Urgent Town Meeting Concerning Godo

[Verbena Domitia]

[Timestamp: Monday, July 22nd, early afternoon]

Having informed all she could along the way, Verbena paces in the inn, anticipating the arrival of witnesses to Godo's assaults, in order to consolidate what is known about him and to form plans.

[GarretGodsbrand]

Garret works his way to the Inn to assist with formulating some ideas. Bearing in mind him, Zero and Winnie have a few good strategies worked out

[Malva]

Malva enters and sits down, prepared to discuss which brews she's working on and what other brews would be feasible.

[Lexicus]

Lexicus enters and sits quietly in a corner.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri grabs a drink and saunters over to sit next to Lexicus. He leans towards Lexicus and says "Dimitri loves Strategy meetings. Smart people talk lots though, more when they are scared... Be prepared for long one."

[Jaya]

Jaya enters makes herself a cup of tea and sits next to Malva.

"I don't even know where to begin on this one" She sighs and takes a sip of her tea.

[Prof. P. P. Pendergast]

Professor Pendergast enters the room, with a solemn look on his face. Tired, he takes a deep breath and walks up to the table. It's been a long few days, and he gets a drink of water to restore his constitution. He starts to look over the gathering crowd of people, then shuffles through his papers nervously, steeling himself once again as he waits for any stragglers to arrive.

He looks at Verbena and nods, then gets his pen and parchment paper ready. This one is going to be a doozy.

[Micheal Grayflow]

Michael makes his way into the Inn, grabbing a cup of tea before settling himself down in a vacant spot. Content, he relaxes a tiny bit by leaning against the wall, tea still in hand.

[Morpha]

*Morpha is sitting in a corner, making cooing sounds to a glass of water*

[Malva]

"Well, do we have enough people to begin, or are we waiting for anyone in particular?"

[Mo'chi]

Mo'chi enters, albiet somewhat late, and sits down silently next to Penderghast.

[Ardin Gallagher]

The inn door swings open, Ardin holding it to allow an elderly and quite psychic human and an energetic halfling armed and armoured with a bow and leathers to enter the inn, before finally entering himself. Looking around at the gathered crowd, Ardin stands against the back wall, resting his sword and shield against it.

"I hope we haven't missed too much," He addresses Verbena and Pendergast expectantly.

[Gurok]

Rose walks into the inn and heads straight for the strawberries, oblivious to the air of expectancy.

[Prof. P. P. Pendergast]

"Actually, Ardin, I was waiting for a few others to show up before we began, so you haven't missed anything," Pendergast replies. Then he notices the entourage with him. "Who have you brought with you?"

[Ardin Gallagher]

"This is Elder Pryson and Cherry" Ardin motions towards the man and halfling respectively. "Elder Pryson is a sage wise beyond his years, and Cherry is a masterful tactician. Together they lead the local Confederate tribe, and their skills and bravery helped us stand against the Calamity. They've been gracious enough to offer aid towards our efforts against Godo."

Looking around at the group of individuals, and Pendergast ready with his notebook, Ardin starts talking.

"We should get this meeting started now, while it's calm out. You're taking notes, yes Pendergast? If anyone else comes through late they can be caught up. The first order of business is to gather all of our knowledge of Godo and his army in one place, and ensure what we know is accurate. We need strategies for when he comes into town. There's also the matter of what to do with Sylvie and Misty having been taken. And finally, what to do about Godo's demands."

"For now, what do we know about Godo and his army? Don't hold anything back, no matter how trivial a piece of information it may seem." Ardin waits for others to speak up.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri puts down his cup and speaks up.

"Here is what Dimitri has seen and heard, I leave analysis to others.

Observations: Godo appears to be male human, close to 30 years, speaks the common tongue, wears little armour, Has 2 massive finger nails. 

Temperament: Godo Holds little regard for others as if we are beneath them. Doesn’t appear to care that many of his army were slain, offered us a prisoner for unknown reasons even though it was most likely forfeiting their life, Krond was able to get a small amount of attention from Godo. He treats us like children.

Defenses are unknown, but Krond Swung Gram at Godo and Godo is still alive.

Weapons unknown, Godo dealt with us all barehanded, very scary.

