Post by Nathaniel Graham on Oct 7, 2014 20:11:58 GMT -5
In his preferred New York apartment...
Gram paced back and forth in his bedroom, gritting his teeth. The room was large and relatively colorless, with grey presiding over all others. His bed was unmade, the sheets strewn all about with a pillow against the wall. The small desk he kept in the corner was a disaster, with papers scattered all over, the lamp broken against a wall, and his laptop in the padded chair.
Every so often, he would stop his pacing at the desk and move as if to sit down, before resuming his pacing once more. It had not been long since the incident. Never before had he felt so powerless, so ignorant. Now aware of the existence of supernatural creatures, Gram was partly angry over how powerless he’d felt, partly eager to absorb this new knowledge.
After going over the encounter a thousand times in his head, reviewing footage of the incident and inspecting his office dozens of times, Nathaniel had finally accepted that the incident had actually occurred. Supernatural creatures were real and he had been attacked by one. But what was he to do with this information? What was the best way to go about expanding his knowledge about these creatures? The internet could hardly be trusted, and any information he managed to obtain from it would have to be thoroughly cross checked.
If supernatural creatures had managed to dwell among humans for this long, he reasoned, then they had to be very skilled at masking their collective presence from the general population. Some were, he knew from experience, nearly impossible to identify through physical appearance. Gram himself had witnessed one change before his very eyes.
After hours of searching online, Gram had stumbled across a legend about an ancient scroll that he found very interesting. He’d managed to obtain the contact information for someone who may be able to tell him more. The scroll, from what he’d managed to learn, sounded too good to be true. Exhausted from the long, stressful day, he collapsed onto his bed, gathering the remaining pillows to him. Gram had decided to further pursue the scroll in the morning.
Post by Chaltah Songblade on Oct 7, 2014 22:03:36 GMT -5
The emerald hills of ireland, her home. It was a beautiful piece of land that time seemed to forget to an extent. She liked that about the land here where her parents had made their home and raised her before they set to traveling to see more of the world. Chaltah worked on this land as hard as her father had raising horses as he had taught her and raising feed for them as well. Today was a quiet day as many of the horses were out in the valley by the river that ran near her land, grazing peacefully.
She sat on the back of a large majestic black stallion, walking the borders of her land checking for predators that might hunt her herd though the birds sang so it was clear there was no danger today. After she was done with her patrol she gathers up the horses and sends them back to the stable to rest for the night while she herself took to the sky as the darkness fully descended upon the land, the black dragon's silhouette lost in the sky.
Starpounder enjoyed their time together upon the ranch. It was nice to have such a peaceful place to call home, though any place with Chaltah was a good place to be in his eyes. With the darkness upon them they took to the mountains to hunt. While she hunted deer, he prefered to take his chances in the river stream for the fine feast of fish there. Though even while he fished, he never took a watchful eye off his rider, ever vigilant to make sure she stayed safe. Though he knew she was able to take care of herself, it was apparent with how she handled the ranch. But he never liked the thought of her being out of his sight for long.
Once both had their fill of fish and deer they headed back to the ranch, with left over deer in the dragon's claws and a new hide to cure, where they called it a night, Chaltah sleeping in her bed with a large wolfdog at the foot of her bed.
Post by Nathaniel Graham on Oct 7, 2014 23:18:30 GMT -5
When Gram awoke, the first thing on his mind was the scroll. Once he'd stumbled across the legend, he was interested immediately. Forgetting about his search for information on supernatural races, Nathaniel had attempted to verify whether the scrolls existed or not. From what he'd learned, they were most likely real, but would be incredibly difficult to find.
The Scrolls of Alexandria, from what Gram had learned, were ancient scrolls that had been lost when the Great Library in Alexandria, Egypt was burned to the ground. Several different legends revolved around the scrolls, but the one that interested Gram most was the one that claimed the scrolls held the secret to gaining supernatural power and, upon completion of a ritual that was outlined within the scrolls, one would be imbued with the power that allowed supernaturals to exercise their supernatural abilities, such as flight, shifting shape, controlling flame, etc. He was very interested in the ancient knowledge that had to be contained within these scrolls, but after witnessing supernatural power firsthand, the thought of wielding it himself was very intriguing to Gram.
