16105/Glyphic Riddle

Glyphic Riddle
Date of Scene:	05 March 2024
Location:	Darlington Park, Sunnydale
Synopsis:	Scoobies and allies gather to investigate strange happenings in darlington park. Harry and Traci reinforce a crumbling barrier while forming a plan of action.
Cast of Characters:	Faith Lehane, Crimson Wolf, Traci 13, Harry Dresden, Wonder Girl

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Faith Lehane has posed:
There have been rumours of strange crazy weather converging on Darlington park over the last several weeks. For those in the know, there were reports of supernatural creatures behind two of the crazy weather phenomenon, and for those who are magically inclined, it's hard to ignore that there us something wrong with the magical leylines that converge in a forest clearing in said park, the very spot where two monsters recently attacked before being banished back to wherever they came from. But where DID they come from, why were they summoned here..And what's with those glyphs?

Either way, there might be many reasons why the magic and supernaturally inclined might find themselves here tonight. Faith is no witch, but her slayer sense was strong enough to alert her to this weird place, enough to send out a Scooby signal to those she is in contact with.

This afternoon the park is quiet and calm, not a monster in sight although it's a bit windy. For those with sensitivities, those glyphs are hard to ignore even if they are usually invisible to most everyone else.

Crimson Wolf has posed:
Last time Arthur had found vampires in the park. And while he has no real sense, instinct, or the like as some others do, he is still one to at least figure out weird weather usually means something going on.

That had lead him to the park in his costume without the mask. His coat was closed to hide the vest and protect against the wind. His hood was up as well to hide his features. Alongside the glyphs, her perhaps stands out a bit due to carrying a mystical object on him.

As it was, he was just wandering the park at the moment. Not quite near the glyphs, but close enough to where the monster sightings and weird weather converged. Scientific methods for the win in this case.

The wind was his biggest worry, honestly.

Traci 13 has posed:
Traci 13 is not a park person. Still part of the city, yes, so she can touch the flow of the urban magicks to which she is so naturally drawn. But it's weaker, diluted - ironically, for Traci, all these wholesome vegetation is like pollution for her magical metabolism, like a car that's never had an oil change. She feels...

"Gross," she says, shuddering a bit at some of the pollen blowing in her direction as the park has started to awaken with spring.

Still, there's something strange going on here and she's inclined to investigate it before it spreads too far. The glyphs certainly call out to her, drawing her in, the stylish girl sliding sunglasses over her eyes as her irises begin to glow golden.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Something putting out that much energy, even if there hadn't been similar issues in the recent past, would sing out to the wizard in such a way as he couldn't ignore it. So he doesn't ignore it.

His long duster wraps him up with some warmth as he draws nearer. His hands are currently his is coat pockets and he seems ready to contend with a myriad of issues. He notices a few people drawn in that he isn't familiar with, but for now there is something that needs to be addressed. People later.

Wonder Girl has posed:
Sometimes weather goes wonky in an area, and sometimes it will be because Cassie Sandsmark Daughter of Zeus, Demigoddess, Titan, Heroine, might be a might agitated.

That was actually why she was given her lasso of lightning. So she can actually control that.

This was something else though.

There may be a few other beings capable of messing with the weather that she knows of. Most of the ones she knows actually operate in and around New York.

But it's something to look at. She knows too many people she likes on the west coast so while there, two birds one stone.

Touching down in the park herself the blonde is in what could best be described as merch more than a uniform. Black yoga pants with large hollow golden stars on her hips, a muscle top with red at the shoulders and blue from the chest down divided by that golden W logo. red sneakers and a matching hairband, along with her lasso coiled around her hips and waist. Bracers of Submission gleaming on her wrists.

"A bit of a sniffle is a small price to pay. I'm sure it'll look great once everything is in bloom and all the pollen has gone to make honey or more flowers, which ever comes first." A familiart face in Harry gets a smile too. "Weird stuff enough to drag you out this way?" she asks while turning her blue eyes back to Traci and Arthur.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane casually leans against a tree as people gather. She hadn't pulled out the m scythe today, and hopefully there won't be a fight, but she dies have her utility belt with her claws, holy water, stakes, a few other goodies, just in case.

