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World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 8b: Books Are For Nerds


Dawn OOC

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"Voodoo dolls, huh?" Renata muttered, but something else had popped in her brain, and she was already paging through the stories again.

With any luck, there would be stories that described where the door was, and how to use it. And THAT, friends, was the very definition of the phrase 'knowledge is power.'

On hearing Ryan's greeting she glanced up and nodded. "Hey." Then it was right back to scouring badly written fiction for specifics on the care and feeding of magic doors.

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Renata's efforts came to naught; the students listed the door as being in the storeage area of an imaginary hall on Dalton's campus. It was called Winterhome and was located just east of Lancaster. In the real world, that was an empty patch of forest.

As far as using the Door, there was a Key - always with a capital 'K'. Nothing specific was ever stated though; the students were completely vague about how they used the doors.

"Worthless!" Renata snarled as she dropped her selected book on the pile and glared at it.

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"Yeah," Ryan drawled, "a voodoo doll." The crude simulacrum landed on the table even as Renata was proclaiming the lack of value the materials retrieved from the library posed. "There's somebody's hair on it, if we can figure out who's hair, we can know who Bitchard was hexing."

The others gave Ryan a dubious and suspicious look. Sean piped up first, "How the hell do you know that?"

"It's a voodoo doll. Haven't you guys ever watched White Zombie, The Skeleton Key, Live and Let Die? Voodoo dolls need a little bit of the person they are supposed to hex to work. Hair's easy to get."

"Riiiight."

"Fine," Ryan rolled his eyes emphatically, "if not the voodoo doll then maybe you can make heads or tails of this." The black leather tome was tugged free of one of Ryan's pockets and thunked onto the table. "Good luck with that, its written in gibberish."

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"Can I see it?" Mari asked curiously. She looked up at Ryan and when he shrugged apathetically at her, she carefully pushed her plate aside and pulled the leather bound across the table. Leaving Hector to his own devices for a moment, the svelte little teen hunched her chair closer to the table and leaned over the book, gently pulling open the front cover and running her fingers over the pages.

"Where did you find this?" Mari glanced up at Ryan, "And how do you know the voodoo doll is Pritchard's?" her hazel eyes were big and bright and innocent, unclouded by the least bit of suspicion.

__________________

Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

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"Whaphgg??" Ryan said around half a slice of pizza stuffed strategically into his maw before Mari had even finished rephrasing the question. Ryan pointed to his face, made various apologetic and stalling gestures and chewed thoughtfully, attempting to come up with an answer.

"We retrieved those items from Pritchard's office. That is how we know the fetish icon was hers," Brahn answered from Ryan's shoulder. He seemed to flow out from the wall, the shadow cast by a nearby soda machine providing his entrance.

"MMpphh!" Ryan nearly jumped out of his skin and set to coughing as he scrambled for a napkin to cover the partial masticated pizza sludge that was no longer to be contained. Regaining a measure of control over himself he cast a scathing look over his shoulder at Brahn, "What the fuck dude?! How many times do you have to do that before you get sick of it?"

Sean, Mari, and the others were restraining their mixed surprise and laughter before Brahn replied, "I will never tire of it, I have been walking the shadows since my naming day." His tone was fully serious, and his milky white eyes made it impossible to tell if Brahn was even aware of the humor of the situation.

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Mari was not laughing. Her initial shock at Brahn's unexpected and sudden appearance gave way to concern. "Wait...you retrieved them?" Mari asked, sounding as perplexed as if she'd been dropped in the middle of a hedge maze and told to point north.

"Does that mean you took them, that you stole them?" Mari quietly insisted. Her tone had changed. It carried the faintest hint of disappointment. "You said you wouldn't do that. You promised Ravi you wouldn't." Mari reminded Ryan earnestly, still blissfully unaware of her boyfriend's duplicitous arrangement with the young thief.

Mari stood, with the strange book in hand, and reached across the table to pick up the voodoo doll Ryan had discarded there. She shoved the doll into her hoodie pocket and then gently placed her hand on Hector's arm. "I need to go return these things," she explained to the blind man, "but I really want to talk to you. Is it okay if you wait for me here? Five minutes?"

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Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

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As Mari put the doll in her pocket, something about it caught Renata's eye. For a second she was tempted to just reach in after it, but given Mari's mood, that seemed like a disaster of Ravi-esque proportions in the making.

