Last Orders (Part 1) by Astrodragon

Tuesday, January 10th, Magic department, evening.

Now why is Grimes wondering that about these junior and senior students?

Welcome to this year’s special topics course on Portals and Gates for Dimension Travelling and Contacting Entities.

Oh crud, that's why, I hope she asks Eldritch to chaperone any field trips they take.

t is also one of the most dangerous skills one can master. Tomes have been written about what can and has gone wrong when a lack of care was taken when performing such acts. The bulk of them shouldn’t be read before eating.

Darn you, imagination, you betrayed me again. I need brain bleach for what I just visualized. That creepy smile when she talks about how much harder getting the destination endpoint coordinates can be, I would memorize everything she said in this course down to the last letter.

Heh, if I were Grimes anyone without the common sense to look worried right now would be kicked from the course for not taking it seriously enough. Of all the methods to contact to access a contact to give you the necessary coordinates, the last thing anyone thought of was a cell phone. A call to bring Thulia to the classroom, I knew she was helping with this course.

"Rarely, very rarely, you might have something as mundane as a phone number for such an entity. For the duration of this course, Drakaina will be my teaching assistant. We will begin the course by covering the precautions which need to be taken when attempting the creation of a portal or a contact. Students will be allowed to proceed to the practical phase of the course only when we are satisfied that those precautions are understood. At best, failure to take the necessary precautions during the practical phase will be grounds for an automatic failure. At worst, your experience could form the foundation for a new chapter in one of those tomes I mentioned earlier. Do I make myself clear? That was why you all signed a special waiver for this course."

Signed a special waiver for the course, I would be taking notes like crazy if I wasn't a student with a full eidetic memory.

Heh, that student would be shocked if he knew the truth about Thulia. A scrying bowl to show a location is probably as close to safe as you can get to finding such coordinates without just being told them by a trusted entity from such a dimension. *facepalms* Any idiot who uses what they learn in this course to contact succubi deserves what they get, imo.

“Drakaina will also be helping to define a reasonable safe destination for you on the Plane of Fire, a destination point not inherently hostile to humans. She will also act as an endpoint to allow you to construct a gate leading close to her.”

Well, that will be an interesting trip for everyone involved. Storage crystal on loan through the course, techniques to pool power to open a portal, now I see why so many signed the waiver.

Monday, January 16th, Order of the Red Ba'al briefing room in a hidden underground base somewhere north of London.

Master Orlun gives instructions to two senior acolytes who will be involved in the assault to capture Morgana.

“But Master, I thought the Order had forbidden actions against the conduit doing to her being at this Whateley place?”

Olrun glowered at his apprentice’s rather whining tone of voice.

“Acheron, please show some signs of intelligence. Of course I’m not going to let something as powerful and useful as the conduit escape me. Just because the order is not going to become involved officially means little.”

Orlon is both a moron and that arrogant, he deserves his future fate. Nephandus warned them about Whateley, yet Orlun thinks he knows better, the height of arrogance.

His warnings appear to be a mixture of self-serving excuses and probably a scheme to extract a larger payment from us. The idea that a school would be as dangerous a place to attack as he tried to get us to believe is absurd, some of the actions he mentioned are quite outrageous, making it sound more like an active military base than a school.

He went to that school for 4 years, he knows what it is like there. And it has only gotten to be more protective of students and dangerous to attackers since Nephandus left!

However, just in case, I have arranged for an informant at the school to let me know when the conduit will be away from it, so we can simply abduct her.

When Whateley finds out who the informant is they will suffer a fate worse than death if Circe and Grimes have any say in it.

Just in case, I have anti-demon precautions in place, so it won’t be a problem. If necessary the two of you can distract the conduit while I banish the demon. While the conduit has power, she is not trained to use it so won’t be a threat to us.

I hope when the attack happens you are killed by Morgana and Thulia, Orlun.

Monday, January 16th, the M3 clubroom.

Cleaned up by the maintenance department, their new and shiny appliances, the MC clubroom is a great hangout now. A betting pool on how long it will stay that way, heh. Nothing active about the weird rune-covered stone in the room, the fact Bianca can't make any sense of the runes means it is something strange. Bianca put spell sigils on the clubroom walls, smart with the number of enemies they have.

