Another day, another underworld

One day, we're going to go somewhere nice.  Maybe a beach.  For all it's issues, Troy was nice.  And then...two underworld's in a row, an argument with the High Court...I knew I was cursed.  This is what I get for opening my mouth so many times.  Fate has it in for me.  What am I supposed to do about it?  I could curse Fate, but that's just piss her off.  So, I'll continue as is - grumbling to myself and occasionally ranting about it.  But no direct attacks.  I'm not -stupid-, after all.

Andrew guided us along the thread to the first dock on Duat's river.  Once we had our boots on the ground, we headed towards the first actual gate.  Something is wrong down here.  Which is not a surprise, really.  We only had to fight and bind a giant snake in Hel's own house, why would anything ever go simply?  Lexi, the little mook, tried to get us to go faffing about.  Put my foot down on that, and Andrew backed me up.  Anyway.  What was wrong was that there weren't Pesedjet spirits down here.  Not just them.  A ton of the Abrahamic religion followers had their spirits lined up.  Given what we saw in Helheim, I'm starting to suspect there's similar trouble down here.  Especially given that the bloody Dodekatheon is mucking around with Nyx.  I'm starting to understand why the Dagda wants to kick Zeus' sorry ass so hard, now.  They're all idiots, save a remarkable few.

A sphinx had the temerity to growl at Rufus.  Rufus.  The most suave and debonair wolf to ever live.  I gave him the bloody tophat and monocle to prove it!  What do I need to do, get the man a pipe?  He is a gentleman.  Unless I was right and they did think he was cute.  I probably was.  It is Rufus, after all.  Any talks with the sphinx or it's other half?  Mate?  Fellow guard?  Whatever.  Those talks never had to happen.  Kebauet prevented that.  The band talked to her for a time before she pointed us on.  Imhotep himself...well.    Took some talking to, but we did convince him to come with us.  Of course, while we were debating, Apep's assassin's started infiltrating and getting in close to us.  In the spirit of not faffing about when we're all about to be murdered, made the call to just get our asses in gear.  We're headed up.  There could be more...temporal issues, but it's better then having to pick our way through a metric ton of traps.

This ferry doesn't lead to Skara Brae, Avatar

Suppose I can't blame them.

The spirits, I mean.  Not having a death-tuned godling at the helm, much less one not of the Pesedjet, was something to bitch over.  Mind, I was irritated at the time.  However, it does make sense.  And I figured out where they really wanted me - at the rails watching for trouble.  Very little really happened.  Saw another barge with some of the Pesedjet on them.

Everything else is really covered in the official report.  I'm still not comfortable with this Isis business, though. 'She of the Throne'?  Really?  I can see about a thousand different places Fate could be steering me on this, and none of them are anything I really want to deal with.  Guess we'll just have to see how it goes, though.  Still haven't had time to really talk to Artemis after everything.  Dad's stupid horses took us straight to Egypt. But...given how long she's actually been a goddess, it's probably nothing to fret over.  Pity I can't get them to hit Goras' troops from behind.  Slow them up even more, but...I think this fight is going to be settled under the Sphinx's gaze.  Proverbially.  Hopefully not literally.

Not really much else to get into.  Not without this degenerating into brainless rambling about random crap.  Shouldn't take too long to finish up here...of course, I fully expect there to be a fight or five.  We got down here far too easily.  But nothing for it yet.  Just have to wait for Fate to turn around and bite us square in the ass on it.

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.