Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 59
You know, I love meeting new people. Granted, sometimes they turn out to be total jerks, but there are so many interesting people out there that it's hard not to want to meet them all. Last night, I got to meet two interesting people. According to Adam, one of them, the Deva scion I mentioned in my last journal, is going to be important to our current agenda. But Adam says that the other one, a Celestial Bureaucracy scion named Charles Wei, has been marked by Fate as someone important to group.
What exactly does that mean? I guess we'll find out. And I, for one, intend to enjoy finding out. Charles seems like a delightful man (even if he does have the potential to be a bit stodgy, but then again, so does Adam, and I still love him. ^_^)
All of that being said, Ray's still not back. I'm concerned about that, but I also have this feeling that he's not coming back. I can't really pinpoint why. Maybe I've gotten to the point in my divinity that I can just sense when things are changing. On the other hand, I'm pretty good at reading the social networks between people, and there's no doubt that Ray's been growing more and more distant from the rest of us lately...and we from him. If he has split from our band, I'll miss him. I mean, he wasn't always easy to get along with, and I know we'll still see him from time to time, but I'll still miss him. How can I not miss him when I was in love with him once? T_T
Anyway, I shouldn't dwell on it.
I think I ended my last entry after our encounter at the Natural Science Museum. T-Bone and Elisa headed off to track down the fleeing asura and rakshasa, leaving Adam, Pierre, and I to follow other leads. We really didn't have much to go on, though, so we headed to Helena's apartment to see how bad the damage was and to look for more information. We traveled in Adam's flying sedan. He's so proud of that car. ^_^
Helena's apartment had been trashed, but nothing appeared to have been stolen. We snuck in, just in case. There was an asura there, trying to hack into Helena's computer without much luck (Helena's defenses are way too good for a mere titanspawn to hack...though I am impressed that asura was canny enough to try). The asura didn't notice our approach, so Adam shot her in the back of the head in an attempt to kill her before she could react. Unfortunately, her reflexes are better than we thought, and she responded to the shot almost before Adam fired. He wounded her, but in the next instant she teleported away to safety.
I should also mention at this point that Pierre, who sucks at being sneaky, decided to use his Cheval powers to possess me so that he could ride along as we stealthily approached the enemy, and so he could jump out and fight if we needed him. I was a little annoyed, and felt kinda violated. If he'd only asked first, then it wouldn't have been a big deal. I've been possessed by people I love before (namely Oiwa). But he didn’t ask first. And then he kept making me do and say flirty little things...it was a bit childish, but also kinda fun, so I humored him. I did, however, make it clear that I didn't appreciate him possessing me without asking first.
Anyway, we didn't really find any clues at Helena's place, so we decided to track down Ravi while we waited for T-Bone and Elisa to return. On the way out, though, Adam took a few minutes to repair Helena's broken door. He's so sweet, in that pragmatic kind of way. He did a great job too. When it comes to science, technology, and craftsmanship, Adam can literally do just about anything, and do it well. ^_^
Tracking down Ravi wasn't hard. I'd put Keiko on it, and while she wasn't able to get in touch with him through his agent, she was able to trace his phone's GPS signal. Keiko, you are amazing! ^_^ We flew to his location in Adam's car and found the Bollywood star fighting several layeks. Well, maybe fighting isn't the right word. He had summoned several whirlwinds to trap the flying heads, and was trying to rig the gas tank on a truck to explode, hoping that the explosion would kill the titanspawn.
So we swooped in, introduced ourselves, and helped him finish off the layeks without resorting to an explosion. ^_^ Then Tabby played with their still living remains while we talked.
We were right., Ravi is a scion, a son of Sarasvati. And he is hot. I really had to stop myself from flirting with him. Pierre didn't though. He was still possessing me at the time, and I let him make me do a few coy little things. Tabby kept making eyes at him too...no surprise there. :-)
Ravi was suave and charismatic, but he seemed a little flustered. His own band of scions wasn't in town and I think he felt like he was in over his head. So we offered to join forces to resolve whatever was going on. He was the one who had created the anti-death zone, but seemed as surprised by its efficacy as we were. Sadly, however, he didn't really know much more than we did, though he did suspect that a powerful titanspawn named Rangda, queen of the langsuir, was somehow involved...and might be the mastermind behind everything.
We needed direction. With no real leads, we had to figure out what was going on, so Adam pulled out his Book of Fate, turned to a blank page, and began writing. The prophecy that emerged spoke of things long past and things of the present: a decadent, golden city in the jungle, the flames of its destruction spoiling the milk sea that surrounded it, a monkey god who sealed a gate that could lead to or from the city, and golden monkey statues that might be a key. In the prophecy, we traveled to the city in the footsteps of the monkey god, but to what end?
