Rifts Adventure IC

[Psychie]

Terra looks over at Morrolan and says, "Thanks a lot. You just jinxed us to have a real shit show for our next step. Let's get to Olympus and get this spear piece out of our hands and somewhere safer. Then wet can get to China and see how bad things will be now that we've been screwed by our friend here."

 

[Sherwood]

Your return to Olympus is easy and uneventful, and you are met by the Goddess Artemis herself, since such an important task of getting the spear is not left to just anyone, especially with agents of Ares out and about that might try to stop you in your efforts.

She escorts you to the forge of Hephaestus where the god of blacksmiths himself takes the spear fragment, saying to Artemis that there are few places as safe as his workshop to store the spear piece anywhere in the multi-verse, so to be at ease while they wait for you to retrieve the next piece.

In the magic rich environment of the realm of the gods, you are able to recover your spent ppe in record time, and a short rest and good food helps with that task, too. You are now physically restored to full power and mystic energy and ready to make your next jump into the unknown.

With your eyes on the fragment in China, a portal is opened by Artemis to spare your own ppe that you may need at your destination. Just like the last time you did this, the one fragment you have has led you close to where the next piece is.

Before you go through the portal, you can activate any spells or mystic tattoos you wish using the ppe-rich environment of Olympus to provide the first 20 points of any spell effect you wish. Just make sure you declare what is being activated and be aware of the duration of any spell or tattoo.

Purr Psychie Rykon

 

[Psychie]

With the yeti taken back to the mountains from where it came from (probably, at least) and the spear fragment in safe hands in Olympus, Terra is quite glad for the break long enough to get some good food in her and to restore her spent mystic energy. She is also quite happy that the first leg of this quest went off so easily, even if it were really gross going inside the yeti like they did. Terra also continues to razz Morrolan about how he has jinxed their efforts to be that much harder, not being truly serious in her displeasure. She kew that this was no cake walk when she accepted this quest. They got lucky with the yeti.

When it comes time to leave for China, the Atlantean stands ready to go with her defenses raised, half expecting a brutal fight right out of the gate. To that end, she draws her rune blade and has her shield on her other arm, and with a thought she activates several of her tattoos. Turning to look at her companions, she asks, "Well, my friends, are you ready for this?"

Rykon Purr Silanon

OOC Terra will use her Power Matrix Tattoo to activate her Invulnerablility tattoo to double its duration to three hours. That costs me 25 ppe. Then I'll turn on my Blazing Comet for the high speed flight, and the duration for that is four and a half hours for 20 more ppe. Finally, I'll once more use my Power Matrix to activate my Supernatural Strength boost for 15 more ppe.

Spoiler

Base MDC: 390
Invulnerability MDC: 675
Blazing Comet Force Field: 180
PPE: 264 / 214
Power Matrix: 90 / 80
PPE Battery: 50
PPE Battery: 50
PPE Battery: 100

Bonus Points: 10

Number of Attacks: 7 (8 Attacks vs Vampires/Undead or Demons/Supernatural Evil)
Strike: +13 (+19 with rune blade)
Parry: +11 (Only +9 vs ranged attacks with the rune shield)
Dodge: +10
Roll: +11
Save vs. Magic: +1
Initiative: +7
Perception: +6, +9 vs Vampires and the Undead
Horror Factor: +9 to Save, +11 vs dragons
Critical Strike on a natural 19-20
Critical Strike from behind
Damage: +3
Death Blow on a natural 19-20

 

[Purr]

Psychie Rykon Sherwood

Earlier...

Snowfall called upon Inari's aid to find the lone Yeti a safe place in the breathtaking Himalayan mountain range with the rest of his species. There was no guarantee the big furry creature would not be cursed again by way of not finding any sign of his own kind.

Only when it was clear that the lone yeti was in as reasonable a position as it could be for his own survival and success was Snowfall even close to being satisfied. If he but had the time, the rascally kitsune would have found some way to find the creatures own family.

But this was the best he could do.

His palms pressed together, his head bowed in deep prayer in the direction of the lone yeti, Snowfall asks for the blessings of the spirits both Japanese and non-Japanese today this creature and living a full and happy life.

His spiritual prayer complete, but his oath to Athena fulfilled, he joins the others and returns to Mount Olympus.

As Snowfall dines and rests, he tries to ask around to anyone in all of Olympus who might have any news about China. Snowfall's own pantheon was far from the only great gathering of deities who do not have their messengers all over the Megaverse.

* * *​

Now.

Turning to look at her companions, she asks, "Well, my friends, are you ready for this?"

"Almost," Snowfall says from his human form of a short, handsome, and slim 30-year-old Japanese man. Appearing charming and well-dressed in his brown and red kimono, he ties his hair into a neat ponytail behind him with a small red ribbon.

"The Yama Kings? Guys and gal, they are no joke." Snowfall then summarizes what he knows about the Yama Kings to the party.

OOC: What he knows, of course, is up to our Game Master. =) Sherwood?

 

[Sherwood]

The long and the short of it is that the Yama Kings are a bunch of very powerful beings, most of which are ranked in the extremely bad person category. If you are dealing with even one of these beings, it is going to be a very nasty fight, since their power and status in the Celestial Courts mean that they have a multitude of servants that are no slouches in power, either.

If you are lucky, you won't be crossing paths with even one of the lesser one of these horrible things, and the spear fragment is not in their possession at all.

The only bit of good news is that your rune weapons are going to be particularly effective in dealing with any of the supernatural monsters that you are likely to run into, having been made by forces of light and good, so their blades will do grievous damage to them and their minions.

