ic Mysterious Circumstances

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

Train Station
Mystery, New Hampshire
2:24 PM Saturday October 11th, 2014

 

Amddiffynnwr O Lleu Llaw Gyffes has eyes where it is needed. All members of the order understand this simple principle.  Perhaps none more so than Cerys Pfer, whose cover at Claremont has gone through it's own series of trials over the years.  An agent for the order had been tracking rumors of a lost artifact in a small town in New Hampshire known as Mystery.  Until suddenly the order lost all contact with him.  As such, it befell on their closest contact in the area Cerys to perform her duty and recover the artifact.

 

Thaelia, princess of Atlantis known to her peers as the boisterous Glamazon, had no stakes in the matter.  In fact she had no idea where her friend was going when she snuck off from the  Claremont grounds early in the morning.  Just that when she saw Cerys leaving the campus grounds early in the morning, Thaelia took it upon herself to tag along.  Even after finding out they were in for a six hour train ride with three transfers in between.

 

Lynn Epstein, the veteran shapeshifting fey touched hero known as Grimalkin, had her own reasons for heading to Mystery, New Hampshire.  Having purchased a rare book in an online auction, Lynn had found herself required to pick up the book in person.  The book being a touted as genuine fey article was of utmost interest to Lynn. 

 

Just before the train reached its final destination it shook violently.  A woman's panicked yell followed soon after.  Those with a keen enough eye would have turned their heads in time to look out the window.  In the distance stood a massive mastiff with baleful breath and blazing red eyes.  It's wispy dark black fur moving like living shadows.  

 

All three of the heroines on board were quick to spot the creature.  Before it disappeared without a trace.  The train arriving in Mystery shortly thereafter.  Mystery is in the shadow of Mystery Mountain, the largest peak in the southern New Hampshire area, situated some distance from a spur of the White Mountains. “The sun sets early in Mystery†the locals say, given the vivid sunsets over the peak of the mountain as its shadow spreads eastward over the town in the early evening.

[Heritage]

Yes, it would have been faster to fly, her delicate gossamer wings shimmering as she darted north; in fact, that was Lynn's first instinct. But her friend and second-in-command Kiki convinced her that a train ride and overnight stay in New Hampshire, its rolling hills a-fire with autumn leaves, would be a wonderful break from the pressures of running the store, her classes at school and all her elaborate Halloween planning. So she made herself a comfortable sweater, pair of jeans and a brown leather bomber jacket, and pointed her cowboy boots towards Union Station.

And as always, Kiki was right; the amazing views out the windows, the wonderful normality of boarding pass and overnight bag allowed the weary fae to just let all her earthly cares drift away.

 

Almost.

 

The rather disturbing events just prior to the train's arrival in Mystery gnawed at Lynn, but there were no announcements of any kind; as she got ready to disembark with her bag, she approached the conductor. "Excuse me, I thought I heard someone cry out a little while ago; is everything alright?"

Edited January 20, 2018 by Heritage

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

The conductor stared at the woman for a second as if to say 'don't be silly'.  "Madam, surely you must be mistaken there wasn't a scream.  Rest assured this stop went without a hitch."  His expression appeared earnest.  But that only really implied that he didn't hear it while conducting his duties.  If he simply wasn't that skilled of a liar.  The people standing around Lynn were no more helpful.

 

Some even actively turned away.  Even the most curious of eavesdroppers making no indication that they wanted any part of the conversation.  A public secret openly shared between the passengers of the train.  And Lynn left the odd woman out based on their reactions.  No one immediately around her at least willing to claim they heard a scream.

[Brown Dynamite]

"I cannot understand why Elias continues to avoid my presence.  It is a matter most puzzling fair Cecys."  Thaelia stated finishing her story to her classmate on the train ride.  Only partially interrupted by the appearance of the strange shadowy mastiff.  Thaelia stretched her arms out as she moved to grab her bag piping in.  "A strange matter with a creature most elusive."  

 

The atlantean demigoddess knew enough of where the creature came from to expect Cerys to have more working knowledge.  Hers was only hearsay from a renewed interest in her own arcane studies.  So she stared expectantly.  Amongst her circle of friends Sam and Cerys were the only other students who even showed the slightest bit of interest when dealing with the mystical.  As far as Thaelia knew at least.  Though Cho spouted off some nonsense about time travelling the other day while they were sparring.

 

Although there was something magical to be said about Tsunami's water control.  Though water didn't serve them any good when dealing with a monster straight out of Welsh lore.

