Jacob's Journal entry 70-75
Still catching up on Jacob's Journal, but here's the full journal for the "Ghost Riders In the Sky" storyline. Only three more entries needed to be all caught up. If I'm lucky that'll happen by the next gaming session next week.
I was working on one of my more enjoyable projects when one of Hel's servants informed me that one of my mother's handmaidens was in the Great Hall. Normally when we received guests I took the time to make sure I was presentable before going to greet them. Considering the bad blood between Mother and Hel I didn't bother this time. I have more than enough time on my hands so I'd taken up woodworking just to give me a little something to do when Hel was occupied and I was at loose ends. My latest project was a crib for the baby which should be born within the month. As I hurried to the Great Hall I was still brushing saw dust out of my hair and hoping whichever handmaiden was there wouldn't be offended by my ratty appearance.
It felt like the temperature in the Hall was twenty degrees colder than the rest of the palace. Hel had her blood fountains going but they stopped the moment I entered. She knows I hate that. Ganglati, one of Hel's minions, was taking his sweet time bringing a glass of wine to the handmaiden. When she turned in my direction I saw it was Syn and immediately smiled, welcoming her. Syn didn't come here often, but occasionally she came with Adam and their son. We talked for a little while, long enough for Syn to enjoy the wine Ganglati finally brought to her, then she told me that Mother wanted to see me and the rest of the band in Fensalir within five days. There's a mission of some importance and Mother apparently thought we would be the best ones for the job. I contacted the others and we met in Asgard. In order to reach Mother's home you have to navigate through the marshland. The boats actually seem to pilot themselves so there was little to do other than talk with the others until we arrived. Hrimsa and Hel went with me as it would give Hrimsa the opportunity to see her grandmother and well Hel still wasn't willing to leave our girl alone with her.
Mother was as warm and welcoming as always. She praised us for our last mission and thanked Cesar for bringing us all back together. With the kind words out of the way she quickly got down to business and told us what she needed from us. The titan of time, Zeveran usually hassles the Yazata (Persian pantheon) through his avatar Ahriman. But recently Zeveran found shallowings in Arizona that allow people to step through from the present to the past, 1898 to be exact. The suspicion was Surtr was to blame for the shallowings as a group of giants went through to loosen Jörmungandr's bindings and make it easier to bring about Ragnarok. Since then Tzizimimi and Deez (again, they mostly hassle the Persians) have been sighted in the area as well. Basically those that can monkey with time are involved and that can't be a good thing. While stopping the giants should be a priority, stopping the Time minions was more important.
The initial intel for the mission came from a small but growing in legend band of heroes that were in the area and discovered the shallowings. Mother wanted us to meet up with them and get more information from them before we travel through the shallowings and put a stop to Zeveran & Surtr's plans. The shallowings were on the outskirts of Planterstown, Arizona - home of...very little. In fact the only thing that is of any interest in the place is the fact the town was the site of a meteor shower in 1898 and another shower was predicted in the next couple of days.
In order to show her support for the mission (and just to be kind, something I try to encourage whenever I can), Hel offered the use of her undead horses. They could carry us with ease, fly when needed, and had a powerful illusion that would allow them to appear as regular, every day, living horses as well. We spent a day or two training with the horses just to make sure everyone would be able to handle them properly then set out for Arizona.
I said my goodbyes to Hel and Hrimsa then traveled with the rest of the band to Planterstown. We knew we'd have to watch ourselves and our power usage carefully in order to make sure we didn't call attention to ourselves and potentially fatebind any of the townspeople to us. We were also warned that some of our gifts wouldn't work in the past (for me that's my magic and gift of prophecy - not a huge issue considering how little I use both). Another thing we had to consider was the fact that anything we took with us to the past needed to be something that could be found in there. Laptops and cell phones were out - not to mention Cesar's Desert Eagle. I figured my cutlass would be safe, but my armor and hammer...questionable. We all made sure to gather clothing that would allow us to blend in once we made it to the past then went to see the gods' new band of heroes.
Meeting that band cemented the belief that we weren't your ordinary gods. We didn't loom over them or make ourselves out to be any more special than any one else. None of us were really interested in awing them, we just wanted information. Going to them as genially as possible worked well for us. I believe we showed that we were approachable and willing to listen unlike some of the gods we've met in the past. The band's roster includes a scion of Hephestus named Ike (short for Icarus), Athena's daughter Minerva (who apparently goes by the name Tina?), Hades' daughter Mercedes, Miclantecuhtli 's son Manny, Ares' son Ajax, a scion of Thor called Billy Ray (I'm not sure if he's all there - wearing Nemian animal skulls for hats is just odd), and a daughter of Agwea named Devon.
Manny's apparently the most observant one - he was the one to find the shallowings at least. There's three shallowings in the area, all in indentions in the ground or in caves. They're just about big enough for one person to go through at a time. However, Ajax has been monitoring the shallowings so we knew the last time the giants went through.
