S1 Ep2: Apotheosis

[00:00:41] Speaker A: Hi there. I'm Damon Gerards, and I'll be playing Chris Strom. [00:00:46] Speaker B: Hello, I'm Gary, and I'll be playing Oliver Bright. [00:00:50] Speaker C: Hello, I'm Zion, and I'll be playing Sarah Baxter. And I'm bloodied porcelain. I'll be your storyteller tonight. Good evening, players. Where last we left off, you all had been going about your daily lives. It was a perfectly normal evening. You were visiting clients, hanging out at friends houses and doing homework. And then the not so proverbial shit seemed to hit the fan and you were chased and hunted by what seemed to be a pack of vehicle sized wolves that, for whatever reason, were able to speak English. You lost a companion. Well, he was a friend to some of you, a work colleague to others, and a complete stranger to one of you. I believe Teddy fled with you on foot. And just as it seemed like you were all going to get away, you all experienced extreme, complete body pain. Like something inside of you was burning its way through your veins, from the tips of every extremity to the tips of your hair. Even your eyebrows seemed to ache. And just as you thought you were going to get away, teddy got snatched into the jaws of one of those massive wolves. You managed to get his body away from said wolf and attempted to triage the best you could in hopes that you could get him to a doctor or a hospital who could save him. But with a punctured lung and rapid blood loss, there was no turning back. That clock. Teddy died on the top of a semi that you all managed to jump off of an overpass and onto, but at least he died surrounded by people who gave a damn what happened to him. He was able to pass off his phone to Oliver with the request that Oliver contact his family and you were able to take his body to the local hospital. Afterwards, you were taken to the police station and questioned. And following that, you were picked up from the police station by a young woman with bubblegum pink hair and too much frantic energy. Considering all of the stress that you had just been through, who seemed to have answers. But was adamant that while she could, in theory, give you some, she would never be able to answer all the questions that you had. And that she thought it was better that you wait until the people who contacted her with the request that she pick you up, show up, that they are higher up on the food chain and better able to give you some ideas of the world that you all have find yourself in. Found yourselves in the evening passed relatively uneventfully. You were all able to eat and bathe. You were provided extra clothes so that yours could be washed, because they were all quite worse for wear, considering the amount of blood that you had on your hands after teddy died and you were left to sleep and it seemed peaceful. Occasionally, one of you might have woken up to the sound of somebody walking around the house, and if you had bothered to check, it was Net. Seemed like she would get up every so often and do around, check windows, look out of the doors. Vigilant despite how young she seems, there is something in the way that she carries herself and the darkness in her eyes that suggests that she has seen far more than even you have the night before and that she is all too keenly aware of the level of danger that everyone could be in. If this safe house is found in the morning, you have the ability to have breakfast, to spend some time together. Not a whole lot goes on. It's a very quiet day. Net is there with you. She doesn't talk a lot unless approached. Does anybody want to talk to Net, or shall I continue to skip ahead in the exposition? [00:06:20] Speaker D: Coda's just going to ask her what she's smoking. [00:06:25] Speaker C: Oh, I'm not sure entirely what the makeup of it is, but it's made for people like us. It helps keep me alert. My understanding is that it's some sort of pet project kind of put together by the decathions and the acer and the tawaha. They all kind of got together and they created some sort of weird brew that can be turned into different forms. And one of the ways that it can be turned into it is vape juice. I think that there's some stuff from magic apples in here. I don't know. [00:07:09] Speaker D: Koda's just going to stare at her for a bit because she said a lot of words that she just didn't understand, but then she's just going to shrug and go, listen. Does it give the same effect as weed? No. [00:07:24] Speaker C: It helps me heal faster. It keeps me alert when I need to be, that sort of thing. But it doesn't make me high. Sorry. Kind of the opposite of what you're looking for. I mean, I like it. It feels good to me, but if you're looking for something to super mellow you out and make you sleepy, this is not it. [00:07:55] Speaker D: Okay, thanks. That's it, then. [00:07:59] Speaker C: Okay. [00:08:00] Speaker D: She's going to go off to a corner somewhere. [00:08:02] Speaker C: Anyone else? [00:08:07] Speaker B: I'm not necessarily going to approach her, at least not right off, but I do want to kind of just look around the house and see. Do they have a book selection, by chance? [00:08:18] Speaker C: For some books, yes. They are in a variety of languages, probably more than you can speak. [00:08:30] Speaker B: Certainly. [00:08:33] Speaker C: You kind of flip through some of them and there are everything from books with pages that seem like they are actually very thin stone and metal like sheets and tablets that are etched with runes and hieroglyphics to what look like more modern languages. [00:08:57] Speaker B: Fascinating. I'll probably just spend some time looking over those. That's really interesting. [00:09:02] Speaker C: You are welcome to look through them. There are a few in English, but weirdly, not very many. Considering that it's a house in the US. You would think that there would be more English books, but there really aren't. [00:09:19] Speaker B: Do I at least recognize some of these languages? [00:09:21] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, you notice the hieroglyphics. Those were obvious. Make me an academics and intelligence role. [00:09:32] Speaker B: All right. And do we still have that plus three from last time? [00:09:35] Speaker C: You do not. [00:09:36] Speaker B: All right. Academics. Intelligence. Three. [00:09:51] Speaker C: Okay. You recognize Norse runes? Elder Futhark You recognize what appears to be either it's hard to tell. Could be Chinese. Could be Japanese. You're not super familiar with either language to be able to tell the exact difference, but you notice a lot of there are so there are a lot of books with Far Eastern, looks like handwritten calligraphy. There are languages that might be German. There are others that might be might be more modern, like Swedish and things like that. It's a very wide variety from all over the place. [00:10:48] Speaker B: I'd like to take the one with Old Norse runes and go look for Chris and just kind of call it mr. Strom, you wouldn't happen to know how to read Old Nordic runes, would yeah. [00:11:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I do. [00:11:06] Speaker B: You do? [00:11:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:08] Speaker B: Fascinating. Can you tell me what this text right here might be about? If it's just general bunch of other things. But I'm curious on what some of them may pertain lisa. The general scope of things, anyway. And then I'll just kind of hand it to him. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Sure. You got a cigarette, by any chance, have you? [00:11:26] Speaker B: I don't smoke. Sorry. [00:11:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:28] Speaker C: Fuck. [00:11:28] Speaker E: Okay. [00:11:33] Speaker C: The book is a collection of myths from Norse mythology. It looks like it was probably handwritten by somebody. It looks like an older book, but it's still like a modern style of book. Like, it was probably put together in sometime in the early 19 hundreds. And it was handwritten. [00:12:04] Speaker B: Well after the. [00:12:05] Speaker C: Language had passed out of popularity. [00:12:09] Speaker A: This looks like a book of myths. This one here is how Sith got her golden hair. We got Odin's eye, how he lost his eye. Here. This is Eden and the golden apples. Yeah. So it looks like it was written not so long ago. [00:12:29] Speaker F: Really? [00:12:30] Speaker A: This language kind of went out of youth, like, a long time ago. [00:12:36] Speaker B: Certainly continues to coincide with the theme of the situation we find ourselves in. I just kind of gesture to the building around us. So how are you doing after everything? [00:12:56] Speaker A: I you know, I I can't really remember exactly what happened last night. It all seems a little bit weird. [00:13:05] Speaker B: It most certainly is. [00:13:08] Speaker A: Seems like a dream. Like a video game jumping on top of a truck. What the fuck? I mean, no. But yeah. So kind of confused. [00:13:25] Speaker B: Certainly doesn't seem to fit reality. But I don't know, maybe the adrenaline, the stress, we just misremembered things mass hysteria. Sort of like that dancing plague in France from a long time ago. [00:13:47] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. St. Vitus's dance. [00:13:50] Speaker B: Yes, like that. We just kind of all mass imagined things, right? [00:14:00] Speaker A: I was three quarters of the way into a bottle of Wild Turkey as well when that shit went down. So that's probably got something to do with it. [00:14:08] Speaker B: And based on the smell of things, I imagine that Miss Massacoy was high. As for Miss Baxter and myself, I'm not sure, speaking on my own terms, perhaps it was just the shock of what happened to Teddy that messed with my mind and caused me to see things as you all did. And who knows? Maybe we'll get some answers today. [00:14:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I hope so. I really you know, I need coffee, and I need a cigarette most of anything else. So that's what I'm going to go and find, I think. [00:14:53] Speaker B: And coffee sounds fantastic. I'll join you for that. [00:14:57] Speaker A: All right. [00:14:59] Speaker C: For what it's worth, Chris, when you woke up this morning, you expected to be hungover. You're not. You might need coffee because it was a long night and you haven't slept a ton. But you don't wake up with the headache. You don't feel nauseous. In fact, looking back on it, given that you were in shock and you immediately came in and started drinking, the alcohol was not nearly as potent as you would have expected it to be, considering how much you went through before you fell asleep. All that being said, does anybody else want to talk to Ned before I move us on? No? Okay. The day continues to kind of drag by a bit. At one point, I would like everybody to make me an awareness and perception role. [00:16:03] Speaker B: I'm so good at these. [00:16:05] Speaker C: I know. They're your best. [00:16:07] Speaker B: You're my best friend. [00:16:10] Speaker C: You're my best friend. [00:16:16] Speaker B: One success. [00:16:18] Speaker C: Okay. I've got 10 from Damien, also one. One from Sarah, two from Coda. Okay. Those of you who got successes will hear. Sometime at about three or four in the afternoon, net is in the foyer of this house, and she's keeping her voice pitched low so it is hard to understand her, and is speaking in what sounds like a rushed, annoyed, kind of angry tone in what you assume might be Chinese or Japanese into her cell phone. She seems frustrated is a nice way of putting it, but she doesn't say anything to the rest of you after she hangs up, finishes her call, sounds really annoyed, kind of stomps off into the far part of the house and into the room that she was staying in the night before. Eventually, she does kind of come back out, and she will collect each of you one at a time and have you come into the living room, which is a very richly appointed considering this is supposed to be like a safe house where you're only supposed to be for a short period of time. Maybe it's just that you're only supposed to be here for a short period of time, but she brings everybody into the living room and is kind of pacing as you enter. Okay, so I'm sorry for how much waiting there has been. I have been arguing to get somebody here all day. Anyway, I'm sorry that it's taking so long. However, some things have come up, but now my friends are coming and my friends are a little bit better at talking about all of this than I am. They're still not going to be able to give you all of the answers that you're going to look for, but we've been given permission to kind of start to fill you in on things, and then my understanding is that you should start hearing from people shortly afterwards. Think of it like a pipeline of information. [00:18:47] Speaker B: We're the first point I see, but with all these hang ups, is everything okay? Are we still in danger? What's? [00:18:59] Speaker C: Oh, everybody's in danger all the time. [00:19:03] Speaker B: Wonderful. [00:19:06] Speaker C: My friends are really good at their jobs, though, and they're on their way, so you couldn't really ask for someone for better people to be doing what they do. It's just apparently you guys caused a little bit of a stir with that whole taking the body to the hospital thing, which is very I understand, given the circumstances, you didn't know what else to do, but it's created a little bit of a mess for Moira to sort out. But her and Cream are on their way and yeah. Okay, cool. And she kind of stands back and puts her hands on her hips and looks kind of proud of herself. And again, it is driven home to all of you just how young she actually looks like she is, despite the way that she carries herself and that look in her eye, she looks quite youthful. [00:20:07] Speaker B: Could you guess like a general age range? [00:20:10] Speaker C: Like 19 at the oldest. [00:20:12] Speaker B: Okay. [00:20:14] Speaker D: So net. [00:20:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:20:18] Speaker D: How long have you been doing this, this whole godling scion thing? [00:20:24] Speaker C: And we don't like the word Godling. That's a word that the enemy uses. So I'm cool, but others might take it personally if you use that term. But anyway, I've been at this for and she kind of pauses and looks really thoughtful. Six years, give or take. Yeah. My visitation, I think I was 13 visitation. [00:20:51] Speaker D: So is that when we're going to. [00:20:53] Speaker C: Find out why you find out who your parent is? I mean, normally it's the first time you find out that you're a scion at all, but sometimes push comes to shove and you get thrown into a really bad situation and your body sort of takes over and does the thing that your parent hasn't done for you guys yet or may not have planned to. [00:21:12] Speaker D: Is that why my head was hurting earlier? Is that why I can't feel anything from my joints and stuff? [00:21:21] Speaker C: Yeah. And again, I don't know that that's going to be like a long term thing for you. I don't know if it's going to be permanent. It is for some people. It's not for others. From what I have found, scions who go through their visitations well, scions who go through an awakening without a visitation, it's kind of like getting hit with the most extreme version of adrenaline. [00:21:50] Speaker B: And your ask, it felt like I was being lit on fire from the inside out. [00:21:57] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay, so that's divine ICORE, your divine blood kind of activating, it can be really painful if it's done in a forced manner, which is what happened last night. So I'm sorry that you had to. [00:22:11] Speaker D: Feel that my blood different now. [00:22:15] Speaker C: Yeah, all of yours is. I mean, I don't know that humans would be able to tell the difference. Mortals would be able to tell the difference, but us Titan spawn, they'd be able to tell. We'd be able to tell. [00:22:27] Speaker B: I'm going to lean over to Chris. I'm starting to think what happened last night was not a mass delusion. That or they're just as delusional, and I don't know which one's. More concerning. [00:22:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:42] Speaker C: My understanding is that there are some scions who can smell when they meet another scion. They can not only tell that you're a scion, but they can tell, like, what pantheon you're from, which is pretty freaking cool. I didn't get that power. That's annoying. [00:22:56] Speaker B: Anyway, this is a lot to take in. [00:22:59] Speaker D: What power did you get then? [00:23:02] Speaker C: I've got several. Mostly I'm fast and I'm strong and I can take a lot of hits. She does not look like she could take a lot of hits. She's like smaller than Coda, probably like a third of Chris's size. She's tiny. She's like five two