[Buffy] Welcome to the Hellmouth

[GAThraawn]

Night (~11.00pm), Sunny Meadows Cemetery

A full moon cast its light down on the faint mist drifting across the Sunnydale cemetery. Another evening patrol: Harley couldn't even remember how long she had been out tonight, wandering through abandoned parks, empty streets and darkened cemeteries, actively looking to start a fight with the undead. In the distance, an owl hooted softly. A lone car drove past on the only road that saw much traffic at this time of night, the road out of Sunnydale. From the far corner of the graveyard, under the soft, fresh earth of a recently dug grave, came a scrabbling sound and a faint snarl. Two hands burst through the ground and began to pull out the rest of the corpse, face fully vamped out and searching for blood. As the newly born vampire dragged itself out of its own grave, its gaze fell upon Harley with a hungry growl.



Day (1.00pm), Sunnydale High

“Dammnit, Lisa, give me back that book!”
Tim and Izzy were standing at their lockers collecting books for next period when a locker door two rows over slammed shut with a bang. Zac Kane, Sunnydale quarterback, loomed over Lisa Prescott, cheerleader and Zac's latest ex-girlfriend. She flinched away from the loud noise, clutching her textbooks to her chest.
“What book? Oh my God, Zac, just leave me alone.” She turned to walk away when he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back towards him, and into the the lockers, hard. Lisa let out a little squeak and dropped her books. The students passing on their way to class slowed, attention drawn to the sudden confrontation. Zac held up his hands and stepped back, embarrassment on his face.
“Sorry”, he mumbled. As everyone returned to their business, he leaned in again towards Lisa. “But you have to give me that book back. The one I showed you last week? Mordencainan's Something-or-other of Black Magic? My grandfather will kill me, like, literally kill me, if he finds out it's missing.”
Lisa scrabbled to pick up her books and stepped back from Zac. “Why the hell would I want some musty old book like that? My God, Zac, get your act together and stop acting like such a wierdo. I don't have your damn book!” He watched dejectedly as she stormed off.



Day (1.00pm), Sunnydale High Library

James laid The Compleat Deamonolgie down on top of the stack of books sitting next to him. Unbelievably, some students had actually managed to make their way back here recently and unleash themselves on his research tomes. While to the best of his ability he had determined they hadn't taken anything, an entire bookshelf's worth of ancient volumes were now completely misfiled, and getting them back in order would probably take most of his afternoon.
From the main body of the library came a crash. Sitting up, James poked his head over the bannister and saw Pris walking into the wall, bashing her head repeatedly, his mug of tea smashed on the floor beside her. Ever since her recent attempt to kill the Slayer he had been keeping an eye on her, and while she no longer seemed to display any homicidal tendencies, she had not yet completely recovered from the damage she had suffered at Harley's hands. Malfunctions like this were growing less common, but they still occurred at the most inopportune moments. Such as when he had just poured himself a nice cup of Earl Grey.

[Major Kiaslu]

Izzy learnt back against her locker, and watched closely as the cheerleader departed, an eyebrow raised at the oddity of the conversation she had overheard. True, the vague outline was the kind of thing that happened every day at Sunnydale High. (And usually to Zac to boot) but the specifics seemed odd; from Lisa flat out denying what the Quarterback said, to Zac himself seeming so on edge over something like an old book his grandfather'd given him.

A book with an occult sounding title, and whose location is unknown. In Sunnydale High. Are those things drawn to Harley or something?

Still, they didn't exactly know much just yet. Couldn't talk to the Slayer just with that. The two of them unseen in the mass of moving bodies, Isabelle whispered to Tim. "If that black magic book got both of those two to be interested in reading, I'd say it counts as seriously powerful. Want to investigate?" Even with how little he knew the girl, Tim could tell that slight smile on the black clad Izzy's face. She did tend to get enthusiastic about the hunt.

[jolinaxas]

"Sure thing. You're gonna have to take point on this one though - the only thing I know about books like that is that I should probably avoid them."

Tim looked back to his locker, still open, and gave the leather jacket a look. His real kit was in the truck, but if they needed to hurry, he wouldn't have time to get it, and there was a stake in the jacket's inside pocket, but....

He's just some knuckle-dragging football player, man. Calm it.

To Hell with it - the leather jacket will do. He dropped his bag to the ground and began putting it on.

"We cutting, or is this less important than last period?" Tim asked, more sighing than speaking.

[Major Kiaslu]

Izzy frowned at the observation, a little surprised to hear it from Tom, but nodding. "Good point." They had a few minutes before class, but not too long. Not, perhaps, enough to follow these two all over campus if they felt like heading off. And for all Tim and Isabelle knew, it'd just been a really odd quarrel. Keeping an eye out for 'stuff' was important, but it'd be pretty stupid to skip class over nothing.

She didn't make eye contact with Tim, eyes focused on the other Quarterback, even as she whispered. "Don't leave just yet, but have a word with Zac. Say hi, ask about what happened, offer to help. He's not acting like he's got something to hide. You're both on the team, you know each other, right?" The Goth pointed out along the coriander, after the vanished cheerleader, sighing slightly. "I'll do the same with Lisa, I'm still on Cheer Squad just about. She could do with someone to rant at about her crazy ex."

She didn't need to double-check the books she was carrying: Izzy knew she had what she needed for last period. Pulling her jacket cuffs up, Izzy let her phone slip from her sleeve into for a second, and winked. "Find something interesting, call me. Find something bad, call Harley." That said, she turned and headed off in the direction Lisa had left in, running the name Zac'd produced through her head briefly. She'd taken a look around James' library, under his supervision. There'd been a lot to pick up, but had it included the name Mordencainan?

