Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 102
So, I ended my last entry at the point where we were negotiating with Da Ji, Wang Dang, and Xi Ci after I'd thrown a bit of discord into their ranks by enlightening them to their eventual fate after the war is over. I guess a goddess of Harmonious Light and Darkness shouldn't really be sowing discord, but I just couldn't help myself after all we've learned about the Bureaucracy's doings.
Anyway, thanks to Charles, we were able to get the Bureaucracy gods to provide us with records that should help us track the kidnapped Amatsukami agents in the future. Unfortunately, we also had to let the Bureaucracy capture the youkai we had just rescued. Prisoners of war, I guess. It pisses me off to no end that we had to let that go, but we can't risk any more ripples in the time stream. I just have to keep reassuring myself that we will resolve it in the future.
So with things settled in Hong Kong, we returned to the future, where Elisa spent more time conducting bloody Aztlanti rituals to recharge some of our divine power. It's a damn good thing I'm already pretty tainted, or else, as an Amatsukami, I'd probably have more trouble with all the bloodletting involved in the process. But I kinda have a thing for blood anyway, so it's all good. ^_^ I mean, I am the Shikome Patron of Vampires, after all!
Anyway, we decided to go to 1943 Hiroshima next. We compared what we knew about Hiroshima's past with what we know about the moon beasts, and Adam suggested that they were probably trying to effect some sort of ritual that would allow them to take control of Pika Don's prison within the city after the atomic bomb hits and Pika Don is empowered. Since his prison realm is a reflection of the city, Adam and Charles surmised that they could probably control it by placing a series of sigils or mystical seals around the city at key sites, so we would need to find and destroy those in addition to eliminating the moon-beasts and their servants in charge of the operation.
So, we headed to Takamagahara and then I use my personal shrine in Kurayashiro to access Hiroshima's Gokoku Shrine (we Amatsukami can use pretty much any Shinto shrine as a portal to and from Takamagahara), and from there we found the time anomaly, which was located beneath a bridge. We disguised ourselves as Japanese through a combination of appearance-based powers and illusions, then stepped through and found ourselves underneath a similar bridge in 1943 Hiroshima.
And then I was nearly murdered! O_O Seriously, almost f**king died!
Yeah, as soon as we arrived in 1943, some hidden assailant fired two poisoned crossbow bolts at me! >_< I was completely unaware of what was coming, so thanks to my solipsistic sense of well-being, the first bolt just tore through me, leaving a bloody splatter on the bridge support behind me but otherwise leaving me unharmed. The second bolt ripped through my neck, sending me slamming into the bridge support (but otherwise leaving me unharmed) while my shed corpse's head flew free of its neck and collapsed in a bloody heap on the ground, only to decay to dust almost instantly (thank the gods I can shed my corpse like that!).
So by some miracle, I survived the onslaught, but then the poison hit me. It burned away at my vitality and I could feel it eating at my very soul. Had the bolts killed me, the poison would have destroyed my ghost in short order. Fortunately, I was able to heal myself enough to keep the poison at bay, but it took a lot out of me. Whoever tried to assassinate wanted to be very, very thorough, and wanted to leave no evidence of the deed in the Underworld, present, or past.
As for the assassin, he was gone before we really even knew what hit me. Adam and Elisa caught a brief glimpse of someone wearing goggles, and Adam could sense that the assassin was of god-like power of the highest order. But before any of us could react, he simply ceased to exist, suggesting that he was projecting a copy of himself with the powers of a psychopomp.
T-Bone instantly went invisible when I was struck, partly to hide, I'm sure, but also to get the drop on the assassin and make him pay for what he did. Everyone was furious that I had been attacked, and Elisa was all for immediate and bloody vengeance. But I managed to survive the attempt on my life, and that's what's important. We have other things to focus on now, and we can worry more about who was trying to kill me later.
[Private Entry - Hachiman's a Bastard]
As I fought against the poison, I told my comrades who I thought had tried to kill me: Hachiman.
It's no secret that Hachiman despises me and thinks I'm a corrupting influence on the Amatsukami. Heh, I suppose he's right, in a way. I'm certainly trying to help my pantheon adopt a more open-minded approach to the modern world, but most of them don't really understand that. And I can't blame them for fearing my taint. Now that I'm married to Amaterasu (a marriage that will be formally recognized within the next month), the rest of the pantheon fears that my taint will corrupt both her and Takamagahara. And I'm sure no one else wants to see an upstart goddess like me becoming co-ruler of the pantheon, though if you ask me, my diplomatic success on behalf of the Amatsukami speaks for itself.
