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This is the way the world ends...


Chibichibi

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The aging Dean of the Collegium coiled around his desk and propped his elbows on it's smooth, varnished surface. He gazed around the room with sightless eyes, their pupils as dull as the once vivid red scales of his lower body. He had not wanted to call these students to him today. He did not want to be the one, but he had to be. There was no one else more qualified than he to send his students off to their deaths.

He closed his filmed over eyes and took a deep breath. His time would be soon. He'd face this with dignity before he went home to die. "I'm sure you are all wondering why this old, tired man has called you to his office today," he said with some mustered enthusiasm. "As you know, I am the Dean of this miraculous place, so it falls to me to tell you the news." He took a deep breath and plunged ahead, "Our world is in very deep trouble. There have been tremors in parts of the planet where there should be none. Reports of strange humans in strange clothing talking in a language similar to ours, but not close enough." He started coughing, a terrible wet tearing sound. "Our scholars have been able to determine that they come from another plane of existence, through strange portals. They are mortal, no worries about that, and they are experiencing the same sort of phenomena that we are."

He motioned to the shadows behind him and a dapple grey Centaur in the crisp uniform of the warmages saluted them before speaking, "You are being recruited to close the portals. We have poured over every shred of census data available to us and we have determined that you all are the best candidates for the job. We're sorry that it is you that must do this, but we have no other choice."

The Dean sighed, "If these portals are not closed, our world will continue to be drawn into this other one, and they will tear each other apart." He gave a sad, soft smile. "We're counting on you. You're all adults and your families and friends have been notified. I'm afraid I can't tell you how to close them, but Academics of your standing will be able to find something. I'm sure Professor Ramielle will be able to assist you. You must leave today. I'm sure you all have questions, please, do not be afraid to ask."

(And go!)
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Hoten was one of the first to speak up, not looking up from his book as he did so. "So long as our families know of what becomes us, I have no qualms with this duty you've charged me." he says, his forked tongue flicking out of his mouth, then darting back into it. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the air had a strange taste to it today.

As he quickly scanned the room and looked at his fellow mages and........Well, he could call them peers, but he doubted any of them had any concept of the kind of magic he utilized. After the quick scan of the room, his right thumb, which was holding the pages open on his book, moved to flick the page so he could continue reading. Others might notice he was staring directly at his book now, but they would have to be standing in front of him to see his eyes through his gray hooded cloak.
 
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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Lyinne looked at the Dean, her smooth black hair covering the left side of her face. As the Dean spoke, she took in every word that came out of the aged man's lips. These portals had been on everyone's minds and tongues, but never did she hear of anyone actually going to deal with them

...your families and friends have been notified.

Those words echoed within Lyinne's head. She had only one family member, and that was her sister. Having been responsible for raising and loving her, Lyinne's sister was sure to be worrying over her little sister's well being. She didn't know how long she'd be gone from home, and the ignorance of such a fact would be enough to make Lyinne anxious. Regardless, the Dean spoke with a sense of urgency and pensivity. He was right, it would be the end of their worlds if no one dealt with these portals. The possible catastrophe that would follow if the portals weren't closed were too frightening for Lyinne to envision. The portals had to be closed.

I'm sure you all have questions, please, do not be afraid to ask.

Lyinne's visible eye looked at the Dean and her mind made an almost instant link with his. Using the gift she inherited from her mother (telepathy), she asked her question directly to the Dean's mind, "Do we know where to find them...? And how are we to...deal with the otherworldly people we come into contact with?"
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Grave Cynder, a young adult well known on the campus for his penchant for causing trouble, merely raised his eyebrows. However, even such a simple action was not so simple for him - the look in his eyes, the gesture itself, they entire way his expression shifted clearly betrayed his suprise. When he recieved an urgent summon earlier today he expected to be chewed out for one of his recent failed experiments. That explained why he was so calm after coming to the office - it happened so often it was nearly a custom, and it usually ended without too harsh a punishment. The first thing that tipped him off that something wasn't right was the presence of other students. He was pondering whether he should ask the Dean what the deal was, but fortunately the old man wasted no time on beating around the bush, sparing the pyromancer trouble. Of course, he was curious exactly why he was chosen - sure, he was pretty damn smart and fairly good with his magic, but was that enough to consider him superior?

"Well, I do have a question." The young man spoke up. In fact, he had a lot of questions. Questions about the visitors from other worlds, their identities, motives, abilities, goals. The other world - what was it like? Unfortunately, he doubted the Dean knew. But he probably knew a few other things... "Actually, make that a few questions. How much data do we have on those portals? How far can we go in our attempts to close them? Did someone try to do that already? Do we have to send the visitors back to their world first? What about the local authorities? Will they help us?" The impulsive mage rattled off one question after another, barely pausing to take a breath. He double checked his mental list, wondering if there was something else to ask about. There was one question he was wary of asking, but... What was the worst that could happen if he did? "Oh, and one final question. What was the main factor when it came to deciding who should go?"
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Servante had been lurking in a corner, his arms crossed over his chest and a discontent look on his face away from the 'lowbloods' as he so often liked to call them, while the Dean briefed them on the reason why they had been summoned to his office. Pushing his glasses up his nose Servante stepped forward once the Dean had finished his little speech.

