Session 38 - The Threat Ends

GM Observations
- This session carries on directly from Session 37, with Grant’s journey to Naso. This session is the conclusion of the 2nd Story Arc which began way back in Session 9 (!!!) It took a very long time to get to this point, but we’re having fun so that’s okay. We finally find out what happened to Talos, to Galatea, to those who broke out the Warglord Narsaug from the underwater prison, to Vala’s Pride, to Shatterlight. All is revealed! (well, mostly all…. heh heh)
- Based on other posts on the Rite Publishing forum, we can see now that Lords of Gossamer is at a significant disadvantage compared to Amber Diceless. Amber Diceless provided rules, but there were more than 10 full length novels of content to provide examples as to how the powers worked and what was possible/prudent. We don’t have the same clarity with the Lords of Gossamer setting. Rite Publishing is working on it, but it will probably take them years to develop the same level of content. So that’s it - the community needs to step up and answer those basic questions as to how things work, how powers appear, whether they can be detected when used etc. I’m going to work with Stairbender and Lurker37 (and possibly others) to build a FAQ which will no doubt be superseded as Rite Publishing produces content which fleshes out what has already been written. But I don’t think we can wait any longer - this game has been running for a year and we’re not stopping it. So we’re simply going to have to define what is missing, and some of what is written by the community will no doubt be contradicted by what Rite publishes as canon later on. That’s okay - we’ll make it clear in the FAQ what is a house rule and what is a ‘community call’ until it’s defined by Rite. In that FAQ we will have to write examples - it’s the only way. One of the strengths of the Amber Diceless rules were the frequent references back to passages of the Amber novels - that’s not possible in the Lords of Gossamer setting so we need to provide examples. 
- On that note, there are a number of Bruce/David interpretations as to what is possible with Umbra Mastery in the following narrative. I’ll make some comments in italics below.

Realm 15b - True Marindar (Grey Door)
Part 1 - Attack on Naso
- Grant flies in hawk form towards Naso. He is focussed on speed, and becomes a black streak across the sky, leaving crackling energy in this wake. (GM’s note - okay, David and I discussed in detail what should be possible with Eidolon and Umbra to accelerate the travel of a character in hawk-form. Note that Speed is a Strength-based, so Grant is a very very fast hawk. Use of Eidolon would make the hawk more a more efficient flier but probably little more - it would increase his flying speed to a certain limit - but that would probably be Eidolon’s limit (not that Grant has that power). We then talked about what Umbra could do - could Umbra be used for propulsion (for example)? Could Umbra be used to negate gravity and even wind resistance to accelerate the speed? Then came my recommendation - both Eidolon and Umbra are paradigms for manipulating gossamer reality. Hence it should be possible do pretty much anything with both Eidolon and Umbra, but their paradigms make some things easier than others. Hence Grant should be able to go ‘supersonic’ with Umbra, effectively moulding gossamer reality to accelerate his speed, using Umbra to break down the obstacles/constraints which are preventing him from reaching his destination more quickly. I would have even allowed an Umbra ‘teleport’ if he had pushed with enough Psyche. David/Lurker37 liked this and agreed to it.) There is no sonic boom when Grant tears across the sky - effectively his Umbra powers prevent that. Lightning crackles in his wake due to atmospheric disturbance.
- He crosses four hours of flight time in about ten minutes. The township of Naso is by the sea, built into the hillside. It is small compared to Central, with perhaps only houses for 1500-2000 people. He sees sea-going vessels in the port. There is smoke pouring from some of the structures in the higher parts of the township, and Grant can see the occasional flash below of weapon-fire. Using Umbral Sight, Grant is able to determine that there are about two dozen of Talos’ drones in and around one building which is billowing smoke. (GM’s note - Umbral Sight is like X-Ray vision - it can see clean through smoke and other obstacles) He ascertains that the natives of Naso are attempting to retake a building which the drones are defending. Grant decides to join the locals.
- He swoops down behind the counterattacking force and approaches one of the soldiers. The soldier has no idea who Grant is, even after he introduces himself, and directs him to Quintus, the man leading the counterattack. Quintus’ soldiers are armed with wand-like guns and armour that reminds Grant of the ancient Greeks/Romans from his home Earth. The Marindans have even broken out some ‘antique’ weapons - Grant spots something that looks like a RPG-launcher, but they are still unable to penetrate the outer defences, particularly after a defensive barrier is erected which appears like a red semi-transparent haze in front of the structure. The drones continue to fire on any of the Marindans who get too close, using a variety of different weapons - sonics, plasma and ballistic weapons. Grant quickly sizes up the situation and takes command. (GM’s note - he has superior Warfare and high levels of Good Stuff, hence I ruled that Quintus is quickly convinced that he is better equipped to lead them) Grant asks after Lord Hyndrake and Quintus can only tell him that he is inside somewhere. Grant can hear the sound of weapon-fire coming from within so he assumes that the drones are still trying to eliminate those within. He can not afford to waste any time, so he rushes into action.
- Grant leads from the front, smashing through the defensive barrier with Umbra. The Marindans follow in his wake. With a wand-pistol in one hand and his wrist-blaster in the other, Grant tears through the outer perimeter and blasts two of the drones before the others adapt and deploy countermeasures which renders Grant’s ranged weapons ineffective. He switches to his blade and begins carving through the drones, appearing suddenly through the smoke, efficiently destroying them one by one and then moving on rapidly. (GM’s note - the drones can see through the smoke, but it still looks cool) He finds a chamber where the drones are attempting to melt through a section of the floor and he quickly destroys them (he finds out later that there were women and children on the other side). Finally he comes across Talos - another Talos - this one is in a kneeling position with a hole in the roof overhead, but it is totally inert. At his feet lies the unconscious Hyndrake, a broken silver chain around his neck. 
- Grant curses that he is too late. Talos has already recovered the Key to the Tellurian Door. He assumes the worst - that Talos has fired a capsule to Central where the Tellurian Door is located and he has already assaulted the guards in a bid to escape. Grant makes contact with Sophia via sorcerous communication and tells her that Naso is once again under Marindan control. Sophia acknowledges this but says that there has been no attack on the Tellurian gate. Grant senses that Sophia is not in a position to tell him the whole situation (he remembers that the homicidal little elf, Benjamin, is with her). Grant sighs and steels himself for another very rapid flight to Central. Grant is feeling worn down, but he hopes that he will find a final resolution in Central.

