Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 118
Well, I feel much better since my last journal. Last time, I ended on a pretty angry note, but I decided to send the angry me off to help Yi out with all the crap she has to deal with in Diyu. Well, really I sent that me off for some TLC from Yi so that she could help me relax. And lemme tell ya, Yi is so good at helping me relax…at least, she is when she relaxes, which doesn't always happen. Anyway, I manifested another me to stick with the group and keep trying to resolve the rebellion.
Anyway, I left off last with us leaving the Devil Tigers' headquarters. Adam decided to go investigate the masked minister who had approached the Devil Tigers with Abigail, and teleported away to handle that angle. I hate leaving him on his own, and worry about his safety, but he insisted that our efforts would be better focused elsewhere.
Actually, I'm upset, because Adam has grown so much colder lately. I actually had a discussion about this with the others, and they agreed. I used to have a serious crush on Adam, and I still treasure him as a friend, but his coldness has finally managed to cool the warmth of my feelings, and that makes me sad. It's depressing that he's becoming so remote. I worry what he will become as a god if this continues…
Anyway, while Adam was doing that, we looked into some of our other possibilities. We still need to track down General Chou (who it turns out is a Celestial dragon made of night and starlight! How awesome is that? (O_O). We also worried that Chu Jun might not be all that he seems, and decided to find out who he's working with. But first, we decided to visit October in the Imperial city. He's probably the god most closely associated with the Citizen, and we have a good history with him, so we hoped he could tell us more about the purpose of the Citizen's troops hidden near Chu Jun's encampment.
So Charles teleported us to the Imperial City, and we made our way through the vast courtyards and corridors of the place. It was awash with paranoia, and immortal guards with celestial hounds trained to sniff out Chaos roamed everywhere. It was really quite oppressive, but at least the guards and functionaries showed us the deference we deserve.
We approached the Citizen's Soviet-era compound and asked to meet with October, but were informed that the Citizen was present, so of course we insisted on meeting with him instead! We were led to his office, which was about as bland and featureless as an office can be. I mean, seriously. We passed a lot of offices, and the Citizen's office was barely any different from those of the rest of his staff. Just a desk, a clock, and some file cabinets. I mean, you'd think he'd at least have a calendar with Communist pin-up girls or some framed accolades from The Regime, but no…wait, that's right. He's just like everyone else. Which makes him insanely boring and oppressively conformist. (>_<)
But I put my feelings aside and greeted the Citizen with as much charm and beauty as I could muster (which, lemme tell ya, is a lot). I had already changed into some more elegant yet still super-sexy clothes, but I went a step further and changed the highlights in my hair to red, just to play on his subconscious. Sonny had the same idea, and changed his shirt into a Red China t-shirt! The Citizen received us politely but formally, and I took the lead in finding out what we need to know.
Of course, T-Bone decided that he was going to try to steal some sensitive info from the Citizen's files while we were there. You know, stuff Mr. Conformity wouldn't tell us. So I dominated the Citizen's attention. I sat on the edge of his desk opposite the file cabinets so that his attention was focused on me and not the files. I sort posed there for him, as we talked, giving him a nice view of my legs. I don't mean to brag, but even though he tried to hide it, I could tell that he was turned on. (^_^). I'm such a tease. (^____^) Charles tells me that the Citizen probably had one of his duplicates check to make sure I hadn't mystically influenced him. Ha! Like I need divine magic to work my charms on someone like him.
Anyway, T-Bone completed his dirty work while I chatted with the Citizen. I asked about his troops, and he admitted that his troops were there on behalf of the Bureaucracy in order to help keep the peace. So I engaged him in a friendly, flattering conversation (gods…flattering that guy…yuck!) and tried to convince him the current Bureaucracy has a lot of issues that are contrary to what the Citizen stands for! In fact, the rebels are trying to bring about changes that would grant greater socialist equality to the Bureaucracy. How can the Citizen not support that? I mean, seriously? I think he listened. He seemed to see the point I was making, anyway. I don't expect him to do anything too drastic. That seems counter to his nature, But I'm hoping that when things reach the negotiating table, the Citizen will take what I've said to heart and help arbitrate in a manner favorable to the rebels.