tops and thin. [00:23:26] Speaker B: Apologies if this is rude, but who is your parent? [00:23:32] Speaker C: Oh. His name is Neja. [00:23:34] Speaker B: Neja. [00:23:36] Speaker C: I don't know that one. And about that time there is a like a shave and a handshake kind of knock on the door. And then the door opens and two people walk through and I will allow Jazzy to describe himself. [00:24:05] Speaker G: So a tall, sharp featured, not especially handsome, but well proportioned man steps through the door and grins. [00:24:17] Speaker C: Well. [00:24:20] Speaker G: You all seem to be getting used to a new reality, isn't that so? My name is Kareem Katusian and I'm here to help for now. [00:24:36] Speaker C: Well, it took you long enough. Comes Net from the top of the stairs as she waits for you to join them all in the living room of this split level house. [00:24:47] Speaker G: Well, I'm really sorry mean, we all have appointments to make. [00:24:54] Speaker C: Yes, I know. Moira called earlier and said that it took all day to clean up the mess that they but you know, I haven't slept in three days, so that's nice. [00:25:07] Speaker G: Well, I suppose you can get some rest now. Wait, how much have you told them about what situation we're in? [00:25:17] Speaker C: A little bit. We were kind of just kind of starting. I didn't want to get too deep into it because you and Moira are way better at the whole talking thing than I am. As if on cue, a woman steps through the door. She is tall, kind of statuesque. She looks like a carved Greek statue brought to life. She has long, very thick, silky kind of honeyed brown hair, hair somewhere caught between blonde and brown, but in the best of ways. Like, the light hits it just right and it shines kind of thing. She has perfectly proportioned features. She is quite possibly the most beautiful woman you've ever laid eyes on. You would think that she is the type of person who would be gracing the front of magazines and newspapers, but you've never seen her before in your life. She is wearing a obviously custom tailored, like, pencil skirt and suit jacket over what looks to be a silk button up shirt. And she kind of gives Net an affectionate little smile and then walks kind of up the stairs with Kareem and kind of pats her shoulder a little bit. [00:26:57] Speaker G: How was your evening? [00:27:03] Speaker C: Well, my evening, darling, was lovely, as it usually is. Daytime was a little bit more complicated, considering everything that these ones got up to. [00:27:19] Speaker G: For me as well. [00:27:20] Speaker C: For me as well, unfortunately. Fortunately, the enemies managed to take out most of the pitiful levels of surveillance that were in the area of the city where they hunted you all down. So that, at least, was one less layer I had to deal with, but also less information for us to collect. Good afternoon. I'm Moira. And you are? [00:27:56] Speaker B: Oliver Bright, ma'am. [00:28:02] Speaker C: Good to meet you, Oliver. And you must be Sarah Coda and Chris. [00:28:12] Speaker D: Yes. [00:28:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:14] Speaker H: Sarah will not hey, there. [00:28:18] Speaker C: Good to meet you. And she'll give Chris a little, like knowing smile for a moment before she turns back to the rest of you. [00:28:32] Speaker A: I'll frown. [00:28:35] Speaker C: So, first things first. We should be polite. I am a scion of Hera. And she'll kind of gesture at Kareem. [00:28:49] Speaker G: And Kareem, still maintaining the same sharkish smile, says, and I am a scion of Thrausha, Persian god of justice. [00:29:07] Speaker C: He does like to throw on a little bit of flamboyance at the end. She'll kind of grin at cream. [00:29:16] Speaker G: Take pride in your heritage, Moira. [00:29:19] Speaker C: Oh, hera needs no introduction. Everyone knows who she I don't, really. [00:29:28] Speaker B: The queen of the Olympian goddesses? [00:29:30] Speaker C: Yes. [00:29:31] Speaker B: Gods in general? [00:29:35] Speaker C: No, my mother's nothing like the Disney movies. None of them are, really, except maybe Hermes. He's at least close. [00:29:48] Speaker D: Okay, so I just have a question. [00:29:52] Speaker C: Yes? [00:29:53] Speaker D: What if we don't want to I mean, I'm speaking for myself here. What if I don't really care to meet this parent or whatever? [00:30:03] Speaker C: Well, it's certainly an option for you to not meet them, but you should know that you'll probably be dead within the week. [00:30:13] Speaker D: Right? [00:30:14] Speaker C: Not because your parent would do anything to you. But because the enemy will find you and they will kill you, your parent meeting you is very important. It's how you get the first taste of real power. It's how they give you your birthrights so that you can focus the part of their divine power that they are allowing you to use. Because there are parts you can't just use on your own. You need an item to help you focus it. Otherwise it would burn you up from the inside. Who is the enemy? The Titans. And their children. The Titans born. [00:30:52] Speaker B: So is this just our life now? Always on the run, always in danger? Never getting a chance to just breathe and be people anymore? [00:31:03] Speaker C: Well, during quieter moments, you can live some semblance of a normal life. But you should really always be prepared for it to be abnormal. Fate will see to that. [00:31:19] Speaker D: And is Fate a god too? [00:31:21] Speaker C: Or she'll kind of kareem. She would take this one. [00:31:27] Speaker G: Fate is not a god. Fate is that thing which binds gods to this world and binds all of us together. It is a pattern of creation. It is not escapable even by the gods. And sadly, or to your benefit. Your fate is not what the fate of a normal human is. Like it or not, you have been awoken. Whether or not you choose to take the call is up to you. But divine blood flows through your veins and you can only make the best of your situation. [00:32:19] Speaker A: So I got a question. When you say the Titans, you mean like the Johtan or the Asura? [00:32:30] Speaker C: Among others. There's a great many titans. Each pantheon has at least one. [00:32:38] Speaker A: Okay. [00:32:40] Speaker C: They've all been locked away for quite a long time, but they are, as always, desperate to get out. And given that they can't slip between the bars of their cells they send their children instead. Who? The ones that you met, the wolves. Net said they were wolves. [00:33:03] Speaker B: They're very large wolves. [00:33:04] Speaker A: Yeah? [00:33:07] Speaker C: Yes. Well, the wolves are Titan spawn. [00:33:14] Speaker B: Who, specifically? [00:33:18] Speaker C: I'm not from the ACA pantheon, so I'm not entirely sure I understand all of their they have an OD setup. We all have our own individual structures. Mine comes with the wealth of Titans. But my understanding is that the wolves are direct descendants of Fenrir. And from what I know of ACL or Fenrir's destined to eat the world or something. I don't know. [00:33:48] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a world eating. [00:33:52] Speaker C: Delightful. No, the reason why we brought you here, why we knew you wouldn't be safe just going home for the night, is because these wolves, these Fenris wolves, the children of Fenrir they get stronger because they eat the hearts of science. [00:34:12] Speaker A: Well, shit. [00:34:19] Speaker C: There was some suspicion before now that that's what we were dealing with. But no one had ever survived. And frequently the bodies were so mangled that we couldn't tell what precisely had been done with them. [00:34:30] Speaker B: When you say eat the hearts of sounds, is that metaphorical or literal? [00:34:35] Speaker C: No, that's quite literal. [00:34:38] Speaker B: I see. [00:34:41] Speaker C: But that's why we sent net. [00:34:46] Speaker D: Oh, so you know about Teddy dying then, right? [00:34:53] Speaker C: Yes, I'm the one who cleaned up that mess. Yes. [00:34:56] Speaker D: So you guys got his body then, right? [00:35:00] Speaker C: The authorities have his body. His cause of death will be explained, and it will be returned to his family. [00:35:09] Speaker A: So we still need to get a lawyer, or are we good to go? [00:35:13] Speaker G: No, I took care of all of that. Don't you worry. [00:35:16] Speaker A: Okay. Thank you. [00:35:20] Speaker D: So does our parents just come to us in a dream or do they possess bodies? How did a god create us? [00:35:30] Speaker C: The gods can come to the world, right? It happens more frequently than you might think. My mother spent oh, goodness, a decade acting as a CEO of a beauty company. Not too recently. [00:35:47] Speaker D: So they just come on this earth to play games with mortals and then just have kids and just dip out? Is that what? [00:35:55] Speaker B: I had the same question. [00:35:57] Speaker C: Although eloquently. [00:36:01] Speaker G: Some of them do, or some of them see it that way, but others of them see themselves as participating in the great pattern of fate. However you see it, you are here now as children of the gods. You have a destiny, and you have particular marks that empower you and endanger you. [00:36:33] Speaker C: But why now? It feels like this all happened all of a sudden. The enemy found you. [00:36:42] Speaker G: That's something we're trying to find out as well. [00:36:47] Speaker C: We don't know how. [00:36:48] Speaker A: Was it because we were all in close proximity to each other? Because, you know, I've been around for 30 OD years, so they could have found me before now. [00:36:55] Speaker B: That's what I was thinking. Was it waiting for us all to be near each other? Or were they just opportunistic coincidental? How does this all play into this weave of fate? [00:37:08] Speaker C: As you say, just to be upfront? We can't answer the question of whether you were ever meant to get a visitation and they simply forced your awakening to happen beforehand. Or if your parent had decided to allow you to live a full and complete life without involving themselves, which is an option. There are plenty of divinely blooded humans running around that have no idea. Well, I shouldn't say plenty. There really aren't a lot of science in the world. But there are enough that occasionally your parent will look at you and decide that the life that you are living seems complete enough without them meddling in it and bringing fate into the picture. And they'll allow you to go on about your life and live it happily. There are others who simply don't fit the mold of what their parent is looking for. Frequently, visitations happen based on what is strategic to the parent at the time. Most scions follow a certain pattern in personality and gifts based on what their parent is good at, but not always. Sometimes the Scion is born and is the complete opposite of the parent who created them. And the parent decides, you know what, they're better off just being mortal, having a normal life. We don't know how they have met. The enemy has managed to figure out who is a potential Scion. We don't know because that's not a gift even we have we can tell who's a Scion after they've awoken or had their visitation, but not before. If I had met you yesterday, Chris, I would have had no idea. [00:38:50] Speaker B: And how did you find out about us? When we were outside the police station? Nets roll. [00:38:57] Speaker C: When you went through your visitation, your. [00:38:58] Speaker B: Parents felt it and they let you know about us. [00:39:05] Speaker C: All right, so it's worth noting that this thing that happened to you has been going on for a little bit. We've been actively fighting, trying to figure out who's behind it, how they've got the tricks that they do, because potential Scions are getting forced into awakenings and then are immediately killed, which is obviously thinning the herd quite a bit. Um, we've the gods and the Titans have been in a war since before time was time. Right? We can all understand that. Yes. [00:39:49] Speaker A: Okay. [00:39:52] Speaker C: Scions are the soldiers in that war because the gods can't use the full force of their powers to continue fighting actively in the world. If they try, natural disasters would be just the beginning of what would happen to this world. [00:40:13] Speaker B: So we've been drafted. [00:40:17] Speaker C: In a way. [00:40:17] Speaker D: Soldier. [00:40:19] Speaker B: That's what I was going to say. [00:40:20] Speaker D: Vet, med student. [00:40:22] Speaker B: And look at me. What am I going to do? Read them a book? [00:40:27] Speaker D: Run fast? Jump on a car? [00:40:36] Speaker C: Have any of you actually been in the military? [00:40:40] Speaker A: No. [00:40:40] Speaker C: The people in the military are not fighters. Zarekov they're not. They're engineers and logistics people and technicians and support staff. The fighting part of the military is actually and spies. Yes, spies. The actual fighting force of the military. What most people think of as military when they picture it, are just a small portion of it. Everyone, no matter what your particular gift or skill set is, who has divine Blood is a soldier. Divine Blood or Titan blood, is a soldier in this war? I am. And I am not gifted at hitting things. [00:41:42] Speaker G: Nor am I. We have net for that. [00:41:46] Speaker C: Net sort of gives a little awkward wave from the side. She doesn't look like much, but she's quite effective. [00:41:54] Speaker G: Oh, yes. You don't want to get into a scrap with her brothers and sisters. You have something to contribute, whether you realize it or not. Your gifts will be known to you, will be made known to you soon. Let us help you and you may survive. [00:42:23] Speaker C: What it's worth, the fact that you survived your initial encounter certainly stacks the ODS in your favor, because now we have time. [00:42:34] Speaker A: Okay, so what is it. You want us to do? [00:42:37] Speaker C: Well, for right now, we're here to answer questions, help you get some light on the situation. And my understanding is that there's going to be some meetings happening, at which point I believe Net will drive you to your respective locations. Once we know exactly where those are, the guards aren't going to tell us until the last minute so that we're not ambushed. [00:43:07] Speaker B: They need us to go to designated locations. They can't just come to us. [00:43:13] Speaker C: If they all came here, darling, everyone would know where you are. [00:43:18] Speaker B: You would light up like a lighthouse. [00:43:19] Speaker C: Then we yes, exactly. That note. Where are we all supposed to go after this place? Because it was very clear that this is just a temporary solution. You will be given marching orders by your parents. Very well. Now, Oliver arling. [00:43:51] Speaker B: Me. [00:43:52] Speaker C: There is someone who very much wants to speak to you. [00:43:59] Speaker B: I don't see why. These three are much more spectacular than I am. [00:44:06] Speaker C: My understanding is that there is a particular connection. [00:44:14] Speaker B: All right. [00:44:20] Speaker C: Now, this is going to be a multi part process, yes. But I think perhaps you and I should go into one of the side rooms, and we'll take care of the first part of this while the others spend some time with Kareem and Net and they continue to fill them in. [00:44:43] Speaker B: Very well. Lead the way. [00:44:48] Speaker C: She will kind of give you a little smile, reach over, and just pat your hand reassuringly and leave the rest of you in the room as she leads Oliver into a side room. After several moments of walking around you and muttering in Greek, she takes a deep breath and a step back, and she looks over into an empty corner and says, are you ready? And once she apparently gets whatever it is that she's looking for I have. [00:45:48] Speaker B: Not been ready since I wasn't talking. [00:45:53] Speaker C: It's fine. [00:45:56] Speaker B: Okay. [00:45:57] Speaker C: And then she sort of reaches out, and she passes her hand along over your good eye. She doesn't touch it, but sort of waves her hand in front of it while she's speaking in Greek. And when she pulls her hand away, there is a figure standing in the corner of the room that she was just speaking to. He looks translucent, but just as he looked last night before he got hurt. Teddy. [00:46:33] Speaker E: Hey, Oliver. Hey. [00:46:38] Speaker B: Mr. Abernathy. I'm sorry. [00:46:52] Speaker E: I don't really think you should be sorry. [00:46:56] Speaker B: Of course I should be. It's you had a family. And now I'm here instead. And we had just been in different places. If you were on my left instead of my right, it would have been me instead. And you'd be here. And you can contribute. You know all about technology. Computers they can use, things like that. I know old books. None of that matters. What matters is your