Part 2 - Return to Central
- Putting a lot of effort in, Grant rips towards Central in hawk-form. A journey that should take more than 6 hours takes only about ten minutes using Umbra (again manipulating gossamer reality). This is very draining for him - he slows when he reaches the outskirts of Central and spies the Tellurian Gate (within a floating structure). He lands on the landing platform and transitions back to human form. The guards are expecting him, no doubt informed by Lady Sophia that he was on his way. They look visibly relieved that he has arrived, but confirm that there has been no attack.
- Grant insists on going to the Tellurian Door itself, within the structure, and finds Lady Galatea waiting for him. Grant is a touch surprised and asks if she is all right. She nods and tells him that Talos has not gotten past her - she remembers enough to confirm that Talos has indeed tampered with her. She assures Grant that if he is still around, Talos won’t get past her. Grant feels exhausted - he realises that he’s pushed himself too hard. Galatea asks if he is okay and he takes a seat. The guards offer him some water and food. Grant tries to think through the situation - if Talos is not here at the Tellurian Gate, then where is he?
- Galatea asks Grant gently if he knows where her ‘Uncle’ is (referring to Professor Morrison) and Grant answers that he still hasn’t seen him. This reminds him that there is still the question of those who broke Narsaug out of prison, and Grant doesn’t know where to go next. He taps into his Wayfinding, but all that he can gauge is a vague feeling that the answer lies somewhere far above. Grant thinks hard and remembers that Lord Hyndrake was not the only Marindan to have a Key. He remembers that Sophia also had access to at least one Key. He doubts that Talos would be so stupid as to pick a fight with Benjamin, but he decides that this is the next place to go.
- After ten minutes, Grant gets back to his feet and asks to be taken (by air car) to his residence. Galatea agrees to remain on stand-by and protect the Tellurian Gate for the time being until they can confirm that the threat has passed. One of the guards drives Grant back to his home.
- Upon arrival, Grant realises that the door to the estate has been blown off its hinges. Inside there are destroyed drones and shattered furniture. The walls are scorched by blaster fire. Grant wanders from room to room and finds another Talos - this one has been sliced into four pieces. He finds Benjamin, Lady Sophia, Queen Aglaranna and Rafael in the same chamber that he last left them. Benjamin drinks tea from a fine china cup. Lady Sophia looks ashen, but she brightens when she sees Grant. Grant is relieved to see them all alive and unhurt but keeps this concealed in front of the homicidal little elf. Benjamin asks if Grant has found all of the traitors and Grant tells him that there is more than one Talos running around and there may be more. He explains that the Talos who attacked Naso fired a capsule which probably contained the Tellurian Key - but the Tellurian Gate appears to be safe. He asks if Benjamin retrieved a Key from this Talos and Benjamin shakes his head. Grant thinks for a moment about where else the capsule could have been sent to. Meanwhile, Benjamin leaves the room.
- Benjamin returns quickly with Talos’ head while Grant helps himself to Marindan tea. Benjamin concentrates on the head for about a minute, then asks for an air-car and someone to drive it. Grant volunteers and Benjamin agrees.

