Summary:A trip to a graveyard reveals more clues Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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The hunt for the Crown of Command continues. Zee and Fenris have both busy with their own projects - not to mention a very strange lunch last week where they ended up reliving a TV Series episode.
Today, the pair have some time though. Which is why Zee is waiting for Fenris just outside the Green-wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn. Both agree this is likely the best location to find their next clue.
Fenris arrives looking a bit tired. He had been pranked by pixies recently and it had stirred up old memories. Old memories best left forgotten in his case. It's almost nice to put those away and focus on this hunt, and almost nice to come to a cemetery. He is not put off by the resting places of the dead as mortals are. Mortal ghosts hold no terror for him and many of the mortals he has known now rest in such places. At least in more modern times they are easier to find. The graves of the ancients lie forgotten by all but a very few.
"Hello young witch." Fenris says with a slight bow. "We are too early for the Halloween episode." Yes, he remembers. That had been just… six kinds of strange.
Green-wood Cemetery is actually quite nice - it's well maintained and the entry is very picturesque. "Hello Old Wolf" Zee responds with a grin, murmurming a spell with a twinkle in her eye. In a flash she's garbed in a pointed hat and black robes, a broomstick held in her hand. Something more reminscent of Samantha from Bewitched than anything. "But don't you think I would make most fetching caster?" She asks.
Raising a chin to the cemetery, she indicates the section that's nearest the sea. "600 paces from the sea, Selim said. Shall we then? We'll use your paces, if that's ok. I feel mine might fall slightly short."
"You are a quite fetching caster." Which Fernis can say because his Valkyr isn't a caster and he doesn't need to worry about it coming up between the two of them. "But we are still slightly early for Bedknobs and Broomsticks." There's an old television reference.
"Six hundred paces from the sea. Well we will have to start from the sea, won't we. And hope that they're not being too strictly literal in their interpretation of 'from the sea'."
It would help if they had SOME idea of what they were looking for. A clue could be anything. He suspects it may be an inscription on one of the gravestones but it also could be buried here. Which is… not a pleasant thought. Grave earth is something Fenris prefers not to disturb mostly for sentimental reasons.
Zee laughs and reverts to her street clothes as the two make their through the cemetery. "Ah well, I'll save the costume for later." It would be an excellent Halloween one to be sure.
"Well, I hope so. Cause a pace is really dependent on the height and fitness of the person. Which is why we'll use yours." Is Zee casting shade on Fenris' fitness?
Making the wall that surrounds the cemetery, Zee turns back towards the centre "I guess we'll head in this direction …" Ahead are several tomb stones, one of which is large and ornate, but their paces take them past them.
Up ahead, there's a clear patch on ground - the only one in this area. The grass hasn't grown over it, or if it has it's been well cared for and cleared.
"Mostly height." Fenris says looking down at Zee. He is taller than many people. Actually he is taller than a great many people. "Which means my paces might be somewhat longer than Selims. But we shall see what we shall see."
Some minutes later Fenris stops in the middle of the patch of grass and looks around. There is a good ten feet in any direction with no tombstones. And this is a rather old cemetery.
"Unusual. No head stones. No markers. No trees. Just grass." He leans down to brush the grass and feel the soil with his fingertips. "I certainly don't feel anything off the top of my head."
"It is odd …" Zee says slowly, looking around.
Fenris can't feel anything to begin with, then his brush the edge of something. It's offset from the centre of the area and he has to pull the grass away and brush the earth, but there it is - a plaque with an inscription.
The inscription is in Turkish - an older variant that Fenris can read with ease. Zee has to spend some time trying to translate it - there's a passing familiarity with the modern language.
// A foreign monument of a barrier that fell, allowing two parts of a nation to mend, you'll find the next clue. //
Fenris frowns. "That seems to be a reference to the Berlin wall, but how could that be? Germany wasn't even a single country in Selim's day and wouldn't be until well after his death. To say nothing of the wall."
The Old Wolf stands and runs his hands through his hair. "And if it IS the Berlin wall there's still an issue. There are several pieces of it in New York. We'll have to either visit each one or figure out which one it's referring to."
Fenris isn't wrong. The plaque too is much much older than that. Zee looks at the plaque and then the man.
The breeze kicks up a little as they talk and Fenris gets the scent of something - likely somewhat familiar, not of Midgard but Otherworld. They're being watched from the trees just off to their right.
"Well, Selim was said to have the Sight. We know that he anticipated one of his line looking for the Crown. It's possible, is it not, that he saw what would sit atop his next clue?" The Sight isn't foolproof and is rarely accurate, which might account for the multiple potential locations.
Fenris cants his head slightly and drops his voice. "Come close enough to me for me to put my arm around your shoulders and take the necklace off my neck. Then put it in my hand. Without being seen. We're being watched from somewhere to my right." And he isn't sure why but he doesn't want to let on that he knows before he is ready to deal with it. And he is going to be ready to deal with it.