Powers: appears able to knock out people within 25m but less then 75m or; less then 50m when behind a wall. The second time Godo used knock out the people in the citadel and those far away didn’t speak of being knocked out. Can break void domination with their voice, Dimitri witnessed this personally, Theo was there too. Godo was able to leave Krond’s sight while a spirit bond chant had been cast between him and Krond, this Dimitri has been told is not right. Godo is ridiculously strong reference citadel door lock.

Allies: Leads a huge army, army witnessed by Krond. Army appears to be fanatically devoted to Godo. Verbena was involved in questioning of the exchanged prisoner.

Enemies: unknown, but “Marwa”(?) funneled their army for us so they would attack in only one direction, so they’re probably not friends.

Goals: Extract will from anchor points from around holfast and something about Rakesh.

Things Dimitri does not understand but may be important.
1. “Rakesh” seems to refer to a ritual or something. Godo explained this during parley before Verbena led them into the woods. Dimitri did not understand but they said it a lot so it should be important
2. Why did Godo’s minions steal weapons of our fallen but not kill us.
3. What was the purpose of giving us the prisoner on the first night, prisoner had powerful magic and psychic powers but didn’t know any spells. Someone used psychic cheating to read their mind, maybe they can tell us more.
4. Where did Godo and their army come from?
5. Godo wants to extract will from Holdfast. Is this unique to Holdfast and godo or has this been done before somewhere else."

Picking his cup back up Dimitri settles in and waits for others to add their experiences or observations.

[Prof. P. P. Pendergast]

With a single fluid motion, Pendergast whips out his gold pen and begins furiously writing out every bit of information as it is said. He fills one page, then scribbles out more notes, then his eyes begin to widen as he realizes he's filled out quite a bit.

"That's quite an impressive recount, Dimitri," he states. "From what Lady Valeriya mentioned, Godo and his minions speak a dialect of Wastelander. It's entirely possible that he does come from the Great Wastes originally, or may have just been there for a while and could have originally come from somewhere else.

"More than likely, I would argue that when it comes to the theft of weapons, it would likely be so that our supplies can be limited. Taking a weapon and chucking it into the sea ensures that nobody else can easily use that weapon with any degree of ease, thus making it harder to defend ourselves.

"As for extracting the will from Holdfast... That moreover has to do with extracting the will we placed into the anchor points to seal up the rift and stop the Axis Supercede last year. From what we were able to gather from Lord Earth's visit last month, there is a power here unique to Holdfast which contains the will of every soul who has ever dwelled here, which we have within us now to a degree. And when we stopped the Axis, we put some of that power back, in addition to our own will. If we extract the will we put there, he will be able to extract as much power as he wants in order to gain "true ascension", which is synonymous with unleashing hell on this world. And personally, I would rather <i>not</i> do that at this point."

Pendergast takes a quick breath and an even quicker drink. "Now!" he coughs, clearing his throat. "I have been mulling over the idea of trying to perform a ritual of some kind, either magic or psychic, so as to ascertain some kind of weakness Godo may have. More than likely I might be able to glean some insight as to how to bring down that savage before he can have his way with the power he seeks."

"As for Sylvie and Misty... I am concerned that if we try to go after them recklessly, people are going to end up getting killed, including the hostages, or worse... we would risk Godo coming back here because we decided to defy him and then he eviscerates the town. Now that having been said, I have my doubts that Godo can be taken at his word about their safety, since his army has shown very little regard for keeping their word, so leaving them there is not an option. We know he has psychics, so people in the Astral Plane can be seen. We also know he has powers akin to Marwhel, and is capable of forcing people out of a blend. These two facts mean that extreme care is required if we attempt to liberate them. We can't go off half-cocked with this. So how can we go about getting them out safely, with minimal risk to ourselves and the hostages?"

[Malva]

"Is Godo the only one of his crew capable of forcing someone out of a blend? If so, we could send someone in while he's distracted. Otherwise, how feasible would it be to disguise someone as a member of his army? "

[Ardin Gallagher]

"Fighting Godo head-on is a suicide mission for sure, but as of weaknesses Pendergast, we already know a few."

Ardin grabs a drink and downs it in one fluid motion.

