Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 81
It has been well over two years since Adam, Elisa, Charles, T-Bone, Pierre and I have gathered on a mission for the gods. Sure, I've worked a lot with Charles over the past couple of years and we all got together when Quinn and Dahlia went missing, but this is the first time in two and a half years that we've been "on assignment" together.
It kinda feels like the old days. ^_^
One thing's different, though. This time we're actively in charge of the operation. Charles has been given complete authority. So we're not just running an errand for the gods. We're the gods calling the shots this time. It feels pretty good, but also a bit intimidating. I mean, from what I understand there could be a lot at stake here...
So anyway, I was enjoying a couple weeks off at Red Mountain. I'd just gotten back from a diplomatic visit to Mt. Olympus and was enjoying spending time with my family. Sadly, Yi was tied up with her duties in China, but at least Echo, Rose, Shanyu, Mei and Miko were all there. Rose is growing up so fast! Even though she's really only about 5, she's effectively the equivalent of an eleven-year-old now, and she's so cheerful and energetic and affectionate! ^_^ We just got her her first nose piercing and she loves it. ^_^
Anyway, I was enjoying some time off when Charles called. He needed to get the gang back together to go deal with a problem in the Endless Desert, and asked me to help him gather the others. Before the day was out, everyone had arrived at Red Mountain and Charles briefed us on the situation. I'll try to sum it all up.
Basically, there's a fortress controlled by the Celestial Bureacracy in the Endless Desert, a desert that sorta connects all the great deserts of the World and Overworld. This fortress, called the Gobi Redoubt, is the site of a touchstone that allows travel between the deserts, and so the Bureaucracy uses the fortress to watch the traffic passing through and to charge a toll. But the touchstone also connects to several Titan realms, which makes it an important defensive installation. Titanspawn routinely attack the Redoubt (and are dealt with handily by its impressive defenses), but there has never been a major assault against the fortress.
The other pantheons all want a hand in controlling the fortress, but the Celestial Bureacracy has been characteristically reluctant. The only other pantheon they've allowed to participate in the command of the Redoubt is the Pesedjet, whose xeno-science has helped them bolster the Redoubt's defenses. At the time of the explosion, Hatshepsut (yes, the Hatshepsut), a goddess who ascended at about the same time we did, was the Pesedjet representative. Aside from her, the only other non-Bureaucracy person there was a minor god of the Citizen known only as #378.
However, a few days ago, during a relatively routine titanspawn attack, the fortress was devastated by a series of explosions from within. It looks like sabotage. The Celetial Bureaucracy goddess Nu Wa arrived on the scene ASAP and found only three survivors: Hatshepsut, #378, and a demigod scion from my pantheon, the famous WWII flying ace Motoki Katayama! O_o Obviously, Katayama's presence was very suspicious since he wasn't supposed to be there. Nu Wa imprisoned all three of the survivors in bubbles of water until the mystery of what happened at the Redoubt could be solved. She tried to get answers with her insight into Mystery, but something wasn't right...and she felt she couldn't trust the results she got. It sounds like someone's using a very powerful effect to obscure the truth.
So the Celestial Bureaucracy has given Charles the responsibility of finding out what happened. And in the meantime, he's also been granted command of the fortress. He's in charge of repairing the fortress using crews of demon workers provided by the Bureaucracy and must defend it until relieved.
So that's what we're doing now: investigating what happened, repairing the fortress, and defending it from the enemy.
Since the Redoubt's touchstone was damaged in the explosions that decimated the fortress, we had to travel there overland. Fortunately, the Bureaucracy provided us with some help, and we were flown to the site on the back of a huge and very congenial rain dragon named Xiao Shui ("Little Water," what a cute name! I told him so, and he didn't seem to know how to react ^_^). Charles was also assigned a major domo, a kindly old spirit named Lu Po.
To top things off, Da Li has been assigned to help us coordinate the demon workers. It's been awhile, so you might not remember, but she was the corrupt scion of Nu Wa who was working with the Jiang Shi in Chongqing. She tried to kill me, but thanks to my quick thinking and the fast reflexes of my companions, we killed her instead. Audrey still wields her relic naginata, and Charles still has her folding fan! Anyway, Nu Wa had too much invested in Da Li to just let her go, so she resurrected her. Da Li was tried and then they basically brainwashed her so that she wouldn't have any more seditious thoughts and wouldn't even be angry at us for killing her.