[roll0]4 Int+1 Occultism + 1 Photographic Memory (Potentially more if the book was part of James' library, as she might have seen it, but GM's call)

[Infernally Clay]

Humming a tune, the teenager idly wandered through the cemetary. It was procedure, she was told, and she would have thought it creepy a year ago. Since then, though, she had fought vampires, demons, even a killer robot... So, for Harley, wandering through a cemetary at such a late hour wasn't do unusual any more. For a moment, Harley wondered what her parents would have thought if they could see her now. Then the pain came. Her parents couldn't think about her any more. Couldn't care any more. Trying to take her mind off of that subject, the Slayer tried to put words to the humming.

"Every single night, the same arrangement, I go out and fight the fight..." Harley whispered in tune, stopping herself after a few seconds, "Where did I hear these lyrics from? Meh... I'll google it later. I should see if any not-entirely-dead people feel like going out for some fast food. Slayer Sense, ho!"

Perception Check for Vampires!
[roll0]

[GAThraawn]

Sunny Meadows Cemetery (~11.00pm)

Harley wandered through the gravestones, narrowing her eyes and focusing her senses around her. Instinctively, she whirled around to see a vampire picking himself up of the ground next to the hole in the dirt he had clawed open, still dressed in the suit he had been buried in. He had his full game face on, and was eyeing Harley hungrily.

When combat happens, for the sake of speed, assume you have initiative and go ahead and post your actions.

Sunnydale High (1.02pm)

Lisa stormed off down the corridor, stepping into the girls' bathroom on her way to class. Zac watched her leave, then turned back to his locker and started pulling out textbooks.

You got a fairly good look a James' library, and you don't recall having seen anything mentioning Mordencainan.

[Major Kiaslu]

Izzy stepped through the door smoothly, looking across towards the somewhat distraught cheerleader, still trying to work out what was going on with her. She could perfectly easily just be getting freaked by how Zac was acting, or it could be genuine. Hard to tell.

The teenager murmured "Hey, Lis." as she slowly stepped closer, trying to smile, look reassuring. She's never been too good on this stuff, but she could try, couldn't she? She stopped a few feet back, giving her fellow cheerleader some personal space, winking into the mirror. "Want some company? Crazy exs can be kinda nerve-wracking, right?"

[roll0] Int 4 + Influence 3, Looking to warm Lisa up before starting to ask questions rather than immediately barraging her with 'em.

[GAThraawn]

Sunnydale High Girls' Bathroom (1.04pm)

Oh my God, you heard that? Lisa looked embarrassed as she gazed into the mirror, absently touching up make-up that had barely smudged. Ugh! It's bad enough that he dumps me in front of, like, half the school, now he's going around accusing me of being a thief? Like, what's his damage, seriously? Can't he just get over himself and move on?

[Dancing Owlbear]

Pris

Error messages flashed, optical sensors glitched, and auditory functions were on the fritz as they did not filter various signals and picked up every little sound within the library and adjacent rooms. However, the impact sensors were working just fine, and Pris was well aware that she was slamming herself into a wall as her locomotion systems seemed to acting of their own accord. She began performing internal systems checks even as the vocalization circuits started firing off randomy, "I-I-I am now authorized t-to be.. as loyal as a p-p-puppy!"

Attempting To Stop Malfunctioning:
[roll0] Success!

"E-e-execture function c-control-sh-sh-shift-k-k-k-k-kill-" And then the fembot's voice slurred into silence as she slumped over against the wall. Emergency repair subroutines kicked in as her various functions were killed, scanned, and repaired. Jury-rigged was likely a more fitting word for it as she bypassed broken connections, damaged circuits, and impaired programming in an attempt to avoid further difficulties, though it was at the cost of processing speed. It would require actual repairs and replacing damaged hardware before she was running at maximum capacity.

Standing up straight once more, she ran a hand across her face, not finding any permanent damage done to the outer layer of skin that covered her metal endoskeleton. Turning, Pris noticed that man watching her, as well as felt the tea soaking into the carpet and into her shoe. Kneeling down, she began picking up the pieces of the broken coffee mug, "I'm sorry, Mr. Owen. I'm still.. recovering."

[jolinaxas]

Tim Yearly

"Hockey!" He yelled after Izzy. "Different spor.... forget it."

She'd already ducked into the ladies' room. Still, she had a point. He stood a better chance of not being shrugged off than most.

"Usually when chicks don't give stuff back to ya, it's a jacket or something - what'd she think you did to make her go so nuts she kept a book, and what sounds like some kind of family heirloom at that?" Tim said as he walked over to Zac's locker and leaned against the row.

I can make some kind of influence check in the OOC thread to be extra-endearing if there's some kind of rivalry between the teams.

[Major Kiaslu]

"Tell me about it." Izzy sighed as she moved to Lisa's side, memory turning back to her own succession of exs. None of whom had acted quite so... erratically as Zac'd just done, but she could relate to that look Lis'd had after the quarterback'd slammed the locker on her. Crazy people seemed to be the norm in Sunnydale, even if you didn't count all the supernatural folk who seemed to call the little town home.

Could be worse. Either of you could've ended up falling for a Vampire, given how many of them're around here supposedly..

It's weird when that's the thought you go to for comfort about your relationship choices. Izzy frowned, and started briefly to check her gloss and eye liner as she spoke. "Why'd he break up with you anyway? Perhaps this is regret or something? He's angry at himself for doing something stupid and douchy, and is taking it out on you?"

