Log:Dead To Rites

All Hail the Carrion Queen 2014/10/08 Annie Hunter Psyn Raven Showdown Timewarp Yaretzi

2

Field trip! No more lame desks, lamer hallways, lamest teachers. Almost. They totes didn't take up Annie's crash suggestion of historical Key West, San Diego, or Honolulu. Instead, they were packed into a bus for... a museum? Ugh. Totes lame. The only good thing is no hall passes and only a couple nup chaperones to keep eyes on all those pups.

This makes it all the easier for Annie to duck down a side hall or hit the ladies' room and be totes forgotten. So she can then come back out for fun, and help some friends out. Since she has a pretty good idea that a certain Yaretzi will probably /adore/ all the crusty old dead things on the walls, /this/ Yaretzi focuses on the young, scenic, live things who are also totes bored with the dead things on the walls. She tucks green bangs behind one ear as she trolls the halls. Hmm. No. No. Ew. Maybe. Scenic, but taken... Or maybe not? She /is/ a cheerleader, afterall. That make the varsity players totes on the menu.

Yaretzi, the -real- Yaretzi, has actually already gotten herself separated from the main group of students, as well. She's in the exhibit that features a display on Incan and Aztec religious statuary and icons. Eyes wide with wonder and awe, she starts in the Incan area of the room looking at the items on display and reading the informational plaques that're set near them.

Amelia has the learning guide from the school in hand and is diligently working through it. She's one of the few who wears the official school uniform which tends to make her stand out. Her PDA is being used for note-taking as she moves from one exhibit to the next.

Yaretzi's got her own PDA up and running, with the learning guide on it, too... but she's on the section that's about the exhibit she's in, with the Incan and Aztec goodies, of course, and she's taking pictures and taking notes at the same time, as she slowly starts to make her way around the room.

Hunter is one of those not all that interested in the dead. What good is a bunch of old bones and artifacts, anyway? He ambles along paying half attention to anything unless the teachers bring specific attention to it, because it might be on a test, and he might have to pass said test.

Amelia stops in front of a display case of native American artifacts. Her attention seem to the drawn to a spirit stick, a short length of stick painted with originally bright but now faded colors festooned by feathers and braided cords.

Amidst the displays of the Incan and Aztec goodies are pottery, information on life, temples, and for a limited time, the "Maiden" is on display behind thick glass in the area detailing religion and ritual sacrifice.

Andrew Crushfield. The Crush. The soccer team doesn't get all the publicity of the football team, but Andrew is everything KC Fields and crew are not. He didn't just get his name from what he does to opponents on the field, but because of the line of fawning fems that stretches all the way back to middle schools. Yet he and Melinda May, senior class bookworm have been a thing for 3 years. Three! That's their entire high school lifetime! Of course, rumor is that with him busy all summer with the team and she buried in her classwork all school year... that's why they get along so well.

So, he's scenic, nice, and has a thing for knowy fems. Perfect! The Yaretzi that is not Yaretzi sidles on up next to Andrew who's following the guided tour with politely-feigned interest while Melinda is up front with the guide, taking copious notes. "Um, hey, Andrew..." Yaretzi is shy. Annie remembers this.. and possibly embellishes some. Like the accidentally on-purpose leaning into him when the tour mob bunches up at the latest stop.

Oddly enough, there is one guy who is not a high school student in the Incan and Aztec area. And he doesn't seem to be taking notes either. Kyle Strong's dressed in a pair of slacks today, with a nice dress shirt but no tie. His eyes are currently on a carving of apparently some sort of sun symbol, or a picture of it rather. "Hm..." The college student happens to be looking over the plaque detailing some of the history for it, too.

Yaretzi, the -real- Yaretzi, is still slowly making her way around the big room where the Incan and Aztec artifacts are on display, taking pictures and taking notes. Having worked her way through the Incan artifacts on display, she's come to the display on Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec got of the sun. There, her eyes widen as she sees a picture, taken quite a long time ago, of a man (likely of Mexican heritage from his appearance) holding up a small statuette in one hand and what looks to be a miniature Aztec sun-calender in the other. After a lengthy pause, she lifts her PDA and takes a picture of the picture itself.

Amelia checks on the history of the spirit stick item. Of course that means getting into the museum's stock records. Not a major task for her though. She relaxes on finding the stick has been on display for over a decade. . o O(Seems safe then. I wonder if the museum knows they have an item of real power here?) Closing her clandestine login to the museum admin network she looks in the learning guide. Next stop, the Inca exhibit.