daughter now. I failed you. [00:47:30] Speaker A: I failed you. [00:47:31] Speaker E: You didn't. I know that. She's gonna be okay. You know is. You know, if you could maybe check in on her every now and again for me, I will. [00:47:54] Speaker B: Absolutely positive. [00:47:57] Speaker E: She'll be fine. [00:48:00] Speaker B: How are you? [00:48:01] Speaker E: She's a smart girl. [00:48:03] Speaker B: How are you even here? I know lots of weird things are happening, but ghost seems out of left field. [00:48:14] Speaker E: They're kind of a long story, but also pretty short. After the truck, after I died, honestly, I expected it to just be nothing. But there was something. There was I don't know, it was like just an endless field of stuff. But there was a woman who I spoke to, and she told me, she explained the situation properly. Gave me the whole, you the child of a god, which was a bit of a shock to me. Turns out that woman was my mother. I'm sorry. I'm not here for me. I'm here for you. She's asked me to do something. It's to talk to you and explain things properly. [00:49:33] Speaker B: Just me? Why just me? [00:49:39] Speaker E: Well, because your dad is a part of the same pantheon currently as my mother. I know how that sounds. It does sound extremely weird. I'm also a talking ghost. [00:50:04] Speaker B: That you are. And I guess we're disappointed now. [00:50:13] Speaker E: I don't know if that's how that works. I don't know. [00:50:17] Speaker B: I don't know, either. [00:50:20] Speaker E: Well, your dad, whose name's OGMA, apparently he's a very wise person. [00:50:30] Speaker B: Olkma, you said? [00:50:32] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:50:33] Speaker E: Celtic, if that matters to you. Honestly, if I had to pick a god for you, I wouldn't have picked him. I would have picked Odin. I mean, you're missing. [00:50:50] Speaker B: I don't know much about the Celtic gods. I guess I have some reading to do. [00:50:55] Speaker C: Not quite how it works. They don't pick after they're born. [00:51:01] Speaker E: I know. I'm just saying, it fits. [00:51:06] Speaker C: In a way. Oliver is not as warlike as Odin's. One of Odin's names is Glad of War. [00:51:19] Speaker B: That's also a good point. Mr. Abernathy, I don't know if I can do this. The others, they have a chance. I'm dead. At some point, I'm going to freeze up. I'm not going to know what to do. I'm going to get people killed like I got you killed. [00:51:45] Speaker E: You didn't get me killed. [00:51:47] Speaker B: I didn't do enough to save you. [00:51:51] Speaker E: You're a teacher. What could you have done. [00:51:56] Speaker C: Better? [00:51:57] Speaker B: I could have done better. Could have been a surgeon like my mother wanted. And then I could have operated on you and maybe bought you time, at least. [00:52:10] Speaker E: But if you were a surgeon, you wouldn't have been there. You know, if you if you weren't a teacher, if you weren't on that street, you wouldn't have been there. And things might have gone different. Maybe we all would have died if you were. [00:52:41] Speaker B: I hardly think that. I threw some books around, and that's about it. [00:52:52] Speaker E: You did something. You did more than. [00:52:58] Speaker B: Reach into my pocket and pull out Teddy's cell phone. I almost threw this away last night. I was thinking because what if those things could trace us through it. In reality, I think it was for a different reason. What should I do with it? What do you want me to do with it? [00:53:29] Speaker E: I don't know. Up to you, really. Do you want to? I'm pretty sure you could use it to Google OGMA, look at Wikipedia for him. [00:53:42] Speaker B: I could use my own phone for that as well. [00:53:45] Speaker E: Yeah. Give you my data plan. It's a pretty good one. [00:53:51] Speaker B: I feel like that seems a bit like grave robbing, don't you think? [00:53:56] Speaker E: I mean, I gave it to him. I gave it to you. [00:53:59] Speaker A: Sorry. [00:54:05] Speaker E: We'Re getting distracted. Actually, she also wanted me to give you something. Just reaches into like his ghostly pockets and pulls out this little stone and holds it out to you. [00:54:21] Speaker B: I even touch that. [00:54:25] Speaker E: Apparently I can, so I think you. [00:54:27] Speaker B: Can while you're incorporeal. [00:54:31] Speaker E: Yeah, but the stone isn't. [00:54:35] Speaker C: Stone does look much more solid than he does. [00:54:39] Speaker B: I'll tentatively reach out and take it. [00:54:47] Speaker C: What you find is a smooth circular stone with a hole drilled at the top. Like it might be a place for a necklace or something. It has lines carved into it. If you want to make an academics and intelligence role, maybe you can recognize what they are even though you can't read them. [00:55:16] Speaker B: All right. Almost certainly attempt that. That is who successes. [00:55:26] Speaker C: You are fairly certain that you have seen pictures of this type of carving on stone monuments in and around Ireland. Specifically, the second it touches your palm, you can hear a faint kind of otherworldly drifting music surrounding you. Teddy, you would have been told what that means. [00:56:19] Speaker E: As far as I am aware, the stone, it sings in the presence of another member of the pantheon that we're a part of. It's very weird. It's very strange. [00:56:42] Speaker B: That is quite strange. But then again, so is everything else. So if anything, this is normal by comparison. [00:56:54] Speaker E: Well, some normality would be good. [00:57:03] Speaker B: The normal form of normality. Unfortunately, I think we're past that now. [00:57:09] Speaker E: I think we're long past that. [00:57:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:18] Speaker E: I don't know if you know, I don't know if this person's told you all the gods are meeting and apparently you're all meant to go there to get stuff, to get your gifts, whatever those may be. I think this is one of them, but there's meant to be more. Have you ever been to Maine? [00:57:41] Speaker B: Maine? No, I've never been to Maine. [00:57:45] Speaker E: Good. It's a horrible place, but unfortunately you're going to have to go there now. [00:57:49] Speaker B: You do not give a very good travel recommendation. [00:57:54] Speaker E: Well, to be fair, the place you're heading is, I don't know, it's run by walls, apparently. It's called anvil, which I've just realized why it's called anvil because it's run by dwarfs. [00:58:15] Speaker B: That does seem to correlate. So we are being sent to go in the direction of a place overrun with the very things that killed you. [00:58:30] Speaker E: Wolves? Not wolves. Oh, small guys. Hammers and mining. [00:58:38] Speaker B: Right. I miss her. I know. [00:58:40] Speaker E: You English teacher. [00:58:41] Speaker B: I know you mentioned dwarfs the second time. The first time? I thought you said wolves. My apologies. [00:58:45] Speaker E: No dwarf. But yes. Apparently all the gods are meeting there, your dad included. So you'll get to meet him? [00:59:01] Speaker C: Not all of them, just a handful. [00:59:06] Speaker B: Imagine if my elder's parents meeting there. [00:59:11] Speaker C: I don't believe so. Yours has been popping in and out is my understanding. But she is a forge goddess, so I imagine she's part of the production line. [00:59:30] Speaker E: Yes, I guess that's my job. [00:59:35] Speaker B: Oh. What's next for you? [00:59:40] Speaker E: I don't know. [00:59:44] Speaker C: My understanding is that at least for a little while, teddy will be able to come and go and aid you however he can. I guess is probably to pass on information when and where possible. I have been tasked with providing the enchantment so that your companions can see him. Unfortunately, it's a little bit more involved, takes a little bit more time. So I couldn't just do it for everyone. It'll take at least a few hours to get it set up, so I thought that you two should have your private moment, because that I could do in a couple of minutes. [01:00:28] Speaker E: As a ghost, can I just appear where I want to appear? Do I have to walk? [01:00:36] Speaker C: It depends. My understanding is that you should be able to sort of pop between wherever your afterlife is and here as needed. But if you want to not have to go there, then you'll have to find a way around. You should also be able to just take advantage of things like vehicles and whatever you can't drive. But if someone else is you can get in with them. [01:01:03] Speaker B: You go through walls? [01:01:06] Speaker C: Yes, you can go through walls. [01:01:08] Speaker B: At least you get that benefit. [01:01:12] Speaker E: How come I'm not falling through the floor, then? [01:01:15] Speaker C: I have no idea, darling. [01:01:18] Speaker B: Maybe it's about intense. You don't want to so you're not. [01:01:22] Speaker C: Understand that I only have gifts where death is concerned because I did a favor for Uncle Hades some time, so uncle Hades? [01:01:33] Speaker B: What, that's just a normal thing you said? As if it happens all the time. [01:01:38] Speaker C: Well, among us it does. Well, perhaps not specifically. Working for Hades does, but he doesn't ask us for favors very often, so when he needed some help, I stepped in. [01:01:55] Speaker E: Actually, that's a good point. You said he's your uncle? Yeah. [01:02:00] Speaker C: Well, yes, because he's my mother's brother. [01:02:05] Speaker E: I know. Yeah. Does that mean Olgam is my uncle and Oliver is my cousin? [01:02:13] Speaker C: Oh, goodness. I don't know how the family tree for the Irish work. I don't know if they're all related. Some of them are, I think, but not all. Some of them are from Pantheons that were around much earlier than the Tuahawa. [01:02:30] Speaker B: This means that technically speaking, ethnicity wise, I am Irish now. [01:02:36] Speaker C: Yes, at least half. You are very much Irish. [01:02:42] Speaker B: It's a shame I don't drink. [01:02:46] Speaker C: There are a good many Titotolas among the Irish. Don't let them fool you. They don't all have what they think they do in the stamina department. We'll just put it that way. [01:03:04] Speaker B: Fair enough. [01:03:10] Speaker E: I guess the question now is up to you, Oliver. Do you want to go with them or do you want to stay and not do that? [01:03:23] Speaker B: As far as I see it, if I go on for my own, I will be dead by the weekend, so I don't think I have much choice in the matter. [01:03:38] Speaker E: Did she ever text back? [01:03:44] Speaker C: You checked the phone today, Oliver? [01:03:47] Speaker B: I'll check it now. [01:03:50] Speaker C: Yes. There was a text very early this morning at like 07:00, which would have been around the time that she was getting up for school. And it just says, where are you? You didn't come home last night. I'm scared. [01:04:18] Speaker B: She's asking where you are and that she's scared. [01:04:25] Speaker C: But there's nothing after that. [01:04:39] Speaker B: Okay. Just okay? [01:04:43] Speaker E: What else can I do? I can't interact with her. [01:04:53] Speaker C: But it's worth teddy, I saw to it that she'll be given a far. [01:04:59] Speaker H: Less. [01:05:03] Speaker C: Graphic and painful cause of death than you actually went through. [01:05:09] Speaker E: Very. [01:05:10] Speaker C: What? [01:05:15] Speaker B: So is there anything else I need to know about or what? [01:05:28] Speaker E: As far as I know, I've told you everything I know. God. Sorry. It's up to you if you keep the phone or not. [01:05:44] Speaker B: I don't know what I'm going to do. I'll think on it. It was good to see you, daddy. [01:05:56] Speaker E: Good to see you. [01:05:58] Speaker B: And thank you for bringing me up to speed. [01:06:07] Speaker E: Well, someone had to do it. Might as well have been me. What else am I going to do? [01:06:19] Speaker B: There's not a bunch of ghost related activities. No incorporeal polo. [01:06:27] Speaker E: Mack I'll hall at Bill Murray. No might Stewart? [01:06:32] Speaker B: No misers. You need to go terrifying to being a good person. Shame. Maybe in the winter. [01:06:44] Speaker E: Maybe I'll go look for a very tall building and haunt it. No, I'll make sure to scare off any people that live in it. [01:06:55] Speaker B: Sounds like a plan. [01:06:56] Speaker E: I'll single handedly destroy the gentrification of this city. [01:07:00] Speaker B: Oh, well, certainly a. [01:07:10] Speaker E: The. [01:07:11] Speaker C: Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this enhancement's not going to last much longer. Teddy, if you could hang around, get some rest. Ghosts do need to rest. Don't underestimate overestimate yourself. Get some rest. I'll work on all of this and making this a little bit more long term situation so that all of your friends can also speak to him. In the meantime, I believe Kareem and Net are going to be well, cream should be getting the call and I believe Net is going to accompany all of you to where you need to go. Oliver, you are welcome to stay if you would like. Or you can go with your friends. [01:08:05] Speaker B: I was told the safe house is only going to remain safe for a couple of days. [01:08:10] Speaker C: Oh, yes. No, I mean, they have some errands they have to run this afternoon. They'll be coming back. [01:08:19] Speaker B: Right? They need to meet with people. [01:08:23] Speaker C: Kareem is going to be working on getting you all a car so that you have a way to leave tomorrow morning. [01:08:35] Speaker B: I don't mean to impose on their very profound interactions with their godly parents, so I won't force myself along unless they ask. [01:08:48] Speaker C: Great. Well, let's at least go talk to them. Go. [01:08:53] Speaker E: Oh, one last thing. Tell Chris I said thank you. That prayer was lovely. [01:09:02] Speaker B: I'll be sure to do that. I go to pat him on the shoulder, but I imagine it just goes through. [01:09:12] Speaker E: Probably have to say yes. Careful of the ectoplasm. [01:09:19] Speaker B: It's everywhere. [01:09:24] Speaker C: You all, or I should say, Teddy fades from view. And Oliver, you and Moira make your way back out into the main room where Sarah, Chris and Coda are sitting with Kareem and Net. It looks like Kareem has been kind of on and off the phone quite a bit. He's probably had to leave the room a few times. Net has done her best to be entertaining. [01:10:05] Speaker B: I'm just going to sort of sit down and deflate a little bit. Mr. Apernathy was very appreciative of your prayer, Mr. Strong. [01:10:20] Speaker A: What? What do you mean? [01:10:23] Speaker B: I spoke with him just a moment ago. And you wanted to say thank you. [01:10:32] Speaker A: Fuck. Okay. Is he alive? [01:10:37] Speaker B: No, he's a ghost. [01:10:44] Speaker A: He's a ghost. [01:10:45] Speaker B: He's a ghost. [01:10:48] Speaker A: Well, shit. [01:10:54] Speaker B: Agreed. [01:10:58] Speaker G: All right, friends, so I managed to call my employers at the embassy and get us a car. So that's good news for us. We are on the road. Kareem is still grinning his ever present grin. [01:11:21] Speaker C: In the morning, they'll be on the road. In the morning, they have to meet. Well, those who can meet their parents here still have to do so. Did that particular call come in? Are they ready? My understanding is Net is itching to get out of the house. [01:11:37] Speaker G: It did. [01:11:39] Speaker C: Perfect. All right, well, I believe you should be able to just text Net the locations and Net will get them on their way safely and we'll see them back here in the evening. [01:11:57] Speaker G: Of course. All right, so Kareem. [01:12:03] Speaker B: Does that. [01:12:08] Speaker C: Net kind of looks down at her phone and sort of bounces on the halls of her feet. Cool. So there's a bar and a hookah lounge. Interesting. Cool. All right, well, let's get going. [01:12:27] Speaker D: A hookah lounge? Wait, sorry, what? [01:12:31] Speaker C: Look, there's just locations that have been in here. There's an underground hookah lounge and a bar that is a complete hole in the wall. I don't know why anybody would want to go there, but apparently we're going there. [01:12:42] Speaker D: Cool. Great. Are we going? [01:12:46] Speaker C: Um, the assumption is that at least three of you are going. Oliver's welcome to ride around if he wants know, tag along. [01:12:56] Speaker D: Okay, great, because I need fresh air. I think I'm going to lose my mind. If I keep watching Net walk back. [01:13:02] Speaker C: And well, I'm going to be driving. [01:13:08] Speaker D: Right. Sorry. Cool. So we're heading out. This is great. Can I bring my bat with me or should I leave that? [01:13:17] Speaker C: Absolutely, you certainly can. All right, cool. [01:13:21] Speaker D: And Coda's just going to kind of get up and start getting ready to move. And she's, like, flicking her lighter a little bit in nervous