Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 84
So, we're closing on Seth's temple. The journey has been relatively uneventful. I mean, sure, we've had to slay a bunch of curious nemean and typhonian desert beasts that wandered too close looking for a meal, but otherwise there's nothing major to report.
We decided that Elisa and T-Bone would stay behind with #378 to keep an eye on the Redoubt while the rest of us traveled to Seth's temple with Hatshepsut. In order to get there, though, we needed some form of transportation. Charles and Adam put their heads together and decided the most efficient way to get to the temple would be a hovercraft. It only took Adam an hour or so to draw up some schematics, which Charles then used with Taiyi to help him transform a pile of stone Pierre conjured up into a working military hovercraft. It was pretty impressive. I gotta tell ya, the Bureaucracy gods can do some amazing things! ^_^
By the time they finished creating the hovercraft, my Blinded Spirit ritual on Katayama's flight goggles had done its work, so I carefully unwrapped them and gathered the others so that we could see what the goggles had to say. I wore my club goggles relic (the Shades of Meido) around my neck so that my kami would also be present for the interview; I'm still hoping that I can smooth over any anger Katayama might feel toward me for using his goggles like I did, and convincing his goggles' kami that it was all for the best seems like the way to go.
Anyway, Katayama's goggle kami, who was a dashing kami who gave the impression of being a Japanese pilot from WWII, was very formal and cooperative. Of course, his cooperation only made sense; after all, he thought I was his master thanks to the Blinded Spirit ritual. I asked him what he and Katayama had been doing and who they were working for.
It turns out Katayama was working for Heimdall. He had been taking aerial reconnaissance photos of the Gobi Redoubt. He hadn't been noticed because of a magical effect that obscured Katayama's aircraft from the memories of those who observed it; since they couldn't remember seeing it for more than a few seconds, no one ever reported it.
But why Heimdall? Well, the Norse have always wanted to get their hands on the Redoubt, largely because of its proximity to Muspelheim, I'm sure. In fact, Heimdall's forces briefly held it during WWII, and he definitely wants it back even though the gods aren't really at war with each other anymore. The goggle kami also informed us that Heimdall had begun eavesdropping on us the moment we learned that he was behind Katayama's presence in the desert. There was nothing we could do about that, but then again, if Heimdall's not willing to be understanding about a group of lesser gods seeking the truth, then he'd be a bit of a hypocrite. According to Adam, he despises illusion.
Which is why we're pretty sure he didn't have anything to do with the destruction of the Redoubt. After all, the sabotage is practically choking on illusion. >_< It's really f**king annoying. Besides, Heimdall wanted to capture the Redoubt, not destroy it.
As for Katayama, he landed some distance away when he saw the Redoubt explode and sprinted like lightning to the fortress to see if any survivors needed help. It's nice to know that he's the sort of guy to risk his mission in order to help those in need. ^_^ He and I might come from different sides of my pantheon's cultural divide, but I really respect him. And I hope he can respect me, though my underhanded approach to unearthing the secrets of his mission is probably going to work against me on that count... T_T
Since we'd learned all we could from the goggles, I once again wrapped them in prayer strips and invoked the Blinded Spirit ritual in order to reverse the effects and return the kami to Katayama. Once it realizes who its rightful master is again, I'll summon it and try to convince it to keep the whole ordeal our little secret. After all, it was in Katayama's best interest that I did what I did, and hopefully the goggles will understand that. Of course, I'm hoping that his kami's interest in the kami of my goggles will bear some fruit too. ^_^ Then again, that might just be wishful thinking. >_<
We decided to leave Katayama imprisoned for the time being, at least long enough for his goggles to return to normal. Charles still seems torn over the fact that Katayama was spying, but I think we might need him and his plane to help us defend the fortress before this is all over. There's nothing that says Katayama won't just leave once we release him, but I think he's honorable and valorous enough to understand that importance of protecting the Redoubt against the titans while its defenses have been weakened.
