World 2-1

Well, Egypt got off to an absolutely smashing start.  Everyone else seems to have pulled their stuff off but me and Kenny.  Which is good.  Don't get me wrong.  It's just frustrating as hell that we were the only ones to run into someone being as pigheaded as Nuada.  It's going to make my life easier in the end, especially the apperant reasonableness of the Yazata.  If they'd tried to bunker up too...ugh.  Doesn't bear thinking on.

And I may have vented off some of my frustrations on the Pesedjet liason.  Probably shouldn't have, but anyone who had to deal with the politics of the High Court probably would've felt the same.  This is why I wish I hadn't stuck my foot in my mouth and got Fate's attention.  She's being a royal bitch and a half, and I've nobody to blame but myself.

I do, however, still think the Egyptians are giving us the job we have now as a way to A) Get us out of their way, and B) Get the Greeks amongst us killed.  I highly doubt they're going to sell us out unless Aphrodite shows up and mind-whammies them anyway.  I do see where they're coming from...but for fuck's sake, a little honesty would be preferable to the hooplah about 'not having the resources'.  Bullshit on that.  The Greeks only have so many approaches they can take, and all the Egyptians have to do is hold until the head of the snake can be cut off.  Even with one of those approaches being through Nyx herself.  The other option is something else I mentioned - the Pesedjet and their mortal allies dropped the ball on their defenses so catastrophically they actually don't have the numbers to hold the walls and sent a sallying party out to deal with the nonsense we got fobbed off on us.

And while I freely admit I shouldn't have called Kahi out on that so openly.  Should've been handled quietly while the others are getting ready.  Even if she's one of the ones who completely disregard anything the mortals can possibly do.  And, yes, I fully intend to render an apology to the woman once we're done with the job.  But for the love of Pete, a bit more honesty wouldn't have killed them either.  If we're going to win this, we have to be honest with each other.  Sometimes the bloody truth hurts.

The task.  We're escorting some nublets out with us to go make contact with the guardians of Imhotep's tomb.  They want their best architect on the job of building more defenses against the Dodeks.  Makes sense.  Tricky bit...each of the ladies in the band has to take the 'place' of one the defending goddesses in a ritual to summon Imhotep's soul from the underworld.  And to go back to something above...guess how I know Fate's been fucking with me personally?

After all of this, I am, as Andrew suggested, to emboy Isis.  She of the Throne.  Yeah, Fate.  I'm looking right at you, you colossal bitch.

Kicking the Hornet's Nest

Well.  Three years.  Tch.  With orders given and tasks passed out, we split to take care of business before meeting up again in Egypt.  Me and Kennedy headed to the High Court.  Apperantly, Nuada was none too happy with what I've been up to of late.  Which is no surprise.  Fucking jackass.

No, no.  I've been bitter enough.  It's not going to help things when the situation smooths itself out.  Pops is right about that, at least, even if he is still a dingbat.  So.  The skinny version is it didn't go well.  Not how I wanted, anyway, but I may have achieved a victory just as important as full Tuatha backing.  Thing is, Fimbulvinter had been affecting the Tuatha as well - by the time I reached Tir na nOg, Nuada's heart had been hardened by the coming storm.  None of my words reached him, and all he had to spare was anger at some 'young upstart'.

But the saving grace was others jumped in on my team.  While last I heard, Ogma was still at the King's side, I know for certain that the Dagda, the Morrigan, and my father and sister stood with me.  I suspect there were others, but the final scene before me and Kennedy had to flee the Court was a massive brawl.  Better then the long, drawn out fighting going on for Olympus.  Get everyone's issues sorted out now.  Hopefully it will mean that by the time all is said and done, Nuada will have been shaken from his stupor and recall what I said.  And hopefully that will be before the last march on Olympus comes.  We don't need an army yet.  Once Goras is dealt with, Zeus' primary spearhead will be broken.  And with luck, he comes to our side.  Like I'd been trying to do in the first place.

I just hope Hal and the others were a bit more successful.

