Scion - Petro Campaign - Session 127
Thank the gods that's all over. Peace once again reigns in Tien, and hopefully some positive change will come of all this. And to top it all off, we seem to have dealt with Abigail, and the mystery behind her has finally been revealed. I'll get to that in a bit.
I rejoined the others in the Imperial City after my short break with Echo, and we stayed there a few days, helping to arrange the peace talks and planning our trap for Abigail. Charles and I would be mediating the peace talks, with Charles in the lead and me just backing him up. In order to mitigate any damage Abigail might be able to do, Sonny reshaped the existence of the posh meeting place where the talks would be taking place, imbuing the site with an effect that would neutralize any undirected chaos. Elisa, Sonny, and Pierre would contribute to security, and we also got Natalia on loan from the citizen to help out…though we mainly needed her as a scapegoat. (_>). Adam ran "mission control" from a separate chamber, keeping an eye on things and keeping us all up to date on any problems.
It turns out Elisa has a relic that proved to be our ace in the hole, a small obsidian hand mirror that always shows someone's true form. We hid it in the entry chamber, cleverly concealed so that Elisa could keep an eye on it as people arrived to see if anyone wasn't whom they seemed to be. Abigail, of course, might use her illusions or shapeshifting abilities to masquerade as someone else, but she would look like T-Bone in the mirror, since they are one and the same.
Our plan was for me to trap Abigail by entrancing her once she appeared. Pierre would then use his Cheval powers to absorb her (which should be possible since T-Bone is wearing one of the conjure bags that lets Cheval powers work on us if we allow it. But capturing Abigail was only part of the plan.
The rest of the plan was to make it look like Abigail was a hero for our side, a double agent who was really working against Hundun all along. This would burn her bridges to the titan and force her to accept her fate as T-Bone's harmonious alter ego. To do this, we decided that T-Bone would take her place (in whatever disguise she wore). Then, at some point during the peace talks, he would use his illusions to make it seem like Sonny was really Abigail in disguise. Natalia would then try to kill public enemy #1 with a precise shot, at which point T-Bone, as Abigail, would save the day before escaping, proving whose side she's really on.
A little flimsy? Well, maybe, but we're gods. A little trickery and the right words in the right ears, and we can make pretty much anything happen.
I'm pleased to report that it all worked like a charm. (^_^). The peace talks lasted all day, but we caught Abigail right off the bat. She entered along with Fu Xi and Nu Wa's entourage. She was disguised as Fu Xi himself. But she wasn't the only fake. Da Ji was being played by Pipa Jing, and Da Li was being playing by Da Ji. I can only assume Da Ji wanted to be as safe and secure as she could in case things went down poorly. (>_<)
But the most surprising thing is that Guan Yu didn't show up as himself either. Instead, he was played by Sun Wukong. We realized pretty quickly that Guan Yu must have sent Sun Wukong in his place for security reasons, though he must have a lot of trust in him to put something so important on Sun Wukong's shoulders.
Anyway, I intercepted Fu Xi and Nu Wa's entourage and guided them toward their seats, leading them away from the other gathering delegates. I was quite flattering until I used my compelling presence to entrance Abigail, and "Fu Xi" stopped dead, just staring at me. Before Nu Wa could object, I quickly and quietly explained what was going on. Nu Wa became very grave at that point, and Pipa Jing revealed herself and grew a monstrous mouth as she moved to swallow Abigail whole.
Fortunately Pierre was on hand immediately to stop her, and I moved away and made myself the center of attention to draw the gaze of everyone elseaway from Pierre as he quickly and quietly inhaled Abigail's body and spirit. T-Bone was perched in Natalia's sniper's nest with her outside the meeting hall, and on right on cue he manifested a duplicate looking like Fu Xi. Only the most perceptive gods in attendance might have noticed something amiss, but if so, they didn't show it.
With that taken care of, the peace talks got underway. I was very worried about what might have become of the real Fu Xi, though, so I manifested another of my duplicates outside of the meeting hall to find out where he was.