I gotta tell ya, that kinda bothers me. >_< I'm not sure I like the fact that the Bureaucracy is willing to just go and rewrite people's minds like that. I'd much rather make peace with a Da Li who is angry at me than deal with the smiling parody of Da Li we're working with now. As much as Adam might go on about my "mind slave" powers, what I do with my looks and charisma is very different from "reprogramming" someone's mind.
Anyway, when we arrived, we found that the only occupants of the fortress were Katayama, Hatshepsut, and #378 (all imprisoned in water bubbles) and Nu Wa's demon servant, Pipa Jing, an attractive woman who is proficient at playing the Chinese lute and who, according to legends, has all sorts of tricks up her sleeve. ^_^ The fortress itself was little more than rubble. There were a few standing sections and a number of intact chambers, but the gaping holes in the walls left it completely indefensible, especially since the powerful "frostfire" defense mechanisms and spiritual sensors had been destroyed.
The desert itself is a challenge all its own. The searing sun and heat are all but unbearable, but at least I have no trouble soaking up legend from the sunlight. I've been dressed a bit more ruggedly than normal, and for once the Shades of Meido (my cybergoth goggles relic) are more than just a fashion accessory since I've been using them to shield my eyes from the dust and sun. Most of us have the fortitude to bear the hostile environment with nothing more than a bit of discomfort, but T-Bone and Charles have had to resort to the magical salt tablets we salvaged from previous servants of Aten we've slain. The tablets provide protection from the worst of the desert's effects, for a few days, at least. Unfortunately, because the desert is so hostile, I couldn't bring Keiko, Sera or Kimiyo. I don't know how they'd be able to help here anyway. But Tabby and my other yomotsu-shikome are tough enough to handle it, so they're accompanying us as guards.
I like having Tabby around. She makes me feel a lot safer. In fact, I like being near my yomotsu-shikome anyway, probably because of the communal nature we share. There's a lot about being a shikome I'm going to miss when I'm eventually purified...
After we settled in, we took stock of the situation. We basically have to accomplish two different things:
First, we have to repair the fortress. There are essentially four elements that need fixing in addition to the walls and structure: the frostfire defenses that project waves of freezing flame against beseiging forces, the spiritual sensors that detect the approach of beings of legend, the touchstone itself, and the mystical climate control that makes the interior of the fortress bearable for those who do not have the stamina to withstand the desert's heat. We will have access to demon workers to do most of the work for us, but we have to prioritize what should be repaired first. After a brief discussion, Charles and Adam determined (with input from the rest of us) that the defenses should be repaired first, followed by the sensors. With those on-line, we should be able to defend the place long enough to get the touchstone working. The climate control is least important; T-Bone and Charles are the only people here who might suffer from the lethality of the desert, especially since we have a rain dragon with us to provide water, and we have a few salt tablets to keep them safe for the time being (and we're likely to get more from the assaulting forces of Aten...).
Our second objective is to find out exactly what happened here. If it was sabotage, it must have come from inside the fortress, because the spiritual sensors should have picked up anyone approaching from outside the Redoubt. So while Adam began searching the ruins of the fortress for clues (and no doubt examining the fragments of Pesedjet xeno-science amidst the rubble for his own gratification), T-Bone, Charles and I questioned the three prisoners. Meanwhile, Pierre and Elisa worked out some good defensive positions in the event that we were assaulted before we could repair the defenses.
Honestly, I don't think any of us believe that Katayama, Hatshepsut, and #378 had anything to do with the sabotage, and our interrogations seemed to back that up. We first questioned Hatshepsut. I gotta tell ya, she made me a little weak in the knees. I mean, I've been with Persephone...so I know what it's like to succumb to overwhelming beauty and charm. Hatshepsut is a about on my level as far as both are concerned, so is it any surprise I'd find her enchanting? ^_^ Plus, she has a long history. Hell, T-Bone seemed even more impressed with her than I was, though I halfway think he was playing it up to get her to lower her defenses.
