Sowing the Seeds of Utopia?

Back to the more immediately relevant topics.
You know... I guess I should probably write out how the battle actually went, so that in like... a hundred years, or a thousand, if I have to do that shit again I can remember what went wrong here. Besides maggots. Fucking maggots. We should have set fire to that thing in the beginning. It might not have helped.

So, yeah. That battle thing.
We were kinda smart about the way we did it. We split into two groups, one guarding the pass and one guarding the bridge that anchored Mag Mel to... I don't remember. Somewhere important. Um, which is exactly why we planned, as part of our brilliant strategy, to set the whole thing on fire.
Our plans for the pass were much more brilliant. I don't even know how he thought of it, and we were in too much of a hurry for me to really ask, but Gunnar had an idea to build a trap. A BIG, beautiful and sexy trap.
We rigged the whole pass as a death trap, pretty much. We designed landslides, which is actually exactly as badass as it sounds.
It took almost two whole fucking days (and was totally worth it). It might have taken less time if anyone else had helped, but they didn't. So it was just he and I hauling rocks around. I worried about the science part, the energy dispersion patterns and where the best placement for the event triggers. He worried about the actual trap part, where the rocks needed to land to do optimal damage and that kind of thing. It is now abundantly clear that we make a fantastic team.
I can't remember exactly what he said the numbers were, but when the enemy troops marched in and he and Jack set the thing off, hundreds fell. I'm imagining it now, and it is absolutely beautiful.
I wish I'd told Never to stick around and see what happened, since he was there helping Gunnar set his side off. That was a little weird, when I told him he'd be helping Gunnar, Nevermore almost acted like he was scared. I mean, not like he was afraid of the armies approaching. But like he was afraid of Gunnar. That's new.
I should be used to that bird acting weird now, I guess. Like the whole, "Oi I'm suddenly British" thing.
Anyway, that group held the pass with minimal difficulty. This was probably because that group had Jack. I swear, if we just armed him with lasers, he probably could have done the whole damn battle by himself. Though... now that I say that, I'm not sure if the big, vague "they" have managed to weaponize lasers yet. I probably could.
Hell, I probably will, once I finish learning Norse and making that ring for Gunnar.
You never know, lasers might save the world someday.

Anyway.
One of the problems with Jack is that he is singular. There is only one of him, which meant both of our bruiser types were in the pass. Yeah, I consider super-Gunnar a bruiser, even though he's a lot more well-rounded than Jack. They made mincemeat out of the Fomorian king.
Our tactics on the bridge were pretty simple. And by simple I mean, we didn't really have any besides, "well, let's set this on fire." I'm not even sure whose idea that was, but I think I heard Nevermore say it first. Which is a little terrifying.
So we set it on fire, made the enemy march through it to get to us and hoped they just stayed there and burned to death. We had some faerie archers who were supposed to help with that but... um, well they weren't fantastic at it. They did alright, but we still suffered some heavy casualties.
And I say, "we" because I was part of the infantry unit. Our purpose was to strategically hold the enemy on the bridge. And by strategically I mean the general just told the ranks to stay there and get pounded at while the archery units behind us fired and occasionally actually fucking hit something.
A few minutes after the fight proper started, the infantry unit had already lost half of its numbers. Either they ran away or fell over.
And then, because things weren't going well enough (or maybe because it looked like we might actually make a dent in this segment of the army), we finally figured out what the thing was that the Fomorians were dragging. I'd sent Nevermore out for recon, from which he came back injured (thanks Nate), and he said it wasn't a boulder but it was massive.
It was massive. It was Nemean. It used to be a Nemean Boar, and now it was a Nemean Maggot Bomb. I still feel like I have shit crawling on me.
Nobody kept their heads together when it hit the bridge. We all turned, suddenly feeling like we should be fighting with the Titans all along. Fuck that noise.
And then, the waves turned on us. A big watery tentacle rose from beneath and slapped us off of the bridge, before jettisoning the thing into that big blackness. Thanks, I think.
It took me a while, which was frustrating when I finally did, but I still shook it off before everyone else. I radioed super-Gunnar for help and started trying to snap the others out of it. Nate came to first, then Camila and then Brendan. Gunnar showed up right about then, and we both got to witness the biggest "What the motherfucking hell" moment. Manannan Mac Lir was climbing up out of the water. Camila nocked an arrow, took aim, and shot Mac Lir in the chest.
Nate didn't even arrest her. I'm a little ticked about that. I killed a Scion who was actively scheming against us, and I got arrested. She kills a God who probably just saved our asses, and... and he couldn't even process it. Plus, maybe that instinct came from his Stetson, which he left with Allison.
And now, with Mac Lir dead, Hachiman and the Morrigan are carving up the land while Hades is gutting the soil. At least, until the rightful steward shows up. I have a feeling, that just maybe, I know who that's going to be.
Maybe they have a plan? Maybe this is a set up for something better? Maybe I don't care. I don't like the games I've seen the gods play with one another, while we're left to clean up the mess and deal with the fallout of one of our Band potentially starting a cross-pantheon war. Shit.

"And you sit there and watch the world go around
From your pseudo-benevolent vantage point
While we who've been left to pick up after you
Try our best to make some sense for those who
Come next..."
Bad Religion, Sowing the Seeds of Utopia