GM Rednal's Godbound (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

There is a long, uncomfortable silence after Beatrice speaks as Khatef wonders if oblivion might be preferable.

Nobody is quite sure what's going on in his head, but eventually he speaks.

"Not...everyone on Arcem deserves to die. I'm willing to give them the chance to live."

"Though how my abilities will help fix this, I don't know."

<"Sometimes, raw power can be an ability all its own."> Eistibus answered thoughtfully. <"You have not yet even begun to truly understand the powers you possess, or what they are capable of. Since you seem to be in agreement, then..."> the figure raised his hand, and the glowing lights shot into Kostya's body.

And rather than simply telling you what happens... I feel like it'd be more fun to let you decide that. XD Kostya, please give me a post describing how you forge your powers together into a new existence - a Pantheon - and merge it with the divine engine. And for everyone, please tell us how you'd like to style your powers getting involved here. As an example, a Godbound with the Word of Fire might describe the creation of an eternal source of power, burning to keep the Celestial Engine running and shore up its ability to maintain both this shard of Heaven and its own existence. Feel free to get creative within the limits of what you're doing here. XD ...This may be relevant at some future time, but more than that, I want to see how you and your characters think - the kind of miracle they'd create at a time like this.

Kostya had always been able to look at things and figure out how to use them, how to take a strange tool and a device he had never used and make them work together. In this world, where perception and reality seemed so relative to the observer, he had to rely on that ability more than ever. Power was a tool, it always had been. His own might was forged from Artifice, it was a means to an end, something he needed to accomplish his goals. Right now he needed to find a way for that Might to become a part of something bigger, something infinitely more complex. But he didn't have to do it with merely Might. He had the abilities of everyone here to commit to the working before him. Kostya saw their varied gifts as tools, and he was working on the most complex system possible, he was fixing their very reality.

His ability to build and modify things tied it together. Artifice was the glue that held everything in place and forced these concepts into a form he could perceive and mold into his working. The tumultuous elemental might which Captain Jebat called on could be used to shape and charge those parts of reality that needed to be realigned. Beatrice gave beauty and subtlety to the creation, emotion and faith, belief in what he was doing and making was going to be so vital to sustaining it. Not everyone could love cold logic, and she helped him fill his working with passion and life. And ironically enough, it the almost unwilling assistance of Khatef who saved the working as a whole. Because blind luck to help him blunder through the mistakes he barely understood and the ability to trick reality itself into working the way he needed it to was a fundamental part of this working.

Kostya didn't know exactly how they perceived their own powers working for him, but to Kostya he fashioned their powers into physical tools to help him mend the cracks and fissures that threatened to tear their reality apart. He worked with the speed of a thousand men, his focus singular and absolute, but unless they all committed themselves in their own ways to doing what they could alongside him, it wouldn't be enough.

In the odd mindscape where Kostya's masterwork was being built, Khatef walked around the machine, watching it as it slowly formed. When it was complete, or mostly so, he finally figured out what it was that most bothered him, felt somehow off about it.

"It's too fragile to be so exposed. This is the thing holding our world together, right? Nobody should ever be able to touch this but us."

He thinks for a moment, and wills at the machine. A dissonance appears, disorienting the senses of all of Khatef's pantheon. The machine is there, clearly visible. And at the same time it is not, its appearance overlaid with the image of a simple rough piece of sandstone.

"Like this, we could hide it nearly anywhere." Khatef suggests.

When the lights entered the jumper, thick roiling mist bloomed up from the rocky terrain surrounding and obfuscating them and their work.

Then, Jebat pulled on the lightning of this reality and focused the power. A wide bolt struck him through the fog and connected him to edges of existence with a dancing stream of electricity.

With a deep breath, the captain connects his fellow godlings with the electricity and his Word of Command, super-charging and perfectly aligning their divine powers. With a roar and in pure synchronicity with the new pantheon, he brings the Celestial Engine into the circuit with them.