Morgana enjoys the TV, always a good investment for a clubroom. Ack! Morgana had to suffer through those Christmas love affair movies, that is torture! Aww, Morgana, and Thulia cuddling while Thulia watches science fiction. Morgana thinks about Pastel, and how they owe her quite a bit. A way of casting a 'Don't Notice Me' spell, would be invaluable to Pastel.

“How about this. We can craft her a bracelet to do the spell. If we use a crystal or two in it, it would be able to be used more than once, and tying it to her would let her recharge it – slowly, true, but it’s basically an emergency holdout, it's not like she’d be using it all the time.”

Now that would be an awesome thank-you gift to Pastel. Use some of the stuff learned in Crystal Enchantments, I'm with Morgana, putting lessons into practice is more fun than just learning stuff.

Later, in the School Shop. Magic section.

That's all they need to make the bracelet, I've really got to stop overestimating non-Artificer enchanted items and what they take to make.

I just needed the fine gold pen to fill in the runes I scribe in it, the kit doesn’t come with that. The gel they use has an expiry date, so I didn’t want to buy one until I needed it.

An expiration date, how long is that gel good for? Constructed the spell structure, okay, that sounds like the real hard work in making an enchanted item. A spell into Morgana's spear, I hope they complete it soon if they get to work on it.

Tuesday January 17th, Thulia’s Workroom.

A much fancier name in Latin, don't most spells? All those tools for the class on enchanting gemstones, eep. The scribing tools vibrated enough to make Morgana's fingers stiff, yikes.

“Yes. The inscription looks good, and you don’t have to add a layer of gold or whatever into it, but it will be more powerful and store more essence if you do. If it was for you, we could add some of your blood into it as well, but as it’s for Pastel to use...”

So the ancients were right, gold is a magically potent metal. They harvest gems out of volcanoes on the Plane of Fire, those gemstones are more heat-resistant than reinforced steel! Attune it to Pastel, so much time and work to make an enchanted crystal.

Thursday January 19th, Thulia’s Workroom

Setting the stone into the bracelet is the easy part, I'm starting to see why the course to make enchanted items beyond crystals is a sophomore year course. Hehe, the tip of the tongue peeking out between her lips, is so cute when someone does that when concentrating on a task. The class said to use glue, they need to update the course material a bit. The way Thulia talks about softening a bit of the metal and how to do all this to hold the stone sounds like she has done this before. Morgana didn't have anything to worry about and did it on the first try after Thulia's clear instructions.

A word with Pastel in private, down to Thulia's workroom. Gah! I can't believe Pastel said, that she made Morgana blush.

Pastel’s eyes were still fixed covetously on it. “You mean it’s permanent? And for me?”

I knew this was the perfect gift for Pastel. Told what they had to do to finish up the gift, and only Morgana, Thulia, or Pastel would be able to use it after this.

Pastel nodded eagerly. “All right! You vampires can have as much blood as you need!”

Said in cartoon gremlin voice: I like her, she's silly. She is told the limits of it, but that is still very useful.

Boy, the process is complete and I didn't expect the turquoise to seem to have more depth to it. 15 minutes when activated, expect two weeks for a full charge, not bad.

You can tell by the way it looks, when it’s charged it has that pseudo-depth effect. You could get a mage to charge it up quickly if you need to, but I don’t expect you’ll want to use it all the time.

I wondered about the apparent depth of the gem, and I'm sure with how nice Pastel is there will be more than a few students with a Wiz trait willing to recharge it when she needs it.

Sunday 22nd January, M3 table, breakfast.

Thulia has some answers to Vic's questions about his condition, didn't see that coming. Off to the clubroom for Thulia, Morgana, and Vic to have a private chat.

Wait, Vic doesn't have a BIT, hhm.

Anyway, with no BIT to get in the way it should at least be possible to alter your physiognomy, but there are still several issues.

Rats, I knew it wouldn't be that easy or simple. No reversing the changes while Ner is still inside Vic or she will keep changing him and the stress could prove fatal, yikes. Not an external entity, locked in his hallow, won't even attempt to mess without extreme need, just like he was told by Grimes.

“You’d be better off asking one of the experts on campus about that than me. All I can tell you is that removing a spirit inhabiting or bound to you is both complicated and very dangerous. You might want to take advice on getting rid of it if that’s what you want to do.”

Nope, Kayda even when she finds out would advise against it. Good, listen to Thulia's advice and go to the avatar experts on this.