Cassie and Arthur she doesn't know as well but she met em once or twice on hood terms.

"Yo blonde, Knight guy, how's it shaking?" she grins and nods to them. "Came out here to check out weird magic stuff too huh?" Harry is given a nod and nod as well. The last person is u familiar to her but those glowing eyes catch her attention.

Dark eyes narrow on her, taking a cautious step towards her. "Who the hell are you and what's the deal with the eyes?"

Crimson Wolf has posed:
Keeping his hood up mostly, Arthur tilts his head a little in a nod. "Knight guy?"

A nod is given towards Harry as he notices him. "Evening, Harry. I take it this one is a friend of yours? My apologies for not stopping by as scheduled."

Cassie and Traci get a glance. He doesn't know them, and well... he doesn't want to know what's up with Traci's eyes.

Traci 13 has posed:
Traci 13 raises an eyebrow at Faith, sliding down her glasses and giving a hint of a smirk at the corner of her mouth. Her lipstick is shiny today, a hint of glitter in it, her pierced tongue flicking her teeth as she responds. She's half-Japanese, her clothes expensive. Real diamonds and gold in the jewelry on her fingers and around her neck. Her black hair is cut in an angular bob.

"Traci 13. You probably heard of my dad, Terry," she says. Dr. Terry Thirteen is a well known occult investigator, a little old perhaps, but known even to the wider public, both for his successful investigations and for his hatred of fakers and con artists who use the supernatural to steal people's money.

"I'm a witch. Just a simple bit of magic detection. I'm here to help, as they say," she says. Her father might be known to some, especially Harry, but she's started to do more investigations herself lately. Especially since her father seems to be missing. But she's not worried. He does that sometimes.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Recognizing the young Amazon, Harry turns his attention to her for a moment,"Weird enough." he agrees with a nod,"I've encountered two other scenes similar to the energy permeating this area."

His attention moves to Faith and returns the nod and look to the others. Recognition clicks and Harry nods to Arthur,"Hello Arthur. I know two of them yes. Since he interacted with two it should be obvious who he means. When Faith's attention focuses on the unfamiliar one, he turns his attention as well.

He nods to her and replies,"I have met your dad a time or two. His name is well known through most occult circles. I wasn't aware he had a daughter, but as I said. Met a time or two."

Wonder Girl has posed:
"Sup Slay Queen!" Cassie snappoints to Faith. "Then I gotta go visit my mom up in LA afterwards. So I figure if there's something to hit, might as well get a little disproportionate."

The glow in Traci's eyes gets a smile, but otherwise Wonder Girl acts like it's a completely normal thing. But when you've seen the things Cassie has, merely glowing eyes is small fry. They are pretty at least. "You should totally meet my friend Raven, she's big on magical know how." To put it mildly.

"And having someone coming up on an Archeology Masters probably doesn't hurt for hunting about." she adds and admits to her nerd side.

The blonde already just checking the place out, all those enhanced senses going into seeing what probably should just be normal park landscaping and anything that should stand out.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane grins, "Heh, Cassie, that was it. Good seeing ya again, I gotta hit up LA sometime, been a while since I checked in on Angel.." she shrugs, "Oh you know, the usual..Slaying.."

Arthur is given a nod, smirking "Arthur huh, nice to meet you, I'm Faith." as for infamous investigators, well Giles may have mentioned Thirteen or something at some point. She nods thoughtfully. "Another witch? Cool! Soo what's going on here..?"

For the magic sensitive there are indeed glyphs, hidden from the naked eye but clear to their senses. There are maybe three or four total and two have already been triggered and deactivated. The other two are active and seem to be...Containing something powerful..Tampering too much could have explosive results. Oh, and they seem to be deliberately positioned in a particular shape all pointing to a more powerful energy signature in the very centre. Another thing of note, they're all on a powerful key line of convergence. Did someone deliberately plant them here?

Crimson Wolf has posed:
Sighing as his name is given out, Arthur pulls back the hood and lets the wind ruffle his hair.

"I guess I do not really need the hood, then. So the monster attacks were real?" Arthur asks towards Harry and Faith.