energy, like, I just need to move around. [01:13:32] Speaker C: Hey, Oliver, are you going to ride with us or do you want to just hang here? [01:13:40] Speaker B: If everyone will have me, yeah, man, come on. [01:13:44] Speaker A: Come join us. [01:13:45] Speaker D: Come on, Mr. B. We're not going to leave behind you and your brick of what is what was it? Hamlet. Omelet books. Come along. [01:13:56] Speaker C: Is there a book called Omelet? [01:13:59] Speaker B: There probably is. [01:14:01] Speaker D: I think that's. [01:14:04] Speaker C: All right. Well, this is all very entertaining. Let's go. Net is, like, eagerly bouncing down the little, like, half stairs to the foyer and then down another half stairs, and she takes the doorway at the bottom. [01:14:18] Speaker B: Into the garage before we go. There wouldn't be any thread or string or anything around the house with there. [01:14:31] Speaker C: You know, I may have something. Moira says that she sort of disappears back into the house, into one of the rooms that you haven't seen inside of, and she comes back out with what looks like a very finely made long silver chain. There you go. [01:14:52] Speaker B: Thank you, Miss Mora. [01:14:54] Speaker C: Now, understand that your birthrights are indestructible, but that chain is not, so be very careful with it. Someone can still take it from you. [01:15:04] Speaker B: I'll keep it close by. I'll just thread the chain through my little stone and put it on as a necklace. [01:15:16] Speaker C: Suits you. All right, off you go, children. Net is already in the car waiting for all of you when you pile in. She pulls out of the garage and starts driving through the city. Now that it's not dark and you're not all in a constant state of, oh, my God, something's going to eat me, you have a chance to see that the inside of the car is you have never seen a model of car quite like this. It is somehow like almost every luxury sports car you've ever seen, but completely different. The symbols everywhere are nothing that you've ever looked at. Where there should be the symbol of some sort of car maker, there are Japanese symbols, things like that. It looks like all of the leather working has been stitched with a great deal of care. And you realize as she is driving and as she is, like, turning the wheel and whatever, it is highly reactive to everything that she does. It's like the car is a piece of her when she's the one driving it. She first drives kind of through the city to, like, the outskirts of. [01:17:01] Speaker D: A. [01:17:01] Speaker C: Less than savory part of town. And you pull up outside of what looks like a bar. There are a line of Harleys out front. It is loud. There's music playing inside, people. You can hear people from from inside. Even sitting out in the car, it looks like a hole in the wall kind of kind of place. It it's one of those places that, like, nobody but the people who come here would ever go here kind of place. There is a sign hanging out front that has a pair of bearded axes crossed above a beer mug, and it's called the Mead Hall. All right, well, there is a bouncer outside of the door. Big guy in an MC club cut, heavily tattooed arms, bald with a full beard. Well, I don't know who stop this is. So that guy at the door probably does. [01:18:36] Speaker D: All right. [01:18:37] Speaker C: I mean, obviously probably not Oliver's, because we've already figured out what pantheon he belongs. [01:18:45] Speaker B: Um, I'm Irish. I found out. [01:18:48] Speaker D: Oh, cool. [01:18:52] Speaker A: So you want us to go and ask or what? [01:18:56] Speaker C: That would be my guess. [01:18:58] Speaker A: Okay. [01:18:59] Speaker D: All right. [01:19:01] Speaker C: Sarah's gonna also get out. Um, how are you guys going to approach the door? [01:19:12] Speaker A: Kind of side by side, I guess. Walk up to the guy. [01:19:16] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:19:16] Speaker B: As I'm walking up, I'm already, like, reaching into my jacket pocket to pull out my wallet and get my ID ready, because we're going to a bar. That's what I think needs to happen. [01:19:25] Speaker D: Koda is fully hands in pocket, walking straight up to this guy with the group. [01:19:30] Speaker C: Does this bar look like a bar that smoking is allowed? Oh, yeah. You can kind of look through these windows, and they look very, kind of yellowish and dingy. Okay, cool. Then Sarah's going to light a cigarette, so you all get up to the door. I'm going to assume that Oliver's not at the front of the pack, because he already knows what pantheon he belongs to. He's not here to meet his parent. But the rest of you kind of go up as, like, almost in a little diamond formation. And the bouncer kind of gives you all a doubtful look and appraises you with his eyes. And as you get close enough, considering that Chris is the biggest and most imposing of you, he kind of puts up a hand to stop. No, no, not you. Her. And he points at Sarah. You're expected. [01:20:31] Speaker A: There we go. That was easy. Have fun. [01:20:35] Speaker I: Do my best. [01:20:37] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:20:38] Speaker C: Shall wave bye to the others and continue walking in. Sarah, as you walk into this place, there is a miasma of cigarette smoke, scar smoke kind of hanging in the air. It's like a cloud that you've literally physically walked into. You are able to kind of barely see your way around. There are tables kind of everywhere. When you walk, you hear you hear and feel crunching under your feet. And you look down and you are stepping on peanut shells. And there are buckets of shell on peanuts on each of the tables. There is loud metal music coming from a jukebox in the back. Everyone who is in here, except you, at least at first glance, seem to be wearing biker cuts and jackets, most of them with a lot of patches. That your time in working in the justice system you recognize as like gang patches. Patches that mean everything from this is someone who is killed for the MC to someone who is part of the power structure, either as like president, vice president, that sort of thing, and sitting at and at first you're convinced that there is no way that anything defined is happening here and that this is all a mistake. And you're ready to turn around and leave. When you notice, an imposingly built man with dark hair and a big beard is sitting at a table kind of towards the back corner, away from the others. And they seem to be keeping a very wary distance from this guy. He is not in leathers, he is in a polo shirt, and he is smoking a huge cigar. About what time is it? It's like five or six. Okay, Sarah's going to order a beer that's on tap and then go sit across from this polo dressed man. 80, if you will. [01:23:25] Speaker F: Counselor. Good evening. [01:23:30] Speaker C: And you are? [01:23:33] Speaker F: Well, the visit may be coming a little ahead of schedule, but I'm your daddy. [01:23:43] Speaker C: That I was able to surmise. [01:23:46] Speaker F: I am Vidar Odenson. If you've never heard of me, that's all right. About the only people that have are the people who have read the Eddas and paid attention to the ragnarok prophecies. Do you know what ragnarok is? [01:24:10] Speaker C: I get the gist. [01:24:13] Speaker F: It's the end of the world, Sarah. It's the end of the world. Thor dies. Odin dies. Almost everybody dies, but not me. My job is to finish off the fight and avenge the allfather. The only thing that matters is getting that job done. Can't save him. Can't save any of them. Your job is to stay alive. Going to need good help rebuild here. He slides a shot glass across the table. How special. They make a real good meat here. [01:25:15] Speaker C: Shall take a sip. It is sweet and biting all at the same time. It is good quality, so it's not so sweet that it tastes like prison hooch, but it's not like anything you've ever had before. It is heady, though. Seems to go almost straight to your head. So my job is to stick with all of these scions and just not die? [01:26:03] Speaker F: Pretty much. Keep your head on a swivel, keep your eyes open. Never go anywhere without a plan. Keep yourself alive. Do the best you can for your friends. Got two things that I want to tell you, and then you've got some questions for me. That's fun. First thing, you remember that guy? You were 19, maybe 20. While you were in the Navy. You're on shore leave in Malta, and you punched that guy so hard you broke his jaw and you broke the bone in your pinky finger punching him. You remember that guy? [01:26:53] Speaker C: She's going to cover her face partially in embarrassment. Yes, it's one of the few things I do remember from a Liberty port. [01:27:05] Speaker F: I saw that happen. Guy twice your size, and you broke his jaw. You know how I'm supposed to kill the Finris wolf, right? Wait, probably not. I break his jaw and stab him through the roof of his mouth. Good work. Good work. That echo right there, I felt that. Second thing I understand you lost somebody last night. This fella, Teddy. [01:27:44] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:27:47] Speaker F: Sorry about that, kid. You need to harden the first time, harden your heart. It's not the first time, it won't be the last. But you did something last night while that was going on. And I want you to think about this real careful. Those monsters in the fog behind you, you knew good and well that that wasn't a fight you could win. You were running from them for a reason. And you turned and you went back in the fog after a man that was already as good as dead. It's a brave thing you did, but it wasn't real smart. You're going to take my gifts, you're going to go out into the world, and you're going to do great things. I believe in you. But you got to be smart. You understand it. [01:29:07] Speaker C: There's probably not much I understand about what's going on right now, but you I've always found that my preferred method of learning is by doing. She'll say, raising the shot glass and then drinking the rest of its contents. [01:29:23] Speaker F: Good girl. He picks up his own glass and drinks his as well. Do you have any questions? [01:29:38] Speaker C: Chill. Sit and think for a moment. I think the problem right now is I have so many questions, I don't even know where to begin. [01:29:49] Speaker F: I understand I'm spending some time here in the Mortalware Alma again, right? I'm running a security. Here's my card. He slides a business card across the table. It's got a secure email address on you. Decide there's something you want to talk to me about? Drop me a line. [01:30:30] Speaker C: She'll gingerly take the business card and place it in her jacket pocket. I will. [01:30:41] Speaker F: I got two things for you. One I've got with you. [01:30:44] Speaker A: With me? [01:30:47] Speaker F: One you're going to have to go pick up. It's not ready yet. Like I said, this awakening that you went through last night, it's a little ahead of schedule. I've been watching for a while. I had a plan I was going to visit you next year. This pack of Finris Wolves has forced my hand, but these I have ready for you. He reaches down into the booth, and he comes up onto the table with a shoebox. Just plain brown cardboard. And he slides it across the table to you. He turns and he looks at the rest. Of the people in the bar raises one eyebrow and looks at him, and any of them that were looking at the table turn and immediately go back. [01:31:48] Speaker C: To what they were doing. Sarah, when you open the box, inside are a pair of very heavy looking brown combat boots. They look like they'd weigh at least a few pounds each. But you realized as you were, like, adjusting the box to face you and everything that there's no way there's no way they weigh that much. The leather looks aged and like the boots should be damaged, but somehow they're not. They look new, but the leather itself does not. The leather itself looks very old but well cared for. What are these? [01:33:05] Speaker F: I made these for you myself. I used leather from my own boots to make this is Reddy Moder, Wrathful Fury. They'll serve you well. You know, it's like that meme that goes around now and then. Got something hard to do. Wear sensible shoes and walk like you're. [01:33:41] Speaker C: Going to kill she'll just smile like she knows what he's talking about. [01:33:48] Speaker F: Old joke. Sorry. [01:33:58] Speaker D: Well. [01:34:01] Speaker C: When is killing Captain America? What did he do exactly? [01:34:08] Speaker F: Well, you'll find it easier to make an entrance. Breaking things, knocking people down. It's not much, but it's a little edge. This is the pair of shoes you want to wear when you do it. [01:34:45] Speaker C: Still wear them all the time? Got it. [01:34:48] Speaker F: Pretty much. Your other gift is a replacement for the piece. [01:35:01] Speaker C: You. [01:35:06] Speaker F: Folks up at Anvil are working on it. It should be ready for you by the time you get there. Little town up in Maine. Big stuff going on up there right now. You and your friends need to get on the road and get headed that way as soon as you can. [01:35:33] Speaker C: All right, then. I guess that's the mission. Do air quotes. [01:35:45] Speaker D: Right? [01:35:49] Speaker F: That is what we've got at the moment. [01:35:58] Speaker C: Vidari, you do know that there are a number of tacticians meeting in Anvil, including the Allfather. They'll have more succinct orders. [01:36:13] Speaker F: There is more afoot than what it seems. Gods from every pantheon, the tacticians, the warlords, the big brains, they're getting together and talking out what happened to you folks last night. It's been happening. And you and your friends are the first ones to make it out alive. We finally have an idea about what's actually going on. The Titans have declared war. Be listening for heimdall's horn. It could sound anytime. [01:37:28] Speaker C: Sarah will nod and rub one of her temples. Well, unless there's anything else, there's a couple of other appointments that my friends and I need to attend. I do hate to leave so soon, but this does seem urgent. [01:37:52] Speaker F: It is. And don't worry, we'll have time to catch up once. [01:38:00] Speaker H: Right. [01:38:03] Speaker C: I guess I'll talk to you then, she'll say, gathering up the boots. [01:38:10] Speaker F: He stands, steps to the edge of the booth, and puts a hand on your shoulder. Sarah, one of the things I like best about you. You're a fighter, but you use your head. Don't forget, just because you're in a fight, you have to use your head. It's how you'll make it out. You kids go ahead, keep your eyes open, and have a plan everywhere. You all right? [01:39:04] Speaker C: Understood. Sorry. Sarah learns to walk away. You watch, as in, rather than walking towards the front door of the bar, he walks towards the back of it. The bikers kind of scattered around, doing their own thing, all part of it, like a Red Sea before him. Nobody dares to get close. None of them looks entirely sure why they're so intimidated, but they are. And he walks towards what looks like a I don't know, janitor's closet manager's office. And what you notice, that nobody around you seems to notice, is that as the door opens, there is a flash of light, what sounds like a roll of drums and the shouting of a raucous battlefield. And then the door closes. You smell burnt amber. And then as the door closes, it all goes back to normal, and you are alone in a biker bar surrounded by people who are doing what they can to not look at you. She will make her way out of the bar and back to the car. All right, so how did it go? [01:40:52] Speaker D: I don't know. What's your dad give you? [01:41:00] Speaker C: Looks like some boots for kicking stuff that really need to be kicked. Oh, that's kicking boots. That's awesome. [01:41:12] Speaker D: He gave you some Doc Martens. [01:41:16] Speaker B: Oh, I have a rock that tells me when other Celtic things are nearby. [01:41:26] Speaker D: A rock, some boots, a vape. That's your thing, right? A Vape. [01:41:34] Speaker B: Or I thought it was the car. [01:41:36] Speaker C: One of them. The car is also one of my gifts. I've been at this for a long time. I guess I have a gun in Maine. [01:41:43] Speaker D: Oh, in Maine. [01:41:45] Speaker B: I wasn't told what it was waiting for me there. Yes, apparently we're going to Anvil. It's a place in Maine. [01:41:51] Speaker C: Oh, you guys get to go meet the dwarves. That's cool. I've never gotten to go there. [01:41:55] Speaker D: Dwarves? Are is that dwarves? What? [01:41:59] Speaker C: Vert is like, the Norse dwarves, like master craftsmen dwarves. [01:42:07] Speaker D: I feel like that's not. [01:42:12] Speaker C: Okay, not cool. [01:42:13] Speaker D: Dwarf. Dwarf. This is crazy. [01:42:16] Speaker C: Oh, I almost forgot. [01:42:18] Speaker B: That's the problem you have with our situation, the dwarves, not the