Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 120
F**king hell. I was right. My suspicions about Abigail being an alter ego of T-Bone are true. This is bad. Real bad. We've got to find a way to fix this, to get rid of Abigail and get T-Bone back to normal. That is, if there is a normal for T-Bone. He's a f**king god of madness, for crying out loud. If not this, then what?
Alright, calm down, Erika. Let's back up and start where we left off last time…
So, we weathered Abigail's attack on Chu Jun's camp, and cleaned up as best we could. But we needed to clear our names, and I felt that best way to do that would be to have Kuan Yin stick around and explain what happened. But since she was a little crazy thanks to Sonny's magic, that wasn't really an option. I offered to take her place, pretty confident that I could play a perfect bodhisattva long enough to smooth things over. The others argued a bit, worried that I'd be found out, but I managed to convince them to let me handle it.
And it worked like a charm. Pipa Jing cam to rescue the camp not long after the others left with the real Kuan Yin and Whitesnake in tow. She arrived with a bunch of monstrous praying mantis things that apparently eat chaos. They set about cleaning up the mess we'd made while I told Pipa Jing what happened. She was respectful enough, but she really doesn't like Kuan Yin much. (>_<) Nevertheless, she totally bought the deception and I was able to explain what really happened, so no harm done. She didn't even care that Tabby and Sophie ate a couple of guards. (^_^)
A bit later, after the real Kuan Yin had recovered, the others prayed to me and I went off to meditate, where we made the switch. So now the real Kuan Yin is back where she needs to be and our names are still clean. In fact, the Bureaucracy is aware that we're trying to resolve things on their behalf. Damn I'm good. (^_^)
Anyway, while all that was happening, T-Bone stayed with Natalia. But something weird happened. A bunch of the Citizen's guards showed up to defend her against something. Apparently someone's Vigil Brand went off saying she was in danger, but T-Bone didn't see anything. They made Natalia withdraw to headquarters, and T-Bone followed after convincing the guards that he wasn't dangerous. Still, I'm wondering what triggered the event, and whether the Abigail part of T-Bone was there or if T-Bone himself was, unbeknownst to himself, about to become a threat to her. I mean, we don't know what T-Bone's thinking or whether he's even in control or not.
Damn. At this point I'm glad he's abandoned Dahlia. She's safer this way.
So anyway, T-Bone refused to rejoin us, preferring to stay in the Imperial City and try to track down whatever was threatening Natalia. Charles teleported Elisa in to back him up, and they spent the next few hours searching the area, but didn't find anything.
Meanwhile, the rest of us rested awhile in Charles' sanctum before heading to mortal Beijing to meet with Da Li. We had a wonderful dinner. Da Li is charmingly cynical and catty now that she's back to normal. I suppose many would find her a bit off-putting, but I'm intrigued. We chatted about the current situation in Tien, like the fact that the chaos has given Pipa Jing more power (which is pretty scary). Da Li's also worried about her mom, Da Ji. The bureaucracy needs Da Ji, or so she thinks, but they tend to alienate her. It's a tough situation…
After dinner we went to visit the Brain-Devouring Princess. She was a pale, beautiful Chinese woman with red eyes, and her palatial estate was full of Jiang Shi and Qing Shi. Many of the latter stood dormant throughout the halls, the paper charms that animate them hanging over their faces. I thought it was fascinating, but I imagine most mortals would have thought it utterly disconcerting. The Princess was quite civil though, and greeted us politely. I was quite intrigued when she offered both me and Da Li blood for refreshment. I knew why she offered it to me. Most who know of me know I'm shikome and that it equates to being some form of vampire. I mean, I am the patron goddess of vampires, after all. (^_^). But it seems that most don't really know what that entails. Or maybe they do. I DO have a bit of a blood fixation. Adam's is quite tasty…
Ahem. Sorry 'bout that.