 

[Psychie]

As Terra listens to Snowfall's description of the Yama Kings, she does her best to hide the displeasure she is starting to feel, and instead embrace the confidence she usually feels when she considers all that she and her companions have done and lived to tell the tale of. Hell, they destroyed a Vampire Intelligence together! Not many beings can claim to have done that! If there is any hope for Athena, we cannot fail in our task. If Apollo and Artemis didn't think we were up to the task, they wouldn't have approached us. We can do this. We have to do this or Athena will die.

Taking a deep breath, she tosses her long hair back with one hand and says, "Ok. We knew going into this quest that things weren't going to be easy. There is a choice before us: go forward or call it quits? I am all for doing this, but I fully understand if you guys have some second thoughts. This next leg of our journey could be our last. I have to believe that we can do this, or why would we have been picked for this difficult task?"

Terra then says, "I am going to give it my best shot, and I hope that the three of you will stand with me in this. What do you say? Are we going to face a nearly impossible task and give up, or are we going to make some legends of our own to be told throughout the ages?" She holds out her hand to the others, Snowfall, Zephiron, and Morrolan, with a grin, hoping that they will take her hand and say that they were in this to the end.

Rykon Purr Silanon

 

[Sherwood]

Morrolan offers up a smile, saying, "My dear Terra! I am pleased to stand against the forces of evil at your side, especially when I owe you my own life when you saved me from the Aishwarra. I would be a poorer man for not having you as my friend. You need not ask, for I am always with you." He turns to add Snowfall and Zephiron in his comments. "All of you are dear friends to me, and I would be ashamed to stand aside when you ask for my aid."

Purr Rykon Silanon Psychie

 

[Purr]

Psychie Rykon Sherwood (Time to get a little deep for my Japanese foxiest of characters!)

Terra then says, "I am going to give it my best shot, and I hope that the three of you will stand with me in this. What do you say? Are we going to face a nearly impossible task and give up, or are we going to make some legends of our own to be told throughout the ages?" She holds out her hand to the others, Snowfall, Zephiron, and Morrolan, with a grin, hoping that they will take her hand and say that they were in this to the end.

Snowfall feels Terra's argument is every bit the kind of argument one could make to an Atlantean. She expressed it rightly as one of her proud race would address others of her kind (at least in Snowfall's opinion). That Morrolan is in agreement does not at all surprise Snowfall as elves and Atlanteans had long thought alike on no small amount of matters. Becoming a legend in one's time is all too common among dragonkind, both Eastern and Western, so he imagines that mighty Zeph will be swayed if he is not already of a mind to join. After all, Zeph, despite his youthful appearance, shows every sign of becoming a true and natural dragon with all of the ego-driven instincts of his breed.

But Snowfall the Kitsune is none of these things. As a Japanese fox-spirit, he of all present is closest to understanding what it means to take on and defy the likes of a Yama King. Without showing it, he feels very strongly that Terra speaks largely from understandable ignorance when she calls this a "nearly impossible task."

This is no game to Snowfall. The Christians of Western theology have one Hell. A single Hell where one burns and burns in agony for all eternity with no respite, the flesh literally roasting off the skin and bones of every hapless soul who dwells there. So too the Norse Gods and their version of Hell where Hela the Goddess of Death waits to blast the souls of the living to their unending sorrows. Even the Greek Gods and the Egyptians, the list goes on and on.

But the Chinese? Oh no. The Chinese have more than one Hell. More than a dozen. The Chinese Hells number into the hundreds, each with its very own specialization in soul-rending torture. It is Snowfall's belief that none there know this better than the Yama Kings. To fall here is not to simply fail and die. To succumb to a Yama King is to live on as whatever they desire for as long as they desire. And a gathering of unusual people like Terra's Terminators? Oh, there would be all manner of ordeals to suffer with no god to come running for their aid should they fall.

Becoming a legend meant nothing to a kitsune of Snowfall's age. Kitsune were born legends. People did not believe in the nine-tailed fox-spirits... that is... until they saw them with their own eyes when they were visited by one. Their tales numbered even greater than the Chinese Hells.

Snowfall takes a deep breath and paces, his human hands behind his back underneath his mane of youthful hair. He ponders the idea of telling Terra's Terminators all of this. To teach each of them what they honestly do not appear to know. Or understand. Like children, Terra and Morrolan seem to want to take on all odds as children are oft to do. But why "burst their bubble" as the Westerners are fond of saying? What good would it do to level with them all the Yama Kings have done already? This was no mere Vampire Intelligence. No Mechanoid menace. No Splugorth-run series of atrocities. When it came to intricate creative evils and total domination of the soul, the Yama Kings made them all look like bumbling amateurs. At least to Snowfall.

This was not a matter of faith in his friends. Nor was this a matter of facing the unfaceable. It was not even a matter of good versus evil and thumbing his nose in the name of his beloved god Inari. Snowfall takes a deep breath, pauses, and looks up to all of his friends. His strong brown eyes filled with seriousness, Snowfall the kitsune tells them straight from his heart. He speaks slowly, each precious word holding deep meaning for him.

"Terra, Zeph, Morrolan. Please understand fully. I will tread the demon-haunted roads of China alone... even if the rest of you stay! I must go! And after China, across all the Megaverse if need be!" He searches their faces for comprehension.

"For..." Snowfall lowers his gaze and closes his eyes, "...I gave Lady Athena my word."