[GAThraawn]

Sunnydale High (1.04pm)

Oh, hey Tim. Didn't you hear we broke up? Lisa's been spreading it around the whole school. She didn't take it too well...I tried to tell her I just wasn't looking for something long term, but she didn't seem to get it. You know how girls can be. He slipped his books out of his locker and gently shut the door. Sorry for raising my voice there; I just really need to get that book back. My Grandfather doesn't exactly know I borrowed it, and he can get pretty protective of his old books. If he finds out I've lost it...I dunno, he can be pretty scary when he's mad.
Tim could practically see the cogs turning behind Zac's eyes as the two of them walked to class.
Say, you're friends with a bunch of girls, aren't you? I don't suppose you could convince one of them to speak with Lisa, could you?

Sunnydale High Girls' Bathroom (1.05pm)

Ugh, get mad over something dumb and take it out on me? That sounds like him. Why would he even think I would want to take his stupid book? It's got nothing but gross drawings. I'm not one of those sweaty, mouth-breathing nerds drooling over pictures of half-naked women. What does he think I am, some kind of lesbian? She stopped, a horrified look on her face as she stared absently into the mirror, not paying attention to the lipstick she was still applying. Oh. My God. That's what he's going to do, isn't it? Start telling everyone that he broke up with because I'm a lesbian? That's what he did to Marcie in ninth grade, and look what happened to her. She's dating Felicia Campbell! She made several unpleasant sniffing sounds, trying to hold back the little tear that slipped out, smearing her make up again.
Dammnit. Why did I even date him, the jerk?

[Stake A Vamp]

"damn it all Pris, at this rate i will have to buy a tea set every week!" James yells across the library, picking up one of the books and re-shelving it. he stocks shelves for a few more minutes, then he open one to make sure it wasn't damaged by the hooligans. it was of course, but not irreparably.

James began to feel guilty for snapping at Pris, and went over to her, sitting her down and saying "Pris. i am sorry, i truly am. it's just that the tea set is one of the few things that i have left from England. did they give you knowledge about what England is?" James does not wait for a response, instead explaining "England is my home country, i was born there. i was born to a well-off family, i lived in the countryside. it's the most beautiful place in the world, the British countryside. i was always different, attracted to the occult. even in a well-off family, occult fascination is frowned upon, but i studied anyway. one day i discovered a spell to identify a champion of light, a spell that i preformed when i was little younger than Harley. it led me to a slayer, living in London. she was about Harley's age, red hair, about 5 feet tall, and a wildfire, Maggie was her name, she was the most incredible person i had met in my life. i asked to help her, to back her up. she agreed, but said that all she needed was help with research, she did not want me with her in the field. i agreed. we worked together for a few months, and fell madly in love, hopelessly craving each others company. then a vampire got a lucky shot, and he killed her. i tried everything i knew, all the spells i could find, to bring her back, but i couldn't. then, the death of a slayer came to the Attention of the watchers council within hours of her death. they found me in her flat, still crying my eyes out over her corpse, my last spell just having failed. they recruited me, i was well versed in the supernatural, and familiar with the slayer. i worked for them as a lore-keeper for over thirty years, then was assigned a slayer. they told me she was British, which i was happy to hear, because the past two slayers were american, and i wanted to stay in Britain. what they did not tell me was that she was living in California, so now here i am." he says, a few tears coming to his eyes as he mentions Maggie, then he returns to the present and checks Pris for signs of recognition

[Dancing Owlbear]

Pris

Letting James guide her to a seat, she sat down and just held the pieces of the cup in her hand. She opened her mouth to respond, but he spoke first and so she listened. Admittedly, Pris knew very little of the occult or vampires, only learning of such things recently since her interaction with the Slayer and her friends. Still, it was all very intriguing, though not quite as curious as the effect that the story was having on the man that was telling it. Reaching out, she brushed the Watcher's cheek with her thumb, wiping away some of his tears, "Why are you crying?"

[Stake A Vamp]

James is momentarily surprised at the robots reaction, but he does not let is shows, he feels stupid now, expecting her to understand such complex emotions, but not what England is.

"Pris, I'm sorry, i should have realized that story would just confuse you. I'm crying because i truly and completely loved Maggie, and even now that wound hurts sometimes." with that he wipes his eyes, and stands up saying "well, i haven't seen Harley's friends in a few hours, so chances are they are dying currently, let's go find then Pris."

[Dancing Owlbear]

Pris

"I s-see." Pris simply nodded. She understood what love was, or, at least, she understood the definition of the word. It was not a concept that she truly grasped. There was a little twitch, her head jerking sideways abruptly before she turned to face James again. It seemed that there were still issues with her system, but she wasn't running into walls anymore, at least.

"Won't they b-be in class, Mr. Owen?"

[jolinaxas]

Tim Yearly

"See, Zac, this is why I play a sport with no cheerleaders involved. No offense, but from an outsider's perspective, it's a very weird dynamic at work there." He gave a joking half-smile.

Damn, he didn't even need to ask any sideways questions, or make any agonizing small talk, this dude just spilled it. He's desperate, reaching out to anyone he can for help with this.

"I mean, I can try, man. I don't think any of them know her all that well, though. It could seem kind of sketchy if I just have one of them roll up and ask about this book, you know, especially one called... what was it?"

Tim put an arm out in front of Zac, to stop him before they both got into the classroom.

"So what, you think you just left it at her place or something? I mean, I'm down to help you out - this seems really important to you - but I have things I have to do, too, yeah?"

He lifted his arm out of the way, and made a "you first" motion towards the classroom door.