Back to the Future

Mission accomplished.  Helheim saved, Kur bound again, one undead army ready to fuck shit up at my command as soon as I get ahold of Loki again.  Good times.

Not sure what there is to tell about the binding itself.  Well, Andrew almost got himself killed by Kur doing it.  He's tougher than he looks.  Still kind of amuses me that I conned a bone golem Kur summoned into hugging him because Kur was sad.  Gave us the time needed to finish the job and collect ourselves after the battle.  And, bonus, Lexi didn't try to get us killed anymore.  Lovely!

Vayu did...something that kicked our ichor up another gear.  Guess I shouldn't complain, but a little warning would've been nice.  Got a rather nice meal out of the bargain from Hel, too, even if she was being creeper-polite to me at the feast.  Especially after apologizing for making a mess of her hall during the fight.  I think Fate is just using me as it's personal soap opera now.  But given that I'd pretty much accepted it was going to, I shouldn't be surprised.

Then...well, again, something that shouldn't surprise.  According to every newspaper and my phone's auto-update on time, it's 2015.  It looks like Greece is at odds with the EU, and has been since we 'vanished'.  Looks like I was right about how exactly this is going to play out, even though I expected it to come to blows far more quickly.  Outright warfare doesn't look like it's occured just yet.  That...gives me time.  I'm going to have to check in with Artemis and Ares, see how their end is going and get them on patching my not-dead army back together.  Then Loki to prepare the undead army.  Kenny to get ahold of Steiner about arming them.  Then while that's all being taken care of...I think I'm going to be expected at the High Court.  This is not going to be a fun thing to explain.

Why does it have to be snakes?

Well.

We had been listening to Vayu rage at Hel.  God, that guy is a prick.  I can almost understand why Hal hates him.  And Lexi, being an idiot, decides he's someone to play nicey-nice with instead of letting Hal handle things.  Which goes...fine, I guess.

And then, Kur busts in like the goddamn Kool-Aid man.

Even picking apart it's weaknesses, that thing is too damn big to actually hurt.  Not with the artillery we have, anyway, which is kind of depressing.  I might need to visit the Space Pope and see about getting one of those rocket launchers.  In any case...while Andrew, Hal, and Captain Asshat tried to bind Kur, the rest of us, Hel included, held back the waves of the undead Kur summoned up.  And, of course, Lexi tried to get us all killed, -again-, by not focusing her mojo on just Kur.  I'm almost starting to wonder if she's not really on her mother's side after all.

Picked up a scratch, but nothing worth worrying over.  Then...the awesome happened.  Cindy kicked the next wave up into the air, and Kennedy just grabbed their shadows, and shadows from the blood river flying upward, to pin them into place.  Then...I reached for what I felt at Avalon, when I was using Arthur's shield to hold back the defenses Vayu's people had put into place.  Rather then merely strip them of the power that bound them to unlife, the beam of light vaporized them beyond any hope of recovery.

Then I remembered some of the old stories about Hel.  I hope I don't have some kind of creepy stalker now.

Just Add Water

Well, that was easy.  The hike might've been a pain in the ass, but the actual job?  I don't know, it feels like we just blew right through the undead, the well, everything.  I have to admit, everyone actually came together and got something done.  It's amazing what we can do when we all actually work.  Now, of course, the other side of the coin.  Do I expect this trend to continue?  No, not really.  But there's not much I can do, at any rate, right now.  A few compliments here and there to make sure people realize working helps.  Who knows?

Reported back to the Norns when we were done.  It went...well enough, I guess.  Nothing horrible.  We're off to Helheim itself now.  It's going to get cold - exceptionally so, but between me and Kennedy, we can hunt up enough beasties to get us some serious cold weather gear made before actually venturing in.  It's going to be...a pain in the ass once we get there.  It's an underworld, not a place meant for the living to trespass.