Before heading into the shallowings we took some time to learn about the town and the time period we would be visiting. The main point of interest was a bank robbery that occurred during the meteor shower. There was only one famous individual in the town during that time frame and he happened to be the bank robber, John Slate. Since local historians knew who he was, Helena instructed Cesar that he was not to be killed as it could potentially alter the present. Only one casualty during the robbery, a bank teller named Petunia Davis. She was a little person and sadly considered to be no great loss to the town, her name a mere footnote in history. This fact disturbed Storm so he vowed to save her somehow. We pointed out that we couldn't alter history so he started devising a plan to save her at the exact moment of her death and bring her to the present. I didn't know how well it would work, but as Storm is the God of Champions and tends to pick up causes occasionally I figured he deserved my support.
Through our research we also learned that Planterstown wasn't what Storm called a “Sundown” town. History was of interest to me, but it's probably no surprise that I'd never paid a great deal to race relations throughout history past the big events like the Civil Rights movement. Storm explained that a Sundown town was an all white town that would drive out minorities. I managed to hide my disgust at the very concept, but I couldn't hide the amusement and satisfaction I had when Sam declared that Storm's cover for this mission would be as the black sheriff of the fine town of Rock Ridge. Yes, he's watched far too many Mel Brooks movies, but a certain amount of mortal respect would be expected for a law man no matter what his skin tone. Sam planned to blend in to the crowd as soon as we hit the town limits while Cesar decided no one needed to know why he was there. Once he changed clothes he looked like a Mexican bandito - I doubted anyone would want to ask exactly what his purpose in town was, they would be too concerned he might shoot them. Since we would be talking with the townspeople I knew I needed a cover as well so I claimed to be a cattle rancher looking to move my operation into the area based on the prosperous river trade routes. Carina and Helena didn't mention what they planned to say for their purpose of traveling with us but if push came to shove I would claim them both as my sisters and that would be the end of it. No reason to go into the fact Helena was my step-daughter after all. That was just too weird anyway. With our stories straight and our costumes on we headed for the shallowings.
We stepped through the shallowings and started looking around the area for differences in terrain, or anything else that might point us in the direction of the Muspel giants before heading towards the town. We didn't find any giants but instead came across eight Nemian Cougars. Barely in 1898 for ten minutes and my shirt was in tatters from a cougar's claws. I've grown to rely on the soulsteel armor Hel gifted me and in the past I couldn't risk summoning it. My stamina is greater than most but even with my innate resilience that hurt! Taking out my frustration on all the cougars I infected them with rabies as my band mates continued to prove their prowess in battle. When it was over however we were not unscathed. Carina and I had to heal Storm but I chose to allow my own wounds to heal on their own.
Before we headed into town I expended a small amount of legend to make my looks a little less attention-getting. While being attractive could help us extract information I didn't need every person attracted to men watching my every move while we were there. As we rode into town it wasn't surprising to see the townspeople watch our approach. We were strangers, and a fairly unique group of strangers at that. Other than polite smiles and nods of acknowledgment when random people caught my eye we didn't stop until we reached the local haberdashery. Before heading inside the shop we all took notice of two wagons set up near the entrance of town for Sweet Rock Mining - a company that wasn't mentioned in any of our research.
Storm and I were able to get fresh clothes and we got a bit of information about the town from the shop owner. Sweet Rock Mining was a new operation owned by a large man named Howard Finley. He claimed the mountains near Planterstown could support a coal mining operation - as we knew that was a bogus claim we had a good idea Mr. Finley was one of our giants. After talking with the shop keeper a little longer we split up. Sam chose to wander while Carina and Helena went to the General Store. Cesar and Storm took the Saloon and I set out to speak to the local trader, Summit Sam. The more information we had about this place the better.
To keep up the charade, I planned to speak to Summit Sam about finding some viable property to purchase in the area. When I entered his trading post there were two heavily armed men guarding a younger man and woman. The woman was covered from head to toe with only her eyes showing while the young man seemed to have a cougar theme going with his clothes. As they left I tipped my hat to the woman as was only polite, she gave me a look that held quite a bit of interest and I filed that tidbit away in case I needed to use her interest later. That sounds bad I know, but as Summit Sam confirmed when they were gone the woman was Anna Finley, wife of Robert, who runs Sweet Rock Mining while his father Howard is up at the mine. Robert and Anna didn’t look like giants to me, but we knew others were involved in this plot so I figured we might need to occupy them at some point. I generally don’t jump to conclusions about people’s loyalty, but there was something suspicious about those two. We would have to at least question them if not completely disable their operation here. Distracting Anna so she couldn’t assist Robert when we take them down could be beneficial. It wasn’t my first choice, but it was good to be prepared.
Summit Sam was a friendly guy, huge, but friendly. He told me about a couple of properties and offered to take me and my companions out to both properties, but I declined his offer. We needed to explore the area, find a sort of base of operations and be free to speak amongst ourselves freely, something we wouldn’t be able to do if Sam came along. I surveyed the maps Sam had and took note of the properties’ locations - one was close to the shallowings, and checked out the location of Finely’s mine as well.