Anastasia has been here at the museum, really, she has just been sticking in the background. She moves up now though and joins the others near the front of the field trip. She smiles a bit as she looks around at the exhibits. She runs her hand through her hair and seems to be considering something.

For any stuck in the mob tour group with Hunter and the other, possibly more social and mischevious, Yaretzi, things are still mostly dull. Just not for Psuedo-Zee. Somewhere between the exhibit of Dusty Bones of Some Dead Mas and the display of Broken Jars and Junk By People Nobody Cares About, she's attached herself to the arm of the swoony soccer star and is stretched up to whisper chat at his ear.

Casual conversation. Friendly casual. Until his eyes widen and he tries not to blush. He fails, but totes scenically. It could be he's just awkward with goodbyes, as just after that the Yaretzi that isn't Yaretzi excuses herself with a knowing smile. Time for a quick powder break while the rest of the group enters into the Aztec something-something room.

The main group finally filters into the Aztec room, while one of the teacher starts to count heads to see if everyone's there.

Looking over, Kyle notices someone he recognizes and drifts over by Yaretzi. "Heya, kid. Cheerleading still treating you good?" Kyle's a bit curious, and does happen to glance at what Yaretzi's attention was focused on.

The teacher doing the counting checks her rolls sheet. There seems to be some missing. "Hughes? Thompson?" She looks over the crowd for the missing students.

Yaretzi gives a little 'jump', as if startled out of a reverie. "Oh..! Uhm, yeah. Doing good", she says, turning as she notices the rest of the school's field trip group filing into the room.

Andrew Crushfield, meanwhile, looks a bit surprised to see Yaretzi already in the room. He'd have sworn she'd lingered behind, heading off to 'the powder room'. He even glances back that way, a slightly confused look on his face.

Amelia is with the main group but not really a aprt of it in that way nerds are excluded even when present. Except for one of the jocks who intercepts Amelia and whispers something quietly to her. After a moment Amelia nods and whispers back, "Sure, Bard. See me in the computer room after school and I'll help you with that assignment."

Annie missing roll? That's like a broken clock being right. It only happens a couple times a day. She has the ultimate excuse, though, as she emerges from the ladies' room and heads for the Azteca room. Too bad she didn't even hear her name called, so she can't even use the excuse yet.

Tali seems to be missing too. Oh, no, wait, there she is. "Here!"

Anastasia smiles, and answered when her name was called and she moves up to get a bit closer to a few people that she knows.

Tali 's got a backpack slung over her back. She figures there might be lots of interesting things to draw at the museum, and wants to make sure she has enough sketch pads.

The teacher marks off Tali. "Alright, may is here. Hughes? Thompson?" she calls again.

Looking at the picture of the man with the statue and the sun-calendar, Kyle comments to Yaretzi, "History's an interesting subject, isn't it? You never know what something's past can hold these days." He does look over at the high school group. He blinks, then looks to Yaretzi. "Sounds like you guys lost someone."

Amelia makes her way through the group to Tali, "Hi, Tali. I hadn't realised you were on the trip too. I must have missed seeing you on the coach. Were you seated at the back?"

Yaretzi nods at what Kyle's saying, then again at his comment about someone being lost. "Sounds like Annie and Hunter wandered off. They're usually the ones who do that kinda thing", she comments, then turns to look at the picture again. "That's.... that's my great-great-grandfather", she says, after a moment of hesitation, during which she decided that it's the truth, so why not point it out. "Emilio Acama", she adds, pointing out the name on the plaque by the picture. "I didn't even know he was an archaeologist... but I heard my grandpa say his name a few times."

Another teacher at the front of the group sighs as the roll call teacher tries to locate the missing students. "Gather around, students," Mrs. Hallard announces as she stands by a display of the sun iconography of the Aztec display, adjacent to the Incan display. Some of the students start to bunch up towards the teacher in a semi circle in preparation for the lecture.

Tali nods. "Uh yeah, the back."

Andrew, meanwhile, starts making his way through the group, towards the Aztec sun-god display, clearly on his way towards Yaretzi. Ah... the fruits of Annie's labors.

"Present!" Annie pipes up when she hears her last name called this time. She also heard the other name, and looks around for Hunter. Did he get lost again? Stuck in one of those broken clay pots? She spies Yaretzi and immediately smiles. This grows to her ears when Andrew walks up. "Yes!" Comes an excited whisper even as she's shuffled towards the teacher.