"Hang on a second," Ren said. "Mari, can I see that doll really quick? I promise I'll give it back, I just need to see it first."

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Hector was already nodding his understanding but was cut off when Brahn stepped forward. "You are not taking that book back to the witch," he said, his voice hard. "It is not hers. She stole it from my people, before the Truce. I took it back to help all of you, not so that some foolish girl with delusions of innocence can hand her a powerful weapon."

A gray hand came out, waiting expectantly. "If you wish to return the book to its owner, you can return it to me, now."

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Sean started in his chair when Brahn appeared, quickly looking around to see if anyone else had noticed the Lheskian from stepping out of the shadows, but the cafeteria was still theirs. Relieved, he could actually find the humour in amidst the strange situation. He was just as disappointed as Renata was though, that they didn't the newsletters didn't reveal the location of the Door. Although...

When Ryan had arrived, Sean had given him a nod and a thumbs up, but Mari's insistence in returning the arcane items, while admirable in its innocence, made him roll his eyes. Especially after Brahn mentioned the book being his. The writing certainly didn't look any language he recognized, though the alphabet seemed vaguely Cyrillic.

"Mari, she stole our fu- our memories! I think we're entitled to a book that ain't hers and some doll that who-knows-what she can do with." Sean smiled to take the sting our of his words and the slight misdirection he had offered her before, but his tone was firm and resolute.

Sean was still considering the newsletters, and the story of the Door in Winterhome House. There wasn't a Winterhome, but all the Dorms did have storage rooms. He had a muddled recollection of storing some of his hiking gear in one of them, but oddly enough, he was sure it hadn't been in Mars House. And they had someone who did come from the other side of the Door right here...

"Hey! Brahn, where is the Door? Which building is it in?"

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"You don't know that!" Mari answered Sean, with a frustrated little hop. "Maybe she's a witch, but we don't know she's bad. For all we know she could be the one that closed the door and kept the caramels or whatever out of Dalton. You broke into her office and took her stuff and how am I supposed to know I can trust you?" she turned from Sean to address Brahn.

The little teen looked Brahn up and down, as if she could take in the measure of the strange man through her eyes alone. "Maybe you are telling the truth..." Mari glanced at Renata then, reluctantly passing her friend the voodoo doll. She hesitated a moment longer with the book, licking her lips and considering Brahn's out-stretched hand...

Click to reveal..
Trying a little empathy and wits to get a feel for Brahn...as in...does Mari feel he's honest? Basically, searching her gut to see what vibe Brahn gives her, but she can't make heads or tails of him! 4d10.hitsopen(8,10)=0

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Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

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Ren tuned Meri out as she looked the doll over, head to foot. A blank, neuter, featureless clay thing with only the hair worked into its head to give it any distinction whatsoever. Well, that and the scooped out section of its head.

Missing its brains. Or...memories.

Still, a test would be prudent. The hair could be any of them. Hopefully not Dorn or CrazyPaints. She hesitated, thinking, then settled for scraping her fingernail gently over the midsection of the figurine, 'tickling' it approximately where its belly and ribs would be.

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"I'm pretty sure I know she tried to attack us in the library. I'm pretty sure that if a staff member is willing to attack the students then she's not on our side. Bitchard may not have it out for us but she certainly hasn't been acting protective. So, no, you can't take that doll back to her, not until we know what the hell is going on."

Visibly angry Ryan glanced at Ravi, and wondered if he should throw the other boy under the proverbial bus. Bros before hos, dude, you better own this shit.

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"Actually," Renata said, looking up from her little toy. "Pritchard didn't attack you. Not right away. All she wanted was the alien girl, the Caramine one. She said she was dangerous. You guys all went into 'rescue the maiden' mode, and pretty much challenged her. So she trotted out the golem-guards and the beatdown commenced."

She shrugged. "If you'd just handed her over, Pritchard wouldn't have done a thing. I'm not saying Pritchard's a misunderstood saint either...I'm just saying that you guys have been treating her like Darth Vader ever since this started, and I've never been really sure why. I've wanted to talk to her from square one, AND I said in the art room that breaking into her office was a dumb idea. Still think so too."

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"Pritchard did attack first," Sean countered, face hardening, then repeating, "She stole our memories. Our past is what makes us, us, and she took away chunk of who we are, just like that." He snapped his fingers with a crack. "Mari, she's the only one with incentive and means to do it. Even, especially, if she thinks she's protecting us. If it was the Caramines, why'd they take our memories when they want several of us for their 'Harvest'? This stuff with the Door has happened before, and thanks to whoever, maybe Pritchard, we barely know anything so we can protect ourselves."

