9349/Creepy New Year

Creepy New Year
Date of Scene:	29 December 2021
Location:	Bryant Park
Synopsis:	Megan, Daniel and Susan confront creepy gremlins, rotting trees and mysterious portals.
Cast of Characters:	Megan Gwynn, Daniel Ketch, Susan Sullivan

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Megan Gwynn has posed:
With Christmas recently done and dealt with, the city is still bustling with activity. Afterall, New Year's is just around the corner, and that means people are still gearing up for the next big party. And while people rush around for great Boxing Day deals and gear up for New Year's eve, a nearby park seems..Oddly quiet and still.

Normally around this time of year, the numerous trees would be alight with hundreds of colorful lights, but go deep enough in the woods, and there is a large patch of trees with broken lights, broken branches and the stench of rot and decay in the air. Something grimm and foreboding hangs in the air, and for those that can sense such things, there is a pervasive sense of dark magic in the area.

Birds and animals are pointedly avoiding that spot, even dogs avoid the area, even when their owners toss balls in the dark corner for them to retrieve.

Megan is also here, drawn by the dark magic, frowning softly as she peers at a broken branch. Dressed in a green woolen pea coat and pink hat and gloves over her dark shirt and jeans, she is ready for chilly weather..And whatever else is lurking in that dark patch..

Daniel Ketch has posed:
With no one to buy presents for, and no money for presents anyway, Daniel is having a rather quiet Christmas. Instead he is doing some research on his family's past, using the New York Public Library that is adjacent to the park.

No, he doesn't own a laptop either. Hell, his cellphone is barely 'smart' enough for texting. He does have a nice motorcycle, currently parked in an alleyway. He is not worried about it getting stolen. In fact, it amuses him when some fool attempts it. His sense of humor is getting darker lately.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan jogs through the snow. She's dressed for much warmer weather and carrying her store-bought dowel rod that she uses like a quarterstaff for martial arts meditation and training. While the life force ebbs and flows even in the winter, dark spots are evident to those who can smell such things. Susan seems to be such as she sniffs at the air. She stops. "Megan?" she says. "Is it you that stinks?" she asks, stepping up out of the snow onto a bit of rock, revealing bare feet as she tries to take in smells from farther afield.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn frowns a bit as she looks at the fir trees. As evergreens, they dont tend to wilt in the cold and dark the way other trees do. "Huh, this is soooo weird..I wonder if it's like the others.?" she glances over as a familiar voice calls out and grins, "Heeey, Susan! How you been?" at the stench, she makes a face.

"Heeey, I showered this morning, that's not me. I think it's those trees." Megan points towards the rotting vegetation. "Hmm, not sure what's up. Could be a prank, or..." But she's sure she sensed magic in the air. "Something more sinister..Oh hey, is that..?"

Glancing at the nearby alley, she notices the familiar bike and smirks. "Heh, figures you'd be lurking around here.." but even as she watches, a couple of shadowy creatures seemingly crawl out of the woodwork, making a beeline for his bike, climbing on it, poking at things, playing with it. They're small, maybe 2 or 3 ft tall, with long pointy ears and sharp teeth. Otherwise they look fairly humanoid, although it's hard to make out details in the dark.

That giggle they make though, why it's almost..Creepy..

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan moves toward the tree. "I recognize you," she says, walking on top of the snow without sinking into it. "That festering, stagnant qi." She looks over the sagging, rotting branches. "Trees breathe," she says to the pine. "Maybe I should just put you out of your misery."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Stepping out of the library for some air and maybe cheap food. He is checking how much cash is left in his wallet, Danny somehow misses the importance of the rotting threes (park services slacking around Christmas?) and the foolish critters messing with his bike (that is going to end up badly) but he spots Megan's mop of pink hair under the pink hat. Which makes him frown. Trouble seems to follow Megan, for some reason.

Even in Bryant's Park? Maybe not, but now Daniel is a little more wary and starting to see dark shadows where there weren't any. Except this time it is not his imagination. He changes course to go towards the half-fairy. It is probably her fault.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn blinks at Susan, eyes widenned as she notices her walking lightly on the snow. "Huh, what do you mean? You know what this is?" she peers back at the trees again, but the sound of evil cackles by the library catches her attention. The two critters climb and crawl all over the bike, even attempting to bite it, but to no avail. It's not very tasty and it's pretty hardy. They soon grow bored and scatter back to the shadows.

But more similar critters crawl out of holes in the trees, sharp teeth gleaming in the night as if they just had a good meal. They give an evil giggle as they climb and play and dangle from rotting tree branches, soon moving to healthy, live trees nearby. Megan narrows her eyes. "Huh, this isn't good.." It's then that she spies Daniel and grins and waves to him. "Heeey, how you been? Did you see this?"

She nods to the rotting trees, and the creatures now crawling in and around them, maybe ten in total. For now, they're more interested in tearing out chunks of the trees, and are not yet paying attention to the people who are staring at them.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Raising her stick, machined though it is, Susan backpedals on the snow...by kicking back and sliding over it. "I thought I did," she says. "That tree is dead or dying. Its qi is stagnant. If it were a human, I'd call it a zombie." She keeps her eyes on the shifting creatures. "Though perhaps I was a bit hasty. I found out where the qi stink is coming from, though."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel raises a hand to greet Megan unenthusiastically and then follows her pointing to the rotting trees and the... critters. "Oh great, demon-possessed squirrels?" He mutters. Too large to be squirrels, how are people is starting to notice them just now?

