Sinegard Academy for the Wayward

[milkmaiden38]

Back in the Catacombs

Everyone had made it back to the warded safe zone—everyone except Ravyn. Gem stalked the length of the chamber, fury radiating off her like heat.

“Fuck!” she snapped. “Ravyn is a powerful magic user… and I know she has lungs and can yell.”

“I know she can yell too,” Angus muttered, remembering vividly the time Ravyn screamed at him about not wanting sex.

Gem threw her hands up. “How in the hell does she keep getting caught?”

“I say we hang a bell around her neck. A cowbell. Those are sexy,” Angus offered.

Callo arched a brow. “A minotaur finding a cowbell sexy… shocking.”

“Enough,” Gem barked. “This isn’t joke time. We need to find Ravyn and get her out. Magdalena, M’Kael—ideas?”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

“From how much that hurt, I think she was shot in the head.” M’Kael said. “Gimme a minute and I might be able to find her. Though she’s moved since she died. Normally I can get to her when she dies. But she normally doesn’t move right after that.”

Closing her eyes Magdalena slowly tuned in a circle, “I can’t find Ravyn, But I can find Ashmadae if he’s close enough.”

“And technically she’s not a magic user.. she’s a summoner in training. And an idiot at that.” M’Kael reminded Gem. “Don’t get me wrong she’s very intelligent, but she’s a mental brick.”

After turning a full circle Magdalena opened her eyes, “She’s not in range.”​

 

[milkmaiden38]

“Alright. She can’t leave campus—not unless they dragged her into another dimension, and they’ve never pulled that off before. So she’s here. Somewhere.” Gem’s voice was tight, controlled, but worried. “We’ll follow the same search protocol as last time, with one change. No splitting into teams. I’m not letting them pick us off one by one.”

She exhaled sharply, then added, “Thoughts on scrying? Or… I could try astral projection with a couple of you.”

“For scrying, we’d need something personal,” Angela said. “Clothing, a hair, a fingernail—anything from Ravyn. It’ll boost the odds.”

“She slept over there.” Gem pointed toward a pile of blankets. “I can find a hair.”

Angus folded his arms, brow furrowed. “Astral projection worries me. If the connection snaps, the person on the other end dies.”

“Extremely unlikely,” Gem countered, though she didn’t quite meet his eyes. “But yes… technically a risk.” She looked around the group. “Anyone have a better idea?”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

“If you don’t mind I’d like to keep my soul where it is.. inside my body.” M’Kael commented. He’d already had his soul ripped out recently and that was to much as it was. “Scrying sounds best to me. Although I volunteer Mags for astral projection.”

“No.” Magdalena replied glaring at him. “You’d use the opportunity to take my clothes off and be creepy.”

“I’d never!” M’Kael replied a little too innocently and defensive.

“I can detect lies..” She replied squinting at him.

“Sonovabitch.” He mumbled under his breath. “Fine I’d just look to see if they were natural or man-made.”

“God given.” Magdalena replied before she slapped him in the back of the head.

“You’re gonna give me a concussion if you keep doing that.”

“I’m just trying to knock some common sense into you,” she said moving away from him. “Creep.”​

 

[milkmaiden38]

“Scrying it is,” Gem said, already shifting into command mode. “Angus—bring me one of her hairs, her bedding, and her backpack.”

The minotaur didn’t argue. He lumbered to Ravyn’s alcove, gathering her things with surprising gentleness for someone his size. While he worked, Gem snatched a wide bronze bowl from her kit and filled it with water, her movements clipped and urgent.

By the time Angus returned, Gem was already kneeling. She found a single strand of Ravyn’s hair and let it drift onto the water’s surface.

The spell began immediately—low, rhythmic chanting that vibrated in the air, each phrase punctuated by a sharp tap of her staff against the stone floor. The bowl trembled. Thin curls of steam rose, twisting into shapes that weren’t quite natural. The water darkened, then brightened, then shimmered like a mirror catching moonlight.

Images started to form.

“Watch closely,” Gem said, her voice tight. “When you see Ravyn, look for anything—anything at all—that tells us where she is.”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

The water darkened and swirled before it cleared and showed Ravyn laying on a stone tableau her eyes open and staring as if she was dead. Her hands and legs bound by gleaming metal etched with runes. Against the wall was the recessed doorway that had killed her by shattering her skull, neck, and spine.

M’Kael shrugged, “Never seen anything like that before. Though I’m guessing the rune marked chains are to keep her and the demon bound.”