Once all of that was dealt with, it was time to head to the Seth's temple. Adam, Pierre, Charles, my yomotsu-shikome and me boarded the hovercraft, and with Hatshepsut as our guide, we cruised across the blazing desert toward what we hoped would provide some answers. To save space on the hovercraft, Pierre decided to ride along by possessing Ophelia. She didn't mind, of course. She's so easygoing and perky...and besides, she likes Pierre. ^_^
As we traveled, Tabby and the other shikome got into a conversation on whether or not more intelligent people's hearts tasted better and whether consuming one would make one smarter or not. Those girls are so inquisitive when it comes to their favorite pastimes ^_^. I contributed by asked Tabby if my heart tasted better when she ate it to become a Black Mother shikome. After all, even with my meager degree of divine intelligence, I'm probably the most intellectually gifted person whose heart she's eaten. Her opinion on the matter was uncertain, though. Of course my heart tasted better, she said, but that's probably because I'm a goddess. By this point it was obvious that the conversation was making Adam anxious; she was the most intelligent person there, after all, and he's a god... Poor Adam. His discomfort was so amusing. ^_^ Does thinking that make me evil? 6_6
We're closing on the temple now. As I mentioned earlier, the trip has been fairly uneventful aside from a bit of pest control. That said, fighting against typhonian and nemean scorpions and sidewinders has helped us hone our combat tactics. To be honest, we didn't strictly HAVE to fight the beasts...at least not yet. But as we traveled, they began following us, barely keeping up with the hovercraft, and though most eventually fell behind, we feared that more might show up the closer we got to our destination. In order to avoid having to deal with a whole swarm of the beasts once we arrived, we all decided that cleaning a few out along the way, when their numbers were more manageable, would be wisest.
The fights went amazingly well for us. I was a bit worried about the typhonian scorpions. I mean...they were BIG and covered with spines and all, and quite frankly, while I love spiders, scorpions don't count, especially not gigantic ones. Moreover, we didn't have Elisa with us to shoot holes of fiery rage through them. But Adam and Charles proved that they can be every bit as dangerous as our lovable goddess of sacrificial fire. They briefly discussed their tactics, then leap from opposite sides of the hovercraft, opening up on the same scorpion with shots precisely aimed at its weak points. Seconds later, its massive carcass collapsed into the sands.
Meanwhile, Pierre dashed into the midst of the creatures, punching holes through their hard shells. My shikome joined him, teaming up in groups of two against the nemean scorpions as Adam and Charles turned their attention to the nemean sidewinders. I supported the rest by calling a plague upon the beasts, weakening them so that cleaning them up was short work.
We repeated this process once again when we'd picked up more beasts. Right now, a few more have begun following us as we near the temple, but I'm not too worried. I just hope the typhonian salawa thing Hatshepsut mentioned isn't any more of a problem than the scorpions and sidewinders were.
I gotta tell ya, I was impressed with my shikome! They really did their job in the fight. Pierre (using Ophelia's possessed body before he emerged from it to fight) made shadow weapons for all of us, which really helped. Mercy stuck with me on the hovercraft and threw scissors of darkness with enough force to crush the nemean scorpions' hides like paper. The others jumped into the fray, dodging the fangs and stingers of the beasts and ripping through their bodies with swords of shadow (also provided by Pierre). A couple of them took hits but shrugged them off without much damage, but Ophelia got hit pretty bad by a nemean sidewinder. Its poison began to get the best of her, but not fatally. She's a bit weak right now, and I kept her out of our second fight, but she'll be fine now that the poison has run its course. To be honest, the bolstered health I gave her soaked up most of the ill effects, but I was still worried about her! >_<
I should also mention that the boys (and I use that term intentionally) decided to take trophies, which they have managed to attach to the hovercraft. So now the hovercraft is sporting a big typhonian scorpion tail arching over it and two typhonian pincers mounted on the front. Seriously? What's with this trophy fixation recently? I mean, first the rakshasa trophy poles and now this. Well, I guess I can't complain. It's actually nice to see Adam let loose and have a bit of fun. ^_^ Hatshepsut and I shared more than a few long-suffering looks over the boys' antics. ^_^
Anyway, I've taken advantage of the rest of the trip to learning how to make my own objects out of darkness. Now I can help Pierre provide shadow weapons to our allies. Anything that helps me support the others (and especially my shikome, who aren't at the same level as us gods) is worthwhile, don'tcha think? ^_^
We decided that Elisa and T-Bone would stay behind with #378 to keep an eye on the Redoubt while the rest of us traveled to Seth's temple with Hatshepsut. In order to get there, though, we needed some form of transportation. Charles and Adam put their heads together and decided the most efficient way to get to the temple would be a hovercraft. It only took Adam an hour or so to draw up some schematics, which Charles then used with Taiyi to help him transform a pile of stone Pierre conjured up into a working military hovercraft. It was pretty impressive. I gotta tell ya, the Bureaucracy gods can do some amazing things! ^_^
By the time they finished creating the hovercraft, my Blinded Spirit ritual on Katayama's flight goggles had done its work, so I carefully unwrapped them and gathered the others so that we could see what the goggles had to say. I wore my club goggles relic (the Shades of Meido) around my neck so that my kami would also be present for the interview; I'm still hoping that I can smooth over any anger Katayama might feel toward me for using his goggles like I did, and convincing his goggles' kami that it was all for the best seems like the way to go.