According to Hatshepsut, the fortress was being attacked by titanspawn when the explosions occurred. She was safely sealed inside her sarcophagus at the time, projecting her spirit with the power of Heku to fight the enemy. Her spirit is largely invulnerable while it's being projected, and her sarcophagus is virtually indestructible, which is how her body survived the destruction of the base. After the explosions, she emerged from her sarcophagus to see what had happened and found #378 trying to dig himself out of the rubble. Katayama soon showed up, apparently looking for survivors in need of help, and helped her dig out #378. Then Nu Wa showed up and imprisoned the three of them, leaving Pipa Jing to guard them until we arrived.
As far as we could tell, Hatshepsut was being completely honest, though I sense that she's easily as manipulative as T-Bone, so if she really wanted, she could probably deceive most of us (except maybe T-Bone) and get away with it. But that's not likely the case, and T-Bone thought she was telling the truth.
Storm's crew has dealt with Hatshepsut on a couple of occasions, so I suggested that we give one of them a call to find out if she's trustworthy. Adam used this cool relic transdimensional cell phone he has to call Salem (i.e. Sam), and Salem vouched for her, which is saying something since he's the paranoid god of conspiracy! ^_^ The only odd thing is this: why did the Pesedjet send Hatshepsut, a daughter of Ra, to the fortress when someone connected to Seth (who, among other things is a god of deserts and guardianship) would have made more sense? If you ask me, she was probably sent by Isis out of spite since Isis doesn't like Hatshepsut very much.
Next, we questioned #378, a very plain, nondescript-looking god dressed in drab clothing with a personality to match. His story corroborated Hatshepsut's. He was basically at the Redoubt in a support role, assisting his Chinese allies in the name of communism with his mastery over Industry. Since they were fighting the forces of Aten when the fortress was destroyed, he was busy in the supply depot creating shadow ammunition for the frontline defenders and managing their logisitcs. The architecture had shielded him from the worst of the blast, and his divine fortitude did the rest. Next thing he knew, he was being dug out of the rubble by Hatshepsut and Katayama. He was definitely telling the truth about everything. He does believe Hatshepsut was spying for the Pesedjet, but that's not really surprising. Hell, I'm pretty sure Adam's spying for the Aesir right now. ^_^
#378 gave us one other detail that could be important. Apparently the frostfire defense array exploded first, causing a chain reaction. Adam's investigation seemed to back that up, and his current theory is that the spiritual batteries that powered the defenses were overloaded with a sudden infusion of divine energy, causing them to explode. The nature of the explosions that hit other parts of the Redoubt was different than the one that destroyed the defense array, which suggests that there was a chain reaction...though that chain reaction might not have happened if someone hadn't been tampering with other areas of the fortress. Adam says it's too early to tell anything for sure, though. The destruction is too complete and didn't leave many clues. He's hoping to piece together a better picture of what happened as the repairs proceed and he can get a better idea of what the base looked like in the moments before the explosion. Plus, we might unearth more clues as we excavate the rubble.
Finally, we questioned Katayama. His presence at the Redoubt was a mystery, but T-Bone, Charles and I opened our interrogation by assuring him that we didn't believe he had anything to do with the sabotage. He claims he was moving through the area on his way back from a mission for allies of the Amatsukami. When the explosion occurred, he killed off the few remaining Hands of Aten and then entered the smoking ruins of the fortress to see if there were any survivors in need of help.
All three of us (T-Bone, Charles and I) could tell that Katayama was lying when he said he was just trying to slip through the touchstone without being detected to get back to the World. But I got the feeling the lie had nothing to do with the destruction of the fortress. Thinking he might be a bit more open without members of other pantheons around, I asked T-Bone and Charles to give me a few minutes alone with Katayama and escorted him to an isolated chamber where we weren't likely to be overheard.
I told him that I knew he was lying about his reasons for being here. I turned on the charm and tried to help him see that I was on his side and just wanted to get to the bottom of what happened ('cause I'm totally the good cop ^_^). He admitted that he had been lying, but said he couldn't tell me what his real mission was, except to say that he was working for allies of the Amatsukami and was ordered to reveal nothing. In fact, the story about passing through on his way back to the World was the lie he'd been ordered to give if he was captured.
