Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 3a: Holders of the Keys [Lancaster]

[Dawn OOC]

Sylvia Dorn’s instincts were on fire as she raced up the stairs, a soft growl in her throat. She hit the landing on the second floor – and there was a stranger, in her territory, coming down the stairs. The woman was as strange as Relana, with gray skin and black and white eyes. She saw Sylvia and came to a stop, her bizarre eyes wary. There was a pregnant pause; then the stranger said, “Hello. May I pass?”

Sylvia realized she was growling audibly.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Something deep within Sylvia wanted to snarl; her fingers flexed as if hoping for something more than soft flesh and well-trimmed nails.

Fortunately, her mind had other ideas.

"First things first," Sylvia managed to say with the last traces of a growl fading. "Before you take one more step in this place that I protect, I want to know who you are, what world you're from and why you're here."

Sylvia didn't have a weapon. She didn't have, in fact, any reasonable way to make good her threat. But some part of her knew that if push came to shove, she'd make it stick.

Click to reveal..

Intimidation time. With Willpower backing it up. This somehow seems like a crux-moment.

(09:48:06) ChatBot: (Sylvia) rolls 6d10 and gets 5,10,7,7,8,9.

(09:48:11) ChatBot: (Sylvia) rolls 1d10 and gets 4.

3 successes. I can live with that.

[Zack]

Zack heard the noise and then heard Someone running up the stairs. Without really thinking he hastily made his own way up the stairs. He nearly ran into Sylvia, and was taken aback by how she was acting. This was rough even for her. Behind her he said nothing waiting to see what happened next.

[Dawn OOC]

"I am Brihn, a healer from Lhesk," she said, spreading her hands. A tattoo of a stylized raven covered her right palm, while an unknown symbol had been applied to the other palm. "I am here to heal two named Jason and Sean. May I pass?" Her eyes passed nervously between Zack and Sylvia.

The tattoo on her palm fluttered its wings.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia blinked as the tattoo fluttered at her. The scientist in her was all but screaming in a bid for self-preservation of sanity. But the den-mother in her was focused on the possible threat... and finding it not as much of a threat as she had first feared.

With a long, careful look up and down culminated with a nod, Sylvia forced her hands to relax as she stepped to the side. "You can pass. Zack," she asked without quite turning away from the newcomer, "do you know where Jason and Sean are?"

[Zack]

"I think Mr. Burke took them to the hospital. There's only the one in town so it's easy enough to find it."

"IF we're going to go I can drive us there."

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia frowned. There were a lot of bad ideas she could think of; marching into a hospital with a grey-skinned denizen of another world was pretty close to the top of the list.

"Actually," she said, "Maybe giving Mr. Burke a call first wouldn't be a bad idea." Pulling out her cellphone, Sylvia called the campus directory.

"This is Sylvia Dorn, House Lancaster," she explained, "and I need the emergency contact number for Thomas Burke." A pause, then, "Yes, I understand. Would you please go ahead and connect me, then?" Another pause, and Sylvia sighed. "All right, I'll wait for his call."

Snapping the phone shut, she snarled something under her breath and sighed again before looking back up at Zack and the unlikely alien. "Privacy procedures; they'll call Thomas and have him call me back. So, until then, I think the dayroom is the best option. Zack, Brihn, follow me." Without waiting, she headed down the stairs toward the dayroom.

[Zack]

Zsck allowed Brihn to pass him and he brought up the rear behind them as they made their way to the dayroom.

"I swear this all gets weirder and weirder. Just what the hell happened thirty years ago?" It was said aloud but to no one in particular.

[Dawn OOC]

"Actually, I need to find my brother," Brihn said in that same gentle voice before the two had moved more than a couple of steps. Her overly calm manner indicated that she was suppressing some emotion from them. "He's looking for me. Some of the other Daltonites are up on the top floor, if you want to speak with them."

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia stopped in her tracks. "More of the students are upstairs? Zack, would you be willing to go round them up? It's time for a little get-together in the dayroom, I think. All of us."

[Zack]

Zack nods and head upstairs to the top floor to find the other students referred too by the stranger.

He Found them up amidst the storage cabinets and TV room in the attic.

"Mr.Bracks, Frida, Lorelei, Deacon, Emily, Ms. Dorn would like you all to come to the day room downstairs. there's something she needs to speak with us all about."

[Thomas Burke]

Thomas got out of the hospital, still wondering if he had made the right decision bringing Jason here ... but what could a healer really do. He wasn't sure so he did what he knew would keep him alive. He still had this nagging suspicion that he was wrong, though, and it wouldn't go away.

His phone buzzed. It had been off in the ER. He checked the number but didn't recongize it. What had gone wrong now? Thomas hit re-dial.

"Hey, this is Thomas Burke. You wanted to speak with me?"

