Characters:
Ajax Karo - Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and PlaguesNeilos - Aspiring God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis - Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths
Conspiracy
The black queen's guard formed a tight circle around her at the sight of the bodies, while Neilos explained that they had attacked him and tried to free the prisoner. She conceded that there did seem to be something untowards happening, which prompted Neilos to give her the list of co-conspirators they'd gained previously. Fortunately, none of her personal guard were on the list, but many of the others were powerful Mantean nobles. From there, they discussed what would happen to the surviving "assassins".
Regardless of the gods' divinity, if someone had tried to assassinate someone in the palace, that would be an affront to the authority of the queens, which would merit a death sentence. Even if they were only there to free the prisoner, they had brought weapons into the palace, which was punishable by a period of enslavement. Ajax asked if they might be able to mete out their own justice, as the authority of the gods superseded that of the queens.
The black queen agreed, and offered up three of the six survivors for them to do with as they wished, though she also pointed out that they were technically violating the prohibitions on weapons with their presence. Regardless, she dropped the issue, and Ajax Life Drained one of the survivors to heal Neilos' wounds while making an extremely chilling declaration on the perils of defying the gods. As that display concluded, the queen asked if they had any more evidence. She trusted their word, of course, but something more concrete might sway those who doubted them.
Neilos went back to the prisoner, still restrained by an overgrown houseplant, and Revealed his Secrets. First, he got the man to confirm that he had attempted to kill them with poison at the party the night before; the black queen gasped. Second, he got him to restate that he was a member of The Circle's End. Third, he was asked to list off the co-conspirators, which confirmed the gods' statement, and the white queen's complicity; the black queen gasped again.
Ajax asked the black queen what she wanted to do about this, but she was unsure. There was no precedent to go off, and, through the white queen and other powerful nobles, this cell of The Circle's End held quite a bit of power. If she were to attempt to unseat them with a coup, it could easily end in her own death, so she wasn't too enthusastic. To try such a thing, she would want the gods' assurance that they would assist her. Ultimately, though, this was an issue for the gods, so she asked what they wanted.
They debated for a while on what course of action to take. Only Ajax still needed to eat or drink at all, and he could most likely detect the poison in the future, not to mention that The Circle's End probably wouldn't try the same thing twice after tipping their hand. They'd like to have another potential god-killing weapon, but it certainly wasn't necessary. Ajax remembered that the reliefs in The Pit showed two queens, so they definitely would need to maintain the dual-monarchy. The black queen wasn't in favour of this, because it meant erasing the one benefit she would gain.
Ultimately, the gods decided that they had little to gain from destroying the cell, and informed the black queen that they weren't going to be assisting. She was somewhat annoyed, but agreed that it might be for the best. With that, they said their goodbyes and headed out back into the city. Shortly, a woman ran up to them, out of breath: Evenia 1 (now with an eyepatch)! Evenia 1 told them that someone had stolen the Still Harp, and she needed help getting it back. In exchange, she had found The Pit, and could guide them there.
Loose Ends
Ajax explained that they had already been to The Pit, so they'd need some other information. Neilos asked for help fighting a "wind-beast headless ape", or the location of a candidate of Keti, the goddess of the wind. After a moment, Evenia 1 exasperatedly shouted out "Fuck", and ran off. Ajax wanted to try his hand at creating the horrible plague at The Pit, while Neilos figured he could talk to plants in the canyons to find out more about the Sussurus. They decided to go to The Pit first.
After the day's journey, they descended down the many steps to the temple, and Ajax tried his luck. Unfortunately, though he was able to create a rabidly infectious disease, it possessed no symptoms, so they moved on. They noted the engravings on the wall, and concluded that the headless bird, skull with tongue, and Drakkon were likely the "Bringers of Toxin" that he'd need to harvest poison from, then re-examined the triptych relief in the room that had held the plague censor. That done, they followed the tone of the Sussurus, to interrogate a cactus that had seen it.
Apparently, the cactus also wasn't a fan of the stone ape, as it had come by and shredded its friend (another cactus) by rubbing against it. Neilos asked if it had been able to tell how it made its noise, but it wasn't anything obvious. The cactus did offer up what it had seen: the Sussurus was made of coarse, black, pockmarked stone, that at certain angles you could almost see through. Slightly larger than a human, it walked around on all fours, and had no head.