When I asked Sam about the mining operation he told me that originally Finley came through with a group of large, fairly disreputable men. They gathered supplies and moved on to the mine, not long after that Robert and his wife came into town and started discussing employment with the locals. After meeting up with Cesar, Storm, and the girls, Cesar confirmed Sam’s story. He and Storm played poker with a few guys in the saloon and learned the locals were hired for security. They also learned that Robert had an affinity for cougars and hunting. When our Sam joined us we rode out of town towards one of the properties, still debating what information we had so far. We’d planned to also try to connect with the Comanche that were in the area. The townspeople were nervous as they said the Comanche’s presence in the area was starting to encroach on the town somewhat. It didn’t fit what we’d read in the local history so we knew we needed to do some investigating there.
Helena warned us of a time anomaly just before seven Hounds of Tindalos appeared. We’ve fought these beasts before, it’s important to time your attack just right since they can phase out of time, but we managed to take them down. Not before Storm, Helena and myself were hit. Storm and I managed to shrug off the attack but Helena was injured. She’s grown decidedly tougher since our elevation to godhood, so the damage meant little other than giving Cesar more reason to decimate the Hounds where they stood. Storm loaded one of the Hound corpses onto his horse to give to the Comanche when we found them.
It didn’t take very long to find them. As we rounded a bend we pulled to a stop as we were faced with a line of Comanche on horseback stretched along the top of the hill in both directions. They wanted to look fierce and intimidating. Had we been ordinary mortals I’m sure they would’ve been. From an anthropological standpoint they were fascinating, but that’s never been my field of expertise so it was only a mild interest for me. As we rode forward one rider broke ranks and rode to meet us. The rider addressed us in Comanche which wasn’t a language any of us understood until then. Helena and Carina picked it up immediately, but Cesar responded to the man in Spanish, which the rider understood, and he took the lead in the conversation. The rider was a medicine man and recognized that we weren’t your average ranchers. He referred to us as “Spirits” and his tone held a hint of respect though he wasn’t exactly welcoming us with open arms. I didn’t blame him for that caution. The medicine man told us the Mine was on cursed land where an evil rested below the ground and none should disturb it. Not that we needed the confirmation but the information cemented that the mine was the site of Jörmungandr’s prison in my mind. He also told us about “The Herald” and that this herald was the reason there were so many Nemean Cougars in the area. Storm gave the medicine man the Hound corpse and he rode back to his people. After a few moments they turned their horses and rode away.
It was clear that Howard Finley was a giant and his original group probably were as well, but Robert was another matter. He wasn’t big enough to be a giant, sure there could be an illusion in place, but it just didn’t fit. Especially when you took into account his affinity with cougars. We hypothesized that he was actually a Deev and so were his close followers. Given what we knew about his wife, Anna, Helena suggested she was actually a Druj - a sort of anti-nymph associated with the negative aspects of the elements. Helena also pointed out that if we were to defeat a Deev or a Druj then their moral code would require them to become servants to their opponent, but only through specific contract limits.
It was decided that we’d head back to town and deal with Robert and his wife so there wouldn’t be a risk of more cougars and to make sure we wouldn’t face a two prong attack when we went to the mine. Carina decided rather than heading back to town she’d go to the mine and scout the situation so we’d be able to plan out a better game plan.
As we rode back into town we worked out a plan. Cesar would stun everyone within eyeshot to allow us a chance to disable the Druj and Deev. We knew there would be some humans involved since Finely’d hired some of them, but Helena was in charge of determining which were which. Sam would make sure after it was all over none of the townspeople that might witness the attack would exactly remember it. The plan worked perfectly and soon we were riding out of town with our captives. Sam made the townspeople believe Robert and his men attacked us and Storm arrested him in his role as Sheriff. Once we were out of town we set the terms of our service contracts. It was the best way to keep them out of our way as well as gain some added protection. Storm and Cesar each defeated the majority of them, but I’d managed to take down one myself. While Storm send his to James and the island in Triploy, Cesar planned to use his for security in Xibalba I believe.
After learning his name (it’s Amir) I charged him with protecting Hrimsa and her virtue with his life until I chose her husband, at which time he’d be freed or allowed to stay on with an oath of loyalty. It’s a very archaic deal and one I’d probably be beaten for if Mom ever finds out, but it seemed like the best solution to me. That way my girl would have a little more freedom, and time, before she was thrust into what would be a very adult situation. We took the Deevs back to the present and sent them to their various charges. I called Hel and let her know to expect Amir. When we returned to the past we were met by Zevran’s avatar Ahriman. He comes across as a very nice guy, and his suggestions to return to the present and leave the Muspels to rot in the past seemed extremely reasonable which made me suspicious. He told us how their presence, and our own, allowed him to make changes to the past, but without any of us none of the chaos he wanted to inflict would stick. He mentioned that he’d destroyed London several times already and it never stuck.