Daniel gives Susan a glance. No one he knows. "Daniel Ketch," he introduces himself. "Zombie trees. Not the weirdest I have seen last month, but yeah..." he shrugs. "Well, so far they are only eating bark."

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn blinks at Susan, and is starting to realize that she's more than meets the eye. "Qi? Soo like..The life force of these trees? Is it these critters feeding on their life force or..?" but Daniel's right, they seem to be just eating the tree bark. Or is there more to it than that?

"I sense dark magic..I wonder if it's another sloppily openned portal that brought them here, like the last time?" As they move towards a healthy tree however, that's when Megan draws her soul dagger, narrowing her eyes at the critters. "Heey, leave that tree alone!" she darts towards the nearest critter, waving her dagger at it, cutting it off the tree. But the bright glowing pink light catches the attention of quite a few other critters and they snarl angrily at her, leaping towards her and grabbing onto an arm, a leg, a wing, teeth and scary sharp claws bared as they bite and slash at her, perhaps four of the critters at least are now latched onto Megan, viciously attacking her.

"Eek!"

More critters snarl at Daniel and Susan, rushing towards them, leaping, attempting to latch onto whatever they can grab onto with vicious teeth and claws. Why, they look more like evil, twisted elves, more like gremlins really.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan swings her dowel as a staff, knocking several away one after another. Spinning her staff like a fan blade, the critters on Megan are ripped against their will off of her and into the spinning thing, knocking them away. Whether that hurts them or not is another story. "Are these things intelligent?" Susan barks out.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Well, you know. Once is happenstance twice is coincidence, and three is an asshole that needs a beating," Daniel folds his arms, glaring at the evil-looking gnomes and then Megan goes and yells at them. And she has a knife? "Wait, don't!"

And of course she starts a fight. It is always the sweet-looking ones. Daniel kicks the first gremlin coming at him on the face. Then runs to help Megan, trying to punch or kick away the other creatures attacking her. Only to backpedal as they go flying. "What the...?"

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn smiles and nods to Susan as she knocks a few critters off her. "Thanks!" she uses her dagger to tear into a few more, sending them clattering to the ground, "Some sort of magical creatures..They look like dark elves..Or gremlins. Hey wait aminute, are these like, misbehaving worker elves?" she makes a face, "They're kinda ugly.."

Most of the critters are knocked to the ground by this point, most of them stunned or injured by the counter-attack. Megan is breathing lightly as she tenses, looking around.

"They seem fairly intelligent, I think I've seen things like this once before, critters from the goblin kingdom. Which means..There must be a portal around here, somewhere. Probably feeding off the life force of those trees. We gotta find and close that portal or more creatures from the nevernever will seep through.."

She's already peering around at the rotting trees, surely it's around here somewhere. But will they know it when they see it..?

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan sniffs fervently around. She walks on top of the snow, making her look quite tall. After a bit, she closes her eyes and concentrates, looking for the area with the most 'stink' as she puts it.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Or they came here to eat trees," points out Daniel. A public park is not a good place to open a portal anywhere, after all. Maybe it was in the library, which might have extensive basements.

His other self would know. It would also rampage across Manhattan all the night if Daniel lets him loose, so he calls that Plan B. Instead he starts circling the trees, looking for clues, or gateways to other dimensions.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn makes a face at Daniel. "Come on, those aren't your regular, run of the mill moles! Have a little faith in me, why don't ya?" still, she's already picking up some unconscious gremlins, using some nearby vines to wrap around them and tie 'em up. No way she's gonna let them run around to wreck further havok.

As the other two start searching for anything out of the ordinary, it is Susan who spots the rift first. It's not obvious, just a particularly rotted corner in the trees, sunken in the snow and melted down to the earth where a very subtle, rippling of the air can be seen. It feels particularly frigid there, and is easily missed by most normal people. Her propensity to literally sniff out Qi might just make her perfect for this job.

"Heey, any sign of the portal yet? These gremlins aren't light!" she puffs as she drops them in a pile, peering around.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan raises her staff of sorts, holding it at arm's length to point toward the portal. "Is that it?" she asks. It's not that it isn't obvious, it's that Susan has literally never seen anything like this before.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel goes to see what Susan is pointing and sighs. "Seems so, lets make a test, though," he grabs a semi-unconscious gremlin and tosses him (it?) into the portal. "Pretty low key threat compared with the sea monster," he mentions to Megan. "Think it might have been the same people?"

Megan Gwynn has posed:
The little gremlin guy gives a grunt as he vanished through the portal. "Ooh you found it!" Megan exclaims gleefully and starts tossing gremlins in.

"Youre probably right, Daniel. But Heh this is just the small fry, if we don't find a way to close it, I'm sure more will come. Not all magical critters are so.." well 'cute' is certainly not the word for them.

She just shrugs and grins as she continues to toss gremlins in. "Okaay, I have a crazy idea. I think I can seal the portal with my dagger, but I'll have to get in close and that means I might fel the effects of the portal and be open to whatever pops outta there. You guys have to be on guard for anything. Not everything is as..Uh..Low threat as those gremlins."