Later as Sin and Tanni return from visiting the Doctor, they come across a lot of students laughing and pointing upwards. Above them, tied to the school flag pole is a mannequin dressed in Sin's unique school uniform with scarecrow like rainbow hair. A sign drawn underneath it reads - "No one cares. Look who's in the Sin bin now."

Sinsifel curses under her breath as more people laugh at her. Tanni threatens a few of them. One group even turns on Tanni calling her "Little Miss Chaos's tinsy winsy spider."

Valris is furious when she learns what has happened and out for blood but Sin acts pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. "It's my business mum. Just leave it."
"But they could have killed you. Who was it? Who did it?"
Sin refuses to say, which drives Valris even more up the wall. "Honestly Sin, I despair. These girls need to be punished."
"Why?" Sin asks. "Because they broke the rules and physically harmed another student?"
"Yes but mainly because I won't let anyone get away with harming you, for whatever reason."
But Sin still refuses to say who has done it and Tanni is stubbornly silent too when Valris questions her.

Day 12.
Sin is still being shunned and her popularity has hit rock bottom. Nasty notes have been shoved into her locker and now today she wakes up to find her entire school uniform has been plastered in rotten eggs. She manages to borrow a few bits from Tanni but the two girls are completely different sizes.

"They really hate you don't they," mutters Tanni, tossing Sin a spare pair of knee-highs.
Sin nods. "He's winning. Mermerin's winning. I can't win this without supporters. Everyone is turning on me and all I want is to give them more choice, more freedom. I want what is best for them."
"If we keep fighting we're going to burn all our bridges," adds Tanni. "Maybe we should cool it off for a bit. A tactical retreat to regroup and reconsider."
Sin sits down dejectedly and nods. "What's the point in helping people who don't want to be helped. That would make me just as bad as Mermerin - forcing change on them when they don't want it. It's the fear of reprisal. the fear of being punished and losing your rights and privileges that motivates people to this. Law is nothing more than a giant bully."
Tanni agrees and hugs her friend. "Change of tactics?"
"Change of tactics," Sin agrees, hugging Tanni back. "But sod it, I'm going to get some revenge first. Time to work a few little cantrips and maybe a little Eye action."

With that Sin casts a few spells and calls upon the Eye of Chaos to help her.

That morning Sin doesn't attend class. Instead a rather happy looking Helena enters looking all prim and proper. She manages to strangely insult half her friends, lets out a few loud belches and even picks her nose a few times. Then to top it off, half way through the class, 'Helena' is called upon to read a passage from a romantic novel. As she reads it, she rubs her breasts and sits down on Henrick's lap (Henrick being the ugliest, smelliest boy in the class). She finishes the passage by giving the poor chap a full on snog and a face full of cleavage. At this point 'Helena' is sent out of the class to see the School Master for indecent behaviour but 'Helena' just sticks her fingers up and struts out, giving Henrick a saucy wink.

Slightly earlier that morning, Tanni gets a message delivered to the real Helena saying that her morning class has been cancelled and that she has a free study period in the library. Tanni follows her to make sure she takes the bait, which she does.

Later that morning Sin (still looking like Helena) meets up with Tanni in the newly constructed pool shed and the two have a good giggle. "Time to change back," says Sin, calling on the Eye to get rid of the polymorph effect. But the Eye doesn't seem to work, no matter how many times Sin tries it. "I felt sure something happened though," says Sin, growing concerned.
"You're never going to learn with that thing are you?" sighs Tanni.
"Never," Sin replies. "I guess I'm damn well stuck like this for another 19 hours."

Meanwhile elsewhere in the school, the real Helena suddenly starts screaming. Her beautiful blonde hair has suddenly turned black. She runs out into the corridor and up to a mirror. "Oh my god!" She sees the reflection of Sin staring back at her. "I'm her. I'm her. Help me! Help !"

Students just laugh at her, thinking it is another prank of some sort. Jansen happens to be walking by and comments "That crazy wench, she's got a whole bag of screws loose..."

Deciding to skip lessons, Tanni and Sin are about to head out into the woods for the rest of the day when they hear a commotion and see Helena running outside screaming.

"Uh oh," Tanni mutters. "That looks like you."
"Dammit," says Sin. "It's Helena isn't it. Let's nab her. Maybe if I've got physical contact with her we can swap back."

Stunned at seeing herself approaching, Helena points and is about to speak when Tanni grips her arm. "Come with us if you don't want to be stuck like that forever."

Events this month ;-

Valris organizes a sponsored physical and mental challenge contest called "Brains and Brawn." Students submit teams made up of "Brainiacs" and "Brawnies," ; ie. Brainy people and physical people. The contest consists of 6 rounds, (3 physical and 3 mental challenges). The contest proves extremely popular and Valris gets backing to do it again the following year.

Victor begins training with dual purpose, reinforced lower arm guards.

Sin decides to form her own band, tentatively titled - "Eyebite." Tanni joins her on bass. The two of them begin looking for a drummer and violinist but as no one really wants anything to do with them, they find it difficult. Note - Sin and Tanni were originally in "The Seraphim" but the band disbanded due to differences in opinion - namely Sin having very strong ideas about songwriting, singing and the type of music. And Tanni being forced out for being rubbish at playing the Cello.

Dorian's student Sakumi fails to observe proper protocol in training - i.e. she doesn't acknowledge her opponent's surrender and follows through with a killing stroke. Dorian angrily sends her out of his class. "I am not teaching any of you to be ruthless killers. There are animals in nature that can teach you that far better than I. I am teaching you something that requires a higher level of understanding and discipline. To attain that level you have to master your instincts and ultimately transcend them." Dorian does not allow Sakumi back for one whole week.