[GAThraawn]

Sunnydale High (1.06pm)

"It could seem kind of sketchy if I just have one of them roll up and ask about this book, you know, especially one called... what was it?"

Zac's mouth worked the syllables for a moment before he spoke, as if he were practising not tripping over his own tongue.
Mordencainan's Come-Pendulum of Black Magic. Pretty weird sounding, I know, right? He paused for a contemplative moment, almost surprised at how much he agreed with what he had just said. He offered Tim a nervous grin. But hey, I'm not one of those freaks into all that mysticism mumbo-jumbo; can you imagine? Heh. It's just that this book has, well... Zac lowered his voice and glanced briefly around to ensure they weren't overheard. A teacher walked past them and he paused a moment until they were gone. Sweet pictures in it. Like, forget about Playboy kind of sweet. All sorts of, uh, nymphs and triads and, whatcha callem, succubucks. Hey, if you can find it for me, you're welcome to borrow it and take a look. Just so long as I know where it is, yeah?

"So what, you think you just left it at her place or something? I mean, I'm down to help you out - this seems really important to you - but I have things I have to do, too, yeah?"

Zac scratched his head as he thought about the question. No, the last place I left it was in my gym locker, in the change rooms. I came back from practice and my whole bag was gone. I just figured Lisa took it since she's been bitching so much since we broke up. I'm sure she'd be glad to have the chance to get me in trouble with my grandad. I mean who else would want it?

[Major Kiaslu]

Sunnydale High Girls' Bathroom

"Because we all go for what we know." Izzy sighed, but grinned a little as she continued, trying to lift Lisa's spirits slightly. "I usually date poets in black long-coats, you like good looking, muscles, and getting his own car as soon as possible. We're both being too predictable I guess"

The sometimes-Goth shook her head at that, placing her books down on the counter for a second. "I'm surprised no one's ever yelled 'lesbian' after breaking up with me. At least as far as I know. Bet they will some day though." She tried to chuckle at the self-deprecation, but she couldn't feel the humour. That was a little more honesty than she'd been intending in this conversation.

Izzy tilted her head, still making eye contact with Lisa through the mirror. "If you want, I could have a word with some friends, try to find what happened to his stupid book. Give it back to him, he's got less excuse to go crazy at you, and less ammunition for spreading rumors, right?"

[GAThraawn]

Sunnydale High Girls' Bathroom (1.06pm)

Lisa sighed for a moment in quiet commiseration with Izzy, her comments hitting perhaps a little closer than intended for both girls. She took a moment to focus on actually fixing her make-up, removing the little black streak her sniffling had left behind.
Uh, yeah. Hey, thanks...Izzy. Lisa took a second too long reminding herself of the girl's name. I'd appreciate that. I don't even care if he gets his stupid book, just get him to understand that I don't have it. She slipped her lipstick back into her bag and straightened her hair out. I'd better get to class now. Thanks for your help. With that, she strode confidently back out into the hall, all evidence of her breakdown a moment ago gone.

[Major Kiaslu]

Sunnydale High Girls' Bathroom

Izzy looks after the vanishing Lisa for a couple of seconds, feeling just a touch cold. She shivered, before placing a hand down on the counter to steady herself, and muttering. "No worries. Nothing better to do with my time than hunting strange semi-porn books for weird crazy jocks."
Oh, the things life with Harley had her doing.

'Belle' looked across towards her little pile of items. She should probably get to class too, but that didn't mean there was nothing she could do in the meantime. Withdrawing her phone, and bringing up that strange British guy, James. Izzy tapped quickly, black nails flying across the keys, before sending her message with one final stroke. Reports of missing book from student, could be occult. 'Mordencainan's Black Magic'?"

Should be enough. Inquiry set in motion, she turned and headed out, towards her last class of the day.

[Stake A Vamp]

"Pris, this is Izzy and Tim, I am almost certain that they ought to be in class. I am also certain that they are not in class, come along." With that he straightens his tweed blazer, picks up a dagger, sliding it into his inner jacket pocket. Then he strides out, motioning for Pris to accompany him.

His phone makes a strange trilling noise. He picks it up and reads a message from Izzy. Yep some book, he checks his vast memory for any knowledge of it

roll to come, pending question.

[Dancing Owlbear]

Pris, Sunnydale High Library

She stood to follow him, pausing when he did before moving closer to read the message from over his shoulder. Instead of waiting, Pris merely turned and began to search through the Watcher's collection for anything relevant even as she connected herself to the local wi-fi network and began running searches online for anything.

Research Roll (Intelligence + Occultism)
[roll0] Failure!

Flipping through one book, Pris set it down and began to reach for another before her fingers started to spasm and she was temporarily disconnected from the network. Some new programming conflicts were rearing their ugly heads, and she took a few steps away from Mr. Owen's beloved books in order to avoid accidentally ripping them in half due to a wayward glitch in her locomotive functions, "I'm sorry. I c-can't help."

[Stake A Vamp]

"That's quite okay Pris, you got struck by lightning rather recently, i am sure your systems will resume function soon." with that he continues to ponder what the book could be, thinking back to the watchers library.

Research Roll (Intelligence + Occultism)
[roll0]

[GAThraawn]

Sunnydale High Library (1.10pm)

A flash of recognition crossed James' face as he read Izzy's message. His library of occult texts was extensive, and even knowing where to look finding something could take hours, but the section that he kept locked even from Harley and her friends was much smaller. There he kept several books on the blackest kinds of magic: good for research, bad for actual spellcasting. Mordencainan's Compendium of Black Magic was one of those tomes, nestled in the hidden compartment at the back of the locked cupboard in the off-limits section of the library. James had seen it just recently when he checked to ensure that none of those books had been accessed by the wayward students.
The Compendium was half a work on the travels and mystical encounters of its author Mordencainan (comprised mostly of dryads and succubi he summoned himself) and half a compilation of spells he devised, which given the man's dark and deranged nature ranged from spells to turn the tongue of one's enemy to feces in their mouth, or strangle someone with their own intestines, to even less pleasant and more dangerous incantations.

