Chapter 1.4: Office Reports

Professor Carter's office is located with the rest of the psychology department's faculty offices in the southern wing of the psychology building, across the way from the admin building containing Ms. Reinhart's Office. The building bears signs of decades of remodels, and this hallway is full of the accumulated cruft of Ivy academia. Plaques and trophies and photos and paintings line the walls in ancient bookcases and behind yellowing glass. Here and there new additions stand out, visible by their colors and crisp whites not yet faded.

The offices have a somewhat unusual design: two doors on either side of a rectangular room with tall book cases separating each down the middle into an approximation of two smaller offices. The lights are off, but Professor Carter looks to be present.

The university's linoleum tiles squeaked under our boots as Inara and I marched through the dim halls, Hope trailing behind us. Most were too focused on getting to class to do more than briefly glance at the unusual trio we made. Inara strode with purpose, her expression hovering between annoyance and boredom. It was a look I knew well — one that suggested we had every right to be there. And we did. For once in my life, I was actually supposed to be here, rather than skulking about hoping to stumble across a few crumbs of arcane knowledge.

The faint odor of bleach tickled my nose while the morning sun streamed through dirt-flecked windows. Shadows clung to corners and crevices, making the building seem decades older than its actual age. I half-expected to turn a corner and find myself in the ruins of some Victorian-era asylum.

Breaking the silent that had lain between us for hours, I asked, So what do you think it is?

Speculating only makes it harder to change your mind later.

I let my amusment bleed across the mental barrier. You're just saying that because you have no idea what's going on.

Inara's stride hitched almost imperceptibly. Fine then. What do YOU think it is?

Failed summoning. Someone called up something they couldn't control.

Inara made a derisive noise, drawing an odd look from Hope. A demon? Don't be stupid. If a demon got loose there'd be corpses everywhere. And screaming. Lots of screaming.

Not every summoning is about death and chaos. A demon of mysteries or absence could slip by unnoticed. And it doesn't have to be a demon either - spirits come in all shapes.

We reached Carter's office before I could really get going. Pity - I relished knowing more about the arcane than Inara for once.

The lights were off but Carter sat hunched at his desk. Inara made a beeline for him, not bothering to announce herself before barging into his cramped space. "Dawn Commission Agent Inara Sellain," she said. "This is my partner, Agent Hope. We're here about the incident in your classroom."

The lights turn on when you enter, triggered by motion sensors. Carter blinks at your entrance. "Mmm? Office hours are from 2 to 4 pm, or by email appointment."

"Let's not waste each other's time with games." Inara's voice was laced with feigned impatience. I would have felt her emotion through the barrier if it was real. "You know as well as I do that something unusual happened when you arrived to class late. Your students reacted strangely. What caused the phenomenon?"

“Attendance is measured when I arrive in class as per the syllabus. You won’t be marked absent when I’m late provided you’re there when I arrive. Nothing unusual about that, other professors have similar policies.” Carter’s voice is ponderous with the rhythm of an orator who has spent decades delivering lectures.

Inara shook her head slightly, as if brushing away an errant thought. "Let's try this again. I'm Agent Inara Sellain with the Dawn Commission. We investigate anomalies, and we have reason to believe you and your class experienced one earlier today. I'd like you to walk me through what happened when you arrived to class late."

“ I don’t see why you would think an investigation would help. I drop the three lowest grades, it shouldn’t impact your overall grade if you keep up with the homework.” He says dismissively, like this is a conversation he’s had too many times before.

"I don't think we're going to get anything out of talking to him. He's in a fugue or something. Can you check for magic?"

Definitely antimemetic, I said.

"Let me try something first," Inara said. To Carter, "Do you know who I am?"

Seriously? I shared a sense of shaking my head. Why would he recognize you — he's a mundane.

But he's a mundane to who I just said my name. I want to see what the bounds of the effect are, if it'll still affect him when I'm not directly asking about the phenomenon.

Inara stepped closer to Carter's desk, leaning in to peer at his face. He didn't react, continuing to stare blankly ahead.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked again, more insistently.

He reacts only slightly to the intrusion on his personal space, an instinctual leaning away from a stranger. “I’ll get everyone’s names eventually. Send me an email with your request so I don’t forget.”

"Yalm. Cran. Wrent." The incantation flowed from Inara's mouth with practiced ease even as her hands moved, index fingers sliding across thumbs to form a rectangle. And as Inara raised the small window to her face and peered through it at the professor, we saw —

Roll spellcasting

Casting Spectral Sight: [8, 2] Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

The man doesn’t appear to be under active magic effects. His aura is dim, like his soul is distant and can’t latch on to his surroundings. It’s not unsimilar to when a mind winks out and the brain has to reform it, though his seems to be taking a slower time to reform.

"No active magic," Inara said. "But his mind was damaged, and he's running off ingrained habits and patterns, not true intelligence."

Look for the class syllabus and roster, I suggested. If it hit him this bad, the students were probably affected too. We'll have to track them down one by one.

"Carter," Inara said. "I lost my syllabus. Do you have a spare copy I can borrow?"

"Hmm, yes, there's one around here somewhere." He opens a nearby binder and pulls a syllabus paper from it and hands it to Inara. It's possible to see the attendance record contained in the binder when he opens it.

"Carter, I need to borrow the key to the lab"

“The key code is somewhere around here…” he shuffles the papers on his desk.

Find the keycard: [1, 3] Result: Failure ❌

Looking for key card: [2, 4]+1 Result: Success! 🎯

"Got it. Text if you need anything." Hope will head over to the lab at the quickest pace that isn't a run.

Inara threw Carter one last disdainful look and left to follow Hope.

continued here: Chapter 1.3: Results