So, the night before, Nathaniel had called a few contacts and told them what he was looking for, without mentioning any of the details contained within the scrolls, under the pretense of taking an interest in ancient Egyptian artifacts. Gram had awoken slightly after noon and had received an email containing information detailing a meeting that had been scheduled with a contact.
Gram ran on his treadmill, considering whether or not he should attend the meeting. This world was still new to him and the Scrolls of Alexandria might not be anything more than a legend. If he went through with his decision to pursue them, then he would have to pay his contact a large sum of money for information that may just send him on a wild goose chase. Not to mention the time spent, if wasted, could be better used focusing on one of his many technological projects.
Post by Chaltah Songblade on Oct 7, 2014 23:45:10 GMT -5
The weather had turned overnight and the day was gray and rainy so after the horses were brushed and taken care of the two spent the day singing together by the fireplace. They sang of stories they had heard and shared dreams of a perfect world, to which Ireland seemed to come pretty darn close. As they sang they could see the images of people walking among the hills in sunshine and they never let the rain bring them down. When they weren't singing they were making plans on where they might travel once the horses were ready to head for the winter grounds.
"Perhaps we should head for warmer lands Chaltah." Starpounder voiced his opinion "Perhaps along the Mediterranean coast somewhere"
"Doesn't sound half bad my friend" she looks up from the map with a smile "Though i still prefer to stay off the beaten path" she didn't care much for the modern day world, her house didn't even have a computer and the tv she had was an older model just so she could see what events were going on in her area and a radio for her music, but preferred her own music.
"The beaten path isn't all that bad. The people will one day want to hear the songs you and I sing. We can't deny them that opportunity" was the dragon's rebuttle.
"Well until that day comes, I still like the small town atmosphere" was all she had to say on that
Post by Nathaniel Graham on Oct 8, 2014 0:08:42 GMT -5
Finally giving in, Nathaniel made his way from the room containing his exercise equipment to his kitchen, grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from his face as he did so. Not in the mood to cook himself something, he reached into one of the cabinets and collected a bowl and poured himself some cereal, setting his cell on the counter next to the bowl.
While crunching away at some raisin bran, Gram scanned through the email. The meeting time was to take place at night later today, with coordinates given for the specific location. After a quick search, he realized the meeting location was in Ireland, not in any city but what was apparently somewhere in the wilderness. Immediately, he suspected a trap and considered that a possibility.
Ultimately, Gram decided to bring two of his guards with him. Most of his business relationships were not hostile, certainly not to the point where an attempt on his life wold be made. Besides, he worked frequently with the contact who'd arranged the meeting and Gram made everyone well aware that working with him was far more beneficial than working against him.
Tossing his bowl into the sink, he called the person in charge of making his travel arrangements and told them to prepare his private jet to take him to Ireland later today. There were no further preparation he needed to make for his trip. Everything he might need was kept well stocked on his jet and his guards would be informed to be waiting for him on the plane. His assistants would be informed and his schedule would be altered accordingly. Hanging up, Gram stripped out of his exercise clothing to take a shower, imagining the possibilities that would be available to him if he gained the powers of supernaturals.
Post by Chaltah Songblade on Oct 8, 2014 0:19:57 GMT -5
The map had many a mark on it from previous trips the pair had gone, camping in some of the less hostile areas they could find. Chaltah wondered what the areas around the norther end of Africa were like and thought it might a a good place to head to. Starpounder also liked that idea and so the planned for a trip to Egypt as it had a wide array of habitable areas for them to camp. So it was decided once they sent the horses to the wintering grounds that they would fly south for the winter.
"This will be different. A whole new culture. Maybe I should head into town and go get some kind of book on it" Chaltah comments as she rolls the map to put away
"It's getting kind of late in the day, I don't know if you could make it now" Starpounder looks out the window "And this rain. Definately not good for going out in for that long of a time"
Chaltah laughs and pats her friends shoulder "We'll go tomorrow then. I guess we'll go check on the horses one more time before it gets any darker" And the two make their way to make sure the horses were comfortable for the evening.
Post by Nathaniel Graham on Oct 8, 2014 11:05:18 GMT -5
Cleaned, Gram stepped out of the shower and dried off, a thousand thoughts running through his head. He went into his closet and examined his clothing. Was he feeling professional today? Not particularly. He pulled on a dark pair of jeans, a grey tshirt slashed with red, and stepped into a pair of shoes. Shortly after, he was boarding his jet and leaving for Ireland.
