12.05.2019: Night School Pt. 1
| Night School, Part 1 | |
|---|---|
| Three friends do some extra curricular snooping. | |
| Players | Evaline Saskia Teagan |
| Location | US Prospect Campus |
| Spheres | Mage |
Transcript
The modest parking space outside of the faculty building is illuminated by a single, ancient streetlight, surrounding everything in a soft yellow glow. The building itself is surprisingly large for what it is. It looks like a relatively new construction, at least five floors, and with wide curtained windows. From the looks of it, all lights seem to be off inside, and only the low rumbling of machinery can be heard from the parking lot. Teagan looks to Evaline, turning her head slowly as she puts the hood of her jacket up.
"So. We just need to get in, nab some files, and get out." There's a glance thrown to the entrance. "I -could- use this-" She says as she flashes a keycard from her pocket, "but, that'll place me here if anyone finds out about this." She stuffs the card back in her pocket before continuing. "Security should be fairly lax, there's like three people total who monitor all the faculty buildings. You think you can get us in?" Her eyes stay on Evaline for a while before wandering off towards Saskia. "And try not to kill anyone if stuff goes bad." Smiling, she turns back to face the building. "We good?"
"I do more than slapping people about, Teagan." Saskia answers Teagan with an eye-roll, as she's leaning all cool like against the walll- arms folded across her chest. "Smash raid." She suggests, "Disable all electrical devices in the building with the Ars Essentiae." A pause, as she translates to non-hermetic. "Forces." She dips her chin towards Evaline, "I'm sure Evaline has something up her sleeves for somesing' like that. No?" An eyebrow raises, as she peels herself off the wall to scope out the outside security. "If not, I can try Ubirti's Electrical chaos..." She scrunches her lips together, "Never tried it, could explode. Exploding would be bad...?" The Flambeau glances towards Teagan for confirmation.
"The keycard will not be necessary." The stern voice comes from the depths of a hooded black parka jacket, big enough to conceal the young woman's identity. She takes a step toward the house, the pale blue glow of her goggles peeking out from under her huge hood. "Nor will any explosive Hermetic charms." Evaline rolls up her sleeve and there's a sleek, rounded black keyboard attached to a bracer on her forearm. A gloved hand pulls a long cable tether from it, and she approaches the keycard lock on the door.
"This should not take more than a moment." She gives the electronic lock a cursory glance. A wave of energy washes over her goggles as they display a complex electrical diagram of its inner circuitry, and how it interacts with the security systems of the building at large. There's a sharp crack as Evaline haphazardly jabs the sharp tether into the plastic outer casing, and once it makes contact with the circuits within, her goggles light up once more.
Her fingers dance on the keys as a light show happens in front of her eyes. A few minutes of exploring and there's a BZZT as the red indicator above the lock turns from red to green. She retracts the tether and it whips back into her wrist mounted keyboard. Turning back to the duo, she gives them a polite smile and opens the door, standing aside. "Ladies first."
"And I value all of your other skills." Teagan says to Saskia with a smile. "Exploding would definitely be bad." She tries her best not to laugh at that as Evaline heads off towards the panel. Saskia would notice a solitary security camera mounted on the wall of the building, pointed towards the driveway, presumably used to monitor any vehicles leaving or entering the premises.
Relieved as the door opens without any complications, Teagan takes a deep breath before ushering Saskia towards it. "You heard her." She says playfully, following shortly behind. She gives Evaline a grin and a polite "Thank you!" as she strolls in after Saskia. Apparently, there's motion detectors inside as the lights flick on just a second after the two step in. They're standing in a hallway lined with offices for various university personnel. At the end of the corridor is a sizable lounge, with some snacks and fruits still left out from earlier in the day.
Twirling around as the lights turn on by themselves, Teagan is briefly startled before she realizes they turned on by themselves. "Okay. His office should be on the third floor." Her eyes turn to a closed door on her left. "Stairs should be just this way." She says, pulling at a door on her left. It opens, and it takes a moment for Teagan to realize that it probably shouldn't. "Did you do something to everything in here? 'Cause this door should be locked, unless someone's been through here recently..." Slightly worried, she continues onward, climbing the narrow staircase to the third floor.
The stairs lead to a spacious lobby with large windows, furnished neatly with expensive chairs and tables arranged in a pleasing pattern. The lobby leads into a set of four offices, separated by frosted glass walls. The lights flicker on as the three enter, and Teagan's eyes immediately dart towards the offices upon hearing a faint shuffling sound. Furrowing her brow, she gives Saskia and Evaline a concerned look before taking a few cautious steps into the lobby. Out of fear that they might not be alone, she hides behind a hefty couch, peering over its back for any signs of movement.