Since her powers awakened, a part of Beatrice had started hearing a faint melody binding everything together. The Song of the World, she had named it, perhaps lacking in originality. As Kostya started weaving reality together, she felt the Song changed, as if a new harmony was being composed, a symphony made of the four of them.

But if the Nezdohvan man was peerlessly skilled with crafting, so did Beatrice know harmony, and she gently touched the flows of the intricate tangle, shifting the balance of the powers so that they would work together to the greatest effect. She wasn't sure how she was doing this, but she could feel the Song changing at their combined actions, as she balanced Khatef's subtle deceptions with Jebat's straightforward displays of power, and Kostya's strength and resilience with her immaterial abilities. And as she did this, she added light to make shadows crisper, so that every one of their own contrasting tunes could come together to a new, beautiful melody.

As you worked, there was a faint creaking sound - then the parts of the engine started moving of their own accord. Behind each creak of its parts was a subtle melody, orchestrated to perfection even if it was somewhat hidden behind a divine illusion. It took a few moments to notice that the cracking sounds had stopped, and that the broken parts of the world were slowly starting to reverse themselves. A few bits of green popped out of the ground near your feet a moment later... and Eistibus bowed slightly to your group.

<"I'm sure you have many questions."> he said as the first trickles of energy started flowing into you. It wasn't a flood by any means, but it was steady, and definitely something that would help you over time. <"Alas, my vision is not what it once was. I still remember the day I first Saw your world, when this very Engine was built to fix its place in the cosmos. You were so small then, and yet already you have surpassed my humble abilities."> The opening in the sphere of his head swiveled slightly and looked at the four of you, slowly and carefully. <"You should know... I, alone of the angels, was gifted with the power to see the threads of fate... and yet upon the four of you, I see only the past. If there is divine providence weaving your futures, it is your own. Your futures are what you make them. Should you wish to return home, I am happy to send you anytime - although I'm afraid it took much of my strength to shore up this shard while waiting for your arrival, so I'll have to send all four of you together. I myself will tarry here awhile, I think, and rest for a time.">

"So, we weave our own fate, we have no clear objective. That I understand. And if you don't see our future, we won't know what sort of trials will lie in wait for us. But if you can still see our past... Can you answer the obvious question? Why us? Was it chance, or did someone, something, choose? Not that I'm not grateful, but... but I wonder."
She then turns to the others. "If you'd like to visit Vissio, I have a home in Fidenza. It would be my pleasure to host you, while we consider our next move."

"I've never been to Vissio. Or left my pyramid, for that matter. Is it safe?"

"Oh, it's..." Beatrice hesitates a moment, a memory of fear and steel crossing her mind. "...not perfectly sure. There are assassins around, and they may be still trying to get to me. But it's a beautiful place, and rich of opportunities to gain knowledge. And they haven't attacked me since I blinded two of them, so we might be safe. Relatively."

Kostya steps back and examines the Celestial Engine before them, what a perfectly beautiful impossibility it is. This strange device that keeps their reality from falling apart at the seams. And now, it seemed to be sustained at least in part by the powers of himself and the others who had tied their power together in order to fix what had been broken. A part of Kostya wished that he could simply ignore all other pressing issues and stay here, studying the Celestial Engine, learning everything he could of it. Instead he simply ran his hand along it, seeing the imprints of what each of his companions had put into the working. When the question came up of where to go, Kostya considered the myriad of options.

"Neither my home nor my birthplace would be especially useful to us at the moment. I have unfinished business in Nezdohva but I'm not ready to go back yet. And the Bright Republic is fairly strict on immigration and movement within its borders. Besides, I've always been curious of the clockwork creations of the Vissian Maestros," Kostya admitted, his desire to learn and further modify himself showing despite the stress and uncertainty of the last few... minutes? Hours? It was legitimately hard to say and Kostya got the feeling if he thought too directly about anything that had just happened he'd just wind up with a headache.

