GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 30: The End of the Demonwar

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

 

Victory!

Pomegranite used his Path of Secrets to conjure an elaborate illusion in the minds of one of the larger swarms of demons which saw them attack their allies.  This gave Granmarg and Mielikki space to fall back.  As their troops had been fighting for the entire day, the triumvirate marched back a decent distance and then made camp for the night.  At Cliffside's orders, the next morning they formed up their ranks and lured the remaining demons into ambushes piece by piece.  It was a very effective strategy, resulting in the slaying of all demons that were still on the surface with not one more earthling casualty.

 

They then cleaned up the Bile by pushing it into large clumps which the College magisters burned with the Path of Fire.  All this took around a week, and still Bird had not returned, which suggested that it had run into some troubles.  Head in hands, Pomegranite realized that he had basically sent intel about the demons directly to the demons!  After all, the demons came out of a hole in the ground, and so did the dwarves (in a manner of speaking).  Granmarg agreed that only bad things came from holes in the ground such as Terra and the Wurm, while Mielikki countered that delicious rockflower was also from holes in the ground.

 

The victorious army marched back across the desert to the buried entrance of Karaz Tonkor where they were again met by a unit of dwarves.  They asked if the battle had been a success, to which Granmarg replied simply "Roaring", with a more detailed explanation to follow in a proper council with dwarven command.  As before, one of the dwarves parted the sands and revealed the great gate that led down into the Undersands.  The fortress-city was much more alive than it had been when they left, the armies of Wrost, Baronde, the Segretan League and the Elves having all arrived in the interim.

 

It was quite the surprise that they were all still present, given that Karaz Tonkor was at the rear lines of dwarven civilization, and casual inquiry from their escort discovered that the Demonwar was apparently already over.  The other armies must have just arrived, and indeed, all the other provincial rulers were in a council that moment, which the triumvirate joined as soon as they had assigned their troops to barracks.

 

Barrend, king of the dwarves, was explaining that the demonic assault had suddenly faltered, and that by the time their soldiers made it to the chamber of the demongate it had already been filled with volcanic stone, the magma gates having been reopened and flooding it likely some days prior.  Further, a great many demons lay dead in the corridors around the main chamber, and the demongate was determined to have closed.  Given what the earthlings had said earlier, the dwarves believed that Terra had been responsible.

 

At that, the assembled rulers turned to look at the earthlings, and Thicket explained that they had not seen Terra herself in their battle on the surface, but that it was likely the demon hole had been made by her.  Empress Edelina took great delight in pointing out what a boon it was to have Minerva on their side.  After all, demonwars usually lasted for years, and this one had been over in only a month or two!  The council was quite divided on this.

 

Ulrich was cautious over throwing their lot in with the "gods" and Grand Magister Curzo unsurprisingly didn't put much stock in faith, while it was an open secret that the elves and dwarves didn't follow the Imperial Faith at all.  On the other hand, Edelina's positive sentiment was echoed by King Neville Tallfellow of Baronde (perhaps the gods could bring back the Path of Prophecy!) and Bogumir, Arch-General of Wrost.  The Lords of the League were mostly hanging back for now, memories of Luana's loss to the earthlings despite her powers tempering them.

Curious of their thoughts, Mielikki asked Duccio De Segreti if it was possible that a demongate was behind the monsters that populated the Labyrinth in Segreta.  He opined that perhaps a smaller gate was a possibility, but the monsters were far fewer in number than the demons and they never heard anything like the horns announcing this demongate's opening.  King Barrend and Uthemar pointed out that there had been other demongates in the past, leading to larger scale demonwars, but that all had been destroyed.  Curzo echoed this; there were no records in the College, mind, because the last demonwar predated its creation.

 

King Tallfellow gave a final, now very out-of-date, report on the rebellion in the north of Baronde.  The Wrostian and Barondian armies had joined forces and were suppressing the rebels under the command of Prince Tye.  With that, the council was over, except the matter of which of the earthlings, dwarves, or elves would name the first emperor of the long-lived races.  The other provincial rulers left the chamber, as did Cliffside, whose rank of Supreme Commander of the Demonwar was no longer relevant.

Immortal Emperor

Uthemar informed King Barrend that the elves had nominated the dwarves as the first emperor, and that the earthlings had refused.  Barrend asked who the earthlings wanted, at which point the triumvirate called for a recess to discuss the matter, which was granted.  Pomegranite suggested that they name an earthling other than him emperor (and then, due to his selflessness, he would surely be named emperor later...), while Granmarg suggested they should give it to the elves as earthling society still had to grapple with Terra, and was dangerously corrupt as well.  After some discussion, Mielikki and Thicket ended up agreeing with Granmarg.  Nobody voted for Cliffside.

