Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 119
Grrr! We've been had. I mean, seriously. We walked right into a set-up. And the bad guy wasn't even trying to set us up. They were trying to frame Whitesnake, and we blundered right into it. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad we did, because we're much better equipped to deal with this problem than Whitesnake is (not to mention that we're a hell of a lot more responsible), and we've learned a lot more about Abigail St. Croix, assuming she was the person who set us up. So there's definitely a substantial silver lining here. That doesn't make it any less infuriating.
The thing I hate the most about the whole situation is that it's making me paranoid. I f**king hate being paranoid. (T_T) I like living life, and I don't like having to look over my shoulder all the time while I do it. And I like people. I like getting to know them and making friends, and I f**king hate having to worry about whether they really are who they seem or whether they're being manipulated by some unseen foe! (>_<) Yes, I know I masquerade as other people from time to time to gain an advantage, so I'm not knockin' the method. I'm just admitting that I hate being on the receiving end of it. And when you dump illusions into the mix, things just get frustratingly muddled.
So, backing up a bit, we were all getting ready to go our separate ways, T-Bone, Pierre and Elisa to track down Natalia, and Sonny and I to go see if we could figure out who Chu Jun really was. Charles was going to stay behind and use his connections to look into the Citizen's plans and some other diplomatic angles a bit more. Before we left, though, Adam returned with a little info for us. He wasn't able to dig up anything on the masked minister, but he did learn that the mask itself was called the New Moon Mask and that it was a relic that had been used by Whitesnake, Pipa Jing, and Da Ji in the past. In addition to completely hiding one's identity, chaos creatures that wear it are forced into a solid shape, and they can't remove it on their own. Pretty handy.
Still, the idea that Pipa Jing or Da Ji might be involved was a little disturbing…and it would have been weird for Whitesnake to have been using it to make a deal with herself…or something. Anyway, I needed to talk to Da Ji to tell her that she was on the Citiizen's hit list anyway, so I prayed to Nu Wa and got permission for us to go see the pair of lovers at their hot spring retreat. Charles telelported Adam, Sonny and me there (along with Tabby and Sophie) while he sent T-Bone, Elisa, and Pierre off to the Imperial City to find Natalia.
When we arrived at the hot spring, Da Ji was happily embraced in Nu Wa's serpentine coils when we arrived, but when we shared the news that the Citizen had given the go on assassinating Da Ji, Nuwa's coils tightened protectively around her, nearly crushing her! (O_O) Once Nuwa regained some composure, we were able talk about some other things too, like asking Da Ji about the New Moon Mask. She hasn't used it in awhile, and the last person she knew of who had it was Pipa Jing (who was apparently being seduced by Da Li). At least that gets us a step closer to tracking down the mask.
We also told them about the surveillance photos. Their response seemed pretty defiant to me. I'm worried about Nuwa and Fu Xi. I totally support her relationship with Da Ji, but I know from experience how bad it can be to keep such things from your spouse, and I don't think it's fair to Fu Xi to be ignored like that. (>_<)
Anyway, we gave the lovers our best wishes and Adam teleported us to one of Tien's celestial crossroads, where we were able to get a dragon to fly us out to Chu Jun's camp. Meanwhile, T-Bone, Pierre and Elisa managed to find Natalia comfortably fortified atop a building in a little sniper's nest. How quaint. You'll have to forgive me if I don't share T-Bone's apparent adoration of Natalia…the fact that she's on task to assassinate one of my friends (Da Ji) kinda pisses me off.
Fortunately, she was currently trying to track down and kill Abigail St. Croix. She offered to back off if T-Bone was on it, but T-Bone, Pierre and Elisa decided they'd rather have her help. Besides, if she's not after a Abigail, she's likely move on to other targets, like Hou YI or Da Ji. (>_<) And we can't have that, now can we?
But T-Bone and the others got a hint of something weird too. Pierre asked why Natalia stole Nuwa's seal (which is something we learned when we were looking around Nuwa's palace). And when he asked that, Natalia got this glazed expression on her face and answered, honestly, that she had no idea what he was talking about. Looks like she's been brainwashed to forget about it….or at least compartmentalize it. That's what T-Bone thinks, and he knows the workings of the psyche better than most. Great. Brainwashing. This whole thing just keeps getting worse. >_< And Sam was worried about me back in the day. I know he's capable of screwing with people's minds just like the Citizen is, and trust me, I'm worried about the corruption claiming HIM these days.