Though it had heard the sound of the Sussurus before, the cactus hadn't seen it before now. Ajax got Neilos to ask how windy it had been, and apparently it had only been slightly breezy, which suggested it didn't create wind on its own. Neilos said farewell to the plant (Cactus: "I hope to see you again, my liege"), and remarked that he would need a Keti who could control the wind to deal with the wind-beast. As there was nothing left to do in Mantea, the gods set sail to Urbos.
Return to Urbos
As they disembarked, the gods once again took in the sight of the sparkling crystal clear hot springs beside the white stone buildings and blue tile roofs (Neilos: "I feel nothing"). A trio of criers were advertising for brave souls to go find glory and the favour of the god of war by joining up with their army, but each was apparently advertising for a different Pirrus; the names of the armies given were The Army of Pirrus, The Companions of the Lion, and The Crimson Band. That at least confirmed that there were still three candidates still around.
An attempt to turn up signs of a Keti candidate came up empty, so, after a quick check-in on Chelak (still in stasis, still a bear) the gods headed to the Temple of the Oracle to receive more clarifications on their prophecies. Several petitioners, including Lamia Michelakis, were waiting in the entry hall, and Yianna was still standing guard at the lectern. Ajax greeted her, and she asked if they'd seen Ursula recently; Neilos, having forgotten their relationship, replied that Ursula wasn't here because she never wanted to see her again.
Through a clenched jaw, Yianna told them that it didn't matter, as the Oracles would come out here to drag them in if she didn't just send them in immediately. Neilos realized that he wasn't in the mood to talk to people and walked back outside to stare at a wall some more, while Ajax and Steidis walked through the temple and into the Oracle's chamber. As per usual, a young girl speaking with the voice of an adult greeted them as uncles and asked what they wanted to know.
Ajax asked after the prophecies of Pirrus, but the Oracle brusquely refused. He and Steidis asked after their own prophecies instead, and attempted to inhale the prophetic vapors themselves, but gained no visions. They did learn the following from the Oracle:
- "The Razored Tongue" was a musician of sorts, widely hated but protected by his station. She was gifted with the ability to instantly see a person's greatest flaws, but they could not stay silent.
- The "Betrayal" in one of Steidis' prophecies referred to him abandoning his mortal duties (as a warrior in service of Metros)
They said goodbye to the gaggle of Oracles and emerged from the temple to find Neilos standing beside the gently bubbling fountain, staring directly into the sun. After rousing him, they discussed how to go about dealing with the Pirrus candidates, as Ajax still had to deny a request from Old Pirrus. He also had to kill the other two to deny Lady Pirrus' request, but that would obviously have to wait.
Ajax recalled that Old Pirrus had jokingly asked that they bring him the statue in front of the temple, but looking at the 12-foot stone woman with her arms spread wide, that would be quite the challenge. Steidis disagreed, and used his powers to animate the statue. As it stepped off of its plinth and out of the fountain, an old lady ran up and warned him that removing the statue from the temple would, according to legend, cause Mt. Fotia to erupt!
Steidis remarked that that sounded good to him, so he had the statue continue, at which point, the volcano that Urbos was built into did indeed erupt with a thunderous explosion. The sky grew black as ash filled the skies, and chunks of molten rock crashed into the streets. Realizing that the volcano was going to do more damage than he had thought, he used his powers to reverse the eruption of the volcano. The ash and rock flew back up and into the caldera, as if time was flowing backwards.
Denying The Lions
The gods paraded out of the city as the streets filled with people cheering them for "saving" them, Steidis riding on the statue's shoulder. On the way to Old Pirrus' camp, Steidis spotted a patrol of scouts in service to Soldier Pirrus, who were visibly panicked upon seeing the statue. He pointed at them, and they bolted. The next day, when they arrived to find Old Pirrus' fortress had grown, and the grounds outside were littered with ruined battering rams and ladders, alongside a partially-built earthwork ramp that had been abandoned.
Where once had been a single low wall, there were now four concentric layers, each higher than the last. The guards were confused at the sight of the statue, and asked them to halt while they fetched their godly commander; shortly, Old Pirrus emerged from the inner-most circle, creating walkways between the walls as he went, then descending down. With a smile on his face, he ordered the gate opened, and invited the gods in to the first courtyard.
Old Pirrus asked how they'd gotten the statue out here, and Steidis and the statue both looked at each other then shrugged, which elicited a chuckle. He apologized for his earlier rudeness, and explained that he'd assumed they'd been working for Lady Pirrus. She and her Companions of the Lion had stolen his old fort out from under him after he fell for a trick and moved his forces out. He asked Steidis if he'd done anything to strengthen the statue, and when he shook his head, a soldier brought forth a hammer.
