Grace simply observes what she can through the iron bars--any details about the coffin or Ragnarok that might indicate
-- runes for sealing
-- signs of cracking
-- signs of life
-- Anything else that's just weird or unusual.
d20
The coffin doesn't show any signs of magical sealing or binding. From where Gracie watches, nothing seems amiss. Until she feels the air move into the room, as though something had taken a great breath.
Grace summons her sword and armor and squints at the coffin again.
"This cage is the work of my master. It is a spell of binding, apparently set to capture anyone attempting to unleash the power held within the Belt. Let me work on it." Max says.
He studies the magical cage looking for deft way to unlock it, a backdoor that Uncle Adrian left, in case he locked himself inside the cage.
Flashback: The room is upholstered in purple velvet, chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and flames burn in patterns over them though they lack candles. A Victorian style bay window looks out onto a psychedelic swirl of red and blue clouds. A younger Max carefully manipulates a set of tinker toys in a pattern that doesn't quite match the pattern of the cage that you are in. Adrian Eldrich, Master Mage of Earth, stares out the window. "Almost, Max. But not quite. Remember that your points of intersection must be in sets of prime numbers. And you need an interspatial fold. You can't cage non-Euclidian beings in a Euclidian shell."
With that, Max realizes the trick. It just requires a bit of tinkering and...the energy of the cage falls like a bunch of pick up sticks.
Grace summons her armor, but something is wrong. The armor wraps itself around her, and the sword appears in her hand, but it feels like a stutter. Like there was something in the way.
The coffin is a simple construction of wood. The being that it contains has the power of a god. The man known as Ragnarok simply sits up and swings his legs toward the ground. The wood of the coffin breaks like the railings in an old fashioned Western movie.
The Good Knight has fought giants, golems, ogres, kaiju, but she has never (I think, could be wrong) seen anything as casually strong as this man. He looks at the walls and the door, confused and something slightly feral in his eyes.
Reflexively stepping backward, Grace calls out, "Nexus, alarms on, now!"
She looks up to address the god behind the bars, sword held low so she is prepared to defend herself, but not look like an immediate challenge. "Look, Ragnarok, I'm sure you're not happy to be waking up like this, but could we not do the inevitable roar and burst through the walls routine?"
Max looks pleased with himself when the cage dissolves, feeling like he passed a familiar test with a pleasant reminder of his Uncle. The warm glow of reverie lasts for a few heartbeats until the Nexus alarm system sounds.
"Saleh!" Max calls then looks toward the mother and son, "Please don't touch anything. You're safe here. Saleh will return to take care of you. Please excuse me." With that, he exits the room and enters the holding cell area with Gracie.
"Ah! Our guest is awake." He approaches with his hands up. "Forgive me, I only know you as Ragnorak and don't know if you prefer that name. You can call me Eldritch, and this is Gracie."
"You are not a prisoner here. We brought you here to protect you. We found you being transported in that coffin by some sketchy people."
"If you have somewhere you want to be, I can take you. Otherwise, are you hungry? We can discuss what to do over a meal."
"Just please don't wreck our house."
Ragnarok shrugs, his muscles rippling in a way that stirs nothing in Gracie, much to his chagrin.
"You are the wielder of Excalibur, are you not? I have no quarrel with you, at least none that I remember. My mother always spoke well of the Lady of the Lake. Is that the correct name? My memory is always fuzzy right after I reawaken. You think that I am a brute. And I admit that I can be brutal, but there is no reason to..."
As Max arrives, "And the wizard. You are Eldritch, heir to the Master Mage himself. My father has much hatred for your mentor, but for now I have no quarrel with you either, as I was just saying to your strong friend. Unless I miss my guess, you lot have imprisoned me in the Nexus. I acknowledge your capacity to eject me into an interdimensional void that would be extremely annoying for me to find my way out of, and you should acknowledge that these walls you have enclosed me in are roughly equivalent to a sturdy cardboard box to my exalted strength. I won't say that I could walk right through them. I think I'd have to flex a muscle or two, but they wouldn't last long. I always awaken hungry. I'd not be opposed to a bucket of the Colonel's finest, or something else fried."
He grins in a way that isn't quite a threat, "If you were to open the door, I would not be forced to do it for you."
"As for names, Ragnarok is fine. My mother called me Albrect, my father Ragnarok. Both of them are thoroughly terrible people, so I have no preference, being also a thoroughly terrible person."
His grin at this statement is full of block like teeth.