Edited November 8, 2014 by HG Morrison

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd wasn’t a superstitious person, she knew that signs and portents existed but they were all from the same magical source. And as such they had there own set of rules and theories as rigorous as any of the other sciences. She wasn’t as knowledgeable as some of the Orders Sages but she had learned much about such things during the last few years.

“It’s a Gwyllgi and it’s a little out of it’s normal haunts. But there not as aggressive as the Black Shuck. I wonder why it’s so far from home?â€

 

She had a sneaky suspicion that it had something to do with why she was here.

[Heritage]

Lynn blinked a few times, then smiled and shook her head. "I'm...wow! I'm so sorry; lotta late nights, juggling work and school..." She thumped the side of her head and made a 'crazy' face. "Have a good day!"

 

Once she was off the train, she found a quiet corner to duck into, quickly traced a circle in the air with a finger and muttered to herself. "Great, I just got off the train in Sunnydale! Though why am I surprised; where else would you pick up a magic book?"

 

She tossed her bag inside her Vault, closed the portal, and quickly shrunk down to pixie size; she didn't know how much time she had before the train pulled out of the station, but she had to at least try to see if there were any signs of a struggle. As fast as she could, she flitted about the train, darting from hiding place to hiding place as she sniffed for blood or anything else out of the ordinary.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Heritage

[Brown Dynamite]

"The beast wanders the earth in search of sustenance?"  Thaelia openly questioned.  When it came to magical lore be it mythological or otherwise.  She tended to favor knowledge that came from heroes continued.  Not so surprisingly this sort of study focused very rarely on the motivations of the creatures being slain.  Skimming over the importance substance for the flash.

 

In the modern day, such creatures were held with more two dimensional thoughts.  So Thaelia's lack of proper study thus far, had proved itself hindering as she couldn't even consider what the Gwyllgi was doing so far from its homeland.  It didn't help that no one on board the train seemed to be affected by the sighting.  If not for Cerys confirmation, Thaelia could have sworn she was seeing things.

 

The demigoddess reached up for their bags.  "Should further inquiries be made?"

[Tiffany Korta]

“Almost all Fae creatures feed on emotions of some sort and Black Dog tend to feed on despair and deaths, so it can’t be for anythings good.â€

 

And there was a good chance it had something to do with the artifact she was here for as well, but for now she left that detail out.

 

“Still shall we find out exactly what she’s here for?â€

 

She tipped her hood up a little to show the green glow of her goggles, that she definitely wasn’t wearing when they boarded the train. She gave one of her thin smiles.

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

As soon as Cerys' goggles rested on her face she was treated to the faint outline of a magical trail    Furthermore at least three people's magical nature, not counting the demigoddess right next to her, became evidently clear to her.  Casually walking among the crowds of the active train terminal.  None of whom appeared to be threatening.

 

Had the girls chosen to follow the moving source of magical energies.  They'd find the fey touched Grimalkin floating above an empty purse.  Invisible to all but the most keen observers.  The purse had a few fresh dropplets of a golden liquid.  But, that wasn't the strange thing.  The rest of the bus patrons actively ignored the purse.  No one claiming it as their own.  As the cart cleared out, only Lynn an the bag were left behind.

[Heritage]

There wasn't enough time for Lynn to thouroughly go through the abandoned purse right now, so she flew a tight circle around it, dropping into her transdimensional hiding place. Then she zipped back to the platform, resumed her normal size and retrieved her own bag before stepping out to the cab stand.

 

Once I'm checked into the bed & breakfast, I can do a quick Internet search on local legends, and see what I dig up.

 

It felt weird flagging down a cab; she hadn't done that in years!

Edited January 20, 2018 by Heritage

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd’s eye’s were good, helped by the goggles, and little escape her sight.

 

“I’ve got a trail we can follow, but I’ve got something I want to check out first. We’re being subtle so follow my lead.â€

 

It wasn’t difficult to follow Lynn and Blodeuwedd managed to come up beside her before she could hail her cab. She tipped her head of her hoodies, a unique dark blue number with the seal of Claremont Academy, showing the green glow of her goggles.

 

“Hi there I was wondering if you could explain that little trick you just did with the purse.†her Welsh accent was faint but noticeable.