So what really caught my attention was the way she offered Da Li blood. Da Li's not a vampire…so what is she. I mean, aside from being a demigod. I have got to find out. I asked her about it after we left, but she was very coy and told me I'd find out eventually. It felt like a bit of a come on to me, so maybe I'll play her game. I admit I'm terribly curious. And why not? Hello! Vampire goddess here! (^_^)
Anyway, I was impressed when Brain-Devouring Princess called me the Seductress of the Sun. That's a pretty potent monicker for the patron goddess of vampires, don't you think? (^_^) I need to add it to my list of titles, though I don't imagine Amaterasu would take kindly to it. Not in public, anyway. I warmed to the the Brain-Devouring Princess fairly quickly after that, so even though she was a bit abrasive with her attitude, I left the meeting confident that I'd charmed her. And Da Li confirmed it when she asked if I charm the socks off everyone I meet. LOL. Of course I do. (^_^)
Anyway, the Brain-Devouring Princess's told us her agenda. It turns out she doesn't want anything to do with the titans, and is trying to distance herself from them. Of course we're all about that, especially Charles and me, who have been working on gaining the trust of Jiang Shi for a few years now. Charles agreed to do what he could to help support her, which of course means keeping the Bureaucracy off her back. She questioned whether he might not end up in trouble for doing so (like Da Li had), but I don't think Charles is worried. He's a god and the son of Guan Yu, which gives him more clout than Da Li ever had. He gave the Princess his word of honor that he would help her.
But there's more. There's a pretty big power vacuum among the Jiang Shi right now since we killed most of the top vamps. Naturally, Brain-Devouring Princess wants to fill that vacuum, so I pledged my support in helping her consolidate her power. The fact is, if she becomes a leader among her people, it'll help my cause too, provided I can earn her loyalty. It's worked out pretty well with Suchette, Fugu-hime, and the Doge.
In return for our assistance, she gave us a hot tip on Hundun's activities. There is apparently a factory on the edge of Beijing run by odd titanspawn who can join and split into larger and smaller beings (Adam was familiar with them and told us more about them, referring to them a "puzzle demons"). The factory is producing some sort of toxic, chaos-infused chemical, which is being shipped out on strange elephant-like creatures. She provided a sample that her agents had managed to acquire, and we were able to take it with us when we bid the Princess good night and returned to Charles' Sanctum. T-Bone and Elisa rejoined us there.
When we arrived back at the Sanctum, we learned from Whitesnake that something weird had happened. Apparently, while we were away, Sera showed up (even though she's staying at Red Mountain now) and was messing around in Charles' office. Whitesnake approached her, and Sera was totally cool with there being a strange woman hanging out in Charles' place. Yeah…right. We're talking about Sera, right? The jealous type? Whitesnake doesn't even know Sera, but it still struck her as odd. So she bit her with a sleep-inducing poison. "Sera" fell asleep, but when Whitesnake turned her back, "Sera" disappeared. We're pretty sure it was really Abigail. And the me on Red Mountain checked in with Sera just to confirm that she hadn't gone anywhere close to Charles' sanctum in the past few days. Sigh. I f**king hate Abigail, and the sooner we can eliminate her from T-Bone's twisted psyche, or whatever the hell is going on, the better.
Anyway, after getting that news, Adam began investigating the chaos stuff more closely. It seems like awful stuff. It smells kinda good, but it glows with a weird yellow glow and somehow reminds me of Pika Don's realm (good riddance to that place). Sonny fed some to a monkey he created from his blood, and the creature grew huge and became partially out of phase. It was freaky. Charles used his Tai Yi to partially reverse the effect, but Sonny still has a hulking monkey servant now. Weird.
The chaos stuff is also flammable, and the smoke has a strange chaos effect. T-Bone inhaled some, and he sort got high on it. And that's what let us piece together the truth about Abigail. At about the time T-Bone zoned out, Adam was contacted by his floating city's computer network. Abigail was there, and somehow she tripped the alarm systems and was attacked by the city's defenses before she escaped.
My suspicions were all but confirmed then. I wish they weren't, but I really don't see any other explanation. Abigail screwed up when T-Bone got high. That means that Abigail IS T-Bone. I don't know how. Maybe he's co-locating a split personality or something. But either way, it sucks, and it makes me want to cry because one of my dearest friends is either so insane that he's created a callous, power-hungry alter ego, or Abigail isn't an alter ego at all, and T-Bone has been manipulating us all this time. I can't believe the latter is true, so I have to cling to former.
This also means that the chaos stuff affects people on the level of their soul, not just their bodies, and that's super scary.
Anyway, as soon as I realized what it all must mean, I glanced at Adam and the look in his eyes told me he got it too. So I immediately began singing a soothing song to place T-Bone into a deep sleep. Once he was out, I asked Pierre to absorb him using Cheval. T-Bone couldn't resist because he was unconscious, and this way he's out of action and can't do any harm. I don't know if Abigail is out and about right now, but if she isn't, then she should be trapped in there too.