"Also, vampires are rather nasty. I had a hell of a bruise the next day from one with a lead pipe." Arthur admits. "Was a bit interesting with the bait girl over there," He motions at Faith. Two can play the nick name game! "starting things. Nice to know they have the same physical bodies as a human."

"I am also probably way out of my depth on this one. Maybe I should ask someone for lessons or such on even seeing energy." He rubs the back of his head.

Traci 13 has posed:
Traci 13 gets out her phone, flicking through it, "I've got to find a technowizard who can give me a magic sight filter so I can take picture of the junk I see with this spell. It's very, like, hard to describe. Glyphs, runes, I dunno, not really my jam. I know wizzes like Daddy Magic over there," she says, flicking painted nails at Harry, "Are all about the ancient tomes and secrets, but I'm trying to bring magick into the 21st century. Although I'd settle for the 20th at this point. No, I wouldn't. Analog. yuck."

Still, she does seem fascinated by the glyphs themselves, examining them from different angles, walking a slow parabola back and forth in front of them and then trying to sketch what she sees in an art program she's pulled up on her phone, albeit with slight break in details. No need to accidentally upload some horrifying curse into her phone by accident.

"Archaeology, huh? Go at it, Indiana Jones."

She clicks her tongue at Arthur, "Now now, Magic Sword, don't be a bigot. Like, some vamps are gross, yes, but I've met cool ones. Hot ones, even. I mean, yeah, they drink human blood, but, like, as weird habits go, I've seen worse at some of the nightclubs in this city."

Harry Dresden has posed:
For the moment, Harry lets the other interact some. He looks over the glyphs and scowls,"I think we are past needing to get ahead of this." he mutters to no one in particular. He removes a note pad and pencil. A quick few moments and he is sketching each glyph at least clear enough that he can get them infront of some others to mix ideas.

Making sure he is not facing any of the people present, Harry reaches up to touch his forehead and opens his third eye to see if the area resembles the prior two areas,"Daddy Magic? That's a first." he grumbles softly and scans things,"So when is the nasty thing going to jump out and try to eat us I wonder?"

Wonder Girl has posed:
"I'm sure having all that info available digitally would be has as all hell. But you know the problem with most old magic tomes is they tend to go off when so much as looked at. You try scanning something, it might as well be a computer reading a spell and it might cast on it's own." Cassie points out with a chuckle.

This is the least of things that could go wrong. "Let alone how many eldritch abominations are sealed in grimoires and codices and pamphlets. There was a thing a while back where someone was proliferating a Mindless One summoning ritual as some wiccan empowerment thing. Got kinda messy." she tells and makes an eww gross face.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane snorts at Arthur. "Bait girl?! what the hell...I ain't no hair bitch tho I sure had to improvise once you interfered!" she practically snaps back but laughs and playfully punches him on the shoulder if he'll allow it.

"But you can call me Faith, or 'The Slayer' or I guess the Dark Slayer, guess it's got a nice ring to it!" she grins and winks at him, with smite if dangerous mischief in her smile.

Cassie is given a grin and nod of agreement. "Yeaah tell me about it, Angel sure is one hot vampire.." she sighs and shakes her head. "Maybe I'll introduce you two some time.." she grins.

Traci and Harry might notice something interesting about those glyphs. They are...Holding something Back, but that barrier has been weakened by two of the four glyphs which have already been triggered.

Faith blinks at something Cassie says. "Oh yeah! Those vampires in that condemned church, they had a big old tome, I remember seeing some info about the cockatrice in it before they stole it back, but it was mostly in Latin..I wonder if it's got info about these glyphs, or the other monsters sealed in those remaining glyphs..?"

Crimson Wolf has posed:
A small grin is given towards Faith, "Hey, it's better than 'Knight guy'. No matter how much it fits." Arthur shoots back at her.
The magic sword comment has Arthur looking over towards Traci. "Huh... you can see it?"

He reaches into his coat, pulling out a sword with a red handle and looking more like some sort of ninja's sword than anything else. The thing is in a solid black scabbard, too. Definitely not an ordinary katana with a lack of a curve to the blade. Putting it away again, he looks between the others as they talk.

Arthur looks confused, and apparently trying to figure out the who and what is going on now. Magic is something new to him, after all. Very new. And it's showing. Let alone being around a superheroine in one case and a real wizard in another. He wasn't sure what a Slayer was nor just what Traci is.