[Stake A Vamp]

James calls Izzy, screaming "Isabelle, under no circumstances are you to open that book, i am coming, if you find it before then, put it in your bag and do not touch it! i have only used a spell from that book once, and that night i was desperate, i would have done anything to save her, and i nearly killed half of London, do not touch that book. Do you understand?" he pauses, waiting for her to give the affirmative, rushing to check if his copy is still there.

please note that Pris is the only one he has told his past to, so the whole, "i was desperate, i would have done anything to save her" reference probably was lost on Izzy

[Major Kiaslu]

The voice James hears doesn't quite sound like Isabelle. For one thing, it talks over him. "Hello, you have reached SilverTalk's answering service. I'm sorry, but the person you are calling is unable to come to the phone right now. If you would like to leave a message, please speak after the tone."

Sorry, couldn't quite resist. :smallwink: James didn't get a dial tone, Izzy turned her phone off before entering class. She's conscientious! :smallwink:

[Infernally Clay]

"Finally..." Harley said, "I was starting to worry that nobody would show up tonight and it's so dangerous for a young girl like me to be wandering alone through a cemetery at night."

A quick smile flashing across her face, Harley leapt towards the vampire and swung her leg around to plant her foot on the vampire's face. The blow was severe, sending the vampire reeling backwards and through the stone that marked his grave. Allowing the momentum to carry her, the Slayer quickly took advantage of her off-balance opponent and casually flipped him to the ground. Practically sitting on him so he couldn't escape, Harley pulled out a stake and drove it into his heart for the kill.

First Action: Jump Kick!
Jump: 1d10 + Dexterity + Acrobatics = [roll0]
Kick: 1d10 + Dexterity + Kung Fu -3 = [roll1]
Damage: 27 bash damage + plus Success Levels

Second Action: Takedown!
Attack: 1d10 + Strength + Kung Fu = [roll2] (-2)
Damage: 8 bash damage

Third Action: Stake Through the Heart!
Stabby Stab: 1d10 + Dexterity + Getting Medieval = [roll3]
Damage: 80 (or 16) slash/stab damage

(I didn't count the -4 penalty for the third action since knocked down enemies take a -4 penalty to their defences)

Watching the vampire turn to dust, Harley wondered out loud, "That reminds me... I've got to ask why vampire's clothes are turned to dust when they are. Never made any sense to me, that bit."

[GAThraawn]

Sunny Meadows Cemetery (~11.00pm)

Standing up and dusting herself off, Harley barely heard the restrained snarl behind her before the second vamp punched her square in the face, staggering her. Despite focusing herself, she hadn't noticed its presence. It came in for the kill, game face on and teeth bared as it lunged at her neck. Harley was barely fast enough, twisting aside from the vampire's attack and trying to bring her stake to bear when another hand caught her wrist. Beside her, the vampire she had staked mere moments ago stood holding her arm tight. She jerked her arm, preparing to send him flying across the cemetery again, but her movement came with no more force than if she were an ordinary high school girl, and the vampire's grip barely budged. She tugged again, harder, but her adversary merely grinned at her futile attempts to free herself.
Picking himself off the ground, the second vamp loomed over her, a menacing smile highlighted through his fangs as he grabbed her other arm. Harley brought her knee up in a desperate, swift kick that should have sent him flying, but he didn't even react to the impact.
Stick around, Slayer. He's gonna make things real interesting. The vampire nodded past Harley's shoulder with a grin, and as she turned her head to look sharp claws wrapped around her neck. A long, grey arm wrenched her free of the vampires' grasps and lifted her off the ground, twisting her around to come face to face with the demon that held her. Long, curly horns sprung from its grey head, and short bony tusks protruded from either side of its mouth. Scars in the shape of unknown symbols littered its flesh, and tufts of long, greasy hair sprouted at random from its body. Behind it splayed a pair of thin, veiny bat-wings. If she hadn't been suspended in mid-air by her throat, Harley would only have come up to its chest.
Slayer. Its voice slithered out from it, sounding like a snake sliding across gravel, yet still it managed to boom, resonating from every direction and pounding into Harley's skull. We will see each other soon, Harley Flynn. Harley. Harley...

Sunnydale High (1.10pm)

Harley! Harley's eyes snapped awake at the sound of Mrs. Clemment's voice. The classroom around her was empty, and her head was buried in her notebook. There was a little drool. Really, Harley. This is the third time in two weeks I've found you napping in my class. Mrs. Clemment paused at one of the desks beside Harley, her voice a mixture of sternness and concern. I know you kids think life is all partying and having fun right now, but it's not going to be long before you find yourself in the real world, Ms. Flynn, and I can guarantee that you're in for a surprise. My history class might not seem terribly relevant right now, but one of these days you're going to realize that the world is a lot larger than you think, and that there are benefits to knowing something about it beyond boys and late night parties. She held the Slayer's gaze for a moment, then gave a meaningful glance towards the classroom door. From the clock displayed above it, Harley could tell she was already going to be late for next period. And her throat still ached a little from where the demon had grabbed her.

