Doctor Frankenstein meets Doctor Vune

[yruvian]

Frankenstein has been teleported to Ahket several months before this story starts. Upon finding himself in sphinx form... and without his master Rai to keep him in check, he has returned to his old habits. Ever since his arrival he's been experimenting on sphinxes on the side, keeping a mostly low profile as a physician. With the proceeds of his job, he has been able to build and install a lab underneath his house.

[yruvian]

1.1 A strange visitor
1. You are contacted by Rosemary the Reanimator and tasked with the job of finding her missing 'father' Doctor Vune. Why do you accept this job/are convinced to work for her? Fear? Threats? Offer of money or 'services'?

Frankenstein settles down at his desk, preparing to do the day's paperwork. First he updates his regular patient files, then he moves on to the latest results of his newest experiments. Sphinxes are definitely different from humans, but at least his previous experience has been enough to get the right to call himself a physician. Without that, there wouldn't have been a way to build and install his extensive laboratory deep below his house. As he reaches for the first experiment file, a soft knock interrupts him.

"Yes?" Frankenstein calls with a surprised sigh. He quickly checks his appointment schedule and frowns. All patients have been seen to, he should be free for the rest of the day.

A strange woman enters his office. He blinks. Her clothing reminds him of his own original lab gear. His curiosity awakens immediately, but he tries not to show too much of his interest. He relaxes behind his desk and shows her his sweetest smile. "What can I do for you, my lady?" He gives her all of his considerable charm. The sphinx in front of him blinks in surprise. She obviously didn't expect this kind of welcome. For a moment she falters, staring at him.

"Are you doctor Frankenstein?" she eventually asks, doubt apparent in her voice. Frankenstein nods in reply, wondering what behaviour she expects from a physician... though she doesn't really look like she needs his services. "I am Rosemary. I need your help."

"I just closed everything up for the night... Unless it's an emergency, I can make you an appointment for tomorrow if you'd like." She doesn't look like she's in pain, but of course she may be here on behalf of someone else. He wants to ask about her occupation, but he holds the question back. It won't do to show too much interest in something that isn't really important for the treatment of the patient, whoever that may be.

"I don't need a physician," she nearly growls at him, obviously impatient. Frankenstein stares at her in confusion. "Let's get this over with," she mutters, before leaning over to him on his desk. "I've heard rumours that you experiment on sphinxes. Before I tell you what I need, I want to know if that's true."

Frankenstein blinks and swallows nervously. He'd hoped to keep his activities secret longer than this. If the city guard find out, he'll have to flee again. He doesn't want to go through another man hunt like the one in his previous world. Especially since there will be no Raizel to save him at the end of his flight. He doesn't reply, but the look in her eyes changes slightly and a smirk appears on her face.

"It seems that you do. Good. Then you're just the sphinx I need."

"You don't want me to experiment on you," he mutters in confusion. "It will ruin your beauty." She hardly seems an appropriate test subject for his research.

Rosemary chuckles, a dry and a bit scary sound. Frankenstein holds back a smirk of his own. If she wants to scare him, she'll have to do much more than just that. This may actually prove interesting.

"You're right, doctor Frankenstein. I don't want you to experiment on me. I need you for the way your mind works." She sighs a little and shrugs. "Let me explain. My father, Doctor Vune, has gone missing. He's been getting more and more restless the last couple of weeks, even paranoid. We had a fight... and I haven't seen him since. I know he left of his own free will, but I don't know where he went."

"What does that have to do with me?" Frankenstein wonders aloud. "I'm not a detective."

Rosemary shrugs again. "You are the only sphinx I know that may think like him. He also experiments on sphinxes. I've helped him several times in the past, though I haven't been able to achieve his way of thinking. He has already expressed a wish to meet you in person several times. My father may be curious enough about you to come out of hiding when he finds out your looking for him. He'll never do that for me."

Frankenstein stares at her, completely startled. There may be another sphinx around that shares his obsession! Though of course they may be doing different experiments altogether, but that doesn't matter. He's a newcomer to this world, so he may be able to learn something from her father... The thought alone irritates him. Back home he was the best, but here he feels like an amateur. Would it really be bad to find someone to talk to in this strange world? Someone who shares his own passion?

The idea of meeting someone like him makes him shiver in excitement. "I'll help you find your father." Rosemary doesn't seem surprised in the slightest, but if her father is anything like him, she would have expected his curiosity at the very least.

