Day One - Campus Tour - Dorm Assignments
9:50 AM, August 6th, 1210PW. 42 Degrees Fahrenheit. Cloudy.
On the Institute: with the disappearance of the Headmaster, the Institute has chosen Harad Gadtfendt to act as temporary Administrator. The town council believes this is a sign of a coming disaster. - Arclan Horadsteg, Mordhaben Heralds' Guild, 242PW
At 9:45, the sky pulsed green once, followed by the sound of a modest bell tower ringing out two times across the campus. Five minutes later, Professor Katarina Volkova, and Boorkat and Katrice Malkin arrived, with a fourth (and very, very short) Chimera boy in tow. The clocks mounted around the cafeteria wall flashed green twice as well, showing that breakfast was over.
Professor Volkova glanced towards Alexander Breckenridge, then stepped inside. She would simply collect him on her way back outside, if he didn't come back inside of his own accord. Once she reached the center of the cafeteria, she made an announcement via the brass acoustic megaphone in her hand. The announcement would probably be heard outside, and a few of the more sound sensitive Chimeras in the room cringed and clamped their hands over their ears.
"Attention, new students. Breakfast is over. Leave your trays where they are, and follow me to the front entrance of the cafeteria."After waiting for most of the students to start moving, Professor Volkova turned around and exited the room once again. Outside, Boorkat and Katrice Malkin were still waiting, and the crowd of new students from the opening ceremony gathered on the cobblestone sidewalk outside the cafeteria. The small catlike Monster from before was riding on top of a tall student's head, complete with a small piece of raw steak hanging out of its mouth. The staff waited for some time, and after a while, Brovak and company joined the group outside as well. Volkova made a second announcement once the crowd seemed suitably large.
"Is everyone here? Good. We will begin the campus tour shortly. Lunch will be served at the end of the tour, during which time we will also assign dormitories and roommates. Follow me, everybody."Katrice Malkin, the smaller lobster chimera, stayed forwards of the group at all times to translate the tour details into sign language for the group's special needs students. She'd been doing this for years and knew roughly what to expect.
The Tour
The group led by Volkova and the Administrator moved westwards first, a short ways down the road, and crossed a T junction to follow the sidewalk further along. Three large buildings rose up in front of the group. On the left was one huge, square building of smooth red clay, with a pair of enormous garage doors on each side, facing the street. On the right were two somewhat modern brick buildings - one in the shape of an L and four stories tall, and a second further along that was shorter, with an entrance hall facing towards the cafeteria and administrative building.
Volkova stopped in the middle of the three buildings.
"To the south is our dry goods warehouse. Most of the more common and bulkier class supplies are stored there, as well as all standard furniture for your dormitories, and replacement parts for important hardware. The warehouse basement is where cold goods are stored, and can be accessed through a freight elevator in the back. You probably won't need to use this building often.""To the northeast of us is the Social Building, and to the northwest is the Art Building. Follow me and please keep as quiet as possible," she continued.
The Social Building
Volkova led the group into the Social Building first, through the south entrance's large, undecorated wooden doors. Immediately inside the entrance hall were a series of staff offices on the right-hand side (SB101-124), and a series of glass display cases mounted to the walls on the left. Each case contains a historical artifact unearthed by the Institute, as well as a plaque bearing the artifact name, the name of the discoverer, the discovery date, and a brief explanation of what the artifact
is. Many are immediately recognizable objects, but just as many are more 'esoteric', and many of the cases remain empty. None of the displayed artifacts seem to be remotely magical at first glance. Further along the hallway are more doors for classrooms, with an alcove next to a staircase and an elevator midway down the hall.
Once out of the entrance hall and in the main room, the group would find that above them lay a set of three catwalks bordering the walls on each level rather than a solid floor, with ornate gas lamps hanging from the underside of each walkway, illuminating the dark wooden hall with a soft white-orange glow. An older student in enormous glasses looked down over the wrought iron railing from the top level, and dropped a balloon filled with some kind of liquid towards the group, only for it to completely vanish in a puff of destructive magical energy the instant Volkova looked upwards at it. She quickly scribbled an appointment ticket for the young man, and when he tried to escape into his classroom, the appointment ticket hovered through the air and chased after him, disappearing into the fourth floor. Volkova turned back to the crowd and began speaking again as though nothing had happened.
