Summary:Something is loose in Central Park. A Wolf and a Raven investigate Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It isn't often these days that Fenris has to hunt somewhere in New York City but… tonight he does. Something powerful and foreign has come into the city and has been causing a stir. A stir the humans haven't noticed yet but if this keeps up then… that will happen. Fenris means to end it before it does.
Which is why he is stalking through Central Park as a horse sized wolf. He's keeping to the shadows, and it's cold and late, so there's really no one here to see him. But if anyone WERE around they would feel the dread that always precedes him.
Astryd is hunting as well. For all her recklessness when Fenris had said there was trouble she was serious. In the form of a raven, the blonde - or black bird in this case - wings her way from tree to tree. Some distance from Fenris as they hunt through the Park.
In comparison to the walking apocalypse, there's virtually no feeling of dread that accompanies her.
Fenris has been silent for a while. The last several minutes at least. At length though he raises his head to sniff and silently gestures toward a copse of trees. There. He splits to the left to circle round. He's worked with Astryd for thousands of years at this point. She knows that she can take the other side. And she knows about how long it will take for him to get there.
A pincer movement is rather classic after all.
There's a scent of rot and the sound of something being torn apart. Something… wet. And… equine. Ew. Something has killed a horse. The Central Park Rangers will be pissed.
The raven takes wing when Fenris moves - not making a sound except for the 'whoosh' of her wings. Circling out and around to take the other side of their quarry.
If it could, her nose would wrinkle at the smell. No amount of experience ever makes that easier to accept. It's not just someone has killed a horse, they did sometime ago.
That is not a fresh kill.
Timing her flight, the blonde swoops in, just as the Wolf should pounce.
Whatever the thing is, it's hideous. An antlered skull for a head. A gaunt body. Long bony claws. It's eyes burn with ghostly lights as it feasts on the corpse of the horse. As Astryd swoops in it looks up and lets out a loud screech.
Before it can act Fenris hits it from behind and sends it sprawling. It recovers through, sinking into the earth and emerging again behind Astryd to go for her neck.
Astryd comes in with claws extended, aiming for any soft part of the creature she can find. The screech stuns her momentarily, but not long enough for her not to rake her talons down its face. As it's knocked it sprawling, the raven turns on a wing ….
And its gone.
The movement of air behind her is all the warning she has as the antlered skulled creature lunges for her. Fenris Raven turns tightly again, transforming to the blonde Valkyr with a sword and shield. "Try that again." She taunts it.
The creature bangs it's claws on it's antlers a couple of times to make a challenging sound and lunges at Astryd again. In the intervening time Fenris has come around and comes across at it again but it slips his rush and tries to grab onto Astryd's shield and rip it from her arm. It is apparently completely unconcerned with what her sword might do though whether or not it SHOULD be is another question.
Astryd answers the challenge by bashing her sword against her shield. There's a wild, gleeful, look in her eyes as she watches.
Her shield bashes out as the creature tries to grab it, the blonde happily letting it distract itself with disarming her. Well, de-shielding hopefully not disarming - that would make it hard to hold her shield.
Her sword parries and thrusts, the blonde taunting a little more waiting for the just the right moment … so she can lunge. Driving the sword into its stomach.
At the very least, it should be focussed on her and let Fenris clamp his jaws on its neck.
The sword penetrates the gut and comes out the other side at the same time Fenris chomps on its shoulder. The thing just looks up. Then back at Fenris. Then at Astryd.
One hand reaches out and grabs Astryd's. Something dark and rotten starts to spread from it to her. Oh. This is THAT kind of monster. Well. The Norse have no shortage of these. Fire usually does the trick. Fenris doesn't have any handy. But Astryd might be able to improvise.
"It's a bit late for All Hallows eve." Astryd grunts trying to draw her hand back. As much to stop that black miasma spreading as to retrieve her sword. "Are you someones forgotten casting?" There really is such a thing as being too confident and Astryd seems to have that in spades lately.
"Ewww. You stink. Didn't your mother ever teach to bath?"
Burning the thing might be useful however, New York doesn't have open flames in the Park. Pity that. The blonde thinks and drags them towards the pathway lights, trying to kick one over with her foot to expose the wiring.
"Feel like Barbecue, my heart?"
"Noth ethpecallith." Fenris says with his mouth full but he still starts to wrestle the thing over toward the now exposed wires. When they touch the thing goes up like dry paper and starts to screech again, this time in pain. It's not long before it is entirely consumed.
Fenris lets go long before then and watches it burn.
"That was… odd." He says. Someone's forgotten casting? Possibly. It didn't seem that smart. "Your arm. Are you alright?"
"You know better than to speak to with your mouth full, my heart." Astryd is having way too much fun with this, isn't she.
Holding her nose as the creature burns, the blonde watches with frown. "I'm not sure what's worse. The stench of rotting flesh or burning flesh. That doesn't even make me hungry at the moment." Her arm … she glances down with a frown "I … don't know. It feels strange."
Letting her sword and shield transform back into the hair pin she wears, the Valkyr pulls back her sleeve. Tendrils of black creep up her arm "Well. That can't be good, can it?"