Jabet politely waits for Beatrice's answer to her question before sincerely asking, "So, to keep the Celestial Engine together, the four of us need to stay alive, right? Have we created any new enemies who want us dead, because of our new status? And, what else can you teach us to forge our fates together?"

Khatef runs his hand through his hair, still reflexively bringing up his left for a split second before swapping to his right.

"I...also...well, if we're going to be working together, I am the only one who hasn't introduced myself. My name is Khatef. I was born in the Oasis States."

"If you people wanted me dead, you could have just left me to the orbs. Thank you for defending me, though I wasn't able to help myself."

Eistibus 'looked' at Beatrice for a few moments as he simply sat on the ground, apparently not bothered by the lack of a chair. <"What do you think destiny is, exactly?"> he inquired by way of an answer. <"Some people believe that destiny is something that can be changed. On the other hand, is it not true that everyone will take actions in their lives, and those actions will lead to a result? When you look into the past, the result is the only thing that could have happened, because that's what made it so. From your point of view, it may indeed have been chance that you were chosen - but when the Engine separating the Mortal from the Divine faltered, it was what occurred. Remember that you four are not the only bearers of the Words on your world. There are others bound to the great powers, and new existences - Champions of mortals - that should not exist and yet do.">

His gaze swiveled to Jebat a few moments later. <"The technique you used creates... hm. It is difficult to describe within the confines of your language. I apologize for the crudity of this, but it will have to do."> He raised one finger and drew a circle on the ground, then four dots between them. <"Within the engine, there are four places where the power of the Words can reside. Think of them as a kind of combination of cog and engine - if one is missing, then not only does the main Engine lack the power it needs, but it is also missing something vital to its entire operation. You cannot simply add more power from the other three to make it run, nor take away power from one while trying to let it function. Should one of you die, the Engine will falter once more, and the hole must be filled if your world is to survive. As for enemies... yes, indeed. There are many who will be afraid of you, and more who will try to hurt you. Some are simply ignorant. Some are ambitious. Some are following orders. That is always the case for those who obtain great power, and while I cannot see how it will end... I can say that the decisions of you, and those like you, will most certainly have the power to change the world. If you desire to better the world, then it shall quite probably be bettered. You can put people at ease... or terrify them. Rule them, help others to rule, or simply ignore them. Even if you do not act, the rest of the world will. You cannot avoid impacting the world around you - your power is far too great for that. I'm simply an old watcher, so I won't try to tell you what to do. And fear not for this Engine - like the other true Angels, I was made to protect its pieces, and no harm shall ever come to it from my hand.">

Jebat listens intently and then asks, "can you tell us more about the other bearers of the Words on our world?"

"That's a fascinating point of view. It is so because if it were any different we wouldn't think it were any different."
Turning to the others, Beatrice speaks again, more matter-of fact.
"I've never been to the Oasis States. Should we go there? Or do you have any different place in mind?"

"No, not yet. I don't want to go back just yet."

<"There is only one thing you truly need to know about the other bearers of the Words - they are human, just as you are. You are becoming greater, but you have not yet reached that point - and while you have the strength of mortals, you also have their flaws. Yet perhaps that is not such a bad thing. A perfected being cannot grow or change, while an imperfect one may always strive for a better future.">

"Right." Jebat replies clearly nonplussed by the depth of the divine answer.

Turning to his fellow godlings, Jebat says, "I really must insist for us to return together to my ship. My crew is currently without its captain. We can set sail for Vissio. We were heading home without much cargo or passengers, so we have the room for you."

Returning his gaze back to the angel, the captain asks, "if we need information, how can we contact you from our world?"

Beatrice's eyes widen in a show of childlike excitement. "A ship? Sailing on the sea? I've never been on one, it must be such an incredible sight to see! Yes, please, let's go there!"

"A ship? On the water? Surrounded by pirates?"

He looks pleadingly at Beatrice.

"I liked your idea much better."

Instead of taking personal offense, the captain just smiles like a shark at Khatef in reply.

