1.1 The Class of '07

Chase: “Hey doc, the heart’s in the middle.”

A misty graveyard at dusk. The hills of Maine rise above encircling, forested in black. A small path leads out of the walled cemetery. A large mausoleum rises in front of five confused individuals. As they look around at the faces of strangers, a rustle sounds from a nearby grave and a hand rises from the earth, clawing its way up.

“Someone has been buried alive!”

Beautiful but tough, med student Chase McCallum reaches for the hand, pulling him out of the ground. “Are you OK?”

So it begins. Anyone who’s actually gotten this far on the website knows it’s a vampire. Wackiness ensues. With a killer smile and a backwoods accent, Raveena leads the attack, staking vamps right and left. Dr. Alex Deaver, Lecturing Professor at Phillipi, quickly comes to the conclusion that these aren’t ordinary thugs and gets dusting with a tree branch. Once he recovers from shock, wrestling extraordinaire Will Bishop gets into the swing of thing, but these are the toughest opponents he’s ever faced, and Will has a hard time bringing himself to bloodshed. After subduing a vampire, Deaver finishes the job for him.

Things don’t all run so smoothly. Early in the combat, rebel boy Gabe Marelli is sucked dry, and tossed aside. Chase runs to aid, but is attacked as well, fortunately rolling her attacker into a gravestone before she got too pale. Raveena rushes to her aid, and dusts the last one. As she stands to introduce herself, another vamp rises from behind a tombstone. A sword gleams in the light, and Raveena’s head rolls…

An alarm sounds, and Raveena awakes with a start. It’s move in day at Phillipi.

Raveena: “I now have a death grip on the obvious.”

Raveena shuffles towards the dorm, a large moving box in her hands. She tries to get through the door after a group of freshmen enter, but it shuts just before she can grab it. She types a code into the keypad…not it… tries again… not it… A kind stranger opens the door. She squeezes in and drops her box, the contents spilling all over the entranceway.

Chase heads up a set of stairs towards her apartment carrying a box topped with roller blades. A wicked grin crosses her face, and we cut to Chase blading down the stairs.

Dr. Alex Deaver lifts a contraption of wires and whatnots in confusion. He turns around to a book behind him. The contraption floats! He turns back to it. The contraption is on the table where he left it. He turns back to the book. The contraption floats! He turns back to it. The contraption is on the table where he left it. He turns to the book…

A high heel slinks out of red Camaro. The correspondingly gorgeous face asks for help. Across the parking lot, Will Bishop and his father unload an old work truck. Will sighs to his father, “I don’t think I can handle it.” They head into the freshman dorm, Will feeling older and out of place. His dad turns to him with a sympathetic look, “You gonna be alright?” Will cracks a smile, “The Army did train me to kill, so I’ll be alright Dad.”

A felt tipped pen and nametag are on the desk. The pen taps twice and writes “Gabriel Marelli”. The paper crumples and flies. Another nametag. “Gabe Marelli”. It flies as well. “G. Mare-“ fly. At the front desk, in trenchcoat, slicked hair, and no nametag, Gabe strolls over carrying government issued canvas bags. “Are all the buildings around here non-smoking?”

Convocation. Phillipi has a popular summer program, especially for incoming freshmen, and the gym is half way full of eager new entries to undergrad, grad, and the med school. Perky Student Body President Allie Perkins welcomes the newcomers and introduces Student VP Kyp Bryant. Two new professors, including Dr. Deaver, are introduced and the freshmen are released to find their schedules and get acquainted with McKennit. Chase and another med student joke about the peaceful boringness of small town life.

Darkness reigns around the admin building as Phillipi’s star pitcher, Matt Cogen, shifts his weight, annoyed. “So, come on, where’s the stuff. You said –“ A hand slams into his chest, and energy glows. “What the – “ “Here’s your stuff.” A sword rips into Matt. He howls in pain and drops to the ground. Now we see the wielder of the sword is – Matt. “It’s about time someone put you in your place.” A growl sounds behind them. Matt the attacker turns and stares in horror. He screams and falls as the stabbed Matt clutches at his heels in a dying grasp.

Will: “What are you, Wonder Woman?”

The Phillipi by night tour. Will, dressed in campus security attire, helps usher a drunken Chase and her roommate Julia back to the rest of the group. Deaver, Raveena, and Gabe are also in attendance. The tour guide tells the legend of Lauralie and shows off a hiding place for the Besom Trail, located below the student union. Next off, the tour continues by the Help Stone, which students at Phillipi have been tapping for luck on tests for at least a century. The tour continues around the administration building. Julia is the first to notice the bodies lying on the ground. Soon most of the tour has run screaming into the night, the guide has fainted, and Will is on the walkie-talkie with his boss asking for backup. Chase quickly determines that the two are indeed dead. One has a gaping chest wound probably caused by the sword held in the other’s hand. The sword wielder sports a gash on his neck and appears to be drained of blood. Richard Arquette, head of campus security, requests that Will take the remainder of the group back to the dorms.

