Don't do as the Romans

We stopped at an all night cafe so Lexi could get some coffee. I helped myself to a croissant for a snack. Eating hasn't been much of a concern, but I try to make sure I get something now and again. Anyway, a passerby had slipped Lexi an old flip phone (I tried to spot the guy after, but no luck) and we were waiting for the call. No surprise, it was Ares.

We left the cafe with instructions to go to one of the old aqueduct systems and that Artemis had left a trail for us to follow. Specifically, it was mentioned that we had a "moon goddess" with us, so that would let us follow her trail. Kennedy had gone off to go scouting and I was beginning to fret. Not over her safety, but over what was coming.

Once outside the Vatican proper, we'd be in neutral enough territory that we'd have to be on the lookout for Dodekatheon agents following us, which is one part of why Kennedy was out scouting. Lexi ducked us into an alley way and popped out a new trick that let us cover the mile to the aqueducts in a split second.

Once we got there, we set up a bit of security, Andrew laid down a rune of some kind and Hal pulled the clouds down onto the city to mask our activities in fog. Now, we just had to find Artemis' trail. There's only one way she could have left a trail that I alone would be able to follow: Moon Letters. Without knowing where to look and what phase of the moon those letters were written under, I had to become the Full Moon.

I gave everyone instructions to be on the lookout for Kennedy because I knew this would not go well with her lycanthropy. It's exactly what I was starting to worry about ever since Germany as my connection to the Moon kept growing.

I had no sooner become the Full Moon than we were set upon by a couple of very large, very angry looking wolves. One was making a direct run on Andrew and Claire tried to stop it by commanding one to kill the other. In Greek. The order was ignored. They weren't the Dodekatheon agents that were following us. The horribly truth was:

They were Rufus and Kennedy.

When in Rome

Anubis' portal took us to Rome, more specifically, the Vatican. The Elohim and Pesedjet have a long-standing treaty, or something. Though, our arrival was a bit marred as Kennedy didn't appear with us on the other end. Of course, we all got in a fuss about finding her. Lexi did her music thing (though I can't believe she sang "Call me, Maybe") and found out she was okay, so we got calmed down.

We were greeted by Mot and Kothar (who, I admit, I know nothing about. I didn't even fully realize they were gods until Claire got snippy). Speaking of Claire getting snippy, well...

Mot had a few terms to deliver in return for the aid in letting us pass through their territory and letting us meet up with our allies. I held my breath because I know Claire doesn't respond well to demands made of her. She was terse in her response, which is much better than I expected, but Mot made his displeasure with her tone clear.

Claire covered her gaff and the two shook on an agreement that we wouldn't drag the Elohim into the conflict. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they got pulled in anyway, without our presence. I also noticed an interesting peculiarity in the Elohim repeatedly referring to the Dodekatheon by their Roman names. I'm not sure what that's about, but I felt it would have been inappropriate to ask.

We moved on to pick up Kennedy, who'd been deposited in the Basilica Sanctae Mariae de Ara Coeli. That's also when I noticed I could actually feel the coolness of the night air. It was a giddy realization to know that that nightmare was officially over. I've even begun to feel my head clear, like I'm more focused than I've felt in... a long time.

Anyway, enough about me. We found Kennedy and you'll never guess what: Rufus was with her! Yeah, somehow he'd been restored and well... his pleasant demeanor is gone. He's... more shadow and fury, now. No petting allowed. Kennedy told us she'd been pulled from the group by Hera who wanted to know her intentions. If she really wanted to help restore the Dodekatheon or if she was just looking to stir up trouble.

I asked her about that because it was odd that Hera would scoop up Kennedy and not Claire, who's in charge of our little insurrection. Kennedy told me it had something to do with the complex history between her family and Hera. That's a story I plan to pull from her eventually.

All that's left is to meet up with Artemis and Ares, then we have to establish a base of opperations.

Renewal

Well. That was...

I ran back to my post and shouted for Kennedy to shoot the big snake. It had snared Hal in it's gaze, threatening to make us leave him behind in retaliation for the hurt Hal put on it. But Hal and Andrew told Kennedy to shoot HIM instead, to break the hold. Ballsy, but he nearly lost his leg for that move. At least it worked and he got back on the boat.

In the mess the canopic gods needed to hold on to more power to keep the spells going. Claire was away from her post at the wheel and Lexi scrambled for her sax. I wasn't expecting it and oh god did it hurt. I haven't felt pain like that since the Sun Temple. I held it together, though and we made it through the maze.

Some hard turn later and we were before the scales of Ma'at. Our little godling charges put their hearts, contained in canopic jars, on the scale. Each one passed and came back stronger. It felt good to see them progress and make this trip worthwhile. Then it came to be our turn. All we had to do was step on the scale and be weighed.

Andrew, as expected, didn't even wobble.

Hal's dipped slightly, but not much.

Lexi got her feet wet as the scale dipped down to the water below (and she walked away glowing like her mother).

Claire and Kennedy were dunked up to their chests, but were otherwise fine.

I ended up dropped fully into the water.

I can't describe to you the pain I felt. It was as if my whole being was being seared away to nothingness, crumbling away in that blackness. Then I heard a voice. A voice I can only assume was Ma'at's. She told me that I had a chance to be redeemed. I had to give up a part of myself and let someone else pay the soul tax and I'd be allowed to live. I felt that this was a test and I could give up a bit of myself, but I couldn't let someone die in my place so I could go on, and I refused.

The next thing I realized I was being lifted from the water, laying on the scale. I no longer hurt and I felt so much stronger than I did before, but I was still wracked from what I went through. Hal helped me to the boat and I heard Andrew's voice in my head, telling me he was proud of me.

I feel very different, now. I don't feel the call to battle as strongly as I did before. I no longer feel compelled to strike out at evil in honorable combat. Instead I feel an overwhelming desire to seek balance. Balance in myself and balance in the world around me. Its... oddly comforting. Something else feels different, that darkness that tainted me is no longer there.

Now that we'd all gathered back on the barque, a certain jackal-headed god appeared. He told us our journey through Duat was complete. We had the allegiance of the Pesedjet and that he was proud of our actions, fighting as a group on behalf of another we owed nothing to. The final leg of the journey was Imhotep's to make without us. He spirited us away to the final gate where the battle raged on.

I'll be glad to leave this place behind.

More Giant Snakes

We kept moving along and held our positions. I kept the moonlight going and made sure no one wandered too close to the railing. Though, I found myself wishing for warm beaches and cocktails. Underworlds are so gloomy and depressing. Wow, I think I channeled a bit of Lexi, there.

Anyway, we got attacked by a giant fucking snake. The thing slammed our barque into the high banks of the river and had us lodged there. It then came up out of the opposite bank and made a meal of one of the ghost crew.

And I, like an idiot, leaped to battle and attacked the thing. Oh, I'm sure I did some damage. I know I did, because I felt the impact before it disappeared into the blackness. Landing on the bank... I wasn't expecting the sand to suddenly started sucking the life out of me. Fuck underworlds.

Here's the part where I realized I was an idiot. I looked back to the barque and saw that the god I was supposed to be protecting was being attacked by his own shadow, as was everyone else. Lexi had forced Duamutef's shadow to back down by the time I landed back on the barque (and I actually stumbled getting going. I haven't stumbled doing anything since... before Alaska) and I tried to pull Lexi's shadow away from her, but I couldn't grab the thing.

Andrew had managed to wrench the barque free of the bank and get us going again and he started doing another of his spells. I think he was holding the big snake at bay, though that didn't help with the living shadows on the deck. Those things can do some serious harm to Lexi and Andrew and I feel powerless to help.

Then there's Hal. I heard him shout "Go." Damned fool means to battle the serpent all on his own.

Through the Gates

I really don't like this place. I'm noticing a theme across cultures that the underworld is not a place you want to go. The Aesir at least have a place for honored dead, but even then it's an endless existence of fighting and feasting. No other afterlife that I'm familiar with is a nice, cozy eternity. I just hope I never have to see the Greek underworld as a spirit. Being a guest wouldn't be a fun prospect, either.