Kostya nods at Khatef, acknowledging the man's name as he finally decided to give it to them. He got the impression that the Words a person was bound were tied to their nature. It made sense that a man who could hide himself from others wouldn't be the most trusting of others he had just met. Still, it seemed that working with them to fix the Celestial Engine had helped him to gain some small bit of trust at least. As for where they would be headed first, "I personally don't care much where we head first. If you feel the need to head first to your ship and crew then that seems as good a starting point as anything else."

A smile of genuine kindness, mixed to puzzlement appears on Beatrice's face.
"Why are you so bitter, Khatef? Has life really treated you so badly that you can't trust anyone? But our destinies are bound together, surely no harm would come to you by any of us!"
"And if you've never left your pyramid, aren't you escited to get to the sea, to try something new? An adventure?"
She looks pensive for a moment. Grown up in fame and fortune, she can't possibly imagine what a life of hardship feels like. Then, an idea strikes her.
"I have a double power to create emotions in others. One through music, the other through my new powers. Would you like it if I tried to make you happier?"

Khatef relaxes, slightly, as she begins to speak but hardens back up at the last.

"No. Do not touch my emotions. I don't think you would appreciate it if someone started messing around in your head, manipulating you, yes?"

"It was not you I'm worried about. Any of you, even Jebat. But how do we know that Jebat's men can be trusted? An entire crew of power hungry seaborn thieves surrounding us?"

"Mistrust has kept me alive my whole life. The few I did betrayed me." he says, rubbing his stump again.

"I want to believe I have not made a mistake again. It is...difficult."

Eistibus simply watched as you spoke to each other, politely refraining from interrupting (or worse, trying to direct) the conversation. He seemed like a rather patient fellow now that this broken fragment of Heaven was no longer crumbling.

Beatrice pouts. Well, that's an unpleasant reaction, sorry if I was trying to help. I guess he'd think different if he'd heard me sing properly, with an orchestra and everything.
"Oh, you mean a mutiny? But I believe that between the four of us we shouldn't be afraid. And if it helps you, I don't sleep, so I can keep an eye on you."
She chuckles for a moment, as if she had made a joke only her could understand, before turning to Jebat with her most charming smile.
"Would you care to reassure our friend about the safety of your ship and the loyalty of your crew?"

Jebat's demeanor hardens and chills at Khatef's description of his crew. Passengers, count to one, two, three. he consciously thinks to himself. Once he gets to ten, his visage is more relaxed. Well, it's an accurate description.

"My crew is loyal to me. Say something stupid to them, even if it may be accurate, they might react, even when they know I might punish them if they misbehave. They are only human as are we. Mind your manners, and you will be fine." He thinks about adding that there are fewer places to hide on a ship or something pithy his father used to say about character building, but he focuses on treating them like passengers.

"Now, do we have any more questions for the immortal in front of us? Look at him. Your distracting conversation has delayed his answer to my question about how we can contact him if we need further information."

<"Poorly, I suspect, 'lest you have some easy way of communicating across the veil."> There was a definite tinge of amusement in the angel's thoughts. <"Should you ever find yourselves truly at a loss, though... consider searching for one who has the answers you need. There are those on your world whose talents are more intellectual in nature... and indeed, they may know more than I, should their knowledge be divine. I am not so arrogant as to claim that about my own understanding, particularly with how clouded my sight has become.">

Kostya watched the talk play out between his comrades with a passive but non-judgmental expression. He could understand trust issues well enough. The boyar who was suppose to protect his family had lied to Kostya most of his life and had threatened to kill them if Kostya didn't behave. Trust was something that you had to earn. At the mention of Beatrice using her powers to alter Khatef's emotions Kostya spoke up, "I think that as a matter of good faith we should agree to refrain from using our powers on one another unless specifically asked to. I'd rather have to ask for assistance than have a good-intentioned change forced upon me."