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Thomas? Sylvia here," she said with relief, taking a seat in one of the dayroom chairs and motioning the grey-skinned outsider to another.

"We have a... friend here from out of town. One who should be able to help Jason and Sean when they come back from the hospital. Do you think you've be able to bring them to Lancaster?"

[Thomas Burke]

"Woman ... Great! Has she mentioned Healing, or Medicine, or something else along those lines? Listen, I've driven Jason to the hospital. He's in critical condition. He lost a lot of blood, but was still conscious when I left him. He's going to be in surgery for the next few hours."

"Jason is missing. He split off from me when I was taking Jason across campus to my car. He's pretty messed up to, but not nearly as bad as Jason. I've applied First Aid to him, but he really needs to see someone."

"I'm on my way back to school now, but if you could start a search for him. Try his room. He's in a bad way. He killed something tonight and he's pretty confused by that."

"Again, I should be back in about ten minutes unless the Sheriff pulls me over."

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Hell." The word escaped Sylvia's lips along with a half-growl; whether Thomas heard it or not was uncertain.

"Yes, she has, though I wasn't going to say so on the phone. But wait... I thought you said Jason was in surgery. Did you mean that Sean split, or is he the one going into surgery? Eh, nevermind. Give me the room number of the one who split, and we'll look into it. As for the other, we'll just have to wait for surgery." She shot a quick look at Brihn before adding, "I can't really bring our friend to the hospital."

[Thomas Burke]

Sigh "I was praying for it to be some other way."

"Sean's is in Mars dorm, I'm not sure which room. He should be in the system though. Also, do you know any reason the Sheriff was on campus tonight. It couldn't have happened at a worse time. Also the woman at the staff meeting a few nights back - she's out in the woods somewhere around campus. I'm trying to figure a way to keep the students on the grounds. Any suggestions?"

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Good grief. I'll find Sean, if he doesn't turn up at Lancaster like it seems everyone else is. As for the Sheriff, he was called by Rodgers over another matter; I'll explain when you get back. I'll be in the dayroom at Lancaster along with... well, everyone else I can find. See you when you get here."

Closing the cellphone with a sigh, Sylvia looked up into strange white and black eyes. "I think others will be here in a few minutes. One of the injured is at a hospital - a place of healing - where he is being tended to by our equivalent of healers. From the sound of it, he's in bad shape. The other left the scene and is likely somewhere on campus, but I'm not about to go chasing off after him until we get more of our people together and get a better idea of what exactly is happening. So, best for now is to sit tight and wait for the others."

[Thomas Burke]

"Okay, bye," and the phone went dead. Thomas tossed it on the passenger seat as the car sped on. It was too distracting to bother putting it in his pocket.

Okay. Strategy: Go get Sean, bring him to the Healer in Lancaster then I wait for Jason to get out of surgery. Rinse - Repeat. I can do this.

He barely realized how easily he had come to accept the possibility of magic ... and him seeing some of it. He'd never look at science the same way again.

[Ira Sagebrush]

Sylvia!

"Sure Zack, be right there." Mr. B answered, giving him a look that said he could and should leave before turning to the others.

"So are we in agreement then?" he stated, using his 'teacher's voice'.

[Frida Ricci]

Frida was silent for a moment, then she nodded slowly.

"Yes.. that seems the best idea for now. Of course, there are several of us, and that would certainly give weight to our story, were we to be questioned about it. It's not as if we didn't have the same experience. But I see no reason to go about advertising it. Of course.. we did bring an otherworldly visitor back with us. So that might seem a bit odd, too..."

Frida's gaze had wandered as she spoke, but it finally snapped back to the others, focusing on each of them for a moment searchingly.

"What will seem odd is if we stand around speaking about it for too long, since our presence has been requested. Anyone else? Thoughts?"

[Zack]

Zack leaves, knowing when he'd been dismissed. He returns to the Dayroom with Sylvia andnods. "Mr. Bracks, Frida, Lorelei, Deacon, and Emily are upstairs on their way down."

[Dawn OOC]

"Why are you detaining my sister?" The quiet, angry voice came from behind Sylvia, behind the pool of light from the corner lamp. As everyone spun, a man who was a close match to Brihn stepped out from the shadows and moved behind her chair, putting one hand on her shoulder. Brihn visibly relaxed at Brahn's presence. The male Lhesk was visibly angry.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia was on her feet almost immediately, hackles risen and hands once more wishing they were something other than hands.

"I have not," she said with a tinge of growl returning to her voice, "detained anyone. I have informed Brihn - who I take is your sister - that we are in the process of getting access to the injured people she came here to help. So I think it's time for you to cool your jets and take a seat, unless you want to harm the very people she came here to help."

