Barbara Torch is lost. The Outside Warders take on the case.

Vindicatrix swipes you aside with a casual STUN and proceeds toward the back corridors of the Infirmary as you lie in a near-senseless heap. Everything is hazy and uncertain for a time.

"Morgan," you hear "Morgan, attend."

You wake into irritable tension. It's Fiammetta Hawk, the Tutor of your House.

"Tutor," you croak. You cough and repeat more clearly. "Tutor. Yes."

"Open your mind. We need to know what you saw," the Tutor says.

You blink, looking from side to side. You're in the examination room, lying on your side upon the table, rather than bent over it or folded up on the floor. Your bum still aches from the Prefect's thrashing. You don't see Miss Wormwood here, but Euryale, your House's Wardress, stands statue-like, hooded and veiled as always, arms folded and wand gripped in one hand.

"Yes, Tutor," you say. You take slow, deep breaths, suppressing your urge to resist what comes next, or to snap out a SHAMEGASM at the Tutor.

"This may be a bit unpleasant," the Tutor says. "But I assure you I take no pleasure in it." She raises her wand and intones a word. Reality tilts sideways and you feel disconnected from space and time, though you can still see Fiammetta Hawk and Euryale standing in the room, somehow looking like abstract, two-dimensional representations of themselves. You hear vague, whispered prompts, and the scene of Vindicatrix entering plays itself back in your mind, bringing back the fear, the anger, and the confusion.

"Again," the Tutor whispers.

Miss Wormwood writhes against you, her snakes wriggling in your womb and arse as Vindicatrix forces a climax. Fear, urgency, then a stunning wave of pain and confusion, with a slight sense of Barbara Torch's enemy leaving the room.

Euryale says something to the Tutor.

"Again, Morgan," Fiammetta Hawk prompts.

The scene unspools again in fear, unease, pain and confusion.

"That will be sufficient," the Wardress says. "We shall leave her to the Nurse's care."

Fiammetta Hawk dismisses the spell. The Tutor and the Wardress depart, leaving you alone, twitching with aftershocks from the memory. But what had happened to Barbara Torch?

Miss Wormwood appears, looking unsteady, a green tinge under her usual grey complexion. She helps you off the examination table with her wiry strength and walks you to a quiet back room with a bed.

"The Warden," you say. "What happened?"

"She is gone," Miss Wormwood says. "Rest." She raises a draught to your lips. It brings warmth and looseness and sleep.

The morrow brings a group of strangers to your bedside. You blink. Not completely strangers. They wear the robes of the Outside Warders that you know from Barbara Torch's memory that you had stolen as she climaxed, tasting Fay's arse upon your tongue.

One of them is a young-ish woman whose features -- eyebrows, eyes, nose and lips -- are achingly familiar. A grey owl perches upon her shoulder.

Her lips move, but the sounds are faint and confused. The owl speaks at the same time. "Well met, Morgan Woodbine," a soft, steady woman's voice comes from the owl's beak. "We are here from the Outside Warders in the case of Barbara Torch and Vindicatrix."

You know her, you know her, how do you know her?

"My name is Saralinda."

Your face flushes hot, and you have a dizzy spell. This is your Warden's lover, who sacrificed her voice and her magical powers to save Barbara Torch, and after the Outside Warders' judgment, the mistress of Barbara Torch's penitence for a year and a day.

"Tell us what you know," the owl speaks in Saralinda's voice, while incoherent mutters come from Saralinda's own mouth.

The Outside Warders are patient and detailed, walking through the events of yesterday without immersing you in the pain and fear like Fiammetta Hawk had when replaying your memory again and again.

"Thank you for your patience and your generosity," Saralinda's owl says. Saralinda extends a hand and lays it atop yours. "I also wish to aid Barbara Torch."

Tears roll freely down your cheeks. The Outside Warders take their leave.

Miss Wormwood lets you go at the end of the day. You curl up in your bed and sleep through the evening meal.

There's a warm body beside you in bed.

Fay.

"Hold me," you tell her.

Replace the CONSEQUENCE PAINFULLY THRASHED with the CONSEQUENCE EMOTIONALLY DRAINED.

Remove the GOAL to aid Barbara Torch. Remove Euryale's FAVOR to assist in aiding Barbara Torch.

Your roommate Fay in House Minerval is your FRIEND.
Golondrina Redmoor of House Leontes, is your FRIEND and owes you a FAVOR.
Miss Hemstitch, Tutor of House Beavertail, owes you a FAVOR to help get Golondrina into House Beavertail.

You know the spell TRANSFORM and the Forbidden Spell SHAMEGASM.

You have the GOAL (-2 Ambition) of getting Golondrina into House Beavertail. This GOAL is in abeyance while you help Barbara Torch. You also plan to spend 5 XP to get yourself and Fay into House Beavertail.

You have Ambition +2, Bravery -1, Cunning +2, Diligence +0, and 5 XP.

Roll +CUNNING(+3) (+2 Cunning, +2 Friend, -1 CONSEQUENCE) to ENCOUNTER Fay to Have Sex.