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.

 

Mielikki suggested the dwarves could back them up and endorse a claim that the gods were pretenders and so not only was this not deicide, but was in fact them disposing of pretenders.  King Barrend put a stop to that, and said that they would not expose any of the secret truth, and advised them to do the same.  Pomegranite suggested they claim instead that the gods were demons, and the dwarves offered no objections but again said they would not get involved with internal religious matters.  If Lumene attacked, they would join the earthlings, but not before.

 

Triumph 

The earthling army then marched the rest of the way to Bedrock, arriving home in early autumn.  The army mostly dispersed while a celebratory banquet was arranged for the officers and nobility.  They were also sure to extend an invitation to High Priest Friedrich Quarry, with plans to arrest him on the charge of worshipping demons and tricking the rest of the earthling people into doing the same.  This was an overreach of their authority, but also uncharted territory. 

 

In an attempt to limit the consequences, they planned to announce an amnesty for all those he had "tricked" into recognizing Terra's divinity, which would hopefully prevent or limit a wider civil war.  There was still the matter of the loyalty of their own advisors and retinues, some of whom had accepted Terra as a god.  They had ultimately participated in her slaying regardless, which suggested their loyalties came first.  In an attempt to bolster their trust, they were kept informed of the plan.  Thicket, per usual, spent his time acquiring some fine rockflower for the banquet.

 

The mid-autumn celebration began with a parade of the military officers, led by the Triumvirate, Pomegranite, and Cliffside, ending at the great hall of the Triumvirate.  As they filed into the banquet, guards loyal to the Triumvirate took their places along the walls as arms were ceremonially given up by the guests.  Several of those trusted guests had received advance notice of the plot, and would be given their weapons back in the event a battle broke out.

 

As the High Priest was giving a speech where he praised Terra (and the other gods) for providing the spiritual strength to win the war with the pretender of Halberst, Mielikki stood and declared him to be consorting with demons.  Friedrich Quarry was dumbstruck, and stood unmoving as the Triumvirate made their case for his execution: the being they knew as Terra was not in fact the deity but rather a demon in disguise.

 

The crowd grumbled with discontent until Cliffside stood and addressed Thicket, asking how they could think the gods were possibly demons, and insisting this must be some sort of mistake.  They'd fought demons together, after all, and Terra had been nothing like them.  Mielikki held up a hand and told him that this was not his decision to make, and Cliffside returned to his seat, though he still looked uneasy.  Meanwhile, Pomegranite conjured an illusory image of Baelynna as she had been when they fought her.

 

While the red-skinned giant woman with hair made of swords and twelve arms with far too many joints drew some gasps from the assembled guests, this was also the first time they had openly called Baelynna a demon rather than merely a usurper and talented Magister.  Granmarg then made a big show of marching the High Priest out to a palanquin to be taken to his estate, and the banquet was ended.  The palanquin looped back around to deposit Friedrich in the interrogation cells in the great hall; anyone who tried to free him from the estate would find themselves facing Granmarg and his personal retinue instead.

 

Treachery

The next, morning, they found that High Priest Friedrich Quarry had escaped, freed by a group of the Triumvirate's own advisors.  It seemed Shudderblight, Groutite, Drirtollor, Sigillaria, and Hawthorn had betrayed them.  Pomegranite immediately asked the others to donate him one of their remaining advisors, as he had lost two who were both good combatants, but nobody made any offers.  They assumed Cliffside would be involved as well, but found that he was still staying at Shrub's mansion, as he had been last time he was in the city.

 

Mielikki and Thicket went ahead with their planned purge of the military officers, locking up the people on the list they'd drawn up with suspect loyalties.  The same day, they hurriedly passed new laws raising taxes and securing the harvest under lock and key.  In the event of a lengthy civil war, Bedrock would starve before the army.  Pomegranite, meanwhile, arranged his network of agents in a barrier to the east in an attempt to prevent any attempts of the rebels to sway Lumene to their cause.

