Path To Godhood Session 5: The Oracle

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
Ursula Bearclaw   -   Klutzy Woodswoman and Aspiring Chelak, God of Bears and Independence

Urbos

The morning the gods arrived in Urbos, the skies were cloudy, and as they disembarked, the scent of fresh rain filled the air.  The blue domed roofs atop white stone buildings, as well as the deep blue water of the many hot springs around the city in the shadow of the volcano, convinced them that they'd finally found the Azure City.  With Ursula carrying the mortally wounded Steidis, they headed off into the city, and soon came across a large gathering in a public square.  On a raised platform, a man was kneeling in front of a wooden block, while a shirtless man holding a large axe stood nearby, and a woman in a bright red cloak with some sort of markings under her right eye read out the "crimes" of the guilty man.

Ajax opined that they should try to get the executioners to let him drain the condemned, while Ursula asked the nearest member of the crowd what was going on.  In a fervor, the man responded that the Hunters had found another of Eniad's spies, who were looking to destroy the city with their "foreign ways".  Ajax pointed out that the man on the platform looked to be from Urbos (he, like most of the crowd, had white hair, yellow eyes, and golden skin), but Neilos rebutted that this only made him the perfect spy.

It started to rain, and the executioner beheaded the accused; the crowd cheered, and the head rolled to a man close to Ursula, who grabbed it and held it up as a trophy while decrying the guilty "Eniadnan scum".  Ursula got in his face and asked how he knew the man was guilty, and he stated that the Hunters had found him guilty, and they knew better than he did.  She asked who those were, and he pointed up to the woman in the red cloak, who was now slowly walking away from the crowd, which also began to disperse.  Neilos tried to find out if the people of Urbos disliked all foreigners or just Eniadnans; the first man he asked told him to "get away you foreigner" while grabbing the hilt of a knife, and that settled that.

Path To Godhood Session 4: The First Battle of the Gods

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
Ursula Bearclaw   -   Klutzy Woodswoman and Aspiring Chelak, God of Bears and Independence

Time in Mantea

While Ajax was venturing through the Starlit Desert, 3 weeks passed outside.  Ursula spent that time resting and recovering from her time spent in hibernation.  Neilos did some work for Atlas and learned that the Azure City referred not to Mantea, but to Urbos.  Steidis was contacted by a man who represented a "mutal friend" who wanted to meet, but instead put "Operation Trouser Pants" into motion and constructed the two smaller bronze "belts" which would hold up the western and eastern mesas at incredible speed, then had to rest to recover from his expenditure of godly energy.

Once Ajax was back, he spent a day recovering under the care of the doctor the gods were retaining, then, with 13 days left to live, went to experiment with his new power of draining life.  First he tried to drain a squirrel, but failed to manifest his power.  He then asked the other gods for help, but Ursula wouldn't summon bears for him to kill, while Neilos suggested that he'd heard a rumour about the god of healing being in Urbos.  Later at night, he disguised himself in rags, then snuck onto a farm and tried to drain a sleeping pig, but likewise failed.  Still later, hefound a sleeping vagrant, and drained him fully; the young man dried out and skeletized, but Ajax was invigorated, having gained 7 more days of life (and 30HP).

The next morning, the party heard rumours that a man claiming to be Kostis was in Mantea and seeking The Pit.  While lounging about a public square, Ursula was approached by a woman in white that she didn't recognize, who struck up a conversation about the Still Harp.  Ursula interrupted her to ask if they'd ever met before, and the woman, confused, re-introduced herself as Evenia (to clarify, it was Evenia 2), and explained that they'd cooperated in the past, and that she'd like Ursula's help again.

Path To Godhood Session 3: The Starlit Desert

Characters:
Ajax Karo   -   Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and Plagues
Suraki Karo   -   Stinking Wagon Driver and Aspiring Neilos, God of The Sun and Plants
Steidis   -   Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths
Ursula Bearclaw   -   Klutzy Woodswoman and Aspiring Chelak, God of Bears and Independence

The Sealed Door

The gods continued to investigate the black door for clues as best they could, given it was night; Ajax looked for a "secret lever" but didn't find anything, then debated with the others whether the canyon they were standing in was the Starlit Desert, because it was physically below the door.  Considering that the door referred to numbers growing in darkness, Ursula looked around the ruins to see if anything had changed, but didn't notice anything.  Figuring this was a dead end for now, Suraki brought up one of his prophecies, which he thought would take place in Mantea proper:

In the Divided City He Shone Brighter than ever to banish the darknesss, but found Himself Consumed on His own pyre.

