15744/The Saddle in the Sea

The Saddle in the Sea
Date of Scene:	30 August 2023
Location:	Archaeological Dig, East of Spain
Synopsis:	Investigation turns up the identity of the former head of the village, and what Estelle was after.
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Talia al Ghul, Sara Pezzini, Billy Batson

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Nettie Crowe has posed:
    EAST COAST OF SPAIN

    The dig site had been closed off to the public, and to students pending the Justice League's investigation. There were a few people hanging around, eager to see the likes of Superman or Batman arriving, but seemed disappointed when a short bus full of old and cranky people showed up instead of a couple of do-goodeers with their underwear on the outside of their tights.

    Nettie herself was driving. And drinking tempranillo from an America-sized tumbler since she was incredibly out of Gin, and is wearing sunglasses to hide her eyes, hair rushed into a braid as she carries a large assortment of books, scrolls and notes in a 'borrowed' perambulator sans its normal occupant as she gathers her folks around.

    "All right, all right, everyone into the the town walls, who among us is gonna be the ones to get wet lookin' in the rocks below and who among us speaks Ancient Greek dialects?" she calls out, sounding rather terse.

    The digsite is still a mess after last night's fight -- dusty bones and the broken skulls of ancient Greek warriors are still dotting the landscape. A spider crawls out of one and wriggles its tiny legs in warning to the JLD. The tools of the archaeologists's trade and a single fashionable-but-sturdy boot are hanging about as well.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would muse to herself, "You might as well have asked one of the Themyscirans to come along. I'm sure that they'd have given you someone fluent." Of course, if there was a Themysciran present Talia would be bolting towards the nearest hole, given personal and family histories. So for her own sake it was probably for the best. Because the Amazons had diplomatic immunity, a warrior culture, and /knew/ what she had done and had no qualms of dispensing justice. Poor devout, ideological things.

She has her hands folded together. "Nothing beyond what I've been able to glean from a few days of study, so I'd call that less than useful. You'll need an expert present. Not something you can do with a translation program just due to how litlte shared meaning and overlap there is linguistically to use as reference. And.." She would add, after a moment's thought.

"Due to the risk of a mispronunciation gaining the attention of the head of the Olympian pahtneon, drawing his personal attention, and thus all but guarnteeing there would be a sordid proposition involved from him that would be very difficult to decline.. And all the after-market drama as a result."

Friends didn't let friends ride Zeus.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The previous evening had not been a good one for Sara, what with her attempt to stop the woman from obtaining the box thwarted in a way neither she nor the Witchblade has expected. For those who had witnessed the scream and saw her go down, they were permitted the very rare sight of just how much the Witchblade cared for his wielder... her entire body wrapped in protective armor before she even hit the ground.

She spent until around midnight unconscious in the armor, then woke to find herself in a beautiful rural Spanish inn. Witchblade removed the armor while speaking to her in consoling tones, trying to explain what had happened, but in the moment all Sara could think about was how the mustard-yellow sweater and mom jeans came flowing back into existence on her body thread by thread.

By afternoon she was more herself, the images from the night before still lingered in the back of her mind but the physical sensation was mostly faded away. Having had to purchase a new pair boots from a local shop, she was as ready as she was going to be. She hadn't said much to anyone about what had happened, that was for another time when this investigation was over (or never at all... definitely never.)

"Lysandra," she says to Nettie. "A previous wielder, so Witchblade speaks the language quite well, in fact I could probably write in it... so we're ready to get wet or whatever it is that's needed."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson looks around and pulls an ornate stylus, a Twinkie, and a notebook from his bag. He holds the stylus aloft, sunlight glinting off its gold and lapis lazuli insets. "The translator is up and ready, Miss Nettie and I'd be willing to go rock climbing if someone minds Steve... oh this is Steve." He opens the book and the stylus levitates aand writes /Hello/ in cursive. It then includes /I know the International Phonetic Alphabet as well. No mispronunciations. Zeus is taking an interest./ Billy says, "Uh yeah. Zeus is watching. He isn't as bad as that. You're talking about five or six lewd stories spread out over a couple thousand years. Gods get bored."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I passed the invitation on and got the silent treatment." Nettie answers back to Talia, and she breathes out, rubbing the back of her neck. All the languages she knew, ancient Greek was not among them.

