Path To Godhood Session 9: The Three Lions

Characters:

Ajax Karo   -   Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and Plagues
Neilos   -   Aspiring God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis   -   Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths

The Assembly

The Tetrarchs sat on a raised dais, while Neilos made his case for instituting public trials, the Urbosan nobility in the crowd arguing with each other and him over the proposal.  One horrified noble asked if he was planning to cancel public executions; the crowd gasped, and one noblewoman fainted.  The ensuing discussion about whether trials overseen by the Tetrarchs would help stop the Eniadnan spies took several hours, and was only settled when Pan Metaxas intervened and brought up that the nobility would appreciate the new trials if they were accused of espionage.

It was all for show, as the gods had already secured the votes of three of the Tetrachs, and after some haggling between Pan and Lamia Michelakis, the new law was instituted.  The assembly continued on, but the gods left; they didn't care about the nobility's struggles with crops being seized by the battling armies on the highlands.  Instead, they headed to Natasa's to check in on the Acantha situation.  After a short wait in the lounge, Natasa emerged from the dungeon, lightly spattered with blood.  Apparently Acantha had given up enough of her co-conspirators that they were confident they could take down most of the spy ring, so they could start the trial the next day.

The Trial

The trial was held in the city's amphitheatre, dug into the base of Mt. Fotia, with nobles looking down from hot-spring balconies.  The Tetrarchs held court, with Neillos behind Pan, and Acantha was brought out.  The evidence Arethusa had found in her quarters turned out to be orders signed by an imperial official, and several co-conspirators testified that Acantha was the leader.  It wasn't particularly dramatic, but she was found guilty and sentenced to death.

As the case concluded, Neilos glowed with the familiar light that came with fulfilling a prophecy.  He remembered how to create blinding flashes of light, and the memories of the ancient script became clearer, though not absolute.  Unfortunately, he also forgot more of his past life.  His recall of how to drive a wagon withered, and the events of the last 5 years were entirely gone.  He had to continually be argued down that it wasn't "his turn" to seek out a prophecy, because he'd just done one, and he became more withdrawn.

The Three Lions

Ajax won rock-paper-scissors against Steidis, so the gods went north to go fulfill his prophecy.  Recalling his visions from the Oracle's temple, he decided to go to the woman candidate's great stone fortress first.  On the way, Ajax tried to hunt small game to drain for more life, but the area had apparently been thoroughly scoured by the armies, because he found nothing.  The first candidate's fortress was imposing, with multiple protruding towers and a dry moat, with un-uniformed soldiers standing guard.

Neilos was able to talk their way past the guards by announcing their divinity and claiming to have information on the other camps for the lady of the fortress, and they were escorted into the inner wooden keep.  Along the way, they noted that the constructions all looked brand new.  Inside, they found the candidate and a group of soldiers looking over a map of the region, with wooden carvings representing troop positions.  As the gods entered, the candidate dismissed the soldiers.

The gods introduced themselves, and she declared herself to be Pirus, the god of war.  She asked what they wanted, and Ajax stated that they were working with the Tetrarchs of Urbos to try to resolve the situation on the highlands as quickly as possible, and were willing to offer help, though he was deliberately vague.  His goal was to get her to ask for help in some specific way, so that he could turn her down, as per his prophecy.  Pirus was suspicious, and declined the offer, explaining that while their experience might have been different, she'd been locked in battle with her rivals for about a month.

Ajax asked her to keep them in mind if any troubles arose, and the gods left.  After leaving, they tracked down the water source her army was using (a pool a short distance away) and Ajax used his powers to create dysentery there to cripple her forces.  They then travelled across the highlands to the camp of the old man.  The stone fortress that had been under construction in Ajax's vision was now completed, and looked identical to the one they had just left.

Neilos talked their way past the lax soldiers at the gate, and they were lead to the rear of the fortress where the old man was at work, drawing stone towers up from the ground.  Ajax approached the old man, who also introduced himself as Pirus, and pretended to offer their assistance in ending the conflict.  He also wasn't interested, claiming that he and his forces could last within his fortress, though he noted that he wanted to get his hands on the sculpture that stood in front of the oracle's temple.