Us ladies took our designated positions as guardians of the Gods of the Canopic Jars. Ken was ready with her rifle, Claire her pistol, Lexi's sax and me with my ax. Imhotep laid down on the slab on the boat and Andrew led the ceremony to guide his soul through the gates. We managed to press through them and when I say "press through" that's really how it felt. This place wears on you and I could see it really getting to Hal, how he slumped on the wheel.

Once we reached the fourth gate we were presented with a new problem. We had to make it through a maze, without taking any wrong turns or we'd be screwed. Mercifully we all have ways of seeing through it. Hal tapped the walls to read the layout of the stone, Andrew cast his magical thread to follow the Solar Barque, which had already passed through and Ken's sharp eyes can actually track the water where the barque traveled.

I think we can make it through this, I just worry about what will happen when we reach the scales of Ma'at. Will we all be judged on that scale? I hope not, otherwise we're really in trouble. There's also a lake of fire beyond that.

I hate underworlds.

A Sobering Experience

There's nothing more agonizing than watching your friends struggle against something and being powerless to help. I wanted, very badly, to dive into that river and rescue the others, but I couldn't.

Hal had tossed Andrew back on deck and he told me it was a bad idea. Claire also told me to take her place and provide light. She'd killed her sunlight as soon as the others had gone overboard. I took the light from the Solar Barque and reflected it around, much like the moon does to the sun.

I had to stand there and watch as Hal went after Rufus and Ken struggled to catch him with her shadow control. I thought we'd saved him when they got him on board, but somehow, we only had his soul. Hal dove back in, this time with a line on him and went after Rufus' body.

Ken and I pulled with all our might when Hal gave the signal. We freed the two of them from the water. I thought we'd be able to bring the soul and body together and all would be right. I was wrong. I don't know what Ken saw, but it was over so fast. The body of Rufus attacked Ken and just as Hal restrained it, Ken blew it's head off.

Hal had been pretty shook up in Alaska when the Einherjar had died, but those guys, their whole being is tied to fighting, dying, coming back to life, having a feast, then doing the whole thing again. Death is a mild inconvenience to them. Rufus is gone, his soul preserved by Andrew, sure, but I don't think we'll be getting him back.

I can't help but wonder, how many more loved ones will we lose before this war is over?

Going Overboard

Wandering through the tunnels is kind of blurry in my mind. I remember the tunnels cracking, water streaming in, avoiding snakes in the water. We got out of there into a large antechamber and Imhotep revealed that most of that experience was an illusion. A test. Fair enough, I suppose, but this sort of bait and switch loyalty testing is beginning to wear on me.

In the chamber was Ra and his guardian deities while they blessed the souls about to brave Duat. We stood by and watched the proceedings and as we were about to leave, another god showed up. This one named Khonsu who singled out Andrew. Seems he still had a grudge with Thoth and since he was being supplanted by Andrew, it fell to him to deal with it. Are the gods of every pantheon this petty? I mean, I know the Greeks wrote the book on petty vendettas, but damn.

Khonsu tried to goad Andrew into entering a bet to play some ancient Egyptian game for time. Without his "help" we'd be unable to keep up with the Solar Barque, or so he said. You know, thinking about it, I bet that if we loose track of the Barque, it'll be his fault anyway. Especially with his parting words being that one of the younger Scion souls with us can contact him at any time. He also unleashed some sort of mind-fuckery on Andrew for a perceived slight. Douche.

There was also an opportunity given to us to be anointed in Khebuet's waters and be made more capable of braving the tests of Duat. Well, Kenny and Hal took the plunge, but... I don't really need my divine makeup fucked with any more than it already is. Andrew also got wet out of respect.

We got back on our little barge and made way to follow the Solar Barque. Claire lit herself up, I guess to provide some light to ward off the beasties in the water. However, we got bumped by something big. I staggered into a wall (embarassing) while Hal, Andrew, and Rufus went overboard. First thing I did was fall back on what I was taught to do while sailing, lacking a flotation device I started tying a rope to myself and securing it to the ship. I don't really need it for myself, but I'm not jumping into that black water without some sort of lifeline.

Gate One: Waiting Room of the Dead

We followed the Solar Barque to the First Gate in Duat, this massive stone structure spanning the river. The Barque docked, so we were able to do the same and follow Andrew's invisible thread to Imhotep. We hoped to get him and go so we could stick close to the Barque and not make ourselves a target for what lives in the river.

I noticed Lexi looking uncomfortable. That wouldn't be a thing all on it's own, but Kenny flinched. Andrew picked up on it and let us know how Duat works. Basically, the further down river we go the harder the realm will make it for us to proceed. Its like a test of the soul. Fun.

We met a Goddess in charge of the souls who'd gathered at the gate; Kebauet. She answered a question I'd had about the non-egyptian souls I saw. She prepares the dead so they may start their journey down the river. Which includes the same kind of funerary rites we did to enter Duat. She was pleasant and directed us to Imhotep.

Imhotep himself, well, he was the "too absorbed in his work to care about anything else" sort of genius... I guess. More like he'd stopped giving two-shits about the Pesedjet and what happened to them. So, we all (but mostly Andrew) appealed to his sense of... community? We pleaded with him to help for the sake of the Egyptian people. That worked.

And, you'd think it'd be nice, just once, to accomplish our goal and not have anything go wrong. Nope, "simple" is not in the "Life of a Scion" lexicon. Some serpents, or something started charging through some water filled pipes that connected to the room. The fastest way out is through Kebauet's waters. And we'll come out changed, according to Imhotep. Great, I already feel the tug of Jotunheim in my ichor (though no longer as strong), what will this do to me? I'm not looking forward to it.

I'll have to kiss Lexi to give her the ability to breathe water so she can make the journey. Not an unpleasant prospect, but I'm going to catch so much shit from everyone else....
Bah, they're just jealous.

Another Underworld

We'd all been suspecting it and it turned out to be true. I seem to recall asking someone if we were going to be expected to go to Duat, and I was assured that wasn't the case. Yeah, bullshit.

I'm getting ahead of myself again. We'd made camp near the lake and did some planning as we waited for sunset so we could "enter the tomb" at the appropriate time. As the sun set I split the water of the lake so we didn't have to swim (and I got some surreal mental imagery having to do with opening a wound). The red sunset on the water must have reminded me of Hel's pool of blood in Helheim.

My "parting of the red sea" trick revealed a sunken funeral barge. That's when it all clicked. Everyone boarded the vessel (I overheard some sprites or something shouting at Claire in ancient Egyptian when she tried to command the helm) and our tag-alongs revealed why they were there. Basically, to enter the underworld the Egyptian burial rites had to be performed and our new friends sacrificed for the purpose of guiding us through Duat and, so long as everything went perfectly, they could be let out again.

Kennedy did a great job of commending their sacrifice, which pretty much covered anything I wanted to say. It felt kind of hollow to essentially say "What she said" but there was no way I was going to do better.

We took our places and Hal led the ritual. I think it would have been more appropriate for Andrew to lead, but Hal had the right connection to Death and had his perfect memory to make sure he got everything right. And so, we dropped into Duat.

We entered the great river in the Egyptian underworld. Before us was Ra's solar barge with its godly guardians. I moved to a spot on the deck of our barge so I could defend in any needed direction, though, I suspect the creatures in the river would be more interested in attacking Ra's barge. Though we still had to coax Lexi away from the rails.

You know, that's two trips to the underworld in very recent memory, but at least we're alive. Part of me doubts we'll have the same kind of time dilation down here as, if memory serves, this is the trip the solar barge takes every night, so I figure, if the barge ever overtakes us, that's a good sign for how many "real" days have passed.

Clash of the Titans

Or at least, that's what it made me think of when those big ass scorpions burst out of the ground. Though these things weren't composed of crappy CGI effects. They ambushed us next to a wall of rock that would have had us pinned in. But we weren't mortals.

I gave Diane some of my blood (and spit) to shield her in a portion of my silver armor, but by the time I'd finished doing that and getting us off the horse to do battle, everyone had scurried up the rock face to the top. Hal flew himself, his charge, and his horse up to the top, Claire jumped, Rufus jumped, and Lexi led the rest straight up the cliff, on horseback.

My delay nearly got Diane's leg taken off. I felt really really stupid. Just as I'd scooped her up and leaped up to the top of the cliff, one of the scorpions burst out from under us and left a nasty gash in her leg.

