Sunday, October 23, 2011

More Little trouble in Big China

So anyway, bit of a scuffle, and Pan sticks this really weird looking sword into the Time Avatar...presumably the half-white, half-black angel thing of Laurel's previous vision...and suddenly everything goes sideways and weird.

...and we find ourselves in downtown Wu-Hai, China, near the Mongolian border. The buildings are very traditional and it's hard for me to gauge if we're still in the 21st century or not. A government official wearing traditional looking garb accosts us and tells us to stay put, first in Chinese, then in English.

I address the man in Mandarin Chinese, saying I know this is going to sound like a funny question but what year is this?

"It's 2011, of course", he answered, with a puzzled look on his face. Suddenly we are surrounded by menacing yet angelic figures that remind me very much of the figures that acted as sentinels guarding Horace in the Terra Incognita originating at Pan's hotel property in Southern California...As I learned later, a now very pregnant Laurel (learned later because she wasn't showing at the time due to some special ability she picked up along the way) ducked into a nearby residence with Kassandra close behind. The Chinese policeman(?) seemed to cast a veil of protection over that building just in time, as the Angelic figures began to spew forth destructive laser-like beams that washed over the newly erected protective shield. It was holding for now but I could tell it was only a matter of time.

I summoned the Ichor in my body to form a thin but powerful protective coat over my body but beneath my armor and clothes, a technique I'd picked up from Ciara after the whole business in Helheim and all.

Harlan dashed inside the police station nearby, headed for the upper floors. Gunnar rushed in to challenge the nearest Angelic figure, taking a swing at it with his axe but doing only minimal damage.

I declaimed my intellect, swearing we would find a way to vanquish these foes; I then declaimed my courage, swearing we would face these enemies down...I then turned a quick pivot and hurled Gae Bolga into the chest of an Angelic figure perched on the roof of the police station, against whom I had the clearest line of sight. The blow seemed to knock it back a half a step and it seemed genuinely surprised to see the ancient spear protruding from its own chest.

At the same time, Nate got a piece of one with his gun, I think. The angels let loose another volley against the residence where Laurel was hiding with Kassandra (and later, I learned, actually giving birth to her twins, as a result of the time dilating effects).

There was a great whooshing sound overhead and looking into the sky I saw a somewhat older Jack Cook flying in on an impressive Griffen-like creature, accompanied by what looked like the son of Nate and two other young heroic men I could not identify.

The jig was up and the Angels reached...inside themselves...and seemed to pull their chests apart, exploding into bursts of pure plasma energy....Nate was able to jump away and grab Gunnar, too. I wasn't so lucky but the body armoring Ichor sustained the bulk of the blow. Gae Bolga blasted out from the one Angel's chest and I caught it as it rocketed back towards me, reverting it back to its compact form in one smooth motion. I was later told I looked like one of those cartoon characters that survive a cartoon explosion...hair singed a bit and all wild, soot on the face, etc, looking like a Scottish coal miner, but otherwise no worse for wear.

Harlan had the misfortune to have the building collapse around him and got banged up pretty bad, but at least he survived.

Laurel and Kassandra's building survived the blasts, though it collapsed the protective shield, but it gave enough resistance to let the building's natural sturdiness take the rest.

I felt myself coughing and choking a bit in the whirling dust left by the explosion; my glasses were caked in it. I removed them, rubbed my eyes, but when I opened them, I was someplace else entirely....

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