Knowing what we knew about him - I knew I was no good at trying to talk us out of this situation. Ahriman could talk circles around me, that simply wasn’t where my talents lie. Storm and Sam might’ve had a chance but the guy was so darn likable they were limited there as well. Cesar was really warming up to Ahriman’s ideas even though Helena told all of us telepathically not to talk to him. Ahriman offered to let Cesar destroy Spain so he was having a hard time seeing the downside to his very rational plan. Luckily Storm called upon the winds to silence the area around us and we rode off before Cesar could agree. We went back through the shallowings and waited for Carina to join us and share what she’d learned at the mine.
When Carina returned from her scouting trip she had a lot of good information for us. The mine was actually about 90 feet down a deep canyon while thralls patrolled the top of the canyon armed with rifles. There were only ten giants there a male and a female frost giant, and eight fire giants. They had a Flame Eagle with them as well but all in all they were nothing we couldn’t handle. Reluctantly Carina also told us that Hrimsa was a point of conversation, sometimes crude conversation due to her growing beauty. Cesar offered to shoot several of the offenders in the balls and think it made his day when I readily accepted the offer. I really hate Muspel giants.
Carina also saw a machine the frost giants were working with so Helena was able to work out exactly what it was, a specialized seismograph. It must have helped them pinpoint the exact location of Jörmungandr. When we returned to the past Carina quickly ran into town and placed a Vigil Brand on Petunia, the young woman Storm wanted to save (ok, I wanted to save her too, but it wasn't the same compulsion for me as it was for him), then came back to meet us so Sam could teleport us directly to the mine. The less we were in the past the better now that Ahriman had shown himself to us.
We appeared at the mine and as I suspected, the fight itself wasn’t a huge issue. Cesar gleefully informed his targets that he was doing as I asked and left them laying in the dirt bleeding out. I can’t say I disapproved of the action that time. We grabbed the seismograph and Storm convinced the female frost giant to come with us rather than killing her when she ran off. Sam teleported us to the shallowings and we went back to the present. The frost giant’s name was Grev and she claimed to be spying on the situation for Utgard Loki. Apparently she was sent to watch and make sure the Muspels didn’t cause too many problems. I wasn’t sure I believed her at first, but several of my band mates can tell when someone is lying or not so when they accepted her story I had to as well. She left to return to Niflhiem and we sat back to while away the hours until the meteor shower when we could make sure the shallowings were completely closed and no major damage occurred.
We had a few hours to kill while we waited for the meteor shower and Petunia's rescue - which Carina would take care of because of her ability to sneak and her speed. Cesar and Helena chose to spend the time away from the rest of us which was probably an excellent call since Sam decided to torment Billy Ray's young Hero band by forcing them into a sing-a-long. We spent the rest of the time sharing stories of our past deeds and theirs. It was actually a fun way to pass the time, but we were all business when Carina announced the Tiztimimi were approaching. In order to save the town from the destruction the star demons could inflict Carina and I raised shields around the town. This gave Storm time to usher the townspeople into a safe location.
With the townspeople safe we jumped on our horses and took off into the sky. If we could stop the Tzitzimime in the sky then there would be less collateral damage for Planterstown to deal with. Below the world started shifting back and forth between the present and the past, destabilizing somewhat due to the time manipulations of Zevran. As we got closer I saw what most of my band...actually, all of my band could see long before me, a herd of what looked like cattle...Nemean flying cattle...I think Storm referred to them as Los Diablos, the Devil's Herd. There were around seventy-five of the fearsome beasts and we had to rework our battle plan quickly. Storm dove straight into the middle of the herd while Sam, Cesar, and Carina duplicated themselves to combat the Tzitzimime. Storm lept off his horse and landed on the head bull's back. He used his considerable strength to turn the beast into a wide U-turn. I would have liked to help him somehow, but I was battling multiple Tzitzimime myself. As I've pointed out before, without my armor I was a bit more vulnerable than I'd been in quite some time. I was nearly killed during that fight, but luckily I was able to mitigate my wounds several times. It was the closest I've ever come to falling in battle so that was more than a little jarring. We fought on through the injuries until the threat was no more. Storm had turned the herd onto itself, taking care of that threat as well. Cesar was quite satisfied with the whole situation and flew off into the sunrise.
During the fight Carina disappeared as Petunia's brand flared. She managed to bring the mortally injured woman into the present and keep her someplace safe so she could rejoin the battle. When the whole thing was over we healed her and offered her the opportunity to alter her appearance and correct any health issues her condition may have caused. All she asked for was to be of average height and properly proportioned. Sam took care of setting up a new identity for her, though I confess I have no idea what she chose to do. I would imagine Storm made her one of his followers but I can't say for certain. Still, it won't surprise me if I run into her again sometime when I visit. With out mission completed I said my goodbyes and made my way back to Oregon. Hel mentioned wanting to spend some time in my home. I'd rather recuperate from my injuries in the comfort of my home rather than the cold desolace of Helheim anyway. Still...Hel living as a mortal woman...this is going to be interesting.