As before, the gods took their leave, and Ajax infected their water supply (Ajax: "How about cholera this time?").  In the process, however, he drew in too much excess energy and fell unconscious.  Neilos and Steidis carried him to the nearest village, but on the way darkness fell.  Neilos used his power to create light around himself to avoid his fear of the dark, and this obvious display of his divinity (plus an offer to fight back if the village came under attack) secured them a place to sleep.

The next morning, Ajax had recovered, and the gods trekked out to the short man's fortress.  It was much less fortified than the other two, mostly earthwork with wooden walls, but the soldiers here wore uniforms (a red tabard) and looked more alert.  Despite this, Neilos trivially talked their way past, and they were taken to a field where the short man, wearing a bronze breastplate, was overseeing the training of his soldiers.

Ajax recognized him as the candidate from Metros, and made the usual introductions and off of aid (this man, too, referred to himself as Pirus).  Pirus 3 seemed cocky, and assured them that this conflict would be over soon; there had initially been six candidates, and he had already eliminated three.  Still, it could go faster.  He asked if Ajax, as god of the dead, could go to some of the battlefields around the highlands and raise the dead to fight for him.

Claiming for such actions to be "against the nature of things", Ajax refused the request (as he had to for his prophecy).  Pirus 3 grinned savagely, and replied that the Kostis he remembered wouldn't have cared, then questioned Ajax's capability.  Ajax warned him to tread carefully, and Steidis jumped in to advise that if they came to blows, there would be great losses on both sides.  Pirus 3 ordered them out of his sight, and the gods left, their work done.

The Sea of Ghosts

Figuring the diseases Ajax had created would take several days to infect the camps, the gods headed back to Urbos to work on one of Steidis' prophecies.  On the way, Ajax trapped a deer, but failed the check to drain its life, and Neilos noted that some hair had sprouted from his formerly bald head.  Steidis was being cagey about what the prophecy entailed, so Neilos used his powers to get the truth: he'd have to plunge into the Sea of Ghosts, aka the Bay of the Dead.  There was something else about his mortal life turning to ash, but Steidis explained that that just referred to his family dying or something.

He'd need two things: a boat, and a pilot.  Steidis walked down to the docks and asked every captain he could find if they'd be interested in sailing through the Bay of the Dead, but they all told him that only a madman would do such a thing.  Eventually, they tracked down rumours of just that madman: One-Eyed Giorgios.  He had been the only survivor of an attempted voyage through the Bay, losing his entire crew and family as well as his eye.  Giorgios drank his way through the taverns, relying on the pity of others.

The gods tracked him down fairly easily, though by the time they'd found him, he was blind drunk.  Steidis asked if he'd be willing to voyage back into the Bay to "get abstract vengeance".  Perhaps due to his inebriated state, Giorgios was just confused, so Steidis offered him a boat.  That got him on board, now they just needed a boat.  None of them had any money left, though, so they'd have to make do with whatever natural materials they could scrounge up.  Neilos asked if Steidis could extract metal from the earth with his powers, which got him thinking.

They headed up to the rim of the caldera of Mt Fotia, and looked down at the magma below.  Steidis found his fire powers came more easily here, and he created a "mini-volcano", from which he extracted molten metal and drew it up and out to himself in perfect spheres.  Though he still needed to turn that metal into a boat, the metal extraction had worn him out, and he decided to rest and recover first.  Ajax was running low on time to live, so the gods went back to the highlands and ambushed a patrol of the short man's soldiers.  In the end, they only managed to take one alive, but Ajax drained him successfully for another seven days.  Neilos grabbed the soldiers' uniforms and the metal parts of their equipment for later use.

