Scion – Petro Campaign – Session 36
This account was originally found on Livejournal, I am not the original author—I am just a fan of the journal and have found reading it on livejournal clunky to navigate and rife with errors/instability (such as having to refresh multiple times due to the page in questions becoming unavailable often requiring multiple refreshes. The original post can be found here, published by DJ-Yomi, and was published on Oct 17th 2008
Well, things are settled in Glastonbury. They got pretty exciting toward the end, but as usual, we handled things. ^_^ Of course, there’s still a glaring imbalance between the White Lodge and Black Lodge. That bothers me, and it apparently bothers T-Bone and Elisa too, so we’re planning on coming back later to try and set things straight. Funny that it’s those of us who were recruited by the Black Lodge that are concerned about the imbalance, but maybe that’s just because it’s “our” side that’s weakest right now. For me, though, it’s more than that. The Crusher-of-Cities has been pacified for the time being, but if the good deeds in Glastonbury remain out of balance with the evil deeds, then the titan’s just going to awaken again, and we don’t want that until we’re ready to deal with it…
Plus, as screwed up as that town is, I can’t help but feel like it’s a metaphor for my whole world view. The balance of good and evil, life and death…yeah, it’s messed up, but so is the world, and no amount of idealism is going to change that. So I feel like I have a responsibility to fix things in the town.
Anyway, I guess I should cover how things turned out. After conversing with Tom Carroll outside One-Eyed Jack’s, our next objective was to take out the camazotz vampires. Before that, though I thought it would be a good idea to find out more about Ben Horne. We didn’t have any solid indication that he was anything other than an oblivious mortal tool of the lodges, but it couldn’t hurt to cover our bases. Plus, I wanted to lay the groundwork for talking to him about Audrey. I mentioned that I was going to speak to Mr. Horne to Adam and the others, but Ray was gone, probably planning to just meet up with us at noon when we planned to fight the vamps.
Mr. Horne was very courteous and gracious. He knew exactly who I was, which impressed me. I’m famous among the underground counter-culture crowd, but people like Mr. Horne don’t tend to recognize my name as easily. I guess he’d done his research. Once we’d made our introductions, I turned on my feminine wiles and he was putty in my hands. For a mortal, he remained awfully cautious even then, but he still he told me pretty much everything I wanted to know. I was able to ascertain that he really didn’t know anything about the supernatural nature of the events going on in Glastonbury and that he wasn’t an ama-no-jaku in disguise. Sure, he seemed aware that there might be a supernatural origin for some occurences, but he was very adamant in his belief that people who blamed the supernatural for their troubles were just looking for excuses.
We had a nice conversation, and by the end of it, I was convinced that he wasn’t to blame for any of the titanspawn activity going on in town, and that he wasn’t an ama-no-jaku. He also gave me a useful lead. There’s a crazy woman named Margaret Lanterman who lives to the south of the town, and she has a reputation for knowing things. She’d probably be able to tell us more about what we need to know.
I should also mention that Anansi was staying with Mr. Horne! ^_^ He was disguised as a distinguished college professor named Dr. Nancy (quite the play on words). He wasn’t really all that helpful, but he was amusing. ^_^ That’s okay, though, he helped us plenty with the ama-no-jaku clue he gave us on our way to the owl cave.
After bidding goodbye to Mr. Horne, I met up with Adam and the others, and we went to Dead Dog Farm, hoping that Ray would meet us there (which he did). From there, Anna tracked the camazotz to another abandoned farm nearby. They were hiding in the farm’s barn. As we approached, Adam , Elisa, and Anna all noticed a number of rusted bear traps scattered about the yard, one of which had a rotted human foot stuck in it. It was quite grotesque. The evidence of a shotgun blast and blood splatters around the front door of the farmhouse didn’t make things any cozier. All in all, it had the makings of a terrible psycho-killer horror movie. Normally, that sort of thing doesn’t appeal to me, but there were also spirits inhabiting the farm. They weren’t ghosts, and they weren’t kami…they were…spirits. Only T-Bone could sense them, and they whispered to him and asked us to remove the camazotz from their farm. It turns out they were the collective spirits of babies who had died from miscarriages over the years in the town. Creepy, huh?