"It would only explode if it went -wrong-." Saskia grumbles out, sinking back into the shadows as Evaline does her magic on the keypad. She watches curiously, while unfurling a dark balaclava from one of the pockets on the coat to cover her face. Though, her fiery hair sticks out the back a little which sort of defeats the point. She's wearing curiously few weapons about her person, the only visible one is an expendable telescopic baton clipped on her belt. "A hermetics spells rarely go wrong, intense study, practic-" She trails off and blows out her cheeks as they probably don't actually care. A low whistle slips past her teeth as Evaline opens the door, and she follows them both in at a sneaky half-crouch. She's taking his way too seriously, like she's sneaking into a Technocratic construct- but no, just a nerd building. Her eyes zip from corner to corner, window to window, wall to wall. Everywhere. One hand rests on the retracted baton on her belt, the other hangs behind her.
She's quite quiet considering her build, this is likely not the first time she's broken into somewhere. As Teagan grows concerns and ducks off behind the sofa, Saskia pivots to shield herself behind a convenient pillar. She starts casting, both hands raise before her face, her fingers twisting in the air, the tips of her fingers touching together to form a lattice. "Vas Val Vas~" She incants in a strange language, and splits the lattice of fingers apart. She finishes the ritual by swiping two fingers downwards along her eyelids- illuminating any life signatures to her, and with a flick of her wrist and weaving of her fingers she transfers the effect to both Teagan and Evaline.
Evaline follows closely behind, delicately closing the door behind her with a soft click. She trails behind the others to the third floor, taking the time to study the sophisticated grid of electronics that weave throughout the structure of the building like a vast web of digital consciousness. A million pathways of data going every which way, connecting up every concievable device. It would be mind boggling to anyone not so versed in studying such things. The wealth of information is soaked in by Evaline, until some irridescent cloud of life force forms a pattern in front of her eyes, muddling the data being fed to her on the inside of her goggles. She slips them up onto her forehead, and blearily rubs her tired eyes. "Ah," she begins, her green eyes glowing with Hermetic life sight, "we have company, I see. Well, it should not be hard for three willworkers to outmanouvre some overworked faculty." Her voice is confident, and she slips in to hide behind the same couch as Teagan.
With a slip of her wrist the same tethered cord is out again, and she's jammed it into some easily overlooked junction box on the wall. There's a furious tapping and the lights begin to dim slowly... then, they come back to life, perhaps a little brighter than before. Evaline looks back at the others, her face a tinge red, hoping they haven't noticed her attempts, and quietly removed the tether from the junction box. It whips back into its home in her wrist mounted keyboard. "So..." she says, clearing her throat into her gloved fist, "what's the plan, Saskia? I'm sure you've thought of a way to get rid of this little obstacle."
Teagan blinks a few times as Saskia's spell settles into reality. There, inside the furthermost office on the left side is a definite sign of life, the aura around it pulsating with a steady rhythm. The lights flicker once more, and from their position behind the couch, the three hear the sound of a door swinging open as the signature moves slightly. "Hello?" A disheveled voice calls out. Receiving no response, the sound of the door closing is heard a few seconds later. Teagan's eyes grow wide in fear as she purses her lips. "Why the fuck is he here?" She hisses quietly. Her eyes dart over to Evaline, and then Saskia. "Yeah... What's the plan?" Turning around to confirm that the presence of life still remains, Teagan adds, "I mean, Nigel's an ass, but he's just a normal guy."
Saskia presses herself against the pillar as Evaline starts tapping about, fearing the result. Still, her eyes bounce around the room from corner to corner- using the life sense to scan the area top to bottom. Thankfully, there does not seem to be an army of technocratic agents hiding behind the next wall, or any that she can see. "I do not tollerate asses." Saskia rumbles out in regards to Nigel, remaining where she is beside the pillar. The trademark 'flick' of her telescopic baton can be heard, as she draws it at her side ready to ruin someones day. "Hermetics never back into a corner-" She boasts to Evaline, "We are the corner." She says with a straight, deadpan face. She thinks it sounds rather badass, but given with her German accent she just sounds a bit clueless. She moves aside from the pillar, a small etched talisman extends from her finger- attached by a thin wire cord. She holds it up towards the light source, "OLAPIRETA" she mutters, the words vibrating in her throat as she invokes Enochian. The lights in the room begin to dim just enough to render them hidden in the darkness. The talisman begins to glow softly, storing the light within the foci- ready to unleash at a moments notice if she has the cause. It hides away in her palm, a little of the light escaping from between her fingers- she holds it behind her back.