[Brown Dynamite]

Blodeuwedd had actually managed to shake off Glamazon in her initial pursuit of Lynn.  With the Atlantean princess only able to find her classmate by virtue of the relatively short comparative distance covered.  Moving around the platform in a blaze of speed, which might have gone against the request to remain subtle, she made her way to the cab stand.  Just as soon as she was about to shout out to Cerys, Thaelia recalled being instructed to follow her lead.

 

As such, she complied.  Performing the incredibly difficult task of staying quiet.  Thaelia had faith that Cerys knew what she was doing.  Even if the Glamazon had absolutely no idea what was going on at this point.

[Heritage]

The much-shorter brunette paused and turned to face the two teens, her eyes flicking from the goggles to the Claremont logo, up to the big girl and then back down to the lithe one; a wry grin blossomed on her elfin face.

 

"Is there a problem, officer?" Then she shook her head and chuckled; her accent placed her in South Jersey, quite possibly Freedom itself. "Boy, you Claremont kids really get around, doncha?" She pondered the pair for a few more seconds before nodding once sharply.

 

"Yes, I'd love to tell you, but not out here; professional courtesy and all that. Uh..." Lynn looked up and down the street until she spotted a diner, which she indicated with a tilt of her head. "Tell you what; I could use a cup of coffee, and you two look like big eaters-" She squinted up at the Amazon and smiled. "Buy you some lunch?"

 

To Cerys' vison, everything about Lynn registered as magic, except for what looked looked to be an iron ring on a leather thong that hung around her neck; in fact, it appeared to be the only metal of any kind on her person.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Heritage

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia was visibly surprised at their affiliation with Claremont academy being obvious so far out of state.  Even moreso when they were invited out to eat.  Instead of some nefarious plot, to do what ever nefarious things people did to those exiting train stations, they were being offered food.  Which frankly sounded like a nice break.  "Verily, an offer most inviting!"

 

Then Thaelia remembered an oh so important point of order.  Subtle.  If Blodeuwedd wanted to be cautious it was for a reason.  Granted, in Thaelia's opinion the reason was that the day ended in y.  But, deference in such matters was important.  So she tuned her ocean colored eyes towards Cerys.  Waiting to see if this was the matter the goggle wearing teen wanted to check out.

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd spent a few moments studying the other woman, she was pretty good at reading people and so far she’d not detected any deception in what she was saying. Beside she’d mentioned Claremont and it was a fairly exclusive club that suggested a certain kind of person. definitely someone to investigate further.

 

“Sure a coffee sound great, we can eat cake and catch up on old times. If you don’t mind we’ll save the introductions until later.â€

[Heritage]

Lynn beamed and nodded. "Great, let's go!" As they began walking, the bookstore owner began to cheerfully explain the nature of her trip up from Freedom (leaving out the magic parts while out on the street), and casually mentioned the odd disruption on the train as it approached the station. Despite the appearance of an off-hand conversation, Lynn was actually choosing her words carefully, editing out the mystical bits while still bringing the two teens up to speed on what she'd seen and heard.

 

Once at the diner, she held the door open for them while gesturing for them to enter. "When you're back in town, you should visit my shop; Claremont students save fifteen percent!"

 

Luckily a roomy corner booth was available, offering a modicum of privacy and plenty of room for Glamazon; even though she didn't eat anymore, Lynn reflexively picked up a menu and began browsing. "Order whatever you want; I'm pretty loaded and I'm just having coffee. Ooh, they've got mushroom ravioli!"

Edited January 20, 2018 by Heritage

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

The restaurant they were in, Papa O'Toole's, was a quaint family Italian bistro.  Which for most people that meant it was the local pizza shop.  However, most of the menu actually was not pizza.  In fact the pizza was just a secondary thought on the scheme of things.  Their pasta menu was far and wide their largest section.

 

The atmosphere of the store itself, however, still screamed pizza shop.  From the red and white checkered tablecloth.  To the small cartoon mascot hanging overhead.  Clearly the owners of the bistro knew their customers.

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd went for just a coffee as generous as the offer was she didn't want to be seen as too greedy. Well maybe a cake it had been a long journey after all...

 

“I may take you up on the offer some off the books are quite difficult to find. I'm sure you’re aware how specialise some of the lesson are.â€

 

It was pretty obvious that Lynn was a little more than just a simple Book Store owner. Then again she was much more than she normally appeared, when she’d pulled back her hood the goggles were gone and she appeared as a rather normal teenage woman.