When I reached the top of the cliff, Hal let loose like the stories of lighting throwing storm gods. He threw several bolts of lightning down upon the scorpions, flash-cooking the bastards. Kenny and I would have gotten caught in that too, had we not scooted up to the cliff. Hell, I was a perfectly good lightning rod at the time.

Then some vulture-like harpies (or whatever the hell they were) flew overhead and... couldn't see us. Andrew said he'd pulled on Fate's strings (which didn't sit well with Claire). So, we were able to get into Sudan very easy. No monsters, no human patrols, nothing spotted us.

Diane got healed up by her companions and also got some good natured ribbing as well when Lexi invited her to ride on her horse with her (since ours got snapped below the surface). I consigned myself to traveling on foot. Conversation also turned to what our first adventure was. Yeah, like I need a reminder of that. Any time I know I should be cold is reminder enough.

Before too much longer, we got ourselves to the lake. Finally, a large body of water. Deserts make me uncomfortable.

Riding Through the Desert on a Horse with No Name

Before making my way to Cairo, I made my visit to the Amazon tribes. Things didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but then, they didn't go badly either. I can't say I blame them. I'm asking them to not only march to war on someone else's behalf, but to march against their cultural origin and even their gods. None the less, I managed to improve relations with them.

I've decided a few things about my personal agenda, outside our succession war. Besides my desire to be Brynhildr's wife, I want to nudge Amazon culture towards sustainable numbers, having a wider footprint on world events and be a less... aggressive culture towards it's neighbors. I think I've written about all this before, several times, but now I'm committed to this course of action.

After I departed, I headed to Cairo. I got stopped at customs, of course, but I was expected. I was led into a meeting room where most of the band had already gathered. Once everyone showed up, a badass looking military woman started to lay out the situation. Her name was Kahi and I suspect she's related to Bastet, unless there's some other cat god/ess I'm unaware of. I really don't know much about Egypt.

Anyway, Kahi started to give us the lay of the land and... Claire was back in "cause political incident" mode. I swear, that girl really needs a filter, sometimes. She was in snide snark mode about military readiness and everything, which didn't make me feel very comfortable since Lexi and I would normally have been counted among the enemy.

Lexi managed to smooth things over and Kahi let Claire's trolling slide off her back. I gather, from the Irish girls' attitudes that their trip to Ireland didn't go very well. Hal, surprisingly, pulled off his ambassadorial duties admirably. He secured an alliance with the Yazata who would come to the Pesedjet's aid. I just made sure to mention to keep me away from them, when they show up. Hal assured me I'd be fine, but I don't really trust them to not try to burn me at the stake the instant the alliance expires or is no longer convenient.

Kahi gave us a task to complete, one that, as observed by Claire, let us prove our good intentions and keep us out of the front lines. Though, if this was a simple loyalty test, I doubt it would be so important. We had to cross the border into Sudan to get to Imhotep's Tomb. Us girls will be filling in for four goddesses to enact a ritual to return Imhotep to the land of the living. The hope is that he can help build a defense for Egypt against  Goras.

Yeah, I forgot to mention, Goras/the Dodekatheon somehow struck a deal with a Titan to let their forces circumvent geographical restrictions and pass through the Titan Realm. Yeah, I'm not happy to hear that.

So we set out on horseback to the Sudanese border, with some young Pesedjet Scions with us. I caught Lexi openly flirting with one of the girls. I didn't think she was into that, but she may have been trying to nudge one of the other girls into staking her claim out of jealousy. I was riding with a girl named Diane. She seems nice, and I don't think she swings that way, but I couldn't help but tease her about her hand placement.

We rode out (and I had to get used to riding an animal) towards some mountains and Kennedy spotted large creatures in said mountains. So as we started to get ready to deal with them and give instructions to our proteges, a big friggen claw popped out of the ground and took out one of our pack horses. Great.

Also, if bringing back Imhotep makes him arrive as a walking desiccated corpse, bringing with him the Biblical plagues... I'm gonna hurt something. Or put in a call to Brendan Fraiser.

Plans and a lot of talking

The Valkyrie that I spoke to in Helheim was a woman named Arnhildr. She had some native american decent in her and we had a pleasant conversation. She was basically there to catch the honored dead who fell through the cracks. Kind of a sucky job, really.

We talked about life and the crap we go through. My personal life came up in conversation and she advised me to seek happiness because I wouldn't have much time left to do so. I did some thinking and I've made my choice.

Back to the present. We stood around the park in Oslo and there was a lot of phone calls made. My Amazon mother gave me a good yelling at for worrying her and Indigo. Once we all got to updating our families, we started laying out plans. For once, we didn't argue about who's idea to run with, we just weighed options and made plans. I think I caught Kennedy smiling at the lot of us.

Andrew went to Egypt, since they'd shut their doors in response to Goras trying to repeat the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Hal and Lexi went to Shiraz to secure some sort of Alliance with the Yazata since they're right in Goras' path. I hope there's not too much bad blood over the events with MIST.

Kenny and Claire returned to Ireland to attempt to get some allies from the Tuatha. With any luck we'll have some real power to bring against the Olympians. Man... I can't believe we're doing this... I'm essentially committing treason against my own pantheon... and I didn't even stop to think about that. I haven't had time. Though... they haven't exactly done a lot to earn any loyalty from me.

Anyway, I don't have the pull or clout to do much, but I've been sent to strengthen relations with the Amazons, maybe secure some warriors as well. Maybe I can steer the culture into being world players. Maybe even make a place for them in the world to come after our little apocalypse.

Before that, though, I stopped by MIST to see someone.

I feel I understand Brynhildr's situation much better now. She's guided wholly by Fate, her wants and desires are dictated by it, but it's as much a guiding hand as it is a prison. I was afraid that whoever had a mind to could claim Andvarinaut and make her their wife, but Fate chooses who will find the ring and they'll be a good match for her.

I swore to her that I would find the ring and make her happy. I've decided I'll be dedicating the rest of my life (which may very well be eternity) to Brynhildr.

I just don't know where to start looking. Time to do some research, maybe pick at Andrew's brain. Or Lexi, she's good at couples' counciling.

Dragon Binding: New Olympic Sport

I don't know what the hell happened, but it felt like my soul was pulled from my body then shoved back down my throat. Vayu did something that stunned us all and gave us a chance to get a jump on Kur. I wish that had been the only time I'd ever feel that sensation.

I recovered as quickly as I could and did as I was told "Deal with the critters." So, I did what first came to mind: I froze the pool of blood. I didn't think it would work and it wasn't perfect, but I managed to do it. That let Lexi, of all people, snag a gun from the einherjar and lead the team in shredding the zombies in a hale of gunfire. And it gave Anderew what he needed to glide down from the rooftop and put the first loop in place.

If only things were that easy, a giant bone... golem... thing.. was summoned out of one of the walls and started to make its way at us. Well, me. Kenny took a chunk out of it's shoulder as it tried to take me out with an ax made of bone. Claire pulled some mind trick of her own and convinced the giant to "hug" Kur. The distraction of the big thing hanging onto Kur let the second loop get in place while Kenny and I took some more chunks out of the giant.

Then Kur thrashed about and knocked Andrew out of his skin. I poured on every ounce of speed I could to dash up a pillar and kick off to keep the loose end of Glepnir from being yanked away. I managed to snag it just before it went taught.

Hal had the other end and was playing anchor, but, now that I had the other end and didn't have the ability to fly, he had to complete the third loop. I lost track of what else was going on, I just dug my heels in and pulled for all I was worth to keep Kur from getting loose.

Andrew recovered himself and when the third loop was in place, he flew up and completed whatever ritual was needed, then Kur... disappeared into a pile of black and gold dust. Andrew somehow lost an eye in the ordeal, but he seems to be handling it fine.

Hel rewarded us each with a blessing, I felt myself get stronger. Vayu... could have given us more warning. He yanked our souls out and smacked them back into our bodies again. Not a sensation I'll easily forget. After, I felt my ichor running thicker than ever, like that first time we drank the wendigo's heart's blood way back in Alaska.

