|
|
Post by Scorpio on May 31, 2021 23:11:34 GMT -8
The Underground speakeasy was nestled under the Mob Museum, gutted from the heyday of the Italians running the Strip. The Knight of Brambles was a familiar face and easily booked the VIP venue that walled off the group in a private room. Wearing a trendy white suit courtesy of her latest shoot, she tapped through a collection of archived files from her tablet before folding the case to properly greet the other two. The wallpaper seethed with scuttling legs as the air hummed with the Mirror's influence, and she ordered them a pitcher. "John Relic, I was informed you're looking to stick your hands into some of the more nuanced issues of the Freehold. If just to smooth it all down again," she laughed, introducing him to the Australian whose deadly kith was designed for a single purpose. "Gavin Graves is one of my vassals and quite talented with the rougher conditions one can face in the field, but more importantly is an academic under pressure."
As small talk is maneuvered through with a natural pace over a pint or two, the younger Paladin doesn't waste time actually letting them know what was on the docket. "Another one of my vassals, Mr. Arthur Ghillie has been keeping tabs on a scenario you've heard many times before. We have a reoccurring cycle where campers that have gone missing in the Las Vegas Bay area.
First incident was last year near the end of May. It's the end of semester break where you get an explosion of students—they that didn’t return from a canoe trip. The second was last year near the end of June; A couple weren't found in their tent in the morning. Third instance was a few days ago, where an entire cabin didn’t check out of the grounds with five individuals.
Their clothes have been found in various water sources—the public bathrooms stuffed in the sink, the lake, a creek, etc. The legend has taken on a fiction of its own, describing preferred victims, times of kidnapping, and what exactly happens to them.
Charred books with runes have been found in abandoned sites, various traps too large for the local fauna, trees stripped bare of their bark, little wooden effigies... Ghillie has been doing his best to collect the evidence, as it appears the legend is starting to get out of control. No—it isn't a Scarecrow project; they've been trying to get a serial murder viral to redirect traffic and interest with True Crime vloggers but this is clearly the more interesting draw that needs to get dealt with." |
|
|
|
Post by Gavin Graves on Jun 2, 2021 22:10:20 GMT -8
Gavin enjoyed the offered beverages and leaned into the first opportunity to socialize for the first time--as short the time was--with the Knight he'd obliged himself to and to meet his newly active colleague.
"G'day, sir, a pleasure." Gavin offered a hand to shake but quickly curled it up to a fist to bump. The wicked sharp claws extruding from his fingers aptly speak as to why. In his experience few would brave the handshake.
When the conversation turned toward the business at hand Gavin focused up on the known details and expectations.
"So with me here I'm expecting we're the boots on the ground team for this little excursion. I'm going to hazard a guess that objectives include meeting with Mr. Ghillie for a detailed download, containment of knowledge by mundies, identifying whatever the cause is and all involved, and stopping it from continuing somehow. Are there any special adjustments to the assumed basics?" He pays rapt attention to the answers. It was clear he was trying to make a reasonably professional impression, and his eagerness poured out of him.
After nailing down the objectives he moved on to the means.
"Right, you know me, I'm happy as a dog with two tails out in the woods, but isn't that area outside the wall? I know it's a bit bonkers to use our glim-glam out of bounds--never did ask what happens when you do since I spend the majority of my time out in the bush. First off, what would happen if I do? Does it work the same way with loopholes? Are we going to get some of those beads for those break glass in case of Lake Cthulhu scenarios?" He rattled off the barrage of related questions hopeful to learn something new. He's always hungry to learn more about delving into another realm. Today, 'outside the wards' was a new realm for him, and he took it seriously.
|
|
|
|
Post by John Relic on Jun 4, 2021 23:21:20 GMT -8
John takes the glass and inspects it, swirling the liquid around and giving it a sniff as he is greeted by Gavin. A subtle shake of his head as the fist is offered. "Sorry uh mate?, not really the touchy type. Hope you understand." A few seconds of extra attention were spent to make sure the razorhand didn't harbor any ill feels. Not really wanting to piss off his partner just on the initial meet.