The old man raised himself up on an earthwork platform, then brought the hammer down on the head of the statue until it cracked open, revealing a glint of metal. As he drew what turned out to be sword from the stone, he was surrounded by the golden light that came with fulfilling a prophecy (Ajax: "Ah, lovely" Neilos: "Yes, we have to strengthen our gods before we kill them"). Triumphant, Old Pirrus asked what they wanted in return for delivering this great boon to him.
Steidis in turn asked for him to make a request of Ajax. Old Pirrus, clearly confused, asked Ajax if he could ward the fortress against disease, but he was the god of spreading diseases, not preventing them. As that wasn't an option, he instead asked Ajax to inflict a plague upon Lady Pirrus' fortress as revenge for her stealing it away from him. As per his prophecy, Ajax refused. Old Pirrus confusedly looked back and forth at their group for a while, then shook his head.
Neilos attempted to convince Old Pirrus to help attack Soldier Pirrus, but he refused, claiming that his walls her invulnerable and he would not risk this fortress by moving his army out. Steidis grew bored and asked what he knew about the Fotian Lion, as he needed its golden hide. While he wasn't a local, his soldiers were familiar with it, and it had attacked some of his men. He told them what he knew:
- It posesses metallic golden hide
- It has a lion's head surrounded by twelve legs, like spokes on a wheel
- It is not particularly strong, but is almost entirely unkillable
- It lives in the caldera of Mt Fotia, and is immune to its heat
- It regenerates from its wounds with frightful speed
- According to legend, the only way to stop its regeneration is with a weapons fashioned from its own bones
Now that Old Pirrus was of no further use, Ajax raised a hand and infected him with a rapid-onset wasting disease; however, he took in excess energy while doing so, making it obvious that he was using his powers. While his soldiers raised their weapons, Pirrus simply asked what Ajax had done. He explained that there was definitely another Kostis candidate in the area, so he'd just wanted to check to make sure he hadn't tried to infect Pirrus with any diseases. Fortunately, he had a clean bill of health! Old Pirrus, though suspicious, bought this fiction and let them go.
They decided to head to the camp of Soldier Pirrus next, to finish off Lady Pirrus' reverse request. On the way, Ajax trapped and drained a rabbit to recover from the burn injuries that came with challenging excess godly energy, then Neilos created a plant that would assist in the work to come. At the camp, Ajax snuck up alone, then attempted to create an airborne disease capable of killing gods using the plague censor and Neilos' toxic plant. When he hadn't returned after a while, Neilos and Steidis followed Ajax's tracks and found him unconscious, having knocked himself out due to backlash from his powers.
A day later they arrived back at Pan Metaxes' estate, where they stayed until Ajax had recovered from his wounds. The idea of hunting the Fotian Lion was brought up but dismissed, as they had no way of dealing with the heat of the volcano. Once Ajax was ready, they decided to head back to Metros, where they had a number of prophecies to complete and a bird to hunt.
Notes:
Prophecy Scoreboard:
Neilos 5
Steidis 4Ajax 2
Old Pirrus +1
Missing Memories:
Neilos Family, Mortal Name, The Last 5 Years, Childhood, Most Precious Memory (His Horse, Daisy)
Steidis Mortal Name, Family, Childhood, Most Precious Memory (His Mentor)
Ajax Mortal Appearance, Most Precious Memory (His First Hunt)
Evenia 1 rolled a nat 18 on her IQ roll to see if she knew anything. She did not.
The engravings on the walls of the Pit's Temple: 
The triptych relief shows scenes of:
- People dead or dying in the streets and harbour of a major port city.
- A burning library
- A split panel which depicted the throne room of the Divided Palace, including the two queens covered in horrible boils
Though they've decided to go elsewhere for now, they suggested either dunking the Sussurs underwater or submerging it in magma as possible ways of silencing it.
The players figure every god will eventually get a "fast travel" ability. According to them, Ajax's will be "coffin fast travel", where he punches his way out of a coffin at his destination.
Steidis' exact quote when confronted by the old lady about the statue and the volcano was "Hmm volcano poggies". When the volcano erupted, he said "Oooh, volcano bad".
Ajax's ability to infect people with short-term terminal illnesses is also known as "CIA Cancer Gun".
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