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Dave has gotten the table as usual, and also made sure to get his hands on hall passes with the principals signature on them so that if the witch hunt extends past the bell everyone will be covered.

Sylvia stares morosely at the slip of paper in her hand.  For a split second, it becomes a waving Nazi flag, and then she crumples the pass and stuffs it into her tote.  "Is it just me, or is there something about the hall-pass rule that makes you want to break a window and climb a wall to get out of here?"

DAVE: "I was thinking of a tunnel, but the window thing might work."

GREG: "Yeah, and without the kleig lights a tunnel scenerio just isn't as much fun."

T.J looks at the slip, folds it neatly and places it in his pocket. He thinks for a moment and says. "Well, we don't have any drugs in our lockers. The superman I examined is back home and I'm planning to get rid of it soon. I don't think I can find anything else form it."

"So what are we going to do about the witches?" He asks eagerly

Colin looks at the windows and for a moment pictures himself as Chief Bromden from One flew over the cuckoo's nest. He bets with himself that Greg would like the image.

He takes  the pass silently, with a nod of gratitude toward Dave. He's too nervous too talk. He asked for the homework to bring to the real Sarah, but he doesn't know if he's ready to face the false one.

"Still waiting for Donnie."  She looks worried.  Of them all, Donnie is beginning to seem like the one least able to defend himself, and yet he's going to provoke their foes by casting the spell.  "Has anyone seen him today?"

Samantha enters the cafeteria and heads for the lunch line.

Donnie walks in, his usually smiling face was solemn. He walks over to the table, and sits down, taking out a small tupperware container of something pale and with spots of green mixed in. His face is pale, and he is sweating slightly. He gives a strained smile to everyone, clasping his hands around the small container and looking around. "So, who is in on this today?"

Megan made her way into the lunch room with the other cheerleaders as usual.  Though on the outside she was as bubbly and cheerful as normal, inside she was still trying to steel herself for what she felt she had to try to do later tonight.  Spark and whomever else was out there making her look bad, and she wasn’t about to standby and let that happen, particularly now that she wanted to try to help, however she could, with finding Katie, and the only way the police would let her do that is if she cleared things up regarding these idiots robbing drug dealers. 

As the cheerleaders made their way towards their normal table, Megan spotted Sylvia and waved as normal and then had a thought.  Yesterday Sylvia had offered to introduce Megan to the others she normally sat with, and the blond girl figured this was as good a time as any.  Besides, they needed to see what input Sylvia might have about the new dance, so it was a good excuse to go over there.  “I’ll be right there, going to see if Sylvia might join us a sec to talk about the new dance.”  She said to the others before breaking off from the group and heading over towards the “Usual Suspects” table. 

As she came up to the table, she smiled at everyone there as she came up near Sylvia.  “Hey Sylvia, hey Colin.”  She said to those she knew at the table.  “You said you would introduce me to the others you normally dis us for.”  She said to Sylvia with a friendly tone.

Kel slips in with the large amount of students who enter the cafeteria at the beginning of the period.  He then starts looking around and moving about, trying to spot the girl from the other day.  He catches a view of her popping onto the lunch line, and makes his way over very casually.  Once nearby, he makes it seems like he bumps into her on accident, then says to her, "I think I might need a little lift today.  Something big's going down."

Dave and Greg offer smiles as Megan walks up, but she senses that Greg looks at her for a bit longer then she's used to.  Guys are always looking at her, but the way Greg looked at her was different.  When he does stop looking at her he has that same look in his eyes as her focuses on nothing, as though something is working it's way through his brain.

Sammy raises her eyebrows in surprise.  "Uh, sure, OK.  What's going on?"

Kel looks around and then whispers so that only she can hear him, "We think that whoever was behind that snake thing, and that kid turning into the hulk has basically well, magically raped one of our friends. We now have a chance to get track them down, maybe bring them to justice."  He then looks at her, "I know they won't be ready to take action, so I need to know someone else in there might have my back if things get...difficult."  He looks her squarely and says, "You in?"

Horrified, Sammy whispers back "Raped?! Holy sh!t!  Yeah, I'm in.  Just tell me where I need to be."

Kel nods his head, "We're going to cast some sort of spell to see if we can see them.  You could join us, though that might look weird.  Might be easier if I get you when we plan on heading out."  He then seems to be thinking, "Just need a good excuse to talk to you.  Any ideas?"

Sylvia was eying Donnie's fatigue when Megan comes by the table.  She throws the cheerleader a troubled look.  "Hi, Megan."  And very quickly, as if reading off a military roster, she puts names to the faces at the table.  Then she chews on her lower lip and says, "Hey, um, we're, uh . . . we're trying to get something done here, something kind of messy.  You might want to check back with us tomorrow."

Megan shakes off the odd look that Greg had given her when she came over, not particularly wanting to try to fathom what might be going on in a teen male’s mind half the time.  As Sylvia explains that they were in the middle of something, Megan nods in understanding.  “Ah, sorry to interrupt, but I’ll just be a sec.”  She looks back at Sylvia and says, “did you look over the stuff about the new dance I sent you?  We were wanting to go over that today and wanted to hear if you had any input on it.”

"Maybe you think I'm dead sexy, and you're hot for my bod?  Nah, not even I would believe that one."  She rolls her eyes and keeps moving down the lunch counter, thinking.  She grabs a piece of fruit."Just say "Sammy, got a minute?  We need to talk about that project" and wait for me to join you.  Nobody'll even notice anything is up."