Sean's eyes narrowed, dark and stormy as he focused solely on Renata. "I don't regret standin' up for Swan for an instant. She was hurt and alone and didn't know where she was or who she was. I wasn't lyin', we did take Swan to the nurse and she was discharged into our care. We would've left if Pritchard had let us. Swan only retaliated when one of Pritchard's goons tried to grab her against her will, then her golem-goons slugged her in the face and kicked her in chest, a girl who already looked like she been the victim in a beat-down. Nope, I don't regret it and I would've done the same for any woman here."

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"Chivalrous." Ravi said dryly, his green-gold eyes narrowed as they studied the voodoo doll, then looked at the... spellbook? Grimoire? He glanced at Mari and placed a warm hand over one of hers. "All I know for sure is that the Pritchard woman wants us ignorant of these strange goings on. I hate being kept in the dark, even if someone does think its for my own good. Perhaps especially then. And she is willing to use what I can only describe as magic to control us. Mari, is that really so different from drugging us?" He cast a narrow-eyed glance around the table. "And I seriously hope no-one here is going to start scoffing in an oh-so-civilised way about the prospect of magic. Or are we calling what happened to me a case of swamp gas?"

He looked back at Mari. "We need to find out what is going on. And Ryan did the right thing to get us these items, Mari. Now we know that Pritchard is up to something with the aim of influencing us. And she's a thief." He indicated Brahn. "She stole that from this gentleman's people."

"You don't know that." Mari said with a faintly stubborn set to her mouth. Ravi resisted the urge to kiss the slightly pouty lower lip.

"I'd believe him over her right now, based on how forthright either party has been." Ravi said with gentle reason. "I want answers about what's going on, and we don't get them from Pritchard without leverage."

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Mari hesitated a moment longer before thrusting the book into Brahn's hoary hand. She snatched her own hand back quickly, as if she feared the sepulchral figure before her might bite it, and pushed it back into the safety of her hoodie. "I guess if Ravi believes you, then I do, too."

A little step back placed Mari by Ravi's side, standing next to her now empty chair. She glanced at Sean and the strange woman who sat with him. "Didn't you say she used to be a Caramime? And didn't you say the Caramimes were bad and they came through the door or whatever?" Mari pushed the palm of one hand into her eye, as if she were trying to hold back a headache. "Maybe Pritchard recognized your friend and maybe she thought she was one of the bad guys...wait, Ms. Dorn was gonna talk to her. We should call." She looked around the table and sat down, on the very edge of her chair, with the air of someone who's about to spring back up again. "Right? And like...see how it went. Maybe we can all talk to her."

__________________

Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

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"Jee-sus, how naïve are you? Pritchard is not on our side. She used, whatever Ren called those things, gloms or something, to attack us. Yes, she was trying to get to Swan, but that's no excuse. You don't protect the student body by assaulting the students, no matter how good your justification." Ryan shook his head, and snatched the fetish back, "This," he said, shaking the doll for emphasis, "is just more proof that whatever she is up to, it isn't good. She carved out this thing's head, so at the very least somebody out there ..."

Ryan rushed over next to Swan, "Excuse me," he muttered as he held the doll next to her head. "Damn, I thought it was your hair, would have explained your memory loss." He tapped the doll into the palm of his hand as he looked around the table and then narrowed his eyes. Walking over to Ravi he said, "Rav, I think this is your hair."

Ryan held the doll close to Ravi's head, the hair's matched in color and texture, "Dude I think Bitchard put the whammy on you. She may have been why you went all meow-hiss-hiss-scratch-scratch." Ryan looked to Brahn, "Could your people's magic have done this?" he asked looking at the book.

"No," Brahn replied evenly. That seemed like all he would say until he added, "My people's magic is not nearly so subtle." A chill ran up the spines of all present at his addendum, something about the statement was decidedly unsettling.

Ryan swallowed, "OK, but still, that doesn't mean she didn't. That doesn't mean it's not her fault those security gaurds are dead." Ryan, to his credit, laid a supportive hand on Ravi's shoulder; terrified though he was of the lycanthrope boy, he was still his friend.