 

Upon being informed of their decision, Barrend noted his surprise and explained that he had been planning to vote for the earthlings, but deferred to them.  As such, the elves would be allowed to elect one of their number to be emperor by whatever method they so chose.  Now that everyone who might object was gone, Barrend took this time to ask whether the earthlings believed Terra to truly be their god returned.  Mielikki and Granmarg were quick to say no, and Thicket even went as far as suggesting that she was in fact a demon.

 

Seeking knowledge from those with experience, Mielikki asked what the elder races knew of the organization of demons, to which Uthemar replied that they seemed to lack any.  Greater demons simply exerted some kind of control over lesser demons.  A talking demon enacting some sort of long-term scheming like Terra had never been reported, but as in all things with the demons, anything was possible.  On that subject, Granmarg suggested a novel thought: it seemed as though demons took forms based on what would be most disturbing to those who witnessed them.  A demon pretending to be a god would certainly fit that pattern.  Thicket pointed at that demons could certainly talk, as was proven by the Eel Demon.  Sure, all it said was "Eels", but it was in a tongue they understood.

After more discussion, Uthemar noticed some confusion of terminology and suggested they needed to differentiate between Demons, beings from the Demon Realm that invaded the world through the demongates, and demons, beings from any other dimension than their own.  Granmarg suggested the term "Outsiders" for the latter category, which was accepted, and Uthemar stated that in his view, Terra was one of these Outsiders.  They had decent evidence to suggest that she had slain many Demons and closed the demongate, possibly passing through to the other side to kill more of them, suggesting she was not aligned with them.

 

Regardless, the three groups deemed Terra a major threat and agreed to put a stop to her.  First, though, they would have to find her.  Thicket remarked that while their terramorphers could detect her use of terramorphing within a short distance, there was no sort of magical residue they could track after the fact, and they had no physical trail to follow.  Mielikki asked that they be allowed to see the demongate and magma gates, to see if Thicket could notice any signs of terramorphing, a request which was granted by King Barrend.

 

Next, their was the matter of the believers.  If it came down to it, at the moment about half of the provinces (and indeed, many of the earthlings) would side with Terra.  Mielikki asked if there were any other terramorphers who were her equal among the dwarves or the elves, but both Barrend and Uthemar recognized her feats as beyond their kind.   He then asked if they'd heard of anyone being that powerful, in any type of field, and the two awkwardly deflected.  Clearly they knew something but weren't telling.

 

Lastly, the earthlings sought advice on what to do about Terra's request to bring animals back into the Highland Forests.  The only things earthlings knew about animal husbandry was how best to exterminate them, and so Mielikki asked Uthemar if he might dispatch some people skilled in animal magic to aid them.  He said that they certainly could, but questioned whether it would be best to fulfill Terra's requests, in case it was strengthening her in some way.  Ultimately, they agreed that it was better not to draw her ire for now, and so the animal magisters would be dispatched.

 

They discussed the magical crystals that Thicket and Granmarg had taken from Terra's realm, and arranged to have some elves deliver one to the College while Thicket would keep and study the other one in secret.  Lastly, Pomegranite asked if Bird had shown up, and the elves and dwarves had no idea what he was talking about.  Alas, it would seem as though Bird had been eaten by demons.  A single pomegranite rolled down Pomegranite's cheek (that is apparently how he cries).

 

The Demongate 

The next morning, the triumvirate and a gaggle of terramorphers started the weeks-long journey to the demongate, marching steadily downward as they went and passing by three other layers of mostly empty fortress-cities, passing very few other travellers.  When they arrived at the chamber of the demongate they presented a letter from King Barrend and the great iron gates were opened, revealing... a wall of igneous rock.

 

Since the demongate opening was heralded by the sounding of trumpets across the world, the dwarves had constructed a magma flow to feed into its chamber, covering it in a solid layer of rock.  This would buy some time to prepare until a demon that was capable of eating (or melting or breaking) its way through the stone came through the gate.  Thicket terramorphed a spiral tunnel up and around the top layer of the magma, which was still hot, searching for the bottom end of the demon hole.

 

Soon enough, he had found it, and confirmed that it was indeed the same hole they had closed on the surface.  The unnaturally smooth walls meant that it was almost certainly the product of terramorphing as well, yet more evidence that Terra had made it.  Closing the tunnel behind him, he returned to the rest of the group and then carved a new tunnel straight toward the (allegedly closed) demongate, a battalion of dwarves with weapons ready at his back.  There was no earthsong as their had been around the portal to Terra's realm, and when at last he opened the final span to the gate, it did seem to be closed.