Kel nods, "Should work, see you then."  He then disappears off the line as quickly as he arrived.   Kel makes his way over to the usual suspects table, and his eyebrow raises slightly as he notices the blonde cheerleader, Kel then settles in and says "Megan, this is slightly unexpected."

Sylvia nods slowly.  "I--"  She seems a little distracted.  "I've got a few questions, but they can wait till practice."  Even if she had the time, Sylvia would be reluctant to talk about the moves they're doing for Sexyback.  Donnie and his butt thing, you know.

Busy nights make for tired teens, and it's easy to see that Seth has been burning the candle at both ends. His eyes are undershaded black with a complete lack of sleep, and the eyes themselves have a slightly glassy look to them.

He has a headache at the moment....and anyone watching him react to the world around him can see he's not firing all cylinders. He sits down wordlessly and begins to eat.

“Hey Kel.”  Megan replies almost absent mindedly, giving him only a quickly glance and not giving his comment much of a response.  Focusing back on Sylvia, she had an inward sigh.  I give up, she was to spend all lunch with her other friends, fine with me.  “Well, okay then, but we are going to try to finalize everything now.  I am not sure Lisa is going to want to make anymore changes, but I guess some in practice would be fine.”  She looked back around the table, smiling as she waved.  “Nice to meet you all.”  With a quick turn and a flip of blond hair, she is on her way back towards the cheerleaders’ table.

"Hey!" Seth intones...just a moment too late.


So it's back to what passes for corn.

Kel gives Seth a little nudge in the ribs and whispers so only he can hear, "I know she's pretty hot, eh?"  He then shakes his head, "Shame though, I think she's with that football player guy."

Samantha takes a seat with her usual friends.  She pays just enough attention to their conversation to make appropriate noises at the right times, but she is primarily focused on Kel and what's going on around him.  She watches him ssit down with his friends, smile and talk to that cheerleader who was standing by the table.  That's the one who was attacked in that lab... But, isn't she dating the freshman quarterback?  Silly boy doesn't stand a chance.  But still, I wonder why is she over there right now?  Maybe I wasn't imagining things that day in the locker room?  No, wait,she's moving away...

"Kel, Sylvia, Colin, TJ, Dave, Greg. You all in? What about Cal, was he going to join us on this?" Donnie seems very focused, and understandibly a bit nervous. He doesn't even seem to register Seth at the table beyond a tight nod. When Megan sat at the table, he stared a few seconds (as most hormonal boys would) but his eyes met Sylvia's and he glanced back down at his little jar.

Sylvia nods and sits, pulling a paper bag from her tote.  She slides five pendant charms out onto the table and pushes one toward Donnie.  "These are supposed to help with protection against magic," she says.  "Wear it under your shirt if you take one.  We don't want them to be able to tag us just by looking at us."

"I think Cal would like to join us, if he's not busy otherwise. Give him some more time.We have to wait for Matt anyway."

After what he said yesterday, there's no way Colin will let Matt at more than an arm's lenght away from him in this thing. He wants no bad surprises and no unnecessary violence.
He looks at the charms Sylvia bought, but doesn't take one. It's a little too late for that.

"Donnie, is it all right? Seth, you don't look too bubbly either. Is it all well?"

"Thanks Colin," Matt say as he comes up just behind Colin, then sits down at the table. "So, magicky witch hunt time?"

T.J looks at Donnie and nods. "I'm in, thanks." He takes one of the charms and puts it round his neck and into his shirt. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small bag. "I managed to create something for us to use. Just to, y'know, stop them without hurting them."

Sylvia looks acutely relieved.  "How, TJ?"

Colin looks at his friends and smiles.

What would I do without them?

He looks very interested at what magic (yes to him science is another form of magic) trick T.J. will get out of his bag this time.

Donnie looks around for Cal and awaits TJ's explanation. In his head he was repeating the lynch-pin words for the spell, feeling it heavy and waiting inside him like a heavy raincloud in his spirit, or Ka. He bit his lip to keep from mouthing the words. This is the time, where the hell is Cal?

After TJ tells the others of his little creation, Donnie wipes sweat away from his brow and explains the spell, not wanting to wait any longer. "OK folks, here is what this is going to do. I will dab a bit of this alchemical component of the spell on your eyelids as I intone the spell. This will 'open' your eyes to the magic forces I am putting into play. Don't worry about what is in it: it is simply unscented talcum, peppermint oil, sandalwood oil, and natural mint from my neighbor's herb garden. Once I complete the spell, you will see several strings of light that eminate from Colin and lead to the ones who have cast spells on him within the last several days. This should show us the witches. I will keep it going as long as I can, so you guys can find them and see who they are.

Any questions?"

"This is so wicked... oh, uh, any chance they'll know we can see them? Because I don't think the principal would approve if you guys slugged it out with another snake thingie in the middle of the lunch room..." But it would be cool as heck, Matt thinks to himself.

"Should one of us stay with you, just in case?"

"Hopefully not. I made this spell pretty subtle, but if they are powerful, they might see through it to where it comes from. Colin will be the anchor for the spell, but I will be the one maintaining it. If the witches do something, well that's why we have Kel here, right?"

Donnie fingers the protective charm under his shirt that Sylvia gave him. I don't want to be turned into a newt. Donnie almost giggles, but that would seem a little psychotic considering the stress he is under at the moment.

"I can go with you guys, I will be just a bit useless; you'll have to make sure I don't tumble down the stairs or anything. Or I could go to the library if I need to maintain it for more than the lunch period."

DAVE: "Me and Greg will be here with him, should be no worries.  If things go South I have a backup plan."