I was sensitive to his desire to obey his orders. It's a matter of honor for the Amatsukami, and I wasn't going to force Katayama to compromise his principles, even though I might have been able to if I'd really tried. So instead I asked if Amaterasu or his father, Raiden, were aware of his mission. Katayama said that Raiden was, but that Amaterasu probably was not. Interesting...I'll definitely have to follow up on that later. Or maybe I can find out more by hijacking the kami of one of his relics...
Since it was clear I wasn't going to get anything else out of Katayama, I returned him to his water bubble prison, but I tried to encourage him before I did so. I'm not sure what he thought. He's seems like he can be a pretty cool customer and didn't betray a lot of what he was feeling other than resignation.
So, we've learned quite a bit about what happened, but not enough to get a sense of the truth behind the matter. Adam believes that our culprit was either a traitor from within or someone capable of evading the frostfire defenses and the spiritual sensors, possibly by traveling through the earth and knocking out the sensors with the electronics-deadening effects of a self-powered solar flare. Those are just possibilities, of course.
I wonder, though, if our prisoners are really who they seem? It's entirely conceivable that one of them is an impostor. I mean, I could easily pass myself off as #378 or Katayama. Hatshepsut would be trickier, but still doable. So it's not beyond reason that someone else could pull off the same trick. The fact that none of our prisoners seemed to be lying makes it a bit unlikely, but not entirely impossible... Anyway, it's something for us to keep in mind.
As we were all comparing notes, Charles' major domo, Lu Po, came running up to tell us that more Hands of Aten were approaching. We rushed to what was left of the walls to face the enemy. Pierre and T-Bone whipped up some shadow bullets and other weapons for use, including shadow weapons for my shikome. I left Ophelia and Audrey to guard the prisoners and took Tabby, Sadako, and Mercy out to fight with us. I was eager to see how they'd perform in a real fight as yomotsu-shikome, and so were they. ^_^ I bolstered them quickly before we joined battle though, just in case. ^_^
Sadly, my shikome didn't get a chance to fight anything. The attacking force seemed to be little more than scouts. There were three archangels and seven angles, and we'd dealt with worse than that even before we were gods. Still, it let us flex our muscles a bit. We coordinated our attacks very well. Elisa, Adam and Charles opened fire on the archangels, shooting them down in flames (or rather shadows, thanks to the ammo they were using). T-Bone flickered into the enemy's midst and badly injured another archangel with his cane, demonstrating the wolf-like power he's developed as his connection to the werewolves has grown. Charles finished that one off. And me? Well, I raised my hand and invoked a curse against the angels. Black veins appeared on their flesh, dimming their malign radiance, and, clutching at their throats and faces as shadowy ichor began bleeding from their eyes, ears, and mouths, all seven of them fell to ground, unconscious. My power over life and death can be a bitch for my enemies. ^_^
And that was that. I sent Tabby, Mercy, and Sadako out to finish off the plague-ridden angels, which they did with relish, while Charles and T-Bone collected more mystical salt tablets from the remains of our fallen foes.
Chances are the assaults are only going to get worse from this point on, though. Fun fun. >_<
[Excerpts from Erika's private journal]
I don't know why exactly, but I've found myself pondering my nature and fate as a goddess over the past day or so. Maybe it's because I'm working with Adam (the god Amwed) again after so long. Who knows? Anyway, I've been thinking about myself as a goddess of balance and duality. I mean, that's really what my whole light and darkness, life and death thing is all about right? That's my fate. But I'm starting to realize just what that really means and how much it defines me. Even my relationships with Erebus and Amaterasu seem to be an expression of it, just like my connection to Yi and Miko, just one a more divine scale.
How much of it is Fate? Has Amaterasu fallen in love with me because Fate dictated that my affair with Erebus had to be balanced? Did Yi fall in love with me because of Miko? How many other things in my life are or will be decided by my existence as a goddess of the duality between light and darkness. Or am I making too much of all of this?