“Perhaps,” Magdalena commented. “But they don’t look like runes of binding.”

"You like being tied up?" M'Kael smirked. "Kinky.."

"Pervert."​

 

[milkmaiden38]

Everyone leaned in, eyes fixed on the image inside the scrying bowl.

“It might be somewhere in the catacombs. Angus—do we have a room like that down here?” Gem asked, her voice low but urgent.

“Give me a second,” Angus murmured, closing his eyes as if mapping the tunnels in his mind.

“And quiet,” Gem added, lifting a hand. “We can hear as well as see. Any sound could matter.”

The group fell still. For twenty long seconds, only the faint hum of the spell filled the chamber.

“How long can you maintain this?” Angela whispered.

“Ten minutes,” Gem replied sharply. “So hush.”

Another moment passed before Angus’s eyes snapped open. “Wait. I know that place. It’s the Summoner’s Office.”

Gem blinked. “What? That room isn’t in the catacombs.”

Angus snorted. “I’m a minotaur. Trust me—I know spaces.”

Gem hesitated only a heartbeat before nodding. “Fine. Everyone move. This time we go in with stealth and surprise.”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

“Lot of books on the walls. Library? Or a secluded professors library?” M’Kael suggested. “I don’t see any marks on the stone work. Just the chains.”

“Through the scry I can’t see anything of an evil nature, and none of my prayers will work either.” Magdalena said.

“So, we search every building on the campus? That will take a couple days. The campus is huge. Especially if you count basements as well.” M’Kael commented. “I can try and shadow skim, but with the number of places that were warded last time, they probably got increased.”​

 

[milkmaiden38]

“I don’t think we need to sweep the whole campus,” Angus said, adjusting the grip on his axe. “Professor Ot’s office was in the Heron Archives. I’m pretty sure that’s where this room is. We just need to get back to that magic door.”

“It’s certainly the best place to look for clues,” Gem agreed. “Everyone needs to be fully armed and ready for a fight.”

She gathered her potions and lifted her wizard staff with practiced ease. Angela holstered her guns, slipped the Cup of Shadows into her belt, and slung her new magic sword across her back. Angus hefted his enchanted axe, its runes faintly glowing.

Five minutes later, the group was assembled—except for one.

“Where’s Callo?” Gem asked, scanning the dim chamber.

“She ready,” Angela said without looking up.

“Good enough. Let’s move.” Gem pushed open the heavy door, and the team stepped out of the catacombs into the cool night air.

The campus was quiet, the walkways lit by soft, enchanted lamps that cast long shadows across the stone paths. Together, they headed toward the looming silhouette of the Heron Archives.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Cloaked, armed, and armored with, and by, the shadows M’Kael stood motionless until thy needed to move, his stillness allowing him to blend with the his surroundings.

As he waited his fingers played with the trinkets he’d gathered from the demon horde in the labyrinth. Slipping some of them on his fingers he figured if he was going to die soon, he might as well look rich.

Once they got moving he stayed near the back, using the shadows to feel and see if anyone was coming up behind them even as he searched the shadows ahead for traps and ambushes.

“All clear so far, but it’s too quiet. There should be insects or birds. But I don’t hear anything. This is gonna be a bad trap. I can feel it.” He whispered loudly to the group.

“I feel no evil around us, and my prayers remain steadfast and my wards sturdy.” Magdalena replied, the tip of her spear as plain as mortal steel without gleam or glow.​

 

[milkmaiden38]

The Heron Archives loomed above them, its Gothic silhouette carved in shadow and stone. Thick masonry walls pressed inward like the ramparts of an ancient fortress. Rounded arches and narrow windows gave the lower floors a brooding, defensive feel, while the upper levels erupted into pointed arches, sweeping flying buttresses, and towering stained‑glass windows that glimmered faintly in the moonlight.

“One thing’s for sure,” Angus muttered, eyeing the structure. “If any building on campus was built for a siege, it’s this one. Looks more like a castle than a lecture hall/office.”

“The bad guys took a serious beating a few hours ago,” Gem said. “I doubt they’ve recovered enough to cause trouble yet.”

The team pushed through the heavy main doors and started up the grand staircase toward the upper floors.

“Professor Ot’s office was on the top level,” Angus explained to those who hadn’t been here before.

They reached the fourth floor and passed the old office. The nameplate had been removed, and the door sat locked and silent.