GREG (smiling): "Yeah, we got this end, you guys follow the yellow brick road and find the people behind the curtain."

"That works." Donnie smiles gratefully at the two.

"You can go to the newspaper rooms. You can stay there as long as you want, and no one should disturb you."

He looks at his watch and sighs.

"I'm afraid we'll have to do without Calvin."

His hand goes to the glasses that are no longer there, out of habit, as he prepares for the spell.

T.J smiles and pulls a small gun like device out of the bag, he utters one word. "Taser." He then listens intently to Donnie. "We should get started. The sooner we finish this the better."

Kel arches an eyebrow when TJ mentions the taser but shrugs it off, weirder things were occurring.  He looks at the charms but will wait to see who else takes them, chances are while he might end up in the thick of it, the others might be more vulnerable.  Kel weighs his choices as Donnie explains the spell, he then says, "Seems pretty straightforward.  Let's do it."  He scans across the room and meets eyes with Samantha giving her a nod if she's watching.

For someone who has seen as much in last few weeks as I have, and for some one who can do the things I do...Why am I having so much trouble dealing with this...magic talismans, love goo, serpants.

My biggest problem right now is getting picked up as a soloist. What have I missed?

Seth thought to himself

Donnie closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He twists open the tupperware cup and everyone immediately smells the powerful scent of peppermint, with a subtle earthy tone to it. He waggles his fingers and making an odd sign with his left hand, he dips his first two fingers of his right into the jar. He opens his eyes as he begins a low chant. "Alegk-hei, alegk-hem. Sebulah-ashem-naveh. Banth-wantoth havelah." He reaches over to Colin, dapping the mixture lightly on his two eyelids, then touching his forehead and heart chakra-points while murmuring another phrase. "Hashath. Bel-haveleah.  Numinarese mishar-kalu. Sebulah-ashem-naveh."  Colin feels the air quiver around him, and wonders if he should look with his ghost-site at the forces uncoiling from Donnie. Donnie seems to relax as more words in the strange tongue fall from his lips. "Enorah Galenia. Kaful, Bel-haveleah." He reaches over to Matt first, dabbing the mixture on his eyelids, saying the phrase "Bel. Bel-haveleah. Sebulah-ashem-naveh."  He repeats it for everyone, and pales further each time he does it, until the last phrases are a bare whisper, as he closes his eyes and annoints his own eyelids. "Bel. Bel-haveleah. Sebulah-ashem-naveh. Kialeaf. Abu ashara-alem. Ashara-alem. Ashara-Alem."  All annointed with the mixture feel a surge of energy shiver through them, and Donnie slumps in his chair. He smiles weakly and looks up at Colin. "So mote it be."  

He looks up to see if his world has shifted.

All those annointed with the salve can see the wispy tendrils of light running from Colin.  They are like rope in a sea of turbulent ether, wavering and moving with unseen currents.  The tendrils run off, winding into a single strand that leaves the lunch room and makes it's way through the halls of the school, up stairways, and finally to a classroom.  The class is occupied, it looks to be a history class.  The thread leads to a single girl, brown hair, pretty sitting in the middle of the classroom.

"Donnie, you can let go now. You have been great man. I bet at Miskatonic they're keeping a Scholarship warm just for you. Now we found her"

"We found her" he repeats whispering as he looks at the girl. She looks so normal, it's difficult to imagin her cutting her own palm in a dark basement to cast a spell. So he looks at her through the class door, but this time with his ghost sight.

Are you the thief?

As Colin's sight shifts to see ghost light he can see a thousand short filaments of light from the girl, fluttering in the unseen breeze like a mane of magical hair about her.

Sylvia looks through the window in the door at the girl and then turns to look at the others.  "Now what?"  She pauses, then says by way of an offer, "I think I can get her out of there if that's the plan."  She glances first at Colin for his answer; he called the council of war.

"She kinda does, just a regular schoolgirl, cute as well. I was expecting warts, not a cute schoolgirl... hey!" He grins. "I got an idea. Have Kel wait outside the school for her and ninja her up, hit her with the taser and knock her out or something, then we bring her to the same room where they held Colin, then," he starts laughing manically, "Sylvia uses her lightshow powers to conjure up a big tentacled thingie coming out of the pentagram, and we could have Greg help with providing sound effects, like demonic groaning that it's going to swallow her soul, and that she should give up the others so that it can take them instead! It'll be great! Scare the shit out of her and get the names of anyone she works with, like maybe even the big bad himself!" Matt doesnt really think it'll work, but in any way he do think it'll be cool no matter what. "That or we could just torture her on a regular fashion, or threathen to burn her or some other mundane stuff... soo, tentacles?"

OOC:  Need a fate roll from the group.  Colin should probably roll it.

OOC: Fate roll (1d20=12) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=674349)

Colin walks away from the door. It's time to take a decision.

"Hurting, torturing her won't make me feel better. I want to talk to her. I want to know if she realizes what she's done, to me and to Rob. I want to look into her eyes and ask her why. I want no one else to suffer because of her and her friends. I want her to understand and realize why she should never do it again. But if she doesn't understand... we'll have to find a way to stop her."

Kel feels slightly bad at this moment, he's standing assembled outside the room with the others, just now does he realize he had forgotten to get a hold of the flying girl.  He sighs, hopefully she saw them all leave.  He then looks in at her and says, "If we knew her name we could whip up a fake pass and act as if we were pulling her out for something legitamate."