Perhaps simply being Amaterasu's shadow is enough...at least there, I am the balance, and not the fulcrum. But that bring to mind another thought. The truth is, I enjoy being the fulcrum of balance, don't I?
It kinda feels like the old days. ^_^
One thing's different, though. This time we're actively in charge of the operation. Charles has been given complete authority. So we're not just running an errand for the gods. We're the gods calling the shots this time. It feels pretty good, but also a bit intimidating. I mean, from what I understand there could be a lot at stake here...
So anyway, I was enjoying a couple weeks off at Red Mountain. I'd just gotten back from a diplomatic visit to Mt. Olympus and was enjoying spending time with my family. Sadly, Yi was tied up with her duties in China, but at least Echo, Rose, Shanyu, Mei and Miko were all there. Rose is growing up so fast! Even though she's really only about 5, she's effectively the equivalent of an eleven-year-old now, and she's so cheerful and energetic and affectionate! ^_^ We just got her her first nose piercing and she loves it. ^_^
Anyway, I was enjoying some time off when Charles called. He needed to get the gang back together to go deal with a problem in the Endless Desert, and asked me to help him gather the others. Before the day was out, everyone had arrived at Red Mountain and Charles briefed us on the situation. I'll try to sum it all up.
Basically, there's a fortress controlled by the Celestial Bureacracy in the Endless Desert, a desert that sorta connects all the great deserts of the World and Overworld. This fortress, called the Gobi Redoubt, is the site of a touchstone that allows travel between the deserts, and so the Bureaucracy uses the fortress to watch the traffic passing through and to charge a toll. But the touchstone also connects to several Titan realms, which makes it an important defensive installation. Titanspawn routinely attack the Redoubt (and are dealt with handily by its impressive defenses), but there has never been a major assault against the fortress.
The other pantheons all want a hand in controlling the fortress, but the Celestial Bureacracy has been characteristically reluctant. The only other pantheon they've allowed to participate in the command of the Redoubt is the Pesedjet, whose xeno-science has helped them bolster the Redoubt's defenses. At the time of the explosion, Hatshepsut (yes, the Hatshepsut), a goddess who ascended at about the same time we did, was the Pesedjet representative. Aside from her, the only other non-Bureaucracy person there was a minor god of the Citizen known only as #378.
However, a few days ago, during a relatively routine titanspawn attack, the fortress was devastated by a series of explosions from within. It looks like sabotage. The Celetial Bureaucracy goddess Nu Wa arrived on the scene ASAP and found only three survivors: Hatshepsut, #378, and a demigod scion from my pantheon, the famous WWII flying ace Motoki Katayama! O_o Obviously, Katayama's presence was very suspicious since he wasn't supposed to be there. Nu Wa imprisoned all three of the survivors in bubbles of water until the mystery of what happened at the Redoubt could be solved. She tried to get answers with her insight into Mystery, but something wasn't right...and she felt she couldn't trust the results she got. It sounds like someone's using a very powerful effect to obscure the truth.
So the Celestial Bureaucracy has given Charles the responsibility of finding out what happened. And in the meantime, he's also been granted command of the fortress. He's in charge of repairing the fortress using crews of demon workers provided by the Bureaucracy and must defend it until relieved.
So that's what we're doing now: investigating what happened, repairing the fortress, and defending it from the enemy.
Since the Redoubt's touchstone was damaged in the explosions that decimated the fortress, we had to travel there overland. Fortunately, the Bureaucracy provided us with some help, and we were flown to the site on the back of a huge and very congenial rain dragon named Xiao Shui ("Little Water," what a cute name! I told him so, and he didn't seem to know how to react ^_^). Charles was also assigned a major domo, a kindly old spirit named Lu Po.
To top things off, Da Li has been assigned to help us coordinate the demon workers. It's been awhile, so you might not remember, but she was the corrupt scion of Nu Wa who was working with the Jiang Shi in Chongqing. She tried to kill me, but thanks to my quick thinking and the fast reflexes of my companions, we killed her instead. Audrey still wields her relic naginata, and Charles still has her folding fan! Anyway, Nu Wa had too much invested in Da Li to just let her go, so she resurrected her. Da Li was tried and then they basically brainwashed her so that she wouldn't have any more seditious thoughts and wouldn't even be angry at us for killing her.