Traci 13 has posed:
Traci 13 flicks her eyes over, "Oh, you're the Slayer? Cool cool, I was wondering. I've heard of that. Sort of. Cool. I heard the Slayers were always hot, lore confirmed."

She starts to get a sense of the glyphs better as she continues to examine them, her tracing not only a recording but a tool to let her examine piece by piece, getting a deeper sense of the thing. Magic is a language of hidden meanings, symbols, metaphor, bleeding through reality and warping it. Real trippy shit like that.

"This is a lock or a...barrier," she says. "There's something being blocked here. Maybe something's imprisoned here? If so, what? And why? Oh man, I totally sound like Olivia Benson. I'm a detective now. So cool!

"Cockatrice? I think I saw him DJ uptown last year, at the Raw Nerve? I think that was the name, I can't promise, I was not in a sober place then. Or now. Well, literally now, yes, but, like, not on purpose?"

Still, she reaches into her tiny purse and flings a vial of powder. As she does, she hisses a word in some ugly, ungulate language and the powder rises and explodes outwards, "Star Trek style: shields up."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry studies it for a time and passively listens to the others talk. A shake of his head and he mutters,"Being a detective isn't all it's cracked up to be Traci."

He shakes his hand and a bracelet falls down from his arm to his wrist. A deep sigh and he rises again, looking over all the runes once more and lines immediately close, looking for what would amount to a frayed thread or a seam trying to rip. A little easier to find than the proverbial needle in a haystack,"I need to get these pictures to Bob, maybe we can figure out how to stop the rest of them. I don't know if we can stop this one."

Wonder Girl has posed:
"Can you imagine how big a mess we'd be in if someone insisted on making Audiobook versions of some of those things. Like getting a celebrity voice to read something like the Darkhold or the Necronomicon." Scary proposition, but Cassie chuckles, seemingly finding an amusing side.

"Not so much into Vampires. Vampire Slayers are more my speed these days." she sends back to Faith with a wink. "Witches too!' she adds not leaving Traci out either.

Exposition from Traci gets a nod. "Are we dropping the barrier to reapply it or are you just redirecting power to the existing?" she asks and shifts her body to a more guarded hand to hand stance incase she needs to throw down.

"Even Batman's detective work has it's tedium sometimes" she's hung out with Robin enough to know.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane flashes a grin and wink towards Traci and Cassie. "Well yeah, if hotness were a superpower I'd be all over it! But..What do we do with this glyph shit? I say we storm the church and get back that Tome.."

She nods to Harry, "I'll bet Bob would have some insight into this too huh?"

Traci erects a barrier around the glyphs and Faith peers at it with a frown. "Sooo you think that'll hold? What exactly is the purpose of those glyphs anyway? What are they containing exactly?"

Crimson Wolf has posed:
A small shrug is given from Arthur, "Depends upon what is in the church, I guess?"

He looks to the others, looking perhaps a little confused by what is going on so far. "... so need to read some books or something about magic. Ki has nothing on it."

Traci 13 has posed:
Traci 13 purses her lips, "I'm sensing some sort of primal inhuman energies being contained here," she says. "Big wild, not the kind of stuff I usually deal with," she says. She's a creature of civilization, after all, of order, even if she isn't what one might expect from a scion of Order, style-wise.

"They're like...amoeba, pressed between two slides. Except the slides in this case are the barriers between the dimensions themselves," she says aloud. "Only these aren't harmless. Whatever's here is very, very potent indeed. I'm not sure we should tamper with these..."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry picks up a stick from the ground and walks to the glyph. This will take a minute, but he starts drawing in the soil. To those paying attention, Harry doesn't lift the stick from the ground. He moves up and towards the other side of the glyph, then back down again, over, across, and back to the origin point.

After the star is made, he drags the stick around the glyph to make a circle, completing a protection pentagram. He stands up and tosses the stick aside. A small pocket knife is produced from the duster pocket and he makes a shallos cut in his hand to well up a little blood. He shakes the blood onto the pentagram, sealing it with his will and a trace of his life force to try and seal the glyph. A way to reiforce what Traci is doing.

