Scion - Rada Campaign - Guest Appearance 2-6
Whew. That was a battle I'll never forget. Good thing Storm and his crew are every bit as badass as the gods I'm used to working with. (^_^) Anyway, I left off last time with the posse having just slain the Oculapede and taken its human-like eyes. We headed back to the gate out of Crom Cruach then so that we could perform the ritual to seal it again. Too bad we had to perform the ritual from the titan side. (>_<)
So, I set up the ritual while the others powered up to face the onslaught that would no doubt arrive once I began the purification. While I roped off a ritual space with a length of sacred rope and sanctified it with paper charmsr, Jacob performed a rite of his own, declaring himself my protector and mystically reinforcing his role as my guardian in the fight. Then he bolstered all of us against damage, and I bolstered him in turn. Meanwhile, Cesar called a blessing of bravery on us, and Sam and Carina set khaibit traps to weaken the first wave of the assault.
With our preparations in place, I spilled the purified water on the ground to begin the ritual, and then all hell broke loose. Waves of centipedes, some small and others gigantic, poured from the rotting caverns around us, driven into a frenzy by Omukade himself. Omukade was an immense centipede beast with countless legs that resembled human arms and a gaping maw surrounded by wicked, jagged mandibles. He came squirming right at me, intent on disrupting my ritual, until Cesar stepped in his way, and began unleashing a sunstorm of lead at him. Omukade's body erupted in pustulant wounds as Cesar's shots hit their mark, but it wasn't enough to kill him, and then centipede titan struck back, completely destroying Cesar in one earth-shaking blow.
Good thing Cesar had already created a duplicate to take the hit for him. (^_^) The second Cesar then stepped forward and finished the work of the first, badly wounding the beast and forcing it to retreat or die. Come on, say it with me. Bad. Ass.
While Cesar kept Omukade occupied, the rest of the crew fought off the swarms of lesser centipedes that flooded toward us, intent on stopping my ritual. I put my all into finishing the blessing as quickly as possible, but it still took time, and Storm, Helena, Carina, Sam and Jacob had their hands full keeping me safe. I know, I know. I'm so high maintenance. (^_^) But seriously the few centipedes that actually got through to me ran into Jacob's rock solid defense. He kept them from getting close enough to attack effectively, so I was relatively safe throughout the fight.
Then, just as Cesar had Omukade on the ropes, a new set of enemies showed up, including some corrupted ninja who erupted in a burst of centipedes when killed, and several of the centipede men like those attending the Oculapede. Fortunately, Storm was able to blast them into oblivion with fire and lightning while Carina eviscerated the rest. Meow! (^_^)
But no sooner had we driven back the bulk of the assault when the caverns rumbled and shook, and the decomposing hulk of a zombie dragon forced its way into the chamber. Not meow. (>_<) I mean, the idea of a zombie dragon is awesome, but not when it's a yucky corrupted thing serving Crom Cruach. It reared back, slowly gathering the power to unleash a gout of caustic, corrupting bile upon us. It would have completely undermined the ritual, so everyone focused their attention on slaying the monster before it could attack. Helena chilled its blood to slow it down, Sam pumped it full of bullets, and then Storm charged up and blasted a series of fiery blasts right down the dragon's open maw. Its long, sinewy neck glowed red from the flames as it was incinerated from within, and then its head and neck exploded in a shower of embers and ichor. Woo hoo! Go Storm!
But Crom Cruach was not half-assing this thing. Even as the dragon's body collapsed and I furiously brought the ritual ever closer to its conclusion, an immense crone's head emerged from the ground itself on one end of the open chamber, easily dwarfing the dragon's remains with its size. Seriously, my mind had a hard time wrapping around the idea that something that big could even fit in the cave. And then a pair of matching hands pushed out of the ground. Its fingers clutched the floor and then it turned the whole world upside down. Fearing that I'd lose control of the ritual, I grabbed the burning Oculapede eyes and launched myself into the air, flying there and holding the two charred orbs safely aloft as the flames wreathed my hands.