[Dancing Owlbear]

Pris, Sunnydale High Library

Pris watched quietly as the librarian began to scream into his phone. If it weren't for the fact that she was a machine, anyone looking at her would think her expression was one of incredulity. And machines were never incredulous. From his reaction, she gathered that Izzy wasn't answering her phone. It also appeared that there must have been some sort of dangerous book that needed to be found. For the time being, however, Pris sat down and simply waited for whatever might come next.

[jolinaxas]

Tim Yearly

A few minutes into class, Tim excuses himself to use the restroom and fires off a text to Izzy.

<Learned a little bit from Zac - the book is Mordencainan's Compendium of Black Magic, and all that Zac was really paying attention to were what I guess were drawings of nude mythological creatures - succubi and nymphs and whatnot. Said he left it in the locker room - and that Lisa took it, to get back at him for dumping her or some b.s. What'd you get out of Lisa?>

[Major Kiaslu]

Sunnydale High (later)

Izzy checked her phone after leaving class, to discover an irate responce from Mr Owen, and a more calm one from Tim. A little bemused at what'd made the strange British man get so damn angry, she decided on dealing with Tim first, seeking him out to try and explain what she'd gotten in person. "Lisa talked about it like she'd seen the book, and seemed bitter at Zac. But she was more scared about what other people were going to think of him breaking up with her, and confused at what he was talking about. Normal. She thanked me when I offered to try and find the book. Just to get him off her back."

Izzy tapped on a nearby locker, looking a little distracted briefly, thinking things over. "Lisa was hurt by the breakup. She probably talked about it to her friends, and mentioned her ex's odd taste in porn to try and make him sound bad. Zac left the book in the locker room.... during practice, right?"

[roll0] Int + Knowledge to go through members of the Football Team and Cheer Squad mentally. Anyone been acting notable today? (or not been here?) The two groups amount to Izzy's main suspects for stealing the book.

[jolinaxas]

Tim Yearly
After Last Period

"Yeah, during practice, he said. Wasn't there when he got back, and they took the rest of his bag with it. Not that that rules out anyone: it's easy to find an excuse to go back there - for us, a broken stick or the need to re-tape something will do it - it's pretty much the same for football. My angle is this: whoever has the rest of his gear - or whoever dumped it - has the book, most likely."

Tim finished putting the day's books back in his locker. He'd keep the leather jacket on - it looked like today might end up "interesting."

"And to be fair, the porn thing is pretty weird. Dude has a smartphone... "

He takes a quick, distracted look at his pay-as-you-go "dumb" phone.

"... and a computer, but he's taking weird old books from his grandfather to look at old dusty drawings of naked monsters. I don't know, maybe it's a 'once you go creep, you're in it deep' kind of thing? He even offered to let me borrow it if I found it, like he was doing me some kind of huge solid."

[Major Kiaslu]

Sunnydale High (After last period)

Izzy'd opened up her own locker and started to work on replacing her own stuff whilst Tim talked. She knew how to reorder things whilst listening closely, and continued to do so even when she begun to talk in turn. "Don't rule out the girls. Cheer Squad generally know when practice for the football team is, and we've got an even easier out. Our sessions are generally at different times. And like I said, they might know about it, though God knows why they'd go after the pornomancer's alamnac... someone else wanted payback on Zac?"

Marcie's name and a vague recollection of her face floated past Izzy's consciousness, but the girl dismissed it with an absent thought. She's a lesbian. That doesn't come with magic powers, Isabelle. Shaking her head in self-irritation, she turned back to Tim with a sigh. "I sent a text to James, and got a crazy, kinda rant-y voice-mail back. Sounds like it's a genuine magic book. Which means either someone picked it up by accident, or they recognized Zac's description and decided it'd be something they could use."

Done for now with her locker, Izzy locked up, glancing away from her fellow hunter briefly before looking back. "Can you try and trace the missing bag? I'm not sure how you'd do that, beyond checking for lost property, but it'd give me time to have a chat with our resident crazy English-person, and find out what this thing's supposed to actually do." She sighed, that wasn't a conversation she'd been looking forward to. Still, had to be done, and best to leave Tim with what information she could. "Billy Kraus seemed to be a bit odd today. If you want to start with Zac's friends on the team, might want to go with him..." she shrugged. looking towards Tim to check he was ok with this.

[jolinaxas]

Tim Yearly
After Last Period

Tim sighed, again.

"Yeah, I'll take care of both, assuming I can find Billy around - I'll hit Lost and Found first. Keep me posted on James' sitch, I know he's a little... focused sometimes, but..."

He looked into Izzy's eyes, directly.

"If this has something to do with that damned robot, I'm dismantling it myself, Slayer or not."

He turned around and started in the direction of the school's Lost and Found. He still had no idea why the group would keep around anyone, let alone any -thing- that had tried to get them all killed, and damn near succeeded. He absentmindedly turned his head back to Izzy as he walked away.

"See you around."


He's going to head to the Lost and Found and ask around about the book in general terms, assuming he doesn't run into/by Billy Kraus on the way.

Not sure whether this would be Int+Influence to charm my way into getting an item that isn't mine, or Per+Notice to look for it among the Lost and Found pile. Let me know, I'll roll it in OOC.

[Major Kiaslu]

Sunnydale High (After last period)

That was a pretty cold thing to say. Izzy just stood there for a second, looking after Tim, worrying first about what he just said. And second, that she knew where he was coming from. Pris had led them straight into a freckin' nest to set up her confrontation with Harley; it'd been the closest they'd come to death. And now, they were keeping her around? Ready to try and kill them all again?

Because Harley trusts her. And we trust her to make decisions like that. No matter how much it freaks us out. Sighing to the empty locker room, Izzy headed towards the library and the rest of her friends. Time to explain things.