[yruvian]

1.2 A few possibilities
2. You learn of two locations that Rosemary feels might have clues. Doctor Vune's mansion in Crux and a vague clue about a possible hidden Laboratory, also in or near Crux.

Rosemary looks him straight in the eyes for a while. Frankenstein doesn't blink. In the end she nods. He may have just passed another test, though he isn't really sure for what. Of course he can outstare and outwait anyone if necessary. He HAD waited for 820 years for his master to return after all. And it was all in vein because I ended up here. But maybe this world would finally give him a way to save his master's life... and once he found the cure he would find a way back home, he was certain of it. Maybe this lady's father would be able to help him...

"He may have gone to his mansion here in Crux... but he hasn't seen fit to give me a key to that place and no one's answering the door. I can give you the location of it, maybe you'll have more luck."
Frankenstein lifts an eyebrow at her. If no one opens the door, but there is a slight chance this father of hers is in there, he'll just have to find his way in, regardless of the consequences. "The location would help."

Rosemary doesn't react to his sarcasm. She just hands him a plan of the city, with a cross over one of the larger buildings. Then she seems to hesitate for a fraction of a second, before casting her eyes down. "I also heard he may have a secret laboratory somewhere in town. If he does, he kept it secret even from me... but I heard some of his employees talk about it once. They fell silent the moment they noticed I was in earshot though, so I have no clue as to where it may be. It has to be nearby though, because he never stayed away more than a few hours before."

So, the good doctor wasn't exactly forthcoming with the location of his lab, was he? That's good. Frankenstein wouldn't give that kind of information to everyone either. He doesn't even employ helpers because that may endanger the secrecy. Of course back home some people knew... but they were under his master's protection... and they had requested him to experiment on them, which he could hardly refuse. Especially since that was the only way he would ever get his master's permission for his research.

[yruvian]

1.3 The doctor's mansion
3. When you try to investigate the mansion you find it occupied by monsters and cannot search it. Were you chased away? To frightened to enter? Broke in but then blacked out and woke up somewhere else with no memories? What kind of monsters?

After Rosemary leaves his office, Frankenstein tries to concentrate on his work again. The paperwork will have to be done, even now that he has another task at hand. In the end he just sits there, the pen in his paw and his eyes staring at the door, his mind completely on the missing scientist. He sighs, rubs his eyes once, readjusts his glasses and decides to postpone the paperwork to some other day... after this very appealing mystery is solved. And if he's lucky, this doctor may know the way home... which would allow him to escape the dreaded documentation altogether. Frankenstein stops in his tracks and groans, realising the enormous stack of files that will await him when he returns to his own world.

He shakes his head to clear it, one hand in the lush mane. That... may be the one thing he will miss about his current situation once he rejoins his master. Well, that and the freedom to experiment without feeling his disapproval. Frankenstein sighs as he gently closes the door behind him. Of course there's also the relative peace of this small physician's office, which isn't invaded by messy high school kids every single evening... or by unwanted high ranking visitors from his master's homeland whenever they feel like it, visitors that take every opportunity to make feel exactly how low their esteem for him really is. He will always be THAT human for them, regardless of how much they fear his master... or him for that matter. There may actually be a lot of advantages to his new life, but none of them outweighs the emptiness where his master's presence usually resides.

It's no use. Without him, I have no right to live. And he still needs to return the favour and save his master's life... so it's time to do something about that.
***

Frankenstein carefully follows the makeshift city plan. He makes it through the gates of the manor without encountering anyone. After walking for a while, he freezes for a moment, staring at the giant mansion that looms in front of him, dark and foreboding. This looks like a haunted house more than anyone's home! Not even a mad scientist would want to live here! At least I wouldn't. But he likes the modern comforts of his house back home (even if his master still doesn't know how to operate most of them). He also wants his home to be immaculate, which this place definitely isn't!

On closer inspection; cobwebs are hanging from the ceiling, every surface he can see is covered in layers of dust, the windows are so dirty he can't make out anything inside. The front door only has a few patches without dirt, obviously the place where someone has tried to knock. Frankenstein rolls his eyes and shakes his head slowly. He's not going to touch that surface! Actually, he isn't going to touch anything over here. He covers his nose with a crisp white handkerchief and sneezes. No self respecting scientist and doctor would ever work from this kind of un-sterile environment.