“It might be possible in your case, we’d need to do more investigation to find out. Personally, I wouldn’t suggest it unless the change was going badly, there are quite a few things that could go wrong. If something happens to intensify the change, like you drawing on the spirit's power, it might collapse the barrier and you could be hit by a sudden and stronger change.

Okay, that made when wince at the thought of that happening. A lot of good advice from Thulia, there are horror stories the staff could tell you that would convince you to heed that advice in an instant.

“Possibly, as I told him I don’t really do avatars so without a fair amount of work, I don’t know how well it’s bound into him. And you remember how dangerous it was removing yours, and from what I’ve read an avatar spirit is bound directly into your hallow, it’s rather different.”

Trust her, Morgana, this could easily kill Vic compared to what you went through with that demon.

“Yes... although it’s an interesting problem, removing a bound spirit without the risk of killing the person it's bound into.”

“Morgana nodded. She could see the appeal of the research to Thulia, her eyes had got slightly out of focus as she considered some possibilities. However... “Thulia, Vic is a friend, not a research topic.”

Thulia nodded even as she made notes on her pad. “I wouldn’t treat him as a lab rat. But it’s an interesting problem, and it would have all sorts of possibilities if I could work out a safer and more efficient way of doing it.”

Thulia in magic-gadgeteer mode is fun to watch, but also sometimes a bit scary.

Thulia tapped her pad thoughtfully. “The first thing is to get more data. Remember the tests I did on you before my experiment? That sort of thing. I’ll need a full physical data set before I even attempt a fix.”

*hits head on desk* Talk to Grimes about this first, I don't think she will approve of this without an extremely good reason.

“And when you tell Vic he has to be tied naked on your table while you investigate him?” Morgana couldn’t help smiling as she considered Vic’s reaction to that.

" I’m sure it won't be an issue, people get naked for medical procedures all the time.”

Thulia, most doctors, even the younger female ones, look nowhere near close to as attractive as you. Oh, good, a few weeks before she even tries to move to examinations. Discussed with his medical advisor, you have a very tall order to try and get filled with that, Thulia.

Sunday 22nd January, lunchtime, Morgana’s room, Poe

Audition for the elemental dance group, Thulia will do great.

Morgana snorted. “Yeah, but what’s considered appropriate for your home might not be considered suitable here. I’ve seen some of your outfits, remember?”

I love their playful teasing of each other.

The dragongirl held up a leotard made of some iridescent and sparkly fabric, granted it was a bit minimal in construction, but probably suitable for use at Whateley, as long as you didn’t mind the drooling boys walking into things. It was no more revealing than other stage costumes she’d seen.

Thulia was in a robe as TA for that special course and if the boys had been walking they would have into things. Oof, they have a physical part of their course requirement in the Plane of Fire too, the more things that are different, the more they are the same. Thulia, anyone who thinks you are terrible has a huge ego that needs deflating.

A cloak to cover up and boots to keep people from seeing melted footprints in her wake, heh.

Besides, some of the things kids left on the ground was not the sort of stuff she wanted to step on in bare feet.

That is before taking into account the Workshop kids, ugh. Fairyfire and Belfry are there, where is everyone else who was supposed to audition? Belfry sure has the look down for a very unusual MC. Morgana to help with the tech, nice to see her get more back into it since manifesting and not just as the band's techie.

“Yes, from home. However...” she made sure she was clear of everything, as fire bloomed and slid along her body and costume, flickering across the material and scintillating off the crystals set on it. “It’s also fireproof.”

That costume is perfect for a fire wielder, with such an amazing effect from the crystals and material. That routine of Thulia's, I wonder if anyone else is in the theater and saw it besides Morgana, Fairyfire, and Belfry. Pole dance, they need a fireproof pool so she can use her flames during that!

Swimming Pool changing rooms.

Oh boy, Thulia doesn't see the point of wearing a swimsuit to go swimming since she is just going to get wet anyway. Seeing Morgana in hers at least convinced Thulia to put on a swimsuit.

slinky red and black swimming costume

Morgana, some of the female teachers might be distracted trying to teach Thulia how to swim with her in that. Good thing you are doing this as private lessons.

“Maybe that’s because a lot of the pools your people could swim in are full of dissolved minerals and crap that probably class them as acidic toxic waste?”

Thulia remembered the vibrant green of the pool at the base of the volcanic mountain she lived in.“Oh yeah, that might have something to do with it I guess.”