We were hosted to a magnificent feast and it felt great. There was even a certain valkyrie in attendance (more on that in a separate entry). After resting and recuperating, we made our way back into the living world. We came out into a park area inside a city. A helpful newspaper gave us a quick update that we were in Oslo, Norway, a conflict between Greece and the EU was escalating (no surprise) and that it was Earth Day... 2015!

An Avatar of Death!?

I knew Kur was going to be a giant friggen dragon. I lept at him, ax ready, boosted by the geas that the Morrigan laid on me. And my ax just... bounced off, like a toy. That... that sort of put things in perspective and set the tone for the fight. I was not expecting, nor aware, that Kur was a Titan Avatar of Death.

Kur summoned a horde of zombies to attack us and so I did the only thing I could: I held the line. Kenny, Claire, Hel and myself held the tide of zombies at bay, as best we could. I overheard Hel and Hal discussing something about a binding and Lexi was working her mojo on Kur to keep him from swallowing Vayu. At least the arrogant prick can fight.

We lost Hel's support briefly while she left to get something and we nearly got overwhelmed. I then slammed my ax into the ground and knocked the pack of zombies into the air. Kennedy then grabbed them with her shadow powers and Claire vaporized them with a beam of sunlight. That was pretty awesome.

As we resumed the fight, I overheard the plan. We had to keep a distraction going for Kur while Hal and Andrew bound him. They're using that ribbon that bound the Fenris Wolf. I wonder if any of us is going to end up playing the part of Tyr, who lost his hand. I know how Fate loves assigning these roles.

Petulant Children

I'm convinced that's all that the Gods are. Just whiny self-entitled children.

So, the trek down the root of Yggdrasil into Nifilheim was no simple walk in the park. Aside from it getting progressively colder (I'm glad for that little bit of Utgard-Loki influence) the path inflicted it's own torments and temptations on us. No one said travelling to the underworld would be a walk in the park.

When we got to Nifilheim, we got to a bridge spanning a massive river with three shields on the ground next to it. Hal said there was supposed to be a guardian and Claire found her corpse under the bridge. She looked like a giant and something very big with big claws tore her to shreds. Hal was able to use his connection to Death to ask her a few questions. We learned she was killed by something called a "Kur" and that we'd come under no harm if we were under Hal's protection and didn't leave the path to Helheim.

So, some vigil branding followed and off we went to Helheim (Claire and I also took a shield for ourselves). The Hall was... large, to say the least, with engravings of Fenris and Jormungadr on the outside. We went inside and, as to be expected, one half of the all was beautiful and pristine, the other half rotten, and decayed. On the far end of the hall, passed a depression filled with blood and wailing souls with serpent's venom dripping on them, was a loud, angry god banging on a door behind Hel's throne.

We crossed the pool of blood (and I had to fight the urge to vomit) and Hal greeted the god as "Father." so, this was Vayu. I really don't like him. He's a chauvanistic brute who clings to the outdated ways of his ancient culture. He's damned charming but... what a brutish jackass.

Anyway, seems the issue at hand is Hal. Vayu and Hel are arguing over Hal and neither side is listening to the others reason. Lexi piped up and started playing couple's councilor. I... wish she was there when Claire and I had our fight. She seemed to make some headway in the discussion, getting Vayu to make an appology, even if it was an arrogant one. Vayu seems to have decided Lexi's going to be his second wife. Ass.

Well, the pleasant conversation couldn't last forever. That kur showed up and litterally tore the roof off the hall. I've dealt with big baddies like this plenty of times already. We'll rip this thing apart and get back to the business at hand.

Dam Removal

It wasn't quite as simple as smashing through stone and dirt. I uncovered buried undead as I "shoveled" away the earthen dam, as well as rune engravings that I smashed. The runes were some sort of spell woven into the dam. Andrew did whatever it is he does and literally grappled with the spell.

Everyone else did their thing. Kennedy was my cover fire, Lexi and Claire were distractions, and Hal was the anvil to my hammer. Five long hours was spent ripping that dam apart, but in the end, we took it down. That was a good feeling, seeing the well refill.

It was good to see our efforts produce positive results and not end up with us getting dug deeper into our own hole. The path we'd taken was much more lush, streams were flowing, and we saw more animals. When we got back to the Norns, they looked much younger and revialized (and is it just me, or does every divine or semi-divine being we run across either made of divine hotness or beaten with the ugly tree?).

We took a bit of a breather and started to make ready to make the descent into Nifilheim, itself. Clair and Ken are planning to make some cold-weather gear from hunted animals, as it's apparently a realm of bitter cold. How this slipped Hal's mind while we were still in the world, I don't know. But then, he's not affected by the common concerns of hot and cold anymore (neither am I, to a certain extent), so I guess I can see how one would forget.

Anyway, according to the Norns, the journey will take nine days, regardless of how fast or how slow we travel. We should probably pace ourselves. We've been doing a lot of walking down here, I wonder if the flow of time is similar. I'd hate for this to be all over only to find several years have passed in the world. Though I suppose that's only in Irish myth, I guess.

Favor for a Favor

So much for stopping Ragnarok and keeping the world safe. We stopped the end of the world, but we didn't stop it's prelude; fimbulvinter. "Final Winter" isn't just an ice age, it's also a metaphorical hardening of hearts and brothers killing brothers. All those wars and tensions we saw in the news? That was Fimbulvinter at work.

The solution, as the norns told us, is to make an apocalypse happen. The world needs to end and start over. I'm hoping we get to sit down with the more knowledgeable members of our band and pick through our options. We can restart Ragnarok, but Odin and most of the Norse won't be too happy with that, or us. There are some other options, the only one I'd heard mentioned, though, was the Aztec's since their myths place us in... what... the 6th world? 5th? I don't remember.

Anyway, the climb had some of us desperately needing sleep (especially Lexi). The norns let us sleep in their cave with the promise we'd check on a well here in Yggdrasil's roots. If it'd run dry then the rivers of the world would run dry. That's something that we really couldn't afford.

We set out the next day and it took another couple of days to get there and when we reached the "well" it was empty. When I say well, it's more like... a caldera. It's a good 15 miles across and 8 miles deep. However, it's not run dry, exactly. There's a three-mile thick dam being built by an army of undead svartalfar. I do wanna know who's behind it, but we've decided to wreck this dam before continuing on.

The plan is for Lexi, Claire, and Rufus to play distraction and cover-fire while Kenny plays lookout and silences me while I work. I'll be smashing my way through the top of the dam and Hal will be working his way up from the bottom. This shouldn't be hard. We just have to punch a hole and let the pressure do the rest.

Time for some idle musing and catching up.

I didn't mention before, but I want to talk about now. Before we went into the underworld, I had an opportunity to see my mothers. I was drawn away from camp by faerie fire, will-o-the-wisps, whatever you want to call them, to a large lake, and I was greeted by Rhiannon, Kennedy's mother. She took me across the lake to her mansion where her other aspects were chatting with Indigo and Kyria was fighting with The Morrigan. Yes, my mortal, amazon mother was having a duel with a goddess. She didn't win of course, but I think there was some warriors respect earned.

Anyway, I got to see my mothers and basically unloaded my baggage on them. They gave me some good advice and were there to help me deal. Even Rhiannon and the Morrigan were sympathetic to my personal issues. I also got a bit of a glimpse at what my birth mother meant to Artemis. They'd been lovers. I guess I understand her anger a bit more. It's just something I'm going to have to endure, I guess.

When I left, Rhiannon gave me a bag containing some small relics to give to the group. The Morrigan also made me an offer, which surprised me. She explained that she appreciates me travelling with her daughter and keeping her safe, even though Kenny really doesn't need my help, but its a safety in numbers thing. Anyway, I took the bargain and the Morrigan laid a geas on me.

Before we get into position for our dam smashing, I'll pass out the relics to everyone.

Tree Snakes

That was not a fun climb. Even for me. For the first time in a long time, I feel tired and winded. For the climb I had Lexi hanging on to me and Kenny had used her shadow powers to secure her to me.

We didn't get very far before something big and serpentine came sliding up the tree at us. This big snake-thing attacked and Claire and Kennedy shot the crap out of it. It was hurt bad then Hal moved in and held onto it to give the girls a chance to take it out. But, not before it summoned a buddy.. and got off a weird breath attack.