"So wwhat you're sayin is," Servante starts, his voice taking on a rather bored tone, one often used when dealing with non-selkies. "Is that you're sendin us to our potential deaths to close up these portals wwhen you don't evven knoww howw to close them in the first place? An that our parents are fine wwith this?" It would be clear that Servante had a problem with this so called 'plan' though despite that he made no effort to leave the room. "Though I guess seein as the fate of the wworld depends on us I can't back awway from this." Whether done deliberately or not the Dean's words played on Servante's pride, ensuring that the young selkie would join the loathsome group of commoners despite his dislike of land dwellers.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Professor Ramielle leaned on a pillar behind the students, quietly observing the proceedings with her arms crossed. She offered no guidance as yet, allowing the Dean a chance to answer the barrage of questions. Though she would never betray her thoughts except to the mightiest of telepaths, she was a bit conflicted and worried by this assignment. She had never gotten along with students. Now she would have to work closely with a small group of them, and many of them the rambunctious, less-than-studious sorts. Ah, well... the portals promised to prove an academic curiosity, if nothing else.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

"WAAAGH!!!" The seat Bibble had taken had fallen over backwards when she had leaned it a little too far back onto two legs rather then the requisite 4 and she squealed as she hit the ground. "Owwww~ Has anyone taken the time to ask these 'Other Mortals' what they plan to do about it? and how much do we really know? I have no issues with helping but jumping in blindly cannot possibly be a good idea..." Bibble said all of this from the floor, looking at the ceiling and speaking to no one in particular, but for some reason she couldn't tear her eyes from the ceiling at that moment as the geometric shapes had suddenly caught her interest. That and thinking about complicated problems was always more comfortable while laying down.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Jess had been sitting off to the side, idly picking her nails with one of the many knifes she seems to keep around, laying sideways in the chair with her feet sticking up on the side facing the group. Much like Grave, she had expected to be in trouble for something or another when she had been called to the Dean's office, and was quite used to getting sent up here on a regular basis.

When the old man explained the situation, Jess twitched a little, giving out a little "Ow!" And sticking the finger she had been cleaning into her mouth while everyone else got their say in. She spoke up right after Servante did. "Yeah, I second that last question! Like seriously, a bunch of students, including the two biggest troublemakers on campus? With one tight-ass teacher to give us company? Do you expect anything done at all, or did you just decide you didn't like any of us and wanted to get us out of yourr hair?" She asked rudely, waving her dagger around in a whoopdie-doo manner to accentuate her point.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Calcius said nothing for a while. Few things concerned him about this mission they'd been given - he had no family to speak of, and 'friends' was probably too strong a word for the few acquaintances he'd made at the university. Most of his queries were brought up by the other students as he let them speak first, though one question in particular didn't seem to be forthcoming.

"The humans from this other world. Are they hostile, or can we consider them allies?"
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Unlike some of the others, Toring had no clue why he was called to the Dean. Of course he got into trouble occasionally - his very nature predestined him for it - but there hadn't been any incidents in months. He didn't scratch any of the old trees around the academy, didn't go hunting and drag his prey back, didn't even leave a pile on the campus grounds. When the Dean talked, he had remained leaned back in his chair, his eyes halfway closed. Now, though, he leaned his bulk forward, the chair creaking underneath him. "Relax, Jess, he said, his deep voice carrying far in the room. As he ran a hand through his shaggy blond mane, he continued, "they wouldn't send Ms Ramielle with us just to get you and Grave away from campus, and they wouldn't send the rest of us, either." His hand came up to scratch his ribs as his eyes wandered over to Servante. He caught himself staring at the Selkie for a while, and he lowered his eyes quickly. His stomach rumbled.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

"Oh, come on." She said sarcastically, going back to picking her fingernails again. "Nobody likes her either. He's racist (thumb towards Servante), you have control issues, Grave and me are like the least likes people on the entire campus, Bibble... Ugh, 'nough said. Should I go on?"
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Bibble glanced up at Jess at the sound of her name. "Hrm? Yes go ahead, And for the record, I like you guys...But seriously, can we get away from the petty reasons and look at the bigger picture? Regardless I can't remember a time when the Dean has ever lied to us, and more importantly, I can't remember him being cruel either."

Bibble sighed and glanced back up at the ceiling lazily tracing the converging lines of the framework while humming.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Toring's brown eyes wandered back over to Jess, and he gave a lazy grin. "I won't have control issues for at least 9 more months. I have misconceptions." In his tribe, nobody had chided him for eating a deer in the middle of the village. It had taken him some time to get used to the stricter standards on campus. "Sometimes I get angry when certain people throw knives at me, sure. I figure that's par for the course, though." When Jess tried that trick on him the first time, he had almost hunted her down before the faculty staff caught up with him. He wagered she hadn't known polar bears could run that fast.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

And he hadn't wagered that something that short could climb so well, either...