Yikes! Oh brother, reminded me of how foolish the plan to rescue Morgana from that island was, that was a horrible fallback plan. 70% covered in water, I live here and love to swim, and even I find that a little bit creepy.

The shallow end of the pool, able to stand up, nice and warm, yet Thulia is still unconvinced it isn't dangerous until Morgana slides into the pool and beckons her. Warm, just not hot, so to Thulia it is still too cold. Unbalanced in the water, you forget something that feels normal to you until you see someone who has never experienced it do so for the first time.

Tuesday 24th January, Tanya and Thulias room, late evening.

An outfit for the sims, it is a good idea to have one even if they say you don't need one. Tanya in her costume from her Combat Final, and Thulia doesn't have a new one yet since Gouyasse tried to cripple her. Grey loner, better than nothing. Morgana and Thulia get good-quality costumes made after testing them out in the sims, smart, never wear an outfit that makes your powers obvious especially a mage or any type of magic user. A utility belt with her phone inside.

“Most of my jewellery is multi-purpose – magic as well as pretty. People expect a girl to be wearing jewellery, so they might ignore it. At least Morgana thinks so, and I trust her advice, it seems sensible.”

“She’s devious, that’s what she is.”

Thulia grinned. “And that is a problem how, exactly?

At Whateley and in the real world you need that to survive.

Wednesday 25th January, Holographic Simulation Centre briefing room.

Search and rescue scenario and they are letting Erica be the team leader. Hands-free radios, headband-mounted compact camera package for Thulia and Tanya as the team flies so Laura can see what they see, they are ready. Vic with the first aid kit, probably has the most experience with that now.

“Now, you’ve done all the prep work and registered everything you want to have on you.” He glared at the assembled team. “You have, haven’t you?”

There was a concerted bobblehead-like nodding from the team. He wondered just how much would have been ‘accidentally forgotten about’, it always happened.

Nope, this team came prepared, double and triple-checked they had everything. Combined ear protection and comms ear plugs with a cheap throat mic, Laura went beyond most team techs do. Oh, the mini-cameras are linked to the team phones, so everyone on the team can watch what Thulia and Tanay are seeing. The Fast and Furryous waiting their turn in the sims, oh boy, Ratel is going to have fun in there.

Try and remember to use your codenames in the sims, we often use them as training aids or examples. The software can catch and rename on the fly, but it's good practice to not use your real names.

Finally my curiosity about has been sated. Screw up their first S&R sim, he doesn't know the kind of stuff they have already faced in the real world at Whateley and outside of the school.

Careful in the sims, they feel as real as the real world even if the pain is dulled down a whole lot. A helicopter ride to the scene and headset to put on as they are briefed on the way. National Guard emergency response vehicle, this S&R sim is to a disaster area, isn't it?

At least the recent rule changes allowed a serious incident to mobilise FEMA, the old rules had required mobilising the State National Guard via a state of emergency, which was too clumsy when a lot of incidents were caused by supervillains.

A difference from our world that makes a lot of sense.

A major train derailment, shit. Passenger train, automobiles crushed by the train wreckage, 3 people on board the train died, good lord. *eyes bug out as the situation is explained and just keeps getting worse* Possible dangerous or explosive contents in tank cars, this is a potential disaster of much greater proportions if those go off. Video feed from the police helicopter, smart move, Cerulea.

Erica, Drakaina, Dragonsfyre, and Tanya due to their enhanced strength directed to help free people from the wrecked cars. Get the people out without touching the car much, this task just got a lot harder. Okay, not as hard as I thought, but that nasty arm injury, I salute those who can do this kind of work to save lives.

<crack>

The sound of possible gunfire, Thulia asked to go up to get them imagery to see what was going on.

“Ok... there's a group of men heading for one of the rear carriages, maybe the baggage car? They aren’t wearing supersuits or anything, but they look a bit rough. Drakaina, can you circle a bit and let me get some better views?”

Don't tell me some psychos caused the train derailment just to steal something off the train in all the confusion afterward. Trying to break into the rear carriage, crud.

Erica, Thulia, and Tanya head to the back of the wreck to deal with the would-be-armed robbers. Breaking into the rear car, no one is in danger from them at the moment at least.

Invictus thought a bit. “If they were the ones responsible for the train wreck in the first case? There could be something valuable they are after in that last car?”

I knew Tanya would figure it out.