So, we left, and T-Bone informed us that he'd made it out with a collection of coded documents and a some photos, which he turned over to Charles to decipher. He also told us that he'd used his powers of illusion to make it look like Abigail St. Croix had stolen the files. We retreated to Charles' sanctum, and while Charles worked on decoding the documents, I got to babysit his children, Henry and Elizabeth, which gave Sera a break. Yay! They are so adorable!
It didn't really take Charles too long to decode the documents, though. Here's what T-Bone managed to find.
First, our dear, redheaded Communist sniper, Natalia, has been given the green light, should the situation prove it convenient or necessary, to assassinate Hou Yi, Da Ji, and Abigail St. Croix. Seriously? That's completely out of line! I've been on the receiving end of an assassination attempt, and it's not cool. I consider Da Ji a friend…sort of…and I certainly don't want her killed. And I'm sure the Bureaucracy would have a fit if they knew an order was out to assassinate Hou Yi! Sonny was seriously pissed by this news, and for good reason! How dare the Citizen meddle in Bureaucracy business like that?
Of course, we wouldn't be too upset if she offed Abigail…unless my fears are true and Abigail isn't really Abigail...
Then there was a report that Chu Jun had been kidnapped and replaced with a double. This was apparently assumed in the documents as fact, but there was no info about how or why this was done, or who is responsible. But we know now that we need to track down the real Chu Jun and figure out what the imposter is up to…
Finally, there was a bunch of blackmail material on Nuwa and Da Ji, including some very explicit photos. There were even photos of Nuwa receiving gifts of jewelry form Da Ji, which is suggestive of a more formal relationship like marriage. That more than anything is damning for the two of them, should the rest of the Bureaucracy find out. But I think the Bureaucracy needs to lay off and let them be! I'm quite frankly pissed off that the Bureaucracy, or my pantheon, for than matter, can't just get over it and let lovers be in love. You go Da Ji and Nuwa! I'm cheering for you! Don't let your stodgy pantheon drive you apart! Of course, Fu Xi and Nuwa ARE married…and I know from experience that Nuwa really should talk this over with him if she's serious. I mean, I totally know how awful it can be when these sorts of secrets come out… (>_<). But I'm still cheering for her.
I did comment that I hoped there were no sexy-time photos of me floating around, to which T-Bone very strongly replied that no, there certainly weren't. Which of course implied that there were, and that he had them. But, since this is T-Bone, I have no idea whether he's serious or just fucking with my head, so I just gave him a coy smile and told him that as long he kept them to himself, he was free to enjoy them. That seemed to put him a little off his guard…and in retrospect, might have been a bit cruel… (T_T).
Pierre wondered if we weren't under surveillance then and there, and started doing muscleman poses just in case. He's so weird. In a good way. (^_^)
But seriously, Sonny wanted to go do something about all this info. People messing with Bureaucracy business is not cool. Sadly, we couldn't just give the info to the Bureaucracy because we were working under the assumption that the Citizen believed Abigail had stolen it. But the ever-resourceful Sonny had a solution for that too. He contacted his ministerial staff and had them begin a widespread info-leaking campaign. Eventually, word will get around about what the Citizen is up to, but it won't be easily traceable back to any of us. You go, Sonny!
We also decided to warn Nuwa and Da Ji. Haven't done so yet, but I need to go ahead and pray to Nuwa about this ASAP.
So, we'd unearthed a lot of information, and needed to put the pieces together. Since Adam, the God of Detectives, wasn't around, Sonny offered to get drunk, because when he gets drunk, the Mysteries speak to him, and we needed some answers. Charles compiled a list of important issues on which we needed insight, and the rest of us added our on questions. Here's what we learned from Sonny's drunken yet insightful stupor:
First, Chu Jun has, in fact, been replaced with an imposter, but the mysteries couldn't tell us who was responsible for that. It might be that Chu Jun himself did it to ensure his own safety. Chu Jun is alive, though, and is currently somewhere in the Lungs of the Earth Dragon (the passages running through the Imperial Mountains), but he's not with General Chou, who is also traveling beneath the mountains. Also, general Chou didn't have anything to do with Chu Jun's replacement.