Part 3 - Back to the Factory
- The course that Benjamin directs takes them straight back to the Factory. This doesn’t make sense to Grant at first, although he does remember that the attacks on the undersea dome and Naso started when he was in the Factory. He considers the possibility that Talos attempted to distract him and send him elsewhere.
- Benjamin is not in a talkative mood. He directs Grant to fly faster, and then keeps his thoughts to himself. They arrive at the Factory without incident. The body of Talos was blown to bits during the explosion and they can find no evidence that there is a second Talos at the Factory. They search the place and find that one drone has the capsule fired from Naso with the Tellurian Key inside. Clearly even if Talos is alive he has been in no position to retrieve the Key. Benjamin takes the Key and destroys the drone just in case it has received any other instructions. He then asks whether Grant is happy to now return to Central. Grant insists on destroying all of the other drones - and the two of them cleave their way through all of the remaining robots. They then return back to Central and Grant’s residence.
- On the journey back, Benjamin drives (he always could drive, he just didn’t volunteer this previously). Grant rests - he is extremely extremely tired.

Part 4 - The Other Keys
- Returning to his residence, Benjamin asks what Grant will do next. Grant indicates that he lives in Marindar, or at least plans to. Benjamin asks why, and Grant explains that these people need defending - the Dwimmerlaik are still a threat. Benjamin agrees, and says that they are very probably making plans. Benjamin asks Lady Sophia if there are any other Keys, and Sophia shakes her head. Benjamin reveals that he has all of the Keys into Marindar (he has previously acquired the ones that Sophia possessed). Grant doesn’t ask for the Keys - he infers that Benjamin plans to remove them such that even if Talos does manage to revive himself, he still cannot escape.
- Benjamin turns to leave and Grant begins to follow him. Benjamin hops into the air-car and eyes Grant carefully. He asks if Grant wants to come, and Grant nods. He knows there is more but Benjamin has not been forthcoming to this point. The air-car lifts off and heads up, and up, and up… into space.

Part 5 - Into Space
- In near orbit, Benjamin asks if Grant can tell whether there are any monitoring devices on the vehicle and whether their conversation is private or not. Grant confirms that there are recording devices in the car (there seem to be everywhere on Marindar) and he agrees to erect an Umbral Shield around them so that they their movements and conversations will not be tracked without directly disabling the monitoring devices. Upon doing so, Benjamin retrieves a bullet from his pocket and concentrates on it. Grant can tell just from looking at it that it is an Icon. (GM’s note - Icons are visible as Icons using Eidolon or Umbral Sight) Benjamin then directs Grant as to which way to go.
- They travel for many hours through the void with only a field of distant stars around them. Marindar has long since vanished behind them. Benjamin is stoic and says nothing. Grant again uses the time to rest. But then in the distance he can feel something amidst the blackness. To an Umbra Master, what lies in the distance is painful to look at - for it is an Eidolon Ship. A Dwimmerlaik Ship. A weapon from the Great War. They have found Vala’s Pride.

Part 6 - The Dwimmerlaik Ship
- The Dwimmerlaik Ship is vast and alien. Grant can tell that this is a weapon of war, and infers that this was captured by the Lords of Gossamer during the Great War. This is Vala’s Pride.