"This building is where all lecture-based courses and non-experimental courses are taught, including History, Political Science, Sociology, Unoctocan, Foreign Languages, Mathematics, and the like. It was originally dedicated exclusively to social sciences, but has more recently been expanded to include other courses as well. On the right is break lounge, and across from it on the left is an exit to the outdoor break area. As you may have seen a moment ago, students here often get bored and like to play 'pranks' like Mr. Edneu did, so keep an eye out for falling objects. There is very little of note here, so we'll continue to the Arts Building next."
The A-S Commons, and the Arts Building
Volkova and the Malkins led the group out the left side exit of the Social Building and across the common area between it and the Arts Building. The common area was filled with such a thick abundance of plantlife that the sun only barely reached the ground between leaves, needles, and woodshroom caps, and a series of standing arc lamps lit the space beneath the canopy, illuminating small fish ponds, wrought iron and oak benches, and flowerbeds containing large breeds of tropical plants of all colors - all bearing the marks of Groundskeeper Billy's near-perfect maintenance. Where the arc lamps' lights didn't reach, bioluminescent flowers lit the space with varying shades of dull blues and reds.
The Arts Building's entrance doorway was framed by flowering vines, and Professor Volkova led the group through a pair of large black shroomwood double doors, each carved with scenes of dozens of people struck by inspiration and in the midst of creative ventures ranging from sewing to painting to blacksmithing.
Inside the art building was a very large central hallway, lit in the dim greenish white of arc lights encased in translucent orange glass domes mounted to the walls. The hallway itself was very plain, with olivine tile floors and walls and ceilings of swirling off-white plaster. At the end of the entrance hallway was a T junction leading into the main portions of the building. When the group rounded the corner to the left, they were met with a series of large stone sliding doors on the left and right, labeled AB120-107.
A door on the left - AB113 - slid open with a gentle rolling sound, and a massive winged Monster cloaked in flame and scentless black smoke stomped into the hallway, wearing an old-fashioned frilly pink dress, long white gloves, and an enormous red flower in its 'hair' (really, more fire and smoke). It was carrying a huge platter of freshly baked cookies, labeled and separated into different mounds by flavor and common allergen groups.
"Cccoooookiess, anyonnne?", it said, in its deep, hollow, vaguely volcanic voice. It approached the group and offered the platter.
"Ah, Mal. I was wondering if you'd be here this year. Everyone, this is Professor Malovroch. Malovroch hosts the Tailoring and Blacksmithing classes, and periodically helps with Culinary and Geology classes. Take one cookie if you wish. Malovroch, perhaps you could show us around? I'm not as familiar with this building as I should be," Volkova said. The older woman was completely dwarfed by the Abyssal Fiend before them, but somehow still seemed more serious and dangerous. A number of students stepped forwards to take a cookie. Some of the students moved very quickly to the
rear of the group at the sight of the Monster, clearly terrified by it and its overly casual mannerisms. Professor Brovak, who'd been silent the whole time, stepped forward and took three fudge cookies, two of which he stuffed into his belt pouch and the third he shoved between his facial bandages. The cookie half hung out of his face as he munched silently, and Volkova shot him a dirty look.
"Mfwaht? I'mf nawt a schtudent, Ai ken dew mfwat Ai whantf.""Don't speak with your mouth full, Brovak. You're setting a bad example for everyone here.""Mmf. Gewd." Part of the cookie crumbles and falls out of his 'mouth' as he speaks, and he snatches the crumbs out of the air and shovels them between his bandages as well, leaving smears of black fudge on his 'face'.
"Pperrhapppppss I ccoooulld, Kittttty. Evveryonne, AB113 iss mmmmy pppersonnal offfficccce. It isss alllso a wwworrrkkshop, whhhiich yyooou arre frree to ussse whhhhen I thhheerrre," the ashen stone abomination said in as close to indoor volume as it could manage. It loudly stomped towards the open door once more and placed the tray of cookies on a shelf just inside the room. Inside the massive room were rows of work benches covered in various tools - hacksaws, band saws, circular saws, screwdriver kits, hammers and sledges of all sizes, sewing machines, sergers, leather stitching machines, wrenches, needles of many gauges, threads and wires, bolts of cloth, sheets of metal, boxes of common sizes of bolts and nuts, and even a welding machine with two long-hosed torches were in the room. There were twelve enormous solid tungsten tables in total, each with four heavy duty stools. At one end of the room is a large desk of solid tungsten sitting next to a large brick oven and a gigantic kitchenette.
"Ttakkke a looookkk."Malovroch closed the door after a while, and began stomping its way throughout the building, explaining each room in kind. Every single room had separate class uses, from fashion design to sewing to blacksmithing to engineering.