 

“I’m Blodeuwedd, though most call me Cerys, and this is Thaelia. We might all be here for the same thing, would you mind if we took a look at this book of your?â€

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia didn't like sweets.  Preferring savory or bitter sensations on her palate.  Having much less worry for being rude meant she could gladly order a large anchovies and pepperoni pizza.  Which she did.  With a glass of water on the side.  The ridiculousness of charging for water being set aside for a moment

 

That was something Thaelia appreciated about Cerys.  Though her actions were always more measured than the Atlantean, there was no denying that Blodeuwedd was equally direct.  There was no need to dance around the subject.  Cerys  just flat out asked at the earliest available opportunity.

 

An act that the boisterous Atlantean could appreciate.

[Heritage]

Lynn shrugged. "Sure, you're welcome to tag along when I go to pick it up from seller; we'll just say you two are interns or volunteers if anyone asks." The waitress arrived with the drinks and a bread basket, and the changeling polluted her coffee with obscene amounts of cream and sugar. "Though I gotta admit, I'm a little more concerned by my Scooby-Doo sighting from the train; it's not every day you see a Gwyllgi out your window." Surprisingly her accent was spot on.

 

After she had a few sips of coffee, which she savored like it was Olympian nectar, the book dealer appeared to pull a bread stick out of the basket, but if one looked carefully it was clear the same number still remained. Lynn winked at Cerys as she unwrapped it. "So how did you guys get into the occult?"

Edited January 20, 2018 by Heritage

[Tiffany Korta]

“You could say I was born into it.†Blodeuwedd gave a tight little smile  â€œI’ve spent a while learning about various supernatural threats and how to deal with them, I like to make sure that they never become a threatâ€

 

Blodeuwedd rested her head on her hands and looked at Lynn a little more closely, something about her whole body language was a little off.

 

“Of cause not every supernatural threat is as obvious as the Gwyllgi. I believe you were going to explain how you managed those tricks earlier.â€

[Heritage]

Lynn nodded and pointed at Cerys with her breadstick. "Yes, I did." She took a big bite of it and crunched it for a few seconds, seemingly having a conversation in her head, complete with hand gestures and facial expressions; finally she swallowed, sighed and placed her hands palms down on the checkered tablecloth

 

"So I'm not human; I mean I was, born to two mortal parents and all that, but then I died-" She grimaced. "Aaaaaand for reasons that are still not really clear to me, the Queen of Winter took my soul, or spirit or divine spark or whatever, and shoved it-" Here she slapped her hands loudly together. "Smack into a custom-made glamourous body forged from the ashes of my mortal remains." Lynn shrugged as she raised her coffee to her lips. "Or something like that; we don't really talk. Oh, and I go by 'Grimalkin' when I fight crime."

 

The changeling daintily sipped her coffee as she waited for the girls to respond.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Heritage

[Brown Dynamite]

"Not human."  Thaelia pointed to herself.  Unsure of if there was suddenly.  Although, technically speaking the past two kings intermingling with humans had meant she technically shouldn't be considered 50/50 as far as the demigod split was.  But godly intercourse was a complicated enough matter on its own to try and worry about such specificity

 

"Mother was an Atlantean Princess.  Father was the Greek God of the Sea.  Magic is my normal."  Thaelia stated matter of factly.  It helped that she shouted it out half the time when she called herself the Daughter of the Seas.   But, there was a time when she would have been more hesitant to share her parentage all willy nilly.

 

Especially with an associate of the hard to figure out Queen of Winter.

Edited February 11, 2015 by HG Morrison

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd had some experience with the Fae, good and bad, over the years yet even she didn’t know all about their ways. They were mercurial things but they could be trusted, to a point, if you understood how they thought.

“I’ve had some dealing with the Tylwyth Teg, Welsh Faeries, including some that are allies. My family has sworn to protect the land and it’s people from gods and spirits, though we are just mortals.†there was a hint of pride in that last part

 

“So now that we know all about each other shall we look at this book of yours?â€

[Heritage]

Lynn pulled out her smartphone and checked the time. "Well, I've got a little while before I meet my guy, and the daughter of Poseidon here just ordered pizza, so we've got some time to kill." She winked and took a sip of her coffee, then held up a finger. "Mmm, let's have a look at our clue!"

 

She reached under the table and traced a circle in the air, then proceded to bring out the purse she'd found. "I think this belonged to the woman who screamed, and presumably disappeared." The changeling held it up for an experimental sniff with her sensitive nose, then offered it to the Welsh girl to examine. "Here, have a look; there's some odd gold stuff inside."

Edited January 20, 2018 by Heritage