Second, Natalia is currently located somewhere in the Imperial City. Her current assassination target is Abigail St. Croix. Also, there are naked surveillance pictures of Natalia somewhere out there. *Sigh* T-Bone and Pierre made sure Sonny looked into THAT one. Boys will be boys. Though I think Elisa might have been a bit interested in that answer too. (
Third, the Devil Tigers are currently relaxing in a luxurious hot spring, which we believe belongs to Xiwangmu. Yeah, I knew she had something to do with them…
Finally, Abigail St. Croix is somewhere Chu Jun's camp. Could she be the imposter? On another note, if she IS there and the mysteries aren't being misled, then maybe one of my theories about her is wrong. And I really hope that theory is wrong… (>_<) In any case, if we can finally track her down, she'll have a lot to answer for…
Armed with this information, we started making plans. we decided that Elisa, Pierre and T-Bone would go track down Natalia and find out more about Abigail. Maybe also convince her not to assassinate any Bureaucracy people. I do think Elisa has more of an interest in Natalia than she's been letting on. (^_^) Meanwhile, Sonny, Charles and I would go meet with Chu Jun and try to figure out what's going on there…
But before we went our separate ways, Charles' servants announced that he had a visitor. It was Da Li (who had been safely resting in Kurayashiro). Apparently she'd been as busy as we had. She'd gotten some info from an old contact of hers, a powerful Jiang Shi known as Brain-Devouring Princess. The Princess knows of a group of Hundun's agents in Beijing that are up to no good, probably doing something to harm Tien, and is willing to share the info with us.
Personally I'm ecstatic to have this opportunity to meet Brain-Devouring Princess. As a powerful Jiang Shi, she represents one of the vampire groups with which I have yet to forge strong alliances, so this a fantastic chance for me to begin building up relations. And she's got a creepy-cool name! Of course, if she can help us resolve the chaos of this rebellion, all the better, but I confess that my enthusiasm for this meeting has more to do with my efforts to save the vampires from the clutches of the titans than the political situation in Tien right now.
I'm not sure if we're still splitting up or if we're all going to see the Princess, but the plan is for those of us meeting her to join Da Li for dinner in a nice restaurant in Beijing, after which she'll take us to see the Princess. Sounds fun! (^_^)
Anyway, I left off last with us leaving the Devil Tigers' headquarters. Adam decided to go investigate the masked minister who had approached the Devil Tigers with Abigail, and teleported away to handle that angle. I hate leaving him on his own, and worry about his safety, but he insisted that our efforts would be better focused elsewhere.
Actually, I'm upset, because Adam has grown so much colder lately. I actually had a discussion about this with the others, and they agreed. I used to have a serious crush on Adam, and I still treasure him as a friend, but his coldness has finally managed to cool the warmth of my feelings, and that makes me sad. It's depressing that he's becoming so remote. I worry what he will become as a god if this continues…
Anyway, while Adam was doing that, we looked into some of our other possibilities. We still need to track down General Chou (who it turns out is a Celestial dragon made of night and starlight! How awesome is that? (O_O). We also worried that Chu Jun might not be all that he seems, and decided to find out who he's working with. But first, we decided to visit October in the Imperial city. He's probably the god most closely associated with the Citizen, and we have a good history with him, so we hoped he could tell us more about the purpose of the Citizen's troops hidden near Chu Jun's encampment.
So Charles teleported us to the Imperial City, and we made our way through the vast courtyards and corridors of the place. It was awash with paranoia, and immortal guards with celestial hounds trained to sniff out Chaos roamed everywhere. It was really quite oppressive, but at least the guards and functionaries showed us the deference we deserve.