Everything infront of it wilted away and died. Despite my best efforts I got caught in the blast and it hit Lexi. I got to someplace flat to check on her while the others took out the other serpent. Mercifully, Lexi had survived, but she said it was because of her playing card. I'll have to ask her about it. The poor girl was in rough shape, but Claire came down and gave her what medical aid we could. Then we resumed the climb.

Once we got down to the roots of the world tree (and I can't stress enough that this was like climbing the tallest building in the world all day every day) we found the path splitting off. We were about to set off in what we thought might have been the right way, but a trio of norns (who we failed to notice) spoke out behind us.

The short of what they had to tell us is that our interfering with Ragnarok has caused a severe "snag" in the "tapestry of fate". The easy way to deal with it would have involved cutting the offending threads (killing us) but thats not something that can be done to demigods, so some other solution has to be found. No doubt, we're not going to like what we hear.

Plans of Mice and Gods

Well, that didn't last long.

I was wandering about the city trying to help out as much as I could while everyone else was back at our little base. Clearing the dead, burying our losses, checking on the earthworks. Anything to keep me busy not not dwell on myself.

Then I started noticing a lot of commotion going on and followed it to it's source: Aphrodite. Kennedy is attractive, Hal is attractive, Lexi is downright gorgeous, but Aphrodite in her full godly-state... that... it was hard to tear myself away from that sight. I just wanted to sit there and soak in that beauty... I... I had to close my eyes and make my way back to the group on sound alone.

Things were tense and none of us knew what to do. In moments, Aphrodite was turning the city around on us and we were going to loose everything. Then Lexi pulled out a playing card and before I knew it, Munin was replaced with Loki. Loki, who gave us an escape route through a tunnel of fire right to a shrine to Artemis. I have to give the huntress this, she may hate me, but she's not taking it out on everyone else by proximity.

Anyway, we found ourselves without a base or army, and it was just down to us, the einherjar, the werewolves, and the gods. Donnie and his band were left behind, I don't know what became of them. Some of us discussed setting up anew in Therungia, which isn't a bad idea, at least that had a castle and natural defenses, but without an army for defense, another god like Aphrodite could show up and take that from us, too.

Loki offered a "give-and-take"; we descend into the norse underworld and find out what's going on with his daughter, Hel, and in return, we get an army of the undead. I doubt it's going to be as easy as a house-call, but when is it ever?

Getting to the underworld involved uncovering the roots of one of the ash trees in Artemis' grove and doing a bit of bleeding on it's roots. Hal bled extra for Lexi. And into the roots we went, then found ourselves among the branches of the world tree.

It's going to be a long climb....

Something Begins, Something Else Ends

I managed to keep my issues buried for the duration of the battle and the events leading up to the battle. We met for dinner (I didn't eat anything) and discussed battle strategy. Well, every one more qualified to discuss strategy did so, I kept quiet and listened.

It was agreed we'd need Poseidon's wrath to be held off, since control of the seas would be of major importance for logistics. Everyone turned to me to answer the call for sacrifice. Nobody, except Claire, knows I'm just Poseidon's bastard daughter. I didn't know how much weight me leading the ceremony would carry, but I agreed to do it. Andrew volunteered to help me, since he knew the most about these things.

From there, Claire delegated out tasks while Andrew and I prepped to make the rounds to the local farms. Since this situation was spearheaded by Claire, everyone (even Hal, who's probably the most prone to arguing his point of view into the ground) shut up and let Claire take charge. It's the first time our band has had anything resembling a leader, rather than arguing out every decision to consensus.

Andrew told me Poseidon's traditional offering was a prize bull, the choice cuts burned on a sea-side altar. So, I compensated and upped the quantity, getting as many prize bulls as I could from as many farms as I could. I didn't have much time to work, we'd learned the centaur army would reach New Troy by dawn and there was an unnatural storm rolling in. I constructed the altar and made the sacrifice, pouring myself into the ritual. I should note, though, that it was just as much Andrew as me, as he was giving me advice as we went, so I got the right cuts and performed everything right.

I don't know if it worked. It's too early to tell.

We rushed back to the city and Claire assigned me to the front ranks. Even Artemis gave me that "fellow warrior" nod as I ran to my position. It wasn't long until the battle hit us and it wasn't just Centaurs. Three large metal birds came in with the storm (I have no idea what they were) and the Centaurs' ranks were filled out with satyrs and maenids.

I let myself get lost in the fight, blunting the charge with a shockwave from my ax. It's easy to loose track of what's going on in a big battle like that and I found myself quickly surrounded. Felling grunts wasn't going to get me very far. I shouted for direction in my walkie talkie and I was steered towards a general. I heard several loud explosions, which I was told were anti-air missiles against the birds and a mortar strike on another general (overkill?). A few fast and powerful strikes of my ax and I took out the other general. A loud bellow from Claire shattered what remained of their moral and off they ran.

After the battle I began a detail to clear the battlefield of the dead. Others were working on making sure our dead got a proper funeral and the Morrigan insisted the enemy's dead be piled up and burned ( I wasn't going to argue).

I noticed Claire, up on her rooftop, talking to Artemis. Not long after, she and I had a short talk. It's officially over between us. I can't help but think that, while yes, I made a huge gaff that cost me Claire's trust, that this is another one of Artemis' ploys to twist the knife and take her anger at Poseidon out on me. She certainly made our discussion worse, the other night.

If I dwell on it I'm only going to make myself feel worse. I'm going to spend some time apart from the group unless I'm needed. Though... pulling an Achilles and sulking in my room isn't going to do anyone any good. I'll see if I can find something productive to do.... alone.

FML

(The writing on this page is marred with half-written sentences, hastily scribbled over and restarted. The handwriting is messy and erratic.)

F<scribble>
Dammit I <scribble> <scribble> How do I even----

Let's start at the beginning. I guess... relatively speaking...

Triton showed up to wave Poseidon's cock around for him. <scribble out line>. My "father" decided he wants sacrifices made to him again. Every divine asshole with a grudge started coming out of the woodwork. God da---- Ares was there, supporting Donnie in this mess.

<scribbled out entry>

What am I going to do? I--- getting off track.

Claire revealed what she'd found out over the last month. The Gods want to be important again and the whole situation is going to pot because Olympus is going to tear itself apart over New Troy.

The match that lights the fuse, as it were.

Claire was brilliant. She came up with an amazing plan to put a woman in charge of Olympus, applying her Tuatha logic to the situation. Since Zeus is fated to die and be usurped by a son, not so much a daughter or any other female for that matter. Claire even convinced Ares to switch sides and support Claire's gambit. She turned this whole conflict on its head in several masterful speeches.

I was so amazed and proud of her.

Now, I---<scribble>

We <scribbled out line>

I don't even know.

We had a fight, I guess you could call it.
Artemis decided she wanted to weigh in on it, too.

I'm not sure I can write what happened.

I got called out over not supporting Claire, I got accused of still pining for Brynhildr, I got told I'm no better than my father.

Oh yes I-- <scribble>

Poseidon raped my mother. She was a servant of Artemis. Artemis killed her. Artemis hates me because of it. <several scribbled out lines>

I couldn't get anything more out of Claire. I appologized as much as I could, but she kept talking like she could never trust me anymore. I don't know what kept her from ending it, she sounded like she wanted to. She told me that she'd always hated the idea of me also seeing Bryn. ALWAYS! <pencil tore through journal>

I'm such a mess. I feel horrible. I feel like I just want to stay in this room and not come out unless I'm needed. But, Claire needs my help. She needs all our help. We don't need this drama muddying the issue. Claire's our leader in this. <scribble>

I can't think straight. I want to be alone.

<scribble>
I'm so lost. Why did Artemis give me this pendant if she hates me? Why did Claire ask about my emotions? Why didn't she dump me. Does she love me? Did she ever love me?

I still love her.... don't I?

<several half-started sentences follow, but Cindy clearly couldn't continue writing>

Negotiations and Bombs

Well, that didn't go well at all.

We arrived in what Donnie and Harmonia have named "New Troy" symbols representing Donnie's new enlightened rule all over the place. Most everyone in the band reacted poorly, thinking he's on a horrible ego trip. We also had an honor guard of Goras' men with us. I... didn't like having them around.