 

The demongate was a twenty foot tall hexagon of dull grey stone topped with a sculpture of a goat's skull, resting on a wide platform of the same material.  Thicket was uninterested in doing anything to the portal itself and left, taking the terramorphers with him.  Mielikki grabbed hold of the arm of a low-ranking terramorpher and pressured them into attempting to morph the platform, but after a brief attempt the earthling replied that he could not.  Whether that was because the dull grey stone was resistant to terramorphing or due to a lack of skill was unknown.

 

Winter 

Satisfied that the dwarves had been correct, the triumvirate made the long journey back all the way to the Highland Forests, where the animals seemed to be returning on their won.  Mielikki went out of his way to kill some squirrels to vent his frustrations.  Once they arrived in Bedrock, they learned that Terra had not been seen since she had headed south.  Pomegranite also found that Bird had simply returned to his home and still bore the message he had written.  The elven delegation had come with them to take one of the crystals, and when they left, Granmarg went with them, to be trained by the Young Heron in the Elven Forests.   Inauspiciously, there was another eclipse on the day that they left.

  

Mielikki, with Pomegranite's help, made a point to spread the message that the demonwar had largely been won due to earthling grit, doing his best to minimize Terra's role.  They also learned from Mayor Flint and Shrub that the reformers in Bedrock were being stymied and the nobles were happy with the new reforms the triumvirate had promised.  For the first time in a while, the earthling political situation was looking stable and they could relax.

 

Thicket went to oversee the training of the new class of terramorphers and discovered that they were being taught in a rather non-traditional fashion, which he suspected was due to College influence among the teachers.  They needed more terramorphers, though, and he had other things to do, so he let it continue.  Mielikki spent his time drawing up a list of military officers who were likely to side with Terra and did his best to remove them from power.  This was complicated by the fact that he couldn't simply dismiss them from office due to the meritocracy, but he did his best to sideline them anyway.

 

Meanwhile, Pomegranite had been re-establishing the Imperial Messengers, with earthling spies embedded in as many positions of power as possible.  Thicket's research into the magical crystal from Terra's realm had bore fruit, and he was able to successfully embed it in his back.  Unfortunately, it didn't make him as powerful as Terra, but it did provide a resevoir of energy.  At the start of the new year, there was another eclipse.

 

Far to the east, Granmarg was brought into the inner sanctum of the elves, which was seen by very few mortals.  There was no great city, with the elves seeming few in number, just a number of buildings of white stone that were covered in plant growth.  Over the winter, he trained in endurance and forms with aspiring Blademasters and the Young Heron himself.  Sitting in a lotus position in the rain overnight, holding buckets overhead for hours, and being beaten with sticks without reacting went along with explanations of proper fighting stances and drills.  Though he used his fists rather than a sword, he gained great knowledge.

 

The spring thaw saw yet another eclipse, which left just seven more to go before the end of the world according to the Wrostian Prophecy.  At long last, they heard possible news of Terra: she had reappeared in northern Baronde and had assisted in quelling the uprising.  Now she was going by the name Minerva, but was described not as a stone humanoid with a crystal running through the body but as a rather tall elf.  Also of note, she was accompanied by another of her kind: Dagda/Carmenta, goddess of Life and Healing.  The two appeared to have been working to end the famine by using their magic to increase agricultural output in the region.

 

Granmarg, on learning that Uthemar had been elected Emperor, asked a few questions and learned of elven society.  Apparently they governed by consensus and only those who were interested would participate in external politics.  As Uthemar seemed to enjoy conversing with the mortal races, he was granted the title, though it was expected that he would not be gaining any power domestically.  The Young Heron explained that most elves had a specific field they spent their immortal lives mastering, and that he himself had been walking the path of the Blademaster since birth.

 

 

Notes:

Due to technical difficulties with TTS (there seem to have been Steam network issues), this session was played in Roll20.  Always fun to see reminders of older games (the screen we'd left on had been the final one from our Cyberpunk game).

When Granmarg said he thought that Terra wasn't his god, he explained OOC that he was lying.  Shock!  Gasp!

 

I asked Thicket if he wanted to try to open the demongate, and for some reason he declined.  Pomegranite was curious about catching the dwarves off-guard with a sudden second demonwar, but was worried that he would have difficulty negotiating with the demons given that the most talkative one they'd witnessed had been the Eel Demon.  He didn't think he could deel with the eel.

 

Granmarg's training has granted him Trained By A Master and increased his skill cap from 20 to 22.

 

Thicket's magic spine crystal gives him an Energy Reserve of 10.  It can be used for both magical and physical things.

 

This is getting out of hand; now there are two of them!