[Dawn OOC]

"My sister told you she was sent to find me," the man said, releasing Brihn and stepping around to face Sylvia. "Yet you herded her to this room and kept her here. Where are these injured? They are not here. So why was she held here?"

[Sylvia Dorn]

Relaxing with a sigh, Sylvia motioned the newcomer to a seat. "It's not that simple. One of the injured is at a place called a hospital, a place of healing where the presence of someone from outside this world would cause a blind panic. The other...." She hesitated for a moment, uncertain exactly how to explain. "The other," she tried again, "is being located and brought here now."

[Dawn OOC]

"Then we will wait," Brahn said, his voice hard. "But when my sister says she is to come to me, she will come to me without interferance." He stood stiffly as he waited, his bearing more arrogant than it had been earlier this evening.

[Thomas Burke]

Thomas raced back to school and walked with a fast gate to his office, ignoring the simmering thread of Chaos all around him. At his office he went straight for the student class rolls. He found Sean rapidly - Mars 204 - and left his office, nearly at a run. The healer was here and he needed to get this done. He needed to see one more aspect to show he had totally lost his mind, or that the magic was real.

At Mars, he took the stairs two at a time and raced to room 204. He knocked loudly and incescently on the door.

"Sean, its Thomas. You need to come with me. It's an emergancy."

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

At the rapid banging on his door, Sean woke with a start. He panted heavily with the fading recollections of a disturbing dream - giant dogs on chains of dreams, showers of blood and meat and bone, laughter triumphant and mocking, both male and female - then stilled as the memories faded away entirely, except for faint sense of unease and regret, as if he was missing something he never knew he had.

"Give me a sec Thom, I have to get - I mean - I'll be right there." Sean said, breathing deeply as he examined his gauze-wrapped leg. It had oozed a bit, but it would do.

He got up and threw off the towel he had been wearing around his waist, then quickly put on a fresh jersey - a white and blue rugby jersey - a tight pair of boxer-briefs, and a pair of worn, black jeans.

"God damn it!" Sean cursed at Thomas' unrelenting knocking, stamping his feet to settle them in his cross-trainers, not bothering to put on socks.

Sean opened the door, and Thomas could see that Sean's face was pale, his stormy eyes pale and cloudy with recent sleep. Tense tendons stood out in stark relief on his arms and neck, and his expression was guarded and almost cold.

"What do you want Thom? I'm not going to the fuckin' hospital, I'll be fine."

[Thomas Burke]

"Sorry, but there is someone else you need to see since you decided to walk out on me earlier. It's Brahn's sister and she's here to help you. Come on. All it will cost you is a bit of your time and it might actually shed some more light on what's really going on here in the school."

"I'm not ordering you, I'm asking you. This could really help your leg and get you into full form in a matter of a day or two as opposed to a week. Give it a try. Besides you are bleeding through the bandaging. If someone spots that, its to the Headmaster's Office and from there to the Sheriff. Let's not go there."

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean's stared at Thomas steadily for a long moment, then looked down at his jeans, noticing that a frayed rip was showing a bit of bloodstained bandage. Finally, Sean gave a sharp nod. "... Fine. Let's go."

Sean followed Thomas down the stairs and out of Mars House, his handsome face tight with the effort of not limping and the vague memories remaining from his aborted dream.

[Frida Ricci]

Without waiting for anyone else's response to Mr. Bracks, Frida turned and headed downstairs, following the halls to the dayroom. She stepped in, and her eyes flickered to the other man standing behind Brihn. He was obviously of similar origin, and she regarded him for a long moment with a curious expression that became slightly awkward as it lingered long enough to become a stare.

Finally, her eyes flickered over to Sylvia, and she stood there watching her for a long moment, before her clipped British accent finally broke the silence.

"Well? You wanted to speak with us, Ms. Dorn?"

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Well, as you can see," Sylvia said with a look around the room, "we have visitors. Brihn here is a healer from a place called Lhesk; the gentleman is her brother. We're waiting for..."

At that moment, an exterior door audibly closed downstairs. "For that, I hope." Sure enough, Sean and Thomas came up the stairs to the dayroom, Sean - for all of his efforts not to limp - looking shaky and pale with the pain. Standing from her seat to ease the injured student into it, Sylvia said in a voice tinged with concern, "Brihn, this is Sean, your first patient."

There was a deep sigh from the house-mother. "We may still be in Kansas, but there's a lot more than Oz over the rainbow."

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

"No really, Ms. Dorn, keep your seat, it's'not that bad, I just need a few stitch - something else is bothering m -" The Lhesk's vertiginous eyes stopped Sean in his tracks. The last time he had met someone like her - it seemed so long ago now - he had ended up crushing something's skull. He felt bile in his empty stomach rise, and choked it down. Like hell I'm gonna look like a pussy in front of the girls.