Samantha sees most of Kel's group arise from their table after Kel gives her the nod.  Do all of them have powers too?  Awesome!  Wait!  They're leaving?  How am I supposed to get out of here without a pass?  She waits a few moments, then gets up.  "I have an appointment with the guidance counselor.  See ya."
Gathering her books, she then wanders over to one of the friendlier teachers on cafeteria patrol duty.  She doesn't look the teacher in the eye, but stares down at the tip of her own shoes instead.  "Umm, Miss Nelson?  I need a hall pass.  I, uh, need to go to the bathroom... it can't wait... my 'monthly friend' is here, and I need to, uh, take care of some things, quick. " 

Mrs. Nelson quickly writes Sammy a pass and send her on her way with a sympathetic look.

Samantha does her best to trail the group without being noticed.  When they stop outside of a classroom door, she lingers around a corner down the hall.

"I could fake something to get her into the hall, but once she's here, what are we going to do with her?  If she screams, we'll be screwed, and she'll know we're out to get her."

Kel looks around the group and then suggests, "Feigned interesting in making out with her, bring her down to wherever Colin woke up, and just...well, once we have her there alone I guess we could well go with the interrogation plan."

Sylvia looks confused.  It doesn't take much sometimes.  "Who?  Me?  Colin?"

Kel shrugs, then says, "Whoever's up for it I suppose.  We could always go with a standard cover her mouth, cover her head with a bag, and drag her away, but that sounds pretty illegal."

Sammy watches nervously down the hall from where the other kids are congregated.  Some teacher was bound to come along soon and scatter them.  If something bad is about to happen, somebody has to be in a position to stop it.  If she can only get outside to cover a window from the air!  She counts classroom doors to get a line on their location, and starts looking for a quick way out of the building, some window wide enough to slip through, a fire escape door, anything.

We gotta get out of this place. (1d20=20) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=674894)

OOC:  if her attempt to open an exit happens to set off a fire alarm, causing the girl they are after to exit the classroom and become readily accessible, well then...

"Uuuh, taser? Could say she's got like epileptic shock, heh. Though the bag thing would be fun as well."

Matt is a kind and loving person... on his off days.

Sylvia considers the idea and looks at Colin.  "She'll recognize you and know something's up.  Maybe. . . ."  She squinches her eyes shut for a minute, trying to bring up the image of one of the kids who works in the administration office.  Tall harmless-looking boy, upperclassman.  He has one of those pink while-you-were-out memos folded in his hand, and he wears the look of a kid who's being paid almost nothing to do almost anything.

[Assuming that works. . . .]

The boy nods at the door and says, in his cracking, reedy bass, "I could go in and tell her the principal wants to see her in the basement.  If that's too suspicious, I can tell her he wants to see her in his office, and you can catch her either on the way there or on the way back."

Kel nods at Sylvia, "Yea, this could work.  Alot better than my idea." He then looks over at Matt and hits his head in a d'uh moment, "Oh yea, the taser, that works out pretty easily."

Opening the windows does not set off a fire alarm.  You are easily able to get outside and airborne.

"Around the corner maybe?" Sylvia suggests to the guys.  She doesn't know if tasers make the kind of noise a teacher could hear through a closed classroom door.

Leaving the window open behind her so that she can easily re-enter the building, Samantha pulls up the hood on her hoodie to conceal the color of her hair and obscure part of her face.  She then takes up position outside the classroom in question.

"Ok, let's call her out with an excuse, the principal wants to talk with her is fine, Sylvia, and we wait for her in the emptiest corridor, but really, let's just use the taser only if it's really necessary. We're the good guys, remember?"

Sylvia nods and sends her phantasm through the door.  She peeks through the window, holding the door open where it can't, and watches it give the teacher one of those too-cool-for-you semi-salutes.  "Principal wants to see that one in the office," it says, nodding at the girl.

You hear the teacher call her Jane when he tells her the principal wants to see her.  She gathers her things and heads out the door and down the hall towards the stairs.

From her outdoor vantage point, Sammy sees a girl get up and head towards the classroom door.  Not knowing if this is "It" or not, but not willing to take a chance since everything else looks completely normal, she  zips back over to the open window and looks in, entering all the way if the window keeps her from seeing enough to make a decision.  If she sees the girl go past, she'll follow.  If she sees the rest of the Scooby Gang moving, she'll follow them.

(OOC:  wandering into work now, c ya later)

Colin and the Usual Suspects just wait for her, hidden behind the stairs.

"Kel, I want to try to talk to her first, but if she screams or try to escape, I'll need your help. Sylvia, we may need something to cover us up, or at least something big that draws attention away from us. I can't think of anything, but I'm sure you can." he whispers.

As Jane comes round the corner, Colin steps in front of her.

"Hi. Remember me? Got a minute?"

He doesn't want her to panic, so he shows her his empty hands, and keeps some distance from her. But his eyes are fixed on hers, and he's studying both her and the threads of magic around her, to be sure she doesn't try anything.

Her gaze hardens, and tension forms along the line of her jaw.  "What do you want?"

"Odd. I could swear you were friendlier last time we met. But maybe my memory of that is a bit confused. I guess I could say 'you'll be fine, we just need you for a little while', but the truth is I only want to ask you some questions. No tricks. No lies. They're more your style. You just give me some answers and then you'll be free to go. Now, would you like to talk here, or we can go elsewhere? If I remember correctly there's a fine room downstairs for when one wants to be secretive."

"Think about what you're doing.  One mistake and you and your friends might be on the receiving end of some very bad things.  You might want to consider postponing this until you're a little more grown up."

