Not in Kansas Anymore

I had a talk with Tetsuko. She apologized for how she'd been acting. I guess seeing me react to Alanna's barbs made her realize something. I'm not sure I can figure the girl out, sometimes, but she's taken to calling me -chan so I guess that's a step in the right direction. She's also starting to teach me Japanese, which is nice.

Anyway, the Irish girls got back with some volunteers and we began the ritual. It was a lengthy bloodletting ceremony and I led it. I was mostly flying by what felt right and what I knew of old lore. And it worked. Sort of...

We were enveloped in blackness and found ourselves in Erebus; the massive gray plain in the center of the underworld. Yeah, we were right next to the shattered prison of the Titans. That was a bit scary. Worse, though, it's not just us Scions in the underworld: the mortals came with us and there's no sign of the town.

At Alanna's suggestion I cast the bones and I was granted a real vision this time. I saw three possibilities: We cross the plain and end up in either Yomi, Nifilheim, or... I forget the name of the third. Alanna knew what it was. Either way, once we make it out of any of those underworlds, we meet a massive stone figure.

We're all at a loss, right now. We don't know if we should set out or wait or what. I'm going to ask Moira if she can use her mystical abilities to grant us some insight so we can figure out our next course of action.

AAARRGG!

I find myself wondering just why the hell my father grouped me up with these people.

Am I undergoing some test of patience? To see how long I can endure the verbal snipes from people I'm supposed to be calling my comrades? Is this in object lesson in how the Aesir feel about him?

I'm pacing around the top of the mountain we appeared in, helping Hiroku, the Scion of Hatchiman we rescued, plot out the method of a ritual we're going to try to hopefully get us and the town home. Tetsuko is standing nearby, keeping guard, though she keeps glancing at me.

I know what she's thinking. It's not hard to figure out what manner of things she was saying whenever the subject of the svartalfar comes up. It's probably the Japanese equivalent of "whore". She gives me dirty looks whenever that comes up. Alanna doesn't even have the courtesy to hide her comments behind a language I don't speak. Moira seems to be the only one who isn't out to make me feel unwanted.

Long story short, we had Hiroku use his powers of Psychopomp (finding places, going between worlds, ferrying the spirits of the dead) to lead us back to the mountain and to a spot where the connection between this world and the real world is strong. We started to spitball ideas when Alanna decided to let me know that she holds me responsible for the mess we're in.

Yes, it all comes down to the fact that I was getting fucked when the girls rushed in to bail me out. Never mind that I was in there alone. Never mind that I was inches from blowing my cover. Never mind my life was on the line. Noooo. All I was after (apparently) was some svartalfar cock.

Then she gives me this speech essentially laying blame on me for dumping the town in HER lap, like it's HER sole responsibility to make sure the people survive. That if she doesn't she might as well let her mother sacrifice her. There's a reason I'm venting here, because that just sounded like the biggest pile of selfish bullshit I've ever heard.

I'm furious, right now, I can hardly think straight. Though I think I've made up my mind: I'm seeing this thing through to the end, I wont abandon anyone, but once this crisis is over, I'm gone.

Tetsuko is approaching me.

Great... now what?

Going Underground... Again

I need to find out if theres some way to increase my power reserves, changing form is really taxing. So much so that I could have really used it. It would have been handy to change into something big and unbelievable. I guess I should explain.

When we gathered back together, Alanna and I had gathered material for going underground (I can't tell you how tired I am of going down into dark holes in the earth) and we were faced with a crowd of scared and confused mortals. The girls (Well, Moira and Alanna) insisted I tell a big fat lie to lull everyone into a sense of false security. Ugh, just because I'm the Lie-Smith's daughter doesn't mean I enjoy misleading people.

Anyway, I told a fair approximation of the truth. I told the crowd who we were, what happened, and what we needed to do... with no divine influence on my words. Proof was needed, so I started ice skate across the pavement. That helped. Then Alanna took over, giving orders, while Moira and I divided up the gathered people. Alanna also grabbed a few that stepped forward to lead and gave them instructions.

With the townsfolk doing what they needed to last a few days in this Terra Incognita, we went back to the dome and headed undergound. We encountered some giant, but cute, ferrets. The led us to their master, a Scion of Hatchiman, that had been imprisoned. We let Tetsuko talk to him. I don't think we learned much that was useful, he'd ended up trapped there in a similar manner as us.

Fortunately, we learned that the two tengu we killed were the only guards, so we should have free-run of the base we're now in. Hopefully we can find this "Stormy Key" that my vision spoke of. Then, maybe, we can find a way home.

Stuck in Nowhere

Getting dropped into an unknown location, totally naked, is not a fun thing. Good thing I can make more clothes as I want. Though, where we are... is weird.

I don't know hot Terra Incognita work, but as I understand it, they're like... sub-worlds. You can get to them from the world, but they exist apart from it. So, there should be a way back. What disturbs me the most, though, is how much "alike" this space is. It looks like where we started, but its empty of life. In the "no animals" sense.

We started a long walk back to where Standish would have been and found an odd clearing, roughly the size of the town. I consulted the bones and got some direction for what to do when the town appeared. Moira nearly broke my concentration by telling me how attractive the svartalfar look made me and suggested I keep it (Yeah, no...). I have to keep it for now, though. It takes a lot of energy to change forms.

Once the town appeared we decided to get going on the task of finding a "new house of bars" that my vision told me. Asking around and checking phone books got us nowhere (for the record, we set in motion getting the people together to help them deal with the circumstances as, very quickly, people will start to panic). Though, we did hear rumors of an odd building in the center of town.

