Runes and Things hadn’t really been hard to find. Every cab driver here seemed to know of it, and honestly, he couldn’t miss the building if he tried. Despite its humble appearance, the entire shop oozed power and, something else lurked beneath the harmless façade created by cheap t-shirts and plastic weapons, more ancient and dangerous than he could begin to imagine. It kept his mind on edge, just as his limbs ached to turn around and leave, but he pressed on. He had come this far, after all. Might as well finish what he had started. Slipping easily through the half-opened door, he entered the shop, only looked back once to watch the door closed behind him.

 The following events weren’t so different from his meeting with the crows, as it had left him with more questions than answers. The supposedly owner, though frail and blind as she was, still managed to make his hair stood on edge. Immediately upon entering, he knew she was a force to be reckoned with, and best left alone in everyone’s interest. As for the rest of his so-called ‘kin’, he couldn’t really tell much about them. Not just yet. But as far as he knew, they seemed to be a diverse bunch. Interesting, even. But then, that was left to be seen. After all, if what the crows said was anything to go by, they would be stuck together for quite a while, thanks to this divine blood in their veins. 

 When the old woman began speaking, he crept to the edge of the group and scanned his surroundings, taking in objects and faces, just as he felt others’ eyes on him. Now that he had paid attention, the shop owner appeared to be blind, the gaping holes where her eyes should be made that fact quite obvious. Didn’t make her any less intimidating though. First, she turned to one of the taller guy, and as her request, he handed over his pouch of coins. In return, the crone gave him a strange gun, its exterior wrapped in ice and bones. The weapon brought out the cold glint in its new owner’s eyes, and to be honest, Jagred found it…unsettling. There was something about the man that reminded him of frozen lakes. When dealing with them, you would always have to watch where you tread, or face with a cold and sudden demise. Next, the owner moved to a Native woman, accepting her payment and returned with a hide garb. He eyed her closely for a moment, taking in dark hair, tanned skin and sharp features. Whoever she was, wearing the skin of a werewolf wasn’t something he would take lightly. From then on, the blind crone carried on with her work, taking the coin pouch from each of them and offered an interesting trinket in return. 

 A blond man of their group, lanky in stature, received a small scroll with some sort of magical map on it, and another one got a sword. Jagred eyed the weapon for a good long while, before realizing he had been staring, and hastily turned away. He spent the next moment tried to keep his gaze on the old woman, watching as she slowly moved closer to him. After giving the second woman of their group a bag containing some magical healing paste, she finally turned to him, eyeless sockets looking even more disturbing up close. He swallowed drily, then offered up his share of gold coins without a word, then held out a hand for his trinket. She held up a bracelet decorated with teeth, demonstrated how to wear it, then promptly dropped it into his hand. 

 The teeth felt oddly cold against his palm, and yet, not one bit uncomfortable. After a few moment of stretching to test the cord’s limit, he finally contented and decided to put it on as a necklace. For some reason, the thought of parting with this gift unnerved him, even just for a brief moment. The weight settled down nicely around his neck as Jagred tucked it beneath his shirt. At least it wasn’t a weapon. Even he couldn’t be certain what he would do with one right now. 

 It was then a commotion broke out, joisting him from his thoughts. He turned to his left, just in time to watch the crone plucked her dagger out of some poor bloke’s palm. Apparently, he tried to steal one of the coins in the sack. Not a very smart move, in Jagred’s opinion. She was creepy as hell, not to mention, when he looked into those eyeless sockets of her, he had the feeling that she wasn’t quite so blind. He slowly turned to look at the unfortunate fellow, wondering if he should try to help. But then, what could he do? Let the girl with the healing paste handle it. With that in mind, he turned to watch the exchange between the tall man with a slight Russian and the crone. Again, she didn’t not really answer his question, just danced around it with foreign tongues and meaningless ramblings. As least to his ears they were meaningless. Not sure about the Russian guy though. He seemed to be quite…absorbed. 

 After the others had finished with their questions, Jagred pondered and decided to voice his own, though he didn’t really expect to get a straight answer out of the blind woman. –“ The crows did mention Ragnarok. So how do we half-bloods actually fit into this? What can we do that the gods can not?”