Anyway, I'm not positive it was Hachiman. It could have been Himiko. But I'm fairly certain that it was Hachiman. For one thing, when I summoned the kami of the crossbow bolts to find out more about their master, they were confused and seemed to think they belonged to Himiko. They had obviously been affected by the Blinded Spirit ritual, so I seriously doubt Himiko was their real owner, and Hachiman and Himiko had long had a pretty bitter rivalry, so it would not be surprising for him to want to frame her. You know, I always thought of Hachiman as a pretty stand up guy, and I can understand why he wants to kill me. Honestly, I don't blame him for that. He's just doing what he thinks is best for the pantheon, even if he's wrong. But framing Himiko? That's just f**king low. Bastard.
Anyway, even though I was the one who was nearly killed, I fought through the trembling shock of my near death to tell the others not to do anything against Hachiman. He's important to the Amatsukami, and like I said, he's only doing what he thinks is right. He's trying to protect Amaterasu, and even if he's horribly misguided, I respect his wish to protect her. But you know, Amaterasu's been a bit too sheltered over the past few centuries, and I think she realizes it. That's one reason she and I fell in love. She knows that the time for change has come, and the rest of the Amatsukami will come around eventually.
I just have to survive until the official wedding ceremonies. Once my marriage to Amaterasu has been ceremonially recognized, the rest of the pantheon won't dare attack me. I hope. >_<
Now I just have to figure out whether to tell Amaterasu about this. She'll be furious, and I shudder to think what sort of punishment she'll visit upon Hachiman. So I think I'll have to keep it a secret. As long as I can survive until our official wedding, I win. Besides, I'm not 100% sure it was Hachiman, and I don't want to throw aspersions without proof. So right now, I'm trying to get the rest of my comrades to keep this under wraps. I"m not sure if Pierre, Elisa, or T-Bone are going to go for that. They're all pretty vengeful and very protective of me...
[End private entry]
After the assassination attempt, T-Bone disappeared and didn't return for awhile, but we prayed back and forth and he filled us in on what he was doing. He was flitting about the city, using his connection to the moon and magic to survey the city and find the moon-beasts' sigils. He remained cloaked in the shadows of invisibility to avoid Marishiten (who, you'll recall, is protecting Hiroshima in 1943 and has a brutal kill first, ask questions later policy). When he returned, he told us that he had found three mystical anchors that he believed belonged to the moon-beasts, each of which was protected by a hulking, invisible, out-phase spider of Leng (another Lovecraft connection!). There was no sign of the moon-beasts or their other servants, though.
Adam determined that the moon-beasts would still need to place several more sigil-anchors for their plan to work, and that they needed a full moon in order to place a sigil. Thus, they had to wait a month between placing each sigil. The next full moon was coming in two nights, so the moon-beasts probably wouldn't show up again until then. We didn't want to remove the existing sigils until we had dealt with the moon-beasts because we didn't want to alert them to our presence, so we decided to lie low for a couple of days until the moon-beasts showed up and we could eliminate them.
We briefly discussed where we could hide out, and I suggested the Gokoku Shrine. It's in a different place than it is in our time since it had to be rebuilt after the atomic bombing of the city, but it's still Hiroshima's major shrine and the most likely conduit to Takamagahara. The others looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned that. I mean, doesn't that mean more of the gods might come traipsing through the shrine? Well, yeah, but those gods aren't Marishiten. They aren't likely to kill on sight, and I'm also an Amatsukami. They aren't likely to attack me, and I'm sure I can put them at ease if I can talk to them. Furthermore, because Gokoku Shrine is the key entry point from Takamagahara, it's the last place most interlopers would try to hide, so Marishiten isn't going to be scrutinizing it very closely. ^_^
So we went to the shrine and asked for rooms in its attached dormitory, claiming to be pilgrims. The priest was very helpful, and I spent some time at the main altar, enjoying the purity of being there. I also summoned the shrine's kami and asked it to ring the prayer bells in a specific way if an Amatsukami came through the shrine so that we wouldn't be caught unawares.
There were some pretty interesting encounters at the shrine during the days we were there, though...^_^
First off, on our way to our rooms, Elisa heard a soft sipping sound in the room, and went to investigate before the rest of us entered. It turns out there was a rokurokubi secretly sipping the room's lamp oil. And the best part is that the rokurokubi was Quinn's grandmother as a young woman! Pierre kinda freaked out at that point. He was way too scared to do anything that might jeopardize Quinn's existence in the future, so he begged us not to interact with her.
