It’s the day after their second night watching Tarkus Vell’s warehouse. The camp sits on the ragged edge of Ghanil, tents pitched close but without order. To the west, the Westlands stretch out under a clear sky.
Ethelred keeps his watch, cloth in hand, working over the wooden spyglass. The fittings look sturdier than when they first bought it, the grain smoother, edges tighter, as though time and use had only sharpened it.
Alexis stirs, props himself up, voice low.
“Evening, Red.”
…
“Dreams again,” Alexis says. “Running corridors that turned back on themselves. Always ending where I began. A woman’s pleading voice all the while.”
…
“Red, I’ve been excited for you to finish the scrolls and take your new craft to the next level…” his voice falters, just for a breath, as if there’s more he wants to say — something personal. He pushes on. “…but I need you in the here-and-now too. So much I want to say to so many people.”
He starts counting on his fingers.
“About Zrithrak. The howling winds. The undead on the edge of Ghanil. The Spider of Ilceros. And more.”
He ticks them off the way Ethelred does his inventory: precise.
“We need a way to get word out. A way to send messages over distances. I don’t know when we’ll see another proper town.”
A breath. Then another matter.
“And there’s Verisimus, always watching through his pool. Gustav managed to blunt it for a while, but…” Alexis shrugs “We need cover from Verisimus. Something that moves with us.”
Alexis quietly pushes out of his bedroll. The red jasper at his neck catches the daylight, burning faintly.
“Two very different questions.
Sending a message. The best I can see at the moment would to be able to hide something, or store something, in a letter and use the normal system. I believe you can do something like that to your notes?
But sending a message that is not a letter, that is the question.
Best I can figure is crafting two items that could be tuned? Linked? Connected? Then it could be possible to send a message. Maybe two small stringed instruments one plucked and the other making a sounds. Tricky, but possible.”
“And then there is Verisimus and his spying. Too bad we didn’t make it into the Goblin cave. I do not currently understand the magic that Verisimus is using. I have not idea how to block it, must lest detect it.”
“What about speaking into a horn, or something similar, and a specific person hearing it? You could ever use one of their ear hairs as a component. You could even swap out the hairs depending on who you wanted to talk at. Although how would you allow them to send something back? I guess they’d have to have one of your ear hairs.”
“I want us to keep thinking on these problems.”
Later at the Monastery of the Eagles, after Ethelred and Alexis have studied the walls and the anti-scrying nature of them.
“We have encountered a shocking amount since our conversation in Ghanil. What are your thoughts on how we could send and receive messages? And after looking at the complicated working of the walls of this place, what insights do you have regarding something to prevent scrying on us?”
“I have learned a bit about how it is possible to foil some magic. Seems possible deflect, misdirect, adsorb, reflect different energies. There is a lot of magic in this area so it is a bit challenging to really focus on one of the weaves.
But to really ‘anti-scry’, with confidence, I would need something, or someone, that could scry. I do not fully understand how one can see at any distance beyond their own sight allows. Studying, or better yet learning, scrying would help immensely.
It is the same with the bell and Rotheldod. I have learned a bit about how to send a signal, or message, by studying the bell. How to capture, or hear, the bell like Rotheldod seems to, little to no clue. With a lot more study, time/materials, I could figure it out. Setting up a bunch of different small experiments, and ringing the bell. This would probably bother Rotheldod, but I am confident I could make something that could detect the bell.
Same with Scrying.”
“Why not just ask to be with Rotheldod when the bell is rung?”
“That is an option. There are several reasons that could be tricky and possibly yield minimal results.
But mostly are we going to take the time to actually perform these experiments?
Or are just asking to understand my process?”
“This is not just academic. We have been hounded by Verisumus and I’ve wanted to avoid his prying eyes for a long time now. Presumably he still controls the pool, even if he’s insignificant to history now. He can still rely information about us up the chain. Getting a shield to prying eyes would be a great boon.
What are the stumbling blocks you see to observing the effect on Rotheldod when the bell is rung?”
“Rotheldod.”
Alexis cocks his head to the side and strokes his chin.
“He’s always given us whatever we wanted. Why would he be an impediment?”
“Sure, he does gives us what we ask for. But being around him is distracting. I haven’t seen him not talking, or being odd. Plus the spiders. The constant soup talk. The obsession over candles. Also I am a bit concerned that studying him might be are difficult as studying the walls. So much magic here focusing on just the one bit will be tricky.
If we could move the bell and Rotheldod somewhere else would improve the whole process in learning.”
“From the tracks, it appears Rotheldod leaves the monastery from time to time. This seems like a reasonable time to study the effect. Although nothing is ever guaranteed.” Alexis gives a light-hearted shrug.
“More to the point, I count on solutions from you Red. I know your job is hard, and I’m looking for a path forward to a solution to our scrying dilemma. What path do you recommend? What concrete steps do you suggest?”
“The best path would be to have the ability to scry, or an effect very similar. Without that base ability I am pretty much blind to how to effectively block scrying. How would I know I am blocking it?
I suppose it could be possible to block all magical effects in an area, but that would be one powerful working.
Find an way to scry and I can find a way to block it. If I can keep up my studying of the scrolls I am sure with come up eventually.”
“What are scrolls about? Last time it seemed like you talked about the different scrolls having different foci. Is that the case this time? If so, what are the themes?”
“The scrolls are about building a foundation for understanding magic and how it connects to elements and materials. Much like Erzin lessons.
Is anti scrying, and therefore scrying, your most pressing thing for me to work on? We have talked about many ideas. Hard to make progress on any of they are all the most important.
From a tactile perspective having something to defeat the cold we will encounter as we get closer to Bandy, if we ever do, seems important to me.
Give me a ranked list and. I will work on those in the order you ask.’
Alexis thinks for a moment, rubbing the stubble on his chin.
“You’re right, Red. We need to plan this out more. Make me a list with two values. The list is the problems you’re seeing we could need solutions to. Add to this the relative complexity of each of these solutions. Rate the complexity on a scale of one to ten.”