I was working on one of my more enjoyable projects when one of Hel's servants informed me that one of my mother's handmaidens was in the Great Hall. Normally when we received guests I took the time to make sure I was presentable before going to greet them. Considering the bad blood between Mother and Hel I didn't bother this time. I have more than enough time on my hands so I'd taken up woodworking just to give me a little something to do when Hel was occupied and I was at loose ends. My latest project was a crib for the baby which should be born within the month. As I hurried to the Great Hall I was still brushing saw dust out of my hair and hoping whichever handmaiden was there wouldn't be offended by my ratty appearance.
It felt like the temperature in the Hall was twenty degrees colder than the rest of the palace. Hel had her blood fountains going but they stopped the moment I entered. She knows I hate that. Ganglati, one of Hel's minions, was taking his sweet time bringing a glass of wine to the handmaiden. When she turned in my direction I saw it was Syn and immediately smiled, welcoming her. Syn didn't come here often, but occasionally she came with Adam and their son. We talked for a little while, long enough for Syn to enjoy the wine Ganglati finally brought to her, then she told me that Mother wanted to see me and the rest of the band in Fensalir within five days. There's a mission of some importance and Mother apparently thought we would be the best ones for the job. I contacted the others and we met in Asgard. In order to reach Mother's home you have to navigate through the marshland. The boats actually seem to pilot themselves so there was little to do other than talk with the others until we arrived. Hrimsa and Hel went with me as it would give Hrimsa the opportunity to see her grandmother and well Hel still wasn't willing to leave our girl alone with her.
Mother was as warm and welcoming as always. She praised us for our last mission and thanked Cesar for bringing us all back together. With the kind words out of the way she quickly got down to business and told us what she needed from us. The titan of time, Zeveran usually hassles the Yazata (Persian pantheon) through his avatar Ahriman. But recently Zeveran found shallowings in Arizona that allow people to step through from the present to the past, 1898 to be exact. The suspicion was Surtr was to blame for the shallowings as a group of giants went through to loosen Jörmungandr's bindings and make it easier to bring about Ragnarok. Since then Tzizimimi and Deez (again, they mostly hassle the Persians) have been sighted in the area as well. Basically those that can monkey with time are involved and that can't be a good thing. While stopping the giants should be a priority, stopping the Time minions was more important.
The initial intel for the mission came from a small but growing in legend band of heroes that were in the area and discovered the shallowings. Mother wanted us to meet up with them and get more information from them before we travel through the shallowings and put a stop to Zeveran & Surtr's plans. The shallowings were on the outskirts of Planterstown, Arizona - home of...very little. In fact the only thing that is of any interest in the place is the fact the town was the site of a meteor shower in 1898 and another shower was predicted in the next couple of days.
In order to show her support for the mission (and just to be kind, something I try to encourage whenever I can), Hel offered the use of her undead horses. They could carry us with ease, fly when needed, and had a powerful illusion that would allow them to appear as regular, every day, living horses as well. We spent a day or two training with the horses just to make sure everyone would be able to handle them properly then set out for Arizona.
I said my goodbyes to Hel and Hrimsa then traveled with the rest of the band to Planterstown. We knew we'd have to watch ourselves and our power usage carefully in order to make sure we didn't call attention to ourselves and potentially fatebind any of the townspeople to us. We were also warned that some of our gifts wouldn't work in the past (for me that's my magic and gift of prophecy - not a huge issue considering how little I use both). Another thing we had to consider was the fact that anything we took with us to the past needed to be something that could be found in there. Laptops and cell phones were out - not to mention Cesar's Desert Eagle. I figured my cutlass would be safe, but my armor and hammer...questionable. We all made sure to gather clothing that would allow us to blend in once we made it to the past then went to see the gods' new band of heroes.
Meeting that band cemented the belief that we weren't your ordinary gods. We didn't loom over them or make ourselves out to be any more special than any one else. None of us were really interested in awing them, we just wanted information. Going to them as genially as possible worked well for us. I believe we showed that we were approachable and willing to listen unlike some of the gods we've met in the past. The band's roster includes a scion of Hephestus named Ike (short for Icarus), Athena's daughter Minerva (who apparently goes by the name Tina?), Hades' daughter Mercedes, Miclantecuhtli 's son Manny, Ares' son Ajax, a scion of Thor called Billy Ray (I'm not sure if he's all there - wearing Nemian animal skulls for hats is just odd), and a daughter of Agwea named Devon.
Manny's apparently the most observant one - he was the one to find the shallowings at least. There's three shallowings in the area, all in indentions in the ground or in caves. They're just about big enough for one person to go through at a time. However, Ajax has been monitoring the shallowings so we knew the last time the giants went through.