Before we even had a chance to do so, though, we discovered another familiar face in the shrine. Keiko! My personal assistant Keiko! She looked just like she does now, only with longer hair and no glasses. She was apparently in charge of the shrine's youkai to some degree, because Elisa discreetly saw her quietly asking Quinn's grandmother to keep an eye on us. T-Bone took care of that, though. He briefly chatted with Quinn's grandmother and convinced her to avoid us. I think he also may have planted some sort of hypnotic suggestion to have her make up with her granddaughter at some point in our present. After all, Quinn and he grandmother don't get along at all, and it would be nice for her grandmother to get over her issues and accept Quinn for who she is, so long as it doesn't change our past...so good call T-Bone!
The only other notable encounter happened the the day after we arrived. After a bit of meditational prayer in the shrine's main sanctuary (we are supposed to be pilgrims, after all), I spent some time enjoying the shrine's gardens, and eventually noticed a very beautiful young woman discreetly following and watching me. She seemed more curious than threatening, and when I finally turned and smiled brightly at her, showing her that I was aware of her presence, I recognized Amaterasu! She was disguised in a different form than that to which I'm accustomed, but her eyes were the same, and I would recognize them anywhere! Just seeing her there made my heart flutter, and I couldn't help being a bit flirtatious during the conversation that followed. After all, she was obviously attracted to me.
She could tell I was Amatsukami, but thought I was only a scion or demigod. I surprised her by revealing that I knew who she was, and we somehow wandered into a room in one of the shrine's adjunct buildings. She wanted to know who I was, but I never actually told her, only revealing that I was here on an important assignment for another member of the Amatsukami. She insisted that I tell her who my superior was so that she could get me reassigned to her own service, but I managed to avoid giving her a direct answer. Actually, once we we were alone, she could barely restrain herself from making out with me, even though such feelings for another woman were obviously new to her. She was torn between either fleeing or kissing me, and with some subtle body language, I provoked her into kissing me.
She was mortified, but I know she enjoyed the electrifying passion of the kiss. She quickly made her excuses and departed immediately afterward, embarrassed, which was probably for the best. But I couldn't help feeling a sense of warmth, and immediately missed her once she was gone. I had to remind myself that it's way too early for her to be falling for me right now. That said, I did think it was fascinating how our fatebond as lovers remains strong even across time. Is that even normal? I don't know, but it's awesome! ^_^ I should ask Adam about it.
I do hope that I haven't altered future Amaterasu any, but I don't think I have. Not with our fatebond being so strong that it spans time itself. ^_^
Anyway, now we're just waiting for the moon-beasts to show up so we can finish things here in Hiroshima. I'll write more later!
Anyway, thanks to Charles, we were able to get the Bureaucracy gods to provide us with records that should help us track the kidnapped Amatsukami agents in the future. Unfortunately, we also had to let the Bureaucracy capture the youkai we had just rescued. Prisoners of war, I guess. It pisses me off to no end that we had to let that go, but we can't risk any more ripples in the time stream. I just have to keep reassuring myself that we will resolve it in the future.
So with things settled in Hong Kong, we returned to the future, where Elisa spent more time conducting bloody Aztlanti rituals to recharge some of our divine power. It's a damn good thing I'm already pretty tainted, or else, as an Amatsukami, I'd probably have more trouble with all the bloodletting involved in the process. But I kinda have a thing for blood anyway, so it's all good. ^_^ I mean, I am the Shikome Patron of Vampires, after all!
Anyway, we decided to go to 1943 Hiroshima next. We compared what we knew about Hiroshima's past with what we know about the moon beasts, and Adam suggested that they were probably trying to effect some sort of ritual that would allow them to take control of Pika Don's prison within the city after the atomic bomb hits and Pika Don is empowered. Since his prison realm is a reflection of the city, Adam and Charles surmised that they could probably control it by placing a series of sigils or mystical seals around the city at key sites, so we would need to find and destroy those in addition to eliminating the moon-beasts and their servants in charge of the operation.
So, we headed to Takamagahara and then I use my personal shrine in Kurayashiro to access Hiroshima's Gokoku Shrine (we Amatsukami can use pretty much any Shinto shrine as a portal to and from Takamagahara), and from there we found the time anomaly, which was located beneath a bridge. We disguised ourselves as Japanese through a combination of appearance-based powers and illusions, then stepped through and found ourselves underneath a similar bridge in 1943 Hiroshima.
And then I was nearly murdered! O_O Seriously, almost f**king died!
Yeah, as soon as we arrived in 1943, some hidden assailant fired two poisoned crossbow bolts at me! >_< I was completely unaware of what was coming, so thanks to my solipsistic sense of well-being, the first bolt just tore through me, leaving a bloody splatter on the bridge support behind me but otherwise leaving me unharmed. The second bolt ripped through my neck, sending me slamming into the bridge support (but otherwise leaving me unharmed) while my shed corpse's head flew free of its neck and collapsed in a bloody heap on the ground, only to decay to dust almost instantly (thank the gods I can shed my corpse like that!).