A look is given towards the teacher, then towards the one giving the lecture. Hey, it might be kinda cool. Then he happens to spot the obvious one heading towards him and Yaretzi. He looks down at Yaretzi about the time the guy gets close. "I think you have an admirer."

Amelia is about to say something else to Tali but becomes quiet when Mrs. Hallard calls for attention.

Tali tries to peek past the semicircle of people, even going so far as to stand on tiptoe.

A look is given towards the teacher, then towards the one giving the lecture. Hey, it might be kinda cool. Then he happens to spot the obvious one heading towards him and Yaretzi. He looks down at Yaretzi about the time the guy gets close. "I think you have an admirer." Kyle says before looking towards the exhibits. "Hm...?" Looking at an exhibit to the side a bit, he turns to wander over towards it, frowning a little. "Huh..."

Mrs. Hallard begins her lecture while the other teacher starts to back track to find the errant Hunter Hughes, who may or may not have found a secreted away place to take a nap after a long night busting some arms dealers and trying to track down their main supplier, which was when he found the death trap waiting for him, and yadda yadda, you know how these things go, and he's a bit tuckered out from the resulting car chase. And STILL no supplier caught.

Mrs. Hallard says as she gestures to a display on the wall of an aztec drawing of a feather headressed male figure. "Huitzilopochtli was the aztec god of war, the sun, and human sacrifice. He was also the patron god of the city of Tenochtitlan--"

A Student pipes up as he takes notes, "Um. Mrs. Hallard. How do you spell Huitz...huuuz...uhhh..."

"Don't interrupt, Jeffrey," says the underpaid Mrs. Hallard. She drones on with her lecture, "Huitzilopochtli was the patron god of the Mexica tribe, also known as the Aztecs, which we've been covering in class on the section of the Nahua peoples...and the Aztecs made sacrifices to him in hopes to postpone the end of the world--"

A female student standing next to the mummified display of the Maiden interrupts the lecture with a shriek as she looks at the body.

"Gloria, please stop being so dramatic," Mrs. Hallard groans.

Gloria shrinks back from the display and curls up next to whoever's nearest to her. "It muh-mooooved!"

Throughout the echoing halls of the high ceiling musuem, other sounds of surprise or fear can be heard, and there's a commotion spreading like wildfire throughout.

Tali stands higher on tiptoe, trying to see the alleged movement!

"Huh?", Yaretzi says, then looks up at the taller boy, Andrew, who's just come to her... and she blushes.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer for some math tutoring", he says, quietly... and not without at least a little shyness in his demeanor, also -- he has a girlfriend, after all. He lifts up his PDA and presses the keys on it to transmit his number over to Yaretzi's PDA.

Yaretzi's embarassed-looking expression changes to one of confusion. "Huh? ... Uhm... okay...", she stammers at the tutoring thing and at the passing-over of his telephone number. She really hasn't a /clue/ as to what's going on with this, but Andrew, thankfully, wandered away as soon as he'd done what he went to do, leaving her without much reason to stay embarassed, though the confusion remains. She looks up, eyes wide with surprise, as sounds of surprise and whatnot start being heard.

Anastasia cocks her head to the side a bit and starts looking around.

Looking towards the student that shriek, Kyle moves that way, moving a bit to the side to take a closer look. He's looking to see if it moves or not. Nothing can stay still that well, right? He does, almost unnoticeably, or maybe as a 'cool' gesture move his hands to his pockets. o O (... did it move? I swear museums are magic trouble magnets.)

Amelia turns hurriedly to Tali, "I can sense active magic." she whispers.

They sacrificed people? Maybe those Aztecs weren't so boring after all! Annie only catches bits and pieces while she watches Andrew and Zee. But then there's screaming. Totes? Of all the times some ancient curse junk could spark and turn mummies and deadies into undead monsters... it has to be now, while she's busy?! Mega rude! But also could be totes crash! If they're really moving. Could be that Gloria just didn't take enough of her mother's anti-depressants this morning.

The 'Maiden' mummy is a very well preserved body of a young Incan teen, with long black hair beautifully braided and dressed in the textiles of the time, with a woven cloak over her shoulders. She's in a position of peaceful respose, sitting cross legged with her head tilted down and eyes closed, and arms resting at her sides. If not for the discolorations of her skin and being in a glass case, she'd almost look alive and sleeping.

Tali nods To Amelia. Unfortunately it's all a bit crowded even for seeing past people, let alone for high-speed action.