Valris undergoes a physical examination with Doctor Fabien. Fabien presents her with the results and she in turn passes them onto Victor. "Fabien says that as long as I remain as I am, (she holds out Mermerin's locket), I am like any other 16 year old fertile girl, well almost any. There are 'anomalies' in my blood work that Fabien cannot understand that might effect a child, but he cannot gauge for sure."

How does Victor react to that news?

Events this month ;-

Victor encounters a strange Phantom demon during one of his patrols.
He senses it nearby when he happens to be out hunting with Erik. Going ahead, Victor sees it as it sees him - it seems unusually aware of its surrounding which is why Victor fails to stalk up on it.

As it sees Victor, it speaks - "Are you the one they shelter here?"

But before Victor can ask it any questions, gun shots ring out and silver spikes pierce the creature, impaling it to a tree. Erik reloads his gun shot-gun style and prepares for the killing head shot.

The creature hisses and tries pulling itself free to no avail. "He knows... he knows..." it hisses, looking at no one in particular. Boom. Another spike punctures its head and it evaporates.

"Sure," says Erik, "he knows diddly squat now."

A week later and Valris announces she has learned two new spells... Invisibility and Light Shield. She tests the Invisibility out on herself when next out on patrol with Victor. For Victor with his heightened senses it makes her appear cloaked (Predator style), but for any normal human it renders her 98% unseen. "I can see me using this spell a lot," Valris beams.

Sin is furious and immediately starts hunting for the culprit(s). To Tanni - "It could have been anyone. It's not like I don't have enemies. Someone has just made me really pissed !"
Tanni, looking deadly serious in return says "That was your best piece. That dress was stunning. You'd put your heart and soul into that."
"When I find out who stole it, I'll stick my sowing needle up their nose and hook out their brain..." Sin threatens.

After Sin and Tanni push a few girls around and flush a few heads they are no nearer to finding the thief. "This is no good. I'm gonna have to report it to Verity and run with the blue top as my main piece instead."

Day 7 - In the middle of the night Victor is awakened in his bed by Mai. "Don't worry soldier, I'm not here to rape you. We've got some business to attend to."
Jansen mumbles sleepily from nearby. "I never get girls crawling into my bed in the middle of the night..."

Once Victor is awake and dressed (Mai does take a peek), Mai leads him outside and explains. "One of the guys from Blue Dorm 2 has just been found strangled inside the main building. As Val isn't here, (at her lab) we need your nose."

Victor gets equipped and accompanies Mai to the scene of the murder. Young Master Talbery (aged 13) is lying slumped against a wall with a blanket thrown over him. It is obvious to Victor that the boy has been suffocated, but not by flesh and blood hands.

Victor sniffs and senses something supernatural. With Vee and Mai bringing up the rear, Victor tracks the smell to the school's ventilation system. Unfortunately though, the ducts are too small to traverse, even for Victor.

Mai says that she will report Victor's findings to Mermerin. "The school's been breached by a demon. This isn't good. We need to redouble our watches and enforce strict curfew. I'm going to advise all students travel in pairs until further notice."

"Hold on," says Victor. "I might have a way of following it." Victor, having practiced a lot more with his spirit sense by now, sends his sight and sense of smell into the ducts. After quite some time travelling back and forth he emerges in the school's laundry room - but here the scent grows impossible to track due to all the detergents and soaps. Victor decides to investigate further, but physically.

At 2.30am, with Vee and Mai in tow, Victor enters the school's laundry room and tries to pick up the demon's trail. But as Mai is poking through the bundles of laundry saying "Something smells yucky in here..." a bed sheet suddenly wraps itself around her head and mouth.

Mai starts choking and grasping at the sheet in a panic. "Help!" she cries, her voice muffled as the sheet winds itself tighter and tighter around her face and throat.
Victor leaps over and starts pulling it off but as he does so, a pair of disembodied leather gloves launch themselves at him. He avoids them but yet another item of clothing, this time a pair of trousers, wrap themselves around his legs to try and trip him up.
Meanwhile Vee makes a break for the doorway, but 3 complete disembodied ensembles of school uniform, shirts, socks and skirts, spring up in her path and fly at her.
The laundry room is suddenly in chaos as clothes fly into the air and start attacking the three prefects.
Mai - "mpppphhhh.... elp !"
Vee - "S'chain,eratu,yayne. I summon.... ooof," as a pair of muddy sports shoes kick her in the stomach.
With both of his companions getting "taken to the cleaners", Victor starts slicing at the clothes with his claws. Within seconds the air is full of floating shreds of cloth but the clothes keep coming. A wall of bed sheets unfurl themselves and rush at Victor like a giant fishing net but he leaps them, runs over the ceiling and drops down on the otherside.

What does Victor do next? Leap ahead to the conclusion...

As the lab is completed and as the weeks go by, Prefects like Erik and other students like Tabitha visit Valris to just "chill out" away from the School. Valris welcomes the visitors but doesn't get distracted from her research and experiments.

The stairs, are they a grand hall style of stairs or do they go around a central support pillar? if support pillar, then Vic reckons it will be far better to extend the upper floor so as to create an additional room which extends some what out onto the foyer.  As this room can then be a study / rest (small library) room with a balcony on the part that extends on the foyer.  Who ever going to live/work at lab is going to need some where to chill out/think away from the labs.  And I am sure the view from said balcony will be rather good.