"Ragnorak, do you control when you sleep? You seem especially vulnerable when you sleep. Next time you do sleep, please feel free to come to the Nexus for a safe place, so others don't take advantage of your body." Max offers.
"I'm afraid we currently don't have any KFC in here, but maybe your first destination would have one. Where do you want me to take you?" The mage asks trying not to sound like he is defusing a nuclear bomb. Fortunately, his magical training has made him Fearless.
Gracie straightens, though keeps her sword in hand. As Max offers to take Ragnarok somewhere, she gives him an, "Are you insane for just setting a superpowered Nazi free to wander?" look.
"Hang on, hang on." She says this to both of them equally. "Look, we need to talk--which might benefit you as well as clear up some things on our end. If you don't mind staying put for a minute, I'll open the door and no one has to break anything, and see about getting you some food, if you just answer this: You were dead, and someone put you in a coffin in a passenger plane on its way to Brazil. Why were you were on that plane and who put you there?"
He shrugs and puts a thumb and forefinger to his beard. "I...mayhaps you will forgive me, Good Knight, for not being entirely comfortable telling you what might have killed me. Would it be enough to say that I was attacked with a weapon which overwhelmed my strength? I was in Brazil, at one of SHADOW's holdings that I recently...took possession of. I would suspect those who killed me were transporting me somewhere. They were vampires of some sort. Pale skin, black mouths like oil. Wallachians or Nosferatu. Probably wanted my blood for something. People are always trying to take my blood. Mad wizards, super scientists, Voodooeins, and once even a Hollywood actress. Wore it in a vial on a chain around her neck."
She looks to Max to be sure he's okay with what she is about to do, but she had offered him a deal so she is honor-bound to keep up her end. She opens the cell door and steps back.
"Interesting. We were on a vampire hunt when we got an anonymous tip the flight would be in trouble. We didn't know you were there. Maybe one of your allies in SHADOW tricked us into rescuing you." She frowns, not happy with that thought. "I'm not asking what killed you. It would be useful to know if you've any idea how they found you. Vlad the Impaler is gone, and vampires are trying to rise up to fill the power vacuum. They are likely to go after your blood, so it actually would behoove you to stay somewhere where they can't find you." Grace hated the idea of a self-resurrecting Nazi going free, but she also knew they were vastly outclassed. If he could be convinced to keep his movements limited they could keep tabs on him. If Max wanted to keep him in the Nexus that was his call.
"I think we may have found the connection we were looking for between this flight and the goings on in Europe."
"Dracula gone, hmmm? So you think a bunch of blood suckers were trying to kidnap me. I'm not going to hide from such as them. Tell me where they are and I will rip their fangs from their faces, and then their faces from their heads, and then there heads...well, you get the point."
"Actually, that's where we're going next. Someone has turned off the power in Romania, which is the home of Transylvania and the empty throne of Dracula. We can take you there too. You're welcome to exact your revenge on the vampires, while we investigate what's going on."
"Since we're heroes, we would appreciate if you would be careful not to harm any innocents in your path of destruction. Deal?" Max asks the demigod.
"Very few innocents in this world, wizard. But you send me to the Count's home and I'll make them regret sniffing at my veins."
At that moment, through the wonders of technology and the cosmos, Gracie's phone vibrates. Glancing at the screen, she sees it is Win again.
When she answers: There is the sound of wind or maybe interference in the background, which is surprising considering Win is carrying a 10th generation AEGIS Sat-com. "Grace? Got another problem for you. This one won't wait. My teams are tied up with these Darkness Domes. Now I'm getting reports of flaming bronze bulls rampaging through Freedom City. Sounds like your kind of problem."
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"Bloody-- alright. Where?"
After getting information. "Wi- UNISON wants me to tackle a problem in town. Emergency." She looks Max in the eye and says quietly. "I trust you've got this. We can handle vampires. Ces alone can handle vampires. I know, in Eldrich's name," she emphasizes, hoping he understands she is not just saying his name, "You would never let one of the world's most evil monsters, a bloody immortal Nazi, loose on the world with no contingencies. Ask the others for help. You'll find a way."
She walks through the door, using the power of the Nexus to take her where she needs to be. Arriving, she also voice-texts Oz: "Where've you been? Our friends could use your help in the Nexus."
And then she goes off to see what is going on with these flaming bulls.
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A few seconds after Gracie leaves, Eldritch turns to Ragnorak, "Ragnorak, there is fable about a scorpion and a frog that applies here. A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I am sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge. It's in my nature."