On the way back, the six remaining are attacked by a vampire, which Raveena quickly stakes. Gabe, Deaver, and the sixth member, Jade d’Orleans are quick to believe. Will and Chase want a logical explanation. The entire group agrees to talk at Common Grounds, the neighborhood coffee joint. After introductions and arguments, they finally agree to go to the morgue (at the hospital) to check out the bodies.

Raveena (re vamp bitten corpses): “I like to poke a guy within 8 hours.”
Will: “It takes that long?”

At the morgue, Chase meets an old friend – Geoff VanGarren – working the desk. They chat briefly and he shows her the two the bodies. Chase manages to get Geoff out of the room and Raveena stakes the dead guy with the neck wound. As she waits for a result, she is attacked from behind. Chest wound boy quickly heals in front of her as he bears his fangs and lunges for her throat. She throws him across a slab and grabs a saw from nearby, neatly slicing off his head. Poof! Geoff and Chase run in. Geoff runs his hands through his hair, wide eyed. “What…” “Umm…” “Where’s the other body?” Will makes up a story about the window, which Geoff doesn’t appear to follow. He runs his hand through his hair again, muttering, “Not again,” and quickly ushers Raveena and Will out.

Chase stays, offering help. Geoff shoves the stake into her hand and asks her to please just get out before somebody finds her. As she leaves, Chase finds the coroners report. The bodies were identical down to the freckle, except neck wound boy had a tattoo on his shoulder. She quickly photocopies them, returns the originals, and meets up with the group outside. Everyone agrees to meet in the morning after they’ve had a chance to try and decipher what the tattoo means.

Deaver: “I left my particle accelerator on.”
Gabe: “Shotgun!"
Raveena: “My particles are acceleratin’!”

The symbol is about 300 years old, relatively young for this kind of thing, and does not have a name attached to it. The cases it appears in range from identity alteration to jealousy and vengeance to vanity. Many of them refer to a stunningly gorgeous woman. They head to Cauldron and Kettle, the local magic store, to see if they have any books on the subject, but the owner doesn’t encourage browsing the books without buying, so they leave. Kyp enters, running into Deaver and knocking the papers out of his hand. Kyp apologizes and tries to get everyone to sign up for the freshman campout, but only Raveena does. The team again agrees to meet up later and attempt to get into the fifth floor of the library, where Phillipi hosts its world-class collection of occult books.

Before the appointed meeting time, Gabe is kidnapped and Jade gathers the group to try and find him. She gets the group to help her cast a locator spell, and they determine that Gabe is among the living and on the fifth floor of the library.

Gabe: “Are you John or Paul? These guys are obviously George and Ringo..”

In the beautiful occult section of the library, Gabe wrestles against the ropes holding him down under a portrait of Dr. Charles Bannon. Three vampires ask him about the tattoo, but Gabe denies all knowledge.

On the fourth floor, the gang has a hard time getting in. The fifth floor is forbidden to students, and Deaver has forgotten his ID. They argue with the guard…

Gabe continues to deny as the three vamps increase their threats. Behind Gabe a melodic voice rings out, and Dr. Bannon himself steps in front of Gabe. “Where did you find this image?” Gabe doesn’t answer. “Then why do we need you?” Bannon makes a dismissive motion, and the three vamps move in for the kill.

The guard slowly looks through a directory for Deaver’s name. Jade snarls and marches up the stairs. The guard tries to stop her, but her eyes turn black as she intones, “You will not call anyone.” The guard sits back down stating that he won’t call anyone, and the team rushes up the stairs just in time to interrupt the feed. Bannon is amused and tells them not to mess up his library.

Everyone gets to help bag a vamp, and Bannon appears impressed. “That was… unexpected. It’s nice to have interesting people in town again. But you won’t find things so easy when the demon arrives.” And he disappears in a grey cloud. The gang discovers that he used a prepared spell for the smoke and a secret door to vanish, leading Jade to believe that he isn’t as powerful a sorcerer as he wants others to think. The gang heads to Common Grounds for mochas. Mochas do cure all.

50's Pinup Chick: “Humans are so dumb.”

A cave. The polished walls eerily reflect two ensconced torches that flame and cackle without burning. Between them is the only entrance (exit?) - a heavy door carved of ash with iron hinges and locks. It has the feel of centuries about it. In front, a cloaked figure kneels, facing the door. Behind her, a girl resembling a 50’s pinup model appears, wearing the same cloak. “I wish you had been there,” the pinup says.

“You were always more popular,” the kneeling one replies.

“But not more powerful. Humans are so dumb. But I have good news! That silly parchment that they always have? This one didn’t have it! Do you know what that means??”

The kneeling one turns and says, “That maybe I can get out of here.”

“The priestesses will walk again, and together – “

“We can bring back Zolor.”

“Yes! Oh, and I brought you a present.” She produces a portable CD player and places the headphones on the kneeling one. “What is this?” The kneeling one presses buttons until music floods through. “Isn’t it fabulous?” Behind the hood, the kneeling one cracks a smile as she bops her head to Alanis Morisette…

Playlist Highlights

You're So Real - matchbox twenty

You don't know me too well
You ain't seen my bad side

Precious Illusions - Alanis Morissette

But this won't work now the way it once did...
but I know I won't keep on playing the victim