of conflicts with some sort of animals around one noble estate on the outskirts.  The Triumvirate went to investigate, luring zombies away from whatever these animals were, and found a pride of lions in a menagerie.  Their cages looked to have been pried open by the undead, which the lions had then dismembered, allowing them to roam.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 48: The Influence of Death

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

On The March

While Emperors Curzo and Edelina met to discuss overarching strategy, Thicket and Mielikki got to work sorting out refugees from the League who knew the terrain and press-ganged them into their army's scouts.  The Emperors then held a briefing to present their plans.  They would split their forces, with Baronde continuing to blockade the League's northern border, while the dwarves and earthlings would march east to reinforce the elves, and the armies of Lumene and the College would go west to aid Ulrich in Tauschun.  Wrost would be delayed due to their continued suppression of the uprisings in Baronde, and when they caught up they could reinforce the blockade along the northern border.

 

This would allow Emperor Uthemar to take command of his portion of the Empire in the east.  Further, it would concentrate their greatest armies in one point such that they could then sweep along the coast, starting with the city of Liguria before proceeding on to Segreta and then Torelli.  Pomegranite and Mielikki suggested they instead travel west with the dwarves.  The elves could hold their own and that way they could enact a pincer maneuver.  Secretly, they also wanted to keep the dwarves from speaking with the elves, as the latter would no doubt insist on killing the gods, while the earthlings (or at least Mielikki) were coming to think they might need to ally with Mindartis to stop the Void Beast.  Given Somnus and Mindartis shared the same surname, it was reasonable to assume he would get involved.

 

Curzo was willing to listen to them, as they were the only ones present who had fought the undead during their last appearance under Luana when she had been possessed.  As such, he asked their opinion on whether it was even possible to divide their attention in such a way.  Mielikki informed the assembled leaders that the undead needed to be controlled to be effective, and last time they had all ceased to animate upon the destruction of Luana's crown.  This suggested that they could split their attention, as the necromancer could only be in one place at any given time.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 47: The Traitors' Due

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Escape

Shudderblight stood in Thicket's way while Friedrich and Drirtollor ran away into the night.  Thicket used his signature earth spike spell to impale his former advisor, who in turn blew a poison cloud at the soldier accompanying Thicket, who collapsed, foaming at the mouth.  Shudderblight did his best to defend himself, but was no match for Thicket, and soon collapsed from his wounds.  Still, he had done his job.  The High Priest had escaped.

 

Back in the war room, Mielikki and Granmarg discussed what to do with the surviving rebels.  Seeing as the offer of exile in exchange for surrender was declined, they now had to follow through with something more severe.  They quickly settled on execution.  Pomegranite finally finished with fighting off the barracks of soldiers he'd wandered into and returned around the same time as Thicket, who was carrying Shudderblight.  They, too, agreed with execution of the traitors, and so Mielikki hefted his headsman's axe.  The beheadings that followed would see them each lose one of their closest advisors, as well as the Marshal, the ranking priest of Sappington, and Chancellor Primrose's nephew. 

 
When it came to pursuing Friedrich Quarry, Thicket had a few ideas of where he could go next.  Either to Edelina in Lumene, claiming sanctuary in a remote monastery, or the other major earthling city, Granitehearth.  Of those, Lumene was the most likely in his mind, but they would be traveling in winter, and neither Friedrich nor Drirtollor were used to such rough travel.  With any luck, they might just die somewhere on the journey.  For now, though, the Triumvirate would have to return to Bedrock with the army, as it was only through his own mastery of logistics and Mielikki's capacity for command that they had been able to launch this winter campaign at all.  Pomegranite sent Bird ahead to inform his spy network of Friedrich's likely path.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 46: The War Room Massacre

Characters:

Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate 

 

Tea Party

Pomegranite followed Sigillaria into the personal chambers of Chancellor Primrose.  They walked around a moonlit courtyard that was underneath a thin layer of snow to a sitting room lit by flickering candlelight.  The Chancellor was waiting, and had a cup of root tea in her hands.  With some surprise, she greeted the Treefallen by his proper title, and remarked that she was apparently so uninformed that she'd not even learned that the city had fallen.

 

He corrected her: the city hadn't fallen, and he was here in the hopes that such indiscriminate violence could be avoided.  Further, he hoped they could work together to rid Sappington of the ne'er-do-wells that had taken up residence recently.  Primrose responded by asking how long exactly Pomegranite had been a priest.  He was initially confused, as he expected someone who knew his face to also know his secular College background, then realized what she was getting at.  Sentencing High Priest Friedrich Quarry to death for his actions was going beyond their remit, and clearly in her eyes, the responsibility of determining the natures of gods and demons belonged with the temples.