For a moment he thinks about returning to his office, certain that there's no one in here. But a loud BANG startles him. One look up only shows a long black furry leg, which is hastily withdrawn from sight. Frankenstein grumbles. That doesn't leave him any choice: he has to get in there after all. His kerchief pressed against his sensitive nose, he walks closer to the door again, examining it without touching. He carefully raps his knuckles on one of the rare cleaner spots on its surface. He can now hear a loud rustling inside, but no one answers the door. I guess I'll just have to break my way in... He stares at the entrance with obvious revulsion. Then he smirks.

"Answer my call... Dark Spear!" It's time to exact a tiny bit of revenge on his soul devouring weapon... The moment the large black double spear appears in his hands, he stabs it towards the door with all of his considerable might. He can feel her react in stunned shock as he uses her in such a banal physical way. The door can't withstand the attack and splinters. Frankenstein immediately unsummons Dark Spear, before she has a chance to retaliate for the inelegant use. His master would probably scold him for his careless attitude towards the dark weapon, but he had to find out whether Dark Spear had joined him in Crux anyway. He knows it's only an excuse, but he doesn't have to defend himself to anyone right now... except maybe the owner of the dark mansion.

He slowly ventures inside, wondering whether it would be safer to hold onto his weapon after all. Frankenstein decides against it. Dark Spear may be more dangerous to him than anything that prowls the halls of this building... In any case, he's not exactly powerless either, though he wonders whether this new feline form will be able to handle his regular way of fighting if it comes to that. Maybe I should have gotten into some kind of minor altercation before coming here.

But he doesn't hesitate and moves farther inside, trying to manoeuvre between the dirt. He can see a long black appendage - a leg maybe - disappear behind a door and immediately follows, his senses on full alert. Frankenstein stares, completely baffled at the sight in front of him. A human sized black spider is staring back at him, hissing. The eight long hairy legs are protecting an entire army of smaller ones, who shriek in alarm. The spiders really grow to unparalleled sizes over here. Since he has no business with the family of eight-legs critters, he slowly backs out of the room again. The screeching inside dims a little.

"There's just no way that thing is sharing this place with a scientist," Frankenstein mutters. "That conforms my initial thought: no one has been in here for a very long time!" Before he broke down the door,it hadn't been opened for months, maybe even years. For the spider to grow that large, it must have had plenty of time to prosper. On the way back to his office, he can't help wondering how the daughter of the missing doctor Vune hadn't known this obvious fact.

[yruvian]

1.4 Frankenstein: direction challenged?
4. You try to find the secret laboratory. Do you do research? Get totally lucky and stumble upon it? Get info from a shady figure who comes to you? Find out that you somehow already have memories of the lab through a dream or flashback?

Deep in thought about the mysterious Dr Vune, Frankenstein misses the alley that leads to his home and office, walking straight past it and several others that look very much alike. Finally, the sharp hiss of a cat that he nearly walked straight over startles him. He stares at the animal in confusion for a while, before realising that he actually got lost on the way home. He chuckles, reminded of his master's habitual getting lost, even in their own backyard. He'd be surprised to hear even I lose sense of direction once in a while, but I'm sure master would be amused. The simple memory makes him smile fondly, erasing every trace of discomfort from being in a district unknown to him. His master would need help to get back home in a case like this... but he isn't alone back home. He doesn't need Frankenstein to guide his way anymore. The others can see to that.

The cat eventually gives up its threatening stance and scoots off, up to the rooftops. For a moment, Frankenstein ponders doing the same. He may be able to spot the right direction up there, but he decides against it. Anyone who would notice him may call the city guards on him and it would be really hard to explain why a simple physician is lurking on top of the city's roofs. This is also the perfect time to do some reconnoitering of this new home of his. The best way not to get lost in the future is by getting to know the way around after all! This is not an action he would advise his master to take though, since HE is quite capable of getting lost more and more with every step he takes, even on a road he has traveled on a daily basis.

Like any city, even Cruz obviously has its smaller alleys... and it's in one of those that Frankenstein stumbles over some rubble. His paw grasps the wall to right in an effort to keep from falling. This is when he notices a strange indent in the wall. The difference is slight, only noticeable from up close, but the stone there is just a little deeper into the wall than any of the others. His curiosity aroused, he carefully examines the place with his nails. A scalpel from his pouch is put to use prodding it further... and suddenly a door swings open on the exact opposite wall. Frankenstein grins. Another victory for the enquiring mind!
He skips towards the newly opened entrance, but slows down considerably before actually passing through. Who knows what mystery hides behind this secret door!