Looking around the jet from where he sat, Gram noted that Frederick and Drew were not aboard. That was not unusual. He was generous in pay and frequently rearranged his security detail so his guards would have some time to themselves and their families. Today he would be traveling with four men whose names he'd never bothered to learn. They were good at their jobs but wholly uninteresting to him.
Gram turned his attention downwards to the laptop he held. There were some hours to kill until they arrived so he worked his way through some complex calculations, troubleshooting a few of the more interesting prototypes his company was working on. At some point, he fell asleep. Travel by plane had always made Nathaniel sleepy, ever since he was a young child.
Once they’d arrived, he was woken by one of his guards and he stood up, stretching. Gram stepped off of the plane immediately, trusting his men to grab the bag that contained all of the things he might need. They were in Ireland, but before heading to the meeting point they had to make a quick stop.
While Gram was relatively confident that he would not be betrayed, he wasn’t stupid. He and his men met with a dealer and walked away considerably more armed then they’d been upon arrival. His guards were all human, to his knowledge, and needed guns if they were to fight off any possible ambush while Gram was vulnerable during the meeting. It was getting late and it was time for them to head to the agreed upon location.
It was late at night when they finally arrived at the meeting point. Gram got out and stood with his back to a tree, his men setting up a perimeter.
He was just starting to think his contact wouldn’t show when he heard a branch snap to his left and turned to see a hooded figure approaching him. Immediately suspicious as to why the man would keep his features hidden, Gram lifted his beretta towards the figure.
“Do you ever feel,”
“In your caves of steel,”
“The chill of an ancient fear?”
“Do you shudder and say,”
“When you pass this way,”
“A human once walked here?”
Gram accepted the password and nodded for his men that everything was fine. This was the man he’d come to meet.
“I assume you have the information I have come for?” The young man asked, straight to business. He heard another muffled sound, the crunch of a leaf, but ignored it.
With amusement clear in his voice, the hooded figure replied “Of course. But, money first. Those were the agreed upon terms.”
After a snap of his fingers, a case containing the agreed upon amount landed at the figure’s feet. After looking inside, Gram caught a quick flash of dark, canine features and a toothy grin. His heart began to beat faster, but he did not betray what he’d seen. The hooded figure tossed him a small pad of paper and turned to leave.
Their meeting concluded, Gram himself started to turn when a deep voice sounded from behind him. “Halt, human.”
Gram turned to see who would speak to him in such a way, just as his men took up their weapons and trained them in the direction the sound had come from.
The hooded figure had disappeared, but a group of 5 individuals stood in that direction. The one who’d spoken was huge. Muscular, he stood above seven feet in height. To his left stood sat an obviously feminine figure and a bare-chested man with dark wings sprouting from his back. To his right were two ordinary looking men. Tempted to rub his eyes in disbelief, Nathaniel fought the urge. These individuals were clearly all supernaturals and of various races. Did they want to kill him because he knew of their existence? No, they must be after something else. The information he’d obtained about the scroll? They must be after it, but Gram wasn’t going to give that up without a fight.
“What do you want?” He called back, already knowing the answer as he stealthily slipped his pistol into his hand.
“The information on the scroll. Hand it over and we will kill you quickly.”
Gram held back a burst of laughter and darted to the other side of the tree, just as his men opened up fire. From there, everything happened quickly, but he knew he had to escape.
As he’d ducked behind the tree, Gram had seen the sitting woman transform into a wolf and the two ordinary seeming men grow, horns sprouting from their heads as they came to resemble minotaurs from the greek myths. A brief flash of light temporarily lit up the area and a wave of heat came over Gram as he began running, pocketing the notebook as he did so.
Gram trusted his security to deal with the supernaturals, but if they couldn’t, he expected to be far away when they failed.
On pure instinct, he swung back around, just to see a large black wolf lunging towards his throat. The pistol came up, firing three rounds. One missed but the other two found their marks in the wolf’s eye and chest. It crashed into him, knocking Gram off balance and nearly into a tree.
Eye’s wide, shaking from adrenaline, he began to run once more, checking his pocket to make sure the notebook was still there. Burnt flesh began to permeate the area and someone screamed. Gram kept going.