"Upppstttaaairrs arre the cllaassssicccalll arrrtts. Pppainttiiing, pppottterrry, annd the llikke. I wwooullld sshow it ttooo yyoou alll, bbuutt the uppper llevells arre nnnott ablle to ssuppporrrtt mmmy... Bbiigg bbonnned nnaturre."The beast seemed a little uncomfortable discussing its enormous size, but an explanation as to why they wouldn't be examining the upper levels seemed like the only right thing to do. Eventually, the group came to the exit at the northern end of the building, and when they left, they were met with a peaceful scene of smooth grasses and standard Unoctocan flowers, with a stone bridge crossing a small artificial creek that led from the jungle-like common area to their southeast towards a stream to their west across the road, which crossed over the creek with its own larger steel-supported bridge. Directly to the north were a series of three modest smooth clay sheds, one of which was marked "G-Billy" and appeared to be a tiny house. Windows in the fronts of the sheds suggested they were storerooms for quite literally hundreds of different pouches of plant seeds, with trays of seedlings along a shelf in one building and racks upon racks of gardening tools in both. The middle building had a larger shed door and housed the most expensive and modern adjustable riding lawnmower anybody had ever seen.
The Central Courtyard and the Research Institute
Brovak took Volkova's position at the head of the group. Malovroch stayed behind to tend to its office cleaning, but sent the group off with small 'goodie bags' full of healthier though less sweet biscuits. The group moved eastwards, and Brovak spoke in his usual long-winded manner as they walked, though considerably more seriously than before. He seemed to actually care about his job in this
one situation. His voice seemed more strained than it had when he was chewing out Alexander earlier, though it was also somewhat more 'present' and less hollow. He was making a very clear effort to seem 'natural', even if his efforts did nothing to reduce his aura of unnaturalness and creepiness.
"We will be visiting the Research Institute next. Mind your step - the groundskeeper may not mind if you accidentally trample his gardens, but I will personally take offense if you increase his workload. Follow me."As the group moved eastwards along a path north of the Billy's sheds, a series of four large buildings in a square was visible directly to their north, across a clean lawn of old-style green grass. There was a tunnel running through one of the building to a large, flat common area, through which were more plants and scenery similar to that of the common area between the Arts and Social Buildings they had just passed. A second creek full of smooth stones and small fish split the lawn in half and joined the creek from the A-S Commons before running under the road bridge to their west, and benches and small statues of historical figures were scattered along the creek's banks. A tiny wooden bridge crossed the creek halfway across the area, and ahead of the group to the east was another wide road. A chain of military transports drove northwards, with upper class military students watching the new students from their truckbeds.
Beyond the road was a large, flat square, with a circular courtyard in the middle and pathways crisscrossing from the Social and Arts Buildings to the northern end of the cafeteria, a path moving eastwards to a very long, tall, and intimidating building of ancient stonework with vaguely gothic architecture, and a fourth path moving northwards into a square-ish building of similar architecture with four towers in the corners and a central dome. The southwest tower of the northern building was taller than the rest and featured a large clock on each face, with a series of floodlights aimed in all directions. The other three towers had bells of various sizes, as well as skyward searchlights and, curiously, what would be immediately identifiable as a single roof-mounted anti-aircraft gun on each.
Brovak raised a hand to the traffic across the central road to halt it, and led the students across to the courtyard, the centerpiece of which was a circular pool and fountain filled with multicolored tiles, fishlike Monsters, and scattered Unoc one-Utan coins (the lowest coin denomination) across the bottom of the water. The fountain was in the shape of four gods of an ancient religion, each facing a cardinal direction, with Garrok, the ancient Sun God, facing east, Garvan, the ancient Night Troll (opposed to his brother Garrok) facing west, Kinash the six-armed Merchant facing south with his bags of gold and vegetables and animal furs, and Arkos the formless Titan facing northwards, represented by a star of white marble. Water poured forth from the mouths of each 'god'.
"This Fountain is older than any other thing at the Institute, and these grounds are often used for our various events and celebrations. To the North is the Library, which as you can see is the tallest building in the Institute. You will visit that later. To the South is the Food Services building, which you have already been to. To the East, where we're going, is the Research Institute. You will stay in a tight group when we enter, and say nothing. The Research Institute is where most of our magic-based classes are taught, and it is the second most common source of injuries at the Institute, after Laboratory One, which is further along. We will not be visiting Laboratory One on this tour for safety reasons."A group of seven mixed humans and Chimeras in casual clothing pushed a cart covered in documents and papers out of the Research Institute's western entrance and descended a ramp, crossed the road, and moved westwards. They seemed to be headed to the Arts Building, where they would fabricate whatever abomination of an object they had just designed, for prototyping purposes. When they passed the group, some students would catch glimpses of a blueprint that appeared to be meant for a small one-man ballooncraft covered in propellers and small caliber cannons. When Brovak's tour group came to the building entrance, they mostly took the short flight of stairs, with some non-legged Monsters taking the ramp. The door was old and made of solid black stone, but swung smoothly despite its many written warnings and signs indicating magical hazards.