“Not sure, is it important? I figure I can take that group out without hurting anyone else. Probably.”

That probably is what gets you every time.

Ouch! Flew too low, cursed in dragon after being shot, and left with holes in one of her wings, Thulia is lucky this is a sim. Activates her shield, never assume that won't be needed just because it is a rescue mission! A fireblast from Thulia and the creeps just duck under a trailer for cover as they return fire. Wait, white-painted tanker trailer, don't launch any firebolts at that, Thulia!

Oh boy, a fireball, the worst possible thing she could have done. Right into the trailer, damaged and leaking propane gas. The gang is on the ground after the tanker trailer explodes, Thulia blasted to the ground hurt, but still in the sim so alive. Now Thulia has to do firefighting since that set some of the cars on fire, they are going to get chewed out by Bardue over this sim run. Thulia has a broken leg, yeah, she needs to be taught what the different colored tanker trailers on a train mean they are hauling.

Back in the briefing room and time to get chewed out. Grins and smirks from the two teams that had been watching, let's see them do better. A tool kit to help cut people out, should have thought of that for being an S&R track team.

Now the gang was there to stop you from getting too much of a milk run on your starting scenario, and to show you there can always be an unexpected development, and that having backup plans is always good, even when a surprise scenario is sprung on you.”

Invictus raised a hand. “Sir, you seem to be implying that we should have let that gang go?”

He grinned. “You could have. Remember, in a S&R scenario, the people and damage are your priorities, not looters. Yes, it’s nice to stop them, and depending on what they are doing you might have to deal with them, but juggling priorities is one of the things we intend to teach you. Money is replaceable, people aren’t. However as you had no information on what the gang was really after, and it could have been something nasty, it was rather a marginal call.”

Okay, so going after the gang wasn't a bad idea after all with their limited intel on what they were after.

The Fast & the Furryous were looking like they weren’t really taking in the idea of not fighting criminals when they came across them. How surprising.

They are going to need a megaton hammer to drill this concept into that team.

“There are labels on things like tanks and tankers to tell you the sort of thing they are carrying. You should have looked at them and worked out what sort of attacks were sensible. A fire attack on a damaged propane tank isn’t usually a good idea unless you are trying for collateral damage. Drakaina, Invictus, as the recon elements of your group make learning these labels a priority. Drakaina, you need to learn more less-destructive ways of tackling a problem.”

All very good advice, Thulia needs to learn some non-lethal capture and immobilization spells for the future. The homework of a report, now the part where it is truly a class shows itself.

Saturday 26th January, Tanya and Thulia’s Room, morning.

Ouch, cold-dry weather sucks for people with certain skin conditions too, I have one of those and sympathize with Thulia right now. Tanay blushes like that, she needs to get used to girls doing that around her more often. Skin and scale products from the Plane of Fire, she could work a deal with Whateley and the stores in the PoF to have those sold in the Whateley store. Huh, the cream smells like cinnamon and they come in various scents. Shoot, I think almost everyone except for someone with a BIT based on a weasel or ferret would be jealous of Thulia's flexibility.

Sunday 27th January M3 table, breakfast

Nothing on today so Laura can spend the day in the Workshop, Thulia, and Morgana heading to town later, shit, this is the day it happens. The MCO is paying for Thulia and Morgana's new costumes, after what they pulled kidnapping Morgana I hope they keep paying and paying. What is Belfry doing over at M3's table? Hikaru chuckles, of course, she knows Belfry through her own AI.

"I'm just here to give Thulia – and Morgana, since it would be rude to leave out the leman – a token holiday greeting." While speaking his piece, he rummaged through his jacket for two red envelopes to hand out. At least he was gentleman enough to wait for the recipients to have their hands free.

"Gong hei fat choy."

The envelopes were addressed in a style of calligraphy that amused Amaterasu.

Hehe, so the goddess is amused by Belfry.

Her voice sang in her daughter's mental ear: *Something tells me this one will never darken <Wáng jiàoshòu>'s door. You should have introduced us!*

No, no she should not.

Remind me later to tell you what Kurenai was able to dig up on him. He's got more fleas than Coyote.

*Daikokunyo be a Lady...*[/quoe] Kurenai, you are in so much trouble when Colombine finds out.

"I lost some things when my dorm room exploded. Then time sort of got away from me."

Besides, this is Benjamin, since when has he cared about tradition as much as giving a gift.

"Tavi heard! Big badaboom!"