 

In turn, Pomegranite pointed out that the city was surrounded, and she was, for the moment, implicated with the High Priest's rebels.  Primrose took a sip of her tea.  The two then had a polite conversation over tea.  While doubling down on the claim that the gods were demons, Pomegranite learned that Primrose was clearly sympathetic to Friedrich, and had given him sanctuary because she herself believed in syncretizing the earthling and Imperial faiths.  She also clearly resented the Triumvirate for leaving herself (and presumably, other provincial leaders) out of the rather important decisions they were making.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 45: Schism

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

 

Sunset

Astraeus breathed out another cone of flame, knocking Garmnrag over, and then followed up with a savage series of kicks that battered his prone form until he was unconscious.  Thicket was also set alight, then hit by a concentrated sunbeam shortly, and fell, unmoving.  A kick that feinted low before rising to his jawline felled Smugbrush.  For all that, more earthlings, now including Mielikki and Pomegranite, rushed in as reinforcements, and they still had more in reserve.

 

With Morkral leading by example, the rest of the earthlings continued to wear down Astraeus, their blows gouging dents into the god's golden body.  Astraeus spun and attempted a knee-strike at the dwarf, but Morkral deflected it with his shields and pushed him off-balance.  Groutite rushed up and slashed twice with his zweihander, severing the gods' neck and finally killing him.  They then smashed the body until nothing remained but some traces of gold dust.

 

Now, though, they had a political problem. Terra's assassination had occurred in secret, and Baelynna had not been accepted as a god by anyone outside of Halberst, but Astraeus had the backing of the Imperial Faith and the assembled armies of the Highland Forests and the dwarves had seen him slain.  While many earthlings no doubt believed that Astraeus was a lesser deity and that Terra was supreme among the pantheon, it wasn't an overwhelming majority.  Worse still, High Priest Friedrich Quarry had all-but adopted the Imperial Faith, along with its doctrine of Astraean Supremacy.  Word of this would reach the populace and worse, Edelina in Lumene.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 44: Astraeus, God of the Sun and Animals

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

 

Twin Flames

Pomegranite used his Path of Secrets to lure Astraeus into a trap with illusions, but his reactions were strange.  Visual illusions didn't seem to work on the god at all, while tactile illusions stopped working after initial success.  It took the two in combination to finally trick him into a cave, away from the flammable forest.  Granmarg, Thicket, Morkral, and some of their advisors followed him in.  Astraeus came to a halt and spun around, asking who they were.  Granmarg started to say that he was here to put him under, and was then interrupted as the god breathed a plume of dragon's fire.

 

Everyone dove out of the way, just as a second jet of white flame shot out, also centered on Granmarg.  In response, Granmarg charged in, and launched a flurry of punches.  Astraeus expertly parried several of the blows with his bare hands, but the last made it through.  A clang resounded through the cave as Granmarg's stone fist deflected off the god's golden body.  Thicket realized that Astraeus' golden body was a similar (and superior) magic to the reinforced stone the earthlings used to enhance their armour and weapons.

 

Thicket followed Granmarg, trying to keep the Astraeus penned in, but the god retaliated by spinning on the spot and bludgeoning him with a dozen rapid blows that overwhelmed his defenses, and then continued by shooting a beam of pale fire behind himself at Granmarg.  The others did their best to crowd in around Astraeus, but he proved nimble and evaded them, bouncing from foe to foe, firing beams of alternating gold and pale flame at all those around him.  He would before always eventually return to pummeling Granmarg with a strange martial art involving rapid strikes with his fists, elbows, forearms, and knees.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 43: Forest Fire

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

 

Anticlimax

Mielikki tried to stop the fighting, while Mindartis turned and zapped Morkral in the back with a bolt of lightning.  In retaliation, King Barrend swung his poleaxe and gouged a chunk out of the prismatic god's thigh.  Felix imbued his sword with magic, and the blade melted away as pure energy took its place.  Realizing that they knew how to get through his defenses, Mindartis flew up and well out of reach.

 

Granmarg had other ideas, and, in a flash of lightning, jumped thirty feet into the air, then grabbed Mindartis in a ring of electricity.  The plan was for this to drag him back down when Granmarg fell, but instead, Mindartis snapped his fingers and the ring, as well as the rest of Granmarg's magic, dissipated.  Felosial the elf shouted something in elvish, and apparently it was insulting enough that Mindartis turned and focused his spells on her, while she acrobatically dodged out of the way.