fact that we are children of gods. [01:42:23] Speaker D: Oh, no, I had a problem with that too, but I guess that's something that I just I'm going to have to live with now. [01:42:29] Speaker C: And I mean, speaking of mine is named Vidar. I don't know who that is. I'll probably have to Google it later. [01:42:38] Speaker D: She's just going to look to Oliver and be like, have you heard this in your books? [01:42:44] Speaker B: A little bit, but Mr. Strong probably knows more. [01:42:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I know who Vidar is. The son of Odin, you shit. [01:42:59] Speaker C: Fuck. [01:43:00] Speaker B: No, mind's. Okma. He's apparently a very eloquent, thoughtful individual. [01:43:08] Speaker C: Checks out. He made a whole language. [01:43:12] Speaker B: I looked that up on Wikipedia. Yeah. [01:43:15] Speaker D: I thought we shouldn't use Wikipedia when we're looking up things. [01:43:19] Speaker B: If you're writing an essay, don't use Wikipedia. But if you just want random facts, it's fine. [01:43:26] Speaker C: Wikipedia is a great place to start to find the books that you need. [01:43:29] Speaker B: You can also scroll down and find the sources that they use, and then. [01:43:32] Speaker C: Go to get it. [01:43:34] Speaker D: I get it. I know. I'm in college now. I was making a joke. Goodness. Hey. [01:43:40] Speaker C: Well, next up is the Hookah lounge. [01:43:45] Speaker A: Oh, God. [01:43:47] Speaker C: You all are in Net's car. She seems excited by the gifts that people have been given and the revelations that have come. You all have a couple of minutes to talk while you were on the road to the next stop. So. [01:44:13] Speaker D: Now you go first. [01:44:15] Speaker B: I was just going to say, do we want to take any guesses on who's meant to go into the Hookah Lounge? I'm looking right at Coda. [01:44:29] Speaker D: Listen, just because I occasionally smoke doesn't mean that my mother, father, who, whatsoever, is in there. This could very well be Chris. [01:44:47] Speaker A: Oh, God, I fucking hope not. [01:44:51] Speaker D: It could be. Who knows? [01:44:53] Speaker A: I mean, yeah, it could be. [01:44:55] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:44:56] Speaker A: And let's face it, it's likely to be me. [01:44:59] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:45:00] Speaker C: What's wrong with Hoka? [01:45:03] Speaker D: Nothing. I mean, it just doesn't hit. It doesn't do anything, really. But, I mean, it's a nice event or a thing to do with people, maybe. [01:45:13] Speaker C: I don't know. [01:45:14] Speaker D: I don't really hang out with people. [01:45:17] Speaker B: My kids call it the function. Like you throw that word around. [01:45:23] Speaker D: So how old are you, Mr. B? Because you're kind of aging yourself. [01:45:28] Speaker B: I'm 27. [01:45:31] Speaker D: Yeah, so maybe don't say stuff like that. [01:45:36] Speaker B: I prefaced it by saying my kids in class are the ones saying this, not myself. I don't understand what it means in this context, so even more seems like an outlandish use of the word. [01:45:51] Speaker C: Can I borrow your phone for a second, Mr. Bright? [01:45:56] Speaker B: Sure. And I'll give her my actual phone. Not Teddy's. [01:46:01] Speaker C: She's going to open his browser and bookmark Urbanddictionary.com. [01:46:08] Speaker B: I don't like that site. [01:46:11] Speaker D: Why? Those are important words, too. [01:46:15] Speaker B: It uses a lot of words that I'm not fond of. [01:46:21] Speaker C: Like what? [01:46:22] Speaker D: Yeah, what the detective says. Or defender. [01:46:28] Speaker B: Ones you are likely very familiar with, Ms. Masakoy. You use them frequently in your school essays, which I found impressive, actually, because. [01:46:40] Speaker D: That'S the speak of the people. [01:46:43] Speaker B: I suppose. So that's a fair point. [01:46:47] Speaker D: Yes. Which is why I passed. Thank you. [01:46:53] Speaker B: Despite all of that and your flagrant use of spark notes, you still wrote a very compelling argument. So, yes, you did pass my class. [01:47:02] Speaker C: Yes. [01:47:03] Speaker D: So, Hookah Lounges or the functions, I'm going to call it and say it's Chris. I don't think it's me, because no one ever shows up for me, so I don't think it's. [01:47:15] Speaker A: Too obvious. [01:47:18] Speaker B: You figure it is. You why do you say that? [01:47:21] Speaker A: Well, because the actual one that would have made sense for me is the one that Sarah just got. [01:47:28] Speaker B: I did think it would have been you. [01:47:32] Speaker A: So the one that makes sense for coder is not going to be hers, right? It's going to be mine. [01:47:40] Speaker C: Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see. [01:47:43] Speaker B: A lot of faded fucking breath misdirection. [01:47:47] Speaker C: I didn't I met my dad at a McDonald's. [01:47:50] Speaker H: Oh, classy. [01:47:52] Speaker B: Did he at least buy you lunch? [01:47:55] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:47:57] Speaker B: Well, that's good. [01:47:59] Speaker D: So what's your god? The god of, like, strength, speed, cars, lunch? [01:48:06] Speaker C: He actually used to be one of us. [01:48:09] Speaker B: Lunch, like a scion? [01:48:12] Speaker C: Yes. He ascended to Godhood. [01:48:17] Speaker D: That's the thing. [01:48:20] Speaker C: Yeah, if you get strong enough and your fate gets powerful enough, you can ascend takes time. [01:48:29] Speaker B: We can become god? [01:48:33] Speaker C: Yeah, and you can join, like, your parents pantheon if you want. Some people form their own pantheons. [01:48:39] Speaker D: So could we have worshipers and, like, a cult or something? [01:48:44] Speaker B: I don't want anyone praying to the god. Oliver, that's not very deep. Sounds a little culty. [01:48:56] Speaker C: Or the god of public education. [01:48:59] Speaker D: Rubber rulers. [01:49:01] Speaker B: I don't need that level of deference. It's not for me. I would be a terrible god. [01:49:10] Speaker A: The god of tweed. [01:49:11] Speaker D: Yeah, that's for sure. [01:49:14] Speaker C: The god of destroying book. [01:49:17] Speaker B: I only did that because I didn't see any other option. I would much rather prefer them to stay as they are that being bound together and legible. [01:49:29] Speaker D: You know, Mr. B, as much as you're downing yourself or whatever, you're pretty crafty and on your feet because you smeared blood on the books and tossed them, and I'm sure that took the that's clever, right? So he's over here saying he's terrible. He doesn't want people to worship him whatsoever, but that was pretty smart. [01:49:53] Speaker C: I just hit it with A dream would do. And he's definitely the best of us. [01:49:59] Speaker B: He of the moments. I just did what felt right in the moments. I'm sure I'll do something quite the opposite of helpful in the future. [01:50:09] Speaker C: Hey, but so are your friends. Everybody screws up. I screw up all the time. But if they need somebody to punch something in the face, I'm good at that. [01:50:23] Speaker B: Yeah, well, if you need an in depth analysis of classic literature, then you come to me. [01:50:28] Speaker C: We're literally living in a world where myths and monsters are coming to life right before us. So yeah, I think we will be. [01:50:37] Speaker B: My expertise in mythology is not that large. It's mostly about just literature. Fiction catch 22 fahrenheit 451. Did you not read either of those books? [01:50:59] Speaker C: No, I assigned. [01:51:01] Speaker B: You should, right? They're both phenomenal. [01:51:05] Speaker A: Yeah, they are. Yeah, I got a copy of Fahrenheit 451 that's covered in asbestos. [01:51:13] Speaker B: Really? [01:51:14] Speaker A: Yeah. No shit. [01:51:15] Speaker B: Where did you get that? [01:51:17] Speaker A: I picked it up in a bookshop in New York, like, ten years ago. [01:51:21] Speaker B: Do you remember? What, shop? [01:51:23] Speaker A: No. God, we were on tour at the time. [01:51:28] Speaker B: That's a very good find. If we ever get a chance to go back and you know where it is, I would love the opportunity to look it over. That's a very interesting copy. [01:51:41] Speaker D: There's got to be a God of Music, right? Maybe that's who you're. [01:51:48] Speaker C: For what it's worth, my dad was he was a scion, like us, and well, the Jade Emperor didn't like him very much because he was a little arrogant and a little full of himself, and he ordered him to commit suicide and then his dad brought him back. No, his teacher brought him back. [01:52:08] Speaker D: So we can be brought back then. [01:52:12] Speaker C: By people with the right stuff. Yeah, but we can't just come back on our own. [01:52:17] Speaker B: What right stuff? What kind of right stuff? [01:52:20] Speaker C: Depends on the God. Usually it takes a god's involvement or a powerful enough scion. It's not easy. It takes a lot. And that's usually there's usually pretty high prices to be paid. [01:52:33] Speaker B: This would have been very good information last night for my own mental sanity. [01:52:37] Speaker C: You wouldn't have been able to do anything, and neither would I. [01:52:40] Speaker B: The knowledge of it is still helpful. It's something to never mind. [01:52:45] Speaker D: It's a goal to work towards, I guess. [01:52:47] Speaker B: It's a goal to work towards. [01:52:49] Speaker C: Sure. If he decides he wants to come back, you don't want to force that kind of transition on a person. [01:52:56] Speaker D: Right? [01:52:57] Speaker C: Of course, the Egyptians have learned that the hard way doesn't go well. [01:53:03] Speaker B: I imagine he would. He has a family to come back to, people to look after. But if he doesn't, then that's fair. It is his decision. [01:53:15] Speaker C: Anyway. Yeah. Not all, but most of the death gods have some sort of gift with it. Some are better than others, but they would all demand a pretty high price if they even agreed to talk to you in the first place. Most of them are pretty invested in the balance being kept and the cycle not being interrupted. But sometimes you get lucky or you have something good enough to give them. [01:53:43] Speaker B: Like and I'm going to look at Chris playing a song to get the very stones to weep so that you can convince the Lord of the dead to allow your dead wife to walk back to the overworld with you, only for you to screw up and look behind you at the last possible moment know, ruin the whole thing. But it's a so this is exactly. [01:54:04] Speaker D: What I mean when, know, like, you read all these books and you start saying stuff that's actually probably real now. You see what I mean? Yeah. [01:54:12] Speaker C: No, orpheus was a real person there we go. [01:54:15] Speaker D: Exhibit. [01:54:16] Speaker C: I don't know that his story went exactly the way that it is in all of the books, but he was real. [01:54:24] Speaker D: I rest my case. [01:54:27] Speaker B: Knowing these things that are now real is different than them being applicable. [01:54:36] Speaker D: Okay. [01:54:39] Speaker C: All right. Okay, so you look up as she is rounding a corner and she pulls into what seems like an alleyway. There's no obvious hints of where a place would be. Like, there are doors on the buildings around you, but most of them don't even have handles because they're doors that are emergency exits and they're meant to open out, not in. Well, this is the address. I don't see anything weird. Um, after a moment of, like, hurriedly, like, pulling out her phone and looks like she's rapid fire texting somebody, probably Moira Kareem or both, there's a little sunk on the hood of the car. And as you all look up, there is a cat sitting on the hood staring inward at you. Then there's another thunk on the top of the car and, like, three that come from behind you. And there are cats, little house cats are jumping up or jumping down on top of this car. [01:56:01] Speaker D: Well, Coda's going to stick her hand out for the cats. [01:56:09] Speaker B: These are like the wolves. [01:56:11] Speaker D: Well, if they are, then I guess I'm going to die a terrible death by kitty cats. [01:56:20] Speaker C: Assuming that you have opened up the window of the car, one of them in particular makes its way over. It is quite possibly one of the most striking cats you've ever seen in person. You've seen pictures of Abyssinians, but this is like the Quintessential, an Abyssinian cat. Its fur is goldish red with white around its its throat and belly bright like intense yellow eyes, a very sleek but somehow still very noble bearing. And it makes its way over to where your hand is kind of outstretched, and it kind of does that thing that cats do where it nuzzle like noses at your fingers and then presses its head up into your palm and lets out a very loud purr. [01:57:18] Speaker D: I think I take back what I say. This may be my stop. [01:57:23] Speaker A: Let's. [01:57:31] Speaker D: Yeah, she's going to keep petting the cat. [01:57:36] Speaker C: Cat's waiting for you to get out of the car. [01:57:39] Speaker D: She's going to get out the car with her bat and holding an arm out for the cat to jump into. [01:57:48] Speaker C: The moment your arm is outstretched, the cat sort of jumps up and climbs up to perch on your shoulder, and its tail kind of wraps around your neck. The other cats, meanwhile, seem to move as one, like a flock of birds do, but they're all obviously on the ground and on top of the car. And they sort of surround you and begin to herd you like a wave that you're caught on towards the back of the alleyway. [01:58:22] Speaker D: I'll be back. And then she's fully focused on these cats. [01:58:28] Speaker C: At the end of the alleyway, kind of cast into shadows a door that you couldn't really see before just because of the way the shadows and the light work here. There is no handle on the door, but you do see what looks like a block or a section that looks like it might open up or slide somehow from the other side. [01:58:56] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll try to honestly, she's just tapping her bat around to see if there's any places that are loose. And you said it looks like it slides? [01:59:08] Speaker C: There's a rectangle at the top of the door that looks it's not very big. Like, a hand might fit through it, but it's closed at the moment. But it looks like it's separate from the rest of the door, so somebody on the other side might be able to move it. [01:59:23] Speaker D: Got you. I think I'm here. And she's going to tap her bat against the rectangle. [01:59:34] Speaker C: The slot kind of is pushed to the side, and a pair of eyes kind of look out at you. And the cat on your shoulder gives a very loud and abrupt meow, that kind of insistent meow that animals get when they want to be fed. And then the slide closes again, and the door opens, and inside you are greeted by the sound of music that you would hear in movies based in places in faraway places like Egypt. There are lush, thick silks everywhere. Gold seems to be the trim of choice on everything. Everything looks opulent and a little bit hazy from the hookah. Smoke kind of drifting through the air. They're nowhere near as thick as the bar that Sarah went into. Well, I come in. The young woman that meets you is clearly from, at the very least, has blood that is like, Southeast Asian or Southwest Asian or Egyptian, kind of Middle Eastern, that sort of thing. It's hard to tell precisely because it looks like she's probably from one of those family lines that's kind of had a lot of varied couplings throughout the years. And she kind of brings you in and shuts the door. You must be Miss Coda. [02:01:25] Speaker D: Yeah. And you are? [02:01:30] Speaker C: Not important this way. And she'll kind of lead you along. You'll forgive me. This place isn't technically legal, so we don't give out our names. [02:01:45] Speaker D: Oh, okay. I see. Understood. Right. [02:01:50] Speaker C: You can call me Dina if you need anything, though. [02:01:53] Speaker D: Dina perfect. [02:01:56] Speaker C: And she will lead you to an archway that is covered by sheer but many silk curtains. So you can kind of see inside. You can see that there is a figure of some sort inside, kind of lounging among what look to be pillows on the floor, but it is hard to make out the details. And when Dina pulls on a little rope next to it, the curtains on one side part and open, and inside is a woman legacy. Would you do the honors, please? [02:02:45] Speaker H: So the first thing that Coda sees is, yes, there are pillows all over the floor, but there's also a bunch of cats that surround. A very tall and curvy woman, but yet very slender at the same time. Her jewelry is aplenty. She's wearing many different things chokers, long necklaces, chains around her waist, bracelets and rings and a little arm belt. She wears a little headpiece, and her hair is braided with beads intertwined in them. But the thing that is the most obvious about her are her eyes. They are bright, almost glowing green, with little slits right in the middle where the irises should be. And she looks at Coda with almost a look of curiosity on her face until what was very neutral expression turns into a grin. Coda? [02:04:19] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:04:24] Speaker H: Just very good to see you. Come take a seat. I know you'd like to smoke, so please, the finest tobaccos and herbs that I could find in relatively short notice. [02:04:52] Speaker D: When I stared at her for a bit, is the cat still on my shoulder? It is. [02:04:58] Speaker C: It has not left you. [02:04:59] Speaker D: Okay. [02:05:02] Speaker C: It is watching her, but it is still on your shoulder. [02:05:05] Speaker D: Got you. So I think she's going to take a moment and something to calm herself for a moment. So she's going to reach and pet the cat a little bit and kind of tap her bat a little bit on the ground, as if like, let me just keep my temper down and look at what she's offered her to smoke. Thank you. Seems like you're comfortable. [02:05:43] Speaker H: We all have our side gigs, as the mortals call them. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bastetz. Or Bast, if you're looking for a nickname. And you are my daughter. I'm sure that Nanette and her ragtag team of Scions have probably explained that to you, though. [02:06:29] Speaker D: Yeah, she has. [02:06:34] Speaker C: Let me. [02:06:37] Speaker D: Please continue. I'd love to hear all of this. [02:06:42] Speaker H: Let me be the first to say that I'm sorry that our meeting had to come like this. I wasn't planning on introducing myself until well after you've graduated from college, which I hope you're doing well in your studies, by the way. I mean, I do pay good money to send you to school. [02:07:14] Speaker D: What do you mean you pay good money to send me to school? [02:07:19] Speaker H: Have you ever noticed you've never actually gotten a bill yet? [02:07:24] Speaker D: Yeah, because I got a scholarship, not because my quote unquote off parent was paying my bills. [02:07:36] Speaker H: And, Coda, who do you think gave you that scholarship? Anyway, I want to talk to you about something that might be important. I am proud that you managed to brute your way through those wolves. I'm not too knowledgeable on the Norse, but from what I know, those things are bad news. And of course, I had no doubts in my mind that you would be able to get out. But you went back for a man that you barely knew. I'm curious. Why is that? [02:08:49] Speaker D: I don't know myself. Maybe it's I mean, could usually look out for myself because being constantly abandoned for most of my life kind of makes someone do something like that. But I guess maybe it's because he has a daughter that he is sticking around and was well, he was sticking around to take care of. And he loved her. So I figured, hey, if I could stop another family from being torn apart, maybe I'll try to do something else than just, I don't know, protecting myself. And we saw what happened, so it just goes to show. What is it? Net told us something about fate. I guess it was in the fate that he was meant to die, and another kid has been left and abandoned to this cold, sad world that is apparently a playing field for gods. Sorry, was that a good answer for. [02:10:05] Speaker H: Hmm. You've always been quick to anger, haven't you? [02:10:10] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:10:13] Speaker H: Just know, Coda, you were never truly alone. I've always been watching you. Might not ever be obvious, but I have ways of keeping my eyes on the people that I love and care about. And she gestures to the cat that's perched on Coda's shoulder. Prime example number one. [02:10:48] Speaker C: That cat gives a very loud purr and sort of nuzzles up against Coda's cheek. [02:10:55] Speaker D: As much as she doesn't want to show that she's smiling at this because she's fully got her arms crossed, and she's, like, glaring at bath. But when the cat rubs against her, she does break for a moment and goes to pet. [02:11:12] Speaker H: Ah, that's what I'd like to see. You know, it's so amazing that you were drawn to animals as much as you are. It makes me proud. Have you any idea of what I am? Who I am? [02:11:41] Speaker D: No. To be honest now, the most I've seen about stuff similar to this is I watched Nana let me watch a movie and was like, catwoman or something, and she drowned or something. And then suddenly cats liked her, but there was, like, Egyptian stuff that was happening. So is that what's happening? Are you like, am I going catwoman now or something? [02:12:14] Speaker H: Well, if you take on from any of your brothers or sisters, I mean, you might have more grace or better perception, but yes, for more modernized terms, I'm kind of like catwoman. My people, you my followers, we tend to worship and find a deep love for felines cats, lions, the occasional fox, maybe. But back in ancient days, wheat was a necessity for the Egyptian diet. But because it was the ancient days, rats and maybe rodents ridden with disease would come and mess up the crops. I came in and I introduced, well, felines house cats, things that would protect and hunt and make sure that the crops wouldn't go bad. And because of that, people kept cats in their homes and would often. [02:14:08] Speaker D: Speak. [02:14:09] Speaker H: To me and ask for me to come and watch over the cats and help them with their hunt. Your lineage dates back thousands upon thousands of years. You are in a line of protectors and divine femininity hunt. I'm not surprised that you turned out the way that you did. But you need to be careful, too, because as much as we are protectors, and guardians and watchers of the home and family. We're also prone to our curiosity. You ever find yourself staring at something and maybe something that you shouldn't really be touching and wondering what would happen if you approached and touched or maybe if you put your hand on something that might be dangerous? [02:15:26] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:15:27] Speaker H: Get yourself how I got into smoking. I am well aware, and while I wasn't appreciative of your decisions to partake in things that might have messed up your perception, I am also aware that you're more inclined to be curious. There are things in this world that are going to try and pique that curiosity and use it against you. And I am all for one, for people to go off and explore their curiosities hell. Go deep. Dive deep right in them. Get your hands and sink them in. Learn about the world around you. Just be safe. One of them almost got to you, and I needed to step in to protect you. [02:16:35] Speaker D: Were you that cat that I mean, I did hear a cat get hurt, and I kind of ran towards it. Is that you or something? [02:16:49] Speaker H: I'm always watching you, koda. You've made me very, very proud, and I would come in, turn over the earth to protect you. [02:17:08] Speaker D: I want to be angry at you. I really do, but thanks, I guess. Beth, I'm not going to call you mom yet. It's going to take time. [02:17:22] Speaker H: I don't expect you to. [02:17:24] Speaker D: Okay, perfect. [02:17:27] Speaker H: But I'm not sure if any of your other friends who are with you have gotten theirs yet. But I do have a couple of gifts that I want to give you. I was waiting and crafting and and making sure that everything was perfect, and unfortunately, I couldn't finish my project, so I had to send it off to a couple of the friends to finish it for me. But I do have one thing that I want to give you, one thing that I think you might appreciate. [02:18:13] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:18:17] Speaker H: It looks like he already got accustomed to you. Isn't that right? [02:18:28] Speaker C: Gives a insistent little meow and where your arms are folded, coda, he slides himself down into them and kind of does that thing like cats do, where he's just like, this is my spot. You will make room for me. [02:18:45] Speaker D: Coda gets so excited for a brief moment, and she's, like, looking at her, then looking at the cat, and then looking at her and then looking at the cat. No way. Did you get me a cat or give me a cat? [02:18:58] Speaker H: Not just any cat. This cat is special, one of my favorites. So you need to take very, very good care of him. Well, go on, little one. Don't be shy. Say hello. [02:19:20] Speaker C: Cat kind of tilts its head back to look up at you, coda. And you realize that while these eyes are definitely feline eyes, they're definitely a cat's eyes. They are way too intelligent for. A normal cat. And after a moment, you hear him, meow. But you also hear in your head, hello. [02:19:46] Speaker D: He's going to drop the cat. [02:19:49] Speaker C: Well, he lands in your lap because you were sitting down. He sort of lands in your lap and you hear an indignant little meow. Well, that was rude. [02:20:00] Speaker D: Holy shit. You're talking to me. You're a talking cat. Are you talking in my head? Are you talking out loud? What did you give me to smoke? You're a talking cat. What's your name? [02:20:11] Speaker C: Oh, my god. [02:20:12] Speaker D: Did you give me a talking cat? She now says that to Beth a. [02:20:16] Speaker C: Lot more when she's excited. [02:20:19] Speaker H: She's always done that? Yes. So, a couple of rules about the cat. He is to follow you. He will also be our main line of communication. If you ever need anything or find yourself in a situation where you might have some questions or things that I can help you with. He will be our connection to one another. You can only hear him. He is yours. That is yours to take care of. Just whatever you do, make sure that his collar never comes off. The magic is in the collar itself. [02:21:11] Speaker D: Okay? [02:21:12] Speaker C: I'm your guide. As for a name, you get to pick one. Humans can't pronounce our language. She can. Not human, though. [02:21:25] Speaker D: Cool. Can you give me a bit to think about? Because this is of course can you fight? Can you transform? [02:21:32] Speaker C: No. I mean, I can fight other cats and small things, but no, I am not here to fight for you. I would not be good at it. Unless it's rats. Good at fighting rats and dogs sometimes. [02:21:53] Speaker D: Huh. Wow. [02:21:57] Speaker C: But I can I can walk between worlds and find you ways that you can walk between worlds, between world. Oh, yes. [02:22:15] Speaker D: I have so many questions. [02:22:18] Speaker H: Feel free to ask. [02:22:23] Speaker D: Um huh. So what do we do? Like, what does our family I don't want to say family what is our pantheon? Pantheon? Thank you, Mr. Cat. What does our pantheon do? What do we do? [02:22:53] Speaker H: Well, first of all, you will find as you come into yourself, that you are going to be, again, maybe a bit more. You will be able to see and hear things that most others cannot. You're going to be more graceful, more dexterous. You'll find yourself being able to keep up with the best of them in talking and in negotiating. We're fighters. We are spies. We are vets. [02:23:36] Speaker C: Rulers. [02:23:39] Speaker H: Kings and queens. We are protectors. And the women in our pantheon are as strong and fierce as they come, much like most cats. All cats. [02:24:03] Speaker C: At meows and puffs at his little chest. [02:24:11] Speaker D: Okay, cool. [02:24:17] Speaker H: You have a lot of anger and ferocity in you, much like a lioness trying to protect. I want you to take your anger and I want you to do something with it. Turn it into something coda. I do have one more gift for you, but like I said, unfortunately, it's being tinkered and just wrapped up with the pretty bow. Have you heard of a place called Anvil? [02:25:08] Speaker D: Yeah, mr. B mentioned it. And then what's her name? Sarah mentioned it, too after talking to her pops or her god dad. Yeah. Apparently we're going to meet dwarves. Didn't know that was real. But we're going to go meet some dwarves and they're going to give us our stuff. So is Mr. Cat. No offense, Mr. Cat, are you like my birthright or something? I'm not going to get, like, a stone around a neck, right? No offense to whoever's got that. [02:25:51] Speaker H: Well, listen, I'm sorry that other pantheons just don't do it like the Egyptians do. [02:26:01] Speaker D: Okay, cool. Because I'm not going to lie, I was really going to be like if you really abandoned me for most of my life and then just popped back into my life to be like, oh, here's a rock, I assure you I would have been hella pissed. [02:26:16] Speaker H: Oh, don't be silly. Don't be silly. I had grand plans for you. Not everybody gets the chance to meet their mother or their father. I saw great and amazing things in you from when you were a child and growing up. I know that you're capable, Coda. You are more than capable. You're a star. It but I am. You need to do yourself some justice and take all of that pent up anger from a life that you think was taken from you, and you need to go and kick ass. [02:27:50] Speaker D: All right? Mom said so, so I got to do it. [02:27:58] Speaker H: I hope you like gold. [02:28:02] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:28:04] Speaker H: Good. I have one more thing I want to give you. It's not magical, but I was saving it as a special little gift. And I take out a little box and I hand it over to Coda. This is how you don't forget your roots. She's going to open it and inside it's a little chain necklace on the charm. It's a little triangle with an eye right in the middle. I will send you the reference to what it actually looks like. As I said before, there's no magic properties. It's not a birthright. It's merely a gift. [02:29:16] Speaker D: Thank you. Thanks. I kind of wanted to come in here and kick shit and break stuff, but I guess this turned it out. This turned out better than I expected. [02:29:38] Speaker H: I'm sorry about your father and Ophelia. Your father was a very good friend of mine. The only person that I trust. They died protecting you. Your grandmother, stubborn as all hell, but smart as they come. The only other person I'd allowed to take care of you. [02:30:20] Speaker D: Huh? Cool. Well, are we done here? I don't want the others waiting because we got other appointments to make and I think I've taken up enough time. So you can see now she's kind of like wiping out her eyes a little. So is it time for us? I guess I'll talk to you later through Mr. Cat once I get his name. And guess we're done here, right? Thanks for the necklace and cat. [02:30:57] Speaker B: You're welcome, Koda. [02:31:00] Speaker H: Like I said, if you ever have anything that you need, you have a walking, breathing hunting cell phone. [02:31:14] Speaker D: Noted. [02:31:15] Speaker C: I am better than that. I am a guide. [02:31:20] Speaker D: A guide. [02:31:22] Speaker H: Before you go and then she's just going to take out a little mouse and toss it to the cat. [02:31:28] Speaker C: He snatches it out of the air with his teeth, and then, without thinking about it, just like it's totally normal, sets the mouse in Coda's hand so that he can make his way over to bestET. And he does that thing that cats do where he stands on his back paws and puts his front paws up on her chest, and then leans in and touches noses with her for a moment before leaning in and nuzzling and purring for a moment. Okay, I will keep her safe. And then he goes back to Coda. [02:32:12] Speaker D: Well, see ya, my mouse. All right. She'll hand him the mouse. Right. Here you go. Dina seems cool, too. She helped me down here, so tell her that maybe if you yes, yes. [02:32:41] Speaker H: I'll be sure to let her know. [02:32:45] Speaker D: Cool. Well, nice to meet you, and I guess I'm going to go now. Cool. And she's going to very quickly make her way out with cats. [02:33:00] Speaker C: As you are leaving, the cat does that thing that cats do where he climbs up the back of your pant leg and up onto your shoulder and seems very content to allow you to shepherd him around because he is a tiny god. And you will learn this lesson quickly. [02:33:18] Speaker D: Cool. And I'll make my way back to the car. [02:33:27] Speaker C: You reach the car with a cat yeah. Who is gnashing down on a mouse. [02:33:35] Speaker D: Yeah. She'll very quietly sit down in the car and kind of, like, stare straight ahead for a moment and then look at the group and go, okay, so that went pretty well. I got a cat and the same thing anvil. Yeah. [02:34:03] Speaker A: All right. [02:34:07] Speaker C: Who gifted you the cat? [02:34:10] Speaker D: All right. Yeah. My mom. Her name is Bastet, but she said I could just call her Bass. And she is the god of. [02:34:28] Speaker C: How. [02:34:29] Speaker D: Do you pronounce. [02:34:33] Speaker C: The the cat looks at