The peace talks went as well as could be expected. There was a lot of bickering, but Charles managed to keep things under control and we made a lot of headway. About an hour into the proceedings, the real Fu Xi came winding through the streets of the Imperial city in dragon form, his flowing robes fluttering around him. I rushed to meet him so that he wouldn't burst into the negotiations and ruin our clever deception. Personally, I was just glad he hadn't been harmed. Who knows what Abigail is capable of…
I couldn't help but ask what had delayed him, and he admitted with some embarrassment that he had to disentangle himself from his stepdaughter, Da Li. Apparently she had been trying to seduce him! I asked her about it later and she said that her mother had suggested doing so in order to gain some leverage over Fu Xi…but obviously Da Ji didn't actually do that. Abigail strikes again. (>_<)
Anyway, it seemed a good time to spring our "trap," so T-Bone hit Sonny with an illusion to make it seem like he was Abigail in a briefly flawed disguise, and Natalia took her shot! Two of them, actually. T-Bone, as the fake Fu Xi, then revealed himself to be Abigail St. Croix, and tackled Sonny to spare him from the shot, barely "saving" Sonny's life. Sun Wukong also revealed himself in order to save his son, and caught Natalia's second bullet in his teeth. Show off. (^_^). Sonny was saved, and as far as anyone could tell, Natalia had tried to assassinate one of the Buracracy gods! Needless to say, the T-Bone that was with Natalia encouraged her to get away while she still could, and she fled. Meanwhile, "Abigail" also fled, having done her job and not wanting to be around to answer any uncomfortable questions.
The event caused a lot of excitement, and then the real Fu Xi arrived just in time to give the scene the dramatic impact it needed. (^_^). Charles and I tried to calm things down as much as we could, and T-Bone and I explained to the gathered gods that Abigail's recent actions now all made sense. It seems she was a double agent working against Hundun after all. I even reinforced the suggestion with legend to make sure our spin on the attack caught on throughout the Imperial City. Word will certainly get back to Hundun, so he's not likely to trust Abigail ever again.
Once things calmed down, the peace talks resumed, though there was some question about whether it was appropriate to continue without Guan Yu. Fortunately, he arrived to complete the negotiations.
In the end, the rebels got many of their demands. Not all, of course. There has to be a bit of compromise. But Nu Wa has been appointed as the head of a Ministry for Internal Reform, so I'm pretty sure well see some good changes in the Bureaucracy. And among other things, the return of the reshaped immortals and scions has been made official. I look forward to greeting the long lost Amatsukami youkai and scions when they return to Japan.
So, all's well that ends well. Another triumph for the dynamic duo of diplomacy, Charles and Erika! Yay! (^_^) Now if we can just get our pantheons to make nice-nice with each other, we'll be in business.
Well, after the peace talks were over, my friends and I withdrew to more private quarters in the Imperial City. Pierre coughed up Abigail and we had a long heart-to-heart with her. It didn't really go like I expected, though. Basically, she said that she'd been created by T-Bone to act as a spy, getting close to Hundun to learn his secrets in order to betray him…and she has tons of intelligence that we'll be handing over to the Bureaucracy. It should make a big impact in the war. Then Abigail faded away.
It would have been hard to believe her after all of her mischief, but T-Bone got all her memories and confirmed that what she said was true. He did this to himself, and it was a very dangerous game. But it worked. I gotta hand it to him, I'm impressed. I'd be a hypocrite to criticize his methods given some of the plans I have in the works. Still, I don't like him playing with his own mind like that.
Anyway, we explained to T-Bone our theories on his fate regarding Abigail, and he thinks she might return, but only as a benevolent (though mischievous) alter ego that will manifest when T-Bone accepts his father's legacy and becomes a dual deity like Kalfu and Legba. There was one lingering mystery in all of this, but it's a good mystery, given the alternative. It turns out that Abigail (and thus T-Bone), was not the one who raped and nearly killed Siobhan. We don't know who did, but it's good to know T-Bone didn't do such an awful, unforgivable thing.
In other news, Natalia has been removed from the Imperial City for the time being, but the Rus and the Bureaucracy managed to smooth over her little "mistake." Even so, it was kinda nice to sock one to the Citizen. (^_^) I'm such a bad girl.