"How? We were in Team Tactics."

Tavi morphed one of his ears into a Dumbo-sized ear horn pointed at Belfry.

"Tavi hears! Whole dorm heard. You not listening."

I've missed Tavi and his antics, that silly goof needs to be brought out more. Benjamin, you need to tell them the full details of what you were trying to manifest and why it exploded on you. Morgana, you just had to say that to the kid with the most twisted sense of humor at Whateley, he will take that as a challenge to set something on fire.

Most of the rest of the table gave Bianca looks, as she finished. “He’s the TA in our escape class. How a kid that young qualifies I have no idea.” She didn’t mention a few of the things she’d heard via the family that might have given clues.

Yes, don't give your friends and teammates potential nightmare fuel, Bianca.

Sunday 27th January, Thulia’s workroom, mid-morning. Tarot Reading.

Morgana grinned. “Feelings, the Spy Kiddies have been quiet recently. Not a suspicious-looking insect in sight, and no one skulking around following us. I just get this feeling that there is something I should be looking into. So I thought maybe I’d try a divination and see if it throws up anything. I have a new pack of Tarot cards to try out and give a proper test.”

Listen to that feeling, Morgana, don't go to town. The dragon tarot cards finally get used!

“So, Celtic Cross Pattern.” She called the cards as she laid them out. “Self, Shield, Influence, External Circumstances, Past, Future, Strength, Others, Guidance, Outcome.” She frowned as she looked the arrangement over, then checked her book again. “This doesn’t look too cheerful.”

Uh oh, if you got a bad reading you should stay inside Whateley for your and Thulia's safety. Delayed disaster, listen to that one, the disaster from your past was only delayed! Future, Hate or Violence, with no regard for consequences. Listen to the divination and stay at Whateley! You drew the Tower twice and second for the outcome, stay where it is safe!

Morgana sat back and looked at the spread. “It’s certainly not cheerful, it suggests something nasty is in the works.”

Thulia considered. “Soon or not soon?”

I don’t know, it doesn’t say, but with so many dubious cards, I’d guess sooner rather than later. And the tower at the end – if we don’t beat whatever it is, we’ll be in trouble.”

Why, oh why, with a divination like that would you leave campus grounds to go to town any time soon?

“Maybe I should run it past Pat, he’s the Tarot expert. I’ll try and ask him after we get back from Dunwich, see how he interprets it.”

No, ask him before you go, don't put it off. Oh, who am I kidding, they can't hear me.

Saturday 28th January, Order of the Red Ba'al briefing room in a hidden underground base somewhere north of London. Early afternoon.

Master Orlun arrives, his full team is assembled, and he is ready to give his final orders. Crap, they planned it out this well as to trap Morgana. Take time to clear properly, if you got into the tunnels under Whateley Academy without knowing your way around and having no way to call for help you can be lost in there for days, weeks, months, or even years. Whoever informed them that Morgana and Thulia will be visiting Dunwich tomorrow has much to answer for.

Something is up with the dates in the story, it says Saturday the 26th instead of Friday, Sunday 27th should be Saturday, and Saturday 28th January, Order of Red Ba'al should be 27th January if the girls are going to Dunwich tomorrow.

30-60 minutes until someone powerful enough to engage with you is alerted, you don't know Whateley intel, especially this close to the school at all. Kill local law enforcement if they get in the way, okay, even the mercenaries involved need to be eliminated for this attack on Whateley students and against Whateley Neutrality. Jam local communications, think because it is a small town no significant opposition is expected. They have done poor intel on the area and its people's connection to Whateley.

All these plans and you didn't plan for Whateley keeping an eye on Dunwich and their students who visit, nor the kind of technology and magic a school for mutants would have. Bwahaha, the only intel they have on Thulia is from the Order of the Red Ba'al who still think she is a demoness, appropriate protection against a demoness will do little to nothing to Thulia.

No heavy weapons, not facing tanks, bwahaha, some students at Whateley are tougher than tanks and that doesn't account for the staff, the headmistress alone would be too much for you. They waited outside of town just after dawn, that long to initiate their attack. A portal to gate in and escape with, a bunch of cowards, I hope Whateley destroys the lot of them. Don't think it will be necessary, overconfident with not enough intel on your target. If any civilian of Dunwich is harmed or killed, any students or any staff are done the same, and there will be nowhere you can hide to escape retribution.