  

It was several weeks before they heard of Friedrich Quarry, who was accusing them of murdering Terra.  He called for them to be brought before the Temples to stand trial for their crimes.  Their spies learned that the rebels were holed up in Sappington, in the far northeast, and that they seemed intent on waiting for a response while riding out the winter.  To undermine Friedrich's legitimacy, the Triumvirate had the few surviving priests on their side push for the temples to convene to choose a new high priest.  They also figured they could be assured of the loyalty of any who willingly came to Bedrock.

 

With their large food stocks, Thicket suggested the possibility of a winter assault.  They would have to use a smaller army from just Bedrock and the immediate environs, and maneuvering would be more difficult, but if all went according to plan they would catch the rebels entirely unprepared.  It was a grueling month-long march, but Mielikki and Thicket saw the army through, and they arrived at Sappington while it was still blanketed in snow.

 

They didn't want to ransack their own city, so for now the army made camp.  Pomegranite found that his spy network in the city was non-responsive, presumably dismantled by his former aides, and was forced to rely on locals of dubious allegiance.  They learned that the rebels were allegedly holed up in the mansion of Chancellor Primrose, who governed the city.  Initially, the Chancellor had offered the rebels assistance, but had become increasingly sidelined.  There was a good chance they could sway her to their side, if they could make contact.

 

Pomegranite decided to infiltrate the mansion by himself to personally discuss things with the Chancellor.  Using illusions to disguise himself, he skillfully avoided the few guards on the grounds of her estate, but as he rounded the corner to her chambers, he was interrupted by Sigillaria.  Hefting her obsidian spear in one hand, his former advisor asked him to drop the disguise.  He did as she asked, and stated that he was surprised she'd turned against them after all they'd been through.

 

Sigillaria replied that it hadn't been an easy choice, but that after what they had done in Baronde, she hadn't slept for a month.  Killing the gods was lunacy, and now they would kill the High Priest as well?  Pomegranite sighed, and explained that Terra and the rest of the gods were, in fact, "only" very powerful elven magisters, and one of Terra's first acts had been to murder all the priests in Bedrock who opposed her.  They did not care for mortals, and wanted only to rule, as Baelynna had attempted in Halberst.

 

But if the gods were truly elves, then why were the Triumvirate working with the rest of the elves now?  The only testimony they had that the gods were evil and the rest of the elves were good, was from the elves.  Further, after killing Baelynna, Halimath the elf had destroyed her body, concealing any sort of evidence.  Uthemar was as old as the gods.  How could they trust what he said?

 

Pomegranite asserted that, regardless of how far they could trust Uthemar and the rest, the gods were the bigger threat.  Terra had killed their priests, Baelynna had used the Path of Thought to dominate Halberst, and Astraeus had marched on the Highland Forests, setting the land ablaze as he went.  Finally he asked her to trust him.  They had been through so much together, and that had to be worth something.

 

Sigillaria stood silent for a moment, then pointed out that even if she agreed with him, that it was too late.  There was no way they would let her live.  Seizing on this opportunity, Pomegranite offered a full pardon if she cooperated.  They could say she had been acting as a double agent on his orders.  She lowered her weapon, and opened the door to the Chancellor's chambers.

 

 

Notes:

Granmarg has a major torso wound due to his failed death check.

 

Right up until the banquet, Thicket was adamant that they shouldn't kick things off themselves and should instead wait for the temples to make the first move. 

 

The rockflower Thicket got was from Mayor Flint, who somehow always has the finest vintage despite living in an urban center. 

 

Another policy they put forth but that got missed in the shuffle: the extermination of all animals, except for Bird.

 

The advisors actually rolled a critical success when attempting to break Friedrich out.  Their luck continued on Pomegranite's infiltration, where Sigillaria rolled a 5 to spot him.

 

"What they did in Baronde" was the assassination/murder/slaying of Terra.