When we got into this older building that Donnie was both using as a residence and as an open museum, I slowed my pace to look around. I was taken by Donnie's attempts to show off the glory of ancient art and relics of ages past. I should mention, too, that the building and the town had it's fair share of military check points. I don't blame Donnie, I'd try to be prepared if I knew a demigod general was knocking on my front door.

We met with Donnie who was going over plans to expand mining in the area to help the city's economy and give people jobs. Yes, I was paying attention to these things.

The first part of our negotiations didn't go well. Donnie had well made up his mind about how things were going. He was well aware that he and Harmonia had had their heads fucked with by Aphrodite and he'd pretty much said "fuck off" to the Gods when it came down to fighting it. He and Harmonia were willing to stand together against what would come.

Tempers were flairing and before things devolved we decided to take some time to relax and sit down to lay out proper negotiations later.

I don't think we'll get the chance.

Someone set off a bomb, trying to kill Harmonia and Donnie.

Aside---
I've been putting some thought about all this and, well... I like what Donnie and Harmonia are doing with New Troy. They're building a life for the people here and in this whole conflict, the two have been victimized by the machinations of their petty parents and now, they're going to be crushed by a Demigod who just wants his own land-grab. A lot of innocent people in this city are going to die... and I'm not sure I can let that happen.

I worry about how the group will react.

I worry how Claire will react.

Downtime

It's been about a month now since the events in Delphi. We've all gone off for a bit to pursue our own agendas in preparations for what's coming. Claire and I have spent some time together, but I suspect she's still mad. She won't tell me what her plans are and I feel bad. I'll try to find a way I can make it up to her. Though I'm only really good at making jewelry.

 I've pretty much resigned myself to the Trojan War happening again, regardless of what we do. It's pessimistic for me, I know, but I flipped back through the Homeric legends and I think that, even with the pretense of preventing war, egos will flair, lines will be drawn in the sand, and battle will be joined.

I've distracted myself by starting a business venture. I'm creating a line of jewelry for sale and it seems to be taking off remarkably well. I don't need a lot of money, I rather enjoy living simply, so I take what I need from the income and donate it to things that need funding: schools, hospitals, that sort of thing. Patronizing a few aspiring artists, as well.

That's not all I did in a month, though. I did a bit of globe hopping, which is really easy with the mists as your form of travel. I visited several Amazon communities hidden around the world. I wanted to see my mother's culture and found them to be... xenophobic, at best. I was only admitted in because of Kyria. There's been a lot of activity going on with them. Raids into mortal territory and a general sense of unease. I fear they may have a role to play in the upcoming conflicts.

I wanted to do something for them. I want them to integrate better into the world. To do that, I had to start forming bonds with the settlements. I did some things I'm not proud of. For all my talk of protecting mankind I found myself leading some of those supply raids. A few of those villages wanted me to bear divine-blooded children, but I managed to settle for training their warriors instead (Not that I don't eventually want children, but I don't need to get pregnant when a war is on the horizon. And Claire would probably have a fit.). Still, despite that, it feels like some good training for what's coming.

The easy decisions are gone now. Life's going to get more grim as our divine lives start to impact the world around us. We're going to change the world, whether we try to or not. The best we can do is try to change it for the better.

Sacrifices and Bargains

I'm still not sure what just happened, I was tuned out for most of what Claire and Lexi were getting up to.

Okay, so, it turns out that the raven on Claire's shoulder was actually the Morrigan. That kinda... scared me, to realize that that goddess had been hanging around the whole time.

So, in return for the prophecy, Claire had to sacrifice a human. Lexi and I didn't really stomach that well. I mean, yes, I tried to off a troll we'd taken captive, but that was a situation of our safety over it's life. And it's a titanspawn besides, right?

Anyway, I managed to calm myself by taking some solace in that they'd be killing someone who deserved it, like a murderer or something. Lexi... still wasn't taking it well. She didn't want Claire to become a murderer, herself. The poor girl was pretty messed up over it.

Claire and the Morrigan headed off to find a victim, but another aspect of the Morrigan showed up, because Lexi wanted to strike a bargain. Yeah, the Morrigan is three-goddesses... how does that work? Do they share the same mind? Are they separate entities? That makes my head spin.

Anyway, a lot of discussion had also gone on about how to stop the Trojan War 2.0, Claire, in her usual form, wanted to nuke the site from orbit. I don't really know how she'd expect that to work without making the whole situation worse. Though, no one asked, and I think that's whats been getting under her skin.

Myself? I think that we're screwed, no matter how hard we try to fight it. Sure, we -technically- stopped ragnarok, but all we really did was keep the time from coming, so, it's still there, just forestalled. I've read my Greek tragedies, those who fight fate and prophecy only make it happen. Oedipus' parents tried to keep the prophecy of their son killing his father and bedding his mother from happening by leaving him in the wilderness to die. Yeah, didn't work out so well, for them.

Anyway, I stopped listening to Lexi's bargaining because Goras' men showed up, again. They did that same surrounding pattern again, but they didn't seem to be watching us as intently. Kennedy sent a random dog with a note to find Nikolas so we would know what was up with him. We managed to find out he wasn't there, but we did learn that Goras had shown up and taken Nikolas with him.

Lexi concluded her negotiations and from what I could gather, Lexi kept Claire from killing her victim (who, from what I could overhear, would have deserved it), though she (Lexi) put the almighty fear of god into him to make him change his ways, and in return, sacrificed her toe to the Morrigan, and kept the victim's toe for herself so she could check up on him. Clever girl.

That now leaves us in a mess, though. We need to figure out how to proceed from here. The general idea is to try to talk Donnie and Harmonia down enough to see reason. We don't want to prep in-case negotiations go sour, lest our war-prep feed into Fate. Claire's having none of that and I don't think anything we do will work. Yeah, I'm such an optimist. I guess this is what life is like for Bryn, always controlled by fate and powerless to do anything about it. I think I understand her better now.

Closed for Business

Well, that was a colossal waste of time.

Okay, so, we got to Delphi and the entire city was engaged in a massive orgy. Yeah, you read that right. Everyone, just... drinking, partying, dancing, screwing... all of the things associated with an old roman orgy going on.

Hal put on the scary face and managed to have his car lead the way through the city to a building where the Oracle was supposed to be. Only she wasn't there. Fun.

The woman who was there (who I suspect was a Harpy, given the feathers I spotted on her and the bad attitude) gave us the address to find the Oracle, who'd failed to show up to work that day. At the time, I didn't blame her, as anyone with sense wouldn't have gone out in that.

We muscled our way back through the crowd, with Hal's aura of menace keeping the revelers at bay (Claire got some footage of the action with her cell... I snapped a few photos, myself...) and got to a flat where the Oracle should have been. And she was there, a young lady named Cassandra.

I'm not quite sure what to make of what happened next.
We tried to ask her to help, but heres the thing about being an Oracle, the asker has to give something up, like a memory, and the bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the truth you're told. What nobody mentions in the myths, however, is that the Oracle has to live with the memories she takes, and that's a big psychological strain. So, she refused to help. It seems pretty selfish (especially since her friend/roommate/lover/whatever was the one who put the city into the situation it's in (I have no idea WHY, honestly.))

Claire was willing to leave it at that (since Fate doesn't like anyone trying to use Divine Be-My-Friend mojo on it's representitives) and I wasn't one for pushing the issue, but... Hal... Hal got self-righteous and got into a pissing match with Cassandra over who's life has been screwed over more (and, for whatever reason, this 3000 year old girl was planning to go to prom. Yeah, I don't know either.). I guess she's been locked in that age and never really matured.

Lexi was able to put on the charm enough to find out where some other Oracles are, but we're currently debating things out. Hal is more than happy to jump into the mists again and run off to Egypt to consult THAT Oracle, since the only other one in Greece belongs to Zeus. I don't even know anymore. I don't know if this question Nikolas wants to ask is worth the trouble. There's a lot of serious issues going on. Claire got really upset, and that made me cool my jets a bit. I think she was getting mad that we kept debating and not listening to her.

Lexi grabbed her sax and did some Fate consulting of her own, while I went to comfort Claire who'd stepped to the edge of the aura to brood. Her raven clacked it's beak at me. I'm still not sure where it came from...