Well, anyway, About then Adam, Sonny and I arrived at Chu Jun's camp. We found Whitesnake there (>_<) trying to get in to see Chu Jun. I made some comment about fine wines to her, but she didn't get the reference to our encounter in the Devil Tigers' hideout, which was curious. Sonny caught on and talked to her a bit, and figured out that the Whitesnake we met in the Devil Tigers' hideout wasn't the real Whitesnake. It was probably Abigail St. Croix pulling our strings again. Bitch. (>_<) The good news is that the real Whitesnake is much more likable. (^_^)
Anyway, the real Whitesnake was supposed to meet Da Ji somewhere in a day or two, probably about the New Moon Mask, but Da Ji had since changed the arrangement via Pipa Jing and insisted on meeting with Whitesnake immediately at Chu Jun's camp. Suspicious, huh? We pretty much figured out that she was being set up at that point, but we decided to go through with our plan anyway.
I went in to talk to Chu Jun and invited him to chat privately, suggesting that I was attracted to him. We retreated to his private tent and I began to seduce him, trying to get him to reveal who he really was by suggesting that I sensed there was someone else underneath him official guise, and that was the person I found compelling. We were briefly interrupted by guards that one of Chu Jun's ministers (a guy named Man Chou) sent to check on us, but I managed to convince them to leave us and guard the tent.
Things were starting to get steamy with Chu Jun, and he was still playing dumb. I had no intention of going all the way with him, though he was kinda handsome, so I was about to disentangle myself from his groping hands when suddenly there was an odd popping sound and his head exploded as though shot. Fantastic. (>_<) Someone was covering their tracks, and I was covered with blood and brains.
But really, I don't think the fake Chu Jun even realized he wasn't Chu Jun. We're pretty sure that Abigail was the one who killed him, and I'm sure she did it just to cause some chaos and break down negotiations with the rebels, not really to cover any tracks...
Anyway, things kinda collapsed at that moment. The guards rushed in, and I screamed and told them someone had sniped him. I used all my charisma to shift the blame away from me, but they still grabbed me. Of course, when they escorted me from the tent, Tabby and Sophie were enraged to see me manhandled, and they pounced on the guards and tore them to shreds. And maybe I let the frustration of the moment take over for bit, 'cause I let them, and I don't regret it. (>_<)
Then a lot of stuff happened at once. The invisible sniper started shooting at Sonny, who only survived because he wasn't aware of the attack and was therefore able to ignore it. Someone got a glimpse of the attacker, and it looked like Natalia, but then she shadow stepped to some other position to continue her assault. We later realized that couldn't have been Natalia, since she was with the others and was legitimately unaware of what was going on at the camp. It had to be Abigail disguised with illusion. But while we were sorta figuring that out, a celestial lion broke away from the other rebels in the encampment and charged Kuan Yin with murder in its eyes. Adam and Sonny both moved to stop it, and as he did so, Sonny infected the entire camp with madness in order to cause a distraction and keep the rebels from realizing what was going on.
Unfortunately, Kuan Yin succumbed to the madness as well, and I came pretty close to losing it too. But Adam and I kept our wits. Then the sniper shot at Kuan Yin. She was able to survive the shot by shedding her skin, but another shot would probably kill her, so I did the only thing I could do. I reacted instantly in the moment that the shot hit Kuan Yin, while the sniper was still looking at her. I sprinted to where Kuan Yin stood and then gracefully launched myself into the air. At the apex of my leap, I unleashed a burst of sunlight to stun and blind the sniper.
Based on the angle of the shots hitting Sonny and Abigail, we guessed the sniper (who, like I said, was probably Abigail) was on a nearby hill, so Sonny unleashed a tornado to tear to her to shreds while she was stunned. In the tornado's aftermath, I stepped through shadows and onto the hill, where I emerged as though walking onto a stage to the adoring applause of my fans, and I began to sing a song to lull anyone on the hill to sleep, hoping I would trap Abigail in a peaceful rest until we could find her.
