The Kethencian College of Magic RP (Part 2)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Billy groaned and cradled his aching head. He had never really considered how he would die, but repeated blows to the head was not his first choice.

"Yes, I'm all right. Just...Oh, hello Miss Yamata-san. I'm glad to see you're looking better." Billy smiles. He had seen her in the cafeteria during the headmasters speech, and she had looked out of it. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, could you please get off of me? I need to..."

Billy suddenly got an exited look on his face.

"In fact, as long as you are all here, I would like to run a theory by you and see what you think. That includes you, Mr. Irving, if you have the time."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Asoka grabs Hono'o and ties the ribbon into her hair before responding.

Asoka: "Alright. What's the theory?"

[The Junkyard Cat]

"So what do you have in mind?" Samuel asks

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Alright" Billy says, standing and dusting himself off. "I've been thinking about this for the past few days. We were attacked. Not just by giant spiders, but by an enemy."

It had felt so strange the first time he had said it aloud, but the fact of the matter was the school, and by extension everyone in it, had an enemy.

"Mr. Zaubar told me that, when the big spider died, a milky white substance flowed out of, and dispersed into the corridor that is now blocked up by these rocks." Billy says, patting the stone for emphases. "As far as I'm concerned, that proves that these spiders were not naturally occurring. An enemy sent an army against us. We are currently at war, a war in which the spider attack was only the first battle."

Billy sat down on the rubble. "This much was obvious. What isn't so obvious is what our enemy hoped to achieve. These spiders where not strong opponents at all. I was able to flatten them with a book, which I would like to again apologize to Mr. Tiberius for ruining. Mr. Ashgrove was able to kill the queen in one attack. If the two of us could inflict such damage, despite my lack of combat spells and Mr. Ashgrove's.... unfortunate disability, they would have been child's play for any of the teachers or even the more advanced students. The fact that we suffered not a single casualty, while thankful, is also very telling. This attack was not meant to topple the school. Our opponent had a different objective."

Billy is very serious now. There is not laughter in the boys eyes, not a hint of mirth in his voice.

"When my country goes to war with a country for the first time, we don't send our army in first. What we do is send out a few necromancer to raise the dead in the area we want to attack. All of the dead, human, animal, insect. What you end up with is a very large number of weak undead. Very weak, barley holding together. We then send them to attack in mass at the strongest target we can think of. We don't expect them to win, most of the time we don't even expect anyone to die. But the attack is very good at instilling fear. The opposing army is unnerved, thrown off their game, sometimes we've marched up to find whole forts abandoned, whole towns uprooted and evacuated. I feel that something similar is at work here."

"We may have won the battle, but victory was never the enemy objective. The spiders were, as I said, very weak. It probably did not take a lot to summon or change them. But, as a result of that attack, half of the student body has fled. For comparatively nothing, our enemy has halved our fighting strength. Such a trick isn't likely to work twice. The student that are still here are the ones who have resolved not to flee. The next time this happens, and it will happen again, our enemy won't be playing around anymore."

Billy looks at each of them in turn, letting the implications speak for themselves.

"I apologize if what I'm saying is a bit grim. I could be wrong. But I don't think I am."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Asoka considers for a few seconds the implications of what Billy just said, then pulls out a piece of paper and starts writing. As she does so Asoka talks to Samuel and Billy, " I think you might be right about the fear part. The two things in history that work best on the masses are 'love' and 'fear.' Or in other words, caring for the masses and aiding them or holding them down with intimidation."

Asoka finishes writing and rolls it up into a scroll before inserting two coins into the scroll. As it disappears Asoka says, "I just sent Kaa-san a request for five military history books on the Draconic Empire, Elemental Union, Empire of Winds, Kingdom of Swordmasters, and Kingdom of Witches, so that we can compare and contrast various tactics used by and against various civilizations. It might take some time, but it should be worth it."

[Philote]

Meanwhile, Zauber enters the Arcane manipulation class. Learning from one of the other students that the teacher was out for a moment, Zauber keeps himself busy by studying the spellbook on how to alter the effects of arcane energy.

[Zaleramancer]

Tiberius stood silently for a few seconds before speaking.