When Lexi was done, we learned that General Goras was not behind the Titan attack. I didn't think he was, but something fishy is certainly going on with him. What WAS useful and was information we could act on was that Donnie and Harmonia were at a place called Hissarlik. I asked Claire to google it, since I'd never heard of it. That's when I finally found out what the deal with that raven was all about as Claire directly addressed it.

She called her "Grainne" and she turned into a human... who very closely resembled the Morrigan. She gave us a dire portent about something sounding like a big war. Nations against nations, brothers against brothers, mortals against the divine. A war that would cover the region and wake the "sleeping father under the mountain".

That still didn't tell us where/what Hissarlik is, though.... (google)
Oh. It's in Turkey. It's what is suspected to be Troy.
Oh fuck me.... Paris took Helen to Troy. I'm gonna slap Donnie. Fate's gonna have a field day reinacting this.

Roundabout Routes

Can you tell I love alliterative titles?

After a bit of deliberating we decided to use our own special travel method to get around Goras' goon-squad. I think we surprised Nikolas. I mentioned that maybe Goras wants to carve himself a little temporal kingdom out of Greece and is using the situation to set himself up as a dictator. Nikolas asked if we'd ever consider doing that and we all told him it never really entered our heads.

Now, we know Goras has placed a big order for some really strange weapons through Kenny's company. Something about huge swords. Doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd use to conquer land. There's not much point in debating what he's up to when we know nothing, but we have the order getting bogged down through beureaucratic red-tape to stall it.

We headed to a nearby dock and took the mists back to Avalon, then sent Kenny through to scout out our destination. It wasn't much of a leap, only 3 miles closer to Delphi, but that's also 3 miles ahead of any persuit. We hopped through and through her magical hotness, Lexi got us some cars to make the rest of the trip to Delphi.

This whole thing has me on edge, allies not who they seem to be, our parents worrying about who's kid is banging who's, major titan activity, then us, being in the dark.

Can't Trust Anyone

All the Gods decided to high-tail it back to Olympus. Which put me in a none too pleasant mood. I got pissed that we were short on healers, and I tend to get protective of Lexi when she's in trouble. Victor decided to give me a "get in line" attitude and Claire and I directed our ire in their direction. I guess nobody knows how to do triage.
Assholes.

Moving on, the other band decided they needed to jump back to Japan, for whatever reason. The news on the TV just keeps getting better and better. Nikolas came in and said that Harmonia had gone missing. More good news.

Oh, it gets better. Lexi deduced that Harmonia and Donnie may have run off together in the confusion. I'm really growing to dislike my extended family and their petty dramas. Do they really have nothing better to do than screw with the lives of their kids?

Enough grousing. Nikolas asked for our help to escort him to Delphi so he could consult the oracle and find out more about what's going on. I thought about mentioning that Lexi or Andrew could do the same thing, but since Delphi is a quick train ride away and she would probably be more powerful, I decided to go along with the group consensus and agree to help the guy. I did kinda feel bad for him, if Lexi's love-divining was right, the guy did love Harmonia and he just found out she ran off with the pretty-boy. He's handling it well.

Once we got to the train platform, a new wrinkle in the sheets formed. General Goras' golden troops surrounded the platform and watched us. We waited to see what they would do. It was a tense couple of minutes... then the train station announced that a landslide had covered part of the track and cancelled train operations until the tracks could be cleared. That's when the troops left.

What the hell? I knew there was something about Goras I didn't like when I met him, but why would this be such a problem? Is he afraid of us learning something about him in relation to the attack? What the hell.

Don't Look 'Em In the Eye

I learned the hard way that those snakes were actually basilisks. I thought Basilisks were lizards with large crests. And the damn things just would not frikken DIE. I practically chopped one to pieces before it finally stopped healing itself. I made eye contact with one and dear god did it hurt. I could heal myself, but poor Lexi got it, too.

Once we took the snakes down another Scion showed up in the form of a giant gold and bronze soldier and scooped up their handler. I tried to take a chunk out of the handler, but it was just too tough to damage... which is really impressive, actually.

A man named General Goras arrived after the fight (the giant scion having carried off the snake handler) with an escort of Minotaurs (which I eyed warily, they have a reputation). The Minotaurs were surprisingly disciplined. Anyway, after a short conversation we learned that this wasn't a planned attack like we thought. Nope, apparently, if you gather a bunch of legendary people in one area, it attracts titan activity like a magnet.

Other Scions were scattered around the area, dealing with pockets of Terra's minions and we decided to get Lexi back to the villa and to a proper healer. Healing seems to be the one thing our group doesn't do. Well, aside from regenerate our own wounds.

Now that I've had some time to myself and get my thoughts sorted, I'm beginning to have some real doubts about my extended family's sense of perspective. Sure, we forestalled fimbulvinter, but I'm still hearing a lot of troubling things on the television. Wars, disasters, political conflicts. I'm not a doomsayer and humanity's past is filled with conflict, but the world situation is quickly deteriorating. The titans are acting much more freely than before.

And what is the family of gods doing? Playing politics and puppets with their kids' love lives.

Web of Intrigue-ing Romance

(OOC Note: I was getting sick during this session so the details are going to be a bit foggy.)

So, we all met on Lexi's balcony the next morning and she laid out what was eating at her. Basically, the wedding is a big freakin' mess. It's hard to make sense of it without Lexi's illustration, but let me see if I can lay it out.

Harmonia and Nikolas are to be married. Nikolas loves Harmonia, but Harmonia loves Victor and Victor loves Harmonia. Aphrodite used her powers to make Harmonia and Donnie fall in love. A girl named Briggette is in love with Donnie, but Donnie doesn't know to make a move, while another girl named Marie loves Donnie but he has no feelings for her (and needs to be told the bad news). To complicate things, Aphrodite wants HER match to happen, while Hera is pleased with Harmonia and Nikolas getting together. So there's Divine egos behind things, which makes the situation all the more difficult.

So, we decided to clear our heads and do some shopping.

Which turned into something else.

Weird creatures with giant snakes like they were attack dogs started roaming the city. We started to fight the one closest to us, taking out one of the snakes while one of them put a dent in my armor (thank goodness for that extra layer Leonidas gave me).

I guess the vacation is officially over.

More Thoughts on the Band

I've got a bit of downtime right now, nothings happened since last night. So, I figure I'll talk a bit more about the band. The good and the bad.

Andrew: He's still something of a mystery to me, I haven't had a lot of conversations with him. He's very much the brain of our little group, coming up with the plans and strategies. I hesitate to call him aloof, though that may just be my experience with him.

Lexi: My fellow Greek. She's still sweet as candy. If Andrew is the brain, she's the heart. She really only wants everyone to get along. She's still far to meek, though. She needs some confidence boosters, or something, then she'd be able to really wield her beauty like a weapon.

Hal: Since I did some body analogies above, I might as well keep that going. Hal would be our body, I guess. I can take a beating, sure, but I get the feeling that, between the two of us, I'd give out first. My only real problem with him is that, when he decides he's in the right, he's impossible to reason with.

Kennedy: She's our eyes. This girl is badass walking. That whole debacle in Germany? That was some intense stuff and she handled it like a pro. I do wish she'd relax and let her hair down, from time to time. She's just always so... focused... intense. Yeah.

Claire: My sweet (and sour) Claire. She's the group's... um... hands? She builds and breaks stuff, so I guess that works. She's quickly becoming the love of my life and I've found that vulnerable heart under that prickly exterior. She worries about me a lot. Sometimes, though, she needs to get a better handle on her tendency to (or advocate for) shoot first and ask questions later.

What part am I? I'm the weapon that the arms swing, of course. ;)

Black Sheep's Arrival

My conversation with Harmonia got interrupted by the sounds of horse whinnying and Lexi's shouting. Which reminded me what I was originally going after when I got side-tracked. Well, when we got there... it wasn't the sight I was expecting.

The Centaurs had grabbed a hold of Andrew and were in the process of carrying him off... instead of Lexi. A stare-down happened and we managed to get them to release Andrew without undue bloodshed. I only stayed my ax because we're in someone else's place.

