Yes.

John sifted through the items in the locker, looking for some way to pay his bully back for all the suffering she'd inflicted on him over the past few years. His first thought was to just steal her clothes, but consulting his inventory, John realized that wouldn't be possible. He only had enough space to take one item, so he'd need to make it count.

A glimmer of gold caught his eye, tucked into Vanessa's unsurprisingly fancy black panties. He picked up a small ring from the fabric.

Clitoral Ring
A simple golden ring that is designed to be worn as a clit piercing.
[Cannot be equipped by Males]

Interesting but not really what he was looking for. He could maybe sell it for a bit on the auction? John kept digging, turning up two much more interesting items. The first was Vanessa's phone, a brand-new Cyborg model that looked like it'd been bought just yesterday. It was locked, of course, but he could try to crack it at home. He set it aside and held up the second item, a locket with a silver chain. He'd never seen the bitchy cheerleader wearing it.

Casket of Dreams (Miniature)
This locket stores the soul of a sentient Abyssal, trapped eternally. While worn, the casket shields the bearer from targeted telepathy, mind-control and other forms of psychomancy.
[Created by Victoria Wentworth]

Now that was unusual enough to warrant taking... except the name appended to it had refreshed John's memory.

"Mr. Newman, I approve of curiosity but have no intention to indulge yours. Do not waste my time with frivolous questions either. Consider her off-limits."

Mrs. Wentworth had been very, very explicit that he not fuck with Vanessa. He gritted his teeth and dropped the locket back into the mess of clothing he'd found it in, then looked down at the phone. For a second, John's mind ran a quick calculation. He'd been ordered not to mess with the cheerleader, but what if instead he tried to get enough leverage to keep her away from him?

John tilted the phone to the side, popping it out of the case and, with the quick application of one of his medical kit's needles, extracted the memory card. Knowing Vanessa, there would be something compromising on it. She was the sort to record everything. He put the phone back where he found it and hurried for the door, breathing a sigh of relief as he stepped back into the hallway. Only seconds later he heard wet footsteps, and the bitch queen herself walked past the open door. Her body was on full display, blonde hair tied up by a towel and breasts jiggling slightly with every step. Her soft thighs kept her womanhood hidden, but that only made the sight more erotic.

She looked over at him and froze. John immediately started walking away, pretending he'd just been passing by at the time. When he heard her scream behind him, a noise of pure fury, he broke into a run. He'd definitely overstayed his welcome.

Vanessa didn't chase him out into the gym, presumably because she was in the middle of getting dressed, but John decided to move on to his next destination anyway. The harder he was to find, the more likely that Vanessa would give up. Still, he glanced down at the SD card that was clutched in one fist, transferring it to his inventory. Hopefully it'd contain the deterrent he needed.

The only place left for him to check was the rest of the theater building and its surroundings. With all that had happened during and after the fight with the nightgaunts, John hadn't been able to properly search the building. At least he could cross the theater, and especially the sound booth, off his list. He renewed his search starting with the set-shop.

Surprisingly, the door was unlocked and rattled open at a push.

"Gimme just a sec!" a masculine voice came from somewhere within the workshop, past a dozen mannequins and a couple wrapped up backdrops. There was a clunk, and a short but muscular student appeared, wiping paint-stained hands on his messy smock. He looked up, "You're not Jeff."

Anderson 'Andre' Vanhelm
Level 10 Craftsman
<Miracle Worker>

"Uh..." John hesitated, "no?"

"What do you want?"

John's brain raced for an excuse, a reason to be in the set-shop. They wouldn't just let him wander around without permission from Mr. Langley, and considering he'd been absent for class, that was a pretty unlikely prospect. Wait!

"Yeah. I'm John," he said, and Anderson gave him a quizzical look. "Erica had my bag here? I couldn't pick it up yesterday, so she sent me to get it today."

The shorter student thought for a second then nodded, "Right. It's just over there," he pointed at a workbench covered in incomplete costumes. Sure enough, his bag was tucked underneath it.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it, and hey... technically you're not supposed to be in here,” Anderson shrugged. "What do I care though? Just don't damage anything." With that, John was left alone.

He walked up to Erica's workbench, looking it over. Costumes of all sorts were haphazardly piled to the side of a sewing machine and a handful of shaped metal plates. John picked one up with curiosity, they looked very realistic for... they were real. He turned it over in his hands and noted the metal rings on the edges. An incomplete shoulder pad, possibly? He sifted through the other articles. Among some frilled dresses he recognized from an old production were a few leather patches that were probably for mending Erica's armor.

It was kind of brilliant. Erica could work on her equipment here without anyone giving it a strange look. Hell, if his guess was right, then she left her armor out in the open where anyone could see it. Talk about hiding a needle in a haystack. His fingers brushed against something odd, and he pulled it out of the pile of costumes. A metal loop in the shape of a serpent biting its own tail.

