Play@YSDC

Christopher Fontana

"Professor who..." Christpher folds the papers that he had filched from Ayers effects and places them in his pocket. "Ayers seems pretty definite in his scorn for Gol-Goroth, the entity that Echavaria's cult worshipped; he states that there was some other entity 'behind the scenes'. Christoper shakes his head "I have investigated many strange and paranormal occurrences and all could be explained but this investigation we are involved in... it has a different feel." Christopher is quite shocked and worried, he has read and re-read the passages; something in them chills him. Ayers seems so rational 'talking' about these so called 'entities' as if they were real.

"So why did Ayers hook up with Echivaria?" he shrugs.

"Maybe to get more information," says Holly. "Maybe to try to convince him of his errors. Maybe he believed once and later changed his mind. Unless we can find and talk to him, or find more of his writings on the subject, we can only speculate. Professor Tichener was Edgar Job's academic advisor. If anyone will have any further information about him, it'll be him."

Christopher Fontana

"Yes, you're quite right ... let's find Job's professor and see what he has to say." Christopher replies

You quickly discover that Professor Tichener is holding lesson right now, and you wait for him outside the classroom. Once he's finished, he accepts to talk with you as you walk back to his study. He walks slowly, straight, hands behind its back, looking around the campus like a ruler over his domain. He speaks of Job with an ill-concealed distaste: "Yes, I remember Mister Job, unfortunately. I remember, in fact, all my students", he clicks his tongue, "Mr. Job looked promising, indeed, a very hard-working lad. Passionate. But he turned out to be a failure. He couldn't keep up with the advanced subjects and started falling behind, spending nights of work to come up with abstruse solutions that would quickly fall apart and be proven wrong. As time passed, his desperate need to be better than he actually was made him grow hostile and resentful. In a way, I feel pity for him, but I'm afraid he was never cut for numbers. Obsessed, but not capable".

"Have you any idea what became of him after he left here Professor?" Clarence asks

"Did Mr. Job ever show any interest in or aptitude for other subjects?" asks Holly. "Perhaps history or archaeology?"

Professor Tichener frowns as he speaks, as if mildly annoyed: "I know he got himself into some trouble, but luckily he managed to avoid dragging anyone else from the University into his mess. God knows we already have our troubles with our... revolutionary thinkers", he says the words as if tasting something bitter and disgusting, "from the less scientific departments. God knows we should shut them all down and make some cleaning, if you get what I mean", he shakes his head before continuing, "I cannot recall Mr. Job showing any interest in subjects apart from mathematics. As I told you, he was quite... obsessed".

"Did he have any friends?" Holly asks. "Maybe someone who shared his obsession?"

Christopher Fontana

Christopher is less that impressed with Tichener's summation that Job was a failure, as far as he was concerned it was a teachers duty to help their students ... he could imagine that the real reason Job grew resentful about his 'lack of talent' was Tichener's dreadful attitude. The more he thought about it the more it made sense that Job linked up with Echevaria's cult ... probably via having contact with Ayers.

"Do you know if Edgar had any contact with Dr. Ayers?" Christopher asks, somewhat coldly.

Tichener slightly raises an eyebrow: "Who is this Dr. Ayers? I'm not familiar with the name, surely he is not a professor from my department". He pauses for a second then continues: "I don't remember Mr. Job hanging around with other students, but many years have passed, so I can't tell for sure".

"Excuse me professor, you said a few moments ago that you felt pity for him, and suggested that he showed a lot more promise than he was able to produce, what with his work becoming ... what was it you said again ... more abtruse and that he turned out to be a failure and unable to keep up, I think you added. This coupled with whatever trouble he was involved in must have been a disappointment to you, after all a worthy professor such as yourself must have viewed Job as something of a stain on the good name of the campus, the department if not the entire university. How did that make you feel about him?"

"Could we review his academic records?" asks Holly. "It sounds like something changed during his time here. Seeing where his grades and performance turned might help pinpoint what happened."

"Surely you don't expect me to remember where a decade old records are stored. Talk to the department secretary and see if she can help you", he replies curtly. "Look, I don't know the reason for your sudden interest in Mr. Job's history, but sincerely, he was just a student like I've seen dozens in my years as a teacher. I had forgotten all about him until five minutes ago".

OOC:   Assess Honesty on Titchener. He said before that he remembered ALL of his students, now he's claiming to have forgotten him until we turned up - probably clutching at straws here but hey!

"Why thank you very much for your valuable time professor, you have been most helpful to our enquiries." Clarence says trying to smooth his ruffled ego a bit.

"Yes, thank you, Professor," says Holly. "We'll go seek out the department secretary."

Christopher Fontana

Christopher is very pleased to be leaving Titchener's office and won't bother to offer his thanks.

"Someone with attitude like that has no place teaching.." he says crossly once outside the room.

"You're right," says Holly. "I think his treatment of Mr. Job was one of the reasons he ended up joining that cult."