Fenris sheds his wolf form and compacts himself back into a human guise. He walks over to look at her arm and run his hand over it. "Mmmmm. Not good no, but no power in it. I suspect it will come off on it's own. It needed the power of the creature to sustain itself." Interesting that it tried to rot her and not eat her.
Fenris turns to examine the skull, the only thing left of it. He picks it up - antlers and all - and sniffs at it. "Hrm……. celtic script on the inside of the skull."
"I can feel it's taint - like oil on my skin. Not the worst I've felt, that's for certain." The blonde presses a quick kiss to Fenris' cheek before toeing at the body, sifting through the ash and scorched bits to find what she can.
"It's too long after All Hallows for them to be around. I would not have surprised to see such a creature around then. Now? Even if it had been summoned then, something has kept it here." Celtic script? The Valkyr frowns and peers over Fenris' shoulder. "Can you read it? I confess, my time with celts was spent on other pursuits."
There's a buckle that hasn't burned with the rest. It gleams in the light. Gold. Hand worked gold which is unusual in this day and age. There are, again, old celtic patterns on it. Astryd will remember them from her time among those people.
"A name. Rudraige." He thinks for a moment and rises. "One of the five princes of the Fir Bolg, if I remember correctly."
He turns to look at Astryd and smirks. "What was his name, your other pursuit?"
Turning the buckle in her fingers, tracing the pattern work, Astryd considers. "This is a chimera, surely…" she murmurs as she looks over the remains. "I did not get the sense of an spirit attached to it. One of his attendents perhaps? Rudraiges, that is."
Holding up the buckle up, the blonde smiles at the apocalypse "He was only a minor distraction during my time there. Eoghan, though since you ask. This is interesting though, you can't get these anymore. The art of the crafting is a dwindling one."
"This body was raised somewhere, I would say, and sent here. For what purpose though…. I … could try and summon Rudraige's shade … "
"That might upset the Morrigan a bit if you start summoning up celtic ghosts." Fenris points out. Which Astryd knows. He knows that she knows that. Is she suggesting that because she thinks it's a good idea or because of her new reckless streak? It's so hard to tell with her anymore and that's getting slightly frustrating for the Old Wolf. They need to find a way to get that geas off her.
"Mmmm. I'd say it was old. Possibly as old as the tales of the Fir Bolg. But why have the name of such a prince in the skull of a monster such as this? Something is very, very off."
"It might. She, at least, is still talking to me. We could visit with her and ask some questions." That might be fun. The celts always were fun, except Lugh - he tried to kill them. "It is strange, don't you think, my heart, that the Celts have been invoked again?"
"I mean, Lugh was involved with the attempt on Baldur and Hod… now this." There's something going on in that Pantheon. Or someone wants to be make it appear that way.
"At the very least someone wants to make it appear that way, yes." Fenris muses. "We may have to go speak to them. Unfortunately not many of them like me after I made off with a comely black Irish lass that Bran fancied." There may be a line of wolf or wolfhound changers in Ireland that's his fault. Well. 'Fault'.
"But yes we could visit her if you're on speaking terms. I'd rather avoid fighting death goddesses if it's all the same to you. They have very long memories."
And hold grudges.
"I don't mind the Celts." Astryd is teasing a bit. "They certainly know how to wrestle. They might not like you very much, my heart but I don't think they mind me. If we let Bran think he might be able to get one back on you, he might not try to bury a dagger in your heart."
The celts are always so … earthy … Astryd finds.
"I don't mind a good stoush every now and then but in this case I'd rather get to the truth. I'll send a raven to find the Morrigan and ask for an audience. While we're waiting for her reply, I'll find something that will make a good guest gift."
Looking at the remains on the ground, the blonde shakes her head. "We'll take the skull and the buckle with us. What about the rest?" The equine … well that probably can't be helped but to leave it there. But the less evidence, the better.
"Yes but when he actually doesn't get one back on me he might be all the more upset." Fenris laughs. He's not afraid of Bran to the extent that he's not really afraid of anyone. The Old Wolf considers and nods to Astryd.
"Leave the ash. The horse we can burn. The police will wonder but they won't go looking too far." They'll investigate and find there's nothing that makes sense, which will keep them safe.
"Being Irish, I would think that Morrigan would enjoy a good drink, though legend has it she has a thing for warriors. She came to Cuchulainn once, as I recall."
"We could let him." Astryd winks at the Old Wolf rather saucily. "I hear Bran is rather dashing … " She's teasing of course. It's only mortals she'd consider and only then if they had been apart for a while, she hasn't taken a mortal in centuries.
"I believe so. Cuchulainn was a popular fellow. Scathach also had a thing for him. Are you thinking of offering yourself?" Cheeky thing. "A few barrels of mead might appease her though. And your guitar and lovely singing voice."
"Make it look like vandals or the like, the police will just think it's the usual. Let's do that and then I want to go home and get clean."
"I was not. I said warriors, not predators. I don't think Morrigan likes the competition." And while Fenris CAN be a mighty warrior he IS a predator. A very potent, ancient, terrifying predator.
"Yes. Let's make a bit of a mess and then go home." Vandals it will be. It will make the news, but only in a small way and no police officers will die terribly to magical things they shouldn't be messing with in the first place.
"Then we can go get you a shower, Raven." She does like being clean. It's something of a luxury for them both.