Anyway, Katayama's goggle kami, who was a dashing kami who gave the impression of being a Japanese pilot from WWII, was very formal and cooperative. Of course, his cooperation only made sense; after all, he thought I was his master thanks to the Blinded Spirit ritual. I asked him what he and Katayama had been doing and who they were working for.
It turns out Katayama was working for Heimdall. He had been taking aerial reconnaissance photos of the Gobi Redoubt. He hadn't been noticed because of a magical effect that obscured Katayama's aircraft from the memories of those who observed it; since they couldn't remember seeing it for more than a few seconds, no one ever reported it.
But why Heimdall? Well, the Norse have always wanted to get their hands on the Redoubt, largely because of its proximity to Muspelheim, I'm sure. In fact, Heimdall's forces briefly held it during WWII, and he definitely wants it back even though the gods aren't really at war with each other anymore. The goggle kami also informed us that Heimdall had begun eavesdropping on us the moment we learned that he was behind Katayama's presence in the desert. There was nothing we could do about that, but then again, if Heimdall's not willing to be understanding about a group of lesser gods seeking the truth, then he'd be a bit of a hypocrite. According to Adam, he despises illusion.
Which is why we're pretty sure he didn't have anything to do with the destruction of the Redoubt. After all, the sabotage is practically choking on illusion. >_< It's really f**king annoying. Besides, Heimdall wanted to capture the Redoubt, not destroy it.
As for Katayama, he landed some distance away when he saw the Redoubt explode and sprinted like lightning to the fortress to see if any survivors needed help. It's nice to know that he's the sort of guy to risk his mission in order to help those in need. ^_^ He and I might come from different sides of my pantheon's cultural divide, but I really respect him. And I hope he can respect me, though my underhanded approach to unearthing the secrets of his mission is probably going to work against me on that count... T_T
Since we'd learned all we could from the goggles, I once again wrapped them in prayer strips and invoked the Blinded Spirit ritual in order to reverse the effects and return the kami to Katayama. Once it realizes who its rightful master is again, I'll summon it and try to convince it to keep the whole ordeal our little secret. After all, it was in Katayama's best interest that I did what I did, and hopefully the goggles will understand that. Of course, I'm hoping that his kami's interest in the kami of my goggles will bear some fruit too. ^_^ Then again, that might just be wishful thinking. >_<
We decided to leave Katayama imprisoned for the time being, at least long enough for his goggles to return to normal. Charles still seems torn over the fact that Katayama was spying, but I think we might need him and his plane to help us defend the fortress before this is all over. There's nothing that says Katayama won't just leave once we release him, but I think he's honorable and valorous enough to understand that importance of protecting the Redoubt against the titans while its defenses have been weakened.