Yaretzi looks over at the mummy-maiden... and her eyes widen as she starts to back away. Her sudden fear... terror?... horror? ... is obvious to anyone looking her way, as most of the students are, obviously. With as suddenly as she backed away from the display, she also likely backed right into someone -- not like she was watching where she was going, after all!

With all eyes focused forwards at Gloria or the mummy, Amelia nods to Tali and starts a fade back out of the group heading towards a door marked Staff Only. She's hoping there'll be somewhere she can change out of sight behind it.

Some students in the back shuffle around at the noises in the rest of the museum. Two exotic butterflies flutter into the Aztec/Inca/Mesoamerican room high above the crowd. There's the sound of hurried footsteps in the hallways, clacking along.

Tali glances waits till no one's looking her direction, then disappears - to appear as Timewarp, entering through the doorway, of course.

Annie steps away from the teacher, and hopefully those flocked to her, just to try and see what's really going on. The field trip just got mega more interesting, if just for a moment. She also looks around for friends. Hunter's still nowhere in sight. Amels is... where'd she go? At least Zee is still where she was, for the most part. Annie heads for her. "So, what'd The Crush say? You know about this Aztec junk, right? What's going on?"

"The maiden! She /did/ move!", Yaretzi says to Annie, pointing at the mummy in the display case.

Timewarp runs to fetch a chair she can stand on so she can actually see if the mummy is moving.

The Maiden still looks like she's merely sleeping.

Timewarp watches carefully for the slightest sign of movement.

Blinking, Kyle looks behind him, being pretty close to the Maiden by now and looks over at Yaretzi. "She could be right... I didn't look at this one too closely." He looks back towards the Maiden.

And then, the Maiden slowly opens her lids to reveal hollow blackness. She stiffly moves and stretches as the eyes close again, then blink open and looks around. She presses a hand out and hits glass by accident, then rests a palm against the glass. "Ze phpaquilizticatlpaloli," she says dryly, then looks about confused.

Anastasia is looking around for the moment. She blinks as the Maiden does move like that.

Amelia reaches the door. It's locked, but her fingertips touch the keypad as if she's entering a number. Only that's not what is happening. She simply takes over control of the simple computing device in the lock and commands it to open.

Yaretzi's free hand, the one not holding the PDA that just got a phone number put into it by one of the dreamiest boys in school, grabs at the front of her shirt... or at the amulet she has hidden away under the shirt, actually. She then hurries away from the display case, trying to get herself away from it and out of the room.

The more the Maiden looks around, the more she starts to seem to come awake and aware. She starts to bang on the glass. "Xitopalehuican! Xitopalehuican!" And now screams come from the Egyptian wing and the main hall.

Timewarp runs to the Egyptian wing and the main hall in succession to find out what's going on there.

Kyle decides that he's seen enough at least. He calls to the teachers, "Get the students out of here! Everyone, move towards the back room!" He blinks as he notices Timewarp. "Hey, you with the mask! You one of the heroes?"

"Totes?!" Annie is still skeptical, but doesn't think that Zee would pull something like that. "You sure? She ... now is totes moving." It's so much easier to realize the Maiden's moving when the Maiden moves while Annie's looking at her. "Hey! Go back to dozing! People are totes trying to learn, here!"

Timewarp reappears. "Pos - and better get out of here! Stuff's coming to life all over...." She pulls the fire alarm to try to get a general evacuation going. "And stay clear of the main hall!" Then she vanishes, heading to the main hall, where she figures people are going to need most help.

Amelia slips through the now unlocked door and finds herself in a small closet like room cluttered with cleaning supplies. Perfect. Alone and out of sight, she changes to Raven, the process of transformation taking a few seconds.

Yaretzi stops moving back from the display, her expression of shock and fear turning into one of ... confusion. She glances about, then back at the mummy in the display case. Stepping back up to stand next to Annie she says, "uhm... I... I think she's asking for help, 'cause she's trapped in the case...", in a soft voice that might not carry to anyone else.

"So she can't get out? That means she's not doing this?" Annie turns to look over at Timewarp, or possibly where she used to be. "What's wrong with the main ha.. Dozy. Now everyone's running away."

Anastasia moves over to Annie as well and Yaretzi. "Going to be hard to get out of here, things are a bit crowded." she says and blinks as she glances around.

Timewarp, in the main hall, drops to normal time and shouts to people to evacuate. Before the dinosaur skeletons decide that after a hundred millions years they're feeling peckish. As for herself, she makes herself obvious so the dinosaurs will hopefully go for her, rather than the norms.

