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World of Darkness: The Academy - Hot Gate


Dawn OOC

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Brihn led him down a dark corridor. There were no lights here, and soon Jason had to stop. "I can't see," he said, his eyes wide open and only able to discern rough shapes in the gloom.

"I forgot." Brihn's voice came from his right, and he blinked as a shadow next to him moved. A small, cold hand slipped into his, and she carefully led him through the darkness. After twists and turns and a couple of jogs up a flight of stairs, she put his hand on a wall. "Wait here a moment, and shield your eyes."

The match flaring in the dark was like a mag light being turned on, and Jason blinked as his eyes adjusted. When he was ready, he took a look around, and blinked in surprise.

The room was small but well-furnished. Unfortunately, beyond the obvious things like tables and chairs, he couldn't have told you what it was furnished with. Odd devices cluttered the area, giving it a sense of organized chaos. They were made of animal parts, machine parts and even an old toaster. A handful of books was in a small bookcase; there were no titles on the spines.

Brihn lit the other candles in the room, moving from one to the other gracefully. Their rosy glows seemed to catch her eyes, making glow an eerie red tone. Her smile, while meant to be reassuring, really wasn't.

As he finished looking around, she took a book off the shelf and gave it to him. "Much of what you need to learn merely takes dedication and some slight guidance," she said. "This book is a primer for the arcane, and today I will get you started. Once I have helped you begin, you can do much on your own."

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Jason leaned heavily on a table as Brihn went around the room talking and lighting the candles. When she passed him the book he took it one handed.

"Is this what you did for Zebediah? Might he have his own notes hidden somewhere?"

He looks down at the book in his hand, hefting it's wait and considering it briefly, "I don't suppose this is in English by any chance, is it? I guess we better get started."

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Brihn took the book from him again to hold it open for him. To his surprise, it was in English, handwritten with a familiar hand. "Your grandfather wrote this," Brihn said, her fingers curling around the brown edges of the book. "There was no primer that he could read, as you anticipated, so he wrote one." She smiled, a touch sadly. "He didn't want to leave it here, but Wilbur Dalton insisted that no magic return to Dalton. He couldn't stop Vena from remaining behind; she was too powerful for that, especially if the confrontation is physical."

She let him read over the first page, then asked, "Does this spark anything? A slight feeling of familiarity?"

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Jason reads the first page or two, recognising immediately his grandfathers handwriting, although slightly clearer than he was used to, but then it was ~30 years old. "Yeah, that's Zeb's handwriting. Can I take this back through the Door, or did you want to keep it here?"

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"I think I better get back, and get to bed," he lifts the book slightly, "perhaps with some bedtime reading. I'm sure I will have questions once I've managed to get a decent start on this, but for now I don't think I know enough to ask a worthwhile question. How can I contact you when I do have those questions though?"

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Brihn smiled. "We will be around, checking on you and your people," she said. "But you won't be about to summon us at whim. And you shouldn't come to Lhesk, looking for us," she added. "It is dangerous to come to our home without a guide."

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Brihn opened a draw and removed it's contents and then escorted Jason back through the corridor's and past the guards to the Door. Placing the requiste items to open a Door back to Dalton within the drawer she once again bade Jason farewell and he waved with the book as he opened and wearily staggered through the Door.

Arriving back in the storage room, Jason made sure that the Door was closed before leaving the room, leaning heavily on the wall as he did so. The stairs were a risky proposition but he managed them without incident. Before leaving for his house on the outskirts of the school's grounds he borrowed a broom from the cleaning cupboard on the ground floor to use as a walking stick/staff.

It took him a good four or five times as long as usual to make it home. The home that until a few months ago had been the home of his grandfather, a man he had never known was a mage, the mage who had written the magic primer now in his left hand. Entering the lounge Jason had meant to start reading the primer, but pretty much as soon as he collapsed on the sofa he fell asleep, waking with the sun in his face the next morning.

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His mail had been slid under the door. Groggily, he scooped it up and set it aside, then went to get some coffee. Other than feeling a bit sore from sleeping on the couch, he felt great. The coffee took the edge off his grogginess, and he felt more ready to face the world.

He sorted his mail, putting pieces into bills, junk and other. He usually had a lot of junk and no other, but today had a surprise - he had an other. It was scuffed and the envelope had the clear marks of having been caught in a machine for a while. He looked at the return address - it was from his grandfather's solicitor.

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Now what could they want months after his death? Although this does look like it has kicked around in the system for a while. Only one way to find out.

Walking back through to the lounge and sitting down on the sofa, with his grandfather's book now close at hand, he slides a finger under the flap and carefully opens the envelope.

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Inside was a smaller envelope and a shory note. Opening the note, Jason found:

Quote:
[OOC: dated just a couple of days after Zebediah's death]

Mr. Beckett,

We regret to inform you that when we delivered your grandfather's effects, this envelope was not sent with them. Your grandfather wanted you to have this with the rest of his personal effects, and we apologize it wasn't delivered to you in a more timely fashion.