As soon as the Knight starts to list the details, John pulls out a small notebook along with nice pen which immediately begins logging the details in shorthand. "So you said they found some charred books with runes on them. Any chance we could get a look at those? Maybe let on if they were just some kids want'n to be all edgy 'n shit with the occult, or some legit practitioners. If the latter, then perhaps we could learn a bit more about their potential uses." He smiles, relaxing his shoulders as he awaits the paladin's response.
|
|
|
|
Post by Scorpio on Jun 5, 2021 16:31:18 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by Gavin Graves on Jun 9, 2021 15:07:33 GMT -8
When Mr. Relic finished perusing the available documents Gavin took his turn pouring over them. He swiped through the device's images, zooming in at times, others squinting and leaning closer when he forgot to zoom. Backpedaling a few times for a comparison between a few of the images that to him hinted at a possible connection. Gavin pondered what he saw before checking in.
Collaborating with John on the material Gavin suggests a few connections and listens to what John adds.
Turning to Scorpio, "Can we transfer these or does it come with a charger?" he wiggles the device unnecessarily clarifying he was talking about the device.
|
|
|
|
Post by Scorpio on Jun 13, 2021 16:29:50 GMT -8
The summoning circle implies, well, something is being summoned. The eulogy pendant might be connected to a child who died? Like a ghost fetter or object of power. The painting could either be Satanic or a depiction of "the Green Man" or any other sort of eldritch nature spirit. The term "Oberion" is one of three spirits (the others were "Andrea Malchus" and "Inchubus") said to have been raised up by the parson of Lesingham and Sir John of Leiston in Norfolk, England, ca. 1528. Other mentions upon some surface research reveals that the Name has collected some folkloric power, appearing in several earlier novels by MacGregor including, There and Back Again, Camberwick, and throughout his Arthurian Cycle where Oberion is a father-figure to Merlin. The name has no known antecedents in Scottish folklore but appears in several medieval accounts, including a number of French chanson de geste, or ‘song of heroic deeds’ where the name is variously given as Oberon, Oberyon, Huon or Auberon. In the handful of medieval English texts where Oberion appears he is merely a familiar spirit summoned by an incantation to do a person’s will, whereas in the chanson de geste he is honoured as Le Roi de Féerie, or ‘King of the Faeries’. It is the latter role he takes MacGregor’s novels, and later a figure in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The tablet Gavin can't be totally sure but it's a Coptic curse of some sort. Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter are the symbols around the druidic figure. Saturn is the god of generations and a sort of all-father, while Pluto is the underworld and death and Jupiter is another patriarchal figure of skies, heaven and lightning. Saturn is famous for eating his children. A Faustian black magic glyph. An ethereal witch figure. [OOC the link seems to fail] A sort of effigy that looks similar to the cloaked witch. An effigy either representing a bride, a nurse, a banshee, or the legend of the White Lady. And then finally... the drawing of the bean nighe (Scottish Gaelic for "washer woman"). It is a Scottish fairy, seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. She is a type of bean sìth (in Irish bean sídhe, anglicized as "banshee"). As the "Washer at the Ford" she wanders near deserted streams where she washes the blood from the grave-clothes of those who are about to die. It is said that mnathan nighe (the plural of bean nighe) are the spirits of women who died giving birth and are doomed to do this work until the day their lives would have normally ended. The clues were frustratingly all over the place, but slowly stream with the fact that the victim's clothes were found near water sources. Had someone summoned a vengeful drowning spirit that appears to people like a witch? There is symbols of children being involved somehow, though none of the victims are kids, so maybe this curse is centered around avenging stolen or dead offspring...? "I was going to email it or just send a PDF to your phones," said Scorpio. |
|
|
|
Post by Gavin Graves on Jun 15, 2021 19:33:18 GMT -8
Gavin, while he runs down his reading of the evidence, looks to Mr. Relic in his quiet contemplation. "There appears to be a mix of intentions here within the items. Some look like they are meant to call up darkness and violence and the rest looks to be spooky ghost faerie stuff that is said to warn of impending death, at least by legend. Could be someone grabbing onto all things occult or maybe there's competing forces at work here." When the man appeared to get lost in thought, Gavin nailed down the itinerary for meeting up with Arthur and expected logistics for how they were going to keep themselves in the field and communicate their findings with Scorpio.
"Right, well, best be moving. Grab our things for a bit of camping, assuming we might need to go further than our wheels will safely go, and whatever means you use to defend yourself from the spooky wooge and desert fauna. We'll meet up and head out from the address I sent you, yeah?"
Gavin sends a list of necessary survival items for the area at this time of year by text and a copy of the itinerary to John. "I'll make sure to get some coffee in this one."
He leaned forward, slapped the table, and looked to the others with an expression that indicated he was checking if there was anything else to be covered in the conversation.
|
|