Point taken and map amended accordingly. Staircase travels up around centre pillar onto a landing. Then from the landing, a couple of steps lead up to the two bedrooms and I have now added a step the other way, extending out above the entrance room with a balcony. View is quire breathtaking too - imagine a crystal clear Canadian lake ringed in by trees. This room I have called "The Lounge" although Erik will refer to it as "The Prefect Loft."

Other:  Is it possible to ward rooms to stop Narvay from gaining access to peoples dreams?
If so then make the rooms (bedrooms) at the lab, warded (assuming it won't effect Val).  As lab
is nearly 6 miles away getting there could take some time in case of Narvay stuff (Vic is thinking 
ahead here after his group has left).

Valris has actually already been looking into wardings. Unfortunately her Spell Rod doesn't cover Signs, sigils, Wards etc - only standard AD&D 1st to 9th level spells and their like. After discussing with Mermerin the following comes to light...

Mermerin - "Such things do exist but not here in the school. In order for a "ward" against Chaos to be effective, an area of ground has to be made "Lawful." Normal protection spells will keep out Narvay's phantoms just as effectively as a Servant of Law's barriers but to actually keep Narvay out of someone's mind is a little trickier, as he is the "Lord of the Within.""

Mermerin doesn't give Valris a lot to go on, but does make a few leading comments. "Narvay, like all Chaos Lords, abhors a structured mind. He goes for weak minds or those in emotional turmoil. He exploits cracks and doubts in a person's psyche and opens them up into grand canyons, turning the mild mannered pencil pusher into the psychotic axe wielding lunatic."

Valris is convinced that her mind will not be at threat as it is constantly mulling over spells and enchantment ideas. For protecting other people she is going to have to think some more.

"If the school is not protected by Wards and the ground isn't consecrated or Lawful," says Valris, "Why is it that we aren't overrun by Narvay's servants?"

"I never said the School wasn't 'Protected'. It's just not protected by Wards or Barriers of Law", says Mermerin with a wry smile. "Also, we are closer to the Castle of Law than any other place in the Multiverse. This narrows down Narvay's windows of opportunity."

Militarising the Prefects:
Depending upon where he is with his core studies, Victor wants to learn military tactics & army leadership tactics (ranking system).  The Prefect system at the moment doesn't seem as efficient / effective / ordered as it could be.

Mermerin's take on this - "The Prefect System is not meant to be a rigid structure of Lawful soldiers. It is an opportunity for students with abilities to test themselves against the forces of Chaos, to see if it is their calling. I have never imposed structure upon it as I firmly believe that the Prefects must learn how to organise themselves. It would be easy for someone with military experience to step in and start ordering people around but what tends to happen with those who are not ready for such "Order," is that they rebel and turn away from it. I am all for you attempting to do this Victor - Your test will be in convincing such a diverse and well educated group of people that what you are doing is in their best interests. Just remember though, once a student graduates from the school, a very select few are chosen to go to the Castle of Law. There they are placed into a Military style School. So consider Celesteen a "pre-school" where people can find their path in life."

And considering one of the best defences against Chaos is Order / Law, Vic well thinks it odd.

Right. It is odd - But even though the title says - Celesteen, School of Law, it obviously isn't - it's Pre-Law. True Law is just over the horizon.

Victor was / is intending to make changes / improve to how the prefect system works, during the 2nd / 3rd year which is the reason he didn't go up for Red House Captain (time).  One simply being the pooling of all knowledge concerning Narvay and his minions, weaknesses / strengths / wardings / typical signs of possession (e.g. Toby) etc.  Using this knowledge to create training lessons for new and old prefects would be good.  Not only that as the experienced Prefects leave, with them leaves a large amount of knowledge fighting Narvay's minions. This knowledge should be recorded and built upon as time goes on so that new recruits can be better trained in defence of the school.

Mermerin has all the "Incident Reports" filed by Prefects over the last 40 years and any Prefect is allowed access to them. They make for interesting reading and contain info on the type of Manifestation, victims and ultimately how the creature was defeated. All reports are cross-linked and filed by Type of Manifestation, Date and Prefects on scene. There is a Red file... Mermerin says "Out of the 4531 filed reports, this Red file has only 11 in it. These are 'open' cases involving powerful Narvay servants that either escaped, caused severe loss of life (both student and Prefect) or scared the living daylights out of those filing the report."

Mermerin continues - "I don't make the Red file generally available unless a Prefect comes specifically asking for it. The reasons for this are two-fold - One, the reports are by their very content, a nightmarish read and enough to cause some people to become susceptible to Narvay's influence. Two, some Prefects would not want to go out at night if they knew what could be out there."

So, in brief - "The more you fill a person's head with stories of nightmarish encounters, horrific deaths and terrifying incidents, the more chance, for we all have dreams, Narvay has of gaining a foothold. That is why I keep a close eye on the flow of information. You are of course welcome to come and search for specific things or to consult these reports to establish links. Just do not dwell on them too long." 

There needs to be standard protocols made for certain events.
Protocols. Very interesting. Maybe Victor can suggest some...