    "In this case, Billy, I strongly suspect it's a different gent from the Greek Pantheon who we can blame for this one." the woman states, pausing the baby carriage that she was using to transport her materials, and then she withdraws from the pram a leather bag, which she sets down on the ground, and seeing that there's no apparently younger membrs hanging about -- she lights a cigarette. Sorry, Billy.

    "All right, we have a variety of different graffiti. I suspect there is going to be some sort of mosiac hanging about. Talia -- you're mosaic duty." Nettie hand sTalia two L-shaped metal pieces of wire. Dowsing rods.

    "Billy, Sara, take a look around for any notes. We need names, symbols. I have a snaking suspicion that we're dealing with some Bad News coming our way. As in 'my tarot deck produced three Towers this morning'."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would go to shrug over and let ou ta sigh, "For hte best. They'd probably not like the current state of affairs.. And also likely get far too enthusiastic when it came to clearing the area. Something should be preserved after all. But I can appreciate their thoroughness when it comes to cleansing and purifying. They're very dedicated."

When Talia says a specific group or individuals is gifted when it comes time to killing and burning things, take her very much at her word.

"And do we know anything about it? Is it giving us some warning or prophecy? There has to have been enough external information for the.. Whomever it was that released this thing in the first place." Yes, the woman who did so is a 'thing' in her mind and she can't be bothered to pay attention to her name.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
To make access and vision better, thin metal tendrils expand out from the simple silver bracelet and wrap up Sara's arm to form the intricate Gauntlet of the Witchblade. Even as the last of the item is forming, the large red stone flickers as he opens his 'eye' and the two begin moving around.

One of the major advantages that Witchblade can offer to his wielder, beyond the armor and powers, is knowledge. Every wielder he has ever had lives forever in his memory, their entire lives, everything they were, forever imprinted as a part of who he is. Lysandra wielded him in 7th century B.C., and spent her entire life in Greece, save for that time she climbed Mount Olympus.

Coming across a set of stones that may have once been part of a wall and were on the ground. Most people looking at them would see them caked in the layers of earth, but Witchblade had managed to 'see' a select few letter. While the others were looking around, Sara moved the stones together, going do far as to wash them off to puzzle it all together.

"Nettie," she called out, waving the woman over. "He found something here." She pointed specifically to a word as she said, "Khrysaor."

Taking in a deep breath, her eyes glass over for one heart beat then return to normal. "He is the son Medusa and Poseidon, brother of Pegasus, once a hero become a monster."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson frowns and says, "The thing about prophecy is, seeing an event changes it. If you see the future too clearly and comment on it, it is no longer the future. So prophets are always ambiguous and true prophets, are never believed. See the future clearly -you will be removed to assure it takes place." Billy starts to remove his shirt and kicks his sneakers off. He double checks his phone in its waterproof case. He gives a nod to Steve who nods back, sort of, not having a head or neck.

"Any place I should start rock climbing?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I think one of them might be rather cross with me. Drinking contest." Nettie states with a distant tone that seems to indicate she didn't want to expound. Probably because it went poorly for her.

    "You know, Billy, my cards are rarely prophetic in clarity, but do give a good indication of warning of the possibilities. Each decision branch, supposedly, creates new and infinite possibilities, but trust me poppet -- as someone who reads crystal balls and does the clairvoyance thing, sometimes you can bend the rules without breaking them. Unless your Prophet's named Cassandra though, you should probably take most soothsayers with a grain of salt." Nettie states with a small smile.

    Talia gets a hit almost immediately, the wires crossing.

    She was about to give a small nod until she hears the name.

    "... Khrysaor." she settles back on her heels.

    She takes a long drag of her cigarette, and then she leans her head back.

    "The Golden Blade, son of Medusa." she ventures, and she taps herself down, and pulls out one of the mummified snakeheads from a pocket. She narrows her eyes at it like it personally offended her.