“The magic door was this way,” Angus said, turning down a narrow side passage. At the end of the hall stood the door—closed, waiting, and far too quiet.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

“Never underestimate evil or it’s abilities.” Magdalena commented rather seriously, as she scanned the hallway and the door her boots making soft clicks on the stone floor as she moved.

Looking at the doorway M’Kael paused. “I can’t feel anything in there. It’s warded…”

“Hell, I can’t feel anything in any of these rooms. It’s like they’re lite up as bright as possible to prevent shadows.”

“I feel no Evil or Chaos anywhere, and I’ve been looking since we left the catacombs.” Magdalena informed them. Stopping she looked at the door. “I should be able to feel the demon inside her, Ashmadae. It should be to powerful to shield. Unless they are using a meta-level Reverse Alignment spell.”

“But that begs the question.. why?” M’Kael asked.​

 

[milkmaiden38]

Angus stared at the massive door carved from ebony and veined stone. It had no handle, no hinges—nothing that suggested it should open at all. Instead, twelve fist‑sized icons were set into the surface in a perfect circle.

Starting at the top and moving clockwise, the engravings formed a strange bestiary and arcane wheel: a starburst, a blue leopard, a black heron, a red hyena, a grey elephant, a golden snake, a single leaf, a black ibex, a frog shifting through colors, an emerald spider, a walnut‑brown hawk, and a white bull. The Ten Magic Warriors, mixed with common arcane sigils—and between them, four violet gems pulsed faintly, each one representing a different essence of magic. All of it framed the center of the door like a ritual waiting to be triggered.

“I’m very sure this is where that room is,” Angus murmured, eyes fixed on the symbols.

“Maybe it is,” Gem said, stepping beside him. “But maybe we’re at the right place and the wrong time. Ravyn might be in that room… just five years ago.”

“That would explain why we can’t detect anything,” Angus admitted. “But how do we prove it?”

Gem folded her arms. “The scrying spell should show where Ravyn is now, not half a decade in the past. But if there’s an active time portal… we might have seen her as she was back then.”

“You still didn’t answer my question,” Angus said, glancing at her.

Gem exhaled. “We open the door. That’s the only way to confirm anything.”

Angus turned to the others. “M’Kael? Magdelena? Thoughts? Do you want me to open it?”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

“What if there is a counter scrying or divination spell going on? Something giving a false image? Is that possible? These bastards are going for her pretty hard. Demons, Dragons, Lych, Arch Demons and devils. This is serious shit. But I’m no caster so I don’t know what’s possible. So I assume anything and everything is possible.”

“So how do we open the door? I can’t tell what’s on the other side, so they’ve prepared for me. I can’t see so I can’t get in. And I’m not a puzzle man. I’m guessing it’s a lock of some kind though. But….”

“Maybe... I can see inside the lock?”

“It could be an empty room, that could why I can’t sense the Demon.” Magdalena offered. “I agree we need to open the door.”

“Angus and his Axe? Bypass any locks and spells?”​

 

[milkmaiden38]

“Before we hack the door down… remember how we opened it last time?” Gem said, studying the carved symbols. “It worked by inputting the correct time. The icons are still arranged like a clock face.”

“Alright…” Angus stepped forward, rolling his shoulders as if preparing for a fight with the door itself. He traced the circle of symbols the way one would read hours, minutes, and seconds. His fingertip hovered over the starburst at the top. He waited for the invisible moment when the “hand” should align, then pressed.

Nothing.

A heartbeat later, the door exhaled a rasping, ancient voice:“Men go abroad to wonder at movement without feet… at the trunk without a car… at horns that do not make music… and they pass by themselves without wondering…”

Angus sighed and reached for his axe. “I guess they changed the combination.”

“Hold on.” Gem grabbed his arm. “The door just talked to us.”

“And said a whole lot of nonsense,” Angus muttered.

“It’s a riddle,” Gem said, eyes narrowing. “Movement without feet—that’s a snake. Press the snake icon.”

Angus did. The serpent symbol flared with violet light.

“Next: ‘trunk without a car’… that’s the elephant.” She pointed. Angus pressed it, and the elephant glowed as well.

“Horns that don’t make music…” Gem hesitated. “Could be the ibex or the bull.”

Angus shrugged and tapped the bull. It lit up instantly.

Gem placed her palm on the center sigil. A soft click echoed through the stone.

The door unlocked.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

“Um,” M’Kael interjected. “I wasn’t along last time you were here.”

And then watched as Angus started playing with it. Taking a step back he made sure the big Minotaur was between him and the door.