Inside, the hallways were almost sterile, with the same green-white glowing arc lights as were present in the Arts Building, though markings on the floor indicated a very clear and orderly path for students, as well as a marked path for carts of research materials in the middle of the hall. The hallway seemed to have more indicators of order than the average Imperial City road, and for good reason - here and there were splotches of stone that had been melted down in some accident at one point or another, and in places the ceiling was still freshly scorched. Empty carts were strewn about in a small alcove near the entrance, many of which were marked with a sign stating 'WARNING: VOLATILE MATERIALS' on the side.
"This building is my domain. You will follow all instructions on the signs as we visit, and I will not take responsibility for any accidents that may happen that may be your faults. Do not interfere with the carts, do not interfere with anybody you see in this building. Volkova and I will personally stop anybody from attempting to do so, and there will be no warnings before paralytic magics are applied for the safety of the group. If you screw up, you will be carried by the rest of the group for the remainder of the tour."Different levels were dedicated to different classes and courses of study. The first floor was exclusively for small-scale laboratory work - chemistry, alchemy, biological engineering, and the like. The basement was for more "in-depth" hazardous work, and the elevator door for basement access included a magical lock that only responded when a passing mage flashed a badge in front of it. The tour group passed by it entirely.
"As first year students, the first floor is exclusively for moving to the upper levels, where our classes are held. The only reason I am showing you is so that none of you get any silly ideas of exploring this place. It isn't nearly as entertaining as you might think. Here, we have the elevators and stairs up to the second floor. RB-212 is my personal office, and RB-213 is my classroom, where you will all be spending considerable time this year. The third and fourth floors include the Monster Studies and biology classes, which some of you will also be taking."After some time, they passed out the eastern exit to the building, which was almost identical to the western entrance. North of them were branches of the building moving eastwards, which suggested it was perhaps in a T, L, or F shape. Directly to the east was a large parking lot, sparsely populated by carriages and a stable, with more modern cars owned by staff members protected by magical barriers. Across the lot to the south and east respectively were two enormous square buildings, the southern of which had similar architecture to the Research Building and Library. The eastern was built in the same style as the Arts Building, though it was considerably more 'utilitarian'.
"To our east is Laboratory Two. The building to the south is Laboratory One, which is strictly off-limits. Laboratory Two has eight rooms on the first floor and sixteen in the basement. The basement laboratories are generally used by classes held in the Research Building, including mine, while all unoccupied and unused laboratories may be reserved for time slots ranging from one hour to one month by students and researchers, depending on their projects. You may reserve a laboratory room at the front desks at the Administrative Building, so long as you fill out the forms detailing the nature of your experiments."
The Athletics Compound
Administrator Malkin took his position at the head of the group alongside his granddaughter. Loud clicking and whirring from the massive crustacean were accompanied by his granddaughter's more human voice as the group moved westwards along the road to the north of the laboratories.
"The Athletics Compound is just ahead, beyond the Armory, which you will visit on the third day during your introductory classes. The Athletics Compound is not related to any of our classes, but you're free to visit at any time."The lobster man held up a claw to halt a "golf cart" (for lack of a better term - golf doesn't exist in this world), and guided the group across the road to the barebones, blue painted steel doors at the entrance to the Athletics Compound. The building was brick, seemingly squareish, and absolutely gigantic - and once the group entered, the size of the building was immediately justified. A blank, hardwood indoor sporting court with some bleachers along both walls took up the entirety of the southwest corner of the building, with racks of adjustable goals and various balls and other sporting gear resting in storage spaces beneath the bleachers. A hallway on the right wall, right next to the bleachers, curved to the north, deeper into the building. Boorkat only barely fit inside, and had to take his hat off lest it be knocked off by the ceiling.