I gotta tell ya, that kinda bothers me. >_< I'm not sure I like the fact that the Bureaucracy is willing to just go and rewrite people's minds like that. I'd much rather make peace with a Da Li who is angry at me than deal with the smiling parody of Da Li we're working with now. As much as Adam might go on about my "mind slave" powers, what I do with my looks and charisma is very different from "reprogramming" someone's mind.
Anyway, when we arrived, we found that the only occupants of the fortress were Katayama, Hatshepsut, and #378 (all imprisoned in water bubbles) and Nu Wa's demon servant, Pipa Jing, an attractive woman who is proficient at playing the Chinese lute and who, according to legends, has all sorts of tricks up her sleeve. ^_^ The fortress itself was little more than rubble. There were a few standing sections and a number of intact chambers, but the gaping holes in the walls left it completely indefensible, especially since the powerful "frostfire" defense mechanisms and spiritual sensors had been destroyed.
The desert itself is a challenge all its own. The searing sun and heat are all but unbearable, but at least I have no trouble soaking up legend from the sunlight. I've been dressed a bit more ruggedly than normal, and for once the Shades of Meido (my cybergoth goggles relic) are more than just a fashion accessory since I've been using them to shield my eyes from the dust and sun. Most of us have the fortitude to bear the hostile environment with nothing more than a bit of discomfort, but T-Bone and Charles have had to resort to the magical salt tablets we salvaged from previous servants of Aten we've slain. The tablets provide protection from the worst of the desert's effects, for a few days, at least. Unfortunately, because the desert is so hostile, I couldn't bring Keiko, Sera or Kimiyo. I don't know how they'd be able to help here anyway. But Tabby and my other yomotsu-shikome are tough enough to handle it, so they're accompanying us as guards.
I like having Tabby around. She makes me feel a lot safer. In fact, I like being near my yomotsu-shikome anyway, probably because of the communal nature we share. There's a lot about being a shikome I'm going to miss when I'm eventually purified...
After we settled in, we took stock of the situation. We basically have to accomplish two different things:
First, we have to repair the fortress. There are essentially four elements that need fixing in addition to the walls and structure: the frostfire defenses that project waves of freezing flame against beseiging forces, the spiritual sensors that detect the approach of beings of legend, the touchstone itself, and the mystical climate control that makes the interior of the fortress bearable for those who do not have the stamina to withstand the desert's heat. We will have access to demon workers to do most of the work for us, but we have to prioritize what should be repaired first. After a brief discussion, Charles and Adam determined (with input from the rest of us) that the defenses should be repaired first, followed by the sensors. With those on-line, we should be able to defend the place long enough to get the touchstone working. The climate control is least important; T-Bone and Charles are the only people here who might suffer from the lethality of the desert, especially since we have a rain dragon with us to provide water, and we have a few salt tablets to keep them safe for the time being (and we're likely to get more from the assaulting forces of Aten...).
Our second objective is to find out exactly what happened here. If it was sabotage, it must have come from inside the fortress, because the spiritual sensors should have picked up anyone approaching from outside the Redoubt. So while Adam began searching the ruins of the fortress for clues (and no doubt examining the fragments of Pesedjet xeno-science amidst the rubble for his own gratification), T-Bone, Charles and I questioned the three prisoners. Meanwhile, Pierre and Elisa worked out some good defensive positions in the event that we were assaulted before we could repair the defenses.
Honestly, I don't think any of us believe that Katayama, Hatshepsut, and #378 had anything to do with the sabotage, and our interrogations seemed to back that up. We first questioned Hatshepsut. I gotta tell ya, she made me a little weak in the knees. I mean, I've been with Persephone...so I know what it's like to succumb to overwhelming beauty and charm. Hatshepsut is a about on my level as far as both are concerned, so is it any surprise I'd find her enchanting? ^_^ Plus, she has a long history. Hell, T-Bone seemed even more impressed with her than I was, though I halfway think he was playing it up to get her to lower her defenses.
