This campaign got off to a shuddered stop and almost didn't continue after losing more than half its players. Things have leveled out somewhat now, and the story has kick-started into action with the small, eclectic Band. Now, with a few more weeks' inability to run it, I hope it's not dead in its tracks right as things are heating up.
The action so far:
White Sands, New Mexico. It's the beginning of Summer, and a lightning storm has been raging through the area for almost three weeks. There's no movement of cloud cover across the land, though the clouds seem to form and dissipate in natural ways. There's also no precipitation from the storm, just near-constant lightning strikes, though thankfully no living thing has been found to have been struck, nor has many structures.
Each of the Band, during their visitations (which we defaulted to short descriptions instead of scenes in and of themselves, as the players wanted), had been told to seek out lightning in one form or another. This led them all to the town of White Sands, not the famous Missile Testing Range, which sits far outside the city.
Here, they floundered. I suppose the prevalence of inexperienced players and the fact that some of my more experienced players chose to take up meek characters caused this. I know that the experienced guys were really taking a back seat to let the new guys shine, but without some guidance, there was quite a bit of just... mundane living taking place, by the children of the gods, no less! Some of them booked into the tours at the Missile Testing Range, Alex went and talked to a local tv meteorologist about the weather pattern on the pretense of being a New Mexico State student doing a paper, and Sid went to a diner and ate while Eddie went to the diner to try and get his attention...by sitting a few tables down and staring at him, though we had decided that they had formed a Band a few days earlier.
More aimless information-gathering caused many in the band to split, feeling betrayed by their parents, possibly, at the lack of guidance, though Jimmy had prior engagements and promised to return asap. The questioning finally led to the Band learning of two individuals of interesting character, both having a "foreign" look to them, a hulking man and a beautiful woman. Nothing more turned up about this pair, and while waiting for the tour of the Missile Range, Alex drowned himself in drink with Taylor keeping him company.
Then, Steve showed up. A hunter from the South, Steve's element is the outdoors, and he greatly expanded the scope of the Band's search for clues after joining, when he took to the desert and hilly scrubland surrounding the epicenter of the storm (the base). Skirting around the edges of the Missile Range's property, and using his unparalleled knowledge of and skill in the wild, Steve discovered that the lightning was striking randomly in what eventually made a pattern, though almost incomprehensible as it was symbol laid upon symbol. This prompted him to seek counsel at White Sands National Monument, where he was told he could find someone who might know something about native symbology.
While Steve was at the Monument the next day, Alex had sent a ronin kami along and was discussing further plans with Taylor, when Jimmy returned to town from his wrestling engagement. Steve, however, was learning much information, albeit somewhat cryptic, from an park employee named Tom, who seemingly had worked at the Monument for decades...far longer than most people live...and who revealed himself to be a Scion, as well, but did not share of whom, only hinted that his divine patron was dead. Tom did share that an unnamed God had called in some favors to have the storm manufactured as a beacon to Scions to quell what is felt to be a great threat, but that was all he knew and said he would share more once that mysterious God had told him. This was a small lead, but one the group began to discuss immediately, trying to decipher what they needed to do with what little information they had.
Then came time for the tour of the Missile Range, and the monument on it commemorating the first atomic detonation. Taylor had secured spots on the tour for everyone, but Alex remained behind, deciding to try to puzzle things out on his own from the bottom of a bottle. At the Range, Steve noticed some burnt sand around the obelisk itself, as well as some coyote tracks, which was amazingly odd, but stored the information away for when it could be applied in context to things they may know. The tour was informative, and offered a couple of clues, but nothing more. Things, however, were about to heat up.
While Steve, Taylor, and Jimmy (and his ever-present tiger, which couldn't accompany them on the tour, sadly) were on their way back to White Sands, Alex caught a bright flash of light and felt/heard a boom in the distance, turning to get a better look, he then heard another boom and saw flames leap into the air over some buildings a few blocks down. This spurred him into action, as he raced out the door, spoke nice to his motorcycle's kami, improving its performance to competition levels, and raced off to see what was taking place. When he arrived, police were setting up barriers and if the cars that Alex passed were any indication, more police and Homeland Security (the town is right next to an important military installation) were on the way.
Skidding to a halt close to the action, Alex spotted a beautiful woman whose skin looked to be the color smoldering ash, and who, in a display of power and intimidation flicked her wrist and made a police cruiser burst into flames. Epically cool and Charismatic, Alex explained that her heat might not be a match for what the authorities can bring to bear and told her to get on his bike. She did, and away they went, racing down side streets and dodging traffic to elude escape on the magically suped-up bike. Once what he felt was a safe distance, he pulled the bike into a warehouse and began talking to the woman, who said that she had grown frustrated at her and her partner's lack of progress finding what she called the "Path of Fire," and she had attempted her destructive path to perhaps draw out possible Titanspawn or their pawns in hopes of getting a lead. She then explained that her Bandmate had decided to pursue another venture and had left, and she feared he was going to the Missile Range because he felt the military personnel there were protecting the Path of Fire for the Titans.
Alarmed at this, Alex tried to call his Band, but some sort of interference emanating from the woman was preventing him from making the call. Once a good distance away, he finally contacted them, telling them about the other Scion's plan. This prompted Steve to turn around and begin heading back to the Range, while Jimmy and his tiger bailed from the vehicle and started trekking through the desert looking for the man, which they found in short order, having made his skin into solid rock and walking with purpose directly toward the Range. Jimmy spoke to him for a short time while they walked, but gained no further information than the man thought this foreign military was keeping them from the Path of Fire, and that it was imperative to open it to use for the war against the Titans.
Taylor and Steve were able to reach the Range and get entrance to discuss with them a possible threat to base security. At that point, each Scion had sand swirl around them and coalesce into the form of men, one for each Scion, which then engaged them in battle. The Titanspawn weren't very dangerous, and caused little harm before being dispatched back to dust, but it only further infuriated the stoneskinned giant of a Scion, and upon reaching the base, he leapt over the fence and attacked American soldiers, killing a few in short order. Taylor and Steve had just made it outside to see the foreign Scion smash the roof of a Humvee in a couple of blows from his giant mattock.
This is where we left off, with the majority of the Band staring in horrified bewilderment at the destruction wrought by another Scion on soldiers of their country while Alex is holed up in a warehouse with another strange Scion, discussing what they need to do next.
Cast of Characters
Alex Saito, Heroic Scion of Tsuki-Yomi - Taylor
Army Major General (Ret.) Taylor Chong, Heroic Scion of Athena - Richy
Jimmy "Lu Bu" Nguyen, Heroic Scion of Guan Yu - Josh C.
Steve Sherwin, Heroic Scion of Heimdall - David B.
Gambler O'Egret, Heroic Scion of Robin Hood (Retired) - George
Lucas Cain, Heroic Scion of Loki (Retired) - G2
Eddie Noxx, Heroic Scion of Loki (Retired) - Ernest
Sid McCullors, Heroic Scion of Thor (Retired) - Stephen
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