"The indoor court may be rented out at any time. We don't have any official sporting teams here, but some of the fraternities and sororities play here sometimes. Down this hallway are the locker rooms and showers. The Monster locker room includes some amenities for students with different body compositions, including a sandblasting shower, acid washes, and the like, though you will need special permission to use those facilities. Beyond the locker rooms is the indoor swimming pool, which is open from 6:00 to 20:00."Malkin turned a corner through another set of utilitarian doors, and before them lay a very large carpeted room with almost obscenely good ventilation. The room's grey carpet was very well trodden and visible paths were beaten into it, and various weight racks and exercise equipment filled the place to the brim. There were a few very 'unusual' pieces of equipment in the far northeast corner, which seemed to be based around twisting springs and flexible rubber pipes, and were obviously meant for some very, very unusual types of Monsters and Chimeras. One of the tube machines had a stylized image of a squid-man's face and was labeled
BEARDMASTER 3210, with diagrams of facial tentacles being inserted into and flexing the rods. Other machines had similar odd functions and names and diagrams, but most were more 'normal' gear for humans.
"While there is no overseeing staff here, the Kio-Farat Fraternity has volunteered their time in shifts to act as spotters and help students with the equipment. When you're done with any piece of equipment, please clean the seat pads and grips using the spray bottles and paper towels mounted to the walls. We don't want anybody getting some sort of nasty infection in here."Malkin moved back towards the exit and led the group back out of the building.
"I would show you the pool, but it's only accessible through the locker rooms. The other doors are exit-only, and the janitor team have their own keys. Believe me when I say that it's a very nice swimming pool, though -- Competition sized and heated. On the other side of the building is the outdoor field and the running track, where occasionally we hold competitions. The track is open at all times, and includes a series of aerial hoops for flying students as well. Volkova, if you will..."
The Dormitory Quad
Immediately south of the Athletics Compound was the other side of the library - an imposing building, with a pair of ornate double doors to match its near-gothic architecture.
"That is the library once again, as Brovak already explained. It is the centerpiece of the Institute, and where I spend most of my free time. We will not be exploring it today - you are free to enter at your leisure, and the librarians will help you find everything you need. The basements contain rooms where some of our long term residents research and translate old literature unearthed by archaeologists, as well as the Identification Services room, where you may have any unknown items checked for traces of magical energies without the risk of them being scrubbed clean by Foundation magics."Volkova waved a hand towards the Library. It seemed to have several more floors this time than the last time the group saw it - the building was almost twisted in a way and almost seemed to change each time one blinked. Using Vision to check the Library building for magical energies would show that the place absolutely reeked of power, with spirals of smokelike energies oozing out from every single crack in the brickwork. She continued along the road westwards towards the cluster of four tightly linked buildings - seemingly separate, but they had long since been fused together at the ends. Like on the south end, there was a tunnel through the western building as well, which the group moved through. A pair of human-sized glass double doors on each side of the 'tunnel' led to a common room, an office, and a further hallway lined with doors - these were definitely dormitories. On the other side of the tunnel, the group came out to the almost jungle-like common area, which was almost similar to Groundskeeper Billy's personal garden between the Arts and Social Buildings, but was considerably more 'wild'.
"The dormitory to the north, Q4, is the Large Dormitory, and any and all Monsters and Chimeras too large to fit in 'standard' rooms will be housed there. The basement includes natural caverns for subterranean Monsters and the attic is effectively an aviary. Q3, the building we just moved through, has Small and Extra Small dormitories on the northern side, where undersized students may live comfortably. The south side of Q3 has private rooms for students with special requirements. Q2 to the South and Q1 to the West are both designed for 'standard' dormitories. Each dormitory consists of a living room with a kitchenette, and two bedrooms, one on each side of the dormitory room, and each with its own small personal bathroom. They're comfortable enough - I lived in one for four years when I was young and I enjoyed the place. This is the end of the tour. Feel free to eat your lunches while the Administrator gives you your instructions."
Dormitory Assignments
Boorkat's rapid assault of chirping almost caught his granddaughter off guard, and she rushed to keep up with her translations.
"You will now choose one roommate out of your group. Feel free to eat your lunches while you do so. There are a few rules in place though, for your safety and the safety of those around you. Monsters are not permitted to be the roommate of anybody with 'compatible' biology, which is to say, no 'female' Monsters may room with male humans and chimeras and vice-versa, and no Monsters that reproduce via more 'invasive' means are permitted to room with anybody other than similar Monsters. If you'd like to know more about it, ask one of the RAs while you're moving in. They've got all sorts of horrible stories about those kinds of accidents."Boorkat whipped out a stack of papers, which included a list of students who were present at the opening ceremony. A few students were missing from the list, including Mycona Frisa. At the bottom of each paper were two signature and date lines, and brief instructions stating that students should pass the roommate request form back to the Administrator once they've chosen a partner, as well as instructions stating that students who
don't get a roommate will be assigned one.