A mile or so later, he was panting. Gram had failed to pace himself and was quickly running out of stamina but to stop was to die. His men were likely all dead by now and he could hear voices in the distance as the supernaturals followed his more than obvious tracks through the woods. In the distance he could see a light and Nathaniel began heading towards it.
Once he’d reached the farm, Gram began shouting “Help!” Turning around, he a few shots in the direction he’d come from where he could see three of the supernaturals in the distance, one the winged man Gram had seen earlier, obviously running because of a blooded wing that had apparently caught a bullet during the fight with his men. Besides him, only one minotaur and the large man from earlier remained.
Gram prayed to whoever might be listening that the farm’s owner was home and could help him fight off the remaining supernaturals. It was his only option, as he fired off another round.
Post by Chaltah Songblade on Oct 8, 2014 13:59:51 GMT -5
The sound outside drew both their attention, their song they were singing brought to an abrupt end as the gunfire rang in their ears. Chaltah grabbed her bow and arrows while Starpounder changed into a large black cat. Chaltah flings the door open and Starpounder leaped into the air and hit the ground running, seeing the group of creatures heading their way, he charged for the larger of the three while Chaltah stood and took aim at the winged one. She would aim low, aiming for the legs to get the creature to fall and notches another arrow to fire at the woman "Get inside" she tells Gram before running closer to get better shots while Starpounder when for the minotaur's throat. She didn't know what was going on but she didn't think they were going to stop so she could ask questions, though if she could keep one alive she might get those answers
Post by Nathaniel Graham on Oct 8, 2014 17:05:32 GMT -5
Gram heard the door open behind him and he fired off another shot before ducking inside, relief evident upon his face. He nearly fell flat when he turned toward the farm to see a large black cat running towards him. This was it, he thought to himself, when the cat ran past him. A woman shouted for him to get inside and he complied almost immediately, darting past her into the safety of the house, not even bothering to question his good fortune.
Once inside, Gram went to the nearest window and opened it, looking at the battle outside. The large black cat charged at the minotaur who was carrying a large branch as an improvised club. Although clearly close to exhaustion from the trek through the woods and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds, the minotaur wung at the cat with the branch but it's timing was off and he went down underneath the cat's assault, managing to throw an arm across his throat protectively. Gram shuddered to think what a mess the club would have made of the cat were the club to make contact.
The winged man, surprised at the woman and cat's sudden appearances, was almost immediately incapacitated by an arrow to the knee, while the large man who'd spoken to Gram earlier lobbed a fireball towards the woman before turning to aid his companion, pulling a sword from inside the robe he was wearing. Even from this distance, Gram could feel an aura of animal like terror emanating from around the man, threatening to choke his breath in his throat.
Nathaniel just gritted his teeth and glanced at the pistol in his hand. At this range, he did not have faith in his accuracy and did not want to risk hitting one of his would be rescuers. But that meant there was nothing he could do but wait for the battle to end.
Post by Chaltah Songblade on Oct 8, 2014 17:16:33 GMT -5
Starpounder continued his assault on the creature under him, digging his claws into its chest as he bit down with such force that would break a man's bones. He was relentless to make sure the thing was preoccupied with him and left the other two for the moment. Chaltah let the other man be that was dropped to his knees and focused on the other one who was radiating quite an aura that made her spine shiver. She skidded to a halt in her approach and fires another shot but dives instead as a ball of fire came crashing her way. This got Starpounder's attention and he decided it was a better idea to deal with them all at once and soon the cat was replaced with a 25 foot long black dragon and bellows a roar at the trio as Chaltah manages to get back to her feet and notches another arrow to her bow, ready to send it flying if any of the trio decide to take a swing at her companion
Post by Nathaniel Graham on Oct 8, 2014 17:34:13 GMT -5
When the cat began digging in, the minotaur let out a deafening roar of mixed pain and rage. With a mighty heave, it attempted to fling the cat away, climbing to it's feet. The large man swung his sword towards the cat, the blade catching fire. When the cat transformed into a dragon, everyone's jaws dropped, especially Gram's.