He was interpreting it as mostly literal, and so would need to go find flammable materials (trivial to acquire with Control Plants), then light himself on fire and use his Wild Talent to shine like the sun.  Having reminded himself that he could Control Plants, Suraki took a moment to see if he would be able to animate vines to pry open the door, but it was sitting perfectly flush so there were no openings.  Steidis went back to Mantea and used his fame from fixing the elevator to get some torches from patrolling guards, then came back to investigate the ruins with more light but still didn't find anything, so they broke for the night.

Ajax and Ursula made camp at the ruins in case something happened, and overnight Ajax had a vivid dream of a white orb moving through a black sky.  The next morning, the gods all reconvened at the ruins, and waited around until Atlas and the other scholars showed up.  Now looking more closely at random strangers, Suraki noticed that Atlas wore a pendant depicting an owl, and that a woman in white, possibly not affiliated with the scholars, was off on her own.  Ajax walked over and told Atlas their translation of the script on the door, and he muttered "that makes sense" before offering to aid the gods with his skills.

Path To Godhood Session 2: The Emperor

Characters:

Ajax Karo   -   Gregarious Hunter and Aspiring Kostis, God of Death and Plagues

Suraki Karo   -   Stinking Wagon Driver and Aspiring Neilos, God of The Sun and Plants

Steidis   -   Aspiring God of Fire and Smiths

Ursula Bearclaw   -   Klutzy Woodswoman and Aspiring Chelak, God of Bears and Independence

In His Light, They Were Fed

Looking to win the hunter-gatherers over to agriculture, Suraki focused on the foreign memories of how to use his latent godly powers.  Golden light emanated out from him, and a few moments later a stretch of open land outside the village was suddenly flattened, plowed, and bearing a bountiful harvest.  The villagers were awed, but confused.  Euandros asked why Suraki wanted them to worship this god "Neilos", when clearly Suraki had been the one to carry out this blessing.  After an explanation that he was going to be Neilos, but was travelling covertly because nobody would believe him, they settled into the village for the night.

The next morning, Suraki had regained some more godly memories, and remembered that he could now control plants, an ability which he used to aid the villagers in their first harvest.  During the work, a chat with Kassandra about who the rest of them were took an odd turn whe Suraki introduced Ajax as his friend, and not his brother.  Apparently, all Suraki's memories of his family members being actual family were gone, and when questioned about who he had been born to claimed to have emerged from the earth fully formed.  Somewhat concerned, the party started the day-long walk back to Susae to look for "The Thunderclap", who Ursula believed had to shock her with lightning twice, and talk to Koios before heading elsewhere.

Destroyed By Facts and Logic

The party didn't make it back until after dark, and as they walked back to Koios' school, heard no thunder.  While the rest of the city's denizens were crowding the taverns and pubs, the gods found Koios still in his "house of wisdom", alone; he disliked "pointless" socializing, and his only vice was knowledge.  Ursula engaged him in debate about what it meant for her to be struck twice by lightning, where Koios was even more hostile than usual, demeaning her for foolishly thinking that a it meant being literally struck by lightning, when it was clearly a metaphor (Ursula: "Met-uh-for?  Metal Foe?").

Path To Godhood Session 1: The Revelation

Characters:

Ajax Karo   -   Gregarious Hunter

Suraki Karo   -   Stinking Wagon Driver

Hamocrates   -   Honest Warrior

Ursula   -   Klutzy Woodswoman

Background

For generations, the world has wallowed in twilight.  After the death of the gods, the sun and moon have vanished, the ocean has grown barren, and crop yields have plummetted.  The once great cities of man have withered, and vast stretches of them lie ruined and uninhabited as their populations could no longer be supported.  Most of the knowledge from this golden age has been lost, as literacy in the old script vanished as the gods did.

Prophecy

The city of Metros was pierced by shouts from the town crier: the scholars at the Great Library had decoded part of the Metros Tablet, and made a great discovery!  The planets would soon come into alignment, and the time had come for the gods to be reborn!  Before the next day, they would reveal themselves at the amphitheatre, and you shall know them by their signs!  He then rambled on down a long list of prophecies for the pantheon of gods, and four people were drawn to some of his words.