Meanwhile, Adam unloaded several shots into the corrupted celestial lion, finally slaying it before it could attack Kuan Yin (yay Adam!) The beast took a chunk out of Adam, though, and I sang to him as well, bolstering him and Kuan Yin against further attacks.
In the end, we were left with a camp full of maddened rebels. Abigail escaped, but at least we were able to stop her from killing Kuan Yin. Sonny summoned a host of monkey servants to gather all the maddened soldiers into several large tents, and then I prayed to Elisa, T-Bone, and Pierre. Pierre used Cheval to bring Elisa with him to the rebel camp while T-Bone stayed with Natalia, and we began trying to piece together what had happened.
We were certain that Abigail was to blame, but even Elisa couldn't find her on the hill or anywhere else, so she must have escaped. Of course, like I said, the uncertainty of the situation has made me a bit paranoid, and I guess my divine ability to think quickly is something of a curse since it's presenting me with all sorts of disturbing possibilities, like the idea that Abigail might be masquerading as Whitesnake again (who we found relieving the insane rebels of their valuables after the fight). But hopefully that's not the case.
Adam investigated scene and discovered that Abigail wasn't even really shooting us with a sniper rifle. She was using her chaos powers to turn small objects like peanuts into deadly projectiles, probably to maintain the illusion that she was Natalia. There was no bullet hole in Chu Jun's tent, so when she killed him, she was probably in there with us. Yuck. (>_<) I hate her. (>_<)
Also, she was apparently after Kuan Yin, which pisses me off. She's definitely trying to break down the peace negotiations we've been working so hard to arrange, and she might have succeeded if we hadn't been there to interfere. So like I said, it might be for the best that we took Whitesnake's place in the set-up.
So, we're going to have to turn the tables on Abigail. It's pretty obvious that she's using chaos powers to figure out the best way to cause chaos in a situation, but T-Bone can do that too, which should give us a heads-up on anything Abigail might try. I think we're going to try and arrange peace talks with General Chou. Abigail will definitely try to interrupt those, and then, hopefully, we can spring a trap on her. The most important thing right now, though, is for us to protect Kuan Yin and smooth things over with the rebels, which won't be easy. We've already decided to take Kuan Yin with us when we leave the camp (she's still insane right now, but that will fade soon). I might take her place because if I can masquerade as her, then I should be able to explain what really happened so that all our efforts won't be for nought. Here's hoping, anyway…
The thing I hate the most about the whole situation is that it's making me paranoid. I f**king hate being paranoid. (T_T) I like living life, and I don't like having to look over my shoulder all the time while I do it. And I like people. I like getting to know them and making friends, and I f**king hate having to worry about whether they really are who they seem or whether they're being manipulated by some unseen foe! (>_<) Yes, I know I masquerade as other people from time to time to gain an advantage, so I'm not knockin' the method. I'm just admitting that I hate being on the receiving end of it. And when you dump illusions into the mix, things just get frustratingly muddled.
So, backing up a bit, we were all getting ready to go our separate ways, T-Bone, Pierre and Elisa to track down Natalia, and Sonny and I to go see if we could figure out who Chu Jun really was. Charles was going to stay behind and use his connections to look into the Citizen's plans and some other diplomatic angles a bit more. Before we left, though, Adam returned with a little info for us. He wasn't able to dig up anything on the masked minister, but he did learn that the mask itself was called the New Moon Mask and that it was a relic that had been used by Whitesnake, Pipa Jing, and Da Ji in the past. In addition to completely hiding one's identity, chaos creatures that wear it are forced into a solid shape, and they can't remove it on their own. Pretty handy.
Still, the idea that Pipa Jing or Da Ji might be involved was a little disturbing…and it would have been weird for Whitesnake to have been using it to make a deal with herself…or something. Anyway, I needed to talk to Da Ji to tell her that she was on the Citiizen's hit list anyway, so I prayed to Nu Wa and got permission for us to go see the pair of lovers at their hot spring retreat. Charles telelported Adam, Sonny and me there (along with Tabby and Sophie) while he sent T-Bone, Elisa, and Pierre off to the Imperial City to find Natalia.