So by some miracle, I survived the onslaught, but then the poison hit me. It burned away at my vitality and I could feel it eating at my very soul. Had the bolts killed me, the poison would have destroyed my ghost in short order. Fortunately, I was able to heal myself enough to keep the poison at bay, but it took a lot out of me. Whoever tried to assassinate wanted to be very, very thorough, and wanted to leave no evidence of the deed in the Underworld, present, or past.
As for the assassin, he was gone before we really even knew what hit me. Adam and Elisa caught a brief glimpse of someone wearing goggles, and Adam could sense that the assassin was of god-like power of the highest order. But before any of us could react, he simply ceased to exist, suggesting that he was projecting a copy of himself with the powers of a psychopomp.
T-Bone instantly went invisible when I was struck, partly to hide, I'm sure, but also to get the drop on the assassin and make him pay for what he did. Everyone was furious that I had been attacked, and Elisa was all for immediate and bloody vengeance. But I managed to survive the attempt on my life, and that's what's important. We have other things to focus on now, and we can worry more about who was trying to kill me later.
[Private Entry - Hachiman's a Bastard]
As I fought against the poison, I told my comrades who I thought had tried to kill me: Hachiman.
It's no secret that Hachiman despises me and thinks I'm a corrupting influence on the Amatsukami. Heh, I suppose he's right, in a way. I'm certainly trying to help my pantheon adopt a more open-minded approach to the modern world, but most of them don't really understand that. And I can't blame them for fearing my taint. Now that I'm married to Amaterasu (a marriage that will be formally recognized within the next month), the rest of the pantheon fears that my taint will corrupt both her and Takamagahara. And I'm sure no one else wants to see an upstart goddess like me becoming co-ruler of the pantheon, though if you ask me, my diplomatic success on behalf of the Amatsukami speaks for itself.
Anyway, I'm not positive it was Hachiman. It could have been Himiko. But I'm fairly certain that it was Hachiman. For one thing, when I summoned the kami of the crossbow bolts to find out more about their master, they were confused and seemed to think they belonged to Himiko. They had obviously been affected by the Blinded Spirit ritual, so I seriously doubt Himiko was their real owner, and Hachiman and Himiko had long had a pretty bitter rivalry, so it would not be surprising for him to want to frame her. You know, I always thought of Hachiman as a pretty stand up guy, and I can understand why he wants to kill me. Honestly, I don't blame him for that. He's just doing what he thinks is best for the pantheon, even if he's wrong. But framing Himiko? That's just f**king low. Bastard.
Anyway, even though I was the one who was nearly killed, I fought through the trembling shock of my near death to tell the others not to do anything against Hachiman. He's important to the Amatsukami, and like I said, he's only doing what he thinks is right. He's trying to protect Amaterasu, and even if he's horribly misguided, I respect his wish to protect her. But you know, Amaterasu's been a bit too sheltered over the past few centuries, and I think she realizes it. That's one reason she and I fell in love. She knows that the time for change has come, and the rest of the Amatsukami will come around eventually.
I just have to survive until the official wedding ceremonies. Once my marriage to Amaterasu has been ceremonially recognized, the rest of the pantheon won't dare attack me. I hope. >_<
Now I just have to figure out whether to tell Amaterasu about this. She'll be furious, and I shudder to think what sort of punishment she'll visit upon Hachiman. So I think I'll have to keep it a secret. As long as I can survive until our official wedding, I win. Besides, I'm not 100% sure it was Hachiman, and I don't want to throw aspersions without proof. So right now, I'm trying to get the rest of my comrades to keep this under wraps. I"m not sure if Pierre, Elisa, or T-Bone are going to go for that. They're all pretty vengeful and very protective of me...
[End private entry]
After the assassination attempt, T-Bone disappeared and didn't return for awhile, but we prayed back and forth and he filled us in on what he was doing. He was flitting about the city, using his connection to the moon and magic to survey the city and find the moon-beasts' sigils. He remained cloaked in the shadows of invisibility to avoid Marishiten (who, you'll recall, is protecting Hiroshima in 1943 and has a brutal kill first, ask questions later policy). When he returned, he told us that he had found three mystical anchors that he believed belonged to the moon-beasts, each of which was protected by a hulking, invisible, out-phase spider of Leng (another Lovecraft connection!). There was no sign of the moon-beasts or their other servants, though.
