Xaviers!

"Mutation?" The man seems briefly confused before he chuckles at himself, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, "I have been an old fool. I had forgotten there was a school for mutants here. I suppose it was only a matter of time before a mutation resembled the old guardians."

"Oh, you mean like statues and stuff!" she says, feeling kinda stupid she assumed the man was talking about actual sphinxes. "I guess yeah. Uhm, do you know what those guys wanted from you? They didn't seem like your regular muggers and riff-raff."

"I am an investigator and I am fairly certain that they did not like the trail I was investigating. Some of them exhibited the gifts of some old foes, so I am almost certain I am on the right trail."

"Well we could help you," Haley suggested, "following your trail, I mean."

"Yeah. I mean, no offense and all, but you're pretty old."

"I am, but that doesn't mean I can't still do my job. Are you sure you want to get involved? These thugs were minor servants. The people I'm tracking can do and create much worse."

"Hmm. I dunno, feels kinda cowardly to just walk away from someone who needs help. I mean... if you do need help." she finally realizes she's been kinda rude.

"Working together? We'd be unstoppable," Haley smiled cheerfully.

"I suppose it would not hurt to have someone who knows more about the area than I do," he says, stroking his chin. "I'm an investigator for a group called the House of Light & Life. Through the years, we've made it our mission to hunt creatures of the Dark and we'd been hearing disturbing rumors about this area of England, so I was sent to investigate."

"...the Dark?"

"Ooh, like Vampires? Wait, those aren't real, are they?"

"They sometimes use vampires, but I haven't hunted one of those in years. It's a deep well you are staring down here, are you sure you wish to look deeper?"

"Uhm, yes?" Nailah says with an enthusiasm that shows how naive she still is about this whole thing.

Haley's eyes widened, "Vampires? Seriously?"

"Among other things," he says, "Have either of you seen anything... unusual around here lately? I mean, something outside your normal."

Oh, you know, just my friend turning into a werewolf.

"...unusual is this place's middle name. You'd have to be more specific."

"Some of it might be subtle, but there might be some unexplained murders or disappearances. Attacks that sound outlandish in their details maybe?"

"Well there were Pirates in the harbor. Like, complete with ship and everything. No Vampires though, I don't think. There's a girl here who can talk to ghosts. I don't think she's evil though."

"And the pixies before that," she added, thinking back to all of the things that had already happened this year.

The man strokes his chin again, "Interesting. I can see why the creatures I hunt might be drawn here. The sheer volume of unusual things surrounding this school would make it difficult to find them."

"What kinda creatures are they? She's a telepath and I'm real good at being in the right place at the right time. I bet we can find them."

"They don't really have a name, at least the most powerful ones don't. Some of the creatures they employ don't have proper names either, though they've been known to co-opt vampires and werewolves when they can and when it suits their purpose. And they can gift humans with dark gifts, some of which you have already witnessed."

"So those creeps we roughed up weren't mutants?"

"They might be. These days it can be hard to tell the difference. I would say that the man flinging energy was most certainly gifted by one of the creatures. The words he spoke, the ones that grated on your sanity, those could only have been taught to him by one of the creatures."

"I thought it was just a weird focus for a psychic attack or something...but I guess it makes more sense if it's magic junk. Because it felt harder to deal with than what my normal shields can handle."

"Uhm... should we take any special precautions for keeping them locked up? They're not just gonna magic their way out of their cells, are they?"

"They shouldn't, so long as people are careful around the persuasive one." He looks at them both, "I had engaged a room in town. I assume your staff here has the keys now. There are a few books there that I would not want to leave unattended for much longer. Would the two of you retrieve them for me?"

"Yeah, sure." she says, turning to leave before stopping and facing the man again. "Do you think there's more of them out there?"

"I would not be surprised if there were more servants out there. Though hopefully you've bloodied the nose of whatever is behind them so that it will be reluctant to lash out again for a bit."

"Damn right." she grins and punches her open palm. "You coming, Cowgirl?"

"You kidding?" she grinned, "S'not even a question. Of course I'm coming!"

"Alright. We'll be back soon!" she tells the man as they head out.

The old man's rooms are in a bed & breakfast called the Limes Guest House, which seems to be a nice place, although the girls do get some strange looks as they enter. His room is neat and tidy with everything in its place, although there are a few Egyptian knick-knacks scattered around that don't really mesh with the rest of the room's decor.

"Alright. Books, books, books..." Nailah mumbles as she moves through the room. It felt awkward to go through the things of a complete stranger, but he did ask them to. Still, it's a little weird.

No books are in immediate evidence, though a shimmer catches her eye in the middle of four small sphinx statues.

Haley wasn't especially proficient at this, but she figured she'd give it a try anyway: she closed her eyes after they entered the room and reached out with her telepathy to see if anything had an especially loud psychic impression.

Sensing the impressions in this room was like cutting through mud. There were some strong impressions in the room, mostly coming from the objects scattered around the room, but they seemed artificially dampened somehow.

"Man, he really does like this kinda mythology stuff, huh?" Nailah wonders out loud as she picks up one of the sphinx statuettes.

"...yeah," Haley said distantly, slowly opening her eyes and frowning a bit. "It's weird. I'm not like great at this, but even with that in mind, it seems like...something is still kind of blocking me from finding anything that has kinda a...psychic importance to it?"

She wasn't much better at explaining psychic theory, apparently.

"So like. Your favorite stuffed animal from when you were a kid would sort of have like. Your mental fingerprints all over it. Same idea."

Nailah Weaver wrote:"Man, he really does like this kinda mythology stuff, huh?" Nailah wonders out loud as she picks up one of the sphinx statuettes.

As she picks up the statuette, a tingly feeling runs up her arm and the shimmer that she noticed between them seems to stretch.

Haley can feel the muddy psychic impression of the room ripple as the statue is moved, becoming clearer for just a moment.