He makes a great show of being absorbed in the plaque and it is interesting. The stonework and engraving are both old and there's no immediate sign of the plaque having been replaced since it was put in. Though that might be difficult to tell with how earth can move and settle. Still, it's not obvious.
Zee blinks at Fenris and gives him one of her brightest smiles. Anyone who's seen that knows she's flirting. "I never you cared, so much…" She says as she sashay's over and bends beside him, reaching for the necklace and placing it in his hands.
The scent moves a little, positioning so it can see their faces most likely. Observing but not attacking - yet.
It's not obvious that the plaque has been replaced, though it doesn't seem likely. Still it's hard to tell and it's possible they're being toyed with.
Fenris puts his arm over her shoulders to obscure the handoff. He rolls the piece of unworked silver dangling off the chain in his hand and murmurs very quietly… "Might get a little hairy in a moment."
Then he abruptly lets go of her and steps away in one fluid motion as he spins a full 360 degrees. The necklace in his hand becomes a very large silvery sword which - as he comes around - goes spinning through the air right in the direction of that scent.
"Oh, I'm hoping it does …" Zee says cheekily, alert but seemingly relaxed. By the time that Fenris' sword is spinning through the air, the Mistress of Magic has called her magic to her. Arcs of blue arcane energy crackles at her fingers tip and she readies her spell.
A man, about four foot tall, in a green top hat with a black band about it, sppears by the tree. "Beggorah! What do ye think ye are ye lumbering wolf… Attacking a poor innocent such as me."
A leprechaun. That's a leprechaun - who's been spying on them from the trees.
"Lumbering wolf …" Zee is trying hard not to laugh.
"Run and find out just how lumbering I really am. As for innocent? I'll judge that you half baked cereal salesman." Fenris says as he moves rather quickly to recover the sword. The leprechaun might just want to get out of the way as he does because otherwise he's going to be next to Fenris, with a sword. No one wants to be next to Fenris with a sword. Just… no one.
"How long had you been there?"
"Cereal Salesman…." The leprechaun sputters, jumping out of the way as Fenris stalks over. "… well, I guess ye're right, laddy. It's one way we keep our pots full of the gold that the humans look for."
"Who are you?" Zee says as she moves to join the other two. "And why are you here?"
"Ahhh, the lovely Zatanna. I can see the stories don't exaggerate but ye should wear skirts, lass. I hear ye're legs go on for days …" beat "Seamus MacDougal at yer service. An' I've been following the lass for a few days now."
"And what have you seen beyond Zatanna's lags in the past few days you've been following her?" Fenris dislodges the blade from the tree but does not send it away. No, he stands there holding the 13th century equivalent of a light saber. A war sword designed to shuck men out of armor and ruin the day of anyone unlucky enough to have it swung at them.
And as for men who aren't in armor, well… you really don't want to be hit with this thing. Especially if Fenris is swinging it.
"I certainly didna get to see her legs. She wears those abmominations of trews most of the time. But if she were willing, I'd like to see her legs …" Seamus bows to Zee and gives her, what he thinks is, a most beguiling grin. Then he sees Fenris' sword, not being put away. "Ahem. Not a lot. She works a lot but until today, it was nothin' interesting. Now though … "
The Leprechauns eyes dart to the plaque. "Maybe I've seen all that I need too … Did ye find anythin' interestin' in the grass over there?"
"Well I found a nosey leprechaun." Fenris says looking down at the small man, then glancing meaningfully at his sword, and then back down at the small man. "And given that I've been having some trouble with the Wild Hunt recently I'm not especially well disposed toward any fae. Any of them. The only thing that could POSSIBLY be worse is a fae cat."
He muses and runs his thumb along the edge of his blade. Which is not sharp. Not really at all. You'd have to punch it to cut yourself on it, really. But it is beefy and good at biting into things like metal. Or… bone.
"What have YOU seen that's interesting?"
The leprechaun gulps as he looks at the sword. "I won' know till I see what ye found over there …"
And just like that, he 'blinks' away appearing by the plaque, pulls out a phone to snap a shot and then blinks away.
"Well, I guess those of Otherworld are still looking for the Crown …" Zee sighs. "And they know what we've found."
"Unless I go find and kill him. Or make it be known that I am going to be particularly unpleasant with the Fae until he's found and brought over." Fenris says. That would be rather burning his bridges. It would probably work, there aren't many people who deliberately provoke him much less stand in the way of something, but this kind of thing tends to come around and bite you when it comes to beings with long memories. Safer for him to hunt down the creature himself if it comes to it.
"He said he's been following you for a few days. I think it might be time to come up with some charms or wards to make following you unpleasant for the fae."
"I don't think you should do that, Fenris." Zee murmurs. She doesn't seem to be afraid of telling the Old Wolf what she thinks. "It will work in this instance but affect the bigger picture." She sighs.
"Well, we know what our next target is, even if we aren't sure where exactly. Shall we be going?" The Mistress of Magic is silent for a moment. "I'm sure I have a few things in Shadowcrest I can use. It's not something I particularly like to do - not all the Fae are in on this."