Adam determined that the moon-beasts would still need to place several more sigil-anchors for their plan to work, and that they needed a full moon in order to place a sigil. Thus, they had to wait a month between placing each sigil. The next full moon was coming in two nights, so the moon-beasts probably wouldn't show up again until then. We didn't want to remove the existing sigils until we had dealt with the moon-beasts because we didn't want to alert them to our presence, so we decided to lie low for a couple of days until the moon-beasts showed up and we could eliminate them.
We briefly discussed where we could hide out, and I suggested the Gokoku Shrine. It's in a different place than it is in our time since it had to be rebuilt after the atomic bombing of the city, but it's still Hiroshima's major shrine and the most likely conduit to Takamagahara. The others looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned that. I mean, doesn't that mean more of the gods might come traipsing through the shrine? Well, yeah, but those gods aren't Marishiten. They aren't likely to kill on sight, and I'm also an Amatsukami. They aren't likely to attack me, and I'm sure I can put them at ease if I can talk to them. Furthermore, because Gokoku Shrine is the key entry point from Takamagahara, it's the last place most interlopers would try to hide, so Marishiten isn't going to be scrutinizing it very closely. ^_^
So we went to the shrine and asked for rooms in its attached dormitory, claiming to be pilgrims. The priest was very helpful, and I spent some time at the main altar, enjoying the purity of being there. I also summoned the shrine's kami and asked it to ring the prayer bells in a specific way if an Amatsukami came through the shrine so that we wouldn't be caught unawares.
There were some pretty interesting encounters at the shrine during the days we were there, though...^_^
First off, on our way to our rooms, Elisa heard a soft sipping sound in the room, and went to investigate before the rest of us entered. It turns out there was a rokurokubi secretly sipping the room's lamp oil. And the best part is that the rokurokubi was Quinn's grandmother as a young woman! Pierre kinda freaked out at that point. He was way too scared to do anything that might jeopardize Quinn's existence in the future, so he begged us not to interact with her.
Before we even had a chance to do so, though, we discovered another familiar face in the shrine. Keiko! My personal assistant Keiko! She looked just like she does now, only with longer hair and no glasses. She was apparently in charge of the shrine's youkai to some degree, because Elisa discreetly saw her quietly asking Quinn's grandmother to keep an eye on us. T-Bone took care of that, though. He briefly chatted with Quinn's grandmother and convinced her to avoid us. I think he also may have planted some sort of hypnotic suggestion to have her make up with her granddaughter at some point in our present. After all, Quinn and he grandmother don't get along at all, and it would be nice for her grandmother to get over her issues and accept Quinn for who she is, so long as it doesn't change our past...so good call T-Bone!
The only other notable encounter happened the the day after we arrived. After a bit of meditational prayer in the shrine's main sanctuary (we are supposed to be pilgrims, after all), I spent some time enjoying the shrine's gardens, and eventually noticed a very beautiful young woman discreetly following and watching me. She seemed more curious than threatening, and when I finally turned and smiled brightly at her, showing her that I was aware of her presence, I recognized Amaterasu! She was disguised in a different form than that to which I'm accustomed, but her eyes were the same, and I would recognize them anywhere! Just seeing her there made my heart flutter, and I couldn't help being a bit flirtatious during the conversation that followed. After all, she was obviously attracted to me.
She could tell I was Amatsukami, but thought I was only a scion or demigod. I surprised her by revealing that I knew who she was, and we somehow wandered into a room in one of the shrine's adjunct buildings. She wanted to know who I was, but I never actually told her, only revealing that I was here on an important assignment for another member of the Amatsukami. She insisted that I tell her who my superior was so that she could get me reassigned to her own service, but I managed to avoid giving her a direct answer. Actually, once we we were alone, she could barely restrain herself from making out with me, even though such feelings for another woman were obviously new to her. She was torn between either fleeing or kissing me, and with some subtle body language, I provoked her into kissing me.
She was mortified, but I know she enjoyed the electrifying passion of the kiss. She quickly made her excuses and departed immediately afterward, embarrassed, which was probably for the best. But I couldn't help feeling a sense of warmth, and immediately missed her once she was gone. I had to remind myself that it's way too early for her to be falling for me right now. That said, I did think it was fascinating how our fatebond as lovers remains strong even across time. Is that even normal? I don't know, but it's awesome! ^_^ I should ask Adam about it.
I do hope that I haven't altered future Amaterasu any, but I don't think I have. Not with our fatebond being so strong that it spans time itself. ^_^
Anyway, now we're just waiting for the moon-beasts to show up so we can finish things here in Hiroshima. I'll write more later!