Whew. Well, it'll be nice to take a break from all this craziness. I have a tour to finish! But I think it's also time I met back up with my vampire associates. I'm sure Suchette is craving a taste of my blood, and I'd like to cement my connection to the Brain Devouring Princess.
I rejoined the others in the Imperial City after my short break with Echo, and we stayed there a few days, helping to arrange the peace talks and planning our trap for Abigail. Charles and I would be mediating the peace talks, with Charles in the lead and me just backing him up. In order to mitigate any damage Abigail might be able to do, Sonny reshaped the existence of the posh meeting place where the talks would be taking place, imbuing the site with an effect that would neutralize any undirected chaos. Elisa, Sonny, and Pierre would contribute to security, and we also got Natalia on loan from the citizen to help out…though we mainly needed her as a scapegoat. (_>). Adam ran "mission control" from a separate chamber, keeping an eye on things and keeping us all up to date on any problems.
It turns out Elisa has a relic that proved to be our ace in the hole, a small obsidian hand mirror that always shows someone's true form. We hid it in the entry chamber, cleverly concealed so that Elisa could keep an eye on it as people arrived to see if anyone wasn't whom they seemed to be. Abigail, of course, might use her illusions or shapeshifting abilities to masquerade as someone else, but she would look like T-Bone in the mirror, since they are one and the same.
Our plan was for me to trap Abigail by entrancing her once she appeared. Pierre would then use his Cheval powers to absorb her (which should be possible since T-Bone is wearing one of the conjure bags that lets Cheval powers work on us if we allow it. But capturing Abigail was only part of the plan.
The rest of the plan was to make it look like Abigail was a hero for our side, a double agent who was really working against Hundun all along. This would burn her bridges to the titan and force her to accept her fate as T-Bone's harmonious alter ego. To do this, we decided that T-Bone would take her place (in whatever disguise she wore). Then, at some point during the peace talks, he would use his illusions to make it seem like Sonny was really Abigail in disguise. Natalia would then try to kill public enemy #1 with a precise shot, at which point T-Bone, as Abigail, would save the day before escaping, proving whose side she's really on.
A little flimsy? Well, maybe, but we're gods. A little trickery and the right words in the right ears, and we can make pretty much anything happen.
I'm pleased to report that it all worked like a charm. (^_^). The peace talks lasted all day, but we caught Abigail right off the bat. She entered along with Fu Xi and Nu Wa's entourage. She was disguised as Fu Xi himself. But she wasn't the only fake. Da Ji was being played by Pipa Jing, and Da Li was being playing by Da Ji. I can only assume Da Ji wanted to be as safe and secure as she could in case things went down poorly. (>_<)
But the most surprising thing is that Guan Yu didn't show up as himself either. Instead, he was played by Sun Wukong. We realized pretty quickly that Guan Yu must have sent Sun Wukong in his place for security reasons, though he must have a lot of trust in him to put something so important on Sun Wukong's shoulders.
Anyway, I intercepted Fu Xi and Nu Wa's entourage and guided them toward their seats, leading them away from the other gathering delegates. I was quite flattering until I used my compelling presence to entrance Abigail, and "Fu Xi" stopped dead, just staring at me. Before Nu Wa could object, I quickly and quietly explained what was going on. Nu Wa became very grave at that point, and Pipa Jing revealed herself and grew a monstrous mouth as she moved to swallow Abigail whole.
Fortunately Pierre was on hand immediately to stop her, and I moved away and made myself the center of attention to draw the gaze of everyone elseaway from Pierre as he quickly and quietly inhaled Abigail's body and spirit. T-Bone was perched in Natalia's sniper's nest with her outside the meeting hall, and on right on cue he manifested a duplicate looking like Fu Xi. Only the most perceptive gods in attendance might have noticed something amiss, but if so, they didn't show it.
With that taken care of, the peace talks got underway. I was very worried about what might have become of the real Fu Xi, though, so I manifested another of my duplicates outside of the meeting hall to find out where he was.