Of course, when we decided the burn down the barn to flush out the camazotz, the spirits weren’t happy, but there wasn’t a lot they could do about it. And, to be honest, this is T-Bone we’re talking about. I couldn’t see the dead spirits, so I’m tempted to believe they were just in T-Bone’s head. You know, god of madness and all. ^_^
Then again, Adam was complaining about the feeling that some sort of supernatural force was hampering his ability to fight effectively, so maybe there was something there. Who knows?
Anyway, before the fight, Ray had me stand some distance from the barn and then warded the area around me to protect me from the camazotz. I didn’t mind. It was sweet, Ray looking out for me like that. But it drove in the fact that the others see me as pretty useless in a fight. Not that I blame them. I am virtually useless in a fight. Sure, I can totally mess with the enemies, leaving them completely defenseless and much, much easier to take down, like I did with Mr. Eckard/Rolf, the dark elf. I can’t say for sure, but I think Ray and Adam would have had a much harder time with him if he hadn’t been rendered almost defenseless by my Heavenly Flare. But I guess my allies are so badass that they don’t really need me to mess with the enemies during a fight. That’s fine with me, really. I don’t like fighting anyway, and I’m happy to heal and bolster my allies. As long as I can help keep them safe like that, I’m fine. ^_^
And besides, I totally rock when it comes to dealing with people outside of combat. ^___^
Anyway, the fight with the vamps was brutal, as always, but the others took them down without too much difficulty. You know, sitting back and just watching this fight really let me appreciate the differences in the way my allies fight. T-Bone is a hit-and-run kind of guy. He’s acrobatic and wily. Elisa tends to move like a well-trained soldier, taking her shots when and where they’ll count the most. Ray is like something out of an action film or anime, each move more over-the-top than the last. Anna is sheer brutality. She’s quick and agile, so she moves around a lot, but her attacks are quick and to-the point. Nothing flashy. Pierre tends to hover in the midst of combat, his very presence taunting the enemies and inviting them to attack him, and when he sees an opening, he strikes like a python. And Adam…well, Adam’s fighting style is an exercise in subtlety. He makes every move, every attack count. It was all very fascinating to watch from where I was sitting on my little patch of warded ground. It took plenty of pictures. ^_^
With the camazotz dead, all that remained was to find and deal with the ama-no-jaku. The best lead we had along that front was to talk to Margaret Lanterman, the crazy woman. But I suggested something else, as well. I reminded the others that the spirit of the owl cave had told us about another spirit named Tsegalal that gathered the thoughts and experiences of all the town’s owls, even those that had been possessed and used as vessels by the lodge spirits. If anyone could help us pinpoint the ama-no-jaku or at least give us clues we could use to track them down, it would probably be Tsegalal.
The owl cave spirit had told us how to summon Tsegalal, so we got the materials we needed and Ray and I (who are most familiar with summoning and dealing with kami and similar spirits) performed the ritual. As a gift, Ray offered Tsegalal a bag of Tootsie Roll Pops. Despite the comical nature of the gift, they seemed to go over well. ^_^
Tsegalal was pretty helpful. She appeared as a large owl made of leaves and stones and branches, with two owls perched on her head to form the horn-like tufts some owls have. It was actually quite beautiful. I was so focused on getting the information we needed that I didn’t think to take a picture. I wish I had. Among other things, we learned that the ama-no-jaku tended to gather at the Double-R Diner regularly, so we could hunt them down there if necessary. Tsegalal also recommended that we speak to Margaret, and she told us that there were some other titanspawn around—some trolls—but that Tom Carroll had taken care of them the previous night by distracting them until the sun rose and they turned to stone. That had happened to the south of town, which gave us a pretty good idea of where a part of the titan had been revealed. After all, it seemed likely that the trolls had been trying to awaken the Crusher-of-Cities.
Still, we wanted as much information as possible on the situation, so we went to talk to Margaret next. She was interesting, that’s for sure. She was a rather plain woman who carried a small log around and talked to it like it was her husband. In her other hand she absently wielded an axe. Despite that, she was pretty harmless. She spoke in riddle, of course. Most oracles do. But her riddles were transparent enough for us to figure out what she was trying to tell us. She warned us that the ama-no-jaku were congregating in the woods even as we spoke. They were gathered near the “new stone” (the trolls) and were trying to awaken the titan.