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Renata jerks in surprise as Ryan yanks the doll out of her hands. She gives him a dark look and sneers, "Yeah, she attacked you with sticks and straw. Scary. Here, lemme see that again." When Ryan hands to Ravi instead she blurted, "Goddamnit."

Even without taking it from Ravi's grasp, she tapped its head sharply and watched Ravi with morbid curiosity.

"Did you feel that?"

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Mari meekly absorbed Ryan's abuse. Her only reaction was to blush and look away as she slouched a little lower in her chair. She said nothing until Renata jabbed her finger into the voodoo doll's head, and then she sat up quickly and said "Don't!" When Renata skewered her with a hard stare, Mari uneasily added "It's a voodoo doll. I mean. What if it's...you can't just poke at it like that."

Then Mari was back on her feet, crowding close to Ryan and Ravi and Renata to take a better look at the doll, to compare its hair with Ravi's dark locks.

__________________

Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

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"I just want to see if we can break it without hurting him," Renata said lightly. "Maybe breaking it will break the spell, and he'll get his memories back." And then I'll know how to get mine back too.

Her eyes fixed on Ryan.

"By the way. Mari's not naive, she's openminded. You should check into it. If it'll help, I'll pick up a dictionary and you can grab that out of my hands too. Point is, I don't think Pritchard really cares about any of us. She cares about the school, and keeping the secret. If we endanger the school...say, by giving possible spies a grand tour...then yeah, she'll have to fight us to get us to stop. But that doesn't mean she HAS to be our enemy. Lets find out what she wants, and if we can go with it."

Ren shakes her head. "Which was supposed to be what Frida and Dorn were doing. Now though, even if they were completely successful, anything they did to make peace will go to shit when Pritchard goes back to her office and finds all this missing."

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"The security guard I killed..." Ravi's eyes were fixed on the voodoo doll, on the black hair adorning it's head as he spoke in a low and even tone. "He would probably be alive if he hadn't attacked me. Not certainly, but probably. I was more interested in Pritchard, who was my... (prey) enemy. And running." Cat-green eyes looked up at Ryan, then at the others. Cool of mien though Ravi might be, it was plain to the others that killing a man bothered him more than he was letting on. "But he was under her control. No sane man in his position would have attacked me barehanded like that."

"He wasn't a sticks and debris golem. He was a flesh and b... bone man that Pritchard put under some spell." Ravi was staring at the voodoo thing again. "She isn't responsible for what happened to me. I'm 99 percent sure of that." Aren't I, father? "If she was, she'd have been able to control me. But she was scared and shocked." His eyes narrowed and he pointed one manicured finger at the voodoo doll.

"This, on the other hand, is a damned liberty." Somehow, Ravi saying 'damn' was on a par with other people saying 'fuck'. "It's fair to say she took my memories, and the memories of others, away. She will steal and endanger people in order to keep her secret, as well as abuse her power over us." His voice dropped an octave, and to the others present, the lean-muscled young man seemed to be radiating anger on some invisible frequency that nevertheless vibrated through his voice, a silent snarl. His eyes flashed as he looked at them and stood up, uncoiling from his seat. "Mari is right. We do need to talk to Pritchard. We have enough to confront her with, and if she tries a damn thing other than transparent aquiescence, she'll regret it for the rest of her short life."

"I can follow Ms Dorn's scent from the art room. I can lead us to where she is, and Pritchard probably isn't far from there." He glanced around the table, one hand resting lightly on its surface but flexing, as though wanting to form a fist... or a claw. "I personally am tired of pussyfooting around. Pun intended."

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Sean gave Ravi a level look for his 'chivalrous' comment. He wasn't ashamed of his actions, if they were dated, well, he still didn't regret them. It was how he was raised. As for magic... he couldn't deny it any more either. There had just been too much... stuff.

"Swan used to be a Caramine. She isn't anymore," Sean said in reply to Mari, giving Swan's hand a protective squeeze. "And from what I saw when we found her, she'd already paid enough..." but Mari had already turned away, asking about Ms. Dorn and Pritchard.

As the others played tug-o'-Voodoo and debated what to do with Pritchard, Sean stretched his broad shoulders and turned to face Brahn, raising a questioning brow. "You know where the door is?" he said, repeating his question.