Toby was lucky? that Sin was lucky in her use of the Eye, but she won't always be around and when she's gone.  Not only that Vic doesn't like Sin using the Eye for such things as it could well have gone the other way and made the situation far worse.  What will happen if a nightmare gets that bad again?  At the end of the day, it will be far better for said persons to be killed than to let them be completely consumed by Narvay and taken to his realm (well better for their soul's).  Or better yet an item needs to be made that can temporarily wipe a person's mind, as I  kind of get the impression with Toby that once he had been mind wiped the nightmare no longer had such a strong link to Narvay.
Yep.
(or was it just that Blackbone's cosmic link negated the Nightmare's regen/growth power).
And Yep. Correct on both counts.

Concerning Vic's encounter with the Stalker bats I remember a certain girl having a massive fear of bats.  Sidney (Blue house), protection spell vs bats.  Is she a Prefect?  No, she isn't. Either way Vic reckons it would be a good idea for some one to make sure she ain't being affected by Narvay.
Mai checks her out. "She seems ditzy but otherwise fine. I asked a few of her friends if she was sleeping alright and she seems to be. Good call though."

Prob best if  he spoke to Mermerin first.  While there he will ask Mermerin about the prefect system and if it can be improved (he won't say changed, not allowed to change laws but u can always streamline them).  He also wants to find out what Mermerin knows about Narvays minions.
(See above for Mermerin's comments). "I am all for the Prefects being 'streamlined as you put it. Any team needs to train. Perhaps you should have a compulsory training night once a week or fortnight."

Thought Sin was already in a band:
Third term
Sin plays lead guitar in a new band called - "The Seraphim." Their music resembles Clannad / The 
Corrs.  Tanni - Is now learning to play Cello - but only because Sin is seriously into music.
Or is it what with her recent 'fall' that, "The Seraphim." band fell apart?
Note - Sin and Tanni were originally in "The Seraphim" but the band disbanded due to differences in opinion - namely Sin having very strong ideas about songwriting, singing and the type of music. And Tanni being forced out for being rubbish at playing the Cello.
Additional note - After trying and failing at playing bass, Tanni gives drums a go and absolutely loves them.

Eyebite (under Sin's commanding influence) begins developing into a Medieval rock band. Bit more hardcore than Clannad and the Corrs.

Val new spells: Invis, can she cast it on other people as well and can she do a area effect?
Not with this version of the spell but there are 3 other versions she is also attempting to learn.

Light shield she had already learnt that one as she tried to use it against Toby's Nightmare or 
is it now that she improved upon it so that she can effect a larger area?.
Val cast Light Wall 5th lvl against the Toby Bear. She has now learned Light Shield 7th lvl that creates a moveable personal defence shield (all hit locations but only from front, side or back). Shield protects for 10 AP + 1 AP per caster's level above 7th.

Erik, shooting silver spikes?  First time I seen him use those.  He been improving his combat 
knowledge then?  As I was going to speak to him about improving his combat skills.  One get him to 
lose his chainmail armour, chainmail is cack, very heavy and little real protection. Coat of 
plates far better.  Better protection and lighter. 
He likes his chainmail - "Hey, at least I don't wander around flashing my muscles like some big gay dufus," he defends.

Two, want to find out if it is only metal he 
can manipulate or all elements, but just one type at a time?  As I am sure u said he could 
manipulate air to make explosive bullets.  If so can he create 'light' shells?  eg take sunlight 
and concentrate it within a metal casing that fragments upon impact releasing the light.
Erik, like Victor and Valris is at the school to learn. He has learned that sometimes bullets are not the best method of taking Narvay's semi-corporeal servants down. The spikes are not solid silver but coated in it and he has six of them prepared for just such occasions (prepped in metal work).

Metal only. He can only alter one type of metal at a time and cannot transmute bronze to brass or steel to gold etc.

The explosive shells he can fire is a little trick. He carries a pouch of explosive powder that he puts his hand in. He then shapes the bullets around the powder. When accused of misleading Victor he says "Hey, I wasn't going to share all my secrets with you mate. You were the noob. We didn't know if you had your pants on backwards."

Light shells are not possible. What a shame.
However, thickening metal and shaping it are his forte. Valris definitely makes use of his talent over the next few months to speed up her forging.

I am like any other 16 year old fertile girl - Mmmmmm  ;) - WoW, Vic is happy and scared to hear 
that news.  I am assuming Vic doesn't have any problems while in human form, hhmmm shooting loaded 
bullets shall we say. 
None. However, he would need to be checked out to check they weren't blanks.

Hells bells I am sure by now he should know that answer, I mean if I was 
Vic I would have definitely made love to Val while in human form, hell I would of tried the 
different combinations - her Vamp me human, vice versa, both human. That and used the rings and 
his mind lock while 'making love' Vics a creative guy ;)
Dirty minded bugger more-like.

For that matter how often does Val take off the locket normally?  Does she reckon it would be 
possible for her to keep it on for at least 10 months?  What does she reckon upon the idea of 
having another child?  I am assuming that getting pregnant while at the school would be classed as 
rude at the very least.  Just thought about what u wrote in an earlier email: Valris might fall 
from grace. You never know.
Valris doesn't take the locket off while at the school. She only takes it off during Prefect patrol or when out alone with Victor. However, once she gets involved at the lab making things and experimenting, the speed, stamina, strength and heightened dexterity prove invaluable and she keeps the locket off for far longer periods - namely 4 days out of 7.

Valris thinks quite hard about 10 months of being normal. "I could do it. I could live without the abilities and it wouldn't effect my studies. But let's think about this.. 5 more years to go. That would make any child only 4 years old when we left here. We are going into a lot of danger and we already have Sin to worry ourselves about. Another child might distract us even more...." Valris is not against the idea and willing to go for it, but wants Victor to seriously think it through first.