you. The pantheon name. [02:34:37] Speaker D: Yes. The Pantheon name. [02:34:39] Speaker C: Well, they're called the Passage, but they're the Egyptians. [02:34:42] Speaker D: Oh. So Egyptians. Pretty much. But pasets, if I want to be more accurate with my, I guess, heritage. Now, I'm catwoman pretty much neat, says. [02:34:59] Speaker C: Net, as she is pulling out of the thing, and she kind of looks in the rear view at chris, I don't know where we're supposed to take you. I'm being told to bring you back. [02:35:10] Speaker A: To the house, last and very much least. That's fine. I don't mind. [02:35:15] Speaker C: Sorry. [02:35:17] Speaker A: Hey, no, you're good. Shit happens. Am I right? [02:35:22] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:35:24] Speaker A: You got a smoke? [02:35:28] Speaker D: Yeah, but I don't know if it's the one you want. It doesn't really do anything, though, anymore. [02:35:36] Speaker C: You're welcome to take a hit of mine, but it'll make you jittery, probably. [02:35:41] Speaker A: No, I'm looking just for like a tail of cigarette. [02:35:46] Speaker C: I said I was going to roll her eyes and offer him another menthol. Should we just stop at a store? Because we can stop at store. Please stop at a store. [02:35:56] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:35:57] Speaker A: The problem I got is I left the house. I didn't bring my phone, my wallet, shirt with me. Like, I have nothing except my lighter. [02:36:06] Speaker C: Scions don't make a ton of money, but we have very rich parents. And she'll kind of as she's driving, reach over and flick open the glove compartment and there's a looks like a bill fold inside. Sarah, if you could grab some cash out of there, I'd appreciate it. So grab some. Inside are like, many hundreds that are folded up. I don't have a job, but dad takes care of me. He keeps me too busy for me to have time for a day job. Well, shit, sign me up. Last week I got paid to wrestle a kieran for entertainment. I have no idea what that is, but I am excited to have money for cigarettes. [02:37:15] Speaker A: Was it in oil? [02:37:17] Speaker C: No. [02:37:19] Speaker A: Okay. [02:37:24] Speaker C: Errands are on fire. That would have been bad. [02:37:27] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that would have been bad. [02:37:31] Speaker D: So is Ceravus real? Like the three headed dog? [02:37:38] Speaker C: Is that cerberus? Yeah, he's real. He's real. [02:37:43] Speaker D: Are like hydra's real. [02:37:47] Speaker B: But if I may, something I'd like to circle back to. Mr. Schrom, you said you're the least of us. That is most certainly not true. As I've watched you lift an entire man onto your shoulder, sprint off into darkness and mist, and be the first person to leap onto a semi truck, you led the charge there. You were the one who inspired us and let us know what we are capable of doing. You are certainly not the least of us at all. [02:38:17] Speaker C: For sure. That's pretty badass hot shit, man. [02:38:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't remember a whole lot of that. You know. [02:38:32] Speaker C: Your parent could be the type that prefers to be fashionably late. Yeah, there are a lot of those. [02:38:39] Speaker A: Maybe. I'm the son of Steve Austin. [02:38:44] Speaker C: I like wrestling. [02:38:46] Speaker A: If we're talking about no, not stone cold Steve Austin. I'm talking about the one that cost 6 million. [02:38:57] Speaker B: And we're talking about fashionably late. Though I didn't actually even meet my father. I met Teddy, which was very nice, but I still have no idea what my parents even like, other than some small details about him. [02:39:10] Speaker C: You'll meet him. What Kareem was saying, all of the tacticians in generals are having a summit in Anvil. It's kind of like the safest place in the world. At least in. [02:39:32] Speaker B: I feel like those two words are very big and very loud. [02:39:39] Speaker C: It's I've heard of it. Okay, so not everybody gets to go to Anvil. Usually it's a place that only the Acers send their kids to, but this is a special circumstance because everybody's getting attacked. And Anvil is a town that is warded and fortified with magic so that mortals can't even find it. They can't even drive into it. Even if they're on a one lane, like one way road that only goes that way, they will stop and turn around and leave and not really recognize that they're doing it. And on the rare occasion that an immortal has enough willpower to fight their way through that spell, there are other spells that once they get there, they will not want to stay. So they will just keep driving, they will not stop. And there are various lines of defense against Titan spawn. They're not perfect. There's always a chance that they'll break through, but the dwarves are not to be fucked with. So even if you manage to make it through the outer defenses, which are mostly just there to tell you to go away, I can guarantee you that there are some nasty contraptions and traps and things to deal with. Anyone who actually makes it into the heart of the town that is not supposed to be there. [02:41:16] Speaker B: Not supposed to be there. [02:41:17] Speaker C: Good. [02:41:18] Speaker B: I did not want to be home alone. [02:41:21] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, no, you're welcome. Like I said, at least one of your parents is going to be there. There's a pretty good chance that others will be, but it's hit or miss. The problem with having too many beings with a lot of legend tied to them in one place is one, that it lights up like a beacon if they're not very careful about hiding it, and two, if something goes sideways and there's like a fight or something, there could be like new continents made. Yeah. So on the one hand, having their meeting here in the world is good because it keeps everybody in line and makes it easier for you guys to meet with them and for them to create relics for all of the scions that are getting forced to awaken early. A lot of gods are going and meeting with their kids years ahead of time right now because they're afraid that their kids are going to get NUM numbed. [02:42:33] Speaker B: I tell you we're included in that. [02:42:36] Speaker C: No, because you were forced to go through your awakening. [02:42:40] Speaker B: I see. [02:42:42] Speaker D: So this may just be the pessimist in me speaking, but how do we know this meeting that's happening isn't being like, I don't know, set up or something? Like what if we get there and then all the doors lock and suddenly it's a fight to the death? I'm sure there's got to be not good scions, right? [02:43:09] Speaker C: True. There are scions that have turned their backs on the gods. Not very many. They don't usually last very long. Most Titan spawn won't work with them, but there are some out there. As for how do you know that this isn't a set up. Well, I'm pretty sure we'd know by now. Our side would the gods certainly wouldn't do that to you. Not after what you guys have been through. You guys kind of already been through your trial by fire. [02:43:39] Speaker D: You'll be all just, you know, I'm still going to be considering it, but all right. [02:43:46] Speaker C: I mean, I won't say that Anvil is not a target. If the Titan spawn find it, it would be a pretty ideal place to go. But like I said, I wouldn't want to square off against the dwarves. They're not to be fucked with. And the few Titan spawn that are like them, that aren't enthralled to the Titans that created them, the Dwarves technically are Titan spawn, but they don't work for them anymore. They haven't for a long time. They're like free agents in most cases. But the dwarves have pretty firmly paired up with the acer because it's a sweet deal. They always have work, and the acer do what they can to keep them safe. And there's usually at least five acer scions with Guardianship marks on that town so that they can show up if things go wrong and they need to throw down. [02:44:53] Speaker D: Understood. [02:44:54] Speaker B: Nice. [02:44:55] Speaker C: I have Guardian marks on Kareem and Moira in case something goes wrong and we're not together. It lets me kind of get to them in a couple of seconds, no matter how far away I am. [02:45:10] Speaker A: Damn. [02:45:11] Speaker D: Should we put that on each other like our group? [02:45:14] Speaker C: If you get Guardian as one of your powers, it's a purview thing. Not everybody has the exact same purview as their parents. Like Moira's got. Moira's got a purview is like what a god is associated with. Like hera's. Not associated with death, but because we did a favor for her uncle Hades, she has a gift that allows her to tap into the death perfume. [02:45:47] Speaker D: Interesting. [02:45:50] Speaker I: Okay. [02:45:53] Speaker D: Cool. [02:45:54] Speaker C: One of mine is Guardian. I've branded little marks onto their souls, so if they get into trouble, I can feel it. And then I show up. [02:46:08] Speaker D: And. [02:46:11] Speaker C: Last time, I blinded a giant. That was fun. [02:46:15] Speaker B: You keep saying these stories and it's I don't know. I have words. [02:46:22] Speaker C: You awoken because you were being chased by car sized wolves. [02:46:26] Speaker B: Yes, but that's me. [02:46:28] Speaker C: Pale dude who's like nine to 14ft tall. Really? That big. [02:46:32] Speaker B: And then you also mentioned doing a favor for the Lord of the Underworld and then also wrestling a flaming creature. [02:46:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I've been at this for a while. You'll get used to it. [02:46:47] Speaker A: Will we, though? [02:46:48] Speaker B: Certainly hope so. [02:46:51] Speaker C: I mean, if you survive long enough, yeah, you'll get used to it. And you guys have survived this, so I think you're probably well on your way to being pretty badass, especially if you stick together. Okay, so as you guys are headed home, she stops off at a store, a big box store. One of those places where you can kind of get everything you might need doesn't have alcohol. But Chris, you're very well aware that the alcohol stocked at the house is plentiful and varied. [02:47:29] Speaker A: I will go in and pick up like a few cartons of cigarettes. So like 40, 60 packs? Something like that? [02:47:36] Speaker C: Yeah, that's fine. Sarah will also pick up several cartons of cigarettes. She will pass out cash to whoever needs it. [02:47:46] Speaker B: I'm just going to head in and browse the book section. [02:47:51] Speaker C: And she will heavily suggest that you all grab know as great as the cigarettes and stuff are, you're probably going to want to get clothes and things like that because there's a pretty good chance that you're not going to have time to go home. What about in the morning? [02:48:08] Speaker A: What about my driver's license? [02:48:16] Speaker C: I can see if I can get Kareem to go pick it up for you stuff there. [02:48:20] Speaker A: You're like my guns there and my my car, my car keys, everything. [02:48:27] Speaker C: It's just that they knew where to find you. [02:48:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:48:30] Speaker C: Okay, so I'll see if Kareem can go or he can send immortal to go. Someone who won't ping when the enemy goes looking. He knows a lot of people. I'm sure he can find somebody. [02:48:46] Speaker A: I even left my favorite Bay Squad t shirt there as well. [02:48:50] Speaker C: Oh, shit. You read the Beige Squad? [02:48:53] Speaker A: Damn. [02:48:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I actually do. [02:48:55] Speaker C: Me too. [02:48:56] Speaker D: Oh my God. I just started the beige squad. [02:48:58] Speaker B: It's a comic series that my kids said I might actually enjoy. And I gave it a try and I did enjoy it. It's actually quite entertaining. [02:49:08] Speaker C: Old man. I thought it was on. No, they're back. They started publishing again. Shit. You're like at least five issues. [02:49:22] Speaker B: Store might have some of the issues. [02:49:25] Speaker C: I have them. You can borrow mine. [02:49:29] Speaker D: Well, I guess we all found another thing that's binding us together. [02:49:34] Speaker C: A love of comics. Okay, disperse. Go get your things. I will meet everybody back at the front. Okay, cool. So you all go. You have time. Everybody can make a list, if you want, of the things that you're going to get and you can provide it to me between sessions. It's a big box store. Everybody's been to at least 30 of them in their lifetime. It's nothing impressive. There's nothing special about this particular place. But as you are standing at the checkout, I would like everybody to make me perception and alertness, please. [02:50:15] Speaker B: But say don't you dare say it. [02:50:17] Speaker C: No. Perception and awareness. Is that the awareness, not alertness. Sorry, wrong system. [02:50:25] Speaker B: Curse me once again. You will be okay, I have one. [02:50:39] Speaker C: 10. I got five. Jesus. Okay. Sarah is the only one who notices as you guys are checking out. You think it's a man walks by, he is the biggest man you have ever seen. He is at least nine to 10ft tall. And his face, it's hard to see all of it, but it looks like there is like fire kind of crawling up around his face, and he is wearing a very tight fitting, like, it is holding on for dear life fireman's uniform. And he is walking by with several bags of groceries. Sarah noticed that if everyone's, like, close by, she'll probably yeah, everybody's at the checkout. Am I the only one seeing this? This guy is on fire. [02:51:56] Speaker A: What? [02:51:57] Speaker D: Oh, there Coda's. Gonna ask Mr. Kitty cat, what's up with that. [02:52:07] Speaker C: Cat, by the way? A lot of people have been giving you looks. [02:52:12] Speaker D: She'll glare back at them like, I dare you to say something, but he. [02:52:17] Speaker C: Is staying on your shoulder, so people are kind of letting it go. The cat kind of looks up and gives a very wide mouthed yawn. Oh, that's a fire. [02:52:33] Speaker A: Oh, of course it is. In a fireman's uniform. That makes sense. [02:52:39] Speaker C: You can't hear the cat, by the way, right? Only Coda can hear the cat. [02:52:45] Speaker D: Mr. Cat says it's a fire giant. [02:52:56] Speaker C: Looks like he's grocery shopping. [02:52:59] Speaker B: That's something we need to be worried about. [02:53:02] Speaker C: No, he's not rampaging or destroying anything, is he? Doesn't look like he cares about us at all right now. No. Looks like he's probably just gotten off of work and is going to take his food home. [02:53:19] Speaker B: Wait, so assuming fire giants count as Titan bloods, they just live normal lives too? [02:53:28] Speaker C: Some of them. Titan spawn. [02:53:32] Speaker B: Titan spawn? My bad. [02:53:37] Speaker C: But, yes, some of them live normal lives. The ones that aren't enthralled to the Titan that created them. Giants are hit or miss. He looks like one who's got control of himself and is living a nice, quiet life as a firefighter. [02:53:53] Speaker B: And if we hadn't awakened, what would we see if we looked at him? [02:53:58] Speaker C: A super tall dude who's probably kind. [02:54:00] Speaker B: Of ugly okay, interesting. [02:54:18] Speaker C: Is busy paying for things and has not really been privy to most of this conversation. But once things are all bagged up and money has been passed over, she'll kind of look up and go, what are you guys staring at? [02:54:36] Speaker D: Nothing. I don't think we should be rude in this new world. [02:54:45] Speaker C: Okay. [02:54:46] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:54:47] Speaker C: All right, well, here's your bags. Come on, we got to get going. I don't want to spend too much time out in the open with a bunch of baby scions. [02:54:58] Speaker D: Right? [02:54:59] Speaker B: Yes. [02:55:01] Speaker C: Told you I'm good. But I can't take on a whole pack of them one, maybe two at a time. Sure. [02:55:10] Speaker D: Cool. She'll grab some bags if she can and then head on out. [02:55:17] Speaker C: She will lead you guys back to the car. You all loaded, and head back to the house. She is none the wiser about the fact that you guys got to glimpse a Titan spawn in the wild that didn't try to kill you. Or maybe she did see him, but it didn't occur to her that that was weird. Who knows? Back at home, you all are there as you guys all kind of walk in to find Moira in the middle of a very in depth ritual in the living room. So the living room's kind of off limits, net's like, oh, yeah, don't touch anything. We don't know where she's at in that. And if we mess it up, she'll have to start all over again and she'll definitely kill one of us. You guys have a lovely dinner. You're able to have drinks, relax, spend some time looking over your birthrights. That evening, you all head to bed. As you drift off to sleep. Chris. [02:56:40] Speaker