Gods…what are we going to do about this? We need to contact some people who know a hell of a lot more than I do about these things, like Tsukiyomi.
Alright, calm down, Erika. Let's back up and start where we left off last time…
So, we weathered Abigail's attack on Chu Jun's camp, and cleaned up as best we could. But we needed to clear our names, and I felt that best way to do that would be to have Kuan Yin stick around and explain what happened. But since she was a little crazy thanks to Sonny's magic, that wasn't really an option. I offered to take her place, pretty confident that I could play a perfect bodhisattva long enough to smooth things over. The others argued a bit, worried that I'd be found out, but I managed to convince them to let me handle it.
And it worked like a charm. Pipa Jing cam to rescue the camp not long after the others left with the real Kuan Yin and Whitesnake in tow. She arrived with a bunch of monstrous praying mantis things that apparently eat chaos. They set about cleaning up the mess we'd made while I told Pipa Jing what happened. She was respectful enough, but she really doesn't like Kuan Yin much. (>_<) Nevertheless, she totally bought the deception and I was able to explain what really happened, so no harm done. She didn't even care that Tabby and Sophie ate a couple of guards. (^_^)
A bit later, after the real Kuan Yin had recovered, the others prayed to me and I went off to meditate, where we made the switch. So now the real Kuan Yin is back where she needs to be and our names are still clean. In fact, the Bureaucracy is aware that we're trying to resolve things on their behalf. Damn I'm good. (^_^)
Anyway, while all that was happening, T-Bone stayed with Natalia. But something weird happened. A bunch of the Citizen's guards showed up to defend her against something. Apparently someone's Vigil Brand went off saying she was in danger, but T-Bone didn't see anything. They made Natalia withdraw to headquarters, and T-Bone followed after convincing the guards that he wasn't dangerous. Still, I'm wondering what triggered the event, and whether the Abigail part of T-Bone was there or if T-Bone himself was, unbeknownst to himself, about to become a threat to her. I mean, we don't know what T-Bone's thinking or whether he's even in control or not.
Damn. At this point I'm glad he's abandoned Dahlia. She's safer this way.
So anyway, T-Bone refused to rejoin us, preferring to stay in the Imperial City and try to track down whatever was threatening Natalia. Charles teleported Elisa in to back him up, and they spent the next few hours searching the area, but didn't find anything.
Meanwhile, the rest of us rested awhile in Charles' sanctum before heading to mortal Beijing to meet with Da Li. We had a wonderful dinner. Da Li is charmingly cynical and catty now that she's back to normal. I suppose many would find her a bit off-putting, but I'm intrigued. We chatted about the current situation in Tien, like the fact that the chaos has given Pipa Jing more power (which is pretty scary). Da Li's also worried about her mom, Da Ji. The bureaucracy needs Da Ji, or so she thinks, but they tend to alienate her. It's a tough situation…
After dinner we went to visit the Brain-Devouring Princess. She was a pale, beautiful Chinese woman with red eyes, and her palatial estate was full of Jiang Shi and Qing Shi. Many of the latter stood dormant throughout the halls, the paper charms that animate them hanging over their faces. I thought it was fascinating, but I imagine most mortals would have thought it utterly disconcerting. The Princess was quite civil though, and greeted us politely. I was quite intrigued when she offered both me and Da Li blood for refreshment. I knew why she offered it to me. Most who know of me know I'm shikome and that it equates to being some form of vampire. I mean, I am the patron goddess of vampires, after all. (^_^). But it seems that most don't really know what that entails. Or maybe they do. I DO have a bit of a blood fixation. Adam's is quite tasty…
Ahem. Sorry 'bout that.