Before heading into the shallowings we took some time to learn about the town and the time period we would be visiting. The main point of interest was a bank robbery that occurred during the meteor shower. There was only one famous individual in the town during that time frame and he happened to be the bank robber, John Slate. Since local historians knew who he was, Helena instructed Cesar that he was not to be killed as it could potentially alter the present. Only one casualty during the robbery, a bank teller named Petunia Davis. She was a little person and sadly considered to be no great loss to the town, her name a mere footnote in history. This fact disturbed Storm so he vowed to save her somehow. We pointed out that we couldn't alter history so he started devising a plan to save her at the exact moment of her death and bring her to the present. I didn't know how well it would work, but as Storm is the God of Champions and tends to pick up causes occasionally I figured he deserved my support.
Through our research we also learned that Planterstown wasn't what Storm called a “Sundown” town. History was of interest to me, but it's probably no surprise that I'd never paid a great deal to race relations throughout history past the big events like the Civil Rights movement. Storm explained that a Sundown town was an all white town that would drive out minorities. I managed to hide my disgust at the very concept, but I couldn't hide the amusement and satisfaction I had when Sam declared that Storm's cover for this mission would be as the black sheriff of the fine town of Rock Ridge. Yes, he's watched far too many Mel Brooks movies, but a certain amount of mortal respect would be expected for a law man no matter what his skin tone. Sam planned to blend in to the crowd as soon as we hit the town limits while Cesar decided no one needed to know why he was there. Once he changed clothes he looked like a Mexican bandito - I doubted anyone would want to ask exactly what his purpose in town was, they would be too concerned he might shoot them. Since we would be talking with the townspeople I knew I needed a cover as well so I claimed to be a cattle rancher looking to move my operation into the area based on the prosperous river trade routes. Carina and Helena didn't mention what they planned to say for their purpose of traveling with us but if push came to shove I would claim them both as my sisters and that would be the end of it. No reason to go into the fact Helena was my step-daughter after all. That was just too weird anyway. With our stories straight and our costumes on we headed for the shallowings.
We stepped through the shallowings and started looking around the area for differences in terrain, or anything else that might point us in the direction of the Muspel giants before heading towards the town. We didn't find any giants but instead came across eight Nemian Cougars. Barely in 1898 for ten minutes and my shirt was in tatters from a cougar's claws. I've grown to rely on the soulsteel armor Hel gifted me and in the past I couldn't risk summoning it. My stamina is greater than most but even with my innate resilience that hurt! Taking out my frustration on all the cougars I infected them with rabies as my band mates continued to prove their prowess in battle. When it was over however we were not unscathed. Carina and I had to heal Storm but I chose to allow my own wounds to heal on their own.
Before we headed into town I expended a small amount of legend to make my looks a little less attention-getting. While being attractive could help us extract information I didn't need every person attracted to men watching my every move while we were there. As we rode into town it wasn't surprising to see the townspeople watch our approach. We were strangers, and a fairly unique group of strangers at that. Other than polite smiles and nods of acknowledgment when random people caught my eye we didn't stop until we reached the local haberdashery. Before heading inside the shop we all took notice of two wagons set up near the entrance of town for Sweet Rock Mining - a company that wasn't mentioned in any of our research.
Storm and I were able to get fresh clothes and we got a bit of information about the town from the shop owner. Sweet Rock Mining was a new operation owned by a large man named Howard Finley. He claimed the mountains near Planterstown could support a coal mining operation - as we knew that was a bogus claim we had a good idea Mr. Finley was one of our giants. After talking with the shop keeper a little longer we split up. Sam chose to wander while Carina and Helena went to the General Store. Cesar and Storm took the Saloon and I set out to speak to the local trader, Summit Sam. The more information we had about this place the better.
To keep up the charade, I planned to speak to Summit Sam about finding some viable property to purchase in the area. When I entered his trading post there were two heavily armed men guarding a younger man and woman. The woman was covered from head to toe with only her eyes showing while the young man seemed to have a cougar theme going with his clothes. As they left I tipped my hat to the woman as was only polite, she gave me a look that held quite a bit of interest and I filed that tidbit away in case I needed to use her interest later. That sounds bad I know, but as Summit Sam confirmed when they were gone the woman was Anna Finley, wife of Robert, who runs Sweet Rock Mining while his father Howard is up at the mine. Robert and Anna didn’t look like giants to me, but we knew others were involved in this plot so I figured we might need to occupy them at some point. I generally don’t jump to conclusions about people’s loyalty, but there was something suspicious about those two. We would have to at least question them if not completely disable their operation here. Distracting Anna so she couldn’t assist Robert when we take them down could be beneficial. It wasn’t my first choice, but it was good to be prepared.
Summit Sam was a friendly guy, huge, but friendly. He told me about a couple of properties and offered to take me and my companions out to both properties, but I declined his offer. We needed to explore the area, find a sort of base of operations and be free to speak amongst ourselves freely, something we wouldn’t be able to do if Sam came along. I surveyed the maps Sam had and took note of the properties’ locations - one was close to the shallowings, and checked out the location of Finely’s mine as well.