Just in case.

At least Gem had the right idea of having the Minotaur do it. As soon as the door clicked he tried shadow stepping inside, but still nothing. “Yeah it’s warded like Fort Knox.”

Moving to the front Magdalena held her spear in hand ready to spike anything inside that moved. The spear tip still wasn’t glowing or even gleaming. “Let me go first,” she said stepping around Angus to pull the door open and look inside. Stepping in she held her spear at the ready as she looked around. “It’s dark in here. Musty. A couple candles. Ravyn’s chained to the alter. She’s naked. Get in here so we can get these chains off her.”

Pushing on the door Magdalena opened in just a little more so Angus could get leverage. “We need to break the binding spells on the chains and then Angus can shatter them with his axe.”​

 

[milkmaiden38]

Everyone froze, staring at Ravyn’s lifeless, naked form chained to the altar. The stillness of the chamber felt wrong—manufactured.

“This is too easy,” Gem muttered, eyes narrowing. “If they captured Ravyn, someone should be guarding her. There should be something here.”

“Or maybe,” Angela said as she stepped boldly into the room, “we’re just faster and smarter than the bad guys.” She drew her new sword, testing its weight. “Let me see if this thing can cut through those chains.”

Angus followed her in, though unease tugged at his voice. “Gem, I agree… it feels like a trap. But Ravyn needs us.”

“Fine. Hold on,” Gem said, lifting her hands. “I’ll dispel whatever binding magic they used.”

M’Kael crossed the threshold—and the heavy stone door slammed shut behind him with a violent crack.

Gem looked at the closed stone with her friends behind it. “SHIT.” Is all she said.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

He was walking through the door when it pushed him into the room, stone meeting stone with a violent crack.

As soon as the door closed M’Kael felt an oppressive weight on his skull making him tired. The glowing runes on Ravyn’s chains faded as her body changed into that of one of the Acolytes, quite dead. But still not Ravyn.

Magdalena’s head jerked as she looked at the door, watching as it molded into the wall until they were one solid piece. Not even a seam remained. A quick prayer and she looked at Angus and Angela. “No magic. Probably an anti-magic spell or item. Or a ward against prayers.”

“It’s a magic barrier,” M’Kael commented as he leaned against a wall. “It’s sapped my abilities. I can’t even feel the shadows under my feet.”​

 

[milkmaiden38]

“A trap… Gem was right.” Angus clenched his jaw. “I’m going to hear about this for weeks.”

Angela snorted. “The old lady giving you grief again? I’m here to help… with anything.” Her eyes flicked deliberately to his crotch as she repeated, “Anything.”

“No. Everything’s fine,” Angus said a little too quickly.

“Well, if magic’s a bust, we’re going to have to break our way out.” Angela dusted off her hands. “Angus… that’s your department.”

“Sure, but M’Kael’s got muscles too,” he muttered, hefting his axe. He swung it hard, the blade biting into what used to be the door.

While the rhythmic CHNK—CHNK—CHNK of Angus’ axe filled the chamber, Angela crouched beside the dead acolyte, rifling through robes and pouches with practiced efficiency.

“This was set up fast,” she called to Magdalena. “We barely finished fighting them, and they already had a trap waiting. Someone planned this.”

Another CRACK echoed as Angus tore a chunk of the doorway free.

“And they planned it well,” Angela added, her tone darkening. “Too well.”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

“Yeah I got muscles, better shaped than yours too. But you’re the one with an axe. My blades are good for fighting, but not at whacking on stone.”

“Have they been spying on us? We used scry to find her, could they be doing the same to hear what we’re doing and planning?” M’Kael asked.

“Possible,” Magdalena replied. “I’m not trained in magic or sorcery. Only Prayers and combat.”

“Give me a chance and I’ll show you some magic..” M’Kael hinted with a grin.

“And I’ll show you how a farmer castrates a pig…”

“Don’t be mean.”

“Then don’t be nasty.” She snapped in return, before she looked at Angela. “You still haven’t brought me flowers or chocolates. Did you lose interest?"​

 

[milkmaiden38]

“Chocolate and flowers,” Angela muttered, repeating the phrase as she finished rifling through the dead acolytes’ pockets. “No, I haven’t lost interest. We’ve just been a little busy.” She rose smoothly, brushing dust from her hands. “Now—Ravyn. Once we’re out of here, Gem can run a few spells. Maybe we’ll finally get answers. I’m thinking legend lore, maybe another scrying.”