* Image sourced from Google
- Suddenly more pieces fall into place in Grant’s mind. He knows that Marindar is guarded, and what better place to hide a captured Dwimmerlaik warship but in a guarded and protected realm. Feeling like a X-Wing pilot facing a Star Destroyer or even a Super Star Destroyer, Grant is decidedly uncomfortable. He feels like a thousand Eidolon eyes are locked on him and it makes his skin crawl. Benjamin doesn’t seem to like the ship either - Grant can tell that he has a certain distaste for it.
- They fly into one of the cavernous bays and step out into the hangar. There is no one to greet them, but Benjamin is able to direct them both (still using the Icon as a token to fast-track his Wayfinding). The air is ice-cold. They take a transport within the ship to a large control deck with overhead screens that give the appearance of windows looking outwards. It is at least heated to a more comfortable temperature. In this place they find:

* Images from L to R by Jason Rainville, Luigi Teruel, Sandara, Greysun_D, OchreJelly and Mictones

• Lord Drake - clearly in command. (Grant realises that the bullet Icon that Benjamin was using was an Icon of Drake)
• Turadok - smiling a toothy grin when he sees Grant. He is relaxing on one of the chairs by an oversized console.
• Narsaug - watching Grant warily from a distance as they arrive (GM’s note - remember that Grant ‘trashed’ Narsaug back in Session 18)
• Professor Morrison - frozen in ‘carbonate’ (yep, Han Solo style). He is hanging on a distant wall.
• Cromwell - looking relaxed to see Grant.
• Queen Constancia - looking relieved to see Grant

- Grant also notes a number of other soldiers about the place, clearly Drake’s - the rest of the group who helped break Narsaug out of the prison. He doesn’t sense an immediate threat from any of them, but watches for Benjamin’s reaction. To Grant’s pleasant surprise, Benjamin pretty much ignores Drake and walks off. Grant gets the impression that Benjamin has done a favour for Drake and doesn’t like being ‘an errand boy’. Drake welcomes Grant aboard - Grant feels that the welcome is genuine. But he has so many questions ….

Part 7 - Answers
- Over the next few hours Grant learns more about the Lords of Gossamer and the Dwimmerlaik than perhaps all of his time in the Central Library. What he learns astonishes him…..

• The Traitor - Drake wants to know if Talos is really the only traitor on Marindar. Grant believes this to be the case, but Drake is still uncertain about Morrison. He refers to Morrison as ‘dangerous’ given his knowledge and ideas - hence why he is currently frozen in ‘carbonite’ until Drake can decide what to do with him. The Lords of Gossamer have known for some time that there was a traitor on Marindar but didn’t know who.
• Dossiers - Drake is able to confirm that Talos kept extensive intelligence dossiers on all of the Lords of Gossamer and the Marindan Defenders which would be highly useful to the Enemy. This included all of the ‘danger room’ information that Cromwell had acquired to train Grant, amongst other Lords. As a technologically life form, Talos was exceptionally good with the kind of sorcery/technology that Marindar employs and had many years to gather a significant stockpile of damaging information. Grant recovered the memory core from the Factory and provided it to Bethany/Morlan for safekeeping - Drake’s agents in Central have since been in touch with the Defenders and confirmed its contents. Grant later accesses the memory core and finds encrypted information (which he can decrypt using Umbra) which refer to other enemies of the Lords of Gossamer that Talos has worked with, even on Marindar. The names mentioned are Shimrod, Shuluth, Skullface and Victor. (GM’s note - the same Shuluth and Victor that have popped up in Campaign 3 and the same Shimrod that first appeared in Session 8)
  
