Part 43: Fear and Love
Fear and Love"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him," Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince.
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This ruin is the largest ancient building you have seen on Sucia Island. It is an enormous structure, with tall, arched stone roofs and massive, intact pillars.
The markings and drawings on the walls seem to indicate it was a temple and maybe a seat of government as well. The markings look both like prayers and records, both poetry and laws. Whatever it was used for, it was clearly the center of much activity.
Recently, however, it has been adapted for other purposes. There is accumulated rubble and garbage. Several tattered banners, bearing Shaper symbols, hang from the walls. It looks like they have been brought from elsewhere.
The tracks of creations are in the dust everywhere. You see the distinctive trails of both battle alphas and drayks. There is the faint smell of essence in the air.
This mighty ruin has recently been commandeered and turned into a Shaper outpost, and a well-guarded one at that.
An obelisk before you clearly states who has taking up residence here. It says, 'Realm of Goettsch."
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This obelisk has only recently been dragged up here, probably by someone very strong. It reads:
Realm of Goettsch
Goettsch has clearly spent a great deal of time and resources fortifying this place and decorating it to his tastes. The essence permeating the fort sets your teeth on edge. Your previous experiences with such environments are limited to workshop ruins and spawners. You hope you find nothing of the sort here.
Before the greeter can find you again, you march westward with your creations. Despite the greeter's warnings, you think there's much to be gained from investigating Goettsch before seeking an audience with him.
You pass several broken canisters in the hall before the first guard catches you. The cryodrayk seems to be mindlessly pacing just outside an entry way. It doesn't speak, not like Syros or Rhakkus. The cryodrayk only hisses, then inhales a deep, phlegmy breath. Goettsch probably hasn't permitted these drayks to gain any real independent consciousness. Why he's chosen to shape a forbidden creation like this and not make use of its best traits is beyond you.
You don't delay dealing with it. The cryodrayk doesn't cry for help before it blasts Dmar with ice. At least both sides have an understanding, here.
Another wandering creation bumbles into the fight. Just as the cryodrayk falls, the battle gamma strikes wedgekree. The glaahk smacks into the stone wall to its right and shudders. Ichor oozes from its cracked carapace, but wedgekree quickly steadies itself and spears the glowing gamma.
You urge your creations through the arch before another guard can amble too near. The wide room is well-guarded by battle betas and cryodrayks. There's even a clear pool here to act as the traditional cistern. Before the guards can act, you cast speed on your creations.
Three battle betas converge on you, badly wounding Dmar in the initial rush and scattering your formation. The vlish swiftly adjust, though, and together with RickVoid, they begin terrorizing and burning the cryodrayks to prevent them from picking you off.
Dmar and wedgekree shield you from the betas, and your combined efforts kill them. This investigation is much noisier than you intended.
The cryodrayks fall, with Geokinesis destroying the last of them. Another creation investigates the racket in the passage, but instead of leaving for more help or at least bellowing at you intruders, it merely wades into the fight.
Goettsch hasn't done a good job with security past creating forbidden drayks and bulky battle creatures. These responses don't seem particularly organized at all. You haven't heard a single alarm, and you haven't found any mines or turrets, either.
With the last guard dispatched, you go east in the hall this time. The first room you find in the southeastern corner is full of pillars and potsherds, which are interesting but not helpful.
The next room has a trio of monoliths, a gazing pool, and a pair each of battle betas and cryodrayks. They don't last long.
Each of the central chambers seems to have a water source, the rough stone pillars, and a set of four guards. The rooms are all somewhat grimy, like the creations that cleaned them did an indifferent or inattentive job. Still, Goettsch has gone through the trouble of hanging banners and bringing in potted plants. The plants are dying from lack of light and irregular watering. That the Shaper has put in such a half-hearted effort is just odd.
A group of guards approaches from the west, though they're not in any particular formation. Goettsch must not be paying them any active attention.
At this point, you must resign yourself to a fight or a series of serious punishments in the future.
Despite the guards all being shaped by a master, they aren't that threatening to you and yours. It's a little shocking, actually, how easily you're cutting through Goettsch's defenses.
This room is utterly trashed. You can't tell if the sunken section of the floor was once a hearth or if it was for something else, but now it seems to have seen periodic use as an incinerator. Much of the refuse in here is new, though, so the creations aren't regularly disposing of trash here.
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This pylon is covered with ancient carvings. It looks like some sort of song or prayer. There are also carvings of the sun and people worshipping some sort of rock. Or maybe an animal.