"Of course," the Lheskian answered in understated candor. His head panned slowly around then stopped as he pointed. "It is located in the upper echelons of the last great domicile in that location. The Door resides in a store-room two doors down from the small circular window at the end of the hall. The Door is rough-hewn and built into the frame of an exterior window, carved with the image of a snow-flake, and bearing a small drawer beneath its bottom edge for the Key."

Sean followed the line of Brahn's arm, picturing the layout of Dalton Academy. ...Tromping up into an attic, wearing his football padding, camping gear on his back... "That's Lancaster House. It has to be Lancaster House-wait, Key?"

"All Doors require Keys, and the Key determines where the Door goes," Brahn explained, to Sean's puzzled stare. The witch's efficacious spell is rendering it most difficult to procure allies. "The Key need not be what you are thinking. It can be near anything. For example, the Key to your World is a white feather and paper or parchment with an idea or thought written upon it. The Key for the World of the Chiderans," Brahn's lips curved with a faint, peculiar smile, "another people who have resisted the Caramines - is a piece of leather thong and an item shaped like an arrowhead. Now do you understand? Does any of this seem familiar?"

Everyone had fallen silent, listening to Brahn's nonchalant revelation, Sean's head reeling slightly. ... He ripped a pillow apart, stuffing a pocket of his hiking-pack full of small, white feathers. He followed that with a pad of paper and several markers... "I... right...Door, Lancaster, needs a Key, Home is a white feather and paper with an idea written on it, got it," Sean paraphrased, giving his head a shake then glancing around at the others.

"Well - there it is, guys. A Door, a Key to somewhere and the Key back. I'm not sure about confronting Pritchard - No killing," Sean said emphatically, narrowing his eyes at Ravi, but giving him a crooked grin and shrugging his shoulders in apology. "But I think we should write down what we know, take pictures of the Door, maybe even the...uh, Otherside, then spread that stuff all over the internet, e-mail it to ourselves, even making gmail, hotmail, yahoo accounts if we have too, so if we get whammied again, we'll still have what we've learned already at hand."

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Ravi stared at Sean for a long moment, his gorgeous aristocratic features inscrutable. Then he nodded, slowly, an equally slow smile curving his lips.

"Actually, I like that idea. Mainly because I can't think of anything Pritchard would rather we NOT do." he said with a certain vicious edge to his voice. "And if we are under threat of invasion... Well, going and seeing this other land that has resisted the Caramines might give us A) a clue and B) a possible set of allies. It'd certainly be safer than waiting around here for the axe to fall or Pritchard to play with our minds again. Speaking of which..." he looked at the voodoo doll that was probably him, then at Brahn.

"You seem to know about magic. Is there some way to safely disarm that thing? So she can't use it anymore?"

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"I am not sure," Brahn confessed. "I do not know what neutralizing agents your world possesses. If it was a magical focus, then it is just a lump of nothing and should be burned. If that is a magical effigy of yourself, then it must be neutralized before being burned."

"I thought you knew this stuff," Ryan said, his tone accusing.

"I know my own people's magic," Brahn replied. "I know theories about your magic from your former wizards. And there is something you must all consider before taking on this witch directly. If she used an effigy to erase Ravi, then she used it to erase all of your memories. And with those effigies, she can continue to harm you."

Renata pointed out, "I was doing stuff to it and Ravi's fine."

"You were touching it," Brahn replied. "Did you think that a magical device would respond to something as mundane as a finger?"

"Well," Renata grumbled, but Brahn was pushing on.

"With Ravi's permission, I could test it," he added. "I would need to make some small alterations to it so that it would work for me, but if I channel a spell through it as if it were an effigy and it affects Ravi, then we will know that we have to find all your effigies and prevent her from using them on you again."

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"Alright." Ravi said after a moment's thought. He raised a hand to forestall protest. "It's the logical way forward. None of us have the knowledge to neutralise these things, and I'd rather not try to confront, verbally or otherwise, someone that has an off-switch for me in their pocket. Furthermore," he gazed levelly at Brahn, "It's an excellent measure of whether or not we can trust this gentleman." His lips quirked with wry humor as he glanced around at them all.

"Don't worry. I'm not coming down with a case of heroism." he mock-shuddered, then smiled wider as he looked at Mari. "It's just that someone has to go first, and we have my doll right here. It's common sense, not noble selflessness, I assure you." We need to disarm these things, we need to know how far we can trust our new friend. And I, personally, need to make sure that Pritchard can't control me in any way." He sat back down and looked at Brahn, the wry smile becoming an almost unsettling grin. Even though he wasn't actively trying to be, there was something quietly menacing about the elegant youth. The flash of light catching in his eyes was the gleam of fangs, and the soft low tone of his voice was a purr... or the beginnings of a growl.