Getting pregnant while at the school would be rude, but Valris doesn't give a damn what Mermerin might think about it.

Obviously a pregnant Valris would not set a very good example to other students. But Valris says - "Once I've earned enough points to stay out here for some time, I intend on running the clubs and such from the island, not the school. It's do-able. I could spend nearly the entire 9 months here on the island."

Vic would love to have another child, but he is worried if well this is the right time but then 
when is.  At the end of the day the Celesteen school is a very safe place to bring up a child 
compared to other places where Vic has been of late.  Not only that will they have another 
chance to conceive a child?  Was also thinking about Dawn.

Perhaps Victor should consult someone else about this and get another opinion. Just say who you want to talk to and I'll give their view on it. Celesteen is probably one of the safer places - you're right about that. And again, when is the right time. You and Valris might never get a few years together like this again.

But quickly, Clothes demon:  I have an 'orriable feeling that Sin's dress is involved.
I am assuming that Vic has heard about the up and coming fashion show.  And has probably visited Sin, 
to see how it was coming along.  Would he have seen the red dress?
No - Sin has been keeping many of her designs under wraps so to speak. She doesn't want people seeing them before the show - especially her jinx of a father who always seems to jump in and ruin things... :-) Victor is barred at the door.
Somehow I expect to find Sin's red dress in the middle of it.
Well, you do have the benefit of me writing about it beforehand don't you Sherlock.
The question then would be, did she give it "life" (desire to kill (drain)) or did one of Narvay's phantoms find the dress and...
Ahh, now that is a very good question.

A wall of bed sheets unfurl themselves and rush at Victor like a giant fishing net but he leaps 
them, runs over the ceiling and drops down on the otherside.

            What does Victor do next?

The first thing he does is to extend his concentration to encompass the whole room (doesn't need to be for long) 
so that 1) he can place where Mai and Vee are in relation to himself and the room exit(s).  2) 
locate entrance ways.  3) Attempt to feel where the source is of this clothes 'monster'.

Ok, Vic is Vamper Vic at the moment so he can hear and smell exactly where Mai and Vee are. The moment he walked into the room his heightened awareness noted 2 exits and a series of high but very narrow ventilation windows.

Extending his awareness, he would probably just try to find the "source" of whatever is attacking. But even though he gets a feeling of something on the otherside of the room, the sounds of Mai and Vee suffocating will prevent him from taking any action other than rescue.

This clothes thing can't hurt Victor directly but can indirectly via Mai (Vic likes Mai, classes 
her as a friend (does she have the hots for him?  Or is it just her unfulfilled (don't think that's 
correct word but) feelings for Eric).
Mai is very flirtatious but just a friend. Flirting among male and female friends is common. Trick is not to let it get too far.
She and Erik have an on off relationship. The two of them are not looking at the moment for anything more concrete.

Vic's main concern at mo is to get Mai and Vee out of trouble, by either grabbing them and running 
out of the room and shutting door behind or finding source of clothes monster and taking it out.
If possible he will get Mai and Vee out of room to relative safety.  He can then go back in.
Done. Will write it up and send later.
It's not as if he can be suffocated or be pulled apart, well I highly doubt the evil spirit is 
strong enough.
Astute assumption. So Vic leaves room and then heads back in to face Persil and his army of Daz.

Email exchanged between 9th and 10th of Nov 05.

One cord does catch Victor around his left arm. It then swings him against a wall, leaving a Victor-sized imprint in the plaster. Vic quickly regains his balance and cuts the cord midway to land safely again on the edge of one of the giant wash basins.

As if that weren't enough, suddenly the water filled basin shudders, showering Victor in water. A water shape lunges at him and sucks his legs and lower body downwards. He grabs the edge of the basin and with all of his strength, causing the edge to twist and bend inwards, Victor manages to keep himself from being completely pulled down. He clambers out, slashing several times at the water for good measure but it seems to have reverted back to normal.

Socks pelt him, wet knickers hit him in the face, bars of soap torpedo at him like stones and towels whiplash against his hardened skin, as Victor fights to remain mobile in an ever increasing tornado of clothes. A corset suddenly attaches itself to his waist and starts contracting with giant-like strength but he quickly tenses his skin causing the strings to snap.

Then he sees it, a glimpse of red in the soap filled carnage, retreating through a ceiling vent. A few seconds later, the madness seems to die down and things start drifting to the ground, once again lifeless and inanimate.

Victor leaps up and into the vent, squirming through it like a snake in pursuit of the red attacker. It isn't long before he sees it again, drifting around a bend. When he gets there he sees another open vent, but too small for him to get through. Below him is the private room of one of the senior female students of blue house called Lucy Dipple. This is what he sees.

Victor sees Lucy, fast asleep in bed in the room on her own. At first glance everything appears normal but to Victor's heightened senses, he knows it isn't. Something is moving beneath the bed sheets, working its way up Lucy's body.
Victor knows he has little time to act. Whatever demon is causing this could be about to claim a victim. He shouts to alert the sleeping girl and smashes his way through her ceiling, showering the room in debris.
Suddenly Lucy sits perfectly upright as if a plank of wood is supporting her back. Despite appearing to be asleep, she suddenly levitates to a standing position without the use of her arms or legs.

It is then that Victor sees Sinsifel's stunning red dress resting perfectly over Lucy's own nightdress.