Kel circles around the girl watching her moves, trying to see if she does anything like Donnie did at the lunch table.  He then says a bit above a whisper, "Perhaps you should think about what you're doing instead.  Since you could be on the receiving end of something alot worse."  He then tilts his head sharply so that it cracks loudly, then does the same with his fists.

((http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=676266 Intimidate-Kel can be very scary, he learned it from batman.))

Colin sees her aura flare and several bruises erupt on her face.  She lunges forward scratching Colin's face and sreaming.  She continues past Colin and throws herself down the stairs to the landing below.  She crashes hard on the cement landing for the stairs, her books and papers scattering.

Kel hears people moving in nearby rooms.  There is no way that scream wasn't heard.

Doors in the hall are begining to open.

Sylvia acts fast.  She does her best to produce an image of Jane standing in front of Colin, swatting at him.

[In the event this works. . . .]

Jane's doppelganger shrieks, "You're breaking up with me?  With me?  You asshole!  You said you loved me!"  Then the doppelganger runs off in the direction the real Jane took and disappears from sight.

OOC: Sylvia give me a Fate Roll.

T.J looks at Jane's body. She was almost certainly dead, but in this weird world of witches and bubble boys anything was possible. T.J judges the time it would take for him to run downwards to the floor and pretend he had been going to the toilet.

[If he thinks it is possible]

T.J sighs to himself, passes the taser to Kel and explodes into a mass of bubbles. He steps off the stairs and the blobs turn into a human shape, with unrecognisable features, and seem to run straight down the wall. Once he reaches the floor he turns back to normal if no one has seen him and touches the girl on the neck feeling for a pulse.

Colin is petrified for a moment. It happened all too fast.

This is exactly why I asked him to let *me* talk. And now what? She can't have killed herself. It makes no sense.

He thinks at the bruises appearing on her face, then at her attacking him, then at her jumping down the stairs. His eyes go wide.

She's trying to frame me for her murder???!! But...

He goes to look downstairs, as another Jane appears in front of him throwing more nonsense at him. He realizes this is probably Sylvia's doing, but not what she's trying to accomplish. He looks at where Janes fell, hoping under the ghost light things will actually make sense.

TJ feels no pulse when he checks for it.

There is ghost light all around her, a strong firm glow is shining off of her.

Colin slowly goes down the stairs.

Blackbird? I don't understand. Is she faking it with a spell? And if it's a spell, can I break it?

T.J looks at her and shakes visibly. It was one thing to find out you could burst into bubbles and that you were dealing with witches. It was another for one of them to actually kill herself, he felt an enveloping depression wash over him one he hadn’t felt with Rory because he hadn't seen the incident. He rolls her over and slaps her round the face. "God damn it. Wake up! You can't just quit on life!" He slaps her again, trying desperately to wake her, wondering what evil this covenant was dealing to force one of their members to commit suicide.

Kel stares at the girl, and watches her fumble down the stairs.  His ears prick up when he hears the movement, "People are coming.  We don't have much time."  He then looks at the taser, and down at TJ he murmurs the word coward under his breath.  He looks about for a window.

"Knowledge is power for others."  the black says.

Matt just stands there stunned for a few moments, then say in a quiet voice "Sooo... taser and tentacles next time?" then follows whoever decide to get out of the area, keeping his back turned to anyone that may come running.

Uhm. This is difficult.

He goes down the stairs more and more fasteras he tries desperately to think what the hell the blackbird means with that.

Ok, I'll give it a try. Knowledge is power for others while instinct is power for me? I should trust my instincts? That's the best I've come up with anyway.

He walks to T.J. and Jane's body, gives her a last look with ghost sight, just in case he notices something more, then he touches her, trying to think what he thought when he shook hands with Rob.

Samantha is appalled as she watches events unfold.  She doesn't know what to think.  From what she saw at the party, she had believed Kel at least to be a "good guy" -- he had been fighting the snake man, right?  But what if he or one of his friends had made the thing, just to cause a sensation at the party?  Had they made that girl throw herself down the stairs? Or had she thrown herself?   The group of kids looks shocked, but maybe only because things didn't work out the way they had planned?  This was bad.  This was very bad.  Sammy wants no part of any of it.

She lingers by the window a little bit longer, just to see what happens.  "In a minute or two, I'll go to the Tasty Dog", she thinks, "and sneak back into the school with the upperclassmen coming back from lunch.  I'd rather get detention for sneaking out than have anybody thinking I had anything to do with... this." 

OOC: Colin make a Will Save DC 14, TJ make a Will Save DC 10 (if Colin makes his Will Save).

EVERYONE ELSE who can see the scene make a WIll Save.  The DC is 10 if Colin makes his and 14 if he fails his.

OOC: Matt's on his way away, but he's way to curious a person not to look back plenty of times.

Will Save (1d20-1=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=677146)

OOC:   I think Sammy can see everything.
 Will 2 (1d20=11) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=677178)

Fate (1d20=18) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=677203)

Will Save (1d20=5) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=677209)

Will Save: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=677273

OOC:Will Save (1d20+3=22) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=677351)

Everyone who made the Save realizes that the girl isn't on the landing.  There is no one on the landing.

If you failed then you still see her there.

Kel's eyes bulge and then he just shouts, "Bitch!"

Sylvia jumps.  "Kel," she says, shocked to the core.  "She's dead.  And there are people watching."

Kel shakes his head and then whispers to Sylvia, "Illusion...she's not even here."