A: Yes. [02:56:45] Speaker C: You pass into the warm, dark embrace of sleep, body relaxed, probably a little frustrated and annoyed. But it's about 10:00 p.m.. When everybody kind of turns in. It's been a long day, and none of you slept very long the night before, so you're all pretty tuckered out in when you open your eyes. Next, you are in a forest, and it's nighttime. There is silvery moonlight drifting down through the branches above you. And as you look around, there is a majestic, tall, slender white dough nearby. And she looks back over her shoulder at you and then turns and starts to walk deeper into the forest. [02:57:57] Speaker A: Sorry. [02:58:04] Speaker C: She leads you on, and after a moment you realize that you're going to lose her. And just as you start to speed up, to try and catch up, you realize you can't see her anymore. But it's easy enough to look down and spot the footprints. [02:58:24] Speaker A: Follow them. [02:58:25] Speaker C: And there are little flowers building or beginning to sprout and grow in those footprints as you pass by, as you go. Eventually you break through the tree line and into a clearing. A full moon hangs overhead and it bathes this clearing in a blue silver ethereal otherworldly light, sitting on a throne of antlers and brambles is a woman. One of her hands is Idly, stroking a large hunting dog at her side. The silver in her hair shimmers under the moonlight and she leans forward. The hand of her free or the fingers of her free hand idly drumming at her bottom lip for a moment before she stands up. Zoe. [02:59:37] Speaker I: Estrone. I am Artemis. It was a pleasure to meet you. [02:59:46] Speaker A: Well met. [02:59:50] Speaker I: At this moment, I'll take a few steps from my chair, walking down to meet him directly. I'm shorter than you are, but I still have that very Godly presence to me. And I just gaze into your eyes for a moment. Not exactly what you expected? [03:00:10] Speaker A: Honestly, no. But that's okay. [03:00:15] Speaker I: You murmur me, then tell me what you did expect. [03:00:21] Speaker A: Like Odin or Thor, something like that. [03:00:28] Speaker I: You're not far off the mark. You are actually a child of Loki. When Chris chuckles, is that like I knew it or what is the feeling behind that? [03:00:48] Speaker A: The feeling behind that is, no, definitely not I knew it. It's more that I find that amusing in a kind of resigned sort of way. Not I knew it, but typical. [03:01:12] Speaker I: Well, now you must be asking yourself, why are you here in this glade with archimus? [03:01:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:01:23] Speaker I: Well, science of Loki has kind of a bad rap. The acer hunt them, mercilessly. They are not welcome. And with Loki missing for the past 30 years missing? Missing, yes. They don't know where he went. [03:01:57] Speaker A: Okay? [03:02:01] Speaker I: So I do a service. I adopt wayward sounds, is what I do. I have no children to call my own for personal reasons, but I am here to offer you place of my scion. [03:02:29] Speaker A: Okay. [03:02:34] Speaker I: You have no questions of what that means? You are simply accepting? [03:02:38] Speaker A: Oh, no, I'm not accepting. I'm just trying to process the information here. You've given me a whole shit storm of info, and I'm not really kind of conversant with what it all means. So what is your relation with Loki? [03:02:59] Speaker I: I don't much care for him. He causes a lot of problems. [03:03:05] Speaker A: Okay, but I am a scion of Loki. But you're taking me under your wing. Is that what that means, or have I got that wrong? [03:03:17] Speaker I: We want to get tactical. You are a child of Loki. I can only assume you were conceived before he went missing. You are your 33rd birthday. Artemis. [03:03:45] Speaker A: Artemis, okay. The goddess of the hunt. [03:03:49] Speaker I: Yes, as well as many other yeah. [03:03:53] Speaker A: You know, death and virginity and archery and so on. [03:03:58] Speaker I: I tend to like to sum it up as life and death. [03:04:01] Speaker A: Life and death? And so is it your job? Do you kind of pick up the wayward scions? Is that what you do? I'm asking. [03:04:18] Speaker I: I don't know when I can. It is difficult. Not a whole lot of gods want to give up their children so that I may raise them in their stead. But to your earlier question, you are a child of Loki. You are not a scion of Loki. You can never be a scion of Loki. Because Loki is gone, wherever he is. He may not return in your lifetime. But the situation you need to be a scion in order to survive. And as I do not have children, I offer this to you. [03:05:14] Speaker A: Well, I mean, it has been drummed into my head that if I turn this all down, then I'm likely to die pretty quickly. So I graciously accept. [03:05:28] Speaker I: A curious answer. You know what I thought when I heard of your story? [03:05:35] Speaker A: What? [03:05:38] Speaker I: Have you any knowledge of fox hunts? [03:05:43] Speaker A: Not a lot, no. [03:05:45] Speaker I: It was an old tradition. Hunters would get on horses and chase down a lone fox. Clearly outnumbered, the creature had no real chance of survival. [03:05:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:06:00] Speaker I: That is how the acer treat the children of Loki. They hunt them down mercilessly. It is outnumbered and it is cruel. [03:06:12] Speaker A: So if, for instance, I told everybody else that I was a child of Loki, that would be a bad thing, right? [03:06:22] Speaker I: Yes and no. The ACR know of your existence and they want nothing to do with you. I know this because. I have friends in the ACR. [03:06:35] Speaker A: So the best thing is for me to say that what? I'm a child of Artemis? [03:06:40] Speaker I: Well, you will be if you are certain. [03:06:46] Speaker A: Okay. [03:06:49] Speaker I: Think of it this way. When a mother or father adopts a child, that is their charge, that is their child. From there and on, do not think of me as anything less. I will care for you. [03:07:07] Speaker A: No, I understand. I just suddenly thought of something. Everybody else in my group is an orphan and I'm not. But yet in this world I'm the orphan and they're not. That's kind of funny, don't you think? [03:07:22] Speaker I: It was an interesting juxtaposition. Yes. [03:07:29] Speaker A: Well, I graciously accept your offer. Thank you. [03:07:34] Speaker C: You're welcome. [03:07:34] Speaker I: That's somewhat easier than I thought it would be. [03:07:38] Speaker A: Well, I know when I got my back against the wall, you know, I don't think that it would be prudent for me to kind of stamp my little feet in protest like a five year old in a supermarket where their mother is not giving them candy. So it's a lot easier for me to accept my fate. And if going it alone means I'll be dead by this time next week, I'd be immediate to turn you down. [03:08:03] Speaker C: This brings a smile to her face. [03:08:05] Speaker I: And she taps her lip for a moment before saying I understand you had a band. You like music? [03:08:13] Speaker C: Yes. [03:08:14] Speaker A: Yeah, it's my life. [03:08:16] Speaker I: I listened to your song Prometheus. Found it very fitting. [03:08:22] Speaker A: You know, if I'd only known when I wrote it. Shit. [03:08:31] Speaker I: Everything was kind of short notice. So I apologize meeting to you in a dream but I hope that we are able to run out into each other on more personal terms at some point. And you'll notice like in this dreamscape there's a lot of movement, there are shapes in the trees kind of coming and going. Sometimes deer, sometimes people but you can't really see them because of the nature of dreams. [03:09:05] Speaker C: Right. [03:09:05] Speaker I: It's hard to focus on any given thing. [03:09:10] Speaker A: I'm probably sat cross legged on the floor in all honesty now at this point in the conversation. So the other people have know a few things. One is that they were given some kind of focus and the other thing is that they're all got to go to this place called Anvil in Maine. So I'm assuming that I got to kind of do that too. Or not. [03:09:35] Speaker I: That is the idea. I am having one of your birthrights sent there for you to pick up the other one little fox. This is for you. And she'll hand you a necklace with it's a silver fox pendant with a black leather strap. [03:09:58] Speaker A: I will put it on. You notice that I've got a mignoloneer made out of pewter around my neck as well. [03:10:08] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:10:08] Speaker I: She's quite aware of your attachment to the acer and a little saddened by it. You can see that little touch in her eyes as she glances upon it of just. [03:10:24] Speaker A: I'll look at you and then I'll grab hold of that and I'll just like, rip it off of my neck and throw it away while I'm kind of meeting your gaze and then nod. [03:10:38] Speaker I: You could have kept it. It is sad. You will never be fully accepted by those you hold in such high esteem. That was the look I had. [03:10:53] Speaker A: That's where I come from, you know, it's the country I was born in. It's what I grew up with. It's kind of hard to let it go, but at the end of the day, you got to do what you got to do, as they say, I got to do this and I got to do it. [03:11:16] Speaker I: Speaking of, how do I put this lightly? A lot of your life has been met with hardship. You struggle and you flounder. Life is hard. But there is something I want to see from you. I want to see your conviction. I want to see you become the hunter. [03:11:44] Speaker A: You want to see me come a hunter? [03:11:51] Speaker I: Exact patience and intelligence and you will learn how to bring down any prey. [03:12:05] Speaker A: Chris nods, doesn't say anything. Kind of lost in thought a little bit. [03:12:13] Speaker C: Chris, do you put on the fox? [03:12:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. Put it on. I put it on before I ripped off the other one. [03:12:22] Speaker C: You don't know if it is the fact that you are so close to her or the fact that this being a dreamscape and everything around you being so quiet that you are better able to focus on how you feel and how your mind, body and soul are reacting. But when you put that pendant on, there is a rush of surety that if ever you need to ever you are in trouble and faced with some measure of authority that is trying to hamper you, whether it be police or a boss or someone like that, you at least stand a chance of being able to kind of give them a shit eating grin and an awe shocks look and they'll kind of brush off whatever it is that you've done. [03:13:30] Speaker A: Got you. [03:13:37] Speaker I: It looks good on you. [03:13:41] Speaker A: You know, I might have got rid of that pendant, but I got a ton of tattoos that they ain't going away quite so soon. I got a big old Mjolnir on my shoulder and that's always going to be with me because that's always been my heritage. But I'm willing to always look to the future. I'm willing to understand and believe that I got this destiny. So why may I rip that pendant off? And it means a lot to me. By doing that, I'm showing you that I'm undertaking this and that I understand that this is important and I got to throw my heart into it. So that's why I rip that pendant off. You get me? [03:14:19] Speaker I: I understand. Set your eyes on the prize. Do not lose sight of it. However, do not forget where you come from, it is part of you. [03:14:31] Speaker A: Oh, I'll never forget where I come from. I've even got that red on my skin. Large ain't going nowhere. [03:14:43] Speaker I: She kind of leans back in her chair at this point, still kind of idly drumming the hunting dog's head for a moment. You have any more questions for me before I let you go back to sleep? [03:15:04] Speaker A: I mean, I have so many questions, I don't even know where to start. I think that'll come in time. All I can do now is just make sense of everything that I've been told and maybe we can speak again in the future. [03:15:18] Speaker I: We will. I will never be far. [03:15:22] Speaker A: Well, all right then. No doubt have a laundry list of questions next time we speak. [03:15:32] Speaker I: Very well. I look forward to answering them. [03:15:35] Speaker A: Thank you. I mean that if you've given me the chance to survive and the opportunity to do so, then that means a lot. Thank you. [03:15:49] Speaker I: With this, Artemis will stand again from her chair and come over and place a hand gently on the top of your head before saying, then I welcome you, Chris Child, in scion of Artemis. [03:16:05] Speaker C: Chris, where her hand touches your forehead is roughly in the same spot where the crown of antlers that she wears touches hers. And there is a cold tingling that starts there. It's not unpleasant. It spreads over your face, through your head, and passes through the rest of your body. And it congregates in that place in your gut where the burning yesterday began. It's like all of that pain and heat that you experienced when your blood came alive is being not dampened, but soothed, changed and shifted maybe from molten gold to cool, crisp mercury. And the last thing that you catch is a look of an accepting and proud smile on her face. And then you wake up and it is morning. [03:17:44] Speaker A: Immediately, my hand goes to my throat and pulls up the necklace and seeing which one is there? [03:17:50] Speaker C: Both of them. Well, you are wearing one of them. The silver fox pendant is there. The Mjolnir necklace is not around your neck, but when you cast your eyes around the room, it is laying in the corner of the bedroom on the floor like you threw it away. [03:18:12] Speaker A: I will go and pick it up. I'm not going to get rid of it, but I'm not going to wear it. I might actually turn it into a wrist bracelet instead. [03:18:19] Speaker D: Okay. [03:18:25] Speaker C: It is very early dawn. Like, it's technically morning, but it's still almost night. You're pretty sure most of the rest of the house is still asleep. [03:18:43] Speaker A: It I'm going to go outside, just outside the front door, and I'm going to kind of crouch down on the doorstep with a cigarette, and I'm just going to stare off into the darkness and just be quiet and smoke a cigarette. [03:18:59] Speaker C: A few moments into you crouching there and smoking, being alone with your thoughts. There is a very quiet clearing of a throat from behind you inside. [03:19:15] Speaker A: Turn around. Have a look. [03:19:17] Speaker C: You all right, love? [03:19:20] Speaker A: Yeah. I think I met my mom. [03:19:26] Speaker C: Did you? [03:19:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:19:34] Speaker C: To share with the class. [03:19:39] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm still kind of processing, but Artemis. [03:19:44] Speaker C: Ah, family, then. [03:19:50] Speaker A: Wants me to be a hunter. [03:19:54] Speaker C: That is her way. She is an interesting figure. [03:20:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:20:09] Speaker C: One of my favored cousins, if I'm being honest. Cousins? Siblings. It is hard. The family tree is complex. [03:20:24] Speaker A: Oh, okay. I had a lot to think about. [03:20:35] Speaker C: I'll give you your space. I just wanted to mind, make sure that you were okay. [03:20:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. [03:20:43] Speaker C: I am on watch duty, so if you need anything, I'll be inside. [03:20:49] Speaker A: Okay? Thank you. [03:20:52] Speaker C: Of course. Oh, don't panic if you see ghosts. [03:21:01] Speaker A: Okay. Please explain. [03:21:03] Speaker C: Well, your friend Teddy. I was asked to perform a ritual to make it so that you all could interact with him and not just Oliver. That's what he's doing all day. [03:21:17] Speaker A: Is he here? [03:21:18] Speaker C: Not at the moment. I believe he is meeting with his mother again, but he will be back when you all leave. [03:21:25] Speaker A: Okay. [03:21:26] Speaker C: Or he'll meet you in Anvil, one of the two. But I have beings that I call on for help with things like watch duty. They're more likely to find see things and notice things than I am. And others usually can't see them, so they're better watchmen than I am. [03:21:51] Speaker A: Right. Okay. Gotcha. [03:21:55] Speaker C: I'll kind of reach over and pat you on the shoulder. Welcome to the family, Chris. And then she'll turn and walk away. All right. Is there anything you would like to do, Chris, while you have the time alone? [03:22:20] Speaker A: No smoke, maybe drink some coffee? And probably start the workings of writing a brand new song in his head as well. [03:22:28] Speaker C: Perfect. All right, well, it's a little bit early, but I think that on that note, we are going to call this the end of the session. Thank you all for joining us for this episode of Apotheosis. Have a lovely weekend.