As if to punctuate all that, there was a tremor. The titan really was stirring. Like, right then. >_<
We had to get to the place where it was emerging ASAP, and thanks to Tsegalal and Margaret, we more-or-less knew where that was. We flew in on our flying mounts. When we arrived, we saw that several of the titan’s ribs and a massive bone arm had been revealed, sticking out of the torn ground as though bursting from a wound. The ama-no-jaku and a number of the ant-like murska that Tom had warned us about were gathered around it, attacking the exposed bones in an attempt to agitate and anger it into wakefulness. And it was working. The huge bones shuddered, the arm began to stretch and move, and the ground shook.
The others started to drop to the ground to fight off the titanspawn. If we could stop them from doing what they were doing, we hoped the titan would go back to sleep. But in the first instants of battle, the titan’s arm swung out and hit Pierre, sending him flying hundred of yards into the nearby woods. I thought he’d been killed, so while the others fought the titanspawn, I asked Chase to take me to find Pierre so that, if he was still alive, I could heal him.
I managed to find Pierre after a bit of searching. He was in very bad shape. He’d very nearly died, but he was still alive, if unconscious. I did what I could for him, and by the time I’d done so, the others began arriving to help.
Meanwhile, my allies defeated the titanspawn. They had to remain airborne to do so in order to avoid the titan’s arm, but the murska and ama-no-jaku were pushovers compared to some of the other things we’ve had to deal with lately. There was a problem, though. The Crusher-of-Cities was still stirring, and it didn’t look like he was going back to sleep without some help. I was still dealing with Pierre, but the others discussed what to do. We knew an evil act would help soothe the titan…and maybe an evil act perpetrated on Dead Dog Farm would have echoes that would put it back to sleep for a long while. But no one seemed willing to go that route. So instead, we sent Anna to get the Small Man and Tall Man, hoping they would know of some other way to quiet the titan. That is their job, after all.
Fortunately, the Small Man and Tall Man offered us a different option. They could lead us in a ritual to calm the Crusher-of-Cities and put it back to sleep. It took a great deal of effort, but in the end, we were able to make the titan dormant again. Just as the ritual ended, however, it took one last swing at Anna. I knew it would kill her if it hit her, so I jumped in the way, hoping my ability to shed my own corpse would let me weather the hit. But then Ray jumped in the way to protect me. If the titan had connected, Ray would have been killed! I mean, if Pierre was almost slain by a hit like that, there’s no way any of the rest of us could take it, short of a trick like my corpse shedding! For the first time ever, I was angry at Ray’s self-sacrificial gesture…but really, I was just scared that he’d be killed for my sake when I wasn’t in any real danger. Fortunately, however, the titan slowed, and stopped before the blow hit us.
And that was that. The Crusher-of-Cities was asleep again, for the time being, anyway.
We left Glastonbury shortly thereafter. Most of my companions were eager to leave. I don’t think they liked the place at all, and I don’t blame them. Hell, I didn’t like the place, and the only reason I want to go back is because of the kinship I feel with what the place represents. I guess I’m comfortable with that.
Before we left, though, I went to talk to Mr. Horne again. And again I poured on the charisma. I told him that I wanted to take his daughter with me when I left. I convinced him that she’d be happier with me, and that she’d have more chances to really make something out of herself and get beyond the issues that have led her astray. By the time we were done, Mr. Horne was happy to let his daughter go with me. Which is for the best really, because I was going to take her anyway, and this way I won’t have to deal with the nuisance of private investigators and the like showing up every now and then to take her home.
I then found Audrey and talked to her. She wasn’t drunk anymore, and was more willing to seriously consider my offer in her clearer state of mind. She was still a bit suspicious, but after we discussed things for a bit and I’d convinced her that she could make much more of herself with me than she could if she kept wasting her life in Glastonbury, she agreed to join my entourage. Then, I unleashed the shikome within me and bit her. She struggled a little, at first, but then the exhilaration and passion of being a shikome took her, and she was mine.
Tabby says Audrey definitely has the potential to become an elite, so as soon as possible, I plan to take her to the Dark Mother to empower her. She seems like she can handle herself well in social situation, or at least she’ll be able to once she’s removed from the twisted influences of Glastonbury and I’m there to guide her. I think she’ll make a nice attaché once she’s become an elite. She certainly has the looks, the grace, and sense of protocol for it, when she cares to present herself professionally.