But it turns out Cesar had everything under control. He called upon the power of the sun to shift gravity itself, so that even though the giant crone's head had flipped the floor, we remained grounded. I landed gracefully on the floor-turned-ceiling and continued the ritual. The others focused fire on the crone's head, hoping to destroy it before it could cause any more havoc ('cause if turning the world upside down was its opening move, I'd hate to see it's finisher). Sure enough, it died quickly and brutally under the combined onslaught.
The ritual was nearing its end, and I redoubled the intensity of my chants. Crom Cruach still wasn't done, though, and a few seconds after the crone's head rapidly decayed back into the earth from which is came, the ground itself attacked us, morphing into the shape of a vast, rotting face. I was forced to take flight again to avoid sinking into the putrid flesh as I finished the ritual, but not everyone was so lucky. Jacob and Storm smashed into the thing with all their might, while Cesar dodged around its long, serpentine tongue, which lashed wildly about as it tried to pulled him into the the thing's horrid mouth. Of course...Cesar just taunted it, and didn't seem to care that he was wading through rotting flesh. But tha'ts the lord of the Xibalbans for ya.
Oh, as a side note, I should mention that while all this was going on, more of the centipede ninjas showed up, but Jacob made short work of them by causing them to sneeze to death. Seriously. Jacob's approach to slaughtering things with divine epidemics is a bit less...dark than mine... Almost comical sometimes. But I guess that's only to be expected from suburban dad-god. I can't really knock it, though, since Jacob is totally the damn man when it comes to keeping me alive. (^_^)
Before the face could overwhelm us, I finished the ritual. A pure tone sounded in our spirits, signaling the closing of the gate, and the face roared in frustration. We all retreated through the gate as closed, wiping out a few more centipedes on the way. Sam was the last out - he stayed to make sure everyone else made it out, in case he had to telelport any stragglers. And then, safely back in Hawaii, we were finally able to stop, catch our breaths, and congratulate each other on a job well done. I even led Carina in a little cheer to refresh everyone's spirits (and we both switched to hot goth cheerleader costumes for it, which was awesome). Seriously, that was one of the most intense fights I've ever experienced...which is saying something because I'm kind of an old hat at this hold-the-line to protect the ritual thing. (^_^)
We've taken the time to clean up. and now we're heading out to track down the last of Omukade's agent, the centipede man who infected all the clubs. It's going to take some leg work to track him down, but hopefully it won't be too hard. Hopefully this whole centipede epidemic will be a thing of the past by the next time I post!
So, I set up the ritual while the others powered up to face the onslaught that would no doubt arrive once I began the purification. While I roped off a ritual space with a length of sacred rope and sanctified it with paper charmsr, Jacob performed a rite of his own, declaring himself my protector and mystically reinforcing his role as my guardian in the fight. Then he bolstered all of us against damage, and I bolstered him in turn. Meanwhile, Cesar called a blessing of bravery on us, and Sam and Carina set khaibit traps to weaken the first wave of the assault.
With our preparations in place, I spilled the purified water on the ground to begin the ritual, and then all hell broke loose. Waves of centipedes, some small and others gigantic, poured from the rotting caverns around us, driven into a frenzy by Omukade himself. Omukade was an immense centipede beast with countless legs that resembled human arms and a gaping maw surrounded by wicked, jagged mandibles. He came squirming right at me, intent on disrupting my ritual, until Cesar stepped in his way, and began unleashing a sunstorm of lead at him. Omukade's body erupted in pustulant wounds as Cesar's shots hit their mark, but it wasn't enough to kill him, and then centipede titan struck back, completely destroying Cesar in one earth-shaking blow.
Good thing Cesar had already created a duplicate to take the hit for him. (^_^) The second Cesar then stepped forward and finished the work of the first, badly wounding the beast and forcing it to retreat or die. Come on, say it with me. Bad. Ass.
While Cesar kept Omukade occupied, the rest of the crew fought off the swarms of lesser centipedes that flooded toward us, intent on stopping my ritual. I put my all into finishing the blessing as quickly as possible, but it still took time, and Storm, Helena, Carina, Sam and Jacob had their hands full keeping me safe. I know, I know. I'm so high maintenance. (^_^) But seriously the few centipedes that actually got through to me ran into Jacob's rock solid defense. He kept them from getting close enough to attack effectively, so I was relatively safe throughout the fight.