Ouroboros Band
Depicting the mythical Jörmungandr, the great bound-beast that rings the world, this band symbolizes the eternal pattern of **** and rebirth.
+4 Strength
+4 Endurance
+Grandeur [I]
[Owner: Erica Carpenter]

John's eyes widened: this was some seriously powerful jewelry. The strength or endurance bonuses alone were higher than the agility granted by his full armor set! If Erica had stuff like this lying around, then what crazy bonuses was her gear packed with, or Moira's for that matter? He'd been proud of the Hydra Scale Mail, but clearly that was still vendor trash in comparison. John looked down at the ring; it wouldn't hurt to try it on, right? He'd give it back to Erica tomorrow.

Error: Owner Misalignment. Item is soulbound.

Trying to place the ring into one his item slots resulted in the box flashing red and a warning popup. It looked like he couldn't equip things 'owned' by other people. Why not? He sighed and dropped it into his inventory instead. Probably magic.

Your inventory is full!

Oh. Right.

After stealing Vanessa's SD card, John had filled his inventory to the brim; even the extra belt slots were now full. The ring was an easy trade, switching for his phone, which went straight into his pocket... but that was only a temporary measure. There was still one cache left on the school grounds, with at least two inventory slots worth of items, and two remaining oddities. He'd need some more space... John looked down at the ostensible reason he was here.

That'd work.

John picked up his backpack. It was heavier than he remembered! Carrying everything around in a pocket dimension was so much easier. He put the bag on Erica's workbench and unzipped it. Inside were the textbooks from Monday, along with a few assorted school supplies. John pulled up his inventory and started off-loading the more mundane items into the bag. Most of his medical stuff wouldn't look too out of place, though he kept the morphine where it was. He didn't want to have to answer any questions about why he had that...

Though he cleared up half his inventory, the transfer had made the bag considerably heavier, so he stashed all four of the textbooks for comfort. With them safely stowed away in hammerspace, he could easily heft the bag and throw it over one shoulder. He'd netted eight inventory slots which would hopefully be enough to last until he got home.

He looked around the messy workshop, enabling Astral Observe. A single leyline ran over the floor and through the doors to the theater, presumably one of the many that converged on the stage. Otherwise, nothing much stood out. John walked around the set-shop to poke his head around every corner, but there were no magical boxes or anything else. At least he'd got his stuff back and found another oddity.

Just to be sure, he checked the Progress Screen and was met with a disappointing surprise. The Ouroboros Band was apparently not one of the oddities he was looking for, as the number stayed firmly at 1/3. Was it not 'unusual' enough to qualify or something? He sighed and dismissed the window.

"Thanks!" John shouted back into the messy set-shop as he walked towards the exit, receiving a disinterested reply from Anderson.

Last on his list were the surroundings of the theater building, and he circled it with Astral Observe enabled. Just to make sure, he looked into every window he passed, but there wasn't anything inside the art classrooms. It was in the very last place he looked that he found the final cache, the grove of trees he'd used as inspiration for his latest art project. Sitting on the worn-down memorial was the last box... but it wasn't the only thing out of place. When looked upon with Astral Observe... the aged stone was anything but.

The normally worn-down pillar was whole, a tall obelisk of stone inscribed with precise letters. 'Here lies Dr. Archibald Wentworth, devoted husband and father.' Wait, what?

John set aside the package that lay at the foot of the monument, reaching out to touch the stone. The surface felt real, though when he opened his eyes his fingers passed through the areas that had been destroyed by time. Yet, he still felt it against his fingertips. It was paradoxical, simultaneously pristine and decayed. He wasn't sure what to make of it... and the name! Archibald 'Wentworth'...

It was a piece of a mystery he couldn't begin to put together. What relation did the man buried here have with his history teacher, was he her father? Maybe her husband, or son? John doubted that she'd be open to inquiry.

Think about it later, right now you've got stuff to open.

Questions lingered in the back of his mind as John shut off Astral Observe and searched the final cache.

Scroll of Flesh to Stone
Iseralline Root
Upgrade Component

Primary objective completed! - Scavenger Hunt
+200 Experience

That was one half of the quest done, though John had to admit he had no leads on the remaining two... wait, no... one anomaly. He'd searched the school from top to bottom and hadn't seen a thing. That and he was running almost completely dry on mana. It was looking like he'd have to accept failing the optional objective, unless he came across a hint.

He tossed the items into his inventory and blinked at a surprise popup.

Upgrade Components recombined into: Upgrade Module
Would you like to use the Upgrade Module now?
[Applicable Equipment: The Gilded Thorn]
Yes / No

Why not? He pressed 'yes'. A menu showing a schematic of the thorn appeared, highlighting several areas.

Extended Chain
Spiked Chain
Spectral Chain
Puncturing Flail
Grappling Flail
Stake Driver
Solar Core
Wrath Engine
Myriad Fragmentation

Most of the options were disabled, presumably he didn't meet the requirements for them yet. Of the ones he could choose, each one opened a branch of future upgrades.

Extended Chain
Increases the attack range of The Gilded Thorn by one meter.
Required for the Spiked Chain and Spectral Chain upgrades.

Puncturing Flail
Sharpens the head of The Gilded Thorn, further increasing critical strike damage and allowing for piercing attacks.
Required for the Grappling Flail upgrade.

Stake Driver
Adds a hydraulic metal stake to the handle of The Gilded Thorn, allowing for stabbing attacks. Staking deals extremely high damage to vampires.
Required for the Solar Core and Wrath Engine upgrades.