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This pylon is covered with ancient carvings. It looks like some sort of ledger, covered with ancient records and mathematics. Your best guess of the meaning is that, at one point, the people here had a lot of sheep and then, later, they had more sheep.
You can't tell if these pylons were moved into this room or if they were originally here.
An almost identical display waits on the other side of the dividing wall.
The northern corridor has a number of openings that you guess, from their narrow size, lead into side chambers. The first such has a nasty surprise.
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This passage is filled with large mines. They're exceptionally huge and nasty specimens and, the moment you get close, they turn their sensors towards you.
You notice that the sensors on top have long, thin red stripes running up and down their length.
Goettsch doesn't want anyone seeing what's past there, even other Shapers, it seems. He must be concerned about Trajkov.
The second room is in poor condition. More used or damaged canisters have been discarded here, and none of the rubble has been cleared up.
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This pylon is carved with numerous vertical and horizontal lines, forming strange and elaborate patterns.
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Someone has recently grown a healing and an essence pool here. They are clearly recent growths, well maintained and fed.
These pools require considerable skill, both alchemical and magical, to create.
You rest up here for a while. Surprisingly, there don't seem to be very many guards patrolling around here.
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This pylon is covered with ancient carvings. It looks like a description of some sort of ceremony. There is one odd carving near the bottom. It looks, strangely enough, almost exactly like an artila.
You've seen more used up canisters here than you've personally used. You know they've been changing you; you wonder how they've affected Goettsch. It's a good question to ponder while you furtively raid his kitchen.
Another side room to the west is guarded by a stalwart battle gamma. When he leaps for Geokinesis, the motion causes the automatic door behind him to slide open.
Beyond it is a well-appointed room that's fully carpeted and even decorated with tapestries. It must be Goettsch's room.
The two even more muscular battle gammas within pulse with arcane energies. Goettsch must have invested a good deal of his essence into them.
Why does he have battle gammas guarding his chambers, though? There's nothing forbidden about them. This would have been the place to conceal drayks shaped illegally...
A little magic loosens the locks on his cabinets, but you don't find any writings within, or anything particularly interesting for that matter.
Past the northern door are a couple of green box mines. You attempt to defuse the nearest one, but it blows up to release another battle gamma.
Your luck with the second mine isn't any better.
When it's out of the way, you check the crystal box.
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You open the case. Inside, you find a pair of Shaping gloves.
You are familiar with items of this sort. Shaping gloves are powerful, magical items, half crafted, half shaped, half alive, half dead. They are thick leather gauntlets, partially alive, full of hundreds of tiny tubes and valves.
Shaping gloves are used to interact with powerful Shaper experiments. They can control and modulate the energy of devices and concoctions, allowing the researcher to sample and absorb energy while being protected from it.
This is a very old and unusually well-made pair. They rest on a velvet pillow, ready for the taking.
You haven't stumbled over any alarms yet, but you suspect taking Goettsch's gloves is a bad idea. He's gone through a lot of trouble to conceal and protect them. You close the box without taking them.
Other than Goettsch's suite, the western chambers are mostly abandoned, except for one set up as creation quarters.
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This used to be the core of this building. Whether the most important ceremonies here were political, religious, or both, they took place in this room.
Since then, however, this room has been extensively remodeled. All of the old things have been torn out and replaced with a rough Shaper laboratory. Fungal control panels and tables covered with equipment line the walls.
At the north end of the room, you see a Shaper flanked by a pair of loyal serviles. The Shaper is tall and of heavy build. He looks like he was very strong and skilled even before he arrived on Sucia Island.
The use of augmentation canisters has left him radiating power and confidence. When he sees you, he smiles confidently. He doesn't seem to see you as the slightest threat.
"Ah, the Shaper has come at last. Welcome. I am Goettsch. You are my guest. Inspect what you want. Take what you want. As long as you do not wander too far from this chamber, you are safe. Please, now. Come speak with me."
Clearly, Goettsch hasn't even noticed your indiscretions in his realm... You don't know if he's that blind, or if he simply isn't bothered by your blundering destruction of so many creations.
Either way, you're afraid.
You decide to take him at his word, though, and investigate the control panels and equipment. Taking the Shaper equipment is probably testing your luck, since glassware is more difficult to acquire on Sucia Island than more battle gammas and cryodrayks.
A pair of serviles flanks Goettsch. You greet it.