The peace talks went as well as could be expected. There was a lot of bickering, but Charles managed to keep things under control and we made a lot of headway. About an hour into the proceedings, the real Fu Xi came winding through the streets of the Imperial city in dragon form, his flowing robes fluttering around him. I rushed to meet him so that he wouldn't burst into the negotiations and ruin our clever deception. Personally, I was just glad he hadn't been harmed. Who knows what Abigail is capable of…
I couldn't help but ask what had delayed him, and he admitted with some embarrassment that he had to disentangle himself from his stepdaughter, Da Li. Apparently she had been trying to seduce him! I asked her about it later and she said that her mother had suggested doing so in order to gain some leverage over Fu Xi…but obviously Da Ji didn't actually do that. Abigail strikes again. (>_<)
Anyway, it seemed a good time to spring our "trap," so T-Bone hit Sonny with an illusion to make it seem like he was Abigail in a briefly flawed disguise, and Natalia took her shot! Two of them, actually. T-Bone, as the fake Fu Xi, then revealed himself to be Abigail St. Croix, and tackled Sonny to spare him from the shot, barely "saving" Sonny's life. Sun Wukong also revealed himself in order to save his son, and caught Natalia's second bullet in his teeth. Show off. (^_^). Sonny was saved, and as far as anyone could tell, Natalia had tried to assassinate one of the Buracracy gods! Needless to say, the T-Bone that was with Natalia encouraged her to get away while she still could, and she fled. Meanwhile, "Abigail" also fled, having done her job and not wanting to be around to answer any uncomfortable questions.
The event caused a lot of excitement, and then the real Fu Xi arrived just in time to give the scene the dramatic impact it needed. (^_^). Charles and I tried to calm things down as much as we could, and T-Bone and I explained to the gathered gods that Abigail's recent actions now all made sense. It seems she was a double agent working against Hundun after all. I even reinforced the suggestion with legend to make sure our spin on the attack caught on throughout the Imperial City. Word will certainly get back to Hundun, so he's not likely to trust Abigail ever again.
Once things calmed down, the peace talks resumed, though there was some question about whether it was appropriate to continue without Guan Yu. Fortunately, he arrived to complete the negotiations.
In the end, the rebels got many of their demands. Not all, of course. There has to be a bit of compromise. But Nu Wa has been appointed as the head of a Ministry for Internal Reform, so I'm pretty sure well see some good changes in the Bureaucracy. And among other things, the return of the reshaped immortals and scions has been made official. I look forward to greeting the long lost Amatsukami youkai and scions when they return to Japan.
So, all's well that ends well. Another triumph for the dynamic duo of diplomacy, Charles and Erika! Yay! (^_^) Now if we can just get our pantheons to make nice-nice with each other, we'll be in business.
Well, after the peace talks were over, my friends and I withdrew to more private quarters in the Imperial City. Pierre coughed up Abigail and we had a long heart-to-heart with her. It didn't really go like I expected, though. Basically, she said that she'd been created by T-Bone to act as a spy, getting close to Hundun to learn his secrets in order to betray him…and she has tons of intelligence that we'll be handing over to the Bureaucracy. It should make a big impact in the war. Then Abigail faded away.
It would have been hard to believe her after all of her mischief, but T-Bone got all her memories and confirmed that what she said was true. He did this to himself, and it was a very dangerous game. But it worked. I gotta hand it to him, I'm impressed. I'd be a hypocrite to criticize his methods given some of the plans I have in the works. Still, I don't like him playing with his own mind like that.
Anyway, we explained to T-Bone our theories on his fate regarding Abigail, and he thinks she might return, but only as a benevolent (though mischievous) alter ego that will manifest when T-Bone accepts his father's legacy and becomes a dual deity like Kalfu and Legba. There was one lingering mystery in all of this, but it's a good mystery, given the alternative. It turns out that Abigail (and thus T-Bone), was not the one who raped and nearly killed Siobhan. We don't know who did, but it's good to know T-Bone didn't do such an awful, unforgivable thing.
In other news, Natalia has been removed from the Imperial City for the time being, but the Rus and the Bureaucracy managed to smooth over her little "mistake." Even so, it was kinda nice to sock one to the Citizen. (^_^) I'm such a bad girl.
Whew. Well, it'll be nice to take a break from all this craziness. I have a tour to finish! But I think it's also time I met back up with my vampire associates. I'm sure Suchette is craving a taste of my blood, and I'd like to cement my connection to the Brain Devouring Princess.