Things happen next in a flurry of motion; Lucy's body leaps at Victor executing a range of lethal open palm strikes and kicks. Victor is taken aback by the ferocity and skill of the innocent girl's attack and forced to defend, but one well placed kicked sends him careening into Lucy's book shelves. A shout from next door of "Lucy, what's going on?" is drowned out by the possessed girl grabbing her own bed and flipping it up to trap Victor like the ham in a wall and bed sandwich.

The path of least resistance proves to be through the bed rather than out and around it so Victor pushes his claws through the mattress and the bed quickly crumples around him. He starts retaliating, but with extreme caution - It's obvious that it is the dress that is the problem, not the girl, so Victor aims for the red material whilst trying not to injure Lucy or cut her.

A major unarmed fight ensues as Victor is batted around the room like a ball. Victor is injured but his regeneration keeps him going. A well placed slash here and slash there starts to unravel the dress and throw Lucy off balance until finally, after demolishing the entire room and half the ceiling, Lucy stands completely naked, but uninjured, atop a pile of lifeless red tatters and rubble. She starts to fall so Vic catches her just as the door falls from its frame into the corridor and a dozen teenage frightened girls peer in.

What they see fuels the gossip wheel for several weeks to come.

The Aftermath
Lucy wakes up with no memory of anything untoward happening. She is however distressed at being caught in a compromising situation with Victor and understandably upset about the loss of her room.

As Victor seems to have been the only one to "see red" so to speak and recognise Sin's dress as the cause of it all, what will Victor do?

Will he report it all to the other prefects and Mermerin? Will he cover it up to protect his daughter? Will he investigate further but discreetly? Will he not say anything or will he speak the complete truth and face any consequences?

Sin's fashion show goes down extremely well and she actually earns points for her house, rather than loses them.

As for a cover story of how Victor ended up in Lucy's room and managed to demolish it - Mermerin announces the next day at assembly the following ;- "Prefect Victor was investigating noises coming from the steam pipes and happened to come across a potentially hazardous blockage. A tremendous 
amount of pressure had been building up for some time and he recognised it was near to exploding. The pressure was greatest directly above Lucy Dipple's room and he rushed to help her. Using a device I had loaned him for the purposes of containing any potential problems he managed to limit damage to just the one small area and both he and Lucy escaped unharmed. The school's pipe-work is currently undergoing a thorough check and I can assure all students that they are perfectly safe. That is all."

Of course Sin and Valris won't buy this story so Victor will need to explain it personally to both of them.

Does Vic know for definite if the dress was possessed by a Narvay minion or self-powered?
Did he detect that usual feeling that phantoms/stalkers have?
Why is Lucy distressed at being caught in a compromising situation with Victor?  Thought she would love it, or is it that she is scared how Val will react?  But man, Vic's reputation, lol he must have a class rep by now.
Good point. Undoubtedly, it was a Narvay minion. In the aftermath, Mermerin and the other teachers take an interest in what it was that Victor was fighting so ferociously.

Victor is summoned to Mermerin's chambers.
Mermerin senses the remains of Narvay's influence in Lucy's room. Mermerin - "Narvay's minions look for absolutely any way into the waking world. This particular minion must have targeted one our students who was dreaming about this red dress. It could have been anyone connected with this dress who provided the opening Narvay needed, not necessarily the one you might think, despite how it looks."

As for Lucy, she keeps her head down about the whole situation - and you're right, she is perturbed. She knows how popular Valris is and just wants to forget the whole thing. After all, she feels a little weirded out after being possessed by a Chaos entity, even if she can't explain why. Victor gets more stick for it than she probably does... "Hi Victor, how is Lucy's pipe organ?" - "Hey Victor, going for a double dipple?" - "Victor brings the house down - wham bam, sorry I've blown your room up maam..." "Xenon Von Victor, the one man Duke of Demolition."

Master Talbery's death is kept very discreet. In fact, two days later Mai is shocked to see the young boy still walking around. When Mermerin is confronted on the subject he taps his nose and says "Perhaps you were mistaken. Perhaps Master Talbery wasn't completely dead after all..."
Mai - "He was dead. I'm not stupid. What happened? Is it him or some sort of doppleganger?"
Mermerin - "It is him my dear. The attack on him was supernatural, yes, but the actual cloth that did the throttling was not. Master Talbery stopped breathing and for a while his heart stopped beating - but his "death" as you witnessed it, still left him firmly within our influence, as opposed to Narvays."
Mai - "So because he died a natural death, you jump started him again like a battery?"
Mermerin smiles again - "Yes my dear, you could say that. I know people who possess quite advanced methods of resuscitation."

Victor and Sin discuss the red dress situ - Victor approaches her outside on a bench. Young lad called Hubert is carrying her books. "Was it a demon?"
"I've heard that you've been missing a red dress..."
"Bastard, I hadn't even worn it."
Sin is shocked that she has "killed" someone and can't handle it. She wants to leave the school.

3 days later is the fashion show. 

"I've got to leave." Sin cries and runs to Mermerin. Mermerin tries to calm her and summons Valris from class. Victor gets the brunt of Sin's emotional outage. Sin believes she has to leave for the good of everyone. Valris arrives and takes control. Orders Sin to sit down. Says that if Sin goes, she'll have to go too, which Sin definitely doesn't want as that would ruin Valris' chances of learning proper magic - which she knows her mum really loves.

Sin asks for the chance of becoming a prefect. Mermerin says that it is possible, for a trial period. Val then tells Sin to study hard, get good grades and keep out of fights for 6 months - if she does, Vic and Val will consider her for Prefect trial - along with Tanni.