This servile has the vacant, weak expression of the newly created. Goettsch made this specimen by hand to be a totally obedient servant. It has none of the independence of the other serviles on this island.
It looks up at you with fear. It doesn't want to speak with you. It just shies away. You soon give up on speaking with it.
Then you take a deep breath as quietly as you can and face him. Your creations are a respectful distance away, mostly warming themselves by the central firepit.
Goettsch the Shaper has the detached, arrogant look and gentle glow of a repeat canister user. The magic of Sucia Island has powerfully augmented him. He looks you over, trying to analyze how strong you have grown. He doesn't look impressed.
"I am Goettsch, Shaper. I was brought here like you, a victim of the trickery of Trajkov, the outsider, the invader. You have gone to great effort to reach me. Now I must know. Why are you here?"
Solution could say, "I have come to here to kill you. Prepare to die," but that seems unpolitic.
"I have come here to speak with you," you say. "I want to learn more about this island." You're not sure how much you should admit about the circumstances that stranded you here, nor about your actions since then. Goettsch clearly doesn't care much about those matters, or you'd know exactly how much trouble you're in by now.
Goettsch looks at you carefully. "No. You have the mark. I can see it. You are marked with your hatred of me. You are here to kill me!"
If you don't have 10+ leadership and you received Heustess's assassination quest, your only option is to say, "Yes! Yes! I am compelled to kill you. Now we must fight."
Goettsch responds, "All right. I am saddened that we cannot help each other. But do not worry. I shall make your death a speedy one. Or, at least, as speedy as can be expected." You're tossed into combat when you close the dialogue.
You don't know where the impulse comes from at first, but you're almost overwhelmed by a sudden hatred for Goettsch. A violent urge to crush his throat in your bare hands threatens to seize control of you. It takes you a great deal of effort, but you resist the compulsion. "I am marked with hatred of you, and I said I would kill you. But I will not. Speak with me, and my words and actions will convince you."
It takes all of the sincerity you can muster, but you manage to convince Goettsch that you mean him no harm. "All right. I will give you a chance. But I do not trust you. Give me reason to fear, and I will slay you in an instant."
These words make you doubt Goettsch's power. He admits that you could make him fearful... for his life? For his fortress here? You're not sure, but his threat makes you a little more confident.
"Tell me how you came to Sucia Island," you say.
He laughs. "The same way you did. I was imprisoned, captured by Trajkov. I was being sent to a new colony, to take it over and administer it. A mild honor, at best, though not a position without hope of advancement. Then his ship slew my craft, and I swam to shore at the east edge of this island. There, I was abducted."
Not very different from your own tale indeed. Goettsch must have been caught before he could shape a new craft.
"By who?" you ask. Depending on where Goettsch came ashore, he might have encountered the Awakened first... but you doubt it.
"Trajkov. Trajkov, and his dummies, his puppets, addled in the brain by Shaper magic beyond them. Trajkov abducted me for the same reason he captured you. He needed a Shaper's help to master the incredible power here. He was a fool. How could he think any Shaper in his right mind would help him usurp our sacred secrets? As soon as I figured out what he had found, I took action."
You nod, listening.
"He had found the Geneforge. It is the most amazing work of Shaper magic I have ever found. It has the power to rework, to remake anyone who uses it, giving them awesome power." Goettsch laughs. "All you need is a pair of gloves. A special pair of gloves which modulates and channels the power of the Geneforge. He had one pair of those gloves. One happy pair. And I took them. I have them here."
So that resolves the mystery of the stolen gloves... They must be the pair you saw in the crystal box. "Can I have those gloves?" you ask. You might as well see how Goettsch responds.
"No. There is only one person who will ever use them. Me." He eyes you closely, as though he might find some clear sign of deception on you.
And, besides that mark of hatred, he might. You smile blandly. "And what will happen now?"
"I will use the Geneforge. Its power is too great to be wasted, and only I have the strength and control to master it. First, though, there is the stalemate. Trajkov is there. I am here. Neither of us has the strength to defeat the other. That is why I have allowed you to reach me without slaying you."
"I have another question." Like perhaps how many canisters Goettsch has used to make him so myopic.
Goettsch watches you with his fiery eyes. No movement of yours escapes his gaze. "What do you wish now?"
"What do you want, and how can you help me?"
"There is a war on this island. It is a deadly stalemate. At this end, there is me. At the other, Trajkov. Each of us must slay the other. Each has control of something the other needs. Each of us hopes you will break the deadlock. Trajkov is too proud to admit that he needs you. I am not. Help me. Kill him. If you do, I will give you what you want. I will give you power. And I will help you escape this accursed island."