After another 3 days of rest, Steidis returned to the caldera and forged the metal spheres into a 7m long boat, but took in so much energy that it burned him out and he fell unconscious.  The next day, they brought it down to the docks, and Steidis tracked down Giorgios, then brought him to see his boat.  The entire vessel, including the sail, was made from a thin layer of shimmering bronze, and embossed with Steidis' hammer and flame icon.  A single tear rolled down Giorgios' grimy face and, his voice cracking with emotion, he asked its name.

Steidis told Giorgios that, as it was his ship, he could be the one to name it (though he had been planning on calling it "Familybreaker").  Remembering Steidis' initial argument, Giorgios named it the "Vengeance", and asked Steidis if he was ready to meet their destinies.  Steidis responded "I like you, mortal", and, after Neilos harvested some lumber for a pyre (in case Steidis needed to light himself on fire again), the group rowed out into the sea and towards the Bay of the Dead.  On the way, Steidis checked with Giorgios if he was sober, but the mad sailor replied that he sailed better drunk (Ajax: "He'd probably die if we tried to get him sober" Neilos: "He probably wouldn't do this at all if he was sober").

In case of an emergency, Neilos asked Girgios how he'd survived the Bay last time, but the drunkard couldn't recall.  That wouldn't do, so Neilos revealed his secrets, and learned that he had passed out and gone completely limp.  After a while, they came up to the edge of the whirlpool and jagged rocks of the Bay.  Steidis fashioned some chain from the weapons they'd taken from those soldiers and fastened it to his ankle, then dove in and went limp, letting the whirlpool take him.

The other gods saw the familiar golden light, signifying the completion of his prophecy, and Steidis pulled himself back onto the boat by the chain.  He'd completely forgotten his family, and his memories of being a warrior continued to slowly slip away, but he remembered how to Create Fire, and recalled more of his divine skills.  Giorgios rowed them back into Urbos, and thanked Steidis for giving his life meaning again by helping him achieve abstract vengeance against the ocean (Steidis: "No problem, the power was within you the whole time.  Also the power of friendship.  And my god powers").

The Lioness

Ajax checked out the sculpture from in front of the Oracle's temple that Pirus 2 had been interested in.  It was a 10' solid stone statue of a woman with her arms held open, standing in a pool of bubbling water; since they didn't have an easy way to move it, he resolved to let that go for now.  He then asked Steidis if he could weaponize one of the mirror shards for use against the Lions, and while he could reshape them near-instantly with his powers, the metal would burn him horrifically when he touched it, so he'd want a few days of rest first.

After the requisite rest, Steidis attempted to reforge a shard into a "shiv" for Ajax, but succeeded only at burning his hands horrifically in the few seconds he handled it.  At least they learned something new: anything that was attached to the shard (like cloth wrappings to make a hilt) seemed to shortly become "contaminated" by it and burned as well.  With that, the gods headed back to Pirus 1's fortress in the highlands, figuring it might be easier to fight their way out of.

The soldiers had clearly been hit hard, and even those standing guard were sweaty and pale.  The gods were brough before Pirus 1 again, and she asked what had changed.  Ajax noted the disease afflicting her camp, and offered his assistance again.  She agreed that she could use help, but her request was suprising: "do not use your powers to create a deadly plague that kills the other two Pirus candidates".  Neilos whispered that she may have a prophecy that requires her to kill them personally.  Ajax refused, but she didn't seem upset.

Notes:

Prophecy Scoreboard:

Neilos    3

Steidis    2

Ajax       1

Missing Memories:

Neilos     Family, Mortal Name, The Last 5 Years

Steidis    Mortal Name, Family

Ajax       Mortal Appearance

Ajax Life Expectancy: 7 days

As before, Pirus 1/2/3 is just a convenient shorthand here, and was not used in-game.  As a matter of fact, I forgot to introduce them as Pirus at all during the session, so they were just referred to as "'woman" "old man" and "short man".

Steidis claimed that Giorgios was his first "Seaman of Steidis".

Almost got 3 prophecies done in one session.  Probably could have if we'd had a bit more time, but we started half an hour late and ended a bit early.