A frown is turned towards Yaretzi and Annie from Kyle. "Hey, wake up you two! We need to get these people out of the way, not stand there talking about the moving mummy when there's something going on that could be a danger. Now are you going to keep yapping and trying to figure out the mummy or you going to get out of the way of whatever is possibly coming for it?" He scowls a bit. o O (I can't change here. If I was Showdown I could do something about this and throw up a barrier to protect people.)

Yaretzi looks at Kyle, then at Annie... then turns to hurry herself out of the room with the other students. She doesn't make for the exit, however... she makes for the girl's restroom, darting into it and out of view.

Raven apports back out into the Inca and Aztec Room to see what the situation is. Spotting Annie she call out, "The dead are coming to life. Well a kind of life. The source of the effect isn't in here though."

The whale skeleton hanging above the main hall starts to wiggle about in an attempt to swim, held in place by the wires holding it there. A sabertooth tiger skeleton, a T-rex skeleton, and a brontosaurus skeleton are starting to shudder and move slowly. Everyone who was standing there filming the crazy phenomenom on their smart phones look to Tali as she calls a warning and start running. Well, most of them do. A few boys stay behind and just back up and keep filming.

Annie gives Kyle a look. A look right over the top of the tongue she sticks out at him. "Doze! Everybody's getting out as fast as they can. Go! Everybody get out as fast as you can!" She yells at the people not moving fast enough for Kyle. Why don't they listen to the fire alarms going off? Annie makes shooing motions with her hands, if just to try and limit any more dirty looks from Kyle.

Mrs. Hallard is befuddled and out of her paygrade. "Students, come along!" She starts to lead the students out of the Mesoamerican wing and towards the nearest emergency exit.

In the girl's restroom, thankfully empty thanks to the blaring fire alarm, Yaretzi puts her back to the door and holds up her right hand. The amulet under her shirt simply appears in her right hand, instantly teleporting there, and she calls out, "Tonatiu!"... and in a flash of light, Tonati stands in the teen's place. The Aztec-themed metahuman woman doesn't stand there very long, however, exiting the girl's restroom to quickly head back into the Incan/Aztec exhibit, calling out, "Everyone, exit the building. Now!", in a loud and clear voice.

"Come on, I mean it, get out of here! Sap!" says Timewarp, and maneuvers to get between the boys and the various skeletons. She just hopes the whale is securely attached to the ceiling.

Raven says, "Annie, can you see they," she waves towards the students and teachers, "get out safely? I have to find the source of this and put a stop to it."

People are still running and so Ana takes advantage of that. She ducks into a shadow and takes advantage shifting to her costumed form. Psyn moves back out to see where she can help. "Can I help at all," Psyn calls out to Raven.

The Maiden is sobbing, but no tears come from those hollow eyes. Those eyes widen at the sight of Tonatiu.

At Timewarp's urgings, the lagging boys start to run. The whale remains firmly attached as it tries to slap its fluke in midair.

Raven nods to Psyn, "I'm sure you can. We need to get everyone out to safety and then put a stop to what's going on. If you can sense magic you could help me find the source. If you can't can you help people get out and then come back to help me when I find what is causing this?

"And suck up all the crash fun without me? I'm not a babysitter!" The other students and teachers all have legs. They use them every day. They even have fire drills, sometimes, so they should know how this goes. She looks, and they seem to be fine for now. "I'm going for the main hall!" Why? Because there's more screams coming from there, and someone told them not to go there. Perfect reason to go there. Annie starts going. What are some old dead things going to do to her? Bore her to death? They already tried that before they started moving.

Tonatiu's impressive appearance and appropriate theme cause people to double time it, as it appears an Aztec Goddess has taken over the museum to the students stuck in the Mesoamerican exhibit. That part of the museum rapidly clears out, along with most parts of the other museum minus a few stragglers, leaving the Museum mostly empty of bystanders.

Raven is searching for the source of the effect, a little confused by the way the waves of magic flow and ebb unevenly but heading always in the direction of the strongest influence.

Timewarp dashes about, doing her best to barricade the main hall now, and - dinosaur skeletons running about the city is probably a bad thing. Anything she can move gets deposited in the exits so as at least to discourage, if not block, egress.