When I asked Sam about the mining operation he told me that originally Finley came through with a group of large, fairly disreputable men. They gathered supplies and moved on to the mine, not long after that Robert and his wife came into town and started discussing employment with the locals. After meeting up with Cesar, Storm, and the girls, Cesar confirmed Sam’s story. He and Storm played poker with a few guys in the saloon and learned the locals were hired for security. They also learned that Robert had an affinity for cougars and hunting. When our Sam joined us we rode out of town towards one of the properties, still debating what information we had so far. We’d planned to also try to connect with the Comanche that were in the area. The townspeople were nervous as they said the Comanche’s presence in the area was starting to encroach on the town somewhat. It didn’t fit what we’d read in the local history so we knew we needed to do some investigating there.
Helena warned us of a time anomaly just before seven Hounds of Tindalos appeared. We’ve fought these beasts before, it’s important to time your attack just right since they can phase out of time, but we managed to take them down. Not before Storm, Helena and myself were hit. Storm and I managed to shrug off the attack but Helena was injured. She’s grown decidedly tougher since our elevation to godhood, so the damage meant little other than giving Cesar more reason to decimate the Hounds where they stood. Storm loaded one of the Hound corpses onto his horse to give to the Comanche when we found them.
It didn’t take very long to find them. As we rounded a bend we pulled to a stop as we were faced with a line of Comanche on horseback stretched along the top of the hill in both directions. They wanted to look fierce and intimidating. Had we been ordinary mortals I’m sure they would’ve been. From an anthropological standpoint they were fascinating, but that’s never been my field of expertise so it was only a mild interest for me. As we rode forward one rider broke ranks and rode to meet us. The rider addressed us in Comanche which wasn’t a language any of us understood until then. Helena and Carina picked it up immediately, but Cesar responded to the man in Spanish, which the rider understood, and he took the lead in the conversation. The rider was a medicine man and recognized that we weren’t your average ranchers. He referred to us as “Spirits” and his tone held a hint of respect though he wasn’t exactly welcoming us with open arms. I didn’t blame him for that caution. The medicine man told us the Mine was on cursed land where an evil rested below the ground and none should disturb it. Not that we needed the confirmation but the information cemented that the mine was the site of Jörmungandr’s prison in my mind. He also told us about “The Herald” and that this herald was the reason there were so many Nemean Cougars in the area. Storm gave the medicine man the Hound corpse and he rode back to his people. After a few moments they turned their horses and rode away.
It was clear that Howard Finley was a giant and his original group probably were as well, but Robert was another matter. He wasn’t big enough to be a giant, sure there could be an illusion in place, but it just didn’t fit. Especially when you took into account his affinity with cougars. We hypothesized that he was actually a Deev and so were his close followers. Given what we knew about his wife, Anna, Helena suggested she was actually a Druj - a sort of anti-nymph associated with the negative aspects of the elements. Helena also pointed out that if we were to defeat a Deev or a Druj then their moral code would require them to become servants to their opponent, but only through specific contract limits.
It was decided that we’d head back to town and deal with Robert and his wife so there wouldn’t be a risk of more cougars and to make sure we wouldn’t face a two prong attack when we went to the mine. Carina decided rather than heading back to town she’d go to the mine and scout the situation so we’d be able to plan out a better game plan.
As we rode back into town we worked out a plan. Cesar would stun everyone within eyeshot to allow us a chance to disable the Druj and Deev. We knew there would be some humans involved since Finely’d hired some of them, but Helena was in charge of determining which were which. Sam would make sure after it was all over none of the townspeople that might witness the attack would exactly remember it. The plan worked perfectly and soon we were riding out of town with our captives. Sam made the townspeople believe Robert and his men attacked us and Storm arrested him in his role as Sheriff. Once we were out of town we set the terms of our service contracts. It was the best way to keep them out of our way as well as gain some added protection. Storm and Cesar each defeated the majority of them, but I’d managed to take down one myself. While Storm send his to James and the island in Triploy, Cesar planned to use his for security in Xibalba I believe.
After learning his name (it’s Amir) I charged him with protecting Hrimsa and her virtue with his life until I chose her husband, at which time he’d be freed or allowed to stay on with an oath of loyalty. It’s a very archaic deal and one I’d probably be beaten for if Mom ever finds out, but it seemed like the best solution to me. That way my girl would have a little more freedom, and time, before she was thrust into what would be a very adult situation. We took the Deevs back to the present and sent them to their various charges. I called Hel and let her know to expect Amir. When we returned to the past we were met by Zevran’s avatar Ahriman. He comes across as a very nice guy, and his suggestions to return to the present and leave the Muspels to rot in the past seemed extremely reasonable which made me suspicious. He told us how their presence, and our own, allowed him to make changes to the past, but without any of us none of the chaos he wanted to inflict would stick. He mentioned that he’d destroyed London several times already and it never stuck.