The party resumed with minimal fuss and that's when Eris showed up. Claire and I dug her greek/punk fusion, but then she opened her damn mouth. Oh, she's a bitch who likes to cause trouble. I overheard something about the Centaurs being because of her. Then, when Lexi tried to smooth things over, she started taking jabs at her. I made a snide comment, but generally let Lexi handle things. Which got smoothed over so well, I ended up making a pass at Eris. In retrospect, that was pretty weird of me.

Things settled back in and I chatted up this cute scion of Susano-o, named Yukiko. Then important people started arriving. Hera arrived, Aphrodite made her grand appearance (I thought I knew what hotness was, having been around Lexi, but wow.... I mean... wow....), then Apollo and Artemis arrived. I was giddy to see Artemis for the first time!

Claire and I went over to speak with her when she made a point of not mingling, instead opting to chat with the nerieds out in the pool. Claire and I sat down to chat, though it seemed like Claire had more questions than I did. Claire had seen Artemis in her visions at the Temple and was confirming that it was really a manifestation of her insecurity.

We chatted some more and Artemis warned us that we should avoid getting involved in Aphrodite's affairs/schemes. She didn't appreciate my joke about getting involved "even for a couple of hours". It was just a joke. You think I'm going to roll around in bed with my friend's mom? Seriously? You go for a cousin or maybe a really hot sibling, but never a mom!

Some Vacation and a Wedding

Important things happened, then a lot of wandering around happened, then more important stuff happened. This'll probably get wordy.

We got shown to Asgard for a big ceremony as Thoth and Odin put their plans into action. It wasn't what I was expecting. I don't even know WHAT I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. Y'see Thoth and Odin enacted some big godly-super-mojo (Andrew explained it as becoming Avatars) and Thoth let himself be bound to the Zvran, the Titan of Time as it's dominant Avatar.

Y'see the Titans are vast embodiments of whatever they are the Titan of. So vast, they're more like an infinitely big world unto themselves. They create Avatars, which represent concepts of their "element", and the most powerful Avatar drives the Titan's personality. So, with Thoth now Zvran's dominant Avatar, fimbulvintr is indefinitely held at bay. Andrew's been pretty shaken up by this, I hope he's coping well.

Now, while in Asgard, I sought out Brynhildr. I wanted to know if my vision was real or if I still had a chance with her. Things... didn't turn out as I'd envisioned. I really should have known better, it seems stupid, in retrospect... *sigh* The bare-bones of it is that Bryn will be bound only to whoever finds the ring Andvarinaut and that person alone. The decree of Fate is such that there'll be no room in that relationship for anyone else. It hurt, having to give up. I worry that someone unworthy will find the ring and Bryn will be bound to them.

So, during the next couple of months, I spent more time with Claire. It reminded me how much I've come to care about her and that it was selfish of me to think I could balance two women in my life. Going on real dates that don't involve end of the world scenarios was a refreshing change of pace.

I also took a trip to Greece, just to see the motherland, you know. That's where something amazing happened. I was playing tourist and seeing Thermopolae, where the 300 Spartans and their allies stood against Xerxes' invading army. I was visited by a vision of the long-dead king: Leonidas. He told me he was proud to see another Greek fight back against the Persians and led me to a very well hidden cave. The cave turned out to be a tomb and inside I found Leonidas' armor. He bit me wear it with honor.

The other thing I had been doing was trying to help MIST get it's infrastructure back online. I'm not letting this alliance of pantheons fall apart, just because the Yazata got a bug up their collective ass. It's going to take a lot of doing, but I think we can make this work. Andrew's been working on expanding their libraries and archives. He's also looking for ways to cleanse the last of my taint.

Then came the wedding. (I love weddings, drinks all around!)

We all got our invites and went to this coastal city in Greece. Funny, having just been there, right? An envoy met up with us (and it was great seeing everyone gathered together) and led us to where the villa where the wedding party was being held. It was in a small Terra Incognita and it had been commissioned by Aphrodite. And the place was gorgeous.

I made the offhand comment that I'd like to have a place like that, and Claire said it would be subject to her approval. Then we bantered about moving in together. The way we banter like that, you know it means it's going to happen! *squee!*

So we met one of Lexi's half-siblings. A fellow by the name of Donnie Rhodes. He was a pretty cool guy, it felt like I'd known him all my life, real easy to get along with. Then Lexi made an entrance that made everyone in the room gawk (Claire asided to me that we should drag her into a bedroom. I quipped that I thought we were done looking for a third person. Heh.).

So we got to chatting and Hal took a swim (and it looked like he was going to get ganged up on by the nymphs in the pool). Kennedy let me and Claire know that a bunch of the centaurs who were gawking at Lexi had disappeared. Centaurs, like satyrs, have a poor (or good) reputation for randy rowdyness and I got worried for Lexi's safety.

My search for her got interrupted when I (literally) bumped into the bride, Hermonia, the adopted daughter of Hera (I haven't met the groom yet, a son of Ares). So, we got to talking and my ego got padded a bit. Apparently the story of my victory over Tishtrya has been making the rounds. She pointed out her friend Victor at the grill, who wanted to hear the story.

Then Claire ran off towards Donnie, who I only then noticed had a gun leveled at Victor.

I Can't Hear You Over the Sound of How Awesome I Am

I brush with Death so often I should be giving him high-fives as I pass.

I guess you've already figured out that I survived my ordeal, and what an ordeal it was. I really didn't expect to go toe-to-toe with a god. I just wanted to distract the guy so the others could free Thoth. Instead, I made myself Enemy Number 1 on the Yazata's collective hit-list. That, or I managed to scare the unholy shit out of them. That would be cool.

Tishtrya, in the avatar form of a giant horse, cornered me in the entrance of the temple, some lackies called "Deeves" barred my way. I couldn't run and stall him anymore, so I turned to fight. We faced off and he practically trampled me to death in one blow. I healed the damage instantly, but that drained me of my ichor granted power.

Before I go on, I should explain something about how we Scions operate. Many of the things we do are powered by an internal source, I don't know how else to describe it. I think Claire would liken it to a Mage's "mana" in any of her computer games. This "power" comes from our ichor, which is what gods are made of, instead of flesh and blood. We're part ichor, part flesh and as we grow in power, we become made of more ichor. The only way to refill that power is by being more awesome. I want you to understand that, for my fight with Tishtrya, I was operating on "empty".

I took a swing at Tishtrya's leg as I recovered from the stomping I'd gotten and we turned to face each other again. My swing didn't have as much effect as I'd wanted. We bantered a little bit, he tried the whole "Why fight me, you'll lose, blah blah blah." thing. I told him that'd ruin the surprise. I can be such a bitch when I want to be.

I had come to the conclusion that I wasn't making it out of this fight alive, so I threw everything I had into a leaping attack at Tishtrya's face. I did some damage, but not near enough. I landed next to his hooves and he tried to crush me again. I managed to bat the attack away and rolled under the big stallion. Once again, pulling on everything I could muster, I swung at Tistrya's underbelly... and I gutted the god like a fish!

It was messy and gory... and glorious! The guys must have freed Thoth at the same time as when Tishtrya's body burned away, I looked up to see the moon, high in the sky. The Deeves watching the fight turned tail and ran. I was elated and I felt stronger. I was told, later, that I'd (and everyone else) reached the state of Demigod, where we're fully half ichor and half flesh.

I took off running back up to the sanctuary and ran into Claire as she was coming out. Everyone looked relieved to see me, even the normally stoic Kennedy was beaming with admiration. I felt so good, I wanted nothing more than to celebrate with drinks and sex. But, our work wasn't done.

Thoth thanked us, and apparently, had somehow counted on it happening, like he'd left bread crumbs for Andrew to follow. Claire also laid King Arthur to rest in his tomb and Avalon, which had begun to shift between it's correct appearance and the Persian inspired one, solidified in it's natural Tuatha form. I hope we'll be able to MIST back up and operating again, it's too good of an idea to let die, just because one pantheon got a bug up their ass.

Anyway, Thoth took us to Manannan's ranch for rest and relaxation. Thoth headed off to Asgard to meet with Odin and we've been invited to come witness whatever plan the All-Father has cooked up. I'll try to drop in on Bryn while we're there and find out how much of that vision was really her. And make sure she and Claire get along and aren't going to fight over me.

Maybe I can convince them to share the same bed....