We approached the Citizen's Soviet-era compound and asked to meet with October, but were informed that the Citizen was present, so of course we insisted on meeting with him instead! We were led to his office, which was about as bland and featureless as an office can be. I mean, seriously. We passed a lot of offices, and the Citizen's office was barely any different from those of the rest of his staff. Just a desk, a clock, and some file cabinets. I mean, you'd think he'd at least have a calendar with Communist pin-up girls or some framed accolades from The Regime, but no…wait, that's right. He's just like everyone else. Which makes him insanely boring and oppressively conformist. (>_<)
But I put my feelings aside and greeted the Citizen with as much charm and beauty as I could muster (which, lemme tell ya, is a lot). I had already changed into some more elegant yet still super-sexy clothes, but I went a step further and changed the highlights in my hair to red, just to play on his subconscious. Sonny had the same idea, and changed his shirt into a Red China t-shirt! The Citizen received us politely but formally, and I took the lead in finding out what we need to know.
Of course, T-Bone decided that he was going to try to steal some sensitive info from the Citizen's files while we were there. You know, stuff Mr. Conformity wouldn't tell us. So I dominated the Citizen's attention. I sat on the edge of his desk opposite the file cabinets so that his attention was focused on me and not the files. I sort posed there for him, as we talked, giving him a nice view of my legs. I don't mean to brag, but even though he tried to hide it, I could tell that he was turned on. (^_^). I'm such a tease. (^____^) Charles tells me that the Citizen probably had one of his duplicates check to make sure I hadn't mystically influenced him. Ha! Like I need divine magic to work my charms on someone like him.
Anyway, T-Bone completed his dirty work while I chatted with the Citizen. I asked about his troops, and he admitted that his troops were there on behalf of the Bureaucracy in order to help keep the peace. So I engaged him in a friendly, flattering conversation (gods…flattering that guy…yuck!) and tried to convince him the current Bureaucracy has a lot of issues that are contrary to what the Citizen stands for! In fact, the rebels are trying to bring about changes that would grant greater socialist equality to the Bureaucracy. How can the Citizen not support that? I mean, seriously? I think he listened. He seemed to see the point I was making, anyway. I don't expect him to do anything too drastic. That seems counter to his nature, But I'm hoping that when things reach the negotiating table, the Citizen will take what I've said to heart and help arbitrate in a manner favorable to the rebels.
So, we left, and T-Bone informed us that he'd made it out with a collection of coded documents and a some photos, which he turned over to Charles to decipher. He also told us that he'd used his powers of illusion to make it look like Abigail St. Croix had stolen the files. We retreated to Charles' sanctum, and while Charles worked on decoding the documents, I got to babysit his children, Henry and Elizabeth, which gave Sera a break. Yay! They are so adorable!
It didn't really take Charles too long to decode the documents, though. Here's what T-Bone managed to find.
First, our dear, redheaded Communist sniper, Natalia, has been given the green light, should the situation prove it convenient or necessary, to assassinate Hou Yi, Da Ji, and Abigail St. Croix. Seriously? That's completely out of line! I've been on the receiving end of an assassination attempt, and it's not cool. I consider Da Ji a friend…sort of…and I certainly don't want her killed. And I'm sure the Bureaucracy would have a fit if they knew an order was out to assassinate Hou Yi! Sonny was seriously pissed by this news, and for good reason! How dare the Citizen meddle in Bureaucracy business like that?
Of course, we wouldn't be too upset if she offed Abigail…unless my fears are true and Abigail isn't really Abigail...
Then there was a report that Chu Jun had been kidnapped and replaced with a double. This was apparently assumed in the documents as fact, but there was no info about how or why this was done, or who is responsible. But we know now that we need to track down the real Chu Jun and figure out what the imposter is up to…
Finally, there was a bunch of blackmail material on Nuwa and Da Ji, including some very explicit photos. There were even photos of Nuwa receiving gifts of jewelry form Da Ji, which is suggestive of a more formal relationship like marriage. That more than anything is damning for the two of them, should the rest of the Bureaucracy find out. But I think the Bureaucracy needs to lay off and let them be! I'm quite frankly pissed off that the Bureaucracy, or my pantheon, for than matter, can't just get over it and let lovers be in love. You go Da Ji and Nuwa! I'm cheering for you! Don't let your stodgy pantheon drive you apart! Of course, Fu Xi and Nuwa ARE married…and I know from experience that Nuwa really should talk this over with him if she's serious. I mean, I totally know how awful it can be when these sorts of secrets come out… (>_<). But I'm still cheering for her.