When we arrived at the hot spring, Da Ji was happily embraced in Nu Wa's serpentine coils when we arrived, but when we shared the news that the Citizen had given the go on assassinating Da Ji, Nuwa's coils tightened protectively around her, nearly crushing her! (O_O) Once Nuwa regained some composure, we were able talk about some other things too, like asking Da Ji about the New Moon Mask. She hasn't used it in awhile, and the last person she knew of who had it was Pipa Jing (who was apparently being seduced by Da Li). At least that gets us a step closer to tracking down the mask.
We also told them about the surveillance photos. Their response seemed pretty defiant to me. I'm worried about Nuwa and Fu Xi. I totally support her relationship with Da Ji, but I know from experience how bad it can be to keep such things from your spouse, and I don't think it's fair to Fu Xi to be ignored like that. (>_<)
Anyway, we gave the lovers our best wishes and Adam teleported us to one of Tien's celestial crossroads, where we were able to get a dragon to fly us out to Chu Jun's camp. Meanwhile, T-Bone, Pierre and Elisa managed to find Natalia comfortably fortified atop a building in a little sniper's nest. How quaint. You'll have to forgive me if I don't share T-Bone's apparent adoration of Natalia…the fact that she's on task to assassinate one of my friends (Da Ji) kinda pisses me off.
Fortunately, she was currently trying to track down and kill Abigail St. Croix. She offered to back off if T-Bone was on it, but T-Bone, Pierre and Elisa decided they'd rather have her help. Besides, if she's not after a Abigail, she's likely move on to other targets, like Hou YI or Da Ji. (>_<) And we can't have that, now can we?
But T-Bone and the others got a hint of something weird too. Pierre asked why Natalia stole Nuwa's seal (which is something we learned when we were looking around Nuwa's palace). And when he asked that, Natalia got this glazed expression on her face and answered, honestly, that she had no idea what he was talking about. Looks like she's been brainwashed to forget about it….or at least compartmentalize it. That's what T-Bone thinks, and he knows the workings of the psyche better than most. Great. Brainwashing. This whole thing just keeps getting worse. >_< And Sam was worried about me back in the day. I know he's capable of screwing with people's minds just like the Citizen is, and trust me, I'm worried about the corruption claiming HIM these days.
Well, anyway, About then Adam, Sonny and I arrived at Chu Jun's camp. We found Whitesnake there (>_<) trying to get in to see Chu Jun. I made some comment about fine wines to her, but she didn't get the reference to our encounter in the Devil Tigers' hideout, which was curious. Sonny caught on and talked to her a bit, and figured out that the Whitesnake we met in the Devil Tigers' hideout wasn't the real Whitesnake. It was probably Abigail St. Croix pulling our strings again. Bitch. (>_<) The good news is that the real Whitesnake is much more likable. (^_^)
Anyway, the real Whitesnake was supposed to meet Da Ji somewhere in a day or two, probably about the New Moon Mask, but Da Ji had since changed the arrangement via Pipa Jing and insisted on meeting with Whitesnake immediately at Chu Jun's camp. Suspicious, huh? We pretty much figured out that she was being set up at that point, but we decided to go through with our plan anyway.
I went in to talk to Chu Jun and invited him to chat privately, suggesting that I was attracted to him. We retreated to his private tent and I began to seduce him, trying to get him to reveal who he really was by suggesting that I sensed there was someone else underneath him official guise, and that was the person I found compelling. We were briefly interrupted by guards that one of Chu Jun's ministers (a guy named Man Chou) sent to check on us, but I managed to convince them to leave us and guard the tent.
Things were starting to get steamy with Chu Jun, and he was still playing dumb. I had no intention of going all the way with him, though he was kinda handsome, so I was about to disentangle myself from his groping hands when suddenly there was an odd popping sound and his head exploded as though shot. Fantastic. (>_<) Someone was covering their tracks, and I was covered with blood and brains.
But really, I don't think the fake Chu Jun even realized he wasn't Chu Jun. We're pretty sure that Abigail was the one who killed him, and I'm sure she did it just to cause some chaos and break down negotiations with the rebels, not really to cover any tracks...
