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.