"Is Mermerin bothered?" - about Sin's chaos problems.
"Am I bothered?" Mermerin jokingly replies.

Val takes Sin outside to prepare a cover story for her emotional running through the school. Orders Victor to remain, ready for her tongue-lashing.

Valris critisizes Victor's parenting style. "Sometimes you have to take charge, say black is black and white is white. Sit her down and don't give her any options or room for debate. You're the parent, she's the child. It's as simple as that."

Agreement - "Don't need to tell Sin everything chaotic that happens - we need to protect her as much as possible as these things, as long as they have been handled safely, will just interfere with her ability to settle in and cause her too much worry. Do you think that she tells us every little chaotic thing that happens with the Eye. I severely doubt it, because we'd both have white hair by now..." says Valris.

"Well, it was an interesting reaction..." says Victor, causing Valris to angrily leave the room.

Week passes - Sin hasn't to Victor once.
Valris is annoyed at Victor for being insensitive and unthoughtful of the consequences and upset that telling Sin might have caused and indeed did.

Mai visits Vic and asks what the problem is. "Haven't you ever bought a girl a bunch of flowers."
Vic visits Val at the lab. Al the doors are locked (by spells). Valris is inside and not wearing her wedding band of Ithillian. Shock ! Vic's in trouble now. (Actually, she has just removed it as she cannot be wearing any magic for her up and coming ritual.)

"I'm in the middle of a ritual. I'm busy. I'll talk to you later."
Valris says that he is out of touch with his daughter and needs to spend some time with her - take some time to show interest.
Next day, Sin is alone after swimming and in her bathing outfit with a towel wrapped around.
Vic tries to smooth things over with Sin.
"It's the wardrobe thing isn't it..."

Sin's wardrobe opens into the boys locker room. She can stand in it and spy out through a locker door at all the buff bodies.

Sin's latest song in Eyebite - "Depression".
Sin pursuades Victor to go along to martial arts class twice a week.
Sn visits the spa weekly with her mum.

First lesson ;-

Learning Doku - blocks, sweeps, throws, kicks and strikes. A Universal martial discipline. Bit like Tai Kwon do.

MERMERIN QUESTIONS
2 weeks later - Victor meets Mermerin again...
Vic paces as he wants to ask Mermerin some difficult questions.
Vic asks if Val could become a teacher at the school.
"No... her chaotic infuences are too great and would prove too difficult to manage and conceal here. Not that I wouldn't accept her in an instant if this were not the case," says Mermerin.

Mermerin gives two options for Valris' freedom from Kutal - 1) Victor makes a bargain with Kutal for Valris' freedom. 2) Sinsifel uses the Eye to free Valris (extremely risky).

Victor - "Can students return for say 9 months after graduating?"
Mermerin - "I think I understand why you're asking - but I say again, the Blood Lord has complete control over your blood. He can alter you and return you to human at any time."

Ok, the very first thing Vic will do, is to make sure other peeps can see the foot-prints and not just Vic.
Sure enough, others can see the footprints, but they, like Victor, don't have any luck tracking them as the distinctly vanish without a trace.

2nd Vic will go info gathering:
Vic is getting quite good / fast I believe with his mind lock skill, yes?  Well first thing he will do next time he senses/sees the Watcher is to go 100% mindlock upon this being.  He only needs an instant of a second of mindlock upon this being for what he plans to do afterwards - meditation.

End of Month 10, Day 27. 14.00 hours. Victor is in the swimming pool when he notices something at the bottom of the pool. He looks down and in the shadows at the very bottom, he sees the Watcher. (No air bubbles, no movement, just standing looking up at Victor). Victor immediately gets a mental lock on the entity. Even though it is only for a split second, Victor senses something with his mind, but then the lock breaks and as Victor dives, the sun gleaming off of the water dazzles him for a moment and the being disappears.

Vic uses his meditation skill to relive the times he has sensed this being.  What does he perceive while meditating: Firstly is this being alive? - does it have a heart beat, does it have a smell, does it have a spirit etc?  What can Vic sense?  Also how does it seem to disappear, by this I mean how does it look, eg does his feet disappear first or all of him at once?  Does it seem to be by magic or science (like when Mordred would disappear when he had his mech-suit)?  For that matter does this being even exist, is just a illusion?

All good questions. After meditating upon the split moment he made contact, Victor ascertains the following ;-
He cannot sense a heartbeat. In fact, he cannot sense breathing, smell blood or any other indication that the being is alive in the normal sense.
He cannot sense spirit from the being - i.e. It appears to have no aura. This might suggest it is an illusion or just a phantasm of Victor's imagination, were it not for the fact that Victor witnesses it displace water in the pool and leave the occasional stray footprint behind.
As for how the being disappears, it appears to be almost instantaneous. But after meditating on it for some time, the ability seems to definitely start at the being's back, where hangs a plain, solid metal silver coloured sword that for a moment pulsed with distinctly magical power.

Can he do a 'event search' while meditating?
As there is a chance that this Watcher has been watching Vic at other times, but he hasn't conciously noticed.  So what I want to know is can Vic do a 'event search'  ( file search ;)   If not he will have a go at doing so.  Check out some of the spiritualism books in the library.  While there he will check and see if they have any books upon any specialist Law units (hey its Law - so they should have standard types of followers/soldiers).  I would imagine that Mermerins personal libary might be better than School libary.