Stakes a Vamp and Owlbear, do you want to set up this scene, or would you rather Izzy makes an entrence.

[Dancing Owlbear]

Sunnydale High Library

With last period over, students were happy to leave and get home. Besides, its easier to use Google to find the answers than go through a bunch of old books. And so the library was empty. Well, except for the panicky British man rushing about and the gorgeous fembot with a penchant for evil who sat patiently and watched his every move. One might think that her silent observation had a malevolent motivation behind it, were it not for the fact that Harley the Vampire Slayer had vouched for her.

When one of the Slayer's cohorts came in, Pris rose from her seat and smiled to the young woman. It seemed a conciliatory gesture, though whether it was on purpose or not was difficult to tell. Only a few days ago she had tried to kill them, but after her fight with Harley, much of her original programming had been damaged. Pris was aware of what she had done, but she did not understand the reasons for why she had done it. It was about as close to guilt as a robo-assassin could get, "Hello, Ms. Prendergast. How are you today? Have you found the stolen book?"

[Major Kiaslu]

The teen saw the robot fairly quickly and moved towards her, nodding as she drew close. "Hey Pris." Izzy took a seat at the reading table, opposite the robot, trying to seem cheerful, and not entirely succeeding. No one calls me 'Miss Prendergast'. Even teachers, You make it sound like I'm part of a list. And given who was on your last list...

Isabelle tried to dismiss the thought from her head, shaking her head at the robot's question. "No, we haven't. We weren't even sure it was genuine at first, we just heard a conversation, thought it could be important. Since then, I've had history to deal with, and Tim's had... Math, I think." She considered for a moment, before shaking her head: the point wasn't important. "He's out, trying to track it down, I came down to update James on this stuff. And hopefully find out what he knows."

Izzy glanced behind Pris, looking for the oft-stressed watcher, before returning her attention to the robot. Her guard starting to fade a little, the teen sighed slightly as she leant back in her chair. "Not sure we want to find this thing, really. The book sounds pretty disgusting. But I suppose we'd better get it locked up in the archives before someone does something stupid with it." Chuckling, Izzy grinned a little to herself. "I'm wondering about starting a Latin club, just to try and teach people what those incantations actually mean before they start drunkenly chanting. Might save a lot of trouble in the long run."

[Dancing Owlbear]

Pris, Sunnydale High Library

"Would the people that drunkenly chant from a book of spells be the same people that would join a Latin club?" She asked, looking at the young woman curiously.

Pris also looked about for the librarian before turning back to Izzy, "I wasn't programmed with any knowledge of magic, but from the way that Mr. Owen is behaving, it would seem that this book is particularly dangerous." A pause, as she attempted to consider their options, "Perhaps we could gain access to the school's cameras? That might help us to find whoever has possession of the book."

[Major Kiaslu]

Sunnydale High Library

Izzy stared at Pris a little after her first comment. Was that... a joke? She glanced downwards, starting to wonder a little more about their new friend when the robot made her suggestion. 'Miss Prendergast' looked up, a little surprised at the robot's suggestion, but slowly starting to nod as she worked the idea through her head. "That sounds... very useful, Pris. But we don't have cameras around here. The school didn't want to pay for them."

[Stake A Vamp]

"I have a question, what was that fool boy doing with such a powerful tome, it is used to do horrible things, things so terrible, i do not even allow you and Harley access to them, i have only used a spell from that book once, and it failed, so spectacularly I nearly laid waste to London. we must find out why he's using that book" James breaks in, still panicked from the memory of that night.

[Major Kiaslu]

Izzy meets James gaze, expression utterly emotionless, voice completely deadpan. "He was using it for porn. "

Silence. Sighing to herself at the fact she had to relate, the young woman straighten herself up in the chair, looking across at James. "You've got a copy of it, then?" Way to make that sound wrong, genius Frowning a little at her own comment, Izzy shook her head. "Tim's looking for it, but we don't know how long it's been loose. Multiple days at a minimum. We need to know what you can actually do with it, in case we end up fighting someone who can use it against us. Can we take a look at your copy?"

[Dancing Owlbear]

Pris

"Oh." Pris looked supremely confused, her gaze becoming vacant for a few moments as she began looking through all the information that had been uploaded into her. "Oh. My data on the school was incomplete. I.. must have assumed."

Again, the robot had a very bizarre expression as she simply turned and wandered off into the back room. Her laptop was on Mr. Owens desk and she sat beside it and began to get to work. Pulling up her shirt enough to expose her midriff, she opened it to metal plating, wires, and blinking lights. Within was a USB cable which she plugged into her computer and began attempting to determine the source of the errors and her own strange behavior.

Science Roll (Intelligence + Science)
[roll0]

[Stake A Vamp]

"he-he was using a powerful tome of near infinite evil for pornography!" James screams, unable to contain himself, the insolent fool, to use something of such power, summonings and hexes. "hold on a moment, could he be summoning and controlling succubi, perhaps other, less friendly demons?" James asks, wow, that sounds like one of the things i tried in my youth, wait, did i summon a succubus, no, never.

James looks back through his memory to see what the bearer of the book could do
knowledge [roll0]
or
occultism [roll1]

[jolinaxas]

Tim Yearly
After School

Tim approached the library, the sojourn to the Lost and Found having been a total bust. Only two cardboard boxes of forgotten jackets and shoes and notebooks. Remembering Izzy's concern about James, he slowly cracked the door and peered in. Everything appeared normal - as normal as it could be, at least, so he opened the door the rest of the way and walked in.