After a pause, he continues, "You died and were reborn. You are not defined by your past. You don't have to be a scorpion."
"Now, I'm going to open a portal to Romania that is currently in crisis, which is probably caused by vampires. I'm releasing you to take your revenge on the vampires and otherwise live your life without conflict."
"Then, I'm going to go help Gracie, and eventually we'll get to Romania. If we discover that you have harmed any mortals who have NOT attacked you, we will add you to our list. And I promise to be very creative about which dimension that I strand you in."
"If you decide not to be a scorpion and find life difficult, please reach out to me for support." He magically floats a business card to Ragnorak and waits for his reply.
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Cesarina furrows her brow. "By all means, help Gracie. I wouldn't want her to go it alone. But I simply cannot ignore the troubles in Romania any longer. Send me with Ragnarok."
She raises her eyebrow slightly at the godlike, morally dubious superbeing."Consider me your parole officer, in a sense."
{b]"Careful, wizard. I will not be lectured in ethics. For now, you have done me a favor, and I see no reason to quarrel. Deliver me to these vampires. And as for you, priest, let us go shine light into the darkness. You will not be the first priest of the Nazarene that I have fought beside."[/b]
He cracks his knuckles in anticipation. You can feel the popping as tiny percussions on hour chest.
Max smiles, "Well, it's part of the job. Romania, coming up."
"By the craft of Anog the Keymaker," the mage uses the dimensional powers of the Nexus to open a portal in Transylvania. After he pulls on the thread to unravel of the fabric of reality, he quips, "Good luck. I'll follow shortly." He closes the portal after Ragnorak and Cesarina pass through.
"By the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn," he scries on Gracie. Seeing that she is well-handling her flaming bulls, he goes to check on his guests.
The mage breezes through the Nexus to see the mother, son, Saleh, and artifact with a trapped demon. He secures the artifact within the Nexus and takes time with Saleh and guests. If mother and son are ready to return to the normal lives, he will portal them.
Then, he will head to Romania to catch up with Cesarina. Presumably, he follows Ragnorak's path of destruction by an hour or so.
The belt at this point is mostly a bundle of unraveled leather cords, largely devoid of magic, though it retains some residue from its various ensorcellments.
Max tidies up before heading to join Cesarina in darkness.
Cesarina and Ragnarok step through the portal into darkness. You can feel ancient stones around you, the air is humid. If you could see, you would likely be shrouded in fog. The air is cool but not cold. Ragnarok breathes deeply like a hound looking for a scent. "Priest, can you do anything about this darkness? Isn't your lord in charge of light?"
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Gracie walks through a closet door to find herself on Liberty Street in the heart of Midtown Freedom City. Though if she didn't know better, she'd think she was on Wall Street in Manhattan. Two giant bull statues not entirely unlike the famous Wall Street bull are rampaging up and down the street, tossing cars, wrecking China shops, breathing fire on urban forest projects, and generally wreaking havoc.
Their skin is bronze and their eyes and mouth shine like molten metal.
Cesarina and Ragnarok step through the portal into darkness. You can feel ancient stones around you, the air is humid. If you could see, you would likely be shrouded in fog. The air is cool but not cold. Ragnarok breathes deeply like a hound looking for a scent. "Priest, can you do anything about this darkness? Isn't your lord in charge of light?"
Cesarina concentrates and summons a small orb of light, then quickly grows it to surround herself and Ragnarok.
That done, she starts looking around with both her physical and metaphysical senses.
Gracie bounds through, pointing civilians in the safest direction to run, as she approaches. While she's about 60 feet from the bulls, she first attempts a dispel in case the bulls operate on magic.
If that doesn't work she will go for the more obvious hack and slash, moving in whatever way she can to draw them or push them away from civilians.
After tidying up and returning the mother and son to their destination, he follows Cesarina into Romania, about an hour behind them.
Cesarina concentrates and summons a small orb of light, then quickly grows it to surround herself and Ragnarok.
That done, she starts looking around with both her physical and metaphysical senses.
Cesarina's light pushes against the darkness, revealing swirling dense fog. The ground beneath your feet is paved in ancient stone. The shadow of a ruined fortress stretches upward into the fog like jagged teeth. You can almost feel the eyes of predators on you.
Ragnarok turns to the priest and says, "Thank you, let us kill some blood suckers," and he bellows a [b]"TIL VALHAL!" as he runs into the fog. You feel something like a small explosion as his fist connects with stone wall. The wall crumbles...