She paced toward the door, eyes narrowing. “And I’m almost certain they’ve been spying on us. Arcane Eye, most likely. We’ll need Gem to cast true seeing before we walk into another ambush.”

Angus’ axe suddenly punched through the wood with a splintering crack. A wedge of light appeared, and Gem’s face filled the gap.

“Hi,” Angus said, as if he’d simply opened a polite conversation rather than hacked through a door.

“Is everyone okay?” Gem asked, breath tight with worry.

“Yes,” Angus replied.

Relief washed over her features. “Good.”

“Let me widen this hole,” Angus said, already swinging again. The door shuddered under each blow, the sound echoing through the chamber as Angela stepped back, sword ready, eyes scanning for the next surprise.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

As soon as air moved between both the trap and the room without the books on all the book cases began to move. Automotons ‘clockwork mechanization’ they relied on not magic but gears and springs.

Bursting into motion they buzzed and whirred overhead as they began to drop vials of gels and gases. Acids and fumes. The air filled quickly with a putrid caustic stench that made seeing and breathing near impossible. As acid splattered everywhere below, burning flesh, steel, and stone with equal ease.

Coughing M’Kael shoved past Angus and forced his arm through the hole the Minotaur had chipped in the door. With his hand casting a shadow on the stone, even as acid ate at his hand, he vanished.​

 

[milkmaiden38]

Angela felt the sting of acid across her exposed skin and yanked her cloak tighter, though the smoldering fabric promised only seconds of protection. Poison gas thickened the air, burning her lungs with every breath. She dropped low, hugging the floor where the fumes were thinner, buying herself a sliver of time.

Across the room, Angus shielded as much of his massive frame as he could. M’Kael shoved past him toward the exit— he found a shadow and vanished.

“Self‑centered—” Angus began, but the sudden reek of dissolving bull fur cut him off. He grit his teeth and kept chopping at the ruined doorway.

“DUCK!” Gem’s voice cracked through the haze. Her staff thrust through the gap an instant before both Angus and Angela vanished.

The world drained of color. Gray. Everything was gray—same room, same dead acolyte, but washed into a ghostly monochrome.

A brilliant flash erupted in the material world. A fireball detonated where they had stood, incinerating the mechanical book, the acid, the poison fumes—everything. The blast ripped the last of the door from its hinges, but Angus and Angela felt nothing. Only the ripple of displaced air brushed their ethereal forms.

“We’re on the Ethereal Plane,” Angela said, already moving through the now‑harmless wreckage.

A heartbeat later, Gem pulled them back. Color slammed into place, and they reappeared amid the scorched remains.

“Thanks,” Angus muttered, swiping at the lingering patches of acid still eating at his fur.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

“I’m gonna beat his sorry ass!” Magdalena yelled. Her own cloak smoking and perforated by a dozen holes.

“What the fuck was that shit?” M’Kael weezed as he stepped from a shadow just in time for Magdalena to hit him in the head with the butt of her spear. “Oww.”

“That was you abandoning us.”

“I did not. I got out so I could breath. I was coming back. I’m here aren’t I?”

“Yeah, you came back after we got to safety.”

“Sorry if I’m not a self-sacrificing holy warrior like you. I don’t depend on anybody to save my ass, cause nobody ever has.”

“And keep being that way and nobody will.” Magdalena finally replied exasperated by M’Kael.

“Leaning against a wall M’Kael pulled the shadows closer, healing as he did so.​

 

[milkmaiden38]

“Not cool, bro,” Angus rumbled at M’Kael.

“Not cool?” Angela snapped. “How about you’re an ass?” She jabbed a finger at M’Kael, her cloak riddled with smoking acid holes.

Gem rushed in like someone trying to stop a tavern brawl with a tea towel. “Okay, everyone—breathe. Settle down.”

Angela wasn’t having it. “Where was Callo?”

“She’s close,” Gem said carefully. “Watching from the shadows in case we needed backup.”

Angela’s eyes narrowed. Only powerful magic could hide an ancient shadow dragon the size of three elephants.“We almost died. I think that qualifies as ‘needing backup.’”

“I handled the threat,” Gem insisted, already trying to pivot. “Now let’s focus on finding Ravyn.”

“You’re an ass too!” Angela shot back, voice echoing off the stone.

Angus stepped between them before Gem could retaliate. His massive frame blocked both women like a living wall.“STOP,” he bellowed.

Silence fell instantly.

He exhaled, calmer now. “Any ideas on how we find Ravyn?”