Sylvia whispers back.  She's sometimes not too quick to catch on.  "I know," she says, making a little face like she's stating the obvious.  "I did it."

OOC: Sylvia can make another Will Save DC is 9 this time.

Kel sighs and gestures down to the landing, "No, I mean down there."  He looks at the others and then goes, "Am I the only one seeing...well, not seeing her?"

Will Save (1d20=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=677407)

Colin realizes that it wasn't her aura he was seeing but magic.  That's when the illusion of her on the landing faded for him.

"Ooh, nice trick. Told you tricks and lies were more your style. I really only wanted to talk with you, but I guess you already gave me most of the answers I needed. Thank you and see you around." he says loudly, looking around in case she stayed near to see what happened.

"T.J., it's an illusion. Let it go."

Wow. I actually got you right this time? I think I see now what you meant about language, but I'm glad I'm starting to understand you. Now I guess it's time to rally some of the forces I haven't called upon so far.

"Guys, what about we regroup?"

"By regroup, you mean leave?"  Kel says he gestures down to where the illusion formerly stood and then gestures to Sylvia, he adds, "Colin, I hate to admit this, but I think you and I are the only ones not seeing her."

Indeed, Sylvia's still staring in horror at the corpse with its grotesquely twisted neck and pooling blood.

OOC: I still have the spell going. Since I am still in the lunch-room. There is no way I could have known you found her. Just follow the light strands, sillies!

Sammy still watches on in horror.  She's far enough away that she can't see down the steps, so she's assuming that there's a body down there, and these guys are... scary.

OOC: Oh, I somehow thought you let it go long ago, when we found her. If that's the case....

"Really? But it's just an illu-"

Colin notices a flicker of light, and squints to see it better.

"Sylvia, look at me! Donnie's spell is still here. It's getting feebler, but it's still here. Can you see it now? Look at the strands. They don't go to her body, because there's no body there. Let's follow them. It's not like she can throw herself down another staircase."

OOC: Everyone yet to make the Will Save can try again with a DC of 5

Those of you that have made the save realize that it's been several seconds and no one has come to investigate.  The doors that were opening in the hall are not open and there is no sound of people coming this way.

Yet another Will Save (1d20=15) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=678147)


Sylvia blinks hard, rubs her eyes, and then scowls.  "Oh, crap."  She turns and tries to follow the threads of Donnie's spell so they can catch up before it fades altogether.

http://invisiblecastle.com/rolldice.py?u=T.J&r=1&d=1d20&n=Will+save&a=Roll+the+dice

T.J looks at Colin, red-faced and puzzled then back at the body. Or where the body had been. He stares for a second then bursts up from the floor. "That bitch! How dare she does that! She could of just disappeared instead of pretending to commit suicide!"

http://invisiblecastle.com/rolldice.py?u=T.J&r=&d=1d20&n=Will+save+&a=Roll+the+dice

He looks round and curses quietly. "We've been tricked it seems. Let's follow the threads again." He looks for the threads and follows them carefully. Keeping an eye out for trouble.

"Simply disappearing would have bought her less time. We underestimated each other. If she know how we're following her, it won't happen again. We have to be more careful."

Back in the lunchroom, Donnie sits, staring at nothing, occasionally muttering something under his breath. Greg and Dave sit at the table with him, keeping watch inot the throngs of students surrounding them..

The thread leads down to the first floor, towards the administration offices.  You can see a couple of the campus police officers going into the admin office as you get within sight of the door.

"Uh-oh. God and Great Spirit, what kind of crap is she going to sell them now?"

He sneaks near the door, trying to hear what's being said within.

Crying can be heard frmo the office, and you can tell that they take the crying person into the principals office and close the door.  After that you have no chance of hearing what's said.

OOC: Colin, Will Save DC; 14

Kel sighs and then says, "I don't know, but I plan on finding out."  He then heads off, heading for a nearby exit hoping that its still early enough in the year for the principal to have his windows open.  He jogs down, ducking behind bushes, head low beneath windows so no one can see him.  Once he's around where the administration offices are, Kel stops to listen hoping his much better than normal hearing will help him.

((Stealth-http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=678513 and Notice-http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=678517 if they are needed))

OOC: Will save (1d20+3=11) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=678536)  :8

Kel can hear the girl talking to the principal.  She's describing someone, someone he realizes sounds like him.  "And there was another boy with him, I scratched his face when the first boy pushed me down the stairs."  She then goes on to describe Colin.

"Not to worry Jane, we'll get to the bottom of this."  the principal says, then he opens his office door and calls the two police officers over.  He describes the two boys they're looking for and tells them to see if they can find them.

Kel mutters under his breath, "Oh shit."  He knows how this is going to end, she had already made her plea, and he didn't have the ability to prove that she had used magic to trick everyone.  Kel figures he won't make it back in time for him to get to Colin before the police, but he might as well try.  He makes off at a mad dash, still trying to keep himself stealthy, but that abandoned for speed.  He returns to the group out of breath, "Girl, blames me and Colin...for some sort of injury.  Says...I...pushed her down the stairs."

T.J looks at Kel and thinks for a moment and asks. "What did she say exactly? I'm sure we could give you guys an albi. She didn't see us. Did she?"

Sylvia blanches, then makes like a chameleon and throws up an image of three or four of the janitorial staff, mopping at water on the floor.  With luck it'll hide the gang from the authorities when they come in search of Colin and Kel.

Kel murmurs to TJ, "She syas, I pushed her down the stairs, and that she scratched Colin's face went down.  Basically what she made us see."  He then looks at the rest of the group, "Even short term hiding is going to cause problems, we're going to have to figure out a way to deal with this and now."