Once all of that was dealt with, it was time to head to the Seth's temple. Adam, Pierre, Charles, my yomotsu-shikome and me boarded the hovercraft, and with Hatshepsut as our guide, we cruised across the blazing desert toward what we hoped would provide some answers. To save space on the hovercraft, Pierre decided to ride along by possessing Ophelia. She didn't mind, of course. She's so easygoing and perky...and besides, she likes Pierre. ^_^
As we traveled, Tabby and the other shikome got into a conversation on whether or not more intelligent people's hearts tasted better and whether consuming one would make one smarter or not. Those girls are so inquisitive when it comes to their favorite pastimes ^_^. I contributed by asked Tabby if my heart tasted better when she ate it to become a Black Mother shikome. After all, even with my meager degree of divine intelligence, I'm probably the most intellectually gifted person whose heart she's eaten. Her opinion on the matter was uncertain, though. Of course my heart tasted better, she said, but that's probably because I'm a goddess. By this point it was obvious that the conversation was making Adam anxious; she was the most intelligent person there, after all, and he's a god... Poor Adam. His discomfort was so amusing. ^_^ Does thinking that make me evil? 6_6
We're closing on the temple now. As I mentioned earlier, the trip has been fairly uneventful aside from a bit of pest control. That said, fighting against typhonian and nemean scorpions and sidewinders has helped us hone our combat tactics. To be honest, we didn't strictly HAVE to fight the beasts...at least not yet. But as we traveled, they began following us, barely keeping up with the hovercraft, and though most eventually fell behind, we feared that more might show up the closer we got to our destination. In order to avoid having to deal with a whole swarm of the beasts once we arrived, we all decided that cleaning a few out along the way, when their numbers were more manageable, would be wisest.
The fights went amazingly well for us. I was a bit worried about the typhonian scorpions. I mean...they were BIG and covered with spines and all, and quite frankly, while I love spiders, scorpions don't count, especially not gigantic ones. Moreover, we didn't have Elisa with us to shoot holes of fiery rage through them. But Adam and Charles proved that they can be every bit as dangerous as our lovable goddess of sacrificial fire. They briefly discussed their tactics, then leap from opposite sides of the hovercraft, opening up on the same scorpion with shots precisely aimed at its weak points. Seconds later, its massive carcass collapsed into the sands.
Meanwhile, Pierre dashed into the midst of the creatures, punching holes through their hard shells. My shikome joined him, teaming up in groups of two against the nemean scorpions as Adam and Charles turned their attention to the nemean sidewinders. I supported the rest by calling a plague upon the beasts, weakening them so that cleaning them up was short work.
We repeated this process once again when we'd picked up more beasts. Right now, a few more have begun following us as we near the temple, but I'm not too worried. I just hope the typhonian salawa thing Hatshepsut mentioned isn't any more of a problem than the scorpions and sidewinders were.
I gotta tell ya, I was impressed with my shikome! They really did their job in the fight. Pierre (using Ophelia's possessed body before he emerged from it to fight) made shadow weapons for all of us, which really helped. Mercy stuck with me on the hovercraft and threw scissors of darkness with enough force to crush the nemean scorpions' hides like paper. The others jumped into the fray, dodging the fangs and stingers of the beasts and ripping through their bodies with swords of shadow (also provided by Pierre). A couple of them took hits but shrugged them off without much damage, but Ophelia got hit pretty bad by a nemean sidewinder. Its poison began to get the best of her, but not fatally. She's a bit weak right now, and I kept her out of our second fight, but she'll be fine now that the poison has run its course. To be honest, the bolstered health I gave her soaked up most of the ill effects, but I was still worried about her! >_<
I should also mention that the boys (and I use that term intentionally) decided to take trophies, which they have managed to attach to the hovercraft. So now the hovercraft is sporting a big typhonian scorpion tail arching over it and two typhonian pincers mounted on the front. Seriously? What's with this trophy fixation recently? I mean, first the rakshasa trophy poles and now this. Well, I guess I can't complain. It's actually nice to see Adam let loose and have a bit of fun. ^_^ Hatshepsut and I shared more than a few long-suffering looks over the boys' antics. ^_^
Anyway, I've taken advantage of the rest of the trip to learning how to make my own objects out of darkness. Now I can help Pierre provide shadow weapons to our allies. Anything that helps me support the others (and especially my shikome, who aren't at the same level as us gods) is worthwhile, don'tcha think? ^_^