Gracie bounds through, pointing civilians in the safest direction to run, as she approaches. While she's about 60 feet from the bulls, she first attempts a dispel in case the bulls operate on magic.
If that doesn't work she will go for the more obvious hack and slash, moving in whatever way she can to draw them or push them away from civilians.
With such clear opposition, the two bulls charge down the street at Gracie, their hooves melting asphalt and fire shooting from their nostrils. She feels the pressure of the magic that powers them against the magical power of the sword like the kind of wind that makes it hard to walk forward. The bulls strain against the power of the sword, but ultimately push through. Looks like hack and slash it is...
As the bulls charge, Gracie waves at them. "Toro! Toro!" She leaps down the street, making sure they follow, leading them away from crowds and China shops. Once in an area clearer from people she will use her leaping to get over their heads, slicing at them with her magical sword as she passes.
Gracie draws the bulls into the open areas of Liberty Park, slicing off bits here and there. The constructs appear to be infused with something like gold colored liquid fire that leaks of bleeds when Calesvol penetrates their bronze hides.
One she takes out with a flying leap and a downward thrust into the neck.
The other she lures into a charge and then slides under, opening its belly with her magically sharp blade and the strength of the charging bull.
As she takes a moment to recover and her scabbard heals her wounds, the golden fire flows together, first pooling and then leaping into the air, swirling into a sort of golden whirlwind that resolves into the form of a massive humanoid bull...
Ragnarok turns to the priest and says, "Thank you, let us kill some blood suckers," and he bellows a [b]"TIL VALHAL!" as he runs into the fog. You feel something like a small explosion as his fist connects with stone wall. The wall crumbles...
As Gracie watches warily the glowing light slowly begins to dissipate, leaving before her a towering anthropomorphic man-bull.
She surmises the creature to be some 8ft in height, heavily muscled with a hide akin to pale marble overlaid with shining metallic plating. Both the curved horns that crown the tauren figure and its hooves appear to be brass. Perhaps its most impressive feature is the immense wings that unfurl bearing a plumage of angelic white tipped with feathers of brass.
The great beast-man blinks, gazing slowly around itself as the glittering dust swirls, before finally affixing his stern gaze upon the Good Knight.
It speaks; the archaic bellowing tongue is unfamiliar but somehow Gracie understands…
Ragnarok turns to the priest and says, "Thank you, let us kill some blood suckers," and he bellows a [b]"TIL VALHAL!" as he runs into the fog. You feel something like a small explosion as his fist connects with stone wall. The wall crumbles...
The wall crumbles and twenty feet of stone topples into the courtyard, filling it with clouds of stone dust in addition to the fog and the wisps of darkness that Cesarina's faith is holding back.
Beyond the wall a chamber of the castle gapes like a jagged toothed maw.
Ragnarok turns back to the priest, "Well, I thought your kind liked fighting vampires. They are here. Can you not smell them?"
At that, he rises off the ground, stretches one fist forward, and flies into the darkness.
Grace steps back, agape at the sight. Not much surprises her given her vocation, but having a giant bronze minotaur swear its allegiance to you was still not even something she was used to. Still, she hears him name drop Medea and Eldritch, though oddly as though they were allies.
Having dwelled for a time amongst the fey, there's a part of her that balks at sharing a name, but the few passers by who have tried to follow the chaos in hopes of Instagramming it are shouting, "Go Good Knight!" and "Hey Gracie!" so it's not like it's a secret here.
"Uh, I'm Grace. And you are?" She pauses. "Let's chat--can we go toward the park?" She gestures in the direction of the nearest open green space.
At Gracie’s question the creature snorts in a jocular fashion;
The massive figure shifts, looking like some supersized maquette crafted by Harryhausen as it further considers her words;
With that the creature is once again bathed in the glittering light… until no longer the mighty Sacred Bull stands before you, but a now mere man: Unassuming in stature and yet his skin remains marble; his nails, palms and souls of his feet - all brass. Upon his skull and back gilded images of horns and wings remain. All markers to the divine power housed within…
He serenely smiles;
”Lead the way good Grace.”
As they head into the park, toward a bit of a shady spot where some boxwoods conceal some sightlines, Grace dismisses her sword, though keeps her armor on. She blinks again--again feeling like she shouldn't be surprised by such things, and yet is--as he transforms. "Yeah, that form's probably a better idea."