"Godo's army is fanatical. They serve him, even if it means they forfeit their lives in the process. While it suits Godo's purposes, someone so deprived of free will that they'd throw their life away is someone who wouldn't act without Godo's orders, or at least one of Godo's higher forces.

Godo himself suffers the same problem that the Axis did, he sees himself unfathomably superior to everyone else. The concept of failure is most likely alien to him, to the point I don't believe he'd have plans for what happens should he fail. If we can find a way to exploit this, it'll give us an opening, however small.

He also needs us, for whatever reason. Godo could've easily wiped us out by now. Instead he sent hundreds of men a handful at a time with the intent for us to slaughter. We're all alive right now only because Godo wants or needs us alive, at least most of us. Open defiance is still obviously a death wish, but we should use his reluctance to destroy us to our advantage."

[Malva]

"I should also note that a dwarfskin potion will usually toughen someone up enough to resist being knocked out. For those I would need dwarf blood, among other things, and I must warn that they are addictive, but they are an option. I believe the spell 'the earth will toughen you' would also be sufficient."

[Ardin Gallagher]

"That spell can toughen someone to the point that they'll be safe from being knocked out, yes. I'd encourage any learned earth mages to come to me for training with that spell if you'd like to protect yourself against Godo, it works much better when self-cast, and I'd not be able to protect many on my own."

[Morpha]

"I tried repelling Godo with water. It mildly annoyed him before he eviscerated me. My magic has not been working too well against anything as of late."

[Lady Val]

Captain Cherry looks on in surprise at first and then her cherub like face darkens. The armours and furs she wears shift as if her hackles are raised as she crosses her arms. She shifts her weight and scans the room, waiting until Morpha has finished.

"Sir Gallagher has informed me of some of the goings on with this Godo, but none of our tribe have heard of this strange Wastelander with an army of fanatical underlings. In all honesty I'm surprised he got past the Imperials and my fellow Confederates to get here. How do you suppose he moves this army so quickly and unseen? We have boats that watch the shores of our homeland, and now the ocean between our beloved Great Woods and Annwm thanks to Sir Gallagher here." she gestures at Ardin, her face softening as she smiles his way. She looks back at the group and continues.

"The Confederacy has much knowledge of the world thanks to the Great Library, however we have never heard of this Godo. I suspect it is because we have had very few Wastelanders visit our lands and know little about their culture and societies. However, this smells of magic, and not the kind gifted to us by Faerie and the great gods Potential and Achievement, this story reeks of some dark magic, the kind found at the edges of the world where great beasts and monsters roam, where reality is weak. It sounds like this Godo has found something monstrous and against all that Faerie and the Great Spirits teach us, something truly evil."

She pauses. "He needs to be watched, that is for certain. My tribe can help with that if you like. We are not like the Elder Fae, we cannot blend, but we can be virtually unseen in the forests if we so choose and we can enlist the spirits of the forest to come to our aid if needed. We can watch them, but that is all I can offer until we know more." She nods to Elder Pryson "We will not make any attempt to engage Godo's forces until I know we can do it safely."

[Gurok]

Rose pipes up " dont forget at least one of his army has enough free will and sense left to speak to me and tell me to run when he saw I was a child. But another atacked me without a second thought. That means so Godo doesn't have complete control over them, or else they both would have done the same thing, attacked or shown mercy under Godos orders."

[Prof. P. P. Pendergast]

"I'm rather inclined to agree," Pendergast adds. "The working theory that we have right now, and again this comes from Lady Val's observations, is that some kind of planar magic is responsible for Godo and his forces arriving in the mountains near Soul's Landing. That is literally the only explanation for how they got past both the Confederacy and the Empire unnoticed. I'd be very curious to know exactly what type of magic he's used. Any information on it might present a lead on how to counter it."

He looks at Cherry, while still keeping notes. "Keeping him under observation would be a tremendous help. Being aware of their movements, as well as confirming that the hostages are safe, alive and unharmed, would definitely be in our favour for certain. Thank you, Cherry."

As soon as he makes notes about Rose's comment, he pauses, looking up from his parchment with a puzzled expression. "He told you to run, Rose? That's... unusual given what we've seen from the majority of his army. It also opens up the possibility that some of them might, and I mention might be swayed."

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