So what really caught my attention was the way she offered Da Li blood. Da Li's not a vampire…so what is she. I mean, aside from being a demigod. I have got to find out. I asked her about it after we left, but she was very coy and told me I'd find out eventually. It felt like a bit of a come on to me, so maybe I'll play her game. I admit I'm terribly curious. And why not? Hello! Vampire goddess here! (^_^)
Anyway, I was impressed when Brain-Devouring Princess called me the Seductress of the Sun. That's a pretty potent monicker for the patron goddess of vampires, don't you think? (^_^) I need to add it to my list of titles, though I don't imagine Amaterasu would take kindly to it. Not in public, anyway. I warmed to the the Brain-Devouring Princess fairly quickly after that, so even though she was a bit abrasive with her attitude, I left the meeting confident that I'd charmed her. And Da Li confirmed it when she asked if I charm the socks off everyone I meet. LOL. Of course I do. (^_^)
Anyway, the Brain-Devouring Princess's told us her agenda. It turns out she doesn't want anything to do with the titans, and is trying to distance herself from them. Of course we're all about that, especially Charles and me, who have been working on gaining the trust of Jiang Shi for a few years now. Charles agreed to do what he could to help support her, which of course means keeping the Bureaucracy off her back. She questioned whether he might not end up in trouble for doing so (like Da Li had), but I don't think Charles is worried. He's a god and the son of Guan Yu, which gives him more clout than Da Li ever had. He gave the Princess his word of honor that he would help her.
But there's more. There's a pretty big power vacuum among the Jiang Shi right now since we killed most of the top vamps. Naturally, Brain-Devouring Princess wants to fill that vacuum, so I pledged my support in helping her consolidate her power. The fact is, if she becomes a leader among her people, it'll help my cause too, provided I can earn her loyalty. It's worked out pretty well with Suchette, Fugu-hime, and the Doge.
In return for our assistance, she gave us a hot tip on Hundun's activities. There is apparently a factory on the edge of Beijing run by odd titanspawn who can join and split into larger and smaller beings (Adam was familiar with them and told us more about them, referring to them a "puzzle demons"). The factory is producing some sort of toxic, chaos-infused chemical, which is being shipped out on strange elephant-like creatures. She provided a sample that her agents had managed to acquire, and we were able to take it with us when we bid the Princess good night and returned to Charles' Sanctum. T-Bone and Elisa rejoined us there.
When we arrived back at the Sanctum, we learned from Whitesnake that something weird had happened. Apparently, while we were away, Sera showed up (even though she's staying at Red Mountain now) and was messing around in Charles' office. Whitesnake approached her, and Sera was totally cool with there being a strange woman hanging out in Charles' place. Yeah…right. We're talking about Sera, right? The jealous type? Whitesnake doesn't even know Sera, but it still struck her as odd. So she bit her with a sleep-inducing poison. "Sera" fell asleep, but when Whitesnake turned her back, "Sera" disappeared. We're pretty sure it was really Abigail. And the me on Red Mountain checked in with Sera just to confirm that she hadn't gone anywhere close to Charles' sanctum in the past few days. Sigh. I f**king hate Abigail, and the sooner we can eliminate her from T-Bone's twisted psyche, or whatever the hell is going on, the better.
Anyway, after getting that news, Adam began investigating the chaos stuff more closely. It seems like awful stuff. It smells kinda good, but it glows with a weird yellow glow and somehow reminds me of Pika Don's realm (good riddance to that place). Sonny fed some to a monkey he created from his blood, and the creature grew huge and became partially out of phase. It was freaky. Charles used his Tai Yi to partially reverse the effect, but Sonny still has a hulking monkey servant now. Weird.
The chaos stuff is also flammable, and the smoke has a strange chaos effect. T-Bone inhaled some, and he sort got high on it. And that's what let us piece together the truth about Abigail. At about the time T-Bone zoned out, Adam was contacted by his floating city's computer network. Abigail was there, and somehow she tripped the alarm systems and was attacked by the city's defenses before she escaped.
My suspicions were all but confirmed then. I wish they weren't, but I really don't see any other explanation. Abigail screwed up when T-Bone got high. That means that Abigail IS T-Bone. I don't know how. Maybe he's co-locating a split personality or something. But either way, it sucks, and it makes me want to cry because one of my dearest friends is either so insane that he's created a callous, power-hungry alter ego, or Abigail isn't an alter ego at all, and T-Bone has been manipulating us all this time. I can't believe the latter is true, so I have to cling to former.
This also means that the chaos stuff affects people on the level of their soul, not just their bodies, and that's super scary.
Anyway, as soon as I realized what it all must mean, I glanced at Adam and the look in his eyes told me he got it too. So I immediately began singing a soothing song to place T-Bone into a deep sleep. Once he was out, I asked Pierre to absorb him using Cheval. T-Bone couldn't resist because he was unconscious, and this way he's out of action and can't do any harm. I don't know if Abigail is out and about right now, but if she isn't, then she should be trapped in there too.
Gods…what are we going to do about this? We need to contact some people who know a hell of a lot more than I do about these things, like Tsukiyomi.