 

Again, Mielikki insisted that they listen to him.  With Eva dead, they would be unlikely to stop the Void Beast, but Mindartis, as God of Magic and the Void, could help.  They needed to cooperate now, regardless of anything that had happened in the past.  Rather surprisingly, most of those present were swayed.  Hans Hessen sighed and agreed, followed by Rada, who shouldered his hammer.  Felix, only a youth, deferred to his elders, and his sword of light flickered and dissipated.  Barrend and Morkral got into a shouting match in dwarvish.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 42: Blood and The Void

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

 

Goddess of Blood

Baelynna swung her dozen swords at Theren in rapid succession while he observed her technique while nimbly deflecting all of her strikes.  He noticed that her many-jointed arms were made of liquid blood, but the joints themselves partially solidified the moment before she struck.  Curzo and Ulrich attacked while she was distracted, casting a barrage of dozens of magic missiles and flinging a weighted wooden scroll at her, but all of the projectiles harmlessly passed through her body.  In return, Baelynna turned and flung a gobbet of blood at Curzo.  The projectile crystalized midair into a cluster of daggers that gouged into his chest and then melted away.

 

While he was still reeling from the new holes in his torso, Baelynna held out two of her hands and squeezed them together, as though she were wringing out a cloth.  This spell caused Curzo's blood to erupt from his wounds, mouth, and eyes.  Theren forced her attention back to him with his own flurry of strikes which failed to wound but drove her further back and onto the dais of her throne.  As she moved, two of her arms swung out at Pomegranite, and he moved to block with his knives.  He had fallen for her feint, and realized too late that the true attack was from the tangle of shortswords she had instead of hair, which cut through his stone armour and deep into his skull.

 

As Pomegranite retreated clutching his temple, Halimath leapt forward into the gap to keep up the pressure.  Aginor cast a cloud of void magic that caught Baelynna by surprise, and in her haste to avoid it she fell over, then scrambled back to her feet, spinning wildly and striking at all those around her in a storm of blades.  Between all these acrobatics, she was left off-balance, which left her unable to defend against Theren.  He leaned down and struck with his sword, severing one of Baelynna's feet at the ankle, which splattered onto the stone when it landed.  She tumbled to the floor, then propped herself up on her many arms like a bladed spider.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 41: Driven Into A Corner

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

 

Earth Duel

Thicket couldn't keep up with the human cavalry, and by the time he arrived at the front lines the College's barricades had already been broken through in all but one spot where a pile of horses and bodies filled the street.  On closer inspection, they had been impaled on earthen spikes.  He spotted the magister who had taken command after Eva's death, and strained to remember who she was.  Her name was Fronicka, a human, who bore a brooch of Minerva, suggesting she was a magister of the Path of Earth.  To demonstrate what a real terramorpher could do, he began with his signature technique of flinging stone spikes from her blind spot.

 

Fronicka spun and managed to catch the spikes, then took a step forward and flung them back at him.  Thicket stood still, shocked, as all three spikes slammed into his torso.  In a stroke of luck, they were deflected by his stone armour.  The two then both began to churn the earth beneath each other, and though Fronicka stumbled and fell, Thicket's next spike only grazed her.  With her soldiers flagging, she was forced to withdraw, and the Imperial forces gave chase as their foes routed.

To the east, Mielikki's army exchanged barrages with Mindartis, the former using massed archers while the latter again detonated a single massive orb of magic.  Baelynna advanced and seized control of their rear guard with her compulsion, while Granmarg's troops advanced under bombardment from the magisters formerly commanded by Jasper.  The two forces collided, and Granmarg hunted down their new commander, a magister of the Path of Blood named Madalena.  She barely managed to avoid his first few strikes, then summoned a hammer from the blood of the bodies around them.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 40: Mindartis Doltoran, God of Magic and the Void

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

 

Friendly Fire

The enormous glowing orb above Mindartis vanished as he waved one hand and a wide black circle appeared on the ground, surrounding Mielikki and Felosial the elf.  They scrambled out of the way, with Felosial rushing past barricades to Mindartis himself, who was supported by an orcish magister.  Mielikki broke to the left to deal with an old man holding a walking stick.  The prismatic god struck out with one hand at Felosial, dodged both that strike and a bolt of lightning loosed from his other hand.  Mindartis continued his assault with a kick to the neck, but Felosial parried with her bow.