According to Hatshepsut, the fortress was being attacked by titanspawn when the explosions occurred. She was safely sealed inside her sarcophagus at the time, projecting her spirit with the power of Heku to fight the enemy. Her spirit is largely invulnerable while it's being projected, and her sarcophagus is virtually indestructible, which is how her body survived the destruction of the base. After the explosions, she emerged from her sarcophagus to see what had happened and found #378 trying to dig himself out of the rubble. Katayama soon showed up, apparently looking for survivors in need of help, and helped her dig out #378. Then Nu Wa showed up and imprisoned the three of them, leaving Pipa Jing to guard them until we arrived.
As far as we could tell, Hatshepsut was being completely honest, though I sense that she's easily as manipulative as T-Bone, so if she really wanted, she could probably deceive most of us (except maybe T-Bone) and get away with it. But that's not likely the case, and T-Bone thought she was telling the truth.
Storm's crew has dealt with Hatshepsut on a couple of occasions, so I suggested that we give one of them a call to find out if she's trustworthy. Adam used this cool relic transdimensional cell phone he has to call Salem (i.e. Sam), and Salem vouched for her, which is saying something since he's the paranoid god of conspiracy! ^_^ The only odd thing is this: why did the Pesedjet send Hatshepsut, a daughter of Ra, to the fortress when someone connected to Seth (who, among other things is a god of deserts and guardianship) would have made more sense? If you ask me, she was probably sent by Isis out of spite since Isis doesn't like Hatshepsut very much.
Next, we questioned #378, a very plain, nondescript-looking god dressed in drab clothing with a personality to match. His story corroborated Hatshepsut's. He was basically at the Redoubt in a support role, assisting his Chinese allies in the name of communism with his mastery over Industry. Since they were fighting the forces of Aten when the fortress was destroyed, he was busy in the supply depot creating shadow ammunition for the frontline defenders and managing their logisitcs. The architecture had shielded him from the worst of the blast, and his divine fortitude did the rest. Next thing he knew, he was being dug out of the rubble by Hatshepsut and Katayama. He was definitely telling the truth about everything. He does believe Hatshepsut was spying for the Pesedjet, but that's not really surprising. Hell, I'm pretty sure Adam's spying for the Aesir right now. ^_^
#378 gave us one other detail that could be important. Apparently the frostfire defense array exploded first, causing a chain reaction. Adam's investigation seemed to back that up, and his current theory is that the spiritual batteries that powered the defenses were overloaded with a sudden infusion of divine energy, causing them to explode. The nature of the explosions that hit other parts of the Redoubt was different than the one that destroyed the defense array, which suggests that there was a chain reaction...though that chain reaction might not have happened if someone hadn't been tampering with other areas of the fortress. Adam says it's too early to tell anything for sure, though. The destruction is too complete and didn't leave many clues. He's hoping to piece together a better picture of what happened as the repairs proceed and he can get a better idea of what the base looked like in the moments before the explosion. Plus, we might unearth more clues as we excavate the rubble.
Finally, we questioned Katayama. His presence at the Redoubt was a mystery, but T-Bone, Charles and I opened our interrogation by assuring him that we didn't believe he had anything to do with the sabotage. He claims he was moving through the area on his way back from a mission for allies of the Amatsukami. When the explosion occurred, he killed off the few remaining Hands of Aten and then entered the smoking ruins of the fortress to see if there were any survivors in need of help.
All three of us (T-Bone, Charles and I) could tell that Katayama was lying when he said he was just trying to slip through the touchstone without being detected to get back to the World. But I got the feeling the lie had nothing to do with the destruction of the fortress. Thinking he might be a bit more open without members of other pantheons around, I asked T-Bone and Charles to give me a few minutes alone with Katayama and escorted him to an isolated chamber where we weren't likely to be overheard.
I told him that I knew he was lying about his reasons for being here. I turned on the charm and tried to help him see that I was on his side and just wanted to get to the bottom of what happened ('cause I'm totally the good cop ^_^). He admitted that he had been lying, but said he couldn't tell me what his real mission was, except to say that he was working for allies of the Amatsukami and was ordered to reveal nothing. In fact, the story about passing through on his way back to the World was the lie he'd been ordered to give if he was captured.