You decide that Shaper Goettsch is entirely mad. If you're strong enough to slay Trajkov, then you're Goettsch's equal as well. You've already ruined what must be a significant number of his creations, even if he hasn't noticed or hasn't chosen to react.
Goettsch surely could have chosen to leave -- he could have made another drayk craft and sailed off, or had his armies of battle betas and gammas build him a strong raft and made them all take turns rowing it to the next inhabited island. He could have likely found many ways to leave this place which aren't available to a novice like you.
Yet he's chosen to stay here and play a deadly game with Trajkov to see which of them gets to use the forbidden Geneforge.
"What sort of power will you give me?" you ask. If he is the only one who will get to use the gloves, then you doubt access to the Geneforge is part of what he's baiting his hook with.
Goettsch laughs. "That would be telling."
You don't like the sound of that. "Trajkov is very powerful," you say. "Can you help me kill him?"
"I have a trick which might work. If you were very cunning and clever. You may have a chance." Goettsch hands you a pair of gloves. They are Shaping gloves, cunning, protective devices commonly used in Shaper experiments. "To use the Geneforge, Trajkov needs a pair of gloves currently in my possession. These are not the gloves. They are an almost perfect replica. Take them to Trajkov. If you are exceptionally convincing, you might be able to get him to believe that these are the Shaping gloves I took. If he tries to use these to use the Geneforge, he will be in for a very painful surprise."
You tuck the gloves into your robes. "How can I reach Trajkov?"
"That is your concern." Goettsch waves dismissively. "He holds the research halls at the northeast corner of the island. I'm sure you can figure out how to reach him somehow."
"Can you give me equipment or other help?" you ask. Every moment, you like this senior Shaper less and less. Now that he's admitted that he plans to use this forbidden technology himself, you don't feel very beholden to him, not like you should to a full Shaper.
"No. I would much rather keep my resources for myself. You are a strong and industrious soul. Help yourself."
You only regret slaying his creations for their sakes, not his.
"What was this ruin?" You look around this makeshift audience chamber once more.
"I do not know. I do not concern myself with history. It is not relevant to my quest, my new destiny," he says. His hauteur doesn't make the blatant admission of ignorance less shocking. "I have adapted this place to my own purposes, and filled it with guards of my choosing."
"What sort of guards?" you ask, the very portrait of innocence.
"The finest drayks and battle creations. I did not know it was possible to make drayks anymore. Now I can, thanks to the marvelous canisters. So many things our people denied us. So many things I can do now. My creations wander these halls, and many of them are ordered to kill strangers on sight. I would suggest restricting your movements. Otherwise, you may be slain."
A rush of giddiness nearly makes you laugh. "I am very interested in learning about the ancients who lived here. Could you tell your guards to not attack me?"
Goettsch frowns. Then he thinks about it. Then he laughs. "If I thought there was a chance that you could possibly hurt me in this elevated state, I would refuse. But you are my guest. Go ahead. Wander around. If you enter my chambers or try to go anywhere you should not, my traps will make short work of you. My chambers are in the northwest corner. Stay away."
He is mad!
"Don't you know this island is Barred? Why are you still here?"
His eyes flash. "This island is Barred by the Shaper council. You can wander this world for a thousand years, and you will never find a more baffled or impotent group of fools than the Shaper council. You have seen the wonders here! You have had a taste of the power and glory that just sits around, ready for the taking! I reject the Shaper council, and all of their foolishness. The power here is our birthright, and I will not let them steal it."
You don't miss his use of "our," as though he hadn't mere moments ago stated that he didn't intend to share this so-called birthright.
"I see. I must go think on all of this... Goodbye," you say, and withdraw from Goettsch's presence. It's better to leave before he notices how quiet his fort has become.
"All right. Just do not wander too far into my home. And remember, if you can help me, I can reward you well."
Having visited Goettsch at last, you're disappointed by the audience. You expected... better. Instead, this Shaper has slid further into the canister addiction than you imagined possible. You must remember this: you must remember the crazed fire in his eyes, the light that threatens to burst free from his body at any moment, the obvious delusions of grandeur -- you must cling to this!
You will fail. If a full Shaper lost control, then there is no hope for you. But you must remember.
Now it is high time you found Trajkov. Then you might at last decide how you want this story to end.
