Prelude: Life Begins at Night

Keeping her blade close under her jacket, Eve tries not to draw too much human attention as they cross High Street and walk up the short way to Queen's college. The roads are relatively empty at this time of night, every seems quiet. When they reach the door, she knocks and waits for the night porter with a mix of excitement and unease. Knowing Rae is keeping an eye out behind her is reassuring, but out in the open, none of them would stand much of a chance against a pack of werewolves.

It doesn't take long for the porter to answer, in much the same fashion as that of University College. "Good evening," he replies through the small window in the door.

"Mrs de la Fontaine from Keble, we are looking to use the tunnels to cut through to the library. There is a bit of... commotion on the streets." Eve gives him an apologetic smiles as she flashes her Bod card. 

The porter nods quietly, but eyes the shining blades. "The library?" He questions pointedly, but then another howl splits the silence of the night and there's a rattling of keys as the door is unlocked. "Please be on your way quickly," he tells them. "The city is unquiet."

"Thank you, stay safe!"  Eve nods and quickly pushes past the door inside the safety of the old college. They enter the early 18th century courtyard, framed by an arched walkway. Doors with roman numerals set into the stone lead off on all sides at regular intervals and there is a tunnel to the left at the back, but it is too dark to see where it leads. Looking across the meticulously kept lawn, the statue of Queen Philippa, the college's namesake, looks down at them from a high alcove on the opposite wall. "Queen's College. A beauty, isn't she?" Eve gestures with a genuine smile, before leading the way towards the tunnel.

Liam follows in contemplative silence. He'd never really enjoyed the college aesthetics, preferring more temporary persuits. When he had been on the grounds before, his intentions had been less artistic and more carnal. He moves quickly and silently towards the library entrance. 

“Lovely.” Mehdi responds rather dryly as they make their way across the courtyard. For a moment the combination of manicured green-space and supernatural terror almost reminds him of the immersive gardens he once made his life’s work, and that chapter of his story now feels so painfully long ago. As he moves he glances down at his hands, now warped into bestial claws, and wonder if they’ll ever make art again.

Rae takes in the beauty of Queen's College as she hurries alongside Eve. "I'd never seen it, it's gorgeous." But the moment is short-lived as she continues on into the tunnel.

Silas admires the beauty of the campground but the paranoia of being in the territory or another clan quickly brings his admiration to a stop. From what he knows of the Nosferatu he didn't expect them to be walking on the premises for eyes to see. The clan would stay indoors especially on a night like this one. He expects meeting a few members as they enter the tunnels. "Be cautious, we are not in our own territory. I expect to see more denizens when we get down below."

"Probably better to try and avoid them right? I could dive ahead before we all go rushing in. Scope it out, try and find a clear path. They shouldn't be able to see me, I'll be like a ghost." With nods of approval from Liam and Eve, he turns to the tunnel and begins a low incantation under his breath. Diver in the night, hidden from the light. Diver in the night, hidden from the light. Diver in the night, hidden from the light. As he speaks, the soft petals that occasionally appear and drift down from his head and shoulders multiply. They form a momentary cascade around the changeling, but as they fall they reveal thin air behind them. Just like that Mehdi has vanished from sight. He breathes an inaudible sigh; it's been a while since he's done this. His eyes adjust to the slightly blurred lines and muted colors, and then he steps into the tunnel.

Mehdi glides through the catacombs like a wraith on wings. He swoops between the stacks and beneath Radcliffe camera, arcing towards the Oriental institute. As the changeling approaches the tunnel that leads inside and towards where they had found the pentagram of coffins, he notices a vertical shimmering surface in the air in front of him, blocking the passage. It's like looking through a bubble of water at the other side.

He hovers there for a moment apprehensively, trying to guess what the barrier might be. Were he corporeal, he might toss a stone at it. But with no knowledge of what the bubble is and no way to safely test it, his only option is to push through. With an unsettling pop he emerges, seemingly unscathed, and he quickly zips forwards with a lump in his throat assuming that someone or something now knows he is here.

As Mehdi draws closer to the part of the library where they previously found the five coffins, he hears lowered voices from up ahead. Peering around a corner, he sees three robed figures clearing away the partially-smashed remains of the coffins.

The helldiver freezes, hanging there like a ghost and listening in with his keen chiropteran ears.

The figures appear to be moving quickly and without speaking, dismantling the remaining coffins and sweeping away the splinters of broken wood. However, on the far side of the chamber, Mehdi spots something flicking between the stacks like a silvery grey shadow.

Mehdi drifts up and into the space, flying over to the stacks and trying to peer down through them to get a better view at what is moving there.

The shadowy figure steps out to match Mehdi, turning to look the changeling right in the eye in challenge. Another helldiver!