I was sensitive to his desire to obey his orders. It's a matter of honor for the Amatsukami, and I wasn't going to force Katayama to compromise his principles, even though I might have been able to if I'd really tried. So instead I asked if Amaterasu or his father, Raiden, were aware of his mission. Katayama said that Raiden was, but that Amaterasu probably was not. Interesting...I'll definitely have to follow up on that later. Or maybe I can find out more by hijacking the kami of one of his relics...
Since it was clear I wasn't going to get anything else out of Katayama, I returned him to his water bubble prison, but I tried to encourage him before I did so. I'm not sure what he thought. He's seems like he can be a pretty cool customer and didn't betray a lot of what he was feeling other than resignation.
So, we've learned quite a bit about what happened, but not enough to get a sense of the truth behind the matter. Adam believes that our culprit was either a traitor from within or someone capable of evading the frostfire defenses and the spiritual sensors, possibly by traveling through the earth and knocking out the sensors with the electronics-deadening effects of a self-powered solar flare. Those are just possibilities, of course.
I wonder, though, if our prisoners are really who they seem? It's entirely conceivable that one of them is an impostor. I mean, I could easily pass myself off as #378 or Katayama. Hatshepsut would be trickier, but still doable. So it's not beyond reason that someone else could pull off the same trick. The fact that none of our prisoners seemed to be lying makes it a bit unlikely, but not entirely impossible... Anyway, it's something for us to keep in mind.
As we were all comparing notes, Charles' major domo, Lu Po, came running up to tell us that more Hands of Aten were approaching. We rushed to what was left of the walls to face the enemy. Pierre and T-Bone whipped up some shadow bullets and other weapons for use, including shadow weapons for my shikome. I left Ophelia and Audrey to guard the prisoners and took Tabby, Sadako, and Mercy out to fight with us. I was eager to see how they'd perform in a real fight as yomotsu-shikome, and so were they. ^_^ I bolstered them quickly before we joined battle though, just in case. ^_^
Sadly, my shikome didn't get a chance to fight anything. The attacking force seemed to be little more than scouts. There were three archangels and seven angles, and we'd dealt with worse than that even before we were gods. Still, it let us flex our muscles a bit. We coordinated our attacks very well. Elisa, Adam and Charles opened fire on the archangels, shooting them down in flames (or rather shadows, thanks to the ammo they were using). T-Bone flickered into the enemy's midst and badly injured another archangel with his cane, demonstrating the wolf-like power he's developed as his connection to the werewolves has grown. Charles finished that one off. And me? Well, I raised my hand and invoked a curse against the angels. Black veins appeared on their flesh, dimming their malign radiance, and, clutching at their throats and faces as shadowy ichor began bleeding from their eyes, ears, and mouths, all seven of them fell to ground, unconscious. My power over life and death can be a bitch for my enemies. ^_^
And that was that. I sent Tabby, Mercy, and Sadako out to finish off the plague-ridden angels, which they did with relish, while Charles and T-Bone collected more mystical salt tablets from the remains of our fallen foes.
Chances are the assaults are only going to get worse from this point on, though. Fun fun. >_<
[Excerpts from Erika's private journal]
I don't know why exactly, but I've found myself pondering my nature and fate as a goddess over the past day or so. Maybe it's because I'm working with Adam (the god Amwed) again after so long. Who knows? Anyway, I've been thinking about myself as a goddess of balance and duality. I mean, that's really what my whole light and darkness, life and death thing is all about right? That's my fate. But I'm starting to realize just what that really means and how much it defines me. Even my relationships with Erebus and Amaterasu seem to be an expression of it, just like my connection to Yi and Miko, just one a more divine scale.
How much of it is Fate? Has Amaterasu fallen in love with me because Fate dictated that my affair with Erebus had to be balanced? Did Yi fall in love with me because of Miko? How many other things in my life are or will be decided by my existence as a goddess of the duality between light and darkness. Or am I making too much of all of this?
Perhaps simply being Amaterasu's shadow is enough...at least there, I am the balance, and not the fulcrum. But that bring to mind another thought. The truth is, I enjoy being the fulcrum of balance, don't I?