 

On the far side of the street, Mielikki knocked the elderly magister to the ground with one swing of the headsman's axe, and a swing of the man's stick only bounced off of the earthling's hardened stone armour.  Grand Magister Curzo and Barbena the dwarf judiciously avoided the circle and ran to the right, closing with a pale human woman in a poofy dress who bore a painted parasol displaying an echidna.  Felosial, so busy fending off Mindartis' endless wave of attacks, failed to notice when the orc cast a magic missile, and the bolt of magic bludgeoned her right side.  She turned to retaliate, but the orc retreated out of reach.

 

The circle filled in, the ground inside turning black as night, before it expanded up into a sphere and collapsed inward, taking with it everything inside and leaving a perfectly round crater several feet deep.  Another circle appeared under Felosial's feet, and she sidestepped to avoid it, but took a blow to the collarbone and was left reeling.  Barbena won the scuffle on the right, submerging the parasol-wielding magister in sand, and moved to flank Mindartis.  Likewise, Mielikki finished off the old man on the left, and Felosial even managed to take the orc out with an arrow to the throat, though she was then knocked to the cobblestones by a blow from the god.

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 39: The Siege of the Imperial College

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

 

Preparations

For their assault on the College, the army would split in three, with the large vanguard elements flanking the city while the main thrust pushed through the north wall.  Mielikki made a point of running into Pomegranite to inquire about what he had learned from the elves, and the spymaster told him the elven names of the rest of the gods as well as that demons were a creation of Carmenta.  As he had discussed with Granmarg, he left out the fact that the earthlings had been created as a slave race by the dwarves.

 

As they drew near the College's high walls of white stone, Curzo pointed out a particular tower beyond, topped with a polished brass dome, which had been the life's work of High Magster of the Sun Jasper Sunmeadow.  It was a weapon, and would fire scorching beams of sun magic at them until it was disabled.  Empress Edelina might have been able to make use of it, but she was on the west flank. When they were establishing their camp outside of the range of the College's defenses, Pomegranite's chosen scouts reported sightings of a transparent floating elf whose form shifted between the colours of the rainbow.  The commanders assembled and after some discussion it was accepted that, regardless of who (or what) this was, they were acting as an ally to the usurper Baelynna who would share her fate.

 

In secret, the members of the inner circle met, and Uthemar reckoned that this was Medaius, or in elven, Mindartis Doltoran, god of Magic and the Void.  This made things more dangerous; if they failed to kill either him or Baelynna on the field, it meant that their plan to corner her would now likely result in them having to fight two gods simultaneously.  Though they didn't know exactly how strong gods were supposed to be, they did know that they could be slain.

 

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.

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!

 

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 36: Running in Circles

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

 

Threats Old and New

While the Triumvirate were preparing for the journey to Wrost to find Curzo, they heard news from Lumene.  In the dead of winter, demons had attacked Baron Hugo's manse outside Mont Villay, and he and his daughter had been slain.  Empress Edelina had called the armies of Tauschun and the Segretan League to aid in tracking down the demons, but had declined to call on the provinces of the Empire that did not fall under her authority.  The earthlings continued with their plan and left the Highland Forests with only their personal retinues.

 

Once they were in Lumene, they heard more dire news: when the sun god Astraeus had returned, Edelina, her brother Eremon, and many other nobles had been there to meet him, when demons had attacked.  Many were slain, including Eremon, while Edelina had been gravely wounded.  At this point, Mielikki realized that the Segretan army would naturally march through Halberst, where they would likely fall under the dominion of Queen Baelynna.  To counter this, Pomegranite dispatched his bird, Bird, to Ulrich with an ensorcelled letter that only he would be able to read, asking for him to attempt to convince the Segretan leadership to march around and through Baronde instead.

 

The rest of their journey through the borderlands of Lumene was uneventful, and they proceeded down a series of gentle slopes into the marshes and swamplands of the Grand Duchy of Wrost.  Confusingly, the grand duchy was named after the capitol, so their journey to Wrost wasn't over yet.  On their way, they heard no news of Consus, which was likely due to him being god of secrets, but many had fled the city when the mazes had appeared.  Indeed, on arriving in the orcish city, they found that it was still struggling with the aftermath, and that many thoroughfares now suddenly ended in a ten foot blue stone wall.

GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 35: Expanding the Inner Circle

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

 

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.)