Ajax, upon hearing of the death god Kostis, knew that he was his reincarnation, and his brother, Suraki, had the same reaction to hearing of Neilos, god of light and the harvest.  Hamocrates realized that he was destined to be Steidis, god of fire and the forge, and Ursula believed herself to be Chelak, the bear god.  One problem: Chelak's prophecy referred to a man, when she clearly was a woman, so someone must have made a mistake.

Postings of the signs of the gods had also been placed on a public board, which many people had crowded around, their skin bearing the typical tattoos most adults in Metros received upon entering adulthood.  Some were clearly gripped by the fervor of becoming a god, while others were just curious.  They each went to get a better look, and Ursula tore down Chelak's in fury.

GURPS Movie Replay: Alien

Premise

The movie Alien, more or less.  The PCs are crewmembers of the Nostromo, a mining ship, returning with a haul of ore.  PCs will probably die, in which case they will take over another character.

Active Characters:

Ellen Ripley - Warrant Officer (aka middle-manager).  Love cats and power lifters.

Ian Ash - Science Officer.  Transferred to the Nostromo at Thedas.  British.

Dennis Parker - Chief Engineer.  Wants more money so he can buy his own ship.

Reserve Characters:

Arthur Dallas - Captain.  The Man™.  Had a thing with Ripley in the past.

Thomas Kane - Executive Officer.  "Great" at everything, and will let you know.

Samuel Brett - Engineer.  Man of few words, but many hawaiian shirts.  BFFs with Parker.

Joan Lambert - Navigator.  Fresh out of the academy.

Summary

Space!

The Nostromo's systems whirred to life, and the crew were woken from their hypersleep.  As they got dressed, Parker asked the ship's AI, Mother, for a status report, but it was stuck processing something.  Parker and Brett headed to the kitchen to grab some coffee, while Dallas headed up to the bridge to see what was going on, followed by the rest of the crew.  The computers were hung up, and Lambert got to work trying to figure out what was going on.

Shortly, she piped up that Mother had picked up a signal and dropped them out of hyperspace early; they weren't even halfway to Earth!  Dallas punched in his ID and found out that, according to company directive, they had to investigate any "mysterious signals" in case they were distress beacons.  Until they did, the cryo-pods were locked out.  Triangulating the source of the signal was going to take Lambert a while, so Ripley went to her terminal and started running diagnostics.

30 minutes later, Lambert had finished her scan and announced that the signal was coming from a planet they were pulling up to, but she had no idea what kind of signal it was.  Ripley found that there was some minor damage to the umbilicus connecting the ship to the cargo, as well as the landing gear, and ordered Brett and Parker over intercom to take a look.  They suited up and went to take a look; Parker went to the umbilicus, while Brett dealt with the landing gear.

Rise of LOKI Session 8: The Curtain Falls

Characters:
Arthur - Alphonso

            - Fuegan: The Burning Lance

            - Rex
Kirato 
Hiro

Solo Mission

Halvorsen laid out the plan: Arthur was going to strike LOKI at the heart of his operations in the Congo, delivered by a repurposed dumb missile.  The prototype neural link helmet would allow Arthur to control all three AESIR, but less effectively than usual.  On the way in, he'd have to do his best to avoid LOKI's anti-missile defense systems.  Once landed, Arthur would destroy targets meant to elicit a response from LOKI.  Kicking the hornet's nest in this way should draw a large number of enemy AESIR; doing so would require LOKI to concentrate its presence in the area.

Meanwhile, Katerina would be monitoring network traffic for LOKI's "artificial brainwaves", and once they hit a high enough threshold, Arthur would hack into the communications network and shut it down, preventing LOKI from leaving.  Finally, he would trigger an EMP which would fry everything within several kilometers.

Arthur asked Halvorsen if it was safe to be disconnected by EMP, and was successfully assured that it was "probably safe".  He then brought up that he wasn't a hacker; that had been more Kirato's thing.  At that, Katerina piped up and explained that their AIs had taken on a resonance with the pilots and gained some of their experiences, so Fuegan would be almost as good under Arthur as under Kirato.  Not confident, Arthur put on the helmet anyway, and the missile launched.