Going to let Hal take point on this one.  It's his mother, after all.  He's more likely to be received non-violently as well.  But I don't worry too much.  If something untoward had happened, it's unlikely access would have been limited.  My guess is things would be far, far worse, and the dead would already be wandering the earth blindly.  I'll keep an eye on things, of course, but I'm not concerned.

Besides, I've still got to work on how to resolve this Armageddon mess.  The Norse might be out, but we ought to have enough contacts elsewhere without having to deal with anyone we don't know.

We Don't Need No Water

Well, we seem to have fuckered up things even more.

That whole 'stopping Ragnarok' business seems to be the cornerstone of what's causing most of the issues.  And apperantly, the best way to go about fixing it is setting off another apocalypse, on that scale.  Which probably means nothing so base as simply jacking into the weapon stockpiles of every ICBM equipped nation and going all Skynet on the planet.  There's a few possibilities - simply restarting Ragnarok is one.  There are other pantheons with other 'end of the world' myths.  Time, at least on that front, is something we do have for right now.  But something that also will need to be done is shoring up as many pantheons and mortal centers as possible, which makes this situation with Olympus figure more prominently.  And makes meeting with the Court all that much more important.

But, that all comes later.  We still have to do what Loki asked us to.  And before we can get to Helheim, we have to figure out and set right the World Tree.  The 'figure out' part really wasn't that hard - the Norns pointed us right at this well that we discovered was the heart of the issue.  We hashed out how to deal with that - the plan's pretty solid.  I'm going to be playing distraction on this one - without any high explosives or the like, I'm not gonna be much good on the end Hal is running.  Not too worried about that end, either.  For all his issues, Hal is good at busting shit up.

That aside...personal musing time again.  This leadership nonsense has been on my mind a lot.  That, and fate itself.  And all the horrible possibilities.  It's been...difficult to put into words.  I guess ultimately it's the same reason I started this nonsense with Olympus.  Nobody else was really trying to do things right.  And if someone doesn't step up to the plate, who will?  With the Greeks...and possibly even the Tuatha.  If I have to start cracking skulls at home, or just simply doing the jobs myself, I will.  I hope it doesn't come to that in either case - I'd far rather have a true daughter of Greece on the throne of Olympus, and if things are as bad with the entirety of the Court as Hal said pops was...blegh.  I'm doomed, I know it.  Fate's probably sitting back and rubbing her hands together, cackling madly.

Which all ties into the next issue.  The ties to the forge I've noticed since pops walked into my shop are...mushy.  Shifting elsewhere.  I could nudge them if I wanted, I'm sure of that much and conferring with Artemis seems to confirm it.  I think I even know where it wants to go, and her suggestion lies on that path too.  But reaching more for the Sun...just going to have Fate screw with me more.  Especially at home, and my quest to find the sword.

But hell.  Like I said...it's going that way.  I'm probably going to push it that way - it'd fit better with Artemis, too.  I'm terrified of the prospect, but if that makes Fate decide I'm going to get more dropped on my lap because of it, then fine.  Someone else might get it wrong.

Threads

That was a long, annoying climb.  It was initially uneventful, too, after we strapped Lexi to Cindy's back.  Then, of course, someone decided to screw with us.  A couple of massive snake-critters showed up.  Bit one of the goonsquad in half, but he'll be back.  They weren't even really all that tough once they were pinned down and we put some fire into them.

Problem being, Lexi took a hit from a breath attack.  And she ain't as tough as the rest of us.  I did what I could, but it wasn't really much.  I'm not a mystic healer.  In the end, we had to keep moving.  The corpses would start to smell up the joint and draw more attention soon.  So with Lexi secured again, we kept moving down.  No real way to tell, but I'd put my wagers on a week or so lost to the climb.

And, waiting for us at the bottom?  Agents of fate.  The Norns, in this case.  We screwed things up a bit, it seems, and tangled up Fate's web when we stopped Ragnarok.  I really should've seen this coming, but I'm no seeress, either.  But....they aren't simply going to cut the threads and be done with it.  More damage, I think.  But we do get another idiotic quest to help repair the damage that's already done.  Joy.