Victor's mind is not tremendously well structured - not like a hard drive, so doing a "file search" for moments he may have missed is not an easy task. The options are ;- 1) Find someone capable of going through memories (i.e. someone specialised in memory retrieval - There may be someone at the school). Even if he does find someone, they may still take a long time to sift through Victor's typical day, week, month etc. And there is the added complication of what this person might uncover while doing so. 2) Victor spends time meditating and selectively sifts through his own memories. This might take longer but is probably more practical.

Using this, Victor at first uncovers the following - The Watcher has been seen 7 times in total and each time has been at least 1 month apart, sometimes more.

Some ideas for trying to do a event search: 1, Just meditate upon the image and perceptions Vic has of the Watcher and let his mind do the rest.  2, meditate upon the image and perceptions Vic has of the Watcher and mentaly jump to each time Vic has seen him then jump to times he hasn't seen him.  3, meditate upon the idea/perceptions of the Watcher (but not sight) and go to each time. 4, mediatate about the 6 times Vic has seen the Watcher and compare each to look for any patterns (eg was there always some else there, was it always daytime, does the Watcher always look the same (including posture), is the Watcher always in the same spot in relation to Vic (eg is he always is 5 feet away at 3 O'clock from where Vic is facing), is the Watcher's always facing towards 'South' or 'North' etc.

Interesting... Carrying out points 1), 2) and 3) Victor doesn't uncover any other moments. He does however get to relive some interesting and nostalgic moments at the school. 4) Looking for patterns, again Victor comes up with zilch. The Watcher appears at different times of the day, in different positions, but always a safe distance from Victor (at least 25 - 30 feet). Victor does find a feeling to link all appearances. Just before Victor sees the Watcher, he gets the strong feeling of being "watched". This feeling isn't so much Victor suddenly sensing the Watcher's presence but the Watcher doing something to give itself away. Expanding on this there is the distinct possibility that Victor is watched for some time and oblivious to it before the being finally shows itself (either on purpose or by accident). Spooky. Enough to get Victor a little paranoid.

Where is the school situation? Is it planet or some sort of plane (nexus)?
"Celesteen is actually a small moon, one of 7 that orbit the Castle of Law, which itself resides upon planetary body that I shall refer to as The Axis. The Seven moons are ;- Celesteen, Unitane, Orias, Metaphane, Meridian, Arklin and Constance with Celesteen being in the highest orbit. As for travel between them, that is only possible if sworn into the Service of Law. You won't see the other moons or The Axis in the sky as for one, it would disturb the students and two, such things are not for unsworn eyes to see."

Are there any lifeforms larger than foxes (excluding Narvay's minions and people related to the school) nearby?
"We have goats, three dozen cows for fresh milk, chickens, ducks, fish, birds, a family of boar and I believe one bear on the eastern edge called Vilnus. I understand he's very good at stealing sandwiches. Other than those, no."

Are there any intelligent beings (excluding Narvay's minions and people related to the school)?
"I don't believe so. Everyone on Celesteen has a purpose and everyone is know to me."

What will Vic find if he was to travel say a 150 miles in one direction?
"You wouldn't find anything as you couldn't, I wouldn't let you. There is a distinct edge to the school's grounds as you can see from my provided map. Beyond that, things are, how shall I put it, inhospitable. You would not want to leave my influence Victor as that would put you very much on Narvay's doorstep."

"Hi," Valris croaks. "Sorry. I blew something up."
Victor checks that she is alright and then sits down beside her.
Valris - "I accidentally mixed some unstable elements together. I think I may need a few more chemistry lessons." She smiles and wipes her face clean with a hanky. "Luckily I work with the pendant off. I reacted quick enough to jump out of the way. If I had been human, I probably would have lost a hand."

After assessing the damage, Lab 1 is put out of operation for 2 weeks. Valris however is quite upbeat about it. "My father would crucify me if he knew I as blowing things up. He would say, 'If you don't know how to do it right, don't do it at all.' But if I listened to that, I'd never be able to experiment and try new things."

Vic looks down upon Valris accusingly and points at her says in a semi-serious tone (serious enough to make her unsure if he joking or not)
"Mmmm Valris, I believe, you've been letting all this personal laboratory and head of year business get to your head.  You need bringing back down to earth abit."  Vic pauses a second to let that sink-in, then he picks her up, looks into her eyes - grinning ever so faintly - slaps her once quite hard on each butt cheek, then kisses her.  Enjoys the expression on her face, before he walks off quite innocently, whistling as he goes.

Later that day he draws up some blueprints for lab tools :- (you remember in school chemistry lessons the metal apparatus) metal rod pointing upwards with a weighted metal base stand with a another metal rod attached via a adjustable (wing nuts) clamp (for vertical adjustments) clamped length ways with a adjustable double fork grip on one/both ends.  Plus another metal rod, say 3.4 feet long with a adjustable metal grip on one end etc.  He also designs it so that the metal bases can be affixed to the floor (or stone tables if they being used).

Val is using glass test tubes, being that glass is less reactive than metal better for chemical experiments.

Victor works out how much material, points and labor is needed for a couple sets (Vic could save allot of time doing it himself in BStar form and getting Eric to help for the more complicated parts).  He presents it all as a small project to the craft's teacher. The idea behind this apparatus is that 1, being metal, they will take quite abit of abuse (could even glass them to give them some acid protection). 2, they will help to protect the experimenters in as much as they will be 3 feet away when they mix the chemicals.

After 4 weeks of part-time labor, Victor completes both sets to aid Valris' experiments.