Tonati steps into the Aztec/Incan display room and says, "Ichpocatl, tiez oc. Tonati, tonaltzin itepoztlatetecli metztica", to the mummy-maiden. ("Be at peace, maiden. The Sun's defender of the people is here.") That done, she turns to see what actual dangers there are to others, eyes going to the moving whale-skeleton over the heads of everyone... and she flies up to hover underneath it, ready to catch it should it break loose of its wires, aiming to prevent anyone beneath it from getting squashed.

Raven follows the magic flux to the main hall and looks for the specific source.

The sound of smashing glass is heard in the Egyptian wing, but no further patron screams, now that the wing is empty.

The sabertooth tiger skeleton shakes its body, stretches, and opens its jaws wide in a stretch, then starts to look around at the running meals on legs. It hops down from its display stand. The T-Rex's head turns left and right to follow movement where it can. The Brontosaurus sees the T-Rex skeleton and startles, beginning to gallop, but there's very little room for it to go.

The Maiden gazes upon Tonati reverently. "Tonatiu!"

The whale's strain to swim away starts to pull at its metal wiring suspension rig. The rig creaks and the final civilians left in the hall escape from the exit. The only people left in the hall are the remaining heroic teens.

Kyle attempts to make his way away from the students once Mrs. Hallard is doing what needs to be done. Then he gets a heroine's help in the evacuation and everyone clears out. He looks back to the others, then gives a nod. "Be careful, ladies." He heads for the exit as well, but takes a side trip down the staff corridor. Checking to make sure no one's there.

"I guess it's show time for me." Unfortunately for someone tracking the thing, well... there's now another strong influence of magic as Kyle puts on his gauntlet. Then he transforms to Showdown with a brief surge of mystic green and gold energies that dies back down quickly to leave him in his armor.

He heads back out afterwards, calling to the other heroes, "Hey, who woke up the dead!? I was having a nice time finding some history!"

Timewarp offers herself as a running meal on legs to the sabretooth - the key word being running. Her plan is to try the lead the tiger and use *it* as a distraction for the dinosaurs, and generally try to get the skeletons attacking each other, which is a better idea than them attacking anything else. Though the museum may disagree once the dust settles.

"The moorings of the whale will soon fail", says Tonati. "I will attempt to prevent its fall from causing damage to it and to the building... but this will keep me from immediately taking battle to the lizard king and the great cat", she adds, as she floats upwards and into the whale's rib cage, to put her shoulders under the bottom of its huge spine... to wait for its suspension to finally give way, so that she can try to ease it down rather than let it simply crash.

Raven summons a ball of hellfire and sends it sizzling across the mail hall to immolate an area of floor in front of the T-Rex display pedastal.

Timewarp nods to Tonati, and continues with her plan. "Here, kitty kitty..."

The sabertooth tiger's attention is grabbed by Timewarp and it starts to give chase, bounding after the much too fast speedster. Well, not exactly fast. Just time dialated. But the sabertooth tiger doesn't know the difference. The movement of the brontosaurus skeleton, the sabertooth tiger, and Tali get the attention of the T-Rex, and it takes a step forward and opens its mouth. The T-rex's head tracks the comical train of bait and steps forward unless an easier prey presents itself.

The wires holding the whale start to snap and it drops into Tonati's waiting hands. Psyn sees that most people are out and she lifts into the air, the pendant around her neck flaring, and a flare of light around her for a moment too. She looks around as if trying to figure out where hse can help. "If these are some kind of animated thing, I don't think they have minds I can affect," she calls out.

Raven says, "I suspect there's a mage here who does have a mind, Psyn. The sigil I see didn't draw itself."

Tonati sinks quickly as the weight of the whale skeleton lands on her shoulders, but soon 'catches' the weight... and lowers herself, and it, slowly to the floor to set it down.

Showdown happens to notice what is going on in the main hall, but he hears something from... the Egyptian wing? He blinks, and takes off that way, skating quickly as he makes his way to get a look at what is going on there. Last thing they need is mummies on the loose with the dinosaurs, after all. He leaves a small trail of green sparks along at that. Once at the entrance to the Egyptian wing, he looks to take stock of what is happening.

The witchfire blast scorches the compass rose tile in front of the T-Rex's former display, billowing fire in a small plume and ruining the beautiful floor decoration. But with it, the hidden sigil drawn atop it is destroyed along with the surface it was on...

The train of animated skeletons wobble and collapse in mid-run, scattering along the ground and skidding along the waxed tile. The Brontosaurus trying to find a way through a barricaded exit collapses into a pile. As Tonati lowers the whale onto the ground, it stops moving, but is mostly intact. The rest of the museum goes still and quiet once the clattering of bones ceases.