"Bah..." She said slowly, with a big grin. "It was funny, admit it." But she does quiet down after that, getting bored with picking her nails, so she starts to toss the dagger up and down, spinning it in odd ways but always so the handle landed back in her palm again.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Lyinne had nothing to really think to any of them. She remained where she was, listening to everyone as they bickered with each other about why they were here and all that. She knew most of them and their reputations through way of mouth, hearing various students and faculty talking about them.

She thought to herself, "This might be...interesting..."
 
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Chibichibi

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Delor leaned against the wall and kept his mouth shut. He knew he was important and that was all that mattered. Well, that and keeping his baby sister out of trouble. She was already going to plunge headfirst into this. He could tell.

Delilah on the other hand, hung onto every word out of Dean Anderson's mouth. Her eyes were wide behind her spectacles and her face enraptured. She was more than excited to be going with Professor Ramielle. This was what she'd been waiting for. Something like this to prove her worth to her mother and to her people. "Dean, sir. Have they brought anything with them? These other-worlders, I mean."

Dean Anderson smiled and waited for the commotion to die down before speaking again. "Lyinne, when you come into contact with the others you must remember that they are going to be very frightened. From what we've been able to gather from them, there is no magic on their world, let alone anything other than the human race." He stopped and coughed again. "That does not seemed to have stopped them from making war on each other though. They have only seemed to be a bit hostile at first, but as I said, we are very strange to them. One of the half dozen that has appeared however, seems very interested in us. He does not want us to send him home." Dean Anderson shrugged. "We shall see about that in any case. They have some very strange devices on them, but nothing I, in all my years, have seen."

He turned to Grave, though he clearly could not see the young man. "These portals are quite a mystery, though some legend or the other makes mention of some disappearances thousands of years in the past. These may be the same. The warmages have tried to close them, but they have had no success, they will aid you, however, when you need to cut past bureaucratic bullshit." Her frowned and motioned to the centaur again. "What was it you said, about why they were chosen?"

The warmage clopped a front hoof on the tile and said, "You were chosen through extensive observations and an in depth study of your magical signatures. After looking through the entire school and other places we picked the group who would be in almost perfect harmony. Like when you listen to music, you'll know instantly when one instrument is out of tune. You all seem to be very close, if not exactly the same as the portals themselves." He frowned. "I believe this is why the others failed. They were so far out of balance they couldn't handle the magic."

Dean Anderson gave a thoughtful nod and asked a question of his own. "What of Toring and Jess? They have no outward expression of magic to detail."

The Warmage grinned as if he expected this question. "When Mr. Barskard changes he does give off a little energy. Enough for us to test, and we paid close attention to Ms. Kender when she lends her power to any of the faculty." His eyes roamed over the group again, "We did not make our decision based on a whim."

The aged Naga nodded. "Professor Ramielle is a collector of books as well, if anyone may have something about this problem either she will have it, or our library will." He gave a very deep sigh and passed his weary, sightless gaze over the room again. "Anything else?"
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Ramielle steps forward, uncrosses her arms and looks over the students, finally speaking up. “Thank you, Dean, for clarifying our task. I have divided our basic quest into four major steps.” The room darkens slightly to accommodate her MagicPoint Presentation (illusion) to flash up in front of the students.

Overall Mission: Close Portals

This line fades out, then five indigo lines sequentially scroll in from the far right.

Major Steps:
I. Research – Field and Library Teams
II. Acquire Necessary Materials/Information to Seal Rifts
III. Discover Otherworlder Intent (Immediate Action May Be Necessary)
IV. Determine Source of Rifts and Neutralize It


The presentation fades and the lights brighten again. "As for our treatment of the Otherworlders, it all depends on their intentions and behavior. Whether these beings live or die, the rifts MUST be sealed again. We have captured one of their number for study, and she is being comfortably restrained in a secure cell on campus. I propose that we divide into a field research team and a library research team -- the field team will start with the Otherworlder and the library team, well... to the library. Thoughts?"
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Upon hearing the mentioning of the library, Lyinne looked up to the Dean. She fidgeted for a moment before telepathically speaking to the professor, "Uhm...I've already pulled several documents on the portals and placed them in one of the library's rooms. I think those documents would be a good start..."

After helping around in the library during her time at the college, she had already become versed in the sorting systems and was trusted to go through new arrivals and have them sorted. After all, she did aim to own her own library one day.
 

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Jess speaks up again, swinging her legs off the arm of the chair and hops off to the floor. "Wellll..." SHe says, drawing the word out. "Considering all the yelling last time I wandered through the library, I guess i'll be part of the field team then. And by 'Field', I mean 'Field of dreams', because I really doubt that they'd want me along either. As such, I'm going to go take a nap, someone let me know when we get to leave." She informs the group, and starts on her way out the door.
 
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Chibichibi

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Re: This is the way the world ends...

Delor angled his leg across the doorway. "I'll take the field group, and Delilah will come with me. She likes you for the Gods own reasons and will want you along."

Delilah flashed a blinding smile at her big brother and turned to Jess, determined to get the halfling to stay behind. Delilah was an easy target for pranks, and seemed to think anyone who paid close attention to her was her very best friend. "Please? It'll be lonely without anyone to make jokes."
 
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