Gram, from his vantagepoint at the window, composed himself. Ok. So dragons were real. No big deal, he'd already considered this as a possibility. But the sight of a real dragon sent a shiver down his spine, an instinctive fear that felt quite different than the aura permeating the large man. His rescuers were clearly supernaturals themselves, but were, thankfully, not allied with the ones who wanted to kill him, apparently.
At the sight of the dragon, the large man lobbed one last fireball before turning to run. The minotaur, blind with rage, attacked the dragon immediately.
Post by Chaltah Songblade on Oct 8, 2014 17:46:26 GMT -5
Chaltah fires a shot at the retreating man while Starpounder snaked around the fireball, letting it pass by him and then proceeded to bite down on the minotaur who seemed adamant about taking out his anger on the large beast without a thought to his own personal safety. Chaltah glances back toward the house for a moment and noticed the man staring out the window. After a second or two she turns back to face off with the winged man, once more notching an arrow to the bow and begins a slow approach, keeping a wary eye on the dragon and minotaur fighting it out nearby. She hated killing and was going to give the wounded man a chance to change his course before she sunk an arrow in to his chest.
Starpounder didn't like to kill others unless it was absolutely necessary and this looked like it was going to be necessary if the minotaur didn't realize the danger he was in. If his bite managed to hit his mark, he would proceed to shake the minotaur until it either stopped moving or told it to stop. But he would not let go until he was certain there was no danger to him
Post by Nathaniel Graham on Oct 8, 2014 18:09:42 GMT -5
Gram saw the woman fire a shot that grazed the shoulder of the fleeing large man. At this rate, it seemed he would most likely escape as he ran into the trees, but Gram wasn't too worried. He was one supernatural, after all, and with those injuries and his more than obvious size he would be relatively easy to have hunted down once Gram had the time to put the word out to some of his underworld contacts.
The minotaur struggled for a short while after becoming dragon food, but his struggles quickly ceased as his body failed him and could no longer function on sheer adrenaline. His movements during the bite certainly hadn't helped, only aggravating the wounds and making them worse.
The battle mostly over, Gram ran out of the house towards the crippled man with wings, kicking him into unconsciousness. The young man stared down at the wounded creature, a thousand thoughts flitting through his mind, none of them pleasant. This man was his only source of information on the group that had attacked him and Gram fully intended to extract as much information on the winged man's associates as he possibly could before interrogating him about supernaturals in general. Then Gram intended to vivisect the creature and study it's biology. Gram really was quite lucky, to have captured a supernatural alive. But first things first.
Approaching the woman, Gram held out his hand, smiling.
"Thank you. You and your dragon friend saved my life. What were those things?"
Post by Chaltah Songblade on Oct 8, 2014 18:20:30 GMT -5
Chaltah was a little shocked as the man came running out of the house and proceeded to kick the winged man into unconsciousness. But she couldn't blame him really. she'd have likely done the same thing were she in his situation. Stormchaser finally drops the large hulking mass of minotaur on the ground and changes forms into an ebon skinned human who approached Chaltah's side, watching Gram carefully, not trusting the stranger just yet "Perhaps you care to tell us why this band was after you?" he inquired. This was not something that happened to normal every day people.
Chaltah nods to her companion's question "That is a very good question." she looks down with thought, trying to figure out what the winged man was "He could be a pit fiend... a demon of sorts I'm guessing" she then looks up at Gram who was extending his hand. She shoulders the bow after a few seconds, deciding it would be rude not to shake his hand as he was thanking her for their help. She looks to her friend "Go find something we can use to tie this one up. He has some explaining to do" The dragon nods and heads off for the stable to grab up chains they used when hauling heavy things around
Post by Nathaniel Graham on Oct 8, 2014 18:32:33 GMT -5
Gram shrugged his shoulders when they asked him why the group was after him. "Your guess is as good as mine." They may have saved his life, but he would be foolish to trust them. As far as he knew, the pair could quickly turn hostile if he told them about the scroll he was after.
"I was meeting with an associate of mine when the three and two others ambushed me. I apologise if I seemed a bit brutal with our prisoner a few moments ago. They murdered four good friends of mine and nearly managed to kill me. I plan to question him just as soon as he is secured and wakes up."
Watching the faces of the woman and her ebon skinned companion, the disguised dragon, Gram asked his next question carefully.
"Why did you help me? I mean no offense, but most people would not have involved themselves in another's troubles."