"This is very troubling news. If we are indeed the target of some sinister force, then we must become more watchful."

The automaton tilted his head in thought before speaking again, "Perhaps I could research into this. I was.. indisposed during this attack, can you tell me about the behavior of the spiders?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"That would be wonderful, Miss Yamata-san! Right now we are fighting a defensive war against a foe we know nothing about, so any information would be useful."

Billy turned to face Tiberius. "The spiders in general seemed more focused on webbing people up and carrying them off. In general, they were acting more like ants than spiders. But they would drag the student to the most random places. Some would be left where they fell and others would be dragged into the hallways. None seemed to have been taken to the lair. They also had a queen, and all of the smaller spiders died when Mr. Ashgrove killed her. When she died, as I've said before, a ghostly substance floated out of her," Billy pointed to the pile of rubble," and back through that, into the lair."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Suddenly, a pile of books appears next to Asoka with a note.

Note: Don't forget to brush and floss your teeth and comb your hair, Asoka-chan! Kaa-san.

Asoka: "She didn't need to add in that note. Ok, Tiberius you read these two books."

She hands him the books on the Knigdom of Witches and the Kingdom of Swordmasters.

Asoka: "Billy yoiu read this."

She hands him the book on the Empire of Winds.

Asoka: "Mr. Irving will take this one."

She hands him the book on the Elemental Union.

Asoka: "And I'll take this one."

Asoka holds onto the book on the Draconic Empire.

Asoka: "Let's try to figure out what the enemy's next move will possibly be."

[Zaleramancer]

"Did the spider bodies remain where they were?" Inquired Tiberius.

He let the large bad he was dragging lean against a wall. This was far more important.

[Zaleramancer]

"I shall endeavor to read these as soon as I am able."

The automaton accepted the books Asoka offered.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"You know, I'm honestly not sure what happened to them." Billy said, accepting the book and placing it in his robe. "I was pretty out of it, and then the headmaster called us up, then I went to my room and went to sleep. Miss Yamata-san, Mr. Irving, did you see what happened to the corpses?"

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Asoka shakes her head, "No, I'm scared of those things so I wasn't there."

[The Junkyard Cat]

"No me neither." Not really noticing the book given to him he tried to process all the information given to him. "Hold on, just want to be sure of something, So the way the spiders were thinking was as a hive mind. That would explain why all of them died when the queen did."

 Thinking to himself one why the captures tried to capture students only a few explanations came to mind. "For why they would capture students Its most likely an observation on how we react in defense to students being captured. Though the best place for someone to observe us would be someone within the student body." pausing to look at the others he felt as though they were staring at him

"Oh, sorry I might have gotten carried away with talking. It's just traveling with my parents I got to observe the way lots of different cultures work and read of their history. So I have some knowledge of tactics in war in battle from different civilizations."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Billy's mood Slightly darken at Samuel's suggestion. "I don't think we should be speculating on that, Mr. Irving. At least not now, while everyone is still frightened from the attack."

Billy is silent for a moment, then suddenly perks up.

"Oh! I know! Waste disposal! If we go to the place where the school throws out it's trash, then we can see if there are bodies there or not. If they are, we could even examine them!"

[Zaleramancer]

"We should go and check, preferably before they are disposed of permanently." Tiberius said.

"Lead on, Billy."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Asoka shivers at the suggestion, "No thanks. I'll pass on that."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Uh, yes, well, um.... one moment!"

One quick search for a ghost later, Billy learns the location of waste disposal from a disgruntled janitor spirit. He comes back paler than usual.

"Alright, waste disposal is actually quite close to the fire wing. It seems that Fire student who get in trouble are given *Gulp* incineration duty, so we should hurry. Follow me."

Billy turned on his heel and led the small group onward to answers, waving goodbye to Asoka.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Meanwhile in the Headmaster's office...

The headmaster searches through his storage boxes, looking for something. Finnaly he finds it.

"Ah, these should do nicely as a reward for those brave students."

[Philote]

Finishing up my studies in the Arcane Manipulation class for the day, I exit out into the hall to wander for a moment before the regular Protection school classes begin.

(Somebody can mention spotting me when you guys move away from where the spider was defeated.)