"If you think about it, that's probably in everyone's best interest."

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"Then I'll need a place to work without distractions," Brahn said, his voice as calm and casual as if Ravi hadn't just obliquely threatened them. "And a bit of time. Perhaps... twenty minutes. Then we will know."

He looked at Ravi. "I will attempt to use the doll to learn your darkest fear." He looked apologetic as he added, "It is emotionally invasive, but I thought you would prefer it to something more damaging." He sighed at the looks he was getting. "Our magic is geared primarily toward alteration. The alteration of our enemies into something else."

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"My darkest fear." Ravi stated/asked evenly. Brahn nodded.

"It is the least dangerous test I can think of. You will not suffer the fear itself." Brahn explained. "But I will have the knowledge of that which you most dread."

"Hmm." Ravi looked as though he was giving the proposal some consideration. "And you would pass on what you find to me? Privately?"

"If you insist." Brahn replied. Ravi nodded slowly.

"I'm curious to know what I'm most afraid of myself." he explained casually, smiling as he looked around the table. "Can't overcome a fear if you don't know it's there."

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Sean glanced at Brahn, slightly disconcerted. Being himself and being changed into something else was a scary thought. He looked at Swan, trying to hide the unease in his stormy eyes. Is that what happened to you? If you have the chance to be the person you were before, will you take it?

Shaking that concern away for later, Sean returned his gaze to Ravi and Brahn. "If you're willin' to do this, Ravi, I guess we can use the Art Room with Frida's mural, it's as likely to be empty as anywhere else. Unless we want to tromp out to the words or try to sneak Brahn into one of our dorm-rooms."

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"Yeah, cause he's not at all sneaky or anything," Ryan added sourly, glancing at Brahn. The alien man offered a disturbingly predatory smirk back, setting Ryan to move away unconsciously. I think the art studio would be fine, safer even, because it has room and unlike the dorms probably won't be occupied by other students. Normal, students," Ryan added trying to recover his composure.

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"Where were we supposed to meet Dorn and Frida?" Renata asked. She really wanted to see this magic trick, but a nagging voice in the back of her head pointed out that it had been her idea to talk to Pritchard in the first place...Frida and Dorn's fate was to some small extent her responsibility. "Art room, or somewhere else?"

She glanced curiously at Mari, not sure if the innocent young girl would be intrigued by the promise of magic, or repelled by it. "What do you want to do?"

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Mari seemed to come out of a trance. Her hazel eyes had a wide lost look when they settled on Renata. She felt like she’d been looking down on a giant puzzle of which she herself was a piece, adrift among all the others, waiting for something to nudge her into place. There was some trick that she was missing. Something essential she could not see.

The lissome little teen blinked at Renata. “Um.” She answered cleverly, then took a moment to collect herself and added, “I wanna find this door everyone keeps talking about. But..." I can’t just ditch Hector. Mari pushed her hands through her hair and rocked back lightly on her heels. It looked for a moment as if she might launch herself into a theatrical sigh. Instead she crouched by Hector and, lowering her voice to a secret-sharing whisper, confided “Me and my friends are um, trying to figure some weird stuff out. There’s supposed to be this door and there’s...people trying to close it and people trying to open it...and we’re not really sure of anything, except it’s probably pretty heavy and it all started like...” she glanced up at Ravi “thirty years ago. Something happened then and something’s happening now and it’s important for us to figure it out I guess...so...” Mari shrugged helplessly as she looked around the table. “Do you want to stay here? Do you want to come with me?”

__________________

Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

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"I'll go back to the library, if ya don't mind," Hector said, smiling more or less in her direction.

After some discussion, they walked Hector back to the library and set him up on a computer with an online audio book. With their blind seer set up, they proceeded to the Art Building.

Brahn was waiting for them but not alone; a woman similar in appearance was with him. "This is my sister Brihn," he said, as a simple greeting. He gave no reason for her presence.

"May I have the doll?"

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"Certainly." Ravi said, handing the effigy off to the strange man. Inwardly tense, feeling the beast inside him growling at the possible danger, the young aristocrat remained outwardly insouciant and charming. "A pleasure." he smiled at the odd-looking woman(?) as he pulled two chairs together, holding one for Mari in a courteous gesture before settling into the other seat and relaxing on it with laid-back elegance. He tapped one finger against his lips.