  * Images from L to R by Tanathiel, Unknown, Deligaris, Unknown and RyanVogler
• Flushing Out the Traitor - The Marindans also suspected that there was a traitor as the Lords of Gossamer were staying away. They hatched their own plot, sending out many birds onto the Stair (the red robins) and even bringing Vala’s Pride closer as a lure. Drake hadn’t wanted this - he had been prepared to leave Narsaug incarcerated for a time and work through agents, but he wasn’t prepared to risk Vala’s Pride and hence the team had swung into action to recover both. There was no entry through the Doors into Marindar because the team which extracted Narsaug was already on Marindar (or off world in the colonies) - there are many places to hide on Marindar if you know where. Drake is most unhappy with Professor Morrison for his foolhardy approach - they were fortunate that Talos was not able to contact the Enemy directly - if he had done so the outcome might have been very different.
• But where are the Red Robins? - Drake shows Grant a great chamber within Vala’s Pride that holds hundreds of the Red Robins. The Lords of Gossamer have been deliberately catching them for some time, preventing Marindar from calling for help while they work behind the scenes to pin-point who the traitor is. Lady Sophia has no idea of this. Regarding the one that Grant encountered (in Session 13), that one somehow slipped through the net. Drake would have prevented the contact if he could have. (This one left Grant gobsmacked!)
• The Marindan Doors - Grant asked about why the Marindan Doors were closing, and Drake answered simply that Marindar is very sensitive to the presence of Lords of Gossamer. The more Lords frequent Marindar, the more Doors open. This is a double-edged sword so there is has been a deliberate effort amongst the Lords to ‘stay away’. Drake confirms Grant’s fear that the Dwimmerlaik are ‘very close’ to Marindar (but at this point he does not explain further). Again, Grant is shocked as he assumed that the Dwimmerlaik were deliberately severing the Doors to Marindar - he didn’t consider that this could be a natural occurrence.
• Narsaug’s Attack - Grant asks why Narsaug attacked Marindar and whether Bastiano truly sent Narsaug to invade. Drake again answers this one and says that Bastiano did indeed direct Narsaug to attack the Marindan Approach. Bastiano discussed the idea with Drake but Drake refused to go ahead with it. Bastiano felt strongly enough to go forward with his plan anyway, duping Narsaug into thinking that Drake had ordered it. Drake admits that he has since had ‘words’ with Bastiano about this, but Drake does not appear to show any remorse. Again, Grant is shocked - people died because of this. Drake calmly replies that it was not his wish, but that people die during war time. Grant can’t understand this perspective because the Marindans were civilians. Drake says that Bastiano hoped to ‘frighten’ the traitor into action which might reveal himself (or herself). As a result of the attack on the Marindan approach, Professor Morrison took the artefacts from the Central Museum and took steps to fortify Marindar. It did have an impact, but did not flush out the traitor as expected.
• The Destruction of the Watchtower - Drake explains that the Vala’s Pride did indeed open fire on the Watchtower, when Talos attempted to take control of the onboard computer systems from the Watchtower. They didn’t know it was Talos at the time, only that someone had used the Watchtower communications array to access the Vala’s Pride systems - and hence they opened fire.
• Shatterlight Destroyed? - Grant asks about whether Shatterlight is truly destroyed, and again Drake shares a ‘wonder’ with him. He takes him to a glowing globe in the heart of the ship and tells him that this is Shatterlight, which actually powers the ship itself. Again this is beyond Grant’s comprehension, and Drake tells him gently that they ‘switched the realms’. (GM’s note - this is deliberately meant to be a WTF moment, suggesting that some of the Lords can do some pretty over the top stuff) Drake destroyed a realm that was very close to Shatterlight, but not truly the real thing, in order to make the Dwimmerlaik believe that the Lords of Gossamer are at war with each other and see if they would be prepared to show their hand. He implies (but does not say) that he has had dealings with the Dwimmerlaik and continues to try to draw them out. Grant asks about Mordecai and Drake tells him that Mordecai does not know the plan. Mordecai feels strongly, as he should based on his perception as to what has occurred, and this also is important to the plan. Grant is again astonished - that they’re duping one of their own just to keep up appearances.

And that concludes the second story arc….. the immediate threat to Marindar is over and new information and new allies are now available to Grant. Drake has decided to confide a great deal in Grant …. which could bode well for the future…. or maybe not. Perhaps there’s a whole new level of trouble awaiting him….

I’m going to discuss with David about openly publishing Ethan’s and Grant’s stats at this point ….. We are still at the 120 point level after 38 sessions and I think we need to have another points-bump at this level. Stay tuned …. we’re not finished…. 

PS: Session 39 writeup will be up by Wednesday 20th August. It’s already written…..