Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 62
Our adventures in Lanka are over, and I'm glad. Sure, the place was fascinating and it had some amazing architecture, but I came a little too close to giving in to my desires, and I'm thankful to no longer be stuck with that oppressive temptation.
So, I think I left off after our tumultuous night at the inn. Eager to put that behind us, we moved on into the city center, heading straight toward the temple in which the city's heart (which was actually a monstrous, churning maw) was supposed to be. On the way, we had to pass through some dangerous predatory vines (which Ravi killed off-handedly using his powers over fertility), and we were ambushed by a group of titanspawn, which we quickly dispatched. I gotta tell you, I've really been getting a lot of experience exorcising langsuir. ^_^
As we approached the temple (but were still some distance away), something happened and Elisa, Keiko, Dahlia and I suddenly found ourselves separated from the others in a series of subterranean tunnels. I don't really know how it happened. One moment I was staring at Adam and when I turned around, I was underground. It was disconcerting to say the least.
I also felt my shikome taint surge when we arrived in the tunnels. Rationally, I know I can't actually change Keiko, Dahlia, or Elisa into shikome. But on a primal, instinctive level, all three of them felt ripe for the taint. I very nearly removed the Unclean Ring and let my inner shikome run free. But I knew it was a bad idea, and as the wild look came into my eyes and my hand strayed toward the ring, I could see Elisa's hand move ever so slightly toward her club...so I resisted the impulse. But it stuck with me.
We had to find out where we were, so I left Elisa with Keiko and Dahlia while I phased through the earth to the surface. It's a good thing I was cautious when I emerged, because I popped up right in the middle of the temple amidst a host of dancing asura. They were performing some sort of ritual, but I didn't really stick around to get the details. I retreated back into the earth and rejoined Elisa and the others to share my findings.
About that time, Elisa coughed up a puff of smoke that coalesced in Pierre. He found us using Cheval, and had come to try and help us coordinate with our allies on the surface. With Pierre acting as a relay and Charles helping to navigate, our two groups managed to find each other in an area outside the temple (though we did have to deal with a few more titanspawn on the way). But…my group was still underground, and Adam's group was still on the surface, and unlike me, Elisa, Keiko, and Dahlia couldn't just phase up through the ground. >_<
Elisa began hacking at the ceiling of the tunnel to dig her way out, but we were surprised when a big yellow backhoe clawed through the ground above us, opening the way for us to climb out and rejoin the others. As we emerged, I looked at the backhoe, totally confused as to where they'd managed to find one in Lanka. Adam nodded to Charles and said, "Taiyi." Wow. I didn't know Taiyi could make big machinery like that. Charles is just full of pleasant surprises. ^_^
Together again, we approached the temple. I warned the others that I'd seen a hell of a lot of asura inside, so we decided to scope the place out first. I transformed myself into an asura and walked into the magnificent structure to take a look around. There were even more asura around than I'd seen before, almost all of them dancing. Langsuir and leyek were patrolling, and several elephant-headed rakshasa were hauling in massive barrels of amrita to feed to the immense maw that opened in a pit in the temple's central chamber. It appeared they were all engaged in a ritual to strengthen Lanka, and crouched over the city's maw, leading the ritual, was Rangda, queen of the langsuir. She was a freakish, ugly beast with fierce, clawed limbs, bulging eyes, curved teeth and a long, serpentine tongue. If we could only find a way to knock her into the churning pit of teeth, we could badly damage, or even destroy, Lanka!
I retreated to report to the others and we quickly settled on an ingenious plan (thanks largely to Adam). If we could somehow sneak enough explosives into the main chamber of the temple behind Rangda, we could trigger a blast that would not only kill many of the asura in the room and ignite the highly flammable city, but would also throw Rangda into Lanka's maw. The only problem was that we didn't have any explosives...until Charles pulled out the magic of Taiyi again. Taking several large bricks from the temple's stonework, he transformed them into powerful plastic explosives. Elisa, who is our resident demolitions expert, rigged up a detonation device and then taught T-Bone how to use it so that he could sneak the explosives in and disguise them using illusion.
It worked like a charm. T-Bone remained unseen (despite a few close calls) and set the explosives, then fled at top speed even as the blast erupted and fire began to engulf the city. As far as we know, Rangda was blasted into the pit, and if the earthquakes that wracked Lanka on our way out were any indication, she was doing a good job of tearing the maw to shreds as she escaped. Charles had again used Taiyi to create an escape vehicle for us (which looked suspiciously like Elisa's tricked out Impala ^_^), and as soon as T-Bone made it back to us, we roared off through the city streets and into the jungle, back toward Vishnu's boat.
It's a damn good thing Elisa's such a good driver. She tore through the jungle, narrowly avoiding the massive trees and bouncing over exposed roots as titanspawn chased us down only seconds ahead of the rapidly expanding flames. Guns blazing, we fought off the titans. I enraptured a few with my compelling beauty, forcing them to stop chasing long enough for the flames to catch them, and Charles transformed into his Taiyi battle form and used his dreadful countenance to scare off a few others. Pierre made quick work of the one or two than actually made it onto the car, and after what seemed like hours of high speed action, we arrived at the boat and fled the island.
As far as we know, Lanka is destroyed, or at least damaged enough to stay down for a good, long while. Rangda probably survived, and she's not going to be happy, but the important thing is that we did what we set out to do, and the Gods can again rest a little easier. ^_^
Once we eventually made it back to Red Mountain, we all went our separate ways, but not before taking the time to rest and relax a bit. As soon as we were safely home, I felt like I needed to let out all the tension that had been building up inside me. I'd been feeling the pull of the shikome taint ever since the tunnels, not to mention the lingering lusts from our night in the inn. So I grabbed Tabby and Echo and announced that I had to get away to the abandoned town and shikome-out for awhile.
That's when Adam and Elisa stopped me. I guess you could call it an intervention of a sort. They told me that giving into the shikome taint now was like admitting defeat. It would only make it harder to resist in the future. The taint is bad for me, and even though they understand why it's a necessary evil for the time being, neither of them wanted to see me give any more ground to it than necessary. And they're right. They even pointed out that I had never given into the taint before without a specific objective in mind - namely turning one of my girls into a shikome. Giving in without a purpose would be a step down the wrong path.
So, I didn't give in. I pushed down my inner shikome and refused to let it control me. I'm so glad I have friends like Adam and Elisa who are willing to help keep me on the right path. I'll need them and the strength they're helping me build when I enact my plan to deal with Erebus.