It was an odd concrete dome. Well, we let the heavy hitters bust the door down. Alanna was getting antsy and Tetsuko looked like she was still agitated from before (more to the point, she was getting aggressive with Moira. I'm not sure what has gotten under her skin so bad, but she was really upset). So, I stood back and let the fighters have at it.

I think I froze up. I hadn't really gotten to watch them fight and it was like a whirlwind of death. At one point, Alanna got stabbed through the chest by one of the Tengu that were inside. I thought she was dead, but her wound sealed up in seconds. Moira was royally pissed and jumped the Tengu with her cat claws. Then Tetsuko and Alanna double-bisected the second one. I just stood back holding my ice sword.

We decided we needed to get a few more supplies and Alanna and Tetsuko started bantering in Japanese. I don't know about what, but it was about me. Alanna whispered it to Moira who blurted out that Tetsuko said something about having her way with me. I know those two Irish girls like to exaggerate, but I couldn't help but be emberassed. Poor Tetsuko isn't very good at taking teasing, but I tried to half-jokingly tell Tetsuko that, despite the events with the svartalfar, that I'm not easy and would like dinner and drinks, first.

She... didn't react as well as I'd hoped.

Now, because of that, it seems the Irish girls have taken it upon themselves to get Tetsuko and me together. She's a cute girl but.. I don't know... she's really intense and so proper...

Ahem, anyway, I'm not going to think about it, I don't have a snowball's chance in hell at getting with Tetsuko. So, I'll just focus on getting what we need while Alanna continues to rib at me and while Moira and Tetsuko see to getting fed.

Sonofva....

I had it. In my hand. I almost got out. Then things happened.

The alarm trick worked like a charm and caused the distraction I needed to palm the artifact and shadow it with my illusion powers. I tried to excuse myself, but the svartalfar decided he wanted some companionship... I knew I should have disguised myself as a guy... but then, I'm not sure that would have stopped him either.

I did EVERYTHING I could think of to excuse myself. Ever girl-trick in the book. Getting food, freshening up, getting prepared for his desires... I even kneed him in the crotch. Nothing worked.

I knew the girls were on the way, I'd managed to tip them with a textless text message as our signal that I was in trouble. Well... there was no harm in enjoying myself, right? And... he was quite good....

Though, when they showed up, Tetsuko seemed quite agitated. What the hell was I supposed to do? Blow my cover and get killed?

A scuffle ensued and the svartalfar got the orb away from me (after I'd attempted to get a strike in on him during the fight). That pissed me off, all that work... for nothing. He completed whatever he was chanting and everything went black.

When vision returned, we were in the same place, but no furnishings and it was just us.

Crap.

Tetsuko's still giving me the evil eye... great... is everyone in this group going to be on my case?

Disguises and Distractions

So we sat down and did some figuring. I rolled the bones and got some hints about where we needed to go and what we would be up against. A mountain to the west and there would be bad guys and the relic being used to abduct towns. Though Moira was able to get more exact details than I was, at least my prophesying was able to give her a direction to start with.

The real trick was getting in and getting what we needed and getting out. Of course, there were calls for storming the enemy base, but we didn't have exact directions, nor was I up for another raid that could get someone hurt or killed. So, I convinced them to let me use some subterfuge to get what we needed.

Moira had learned there would be svartalfar in the mountain, as well as your usual fair of big, dumb, giants, as well as some Tengu. So, that meant the svartalfar would be in charge. Using some new abilities to control my appearance, I made myself look like a svartalfar. Kinda crazy, right?

I tricked some giants along the way into showing me to the cave, using the explosion in town as my cover story. It took a while to get there and when I got to the cave in the mountain, I strode in like I was on a mission (because I was). I got in to the boss, another svartalfar, and sitting next to him was a small dark globe, the artifact we needed.

With the girls waiting outside, I needed a distraction to make a commotion in order to make a grab for it. So, I used my connection to the forces of chaos to get a bit of inspiration and shield myself from the mayhem I was about to cause. I "tripped" and hit an alarm on the wall (what a mountain hideout is doing with an intruder alarm on the wall, I have no idea).

Now I just gotta get the globe away from him...

Arguments and Explosions

Sometimes, I wonder why I'm even here.

For all that talking we did at the table, it was ultimately decided to ignore the task of retrieving a book from the catskills and head off to the next target. Moira did some sort of ritual that gave her some insight into events deeper than my bone-rolling could offer and lets us know where the next town to be targeted was.

Alanna wanted to set out right away and not bother with the job Loki gave us. She and I got into it. Her solution was to just kill the professor and not waste time. I'm sorry, but what the hell? Outright murder someone? Is this woman completely amoral? According to Moira, it's all the Morrigan's "rearing methods" fault. My arguments that pissing off the Norse trickster God would be a bad idea also seemed to fall on deaf ears. Finally I managed to let Alanna give me a few minutes to convince the professor he was wrong and we could be on our way.

It was a simple matter to convince the professor that I was a fellow scholar and convince him his results with the Kensington Stone were wrong and set him on his quest for answers all over again.

We drove to the town and we stopped at a seedy hotel where Alanna had some personal business to take care of . She was out to off her grandfather who'd killed her father. Yes, I'm a little annoyed. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind that she's getting revenge for murder with murder, but it's okay for her to do her mother's personal errand but not my dad's? I think she just wants to spite Loki, regardless of the consequences.

So, I sat in the car where Moira and chatted about how messed up Alanna is. Alanna seemed to think I needed a talking to about "necessary evils". Did line's get crossed somewhere? Even Moira seemed to think I was mad about her wanting to kill her grandfather, but it was the willingness to murder the professor that had me angry.

Anyway, Alanna and Tetsuko came back after a couple of minutes, telling us to evacuate the hotel. So, Moira and I got people running off and we drove away. Then the upper floor of the hotel exploded. Just what the hell happened up there?