According to Adam's interpretation, the ancient city, named Lanka, thrived on sin and vice. When Ravana made war on the Devas, the monkey god Hanuman (Sun Wukong?) fought alongside the great hero Rama and destroyed the city, sealing it away from the rest of the world. Ravana, working through Rangda or some other agent, we believe, is trying to reopen the way and reclaim the lost city, but to do so the titanspawn need two golden monkey statues which apparently serve as keys. That must be what the titanspawn are searching for. It doesn't answer all of our questions, like why they needed the goblet and barrel relics they stole from the DuSable Museum, but at least we have an objective now.
The prophecy also implied that we would be joined by two other scions, one a man of beauty (obviously Ravi), and the other a man of power. The man of beauty would be important to our current goal, but the man of power would be important to the long-term fate of our band of scions, filling a void that had recently been left among our ranks. None of us really wanted to say it, but I think we all realized that the void was Ray, and that Fate was giving us someone to replace him.
As though on cue, while we were discussing this, a handsome, confident Chinese businessman in a tailored suit approached us. He had apparently been on a walk (in the middle of the night) and had happened upon us. And like Adam is fond of saying, there are no coincidences. We all knew that the newcomer was the man of power.
His name is Charles Wei, and he's a son of Guan Yu whose battlefield is the boardroom. Among mortals, he's a powerful businessman and synergy consultant, a leader who brings others together in a way that enhances their skills. I liked him immediately. His attitude toward cooperation impressed me, and though he seemed somewhat reserved, he was friendly, outgoing, and easy to get along with...quite charismatic, in his way. We introduced ourselves and explained how Fate had drawn him into our problems (Adam made sure to apologize for that, and Pierre finally stopped possessing me and materialized again). Charles accepted that in good grace. He seemed to understand that our lives aren't entirely our own, but belong, in part, to Fate, and was resigned to that. In fact, he seemed quite eager to help us defeat this latest titan scheme.
Adam did question him on his skills, though. He didn't really do it in a normal way. Instead, he said something like, "So, Charles. Let's say you were trapped in an alternate reality pervaded with searing radiation and titanspawn. How would you handle that?" He and Charles went back and forth for a bit before I finally interceded and explained to Charles that Adam was really just trying to ask what sort of divine powers he had mastered. Adam was annoyed with me, claiming that the point of the exercise wasn't just what we learned about Charles, but how we learned it. From there, Adam and I kinda argued back and forth about this and that...but in a good-natured way. It may seem odd, but that friendly little argument really reinforced for me just how close Adam and I really are. ^_^
After updating Charles on the current goings on (the poor guy had first become aware of the trouble when he'd found a layek eating a maid in his hotel! >_<), we had to decide what to do next. T-Bone and Elisa still weren't back (I was worried about them >_<), but Ravi recommended that we check out the estate of Conrad Semas, a well-to-do Indian magnate who lived in the area. He was an avid collector of antiquities and if anyone in Chicago were to own authentic ancient monkey statues, it would be him.
Worried that the magnate might have been the titanspawns' real target all along, we decided that we couldn't wait for T-Bone and Elisa. We all piled into Adam's flying car. I had to sit on Tabby's lap, and Pierre again possessed me without my permission! >_< That really made me mad, so this time, whenever he tried to make me do something, even if I didn't really mind what he was trying to make me do, I refused. ^_^ Serves him right.
No one answered when we buzzed at the gate to the magnate's estate, so we infiltrated the place. Charles, Adam, and Ravi snuck in quietly while I disappeared into the shadows (with Pierre still possessing me). Once inside, we heard some children crying from upstairs and sounds like things being broken. But whoever was further in had left an incorporeal langsuir to keep watch. Fortunately, she never saw us, and Adam eliminated her with Mother's Touch and his silenced pistol.
Upstairs, we located the magnate and his family. They were tired to chairs and scared out of their minds. A shelf along one wall was filled with golden monkey statues, and two rakshasa threatened the family while breaking statue after statue, apparently trying to find the real ones - the ones that would presumably serve as keys to the sealed gate of Lanka. The rakshasa were supervised by an asura, while a langsuir kept watch.
Silently, we agreed to ambush the titanspawn. Before doing so, I quietly bolstered my allies and the innocent family we were trying to rescue. Then, still submerged in shadows, I attempted to sneak up on the langsuir to exorcise her, but the asura saw me and combat ensued. Still, we were able to defeat our foes rather handily. With a ring of my exorcism bell, an exorcism charm, and short Buddhist chant, I sent the langsuir back to the Underworld.
The others fought and killed the asura and the two rakshasa. Adam's mystical efficiency in combat remained true to form, and Pierre emerged from my body to put the hurt on our foes with his mighty strength. Charles entered the fight John Woo style with pistol blazing, and Ravi took shots where he could. I tried to stay out of everyone else's way and coordinate our attacks.
With the titanspawn dead, we turned to untie the magnate's family and ask them about a pair of golden monkey statues...
To be continued...