Tonati steps out from between whale ribs and looks about, eyebrows furrowed together and a frown on her lips. She steps to the Incan/Aztec display room and glances in to see if the mummy-maiden has also stopped moving.

Raven is pleased that the animating effect has stopped but realises it did its job. She, like all the others in the main hall, has been decoyed. "It was a distraction." she calls out. Someone set it up to draw us away from what they are doing elsewhere in the museum."

Timewarp dodges aside from the falling bones as the chasing skeletons collapse rather suddenly.

Timewarp nods to Raven. "I kind of guessed. Know where, or should I look?"

Raven says, "Please look. I don't know where."

Timewarp dashes through the museum, looking for anything amiss!

Psyn cocks her head to the side and nods, "Need to find a way to.." she murmurs to herself and tries to figure out where someone might be hiding.

Showdown calls to Timewarp as she shows up, "Hey, tell them something was stolen here." He points at a display case, "Papyrus on the Egyptian Book of the Dead?" He looks at the case to see if it was just smashed or if someone did something else.

Timewarp nods and dashes back to Raven - sounds her sort of thing. "Looks like a Book of the Dead papyrus was stolen - I'll keep looking to see if I can find anything else."

Showdown starts to look around, "Hm..."

Tonati walks back over to where the mummy-maiden is now still and mutters something in the Aztec tongue to her, then glances... and does a double-take at the picture of the Mexican archaeologist... then simply walks from the room to stand in the main hall. "It appears the immediate danger has passed. I shall be going", she states, then heads for the museum's main exit. After all, Yaretzi needs to rejoin her other classmates on their field trip, before she's missed!

Raven nods, "Thanks, Timewarp. I suspect whoever took it is well away by now but just in case they aren't we ought to search the museum."

Timewarp is back to searching the museum before Raven finishes the sentence. You paged Timewarp with 'You won't find anything elsewhere aside from what Showdown told you.'

Raven sets out to search as well, looking for any evidence of magic being used. You paged Raven with 'Nothing else to be found in the museum'

Showdown is still searching around. "Well, the case was broken inwards... but I don't see anything that might be some forced entry. Not even a melted wall or something... I wonder if they could teleport or something?"

Timewarp appears back by Raven. "All dozy. I could search outside, but it's help if I knew what I was looking for. Hm - they'll have security cameras in here, right?"

Tonati steps and immediately flies up into the air and out of sight behind some taller buildings. Not too many minutes pass before Yaretzi walks up to the back of the crowd of students, where they're all standing around looking at the museum, with none of the nups the wiser that she wasn't there before -- she hopes.

Raven grins sheepishly at Timewarp. "Oh. Yeah. I should have thought of that. I'll need to edit the recordings to hide any reveals by our group anyway."

Raven says, "Timewarp, did you find the security room where the recordings are stored?"

Timewarp says, "Yeah, but I couldn't get in."

Psyn nods, "Security room would be good, we could get in and check things."

Timewarp tells Raven where it is, though.

Psyn cocks her head to the side, "Why couldn't you get in?"

Timewarp says, "Duh, it's locked."

Psyn smiles, "Where is it? Locks aren't a problem." she says softly.

Raven says, "That shouldn't be a problem. The real problem is Nrs Hallard is going to be doing a headcount soon and we need to get back for that. Lead on, Timewarp."

Timewarp shows the way.

Psyn smiles as they get to the door and pulls a few things from her belt and steps towards the door, and after a moment opens it, "Here we go."

Raven looks at Psyn, "Locks no problem, I see." as Psyn deftly picks the lock. "Where did you learn that?" she asks curiously while hurrying inside. Resting her hand on the keyboard her fingertips sink into the keyboard.

Inside, there are no security guards. They're running about trying to assess the situation outside.

Psyn shakes her head, "Mispent youth." she says, of course she still sounds like a teenager.

Having been following after, Showdown looks at Psyn. "... hm..." He shrugs a bit. It's impossible for him, so he sits back to watch. He looks to the other heroes. "Any of you need to establish an alibi?"

Raven uses her Quick Hack spell to take control of the recording and playback system and replay the images covering the smashed display case. Then she uses a viral worm to erase all evidence of characters changing identities that might have been recorded.

Timewarp grins. "Just going to do that." And vanishes.