"Nothing at the Lost and Found, I'm afraid. Didn't really run into anyone of interest, either. Any suggestions? I take it from the whole 'tome of near infinite evil' thing that we should be taking this seriously?"

He looked around at the team members already present, lingering for a second on the robot with cables coming out of her before stopping at Izzy.

"Should we call Harley?"

[Major Kiaslu]

Izzy smiled a little at Tim's entrance, nodding to the hockey player. "Yes, looks like it's a genuinely mystic book in the hands of some random football team member. That sounds dangerous, so we'd better call her. Just give it a second. James said he used the book in the past."

She raised a hand, forestalling the obvious comment, given what they'd heard about this book. "Not like that."

Correction made, she continued. "Which means he has a copy somewhere. If we look over it, we might be able to figure out what whoever stole it intends to do with it. Best to know that before we call Harley, rather than sending her off with 'magic book, bad, go get'. She's not a dog, damn it." The group's token goth grinned a little at her comrades, the question left with them.

[Stake A Vamp]

"I am afraid that the book has some rather potent spells, Most of the parts that contain explicit drawings are more travelogue than incantations, so the chances of it being used to summon creatures are low. It also contains a few assorted spells of far greater power, although given the lack of evidence that the author Mordencainan actually used them, there's doubt over whether or not they work . Therefore, the passages on raising the dead or absorbing the life force of a living being are of questionable usefulness to even the darkest sorcerer. Certainly, however, if such spells were attempted there would be some result, albeit quite possibly to the detriment of the caster., there is also a section on hexing people, and the hexes range from irritating to deranged, do we need to know anything else?" james says, obviosly carefully avoiding the issue of what he used it for.

[jolinaxas]

Tim Yearly
Library, After School

Tim listened patiently as James gave the general overview of the book in question... kind of?

"So, let me get this straight..."

He held up three fingers, putting one down as he began each sentence.

"We -don't have to- worry about any actual demons, because the 'exciting' pictures are just that, and not actual summoning instructions."

"We -should- worry about something backfiring because someone's out of their depth."

The last finger came down.

"And we should -also- worry about... hexes?"

He slumped down into a nearby chair, and took off his jacket.

"Just give me something to do, because -I- feel out of my depth, honestly."

[GAThraawn]

Sunnydale High Library (After School)

The hallway outside the library bustled with students and staff hurrying to afterschool activities, or trying to get home. Briefly, a face became framed in the window through the library door, a nervous expression evident on it before it ducked back out of sight, seeing the people already in the library.
Izzy batted Tim's shoulder. Hey, that was Billy Kraus. He's been acting weird all today. Lets go and have a word with him...call it a hunch.

Pris sat motionless as the two students left the library, chasing their classmate. In front of her, visible only to her, diagnostic panels and error messages flashed rapidly through her field of vision, cycling methodically through her subsystems as she diagnosed the extent of her recent damage. James stood up from the table and called a caution after the pair. Don't forget to be careful! That book is...very...dangerous... He paused, signs of what Pris identified as fatigue showing as he rested one hand heavily on the table. I'll wait here...in case...there's a book...emergency... With a heavy sigh, He slid back into his chair and laid his head down on the table, slipping quickly into a nap. Pris intended to address him with a vocalization, but the error messages scrolling in front of her began to speed up, consuming more and more of her processing power as she sat, motionless, completely occupied with lists of broken circuits and damaged subroutines.

London (~30 years ago)
James opened his eyes to a familiar scene, one he had tried hard to forget. On the bed beside him lay the Slayer, cold and motionless. In his hands, the book. Candles around the room flickered and thrummed with power as the very air thickened with the scent of magic. There was something not quite right about things, something different from the way they had gone before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He found himself having difficulty thinking with his usual clarity.
Outside the window, half of London lay ruined. Wicked storm clouds of black and green and purple roiled through the streets in place of fog, and the screams of the dying lay faint in the air. Buildings crumbled and the streets were empty. Beside him, James heard a gasp.

The Slayer opened her eyes.

Sunnydale High Library (~half an hour later)

Pris finally managed to close down her errant diagnostics, and in the process managed to isolate most of the programs that were causing her problems. A few files remained unidentified, a few more damaged and unreadable, but she was confident that she was able to re-establish control over her motor functions and cognitive abilities. Beside her, James slumbered. She stood and stretched, exercising servos that hadn't been working properly for over a week. She was running herself through her basic combat functions, punches, kicks, the simple things, when Harley entered the library.
To see the the killer android limbering up beside the unconscious form of her watcher slumped over the table.

[Major Kiaslu]

Sunnydale High (After School)

Izzy had run up before thinking through just what she intended here. She didn't know Billy, hadn't spoken more than five words to him in the past. He was just... some guy on the team. But he'd seemed off today, though she couldn't put the finger on why. Could he be under some kind of speel? Guilty about casting one? Before meeting the Slayer, she'd have written it off, but now...

Now, I get paranoid about things I probably shouldn't. Still, why had he reacted like that to seeing them? Taking a deep breath, Izzy smiled to the nervy footballer as they drew up after him. "You Ok, Billy?"

[GAThraawn]

CLOSED sadly

[Stake A Vamp]

James is immediately aware that this is a dream, he had failed, the spell had done no harm, but he had not saved Maggie. did you, really. during particularly powerful spell casting, i have heard tell of people going into trances or even alternate universes, perhaps this is real, and all that was a dream, it makes sense, what insanity would make you live in america he looks at his daughters room, awaiting the telltale crying that says he has woken her, then, without further ado, he runs up and embraces Maggie, praying that this is reality. "my love, i thought i had lost you."