Anyway, things kinda collapsed at that moment. The guards rushed in, and I screamed and told them someone had sniped him. I used all my charisma to shift the blame away from me, but they still grabbed me. Of course, when they escorted me from the tent, Tabby and Sophie were enraged to see me manhandled, and they pounced on the guards and tore them to shreds. And maybe I let the frustration of the moment take over for bit, 'cause I let them, and I don't regret it. (>_<)
Then a lot of stuff happened at once. The invisible sniper started shooting at Sonny, who only survived because he wasn't aware of the attack and was therefore able to ignore it. Someone got a glimpse of the attacker, and it looked like Natalia, but then she shadow stepped to some other position to continue her assault. We later realized that couldn't have been Natalia, since she was with the others and was legitimately unaware of what was going on at the camp. It had to be Abigail disguised with illusion. But while we were sorta figuring that out, a celestial lion broke away from the other rebels in the encampment and charged Kuan Yin with murder in its eyes. Adam and Sonny both moved to stop it, and as he did so, Sonny infected the entire camp with madness in order to cause a distraction and keep the rebels from realizing what was going on.
Unfortunately, Kuan Yin succumbed to the madness as well, and I came pretty close to losing it too. But Adam and I kept our wits. Then the sniper shot at Kuan Yin. She was able to survive the shot by shedding her skin, but another shot would probably kill her, so I did the only thing I could do. I reacted instantly in the moment that the shot hit Kuan Yin, while the sniper was still looking at her. I sprinted to where Kuan Yin stood and then gracefully launched myself into the air. At the apex of my leap, I unleashed a burst of sunlight to stun and blind the sniper.
Based on the angle of the shots hitting Sonny and Abigail, we guessed the sniper (who, like I said, was probably Abigail) was on a nearby hill, so Sonny unleashed a tornado to tear to her to shreds while she was stunned. In the tornado's aftermath, I stepped through shadows and onto the hill, where I emerged as though walking onto a stage to the adoring applause of my fans, and I began to sing a song to lull anyone on the hill to sleep, hoping I would trap Abigail in a peaceful rest until we could find her.
Meanwhile, Adam unloaded several shots into the corrupted celestial lion, finally slaying it before it could attack Kuan Yin (yay Adam!) The beast took a chunk out of Adam, though, and I sang to him as well, bolstering him and Kuan Yin against further attacks.
In the end, we were left with a camp full of maddened rebels. Abigail escaped, but at least we were able to stop her from killing Kuan Yin. Sonny summoned a host of monkey servants to gather all the maddened soldiers into several large tents, and then I prayed to Elisa, T-Bone, and Pierre. Pierre used Cheval to bring Elisa with him to the rebel camp while T-Bone stayed with Natalia, and we began trying to piece together what had happened.
We were certain that Abigail was to blame, but even Elisa couldn't find her on the hill or anywhere else, so she must have escaped. Of course, like I said, the uncertainty of the situation has made me a bit paranoid, and I guess my divine ability to think quickly is something of a curse since it's presenting me with all sorts of disturbing possibilities, like the idea that Abigail might be masquerading as Whitesnake again (who we found relieving the insane rebels of their valuables after the fight). But hopefully that's not the case.
Adam investigated scene and discovered that Abigail wasn't even really shooting us with a sniper rifle. She was using her chaos powers to turn small objects like peanuts into deadly projectiles, probably to maintain the illusion that she was Natalia. There was no bullet hole in Chu Jun's tent, so when she killed him, she was probably in there with us. Yuck. (>_<) I hate her. (>_<)
Also, she was apparently after Kuan Yin, which pisses me off. She's definitely trying to break down the peace negotiations we've been working so hard to arrange, and she might have succeeded if we hadn't been there to interfere. So like I said, it might be for the best that we took Whitesnake's place in the set-up.
So, we're going to have to turn the tables on Abigail. It's pretty obvious that she's using chaos powers to figure out the best way to cause chaos in a situation, but T-Bone can do that too, which should give us a heads-up on anything Abigail might try. I think we're going to try and arrange peace talks with General Chou. Abigail will definitely try to interrupt those, and then, hopefully, we can spring a trap on her. The most important thing right now, though, is for us to protect Kuan Yin and smooth things over with the rebels, which won't be easy. We've already decided to take Kuan Yin with us when we leave the camp (she's still insane right now, but that will fade soon). I might take her place because if I can masquerade as her, then I should be able to explain what really happened so that all our efforts won't be for nought. Here's hoping, anyway…