Knowing what we knew about him - I knew I was no good at trying to talk us out of this situation. Ahriman could talk circles around me, that simply wasn’t where my talents lie. Storm and Sam might’ve had a chance but the guy was so darn likable they were limited there as well. Cesar was really warming up to Ahriman’s ideas even though Helena told all of us telepathically not to talk to him. Ahriman offered to let Cesar destroy Spain so he was having a hard time seeing the downside to his very rational plan. Luckily Storm called upon the winds to silence the area around us and we rode off before Cesar could agree. We went back through the shallowings and waited for Carina to join us and share what she’d learned at the mine.
When Carina returned from her scouting trip she had a lot of good information for us. The mine was actually about 90 feet down a deep canyon while thralls patrolled the top of the canyon armed with rifles. There were only ten giants there a male and a female frost giant, and eight fire giants. They had a Flame Eagle with them as well but all in all they were nothing we couldn’t handle. Reluctantly Carina also told us that Hrimsa was a point of conversation, sometimes crude conversation due to her growing beauty. Cesar offered to shoot several of the offenders in the balls and think it made his day when I readily accepted the offer. I really hate Muspel giants.
Carina also saw a machine the frost giants were working with so Helena was able to work out exactly what it was, a specialized seismograph. It must have helped them pinpoint the exact location of Jörmungandr. When we returned to the past Carina quickly ran into town and placed a Vigil Brand on Petunia, the young woman Storm wanted to save (ok, I wanted to save her too, but it wasn't the same compulsion for me as it was for him), then came back to meet us so Sam could teleport us directly to the mine. The less we were in the past the better now that Ahriman had shown himself to us.
We appeared at the mine and as I suspected, the fight itself wasn’t a huge issue. Cesar gleefully informed his targets that he was doing as I asked and left them laying in the dirt bleeding out. I can’t say I disapproved of the action that time. We grabbed the seismograph and Storm convinced the female frost giant to come with us rather than killing her when she ran off. Sam teleported us to the shallowings and we went back to the present. The frost giant’s name was Grev and she claimed to be spying on the situation for Utgard Loki. Apparently she was sent to watch and make sure the Muspels didn’t cause too many problems. I wasn’t sure I believed her at first, but several of my band mates can tell when someone is lying or not so when they accepted her story I had to as well. She left to return to Niflhiem and we sat back to while away the hours until the meteor shower when we could make sure the shallowings were completely closed and no major damage occurred.
We had a few hours to kill while we waited for the meteor shower and Petunia's rescue - which Carina would take care of because of her ability to sneak and her speed. Cesar and Helena chose to spend the time away from the rest of us which was probably an excellent call since Sam decided to torment Billy Ray's young Hero band by forcing them into a sing-a-long. We spent the rest of the time sharing stories of our past deeds and theirs. It was actually a fun way to pass the time, but we were all business when Carina announced the Tiztimimi were approaching. In order to save the town from the destruction the star demons could inflict Carina and I raised shields around the town. This gave Storm time to usher the townspeople into a safe location.
With the townspeople safe we jumped on our horses and took off into the sky. If we could stop the Tzitzimime in the sky then there would be less collateral damage for Planterstown to deal with. Below the world started shifting back and forth between the present and the past, destabilizing somewhat due to the time manipulations of Zevran. As we got closer I saw what most of my band...actually, all of my band could see long before me, a herd of what looked like cattle...Nemean flying cattle...I think Storm referred to them as Los Diablos, the Devil's Herd. There were around seventy-five of the fearsome beasts and we had to rework our battle plan quickly. Storm dove straight into the middle of the herd while Sam, Cesar, and Carina duplicated themselves to combat the Tzitzimime. Storm lept off his horse and landed on the head bull's back. He used his considerable strength to turn the beast into a wide U-turn. I would have liked to help him somehow, but I was battling multiple Tzitzimime myself. As I've pointed out before, without my armor I was a bit more vulnerable than I'd been in quite some time. I was nearly killed during that fight, but luckily I was able to mitigate my wounds several times. It was the closest I've ever come to falling in battle so that was more than a little jarring. We fought on through the injuries until the threat was no more. Storm had turned the herd onto itself, taking care of that threat as well. Cesar was quite satisfied with the whole situation and flew off into the sunrise.
During the fight Carina disappeared as Petunia's brand flared. She managed to bring the mortally injured woman into the present and keep her someplace safe so she could rejoin the battle. When the whole thing was over we healed her and offered her the opportunity to alter her appearance and correct any health issues her condition may have caused. All she asked for was to be of average height and properly proportioned. Sam took care of setting up a new identity for her, though I confess I have no idea what she chose to do. I would imagine Storm made her one of his followers but I can't say for certain. Still, it won't surprise me if I run into her again sometime when I visit. With out mission completed I said my goodbyes and made my way back to Oregon. Hel mentioned wanting to spend some time in my home. I'd rather recuperate from my injuries in the comfort of my home rather than the cold desolace of Helheim anyway. Still...Hel living as a mortal woman...this is going to be interesting.