Timewarp pops back to put in a brief appearance as Tali to make sure she's seen. If opportunity presents she'll return in a few seconds to find out what Raven has learnt. The playback of the egyptian room reveals an old man with a cane in the room that remains while the others flee from the room more quickly than him. Once alone, he smashes the case with the head of his cane and takes the papyrus and places it carefully into his coat. Then he shuffles out behind the other fleeing patrons to an emergency exit. The cameras never quite catch his face due to the angles; he must have been aware of them.

Yaretzi, meanwhile, wanders away from the group of students to stand over by a tree on the other end of the parking lot. Maybe she can get the teachers to pay attention to her wanderings, or just to where she's at, before they start taking headcounts and noticing other students might be missing.

Raven tells Showdown as she works her magic on the security system, "I panicked and hid in the ladies restroom by the entrance. Didn't come out until everything was quiet. That's my story to cover for not being with the other students."

"Aww..." Annie was totes ready to take on the bronto when it just falls apart. She tries to pick up the bones and put them back together, but even she only has so many tentacles. Not to mention her holding them together leaves her stuck in the middle, and she's not going to be part of the display. So she eventually puts them back down on the floor. The scientific nups will figure out how the puzzle goes back together.

With all the museum goers outside, the teachers are still trying to round up students. With the noisy alarms and all the commotion, Hunter's woken up from his hidden napping nook and is on the fringes of the class group outside, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

Raven taps the screen. "There he is. Smart guy. Notice how he avoids showing his face. Now... this is more challenging but lets see if I can back track him." She tries to back track his movements, switch camera views as the old man moves, walking backwards in the view, from one location to another.

"Sounds like a solid one. I'm not with the students, so I can have been inside trying to rescue others. Huh... so we're looking for an old man?" Showdown looks to Raven. "You sure you're some sorceress? You seem to be pretty good at the computer stuff."

Raven grins at Showdown, "I was pretty good with computers before I ever had any magic. Magic just makes it easier."

Throughout the old man's visit, he was aware of the cameras. He can get tracked to the compass rose tiling in front of the T-Rex, where he traces his cane along the ground innocently in a pattern as he observes the bones. Then he walks away backwards (in the reverse playback) and exits the entrance where he bought a ticket with good old cash.

Psyn nods, "We need to get out of here." she says and looks around a bit, "Timing is the important thing breaking in anywhere,then have to get out."

Shaking his head, Showdown looks to Raven. "Cyber-mage or something? Actually, once this is over, I'd probably like to see if you can make heads or tails of something." He pauses, then nods. "The babe in red is right. Can you copy that somehow and we can get more experienced help?"

With her possible playtoy dismantled, Annie has no bones to pick on, so she heads outside. Someone, somewhere, might be looking for her, and the little excitement that popped up is gone. It's back to The Group for her.

Raven copies the best image she can to her PDA and then lifts her hand away from the keyboard, "Very true. You know I hadn't considered it breaking in but I guess that's what it would be called. I can talk to some mages I know. See if any of them recognise the guy. Meantime, as Psyn says, let's get out of here."

Psyn nods and as they move she will lock the door back behind them.

Raven says, "Who else wants a copy of the image I got from the cameras?"

Timewarp, just reappearing, says, "Me. I have a good eye for detail: maybe I'll see something."

Nodding, Showdown follows after. "I don't exactly have my PDA on me. At least not one that can stay anonymous." He looks considerate, "You two--" He pauses as Timewarp pops up, turning his red tinted visor to look at her, "make that three, feel like meeting up at Steel's Gym if we can get any information? It'd be easier, and I noticed it seems to be a hero hang out spot next to that coffee shop."

Timewarp says, "Anyway, gotta get back, roll call is starting. See you soon!"

Raven shares copies of the image with everyone who wants one.

Timewarp vanishes again.

Yaretzi stays by the tree, not quite hearing it when one of the teachers calls out to her... not until the teacher in question's come most of the way across the parking lot to call out to her, again. She then joins the teacher and obediently follows back to where the rest of the students are at. Distraction accomplished, as best she was able to do it.

Raven offers Showdown a qPid number. "I have a pre-pay phone account for my Raven identity. Something a hero told me how to do. You can contact me with this number."

Mrs. Hallard is outside with the other teacher assistant, looking over a clipboard with student names. They start doing roll call.

Nodding, Showdown memorizes the number. "I'll have to see about finding out on that."

"Here..." Annie tells the babysitter when her name's called. She sits down and waits for the dreaded Pups In A Can trip back to the school.