"Er... do you need me to... uh, slide down my jeans so you can get to the bite - I mean small scratch?"

[Dawn OOC]

"No," Brihn said softly, assurance in her eyes and voice. "Lie down. The floor is probably best." After a moment, he did and she knelt next to him, adjusting her dress like a proper lady as she did. She gave him an encouraging smile and said, "This may tickle a bit."

Her hands came out and hovered over his body. Sean felt something pull at him; as he was under her hand, he saw the glyph tattooed on her left palm start to glow. There was a sense of pressure that eased away from his body, leaving him tired and drained despite the nap he'd just had. The glow on her hand increased until everyone was aware of it, even in the well-lit room.

Then she set her glowing palm on the bite. "This will hurt," she told him, and she pressed into his wound. Pain roared through him like a blast furnace, making him fight to hold still. Then the pain began to easy, ebbing back from a searing pain to a dull throb.

"There," she said, after the pain had reached the manageable level. "I have done what I can. You will need to heal the rest." She should have looked tired and drained; she'd poured effort into him. But Brihn was vibrant and healthy-looking. Sean was the one who looked like he'd been working in the sun all day without water.

Click to reveal..

All of your wound boxes are now Bruised. You'll heal up by morning based on the mortal healing rate.

[Ira Sagebrush]

Brad took the silence from the other students as acquiescence to his request and followed after Frida a few moments later.

The eerie glow was just dying down when he entered the dayroom, with Sean on the floor and the Way lady crouched over him.

More weirdness. Pot...kettle, how's it goin'? He looks okay.

"So, this what your brother needed you for?" Brad asked, pulling the fur around him tighter, suddenly feeling underdressed and self conscious in front of Sylvia.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Only after the healer had pronounced her work done did Sylvia notice the fur pelts wrapped around Brad, as well as a couple of the other students.

With one eyebrow creeping upward, she asked, "Which of the worlds did you go do? And where's the door?"

[Lorelei]

The question was too bald, too abrupt, and Lorelei's shocked, vaguely horrified expression displayed her feelings on the matter quite effectively. ...At least, for a moment.

Ms. Dorn has always seemed a little eccentric, but how did she know about the doors?

The girl's wide blue eyes narrowed for a moment as the re-assessed Lancaster's House Mother. Either the woman had information she'd neglected to share previously, or she knew just enough to be a problem. All of this had been carefully, deliberately concealed by the school, and now the thin veneer of their deceit had cracked in earnest. At the moment, Lorelei was not at all inclined to trust anyone in a position of authority, much less someone flatly demanding information.

She adjusted the heavy cloak around her shoulders and, with all the polite dignity she could muster, replied, "If you were meant to know, Ms. Dorn, it is rather likely you would have been there with us."

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

"Thanks, lady," Sean gritted, jaw clenched from holding in the pain. He felt like he had been running drills against seven foot giants all day long. I think I'd've prefered the stitches and some tyenol for next week. She looks good, despite what she did. I wonder what the price Brahn mentioned was? Did she take some bit of me to power her... spell?

Sean sat up with a sigh. As he turned around, he saw Mr. Bracks, Lorelei, and the other students come in. A furrow of confusion and concern appeared on his brow. Can they, can Lorelei, see on my face, what I've done, that I'm a killer now?

"Why are you wearing furs in August?" Worlds, doors? Crapfuck! This is really happening, and there is no way to go back. Gotta remember to ask about Sherry Bolling, Rodney Racker, Harvey Scherff, and Elias Beckett. And to look up the word Zkran.

[Zack]

Zack watched, and resolved to grill his father on his own, There had to be a reason behind everything, and his Dad would know.

"What the hell is going on?"

His question was barely a whisper in the room as he asked nobody in particular.

[Sylvia Dorn]

"They're wearing furs in August," Sylvia said in a carefully controlled voice, "because they went somewhere cold, Sean, even if Lorelei's being... well, like Lorelei about it," shooting one of her patented Could-Curdle-Paint looks at the young woman from House Juno.

Looking at Zack, Miss Dorn's eyes softened a bit. "Zack, what's going on is that Dalton Academy has a number of, well, doorways. And those doorways go to other places. Places like Lhesk, where Brihn and her brother are from. Places like whatever cold place from which a number of your fellow students just returned. And places like Caramine, which has apparently declared a sort of war on us. These doorways," she continued, reaching into a sweater pocket, "all have keys. And this," she explained while pulling a yellowed fold of paper from the pocket, "is a list of some of those keys, which was found just a few hours ago buried in a little tin box." Held in the hands of a xenobiological skeleton, was left unsaid; while Sylvia may have been willing to explain a lot of things right now, there were limits.

"That, by the way, is why I want to talk with your father. He was here that last time that... well, that all this happened. I'm hoping he might be able to shed some additional light on the situation."