After that was said though it appeared as though they were all starting to come to an agreement. So he turned to face the angel that had appeared and helped them bond to the Celestial Engine. He hadn't said much because frankly, he had no idea where to start. There were a million and more things he wanted to know but the complexity and sheer number of questions drowned out each individual query before he could voice it. Finally he did arrive at one that he desperately wanted to know the answer to though, "Will we be able to find a way to return to this place? I fear that, though I long to study the Celestial Engine, I only understand it enough to know just how vast the gap in my knowledge is. And my curiosity aside, it would be good to know that we can reach it should it somehow become unstable or threatened."

Khatef sighs, but raises no further objections about the ship.

<"Should you truly put your effort to something... there is very little you will not be able to accomplish. I believe you still underestimate the powers you possess. Please, do not blame yourselves or feel bad about this - it is no simple feat to fully comprehend the nature of the divine. Yet I can say that with this engine properly functioning once more, it is in no danger. What I taught you will help to repel outsiders as surely as it repels the Night. If your presence is ever needed once more, I suspect you will find your way back. Call it a hunch."> ...From the Angel of Divination.

Beatrices curtsies deeply, her starcloak rippling and shifting. "Thank you, kind Eistibus, for your explanations. We won't let you down."
"Now, friends, shall we depart? I long to see the sun and the sea again."

"I hope every angel we meet is a gracious as yourself." Jebat replies to Eistibus.

To his new companions, the captain says, "Aye, let's return to our world. My crew will be getting restless."

"If we have no other choice besides the ship, I would at least like to be back in our own world."

Kostya nods in thanks to the Angel, although the answer was somewhat vague Kostya felt that it was likely the best he could get in the current situation. He turned to his comrades and stepped towards them, "It seems as though we are all in agreement. Its time to go back to our world."

As Eistibus focused, the four of you were surrounded by a circle on the ground. Criss-crossing it were literally thousands of sigils and runes in a complex setup - although Kostya, who'd just worked the engine, could tell that even this complexity didn't even begin to come close to the least part of the machine that had just been modified. Space twisted around you, and the world beyond your bodies vanished.

The first thing you noticed was the sound of thunder - then a sphere of metal the size of a man's head passed inches from Jebat's hat, continuing on to smash through the wooden railing behind him and crash into the ocean. Shouts filled the air - a few directed your way, but more were the familiar orders of Jebat's second-in-command as he yelled at the crew and gave them directions. Through heavy rain, you could see two other ships circling Jebat's vessel, and more thunder ripped the air as their cannons fired towards you.

SEE!?! I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!" Khatef shouts, and disappears from sight, trying to find a safe place to hunker down.

With a high-pitched scream, Beatrice hits the deck. "Who are we fighting? And why?"

Jebat inhales deeply the air laced with salt and saltpeter. Loving those scents, he smiles at his home and then roars to his first mate and crew, "I'VE RETURNED, YOU SCALLYWAGS! WITH THREE PASSENGERS! READY FOR FOG! AND PREPARE TO COME ABOUT!"

With effort still in his sapphire wings, he easily jumps from the tossing deck to behind the pilot manning the wheel. He pushes his power into the air summoning roiling fog to encircle his ship at a radius of 300 feet. His crew felt the cool fog more than saw it, but the attackers had no benefit.

When their enemies faced dense fog, he ordered, "HELM ALEE!" The ready crew waited for the ship to tack across the wind and started securing all the lines, like a Bright Republic clockwork.

When the ship was moving in a different direction and shrouded in fog, so in relative safety of the opposing guns, he called for his first mate, "JALAK! JALAK! REPORT!"

Kostya had never spent a great deal of time on ships. He pulled his hood up over his head so that the heavy rain wouldn’t be pelting him directly in the face as he surveyed their new surroundings. It appeared as though they had arrived at either a very good time, or perhaps a bad one, depending on your perspective. Jebat certainly wasted no time in taking command of his vessel and readying them for battle. Frankly Kostya had little idea of what he could do in a sea battle so he worked to stay out of the way for now. If they got close enough to another ship he could attempt his little leaping trick from earlier. It had tired him a bit though and he wasn’t sure if he could keep doing such stunts over and over without rest. Granted, he could also probably just pick up a cannon and throw it at another ship. But something told him that Jebat wouldn’t appreciate one of his cannons being used as a blunt force weapon. The best he could do now was observe and wait for his chance to be useful.