Colin comes back to the group and hears Kel's report.

"Sure. We go right there and tell them it's all a bunch of lies. She's got no evidence that is not fake, the bruises on her are just another illusion and I should be able to make it fizzle, we've got a whole bunch of people to back us and she's alone. I say we step into that office now and expose her for what she is. I'm not going to hide in shame for something I haven't done, while that witch plays victim and gets away with nothing."

OOC: Colin, Notice check DC 10

"What about those scratches on your face?" Sylvia asks.  "Are they an illusion, too?"

"If the bruises on her are an illusion, and the scratches on me are real, who do you think the principal is going to believe?"

OOC: Notice check (1d20+7=20) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=678824)

Colin sees the glow of magic from three other girls down the hall near the lunch room.  They are standing in the doorway looking into the lunch room and back down the hall towards the admin offices.  They don't seem to have noticed the group of you for some reason.

The campus police come sout of the admin office and one heads upstairs.  The other one heads towards the lunch room. 

OOC: Colin, need a Fate Roll.

OOC: Fate roll (1d20=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=678864)

"There!" he whispers pointing to the three girls. "Those girls have magic on them. They're likely the other witches. Someone should go tell Donnie. Kel, what do you decide? Are you coming with me or not?"

Kel nods, "At this point Colin, in for a penny, in for a pound."  He stares down at the girls and starts moving, once he and Colin are off a bit from the group Kel whispers, "Colin, I want you to know, that if things get hot, and it doesn't look like we're going to win this.  I am not going to let you get blamed.  I'm just a kid with a good right hook, your talents are pretty useful in whatever's coming up.  Mine, are helpful, but we're going to need a guy like you, but there are dozens like me."  He stares at him, "Know where I'm going with this?"

Sylvia tags along, and as she does, the phantasmal janitors pick up their equipment and stroll along with them, still masking their presence--or so she hopes.

Much against her better judgement, Samantha does not retreat to the safety of the Tasty Dog, but continues to trail the other group.  She's still not sure what they are up to, but she feels like maybe she should keep an eye on them.

"First, there is no one like you. Second, there will be no need of that. Just... try to let me do the talking, ok?" he says with a smile, then he opens the door of administration. "We'd like to talk to the principal. It's rather urgent."

Sylvia's startled by the move.  She sends the illusory janitors off to a corner to disappear.

Principal Landis, who is on the phone at the admin desk, sees Colin and Kel.  He hangs up the phone and motions for the boys to follow him, he heads into the vice-principal's office.  "Come in boys."  He waits for the two to come inside and closes the door.  "I heard there was a little trouble on the third floor earlier, any idea what happened?"

Kel sighs, and just nods.  He doesn't exactly trust in what is about to happen, after all he highly doubts Colin's ever been in one of these principal, judgement already levied, situations.  Still though, that taser is still buried deep in his coat, so there is at least a plan b.

Colin is sure truth is on his side, and looks quietly into the principal's eyes.
"I'm afraid we are somewhat responsible of that, sir. We were there looking for a girl. She and some friends of hers dabble with magic, and they cast some quite nasty spells on me and another friend of ours, Robert Kramer. A friend of ours helped us find her, and when we finally met her, I asked if she could talk with me. I wanted to ask her why she did what she did, but she gave me no time for that. She cast upon herself an illusion of bruises, as if she had been beaten, but no one so much lifted a finger upon her. Then she attacked me and scratched my face, and then she did something even more absurd, she jumped down the stairs! We actually went to see why she did that, and what she happened to her, but her body there was just another illusion. When we looked for her again, we found out she came here to see you. We were afraid she was going to tell you a bunch of lies, so we came here to give you our own version of the facts. If you summoned her, I could show you that her bruises are just that, an illusion she cast on herself."

OOC: want me to roll some diplomacy?

Kel looks at Colin, and is pretty much stunned with what the boy says, and then he adds in a conditional phrase, "Well sir, I pretty much agree with exactly what he says.  Except I am going to say that at the time we met her, or at least believed ourselves to meet with her, I'd think by that point she was already on her way here, her bruises were illusions."

OOC: You better roll something!  Bluff or Diplomacy, whchever you think will work better for you.

OOC: Diplomacy check (1d20+5=23) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=678963) :angel:

"Assuming what you've told me is true, why didn't you come to me about these spells that were cast on you and Mr. Kramer.  What were you going to do if Ms. Spofford refused to talk to you, and just what would you do to prove to me her bruises aren't real?"

"I didn't come to you before, sir, because I had little proof, and talking about this makes me uncomfortable. We thought that maybe one of the students targeted Rob... Mr. Kramer with a spell, but had no idea who. Mr.Kramer had a dangerous spirit summoned within his body. This spirit gave him some special ability but ate his life force. My friends and I discovered it because, well, I accidentally undid the spell and freed the spirit, that promptly attacked us. It happened at a party so we have several witnesses of that.
Yesterday, during lunch break I was attacked as well. They didn't exactly hurt me, but they made me pass out, and used me while I was unconscious to draw upon a magical ability I have. They used me as an oracle. And the way they tricked me and they used me is really quite disgusting. Today a friend of ours came up with a way to find who did this to me, and our clues led to... Ms.Spofford, I suppose, I don't know her name.
I wanted to ask her why she did what she did, and I would have tried to ask her to stop using magic on other people. If she refused to talk... I don't know. To be honest I haven't really thought of that. I think I would have asked for help, to make them stop. There maybe others, not only Mr.Kramer and me, i don't know.
To prove that her bruises aren't real I only need to touch her. A slight touch would be sufficient I guess. A handshake would work just fine."