Mehdi tenses and bares his fangs in a snarl. It’s an immediate, feral reaction, but as he backpedals slightly and comes to his senses his hands raise in a gesture of peace. “Whoah whoah, easy,” he says, half talking to himself. “I’m not looking for trouble. Just doing a little investigative work for the vamps.” He gives the diver a once over. “What’s another lost doing down here?”

The shadowy changeling flips upside down with a hiss in reaction to Mehdi's snarl, clinging to the ceiling, ready for a fight. However, recognition dawns when the bestial changeling mentions working for the vampires and the tension in other helldiver eases slightly. "Ah, the loyalist ," it observes in a whining drawl. "It is the duty of the Autumn Court to protect its courtiers. Kindred politics affect the entire city and knowledge is power. We go where we please. Be careful of who you sell your gifts to. Nobody who is anybody likes to share power."

Mehdi rolls his eyes at the term. These courtiers threw it around like he was a traitor, the lapdog of some true fae, selling out his own kind. “It was kindred who freed me from my durance, and it’s been kindred who have given me a haven since coming here. Yes I’m loyal, rightfully so, but only to a point.” He glances back down to the robed figures finishing their clean up job. “You’re right to keep tabs on them. They’re a fucking mess right now, and I think this can of worms is only just being opened.”

The helldiver eyes Mehdi with distaste until he begins to open up about the situation amongst the vampires of Oxford. "How much do they know about this?" He probes.

"Not much. It's not just kindred involved though. I'm sure you saw the hounds outside, not sure what that's about but it's an odd coincidence. There are also these strange cats and," he is about to go on but instead he waves his hand dismissively. "I don't know, it's been a strange night. Have you uncovered anything useful? The kindred I'm with are trying to contain this mess before it gets any more out of hand. Helping me helps us help Oxford."

The robed figures clear the last of the mess away and array themselves in a ring around the point where the coffins once stood. The other helldiver sees them and drifts back to see what happens next. "Cats?" It whispers to Mehdi in confusion.

Mehdi follows along, also keeping eyes on the figures. "Yeah, cats. Just before all this shit started happening some strays appeared and started following around some of the kindred. Like they were keeping watch. We also saw a vision or something of an Egyptian cat goddess. Like I said, strange. Can you make sense of any of that?"

Low chanting fills the library and a draught makes the blue robes start to flap until a vertical electric blue line appears in the air in the middle of the circle. The helldiver shakes his head and slowly paces back away from Mehdi, keeping his eyes on what is happening.

Mehdi does the same, putting more space between himself and this ritual as he watches with concern.

The line in the air thickens and grows darker in the centre, until it appears like a tear. Mehdi bat-like ears hear a distant ear-piercing screech begin to build. The pitch is far beyond the range of human hearing. Meanwhile, beneath the Radcliffe camera, Silas's cat begins to yowl and struggle.

All of Mehdi’s animal instincts tell him to run, but his obsessive curiosity pins his wings to the ceiling. His eyes flick back to the other lost momentarily to see how he is reacting. 

Silas concerned over the cat's struggling, looks over to Eve and Liam making sure that they are also noticing this. As the cat wriggles and yowls more violently in his arms, he lets it down waiting to see what it'll do. Concerned about what this could mean, he gives out a command to the group, "Do not let it out of your sight! I have a bad feeling about this."

The screeching grows deeper and louder, sinking from a tinnitus-inducing keening to an avian snarl. A tendril of shadow pushes past the middle of the tear in the air and out , flailing in all directions as it seeks purchase on something. The other lost begins to slowly back away towards the nearest exit. Beneath the Radcliffe, the yowling of additional cats echoes through the tunnels from nearby.

“Like I said, a mess . I’ll see you around.” Mehdi shouts at the other diver before getting the hell out of dodge, flying back towards the group as fast as he can.

The snarl morphs into a gnashing of teeth and Mehdi barely glimpses the shadows coalescing into a tentacle behind him, before he is away and gone back towards his allies.

Once Mehdi has made his way back to the others, he reappears in another burst of petals. “HOly fucking shit guys. It’s fucking worse.” He lets out a huff as collects his racing thoughts. “There were robed figures in the room where the coffins were. First they were just cleaning up what was left, but then they started doing some kind of ritual. A summoning ritual, like tearing through space and time, grasping tendrils of void stuff, snarling gnashing teeth, the whole nine yards. He gets it.” He says, pointing to Silas’ agitated feline. “What should we do?”

As Mehdi speaks, a white cat, a black cat and a Norwegian forest cat slink up to the vampires and begin rubbing themselves against their legs.

"The evidence is clearly hone in that case. We should probably leave."

