Of Pyres and Dead Things
26st of February 2007 A.D.
"Hopefully trouble hasn't followed me so far, but there's certainly the wrong kind of interest afoot..." You go on to explain what you had found following the thread that Gard's watcher had left you on, hesitating only a little as you set on the proverbial table, more like a steam pot set to simmer, what might be thought of as state secrets.
Eh... if the Pentagon didn't want mercenaries and odd family lines in Iceland to know about their systems being compromised they shouldn't have allowed them it.
"Draugr," Ragnhildur twists unpleasantly at the mention of the Black Court and your mind instantly goes to the trailer for the new Elder Scrolls. From the look on Kristin's face you aren't the only one. Still both of you manage a straight face as her grandmother continues: "Always trying to dig up history and use it to their own ends. I heard there was some of that in Edinburgh as well where the witch-folk held court and did battle. Never a good sign when their lot start learning the ways of the world though."
"What do you mean?" you out forth, always eager to for a fresh perspective on old troubles.
"Well they're dead aren't they, can't learn new things, can't really fit more into those rotten skulls of theirs that wasn't there when they were alive? Oh they can manage names and places and dates, plots and atrocities, but ways of thinking or understanding of artifice, that's as far beyond them as wings to a mud-wrom. Even language... they struggle with the ways it changes in the mouths of living folk and have to tear it from our minds when the lose themselves to the 'long sleeps'. Death will have its due on them for thieves."
"You seem quite knowledgeable about them..."
"Fire is a good friend in dark wanderings." The elderly woman snaps her fingers and a spark appears on the tips of her fingers. "It's been a while since I sailed the seas and walked the world, mayhap its time to change that. At least I wouldn't be going alone..."
Kristin says something out of which you only catch the name 'Grindavík' to which she replies with a mysterious smile.
"Bah, my kid think I've grown lichen on my backside like an old boulder. Now I
know it's been too long. Any idea where this corpse-master might be hiding?"
At first you open your mouth to say no, but then you remember Nathanael Cobbler or at least the shadow in his flesh you met in Vegas, he had been under the command of a greater evil, one that almost wrested his essence from you as the spirit of dark intellect was freed from the NSA systems and Iris's chase.
"Egypt, if it's anywhere on Earth it's in Egypt."
Speaking of language changing the way the matriarch mutters curses under her breath has a distinctly different feel to it than the Icelandic you heard around you in the city. Still it's understandable enough her her granddaughter —though there are most likely some more 'greats' in the— to give her a scandalized look. Ragnhildur turns to the Chooser to the Slain and says without preamble, there's your price then crow's daughter, help us pick the eyes of that corpse and set them to embers and you'll have our pledge to your master's working.
"What working?"
"To wake the Fire Serpent, that out liege might speak to him of the thing which he guards, once we find him at least," the valkyrie speaks. "Even as the memories of the dragonblood stretch it has been a long time since he coiled down onto a bed to stone to slumber and pulled the water over his head."
A thought comes to out like lightning from the blue, to the dragonblooded know that the thing the dragon guards, the treasure Odin wants might is the very thing that allowed their bloodline to endure. One would hope so, but you can't help but recall that the Old Man is known for trickery second only to Loki. How to you even ask that without coming off as hostile... and given all the debts you already owe.
What do you do?
[] Ask to speak to one of the parties individually
-[] Ragnhildur
-[] The valkyrie
[] Try to poke around the matter and ascertain what they know without outright asking (Manipulation+Empathy)
[] Write in
OOC: No rolls for this one, we have already established a baseline and since you guys choose to be forthcoming the reactions flowed naturally. 
