battlers; in character.

( FROM CNN INTERNATIONAL. )

( FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES. )

To: Brielle
From: your bus boyfriend

is there something you want to talk about?

TO: carmen.
FROM: killian.

let me preface this by saying if you didn't watch the musical last night, i will be sorely disappointed. pouty face, etc. support your SCHOOL, carmen.

( texts to danny, tori )

To: dwolfe@camulus.edu ["Dylan Wolfe"], javeris@camulus.edu ["Jim Averis"], vdalca@camulus.edu ["Valerui Dalca"]
CC: sfullerton-fitzwarren@camulus.edu ["Serena Fullerton-Fitzwarren"]
From: ualghamdi@camulus.edu ["Ula al-Ghamdi"]
Subject: Obelisk Investigation
Attachment: jokhangannex.pdf

Gentlemen,

I am interested in discussing with you your progress thus far in investing the state of the current obelisk malfunction. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but it is my understanding that the system works via a network of points, or "hot spots," which are then connected by a web of invisible magic lines. This network, or web, or even thick, invisible fog, if you will, manages, by some means yet unclear to me, to work as a barrier to the effects of mortality, letting in only such things as physical and mental and astral blows, while restraining their more threatening, real-life repercussions. This is, of course, divine technology, and not merely manmade magic, but each rely on similar principles of engineering. Therefore, upon conferring with my husband regarding the finer points of magical technology, I can determine the most likely scenario to have brought about our current condition may be one of the following three possibilities: a) a disruption placed along one strand of the network (in the form of a cut or a magical block), thereby throwing the rest of the network offline, b) the disabling of one or more of the aforementioned "hot spots," which would then cancel all areas connected through that avenue (similar to a block or cut in effect), or c) a complete system blackout. The latter would seem the most likely, given the total disappearance of all obelisk effects, yet it is equally the most unlikely, as a complete system blackout would very nearly require a literal "off" switch. Such a switch could only come in the form of a great deal of power, as well as a certain level of access to the system itself at a close range too uncomfortable for any of us to imagine being permitted to outsiders and villains.

Attached, please find the magical blueprints of a temple my team once infiltrated several years ago in Lhasa. The building was, in fact, protected by a divinely placed magical construct using what I believe to be similar technology. We were able to bypass the network by utilizing reflective magic on the system itself, thereby turning the system's voiding power on its own powers. In short: it canceled itself out.

I don't know if any of this is at all helpful to you, and again, of course these theories, assumptions, and methods assure us of nothing yet. And lead us nowhere near the more important matters: when, why, and who? But I believe a meeting between all our minds and talents is as good a starting point as any if we are to do our jobs and to see the students through this crisis (and, it is hoped, to avoid similar crises in the future). I have copied Serena onto this exchange as well, as she seems to have a handle on the delegation of all tasks amongst our colleagues throughout this matter, and should remain informed of our efforts.

'Ula


على الغامدي ,الأستاذة
Dr 'Ula al-Ghamdi, The Professor
Junior Head Mentor
456.356.4787 ex. 34
Office 401

( TEXTS TO KATALIN )

( TEXT TO SLAM )