"If someone could snap some pictures and get them on paper Id' like to show him something more clear than my drawings, but I am not sure that would be very smart. Bringing Bob to a site would probably be more dangerous."

Wonder Girl has posed:
"Being hot is totally a superpower. Possibly one of the more dangerous ones to have. My sister Aphrodite..." The amount of wars and other calamities started because someone was looking to score with her or with her help.

Arthur gets a grin. Ki, is like just the start. It's just one kind of mystical energy." she says while answering Harry's request and extracting a phone from a pocket somewhere. She is a Magical Girl after all. How she manages to keep that or keys and not show them off is probably a super power in itself.

Shots are snapped off and then sent  to Harry via some forwardingon before she reconceals her phone.

"If they're basically big single cell things. Hack and slash won't cut it. May need something a bit more oomphy!" she ponders and pats where she has her lasso hooked at her hips.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane grins and nods to Cassie. "Totally! Hmm but I'd like to meet this Aphrodite chick.." she smirks thoughtfully before turning to Arthur. "Don't worry , I'm pretty useless when it comes to brandy buts of the operation too..But we could sure use your help in taking down those vamps..They're stronger than your average vamp and shatter too..Some of them even know magic!"

She watches as Harry reinforces the barrier even more, nodding to Traci with a frown.

"Soo basically you just bought us time for us to seige that place an get that time back before they summon more big uglies if they haven't already.." she frowns.

"Guess we gotta move quickly then.."

Crimson Wolf has posed:
Arthur pulls out his own phone, doing a few snap shots as well. He is careful about it, too.

A look is given towards Faith, "Shatter? Sounds interesting. Just let me know when. I do have the whole 'knight' thing going on, so at least I can help in that way."

He pockets his phone inside his jacket. Yep. No losing the phone in a fight. That would be bad!

Looking over at Cassie has a bit of a quirked eyebrow, "Oh? I did not expect anyone in America to know about it that much. Do you know of any that are versed in it? My only contacts with others is back in Japan, and well... long way to go just to see if I have progressed any in my skills or to make sure they are not getting rusty."

Traci 13 has posed:
Traci 13 shakes her head, "If there's more of whatever these creatures are around, we're definitely in trouble," she says. "I mean, at least some. We'll win and everything, we rock, we're the good guys, but, y'know, some parts of it are definitely gonna suck," she sighs.

"I'll see if there's anything about this stuff in my dad's old research. He has a lot of glyph archives," she says with a sigh. "All of it still just old fashioned paper. Not even a simple database. Gross."

"So a witch and a knight and a wizard and a slayer...I'm starting to feel shades of fairy tale. And I do not fuck with fairies, okay, they are tricksy and shady."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Looking to Faith, Harry mutters,"We need to find those vampires and get that book back. Too much of a coincidence. I need to do some scrying and see if it will shake them out."

He takes a business card from his coat pocket and offers it to Traci,"Come by if you want to help and if you can tolerate being ogled by a spiritus intellectus pervert that is only kept because of his magical knowledge value."

He looks at the glyph again and opens his third eye to study it. Closing it once more he grunts,"I don't see anything that we can do other than come back and check on the shields until we have the book back from the vampires."

Wonder Girl has posed:
"Well if we're not fighting now, just say when and I can come back loaded for demon bear." Those things exist. Though Cassie thinks she last saw one roaming around the woods in Westchester.

Arthur gets a grin. "All the high end martial artists I've heard of are all New York based these days. Fastest way to get their attentions is probably just go kicking the local tongs about. The escalations will do the trick." she suggests with a chuckle. "Or you get stabbed by ninja." she adds pointing out the danger of the plan.

"So we're watching and chilling." she says with a shrug. There's always another fight around the corner.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane yawns and stretches. "Well dang, I mean, so those two monsters we fought before were being used to seal something even worse from coming though? I don't cb like the sound if it.."

She glances at the others and smirks, "Heh, you ain't seen nothing yet, wait til you need the others. come find us at the Magic box. We should regroup tomorrow night, see if we can find any books o what we're up against them form a plan of action before taking on those vamps. Although setting fire to their stronghold ain't a bad idea either..Til then, I need a drink, think I'll head to the blue lady, catch y'all later!"