As the group waits and the minutes pass, Rae's mind begins to wander. Ever the Mekhet, her irrepressible curiosity and drive to comprehend leads her gaze to Silas. She thinks back to the stories she'd heard of Elders, of their detachment from all around them, even other Kindred, and their willingness to create childer just to use as cannon fodder so that they aren't inconvenienced. So, with one now moving amongst them, she can't keep herself from reaching out through the shadows into his mind.  The visions are lurid, almost disorienting, and Rae finds that she needs to steady herself to remain standing. The first is of a puma, resting in the sands of a desert. It looks to be eating, and as the vision becomes more clear, the meal is Silas' severed head. The colors then blur as shapes morph, and a new image is presented. It's the courtyard of University College, and Silas is standing proudly before many bowing figures. Five faceless individuals stand by his side, though it is apparent that Silas is the focus. The vision then shifts for a final time to a truly biblical scene. Silas stands in a waist-deep ocean of blood, an empty chalice resting in his right hand. Floating all around him are pale bodies, rotting and motionless. As the visions end, Rae watches Silas fill his chalice with the blood ocean before him and smile triumphantly before drinking it.  "Just as I would've thought." She thinks to herself. She ponders quietly until Mehdi returns with the news that things have somehow become even more dire. Looking down to the black cat at her feet, she gently picks it up and cradles it in her arms. "Yes, I agree with Dr. McCarthy.  And it looks like keeping these little guys around will be the best way to tell if things are about to go to hell." 

"Or for them to tell where we are." Liam adds, very unsure about taking a cat with them, though he is still unwilling to directly go against Silas.

Silas places his hand on his chin as he stops to think for a moment, "It truly is a double-edged sword, then? An alarm that can alert our enemies." He realizes new cats before them and thinks about the hundreds of more cats outside these walls. "Hm, it seems that no matter how many we kick away more cats appear, and more will appear as we continue to move about. It seems best to shoo away as many as we can but it seems inevitable to be surrounded by them. I shall keep the one we've been holding on to and we can get rid of the rest. If we were oblivious to the horrors Mehdi just described, but these cats weren't, they will act as a useful alarm to the further dangers up ahead." 

Khalid has been silently following the group, still looking to draw as little attention as possible and maybe finding a chance to escape the mess he had fallen into.  At the moment he figured he'd be safest here, but these things that Mehdi described were strange, nothing he had ever heard of.  He absentmindedly slipped on his fighter's gloves and continued with the group watching his surroundings carefully.

Silas looks over to Mehdi, "You said there were robed figures cleaning up the scene? If that's the case then we had better hurry if we want to get any evidence and any intel on what exactly is going on here. Be prepared to fight but do not instigate, yet."

Liam sighs, unsurprised really, yet still disappointed. "Very well, lead the way then."

Mehdi nods as they push forward. "The robed figures were cleaning up the coffins, yeah. There wasn't much left though, and that was before they began whatever this other ritual is. If anyone knows anything, it's them. Perhaps we can capture one to interrogate." He glances back at Liam and gives a sympathetic look. Mehdi is clearly more comfortable with their course of action, and part of him almost feels bad that he doesn't share his boss' aversion to what's going on. But despite their differing moods, it really didn't seem like they had much choice anyway.

The group leave the Radcliffe camera and follow Mehdi back the way he came. However, when they reach the entrance to the oriental institute, they find a strange shimmering film like a soap bubble blocking their path.

“Almost forgot about this. Some sort of barrier, it didn’t stop me when I was diving but...” he cautiously reaches out to test the film as he did before now that he is corporeal. 

The bubble ripples where Mehdi touches it, but does not allow him to pass.

"Fuck. I could dive again but that wouldn't help you all. Can anyone dispel this?"

Approaching the barrier, Rae passes a hand across the surface of the bubble. "Hm. This is too blunt to be Fae, and it doesn't look like any vampiric magic that I'm familiar with either. Perhaps it's the work of a warlock."

"Perhaps,"  Khalid mused to himself as he observed the strange barrier.  From afar he awoke his dormant sight, letting his eyes unfocus to shift his perspective.  This process still felt much too foreign to the fledgling mage, but his brief, yet rigorous, trainings allowed him to keep his calm.  As his vision refocuses to the barrier he could already feel the primary Arcanum used with his other senses.  Forces, the Arcanum of energy.  It made sense as the barrier itself prevented physical movement but not whatever the Fae creature Medhi called diving.  What was more concerning was the fact that it was cast by someone with a higher proficiency in Forces than Khalid.  This was not unheard of but the Adamantine Arrow should have informed him if another mage was to be in this area, but to be fair they didn't warn him of the vampires either.  Perhaps this was some sort test.  Either way his next step was clear. Khalid approached the barrier and placed a single finger against the barrier.  He took three breaths and began speaking gibberish as he began to push his finger deeper into the bubble.  At first it's form resisted his attempts and stretched around his finger as it maintained its surface tension.  Khalid continued pushing his finger further into the bubble and when his arm could not stretch any longer he stepped forward.  Then all at once his utterances ceased and the bubble "popped", fizzling away into the wind. The mage turns around and does a faux bow, gesturing for the group to enter, "Please, after you."

As the barrier fades, a bestial squawk echoes from deep within the oriental institute.