Then, just as Cesar had Omukade on the ropes, a new set of enemies showed up, including some corrupted ninja who erupted in a burst of centipedes when killed, and several of the centipede men like those attending the Oculapede. Fortunately, Storm was able to blast them into oblivion with fire and lightning while Carina eviscerated the rest. Meow! (^_^)
But no sooner had we driven back the bulk of the assault when the caverns rumbled and shook, and the decomposing hulk of a zombie dragon forced its way into the chamber. Not meow. (>_<) I mean, the idea of a zombie dragon is awesome, but not when it's a yucky corrupted thing serving Crom Cruach. It reared back, slowly gathering the power to unleash a gout of caustic, corrupting bile upon us. It would have completely undermined the ritual, so everyone focused their attention on slaying the monster before it could attack. Helena chilled its blood to slow it down, Sam pumped it full of bullets, and then Storm charged up and blasted a series of fiery blasts right down the dragon's open maw. Its long, sinewy neck glowed red from the flames as it was incinerated from within, and then its head and neck exploded in a shower of embers and ichor. Woo hoo! Go Storm!
But Crom Cruach was not half-assing this thing. Even as the dragon's body collapsed and I furiously brought the ritual ever closer to its conclusion, an immense crone's head emerged from the ground itself on one end of the open chamber, easily dwarfing the dragon's remains with its size. Seriously, my mind had a hard time wrapping around the idea that something that big could even fit in the cave. And then a pair of matching hands pushed out of the ground. Its fingers clutched the floor and then it turned the whole world upside down. Fearing that I'd lose control of the ritual, I grabbed the burning Oculapede eyes and launched myself into the air, flying there and holding the two charred orbs safely aloft as the flames wreathed my hands.
But it turns out Cesar had everything under control. He called upon the power of the sun to shift gravity itself, so that even though the giant crone's head had flipped the floor, we remained grounded. I landed gracefully on the floor-turned-ceiling and continued the ritual. The others focused fire on the crone's head, hoping to destroy it before it could cause any more havoc ('cause if turning the world upside down was its opening move, I'd hate to see it's finisher). Sure enough, it died quickly and brutally under the combined onslaught.
The ritual was nearing its end, and I redoubled the intensity of my chants. Crom Cruach still wasn't done, though, and a few seconds after the crone's head rapidly decayed back into the earth from which is came, the ground itself attacked us, morphing into the shape of a vast, rotting face. I was forced to take flight again to avoid sinking into the putrid flesh as I finished the ritual, but not everyone was so lucky. Jacob and Storm smashed into the thing with all their might, while Cesar dodged around its long, serpentine tongue, which lashed wildly about as it tried to pulled him into the the thing's horrid mouth. Of course...Cesar just taunted it, and didn't seem to care that he was wading through rotting flesh. But tha'ts the lord of the Xibalbans for ya.
Oh, as a side note, I should mention that while all this was going on, more of the centipede ninjas showed up, but Jacob made short work of them by causing them to sneeze to death. Seriously. Jacob's approach to slaughtering things with divine epidemics is a bit less...dark than mine... Almost comical sometimes. But I guess that's only to be expected from suburban dad-god. I can't really knock it, though, since Jacob is totally the damn man when it comes to keeping me alive. (^_^)
Before the face could overwhelm us, I finished the ritual. A pure tone sounded in our spirits, signaling the closing of the gate, and the face roared in frustration. We all retreated through the gate as closed, wiping out a few more centipedes on the way. Sam was the last out - he stayed to make sure everyone else made it out, in case he had to telelport any stragglers. And then, safely back in Hawaii, we were finally able to stop, catch our breaths, and congratulate each other on a job well done. I even led Carina in a little cheer to refresh everyone's spirits (and we both switched to hot goth cheerleader costumes for it, which was awesome). Seriously, that was one of the most intense fights I've ever experienced...which is saying something because I'm kind of an old hat at this hold-the-line to protect the ritual thing. (^_^)
We've taken the time to clean up. and now we're heading out to track down the last of Omukade's agent, the centipede man who infected all the clubs. It's going to take some leg work to track him down, but hopefully it won't be too hard. Hopefully this whole centipede epidemic will be a thing of the past by the next time I post!