Sincerely,

A. Oregon Baxterson

Solictor

Baxterson, Baxterson and Jones

The other envelope was yellow with age and bore one word: 'Jason', written in his grandfather’s shaky handwriting.

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Quote:
Grandson,

I always said that someday I'd tell you about my time at Dalton, and why things went badly there with your father. I got caught up in something that I let consume me, causing me a good relationship with your father. I let it make me a bad father, but it was all my fault. I hope you'll never find it, but I have my doubts on that. I know how Fate works; I've seen the cogs of the universe turn. And I know what Brihn told me - it is a family gift.

You're not going to understand much of what I say until a time that you see it for yourself. You have a chance to turn away, to stay out of the war, but to do that, you'll have to avoid Dalton altogether. And I know that will be hard, especially once you've read this message. You're more like me than I want to admit, if only because I would spare you the pain I've suffered. Fighting is neither easy nor safe. You could die. If you want to go on, go to the next page. Otherwise, feel free to get rid of this letter and never think of it again.

[second page]
If you don't avoid Dalton, let me tell you some truths. You can trust the Neri; they mean you no harm. Watch out for the Lhesk; while they'll be your allies, they have their own agenda. The Caramines are best described as complicated. They are warmongers and would no doubt try to invade us. But we did strike them first, and not just at them, but at their hearts. The Nine is some kind of council for them, some kind of mix between mystics and rulers. We don't even know if they're the same race as the Caramine, or even if there are Nine of them.

You'll probably have a lot of questions. Seek out the Neri, but you'll have to ask them directly, and make sure you're talking to a Lore Master. Their short lives mean that any information of value over a decade or so will only be in the heads of their Lore Masters.

[third page]
And watch out for the Doorkeepers. The Lhesk will tell you they're myths, but that's because those suckers don't want to admit that they aren't in full control of the use of the Doors. But I've seen one, tall, gangly bastard with a long, white face. They are rumored to have built the doors and can use them freely, without Keys. They're also supposed to have the Key to the Kingdom of Hope.

That's the next thing I should tell you. The Kingdom of Hope is Heaven and the Garden of Eden, all rolled into one. It's said that the person who finds their way there will get all the power and all the knowledge in the worlds. Sounds way too good to be true, to me, but people have fought and died for this, so keep your head about you when people start talking about it.

[fourth page]
The last thing you need to know won't do you much good, but it's good to know. Wilbur Dalton sold us out to the Caramines. He lost his nerve when it got real and gave them something important, something big, to get them off our backs. That's why I worked behind the scenes to keep them from letting him tear Lancaster down. Dalton might be willing to screw over the rest of the worlds to save Dalton, but I'm not. I've been trying to fix things, but no one but the Caramines and Dalton are the only ones who know what he gave, and how badly he screwed us.

This is a hell of a bad legacy I've left you, and I'm sorry for that. But we can't change the hand we're dealt, only how we play the game. Be strong. You'll need it.

Granddad
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Jason carefully read the contents of the letter. As he read the first page he had to shake his head If you'd wanted me to stay away from Dalton you should have told me Zeb, rather than letting me come work with you. Then again, after my time in the Army perhaps you thought I could cope with the fighting.

Turning to the second page wasn't a choice by now it was essential. Any more information about the situation with Dalton and the Doors had to be explored. Hmmm, sounds like Zeb knew the Doors would reopen, more so than old man Dalton anyway. Neri, Neri, I think someone mentioned them earlier. I'll have to go back and see about finding the Key to there world.

He snorted at Zeb's comment about the Lhesk, Yeah, no shit Zeb. The problem is what is their agenda in relation to us. Well, we'll have to tret them with kid gloves and try to double check anything they tell us, with the Neri by the sounds of it.

He shook his head slightly as he read the third page, So now we also have to take in all-powerfull creators of the Doors and Heaven? Oh, well, what's one more trip in the chain?

Jason nodded grimly as he finished reading the last page of the note, Yeah, that's pretty much what people had thought. The stupid bastard, he should have known they would find there way back to this world anyway. Mind you with someone like that he would have just thought that made it someone else's problem. That woman said herself that they had copied firearms from us, it wouldn't surprise me if he had given them that. It sounds like he wouldn't have given a damn about what it would do to the other worlds that the Carmine were fighting as long as he got out of it for his thirty years.

He thought about the letter while he made and had his breakfast, a large one after all he had gone through last night. I'll copy it, then take it in to show those teachers who were involved in stuff last night. Dorn for one, Thomas, although he looked like he might either bail out or just hide from it all for a while. Wasn't there another one as well? Oh well, I'll give it to Dorn and she can sort it out.

Finishing the dishes he headed back into the lounge, But I'll bring the book with me for any time I can find to read it along the way.

After copying the letter several times and putting the original in a safe place Jason checked the ankle holster and knife he had decided to wear in, and bringing the primer in a bag along with a pad for notes headed up to the school.

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