They found their way to a Chinese restaurant.

...or what passed for one, anyway.  It was a buffet.  The chicken wings were a bit unexpected.

Alicia sighed. She had hoped for something a tad fancier.

"What's wrong?" Luisa asked.

"I was hoping for something a tad fancier," Alicia said.

"It's all we're going to find around here," said Rosa.  "Let's just make the best of it."

"I'll do my best," Alicia said, heading to see what the buffet had.

It wasn't terrible food, really.  A bit generic, though.  Mostly fried.  Not very authentic at all.  But... it did smell good.

"It's pretty good," Alicia said.

"Pretty good for American Chinese," said Rosa. "Now, one of these days, I'm going to get you my aunt's cooking.  That's the real stuff.  Uh, except not Chinese at all."

Alicia chuckled at that.

Luisa looked more confused.

"But why are you-- I mean, what kind of...?"

"Vietnamese," Rosa explained.  "Best of southeast Asia crossed with France.  Ho Chi Minh used to be a cook.  There's reasons we're the best at food."

"Yep! I had a Vietnamese friend when I was younger. Their parents sure loved just loading us up with food," Alicia said.

"See, you have good taste," said Rosa.  "...that said, while these crabmeat rangoon aren't really authentic, they are tasty."

"They are pretty good," Alicia said.

"I like this spicy.... um... chicken?" said Luisa.  "I'm not sure what it is, but it's tasty."

"There's some good stuff here," Alicia said. "I'm kind of surprised."

"A lot of great food comes from using what you have well," said Rosa.  "...well, that, and a lot of MSG."

Alicia chuckled at that.

"I keep hearing weird stories about MSG," said Luisa, uncertainly.

"Nah, it's fine," said Rosa.  "Just seaweed extract that makes things taste better."

"It's something people freaked out a while ago, but they never found anything scientifically," Alicia said.

"That's good, then," said Luisa, tucking into her food more eagerly.

Alicia began to eat as well.

It was tasty... if not necessarily healthy.

"I wonder when we're actually do stuff away from the school?" Alicia asked.

"It would make sense if they want to get an idea of what we can do, first," said Luisa.

"You're right, but the normal classes are kind of boring," Alicia said.

"That's pretty normal everywhere you go, though, right?" said Rosa.  "They probably feel they have to give us a standard education."

"Yeah, but I'd like to get on with the monster fighting. We did pretty well against that thing," Alicia said.

"We did," Rosa agreed.  "But the question is, where do we find more?  Or do they find us?"

"I dunno, we'd have to find another one to find out," Alicia said.

"So do we go looking?" Luisa asked.

"We need to figure out where to look," Alicia said, taking out her phone and looking up info on monster attacks.

Investigate

(OOC: Investigation Check - Alicia Green rolled 10 using 1d20+7. Let's reroll that. Alicia Green rolled 24 using 1d20+7)

It was clear that they were increasing... but as she looked, it was possible to work out a pattern for where was getting hit.

And it looked like it was a spiral.  Closing in on the school.

"That's weird," Alicia said, showing the others.

"I don't like that," said Rosa.  "It's like they're coming for us..."

"The spiral shape is really weird," Alicia said.

"Maybe they don't have a direct line," said Luisa, "and they're just guessing."

"Or it might be something mystical," Rosa speculated. "Or they're cutting off our retreat, maybe."

"That's worrying," Alicia said.

"Yeah, we might have to fight here," said Rosa.  "Scary thought..."

"But the school has to know this," Alicia said. "Right?"

"...I don't know," said Luisa.  "I honestly wonder about that."

"I guess we should make sure then," Alicia said.

"Sounds good," said Rosa.  "So what's the plan?  Go to the administration?"

"We'll try to, anyway," Alicia said.

"I hope they listen," said Luisa.  "This doesn't look good..."

"I'm sure they will," Alicia said.

"So do we head back now to do that?" Rosa asked.

"We might as well, we got some shopping done," Alicia said.