    "Fuck."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would seem nonplussed over at the swat and then casually listen over. "So, yet another thing of where Zeus put himself where it shouldn't have been and something horrific came about." Whether or not there was any remote fairness in that cynical tone was up in the air - at least in this specific circumstance. Medusa was a woman cursed, not borne of Zeus after all.

And how many heroes had come about due to the actions of the gods and how many more fell at said actions? Or the route entirely cyclic for those individuals granted and then rended by fate?

"The Greek view of Fates spun by the Weavers is rather different. Fate was guaranteed. Prophecies were explitic. They could not be avoided, abandoned, or evaded. And specific enough that they could be understood."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson heads for the rocks to seek a mosaic. "Riiiight. Remember the myths were written by men, not the gods. You believe every word of the Bible, Quran or any other religious text, I have a bridge to sell you. Moira-fate was more boundaries. People had free will within those boundaries. It was a fence, not a road. The... Kindly Ones punished people who went beyond those boundaries. Anyway, I go to seek your nmosaic." He begins his descent.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The red stone of the Gauntlet flares bright red-orange before the swirling smoke pattern within it returns. For Sara the battle to maintain control over Witchblade's anger has begun, though thankfully since Khrysaor isn't /right there/ it's much easier than it would other wise be.

"Pegasus and Khrysaor were born from the blood of Medusa when she was beheaded," she continues to explain, information mingled with the anger... what a lovely life for an NYPD detective. "The snakes... Witchblade wonders if the son is seeking the mother, but really he's raging inside my skull. This is a powerful entity, and nothing good is going to follow his reawakening."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I think it's the other way about. Khrysaor -- and please, correct me if I'm wrong -- was the son of Possidon and Medusa, begat in a temple of Athena and later freed -- but unlike Pegasus, who was immortal, Khrysaor was *mortal*."

    The mosaic is a couple of layers of dirt down, covered with debris from the old winds moving about. BUt the first thing that can be seen is the head of a boar... and then another head of a boar... and then a third...

    "... he ruled in what would become Spain. And I strongly suspect this might have been his house." Nettie sets her lips in a thin line.

    "I don't suppose Witchblade or your friends know what happened to the bridle of control his brother was wearing when the gadfly stung his flank, mm?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would glance over at the mosaic, remaining quiet over while listening to the others and just watch over at it. So just listening to the narrative.

"And how then did this transition into a tomb of the dead, an immense enough horde of skeletons to turn into something a solid eight or nine meters tall with full limbs? Which I would estimate would take at least twelve hundred corpses, likely quite a few more than that."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The stones with the words and images were now perfectly cleaned and lined up, telling the story of Khrysaor. Sara felt it right to finish that up before she looked back to the surrounding area.

"Khrysaor is immortal in some version of the story, in others he was not," she begins before rinsing her hands off.

"There were tales of this area and how several kingdoms tried to attack it in the age of heroes. Whether that was to take over this land, to crush it into nothingness in search of treasure, the truth of that is lost to time. Whatever the reason, if the many kingdoms came..." she stopped there a moment and closed her eyes.

"The Greek were here," she breaths out before shaking off the uneasy. "So I would believe that it was true that several kingdoms attack and the bridle is long gone as one of those treasures."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson is out of sight below, in the rocks. He suddenly let's out a scream of pure terror.

this is followed by a bolt of lightning striking below out of sight.

This is followed by a very large crab being flung about a half mile.

A second bolt of lightning strikes and shortly after this Billy climbs back up. He's limping. "A lousy crab caught me! Miserable creature. Anybody got some Neosporin? Ow, Ow. I got some pictures Nattie. Here." He tosses the phone to her and digs in his bag for a first aid kit. "Stupid crabs. I hate them. I'm ordering crab cakes when we get dinner."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I don't think the bride left so early." Nettie states, and she looks around to the assembled.

    "Patience told me when Estelle fell into the sea last night, she had the bridle in her hand." NEttie looks out to the ocean.

    "We need to find where it went. Short of Athena herself showing her face and telling us where it may be -- pull seismic records. Pull temperature records."

    Nettie looks out over the water. "We could have cities at risk."