"You understand how this sounds don't you Mr. Crow?  I certainly can't let you do something to Ms. Spofford, even just touching her.  What if it's not the way you say it is, and you actually do something to her.  With all the strange things that have been happening here I'm inclined to accept an explanation of magic, but I have to act according to the evidence I have.  You two wait here, I need to go check on something."  Mr. Landis leaves the room.


The folks in the hall see the police officer that went upstairs come back and go into the admin office.  A few minutes later you see the girl being taken back upstairs by one of the office staff.

Several minutes pass and Principal Landis comes back into the office where Colin and Kel are sitting.  "I sent Ms. Spofford back to class.  The witnesses in the hall tell a completely different story then either of you.  Based on the recent rash of disturbing personality  problems we've had here between boys and girls I'm going to rule this events brought about by unknown outside influences.  You are to stay away from Ms. Spofford.  If I find out either of you has pursued her or harassed her in an way you will be suspended.  If she harasses you then I expect to hear about it first.  Am I making myself clear on this?"

Kel nods and then says, "Yes sir."  Then he continues on, "Sir, if I may ask...what witnesses in the hall?  I remember hearing doors opening, but from what I saw no one ever actually came out."

"Half a dozen people saw some events transpire in the hall after a scream drew their attention.  The situation seemed mundane enough that no one bothered to look too much beyond what they saw.  Mr. Crow, I want you to be aware that I'll be keeping my eye on you from now on.  To tell a story like the one you did shows something, until I know the validity of it I'm not sure if it's courage or pure insanity, but it certainly shows something.  You boys need to go back to lunch and stay away from Ms. Spofford."

With that the principal opens the office door and sends the boys out of the admin office.

Once they're gone, Kel turns to Colin, "Well, that was surprisingly painless.  Now all we need to do is get faster if she tries to do something nuts to us."

"There's one more thing you should know, sir. In the basement of the school there's a room, the one I was kept in yesterday... I think it should be cleaned up and kept locked. When you see it, you'll know why. I just told you the truth. I'll do as you say."


"I'm thinking of asking for help, or at least some advice. If I can't go near her doesn't mean no one can."

His hand goes to the cellphone in his pocket as they go back to the lunch room. Maybe it's time to give Bobby a call. He looks around for the other girls, just in case. He doesn't like to have enemies. He didn't want them as enemies, but it wasn't his choice.

The boys go into the principal's office, and... nothing happens.  It's quiet.  Sammy comes out from her lurking place and walks down the hall.  She walks back into the cafeteria, and goes back to her seat.  She says nothing to anybody, and her facial expression welcomes no inquiries.

Colin gestures Kel to stay away from the table, but most importantly from Donnie, if the witches are still around to check on them. When he finally can rejoin the usual suspects, he explains them what happened with the principal.

A quick look around shows no sign of the three girls Colin saw earlier.

Kel can see that Sammy went back to the table where she normally sits.

Donnie is still entranced at the table doing whatever it is he's been doing to make the spell work.

"Donnie, you can let it go. Great job." Colin hands him a bar of chocolate, that he brought to school for him, since he said he would have been weak after the spell.

As Donnie regains some energies, he explains everything that happened since they left the lunch room, in much greater detail than he did with the principal.

"So, it's kind of a stalemate. We, at least Kel and I, can't go after her, and she can't go after us. Here at school at least. Hopefully they'll want to lay low for a while and won't go after anyone else. We'd better be careful though.
T.J., do you think you can make some tracers for the others as well? A remote alarm of sorts?
I also think we should go for all the help we can get. What about the Hulk? We should ask for his help, or at least his advice. Sylvia, do you think you could set that meeting for us?"

Sylvia's been hovering near Donnie, anxious for his well-being and keeping a sharp eye out for witchy trios.  At Colin's request, she nods.  "I'll let them know we're ready to talk.  And that we have bigger problems than we thought."

T.J looks thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I could but I'm not sure if I have enough parts. I'll try but I may have to get rid of the taser." Damn it I liked the taser. It was pretty useful. He holds a hand out to Kel. "Thanks for looking after it Kel. Can I have i back?"

Donnie releases the spell and slumps forward, laying his forehead on the cool table. "Ugh."

He stretches, shoulders and back popping. "I feel like I just spent eight hours straight on a Warcraft Raid. I'm pooped." He smiles gratefully at Colin for the chocolate and listens to the results of the Witch Hunt. "Crap. They are sneakier than we thought. I think talking to Dr. Banner would be a good idea, but i will look online and see if I can find the name of a local White Wiccan coven or something to give us a hand. This kind of crap is totally against most Wiccan teachings, and maybe we can find a more powrful local Coven to give us a hand as well.They say what you do unto others will return threefold against you, so I think these chicks need some serious bad Karma. We just need to figure out how."  

Donnie quotes M. Night Shamlayan's Unbreakable. " I need to get some chicken in me."  He gets up a little wobbly and heads off to the lunchline.

Kel slips the taser to TJ under the table and says, "This is getting dangerous.  Those girls are definitely prepared for someone confronting them."

"No, don't take it apart. What about we help you find the parts you need?"

Colin takes a look at his wonderful friends. They all took some risks, and some worked many hours, just to help him.

"Guys, you have all been really great to me. I really don't know how to thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you all."

He makes a promise to himself to always be there for them. Well, to do everything in his power to be there for them.