"Knock on zee' door, I'll blast him in the face with the light- blind him for a few minutes. Ja?" She nods a few times, proud of her effort.
"The corner?" Evaline mouths silently to Teagan, shrugging helplessly. In any case, she peers curiously as Saskia begins her invocation, and takes mental notes on the interesting aspects of Hermetic tradition at play. She gives a gentle sigh as Saskia succeeds where she has failed, and feels thankful to have such useful companions.
She nods to Saskia, rising slowly to her feet from behind the couch, feeling much safer under the cover of darkness. She nods to Saskia's instruction, and silently creeps over to the door where Nigel supposedly resides. She gives 3 loud knocks, then tucks herself behind a fake potted plant by the door. There's a sharp 'click' as Evaline's own baton, spear-tipped and seemingly dormant without that usual crackle of resonant energies coursing through it. It merely glints in the dark, its immaculate surface polished to perfection. She holds it behind her back, hiding it from view from whoever may walk out the door, but ready to use should it really come down to it.
Teagan responds by mouthing "I don't know..." back to Evaline as she shakes her head from side to side. Not actually armed with anything, Teagan decides that it's probably safer if she remains hidden behind the couch.
There's a squeak from a chair inside the office, and a voice speaks up from behind the door. "I didn't think you'd make it here so quickly..." It mutters before footsteps can be heard approaching the door. The door swings open, and behind it is a frumpy looking man in his late forties dressed in a brown cardigan. "Now, I think it was just..." He begins before noticing that there's no-one standing in front of the door. He scratches the back of his head, and for just a moment the whites of his eyes go entirely black. He blinks, and they return to normal, and he opens his mouth, only having time to utter a single word in Enochian. "Show-" before he's interrupted by...
"ORBUS LUNEM," Comes a incantation from Saskia, she lashes that glowing talisman up in her palm to release the stored light in a blinding flash as she darts out infront of the door. Hopefully the others were looking away, else they might get a bit dazzled. She turns her head away, the talisman dissolving in her hand as the energies are released. It burns her hand a little, and she discards it with a mumbled protest. This gives her a little pause, leaving the doorway open for someone else to charge inwards.
The 'someone else' answers the call very quickly indeed. The figure of Evaline is captured for an instant in the blinding flash as she launches herself from her position behind the potted plant and right into Nigel. The baton comes around in a low swing as the portly man is blinded, and she sweeps out his legs from under him, sending him to the floor in a heap.
The girl flourishes her weapon and stands low over their floored victim, her goggled eyes staring into his. She slowly raises the baton above her head, poised like the stinger of some giant metal scorpion, and she cocks her head to Teagan and Saskia, signalling that all is clear. If Nigel were to protest to this startling invasion, she would threaten him with the baton, its spear-tip glinting in the fluorescent light, a finger to her pursed lips.
Teagan winces as the man is pushed to the ground, and looks around the room in panic before finally gritting her teeth and setting off towards the office in a sprint. Narrowly managing to step over Nigel, she steps into the room, eyes darting all over the place as she tries to find what she's looking for. She frantically shuffles ungraded papers and various texts around to try and locate the laptop she's looking for. Not finding anything, she tries the drawers, one by one rapidly opening and closing them. Failing that, she crouches under the desk itself, finally finding the thing taped covertly onto a side compartment. Her hand goes into her pocket as she grips a flash drive tightly, but she quickly realizes she doesn't have the time. She glances over in Evaline's direction, but shakes her head, instead deciding to rip the entire device away. The tape comes undone with a loud rip as Teagan shoves the laptop under her arm, leaping back out over Nigel. As she does, the man looks to her from his grounded position and asks a confused "Teagan?" Resisting every urge to turn and look at him, Teagan instead rushes towards the staircase.
As Teagan rushes off, Nigel looks to both Saskia and Evaline and lets out a hefty grunt. "Who the hell are you people?" He says, more collected than most men would be in his position. As his voice quiets down, there's a quiet, but definitely audible sound of a car pulling up onto a driveway. This seems to give the man some relief, and he adds, "You're certainly not one of mine." At that, he begins to convulse as his limbs start slowly stretching, skin turning a sickly pale color.