I did comment that I hoped there were no sexy-time photos of me floating around, to which T-Bone very strongly replied that no, there certainly weren't. Which of course implied that there were, and that he had them. But, since this is T-Bone, I have no idea whether he's serious or just fucking with my head, so I just gave him a coy smile and told him that as long he kept them to himself, he was free to enjoy them. That seemed to put him a little off his guard…and in retrospect, might have been a bit cruel… (T_T).
Pierre wondered if we weren't under surveillance then and there, and started doing muscleman poses just in case. He's so weird. In a good way. (^_^)
But seriously, Sonny wanted to go do something about all this info. People messing with Bureaucracy business is not cool. Sadly, we couldn't just give the info to the Bureaucracy because we were working under the assumption that the Citizen believed Abigail had stolen it. But the ever-resourceful Sonny had a solution for that too. He contacted his ministerial staff and had them begin a widespread info-leaking campaign. Eventually, word will get around about what the Citizen is up to, but it won't be easily traceable back to any of us. You go, Sonny!
We also decided to warn Nuwa and Da Ji. Haven't done so yet, but I need to go ahead and pray to Nuwa about this ASAP.
So, we'd unearthed a lot of information, and needed to put the pieces together. Since Adam, the God of Detectives, wasn't around, Sonny offered to get drunk, because when he gets drunk, the Mysteries speak to him, and we needed some answers. Charles compiled a list of important issues on which we needed insight, and the rest of us added our on questions. Here's what we learned from Sonny's drunken yet insightful stupor:
First, Chu Jun has, in fact, been replaced with an imposter, but the mysteries couldn't tell us who was responsible for that. It might be that Chu Jun himself did it to ensure his own safety. Chu Jun is alive, though, and is currently somewhere in the Lungs of the Earth Dragon (the passages running through the Imperial Mountains), but he's not with General Chou, who is also traveling beneath the mountains. Also, general Chou didn't have anything to do with Chu Jun's replacement.
Second, Natalia is currently located somewhere in the Imperial City. Her current assassination target is Abigail St. Croix. Also, there are naked surveillance pictures of Natalia somewhere out there. *Sigh* T-Bone and Pierre made sure Sonny looked into THAT one. Boys will be boys. Though I think Elisa might have been a bit interested in that answer too. (
Third, the Devil Tigers are currently relaxing in a luxurious hot spring, which we believe belongs to Xiwangmu. Yeah, I knew she had something to do with them…
Finally, Abigail St. Croix is somewhere Chu Jun's camp. Could she be the imposter? On another note, if she IS there and the mysteries aren't being misled, then maybe one of my theories about her is wrong. And I really hope that theory is wrong… (>_<) In any case, if we can finally track her down, she'll have a lot to answer for…
Armed with this information, we started making plans. we decided that Elisa, Pierre and T-Bone would go track down Natalia and find out more about Abigail. Maybe also convince her not to assassinate any Bureaucracy people. I do think Elisa has more of an interest in Natalia than she's been letting on. (^_^) Meanwhile, Sonny, Charles and I would go meet with Chu Jun and try to figure out what's going on there…
But before we went our separate ways, Charles' servants announced that he had a visitor. It was Da Li (who had been safely resting in Kurayashiro). Apparently she'd been as busy as we had. She'd gotten some info from an old contact of hers, a powerful Jiang Shi known as Brain-Devouring Princess. The Princess knows of a group of Hundun's agents in Beijing that are up to no good, probably doing something to harm Tien, and is willing to share the info with us.
Personally I'm ecstatic to have this opportunity to meet Brain-Devouring Princess. As a powerful Jiang Shi, she represents one of the vampire groups with which I have yet to forge strong alliances, so this a fantastic chance for me to begin building up relations. And she's got a creepy-cool name! Of course, if she can help us resolve the chaos of this rebellion, all the better, but I confess that my enthusiasm for this meeting has more to do with my efforts to save the vampires from the clutches of the titans than the political situation in Tien right now.
I'm not sure if we're still splitting up or if we're all going to see the Princess, but the plan is for those of us meeting her to join Da Li for dinner in a nice restaurant in Beijing, after which she'll take us to see the Princess. Sounds fun! (^_^)