"Listen, your... cursed form appeared at an... interesting time, though I'm glad you seem to have broken out of the spell. As it is, I and my allies have some foes to vanquish, and if this works out, I could use your help. But before we go I think I need to know more about how you got here--it may well tie in to, well, lots of things going on. What was that you said about Medea? And... Eldritch?"
Cesarina hears the rumble of more rocks falling in the distance.
Cesarina rushes through the hole, throwing a glare at the back of the invincible superhuman who believes everyone is as indestructible as he.
Once inside, she casts her senses around for any bloodsuckers, and if so starts bursting holy Light into the darkened rooms.
The strange man, looks quizzically at Grace
"My true Shadu form is not accused Grace. In eons past I was falsely worshiped and feared by the sinner... No longer. These are strange times..."
He listens to her plea, then bows low, arms outstretched;
"Your foes are mine. They will know a righteous wrath..."
The Celestial Bovine in Human Form rises slowly, speaking slowly and deliberately;
"Medea... is a fell succubus and witch, one who I have locked horns many times o'er the ages. As for the mortal Elditch... He is weak willed, allowing himself to heed venomous whispers from his foe Medea. The Master Mage... felt we of the Cherubim Host were too zealous in our protection of this existence..."
He issues a snort akin to that which, moments earlier, the mighty bull had emitted;
"To those charged with such a responsibility the purging of evil can never be too zealous. You know this to be true do you not good Grace?"
As Cesarina follows Ragnarok's destructive wake, her magical awareness draws her attention to what appears to be an ancient standing stone within the courtyard. She has been here before, but she doesn't remember anything like this being here. The stone "glows" with deep darkness, either spewing darkness into the sky for miles, or else drawing in all light.
Before she has time to study it closely or figure out where Ragnarok went, she hears a low growl behind her. Turning about, she sees a circle of wolves closing in. These are really wolves, not some sort of werewolves or wolf-like beasts, so they are less impressive than a typical movie monster. But Cesarina is in some ways just a normal woman. Wolves can be scary enough.
The largest of the wolves speaks in a growl, "Ah, the rival priest, she who slew the King. It will be wonderful to see you torn apart."
Cesarina stands her ground against the hostile wolves. Only her unshakeable faith keeps her calm, fully aware that she has little protection against their sharp teeth and claws.
"Greater threats than you have tried and failed, little wolves. Do you really think you can prevail where even your master failed? Run along, pups, and you may be spared the wrath of God this day." she blusters.
As Cesarina makes her dramatic proclamation, thunder roars, wind swirls her coat dramatically, and a searing nimbus of light glows behind her, giving a faint illusory glimpse of the pearly gates...and hinting at the brimstone fueled depths below the clouds. The wolves get the sense that now would be a bad time to test one of the Lord's chosen few.
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"I've met Medea myself, and she is why I think our encounter is not coincidence, even if she may not have planned for our meeting, so to speak. She is the mortal enemy of my friend and teammate--he calls himself Eldritch, but is the successor, I expect, of the man you met. What I know of him he'd not be likely--knowingly, at least--to go along with a plot of Medea's, but I expect whatever happened to you was complicated." She fixes him with a sincere, serious look. "Be careful what you swear to me though--as it is with Eldritch the younger I work, and he and I and a holy warrior are trying to fight a scourge of vampires. I need to meet up with them and join the fight. If you're with me, I need to be sure you won't hurt the Eldritch who is my teammate."
Christ, this is complicated.
As Cesarina makes her dramatic proclamation, thunder roars, wind swirls her coat dramatically, and a searing nimbus of light glows behind her, giving a faint illusory glimpse of the pearly gates...and hinting at the brimstone fueled depths below the clouds. The wolves get the sense that now would be a bad time to test one of the Lord's chosen few.
The wolves eyes clear, their features soften, their teeth curtained into grins, their tongues lolling. After all, wolves are no more evil than any animal, though their animal innocence may be perverted by the powers of those who serve the darkness. St. Ailbe was raised by a she-wolf, after all. The largest wolf, the one from whom the voice came, rushes forward, tail up and wagging violently in enthusiastic greeting.
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The marble skinned bull-in-man's clothing nods;
"This heir to Eldritch's mantle is safe from my ire. I harbour no ill-will to those who were not part of the mechanisations to imprison me..."
He tilts his head curiously and snorts;
"If this was part of one of her schemes, then the harpy has underestimated your prowess. In freeing me you have gained a power ally Grace."
As he kneels before Grace, head bowed, the creature's voice is once again a deep bovine low;