"Brihn... Brihn... I think we met briefly, last night." he studied her with polite curiousity. "Before the... unpleasantness happened."

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"Maybe we should get Professor Dorn and Frida back before we do this," Renata suggests. "What if Pritchard can, like, feel it when her spell is broken?"

She gave Brihn a narrow look, searching her as if the answer was tattooed on her face. "Is that how this works?"

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Leaning against the edge of a worktable, Sean gave the female alien - other than Swan - a hooded look, rubbing at a mild, but persistent, throbbing that suddenly bloomed in his thigh. When she turned his way, giving him an equally level look, Sean ameliorated his expression, giving Brihn a nod in greeting (reacquainting?).

When Renata set forth her, Sean's eyes widened in surprise, his gave moving from Renata to the Lheskians. "Holy Shit! Could it that happen? At the very least, we should call the others to make sure they're not still with Pritchard, just in case it does. I'm callin' Frida."

Sean suited word to action, pulling out his phone and beginning to auto-dial the odd artist.

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  • 2 weeks later...

"Frida? Ah, good, it's Sean," Sean replied intently, he voice dropping in case there was anyone on her end listening. "We've found some stuff out here. Ryan found his voodoo doll that we think is supposed to affect Ravi, and Brahn was going to test it but Ren brought up somethin' to consider. You guys aren't still with Bitchard, are ya?"

"No, I hard nothing more say to that... woman," Frida answered. "However, I do not know if Ms. Dorn-"

"Okay, good. You see, we weren't sure if Brahn using the voodoo doll would be noticed by Bitchard, and with you guys with her, she might have known something was up and might have done... something."

Sean sighed, glancing back at the others in the room. "They aren't with Bitchard anymore, guys. You can try the...uh, voodoo now." Sean turned back to his phone, his voice tinted with a hint of rue. "I'm not making much sense, am I? We're back in the Art Building - you know where. Stay on the line, and I'll bring you up to speed."

Keeping the phone to his ear, Sean looked at Brahn and Ravi, wanting to see what Brahn would do, and began telling Frida about what had happened. He told her about the Troubles in '75, the Young Adventurers Club sponsored by Dalton, that his father Dean Dean was one of them, as well as the parents of several other students, about Blind Hector and what he saw, Brahn, about the Door and its Keys, and the way to world of the Chiderans. He also mentioned his idea about disseminating the info so they could find it again if they memories were wiped again.

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Brahn had the doll in his hands; he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Brihn. Silently, she began to lay the black ribbon on the floor in a circle around her brother. When she was done, he was in the center of a circle; the ribbon was woven to ly flat in a perfect circle. Brahn was on the inside and everyone else out.

Brahn closed his eyes and started to whisper. Though indistinct, the words raised the hackles of everyone there. His whispers grew in volume and intensity until climaxing into a single sharp word.

The gray-skinned man swayed. After a moment, he straightened. "It is an effigy." Those bizarre eyes alighted on Ravi. "And now we must speak."

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"Alright then." Ravi said in reply, trying to control the creeping-flesh feeling that Brahn's spell - invocation, conjuration, whatever - had caused. He slowly uncoiled from the chair and stepped towards the door, the tension in the young werepanther's shoulders clearly communicating his state of mind.

"We'll just be outside." he said over his shoulder to the others, favoring Mari with a reassuring nod and smile. "This won't take long. I'll ask nicely that no-one tries to eavesdrop, and remind those without a better nature that I have exceptionally good senses." He stopped at the door and opened it for Brahn, the warm, pleasant smile on his handsome lips this time not entirely reaching the shimmer of his eyes. "A long memory, too." he finished in an almost chilling offhanded manner, before following the strange other-dimensional man outside and shutting the door.

Click to reveal..

Ravi and Brahn are going a fair distance from the door. You guys go ahead and assume they'll return in a couple of minutes.

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Between Ravi and the Creep Twins taking the mojo out, and Sean jabbering away at Frida, Renata started getting antsy for something to happen. Finally she grabbed another one of the Adventurer's Club or whatever books and sifted through it, looking for something else her dad had written.

Finally she just grabbed a handful of them and leaned over towards Mari.

"This is getting lame. I'm getting something from the cafeteria. Want to come with?"

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