It was probably a testament to the efficiency with which Jebat ran his ship that the crew reacted well to his orders - it was almost instinctive, really, the sign of a Captain who truly had command.

"Raiders out of Ulstang, Captain!" Jalak - who'd been running the ship until a few moments ago - replied as more thunder crackled and a few more cannonballs shot through the fog - but less accurately than before, and only one clipped your vessel. "Came right out of the Toban Gulf as we passed. Probably attacked a settlement or picked up some nasty goods, didn't want us to report them to somebody who might chase them down."

(The Toban Gulf is an area of somewhat shallower water, bordered by the Regency of Dulimbai, the Toba Plains, and the Thousand Gods at the south end of the continent. It's marked on Dulimbai's local map in the book.)

Reaching for light inside her, Beatrice focuses spreading warmth, hope and passion through her voice.
"Non sperar, se non m'uccidi, ch'io ti lasci fuggir mai!"
Instead of a baritonal voice, the roar of firearms answers her verse, but the strength of her words resonates through the sailors, bolstering their spirit.

Spending Effort to duplicate Hope of the Dawn as a miracle.
"You and allies within your general area gain a Morale
of 12 and an invincible defense against magical emotional influence.
Allied NPCs gain +1 hit die and +1 to hit. Those in sight of you
have an instinctive awareness of your wishes, though they are not
compelled to obey."
Right now, my wish is to get to safety.

"Passengers. Those ships are crewed by the dead. We need to kill the witch aboard or sink the ship. Kostya, do you want to take the fight to them? I'll fly us." Jebat doubts the other two godlings would willingly join melee.

He focuses on the surrounding fog to extend it where their heading and evaporate it in their wake. Over time this trick might allow attackers to pinpoint the center.

"Jalak, fight the ship. I'll go after the one you can't broadside." He and Jalak had used this tactic before.

Khatef scrambles across the deck of the ship, and tugs on Jebat's sleeve.

"M-maybe I can help here. If you can get me on that boat, I think I can stop the witch without killing her...maybe we coudl even gain her as an ally?"

Just let me know what you decide. XD

Ignored by Jebat, Khatef appeals to Kostya instead.

"Hey, you're really strong right? Like Jebat? Could you jump or throw me over there...I really don't want to be thrown but I really don't want them to sink our ship either..."

I can't think of any miracle Khatef can produce that will get him over there.

Kostya looks between Jebat and Khatef and nods to them both, “If you can take us both over and just drop us on the ship I will protect Khatef as he does whatever he can to neutralize the witch. If you could support us from the air that would be useful. I doubt I can replicate my little jumping trick too many more times today so I’d prefer to save my strength for any unseen contingencies.”

Having said that he moves closer to Jebat and extends an arm out to Khatef, their odd little chain carry had worked out fairly well back on the plane of the Celestial Engine so it should serve them just fine here. Kostya quickly glanced to Beatrice who was inspiring the crew, “Are you going to be okay here? I figure it might be safer than moving onto the ships? It would keep you out of the fray directly at least.”

"Don't worry about me, I'll be safe. And I have an idea for that second ship! Can you make me one of those things you made Jebat, to see further?"

Jebat hands Beatrice Kostya's telescope and says, "Sounds like a plan. Let's go." The Storm Captain refreshes his concealing fog with his divine effort and clasps Kostya's hand. Then, he releases the shackles of gravity from himself and flies away from the ship toward the enemy ship that Jalak cannot fight as well with broadsides. He angles away to avoid disclosing his ship's position if the witches are that observant.

He approaches the enemy ship above the maximum angle of the cannons and pauses just inside the fog to ready themselves. Two hundred feet below the godlings the waves of the sea roll.