Moon Goddess: Scene 24

Introduction to this thread: The Moon Goddess Is A Harsh Mistress
Explanation of Mythic elements: What's All This Mythic Stuff?
Previous Scene: Scene 23

SCENE 24
An uncomfortable journey through Siberian roads to the border.

CHARACTERS
The Silver Huntress (her deity)
Soldiers/Police
Drachen (her old warhorse)
Nina Yazov
Nina's Mother (Anna Yazov)
The Hard Man with the Nasty Scar
Susi
Yuliya
Igor
Deidre
Nina's uncle Ulrich
The Wanderer (the target of Nina's hunt)
Hamid
The Commissar
Fanquin Lanfeng
The girls from New Zealand
Crewmen from the smaller ship
Other passengers
Nora (the red-headed girl from New Zealand)
Marna (a brunette girl from New Zealand)
The truck driver

UPDATED THREADS
* Escape to freedom
* Solve the mystery of Nina's mother (though this is well along)
* Decipher the writing on the menhir
* Deliver antique sword to the target of Nina's hunt

CHAOS FACTOR: 4

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The scene occurs as expected.

Q: Does Igor try for the Finnish border [Likely]? Yes.
Q: Will they stop by the hunting lodge where Katja killed the bear [Unlikely]? No.

The truck passes out of Saint Petersburg before sunrise without incident. Katja, Nina, Igor, and the girls from New Zealand ride in cramped darkness, huddled in wool blankets. Hours go by with nothing to pass the time but conversation.

Igor doesn't speak much. When he does, it is only in Russian to have brief conversations with Nina. Nora attempts to converse with Nina in Russian as well, but she always answers back in heavily accented English.

Q: Is Nina disturbed at the thought of having a younger sister [50/50]? Yes (presumably, she was not around to learn of her mother's pregnancy and was subsequently never told).

Nina (in response to something Nora says in Russian): "I'd rather not talk about it. You can understand that I'm a little put off by the fact that I was never told that I had a sister."

She says something in Russian and Igor answers in a brief response.

Nora (in English now): "It's not his fault. He was acting under your mother's... our mother's orders."

Nina: "She didn't trust me."

Nora: "I'm sure it wasn't you..."

Nina: "Yes, it was. Our relationship was already strained. I was moving in Lenin's circle back then and she was already starting to argue with the direction of the movement. We had arguments... then we just stopped speaking."

Katja: "When was the last time you saw your mother alive?"

Nina: "Over a year before she was arrested. Presumably, she had Nora right before she was captured."

Katja: "It's so sad."

In the darkness, Katja raises the subject f the menhir.

Q: Does Nina explain what was written [50/50]? Yes.
Q: Did it predict Katja's arrival [50/50]? Yes (barely).
CQ: Some other interesting detail [Brewers]? Sai'vas (the worship of Siva/Shiva).

Nina: "The menhir is ancient and the various inscriptions appear to be couplets in the same epic poem. There were Old Norse runes, classical greek, Sanskrit, Turkish, and various eastern European and western Asian languages written in the Roman alphabet. There's even a couplet in Chinese. It's startling, really. It confirms what my mother was saying all along."

Katja: "And what was that."

Nina: "That her cult... your cult is ancient. It probably pre-dates the Indo-European migrations. There are couplets that describe how some kind of idyllic matriarchal society was overrun by fierce warriors riding on chariots. Then there are hints that her cult survived in the worship of Artemis, Devana, and other goddesses of the hunt and moon."

Q: Are there concrete prophecies [50/50]? Yes.

Nina: "Reading the couplets now, a case could be made for their prophetic nature. They seem to foreshadow definite historical events. Then again, it's always easier to see prophecies of events that have already happened. Just like Nostradomas..."

Nina pauses.

Nina: "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Katja: "The names are unfamiliar, but I think I understand what you are saying. The couplets seem to describe vague prophecies."

Nina: "Some more vague than others. The menhir describes someone very much like my mother, involved in events that bare a striking a similarity to her life and death. But they refer to her as the 'Harbinger of the One Who Comes From Beyond The Moon'. I suppose that would be you."

Katja: "Did you translate all the couplets?"

Q: Did she [Very Unlikely]? Extreme no.

Nina: "Only a small fraction. If I had my notes I could give you the details of what I already told you. But that's all I have. I'm sure there is more to be gleaned from the writings, assuming that one could translate the words. That's where Nasir came in handy..."

Katja: "And yet he still betrayed your mother."

Nina: "I still haven't figure out why he did it. He said it was Lenin's order. That part I understand. I just assumed that his first loyalty was to my mother. I was wrong. Maybe he never believed. Or maybe he did and that's precisely why he betrayed her. Maybe there was something in the prophecy that he never told me."

Another lull in the conversation, followed by small talk amongst the girls from New Zealand.

Q: Does the truck stop at all in the next six hours [Likely]? Yes.
RANDOM EVENT [NPC Positive (Girls from New Zealand) Break War. The Soviets are at "war" with the girls. Thus, that war must somehow break.]

At mid-day, the truck rolls to a stop and the passengers are let out of their hiding place. The sky is crystal clear and the sun is bright on an expanse of snow. Katja notes that there is a strange vehicle with the wings of a bird.

Q: Is Nina surprised to see the airplane [50/50]? Yes.

Nina says something to Igor. He smiles replies with a twinkle in his eye.

Nina smiles as she explains: "Igor's been going behind my back. He's arranged air transport over the Finnish border. We'll be out of Russia within the hour."

Nora and the girls from New Zealand are ecstatic. Katja is almost beside herself with excitement. Soon, she would be truly free. This chapter of her tale was drawing to close.

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AND THUS CONCLUDES THIS CHAPTER...
I could have continued from here but I think this was a natural place to pause. I'm currently experimenting with different characters, different genres and different rules. I look forward to continuing Katja's story at some point in the coming months.

I hope you all enjoyed the story thus far (or at least found it useful). Look for new Mythic adventures in Risus in the coming weeks.