The Butcher of Gadobhra

The final phase of connecting the new teleport stone was underway. The old stone levitated upward and powered down. Ozzy, Jorges, Jon, and Cham each took one side and carefully moved the multi-ton slab out of the way. Four stone supports had been set up nearby to rest it on. Ben checked each support for cracks or shifting and then gave the go-ahead to set it down, gently. "This looks good, gentlemen, we don't want to take a chance on ruining any of the components of the old matrix."

"Or blow it up. Breaking mad scientist shit always causes an explosion. Sooner or later, something goes Boom!" Everyone nodded at Cham's wisdom.

Billy walked over to Ben, "The way I see it, we get two stones for the price of one. I want this thing taken to Gadobhra and set up."

Vladimir was pouring the last layer of bright, molten silver into the channels of the new stone. Delbert was nearby, keeping the temperature of the rock constant so hot spots didn't form and leave a flaw in the metal. Titania had one eye closed and was staring with her evil eye, trying to find any imperfections. To her magical sight and Detect Weakness ability, the stone was disgustingly solid. As the half-elf heard Billy's remarks, he smirked. "Damien, please tell our benefactor why that would be a bad idea."

Damien's face fell. "Darn it, Vladimir. Why do you always insist on warning people about things like that? I was hoping he'd ask to move the old one to his city. I've read all the papers on unbalanced resonance and explosive teleportation loops, but I've never had a chance to create one. Think what we could have learned!"

Jon winked at Cham. "You called it. They're already planning the next big bang."

Billy scowled at everyone around him. "Explain it to me in small words. Why can't we take this to Gadobhra and have a teleporter there?"

Damien sighed. "It has to do with how one teleportation matrix recognizes another. Each has a separate and unique code that is recorded in the Master Codex in the Emperor's palace. The cursed, secret-keeping Engineers copied the smaller stone's code to the new one. If we move this stone to Gadobhra, it's too far to link the two stones together and set the second one up as a subservient node, similar to the way Wolfsburg has a main stone and four smaller stones linked to it. This would lead to two active stones with the same code and when a person or item teleported to Rowan Keep, they would also be going to Gadobhra, setting up an endless loop as they moved between the two locations and never arrived."

Cham said, "Boom!"

Damien pointed at him. "Exactly! Well reasoned young man. Boom indeed! The building energy held in the loop would continue until the connection became unstable and a large explosion would occur. When that happens, neither area is stable enough to establish teleportation for at least a generation. This is one of the reasons teleportation stones are so strictly controlled, and why I am so happy to help with this project. A few people are going to lose their shit when they find you succeeded."

Milo looked from one stone to the other. "Where does the explosion occur? At one stone, the other, or both?"

Damien grinned. "That's one of the things I'd like to find out. The Boom! is assured, but where?"

Billy looked at the other stone, then at the madmen all around him. "Then that thing is just an accident waiting to happen. Shit."

"Indeed. I would suggest that the stone be moved quite a far distance away, at least seven miles, then destroyed. Residual power could send a pulse to the new stone when the runic matrix is cracked. It shouldn't be anywhere near Rowan Keep when the new stone is activated, although...." Damien's eyes narrowed as he thought of something, but Ben was ahead of him.

"I'll handle that, Your Excellency! I have four strong gentlemen who will assist me in moving this stone away from here, and then I can handle the job of removing the matrix before the stone is reduced to pieces. No sense in taking chances. On three gentlemen, lift and start walking." Before anyone could argue, Ben got the old stone on its way and Billy relaxed.

Vladimir smirked at Damien. "The blood runs thin in the line of your house. Who ever heard of a cautious Franklin?"

Damien watched Ben and his helpers move away, very curious. "Oh, I agree. Such caution is unheard of. But enough about the old stone that will soon be destroyed. How long until the new stone is done?"

Vladimir looked at the silver, then tested it by putting his finger on the area he'd poured last. "Cold as ice, and sucking mana out of me like a hungry lamprey. The runes are hungry and need to be charged. I'm all jittery, Damien, we have done fine work here. I estimate that this stone meets all the requirements for Tier 5. And I've learned so much! I can't wait to apply the lessons here to the stone in Gadobhra. It will be magnificent."

Damien frowned. "Tier 5. Are you sniffing flowers again? You're talking about a mana storage that exceeds one hundred million. And while we did an excellent job here, the stone simply can't hold that much based on its mass."

All of the other academics had gathered around. Johannes was nodding his head. "Oh, but the stone doesn't need to store it all. Isn't that obvious? It's linked to the Hermetic Shield and the Shrine of Hermes. There is a vast amount of storage available in the Shield, and while drawing upon its reserves lowers the amount of the time the Shield will reflect damage, the low cost of teleportation versus the amount of storage makes that inconsequential."

Titania was looking over at Suzette, who was walking back and forth in front of the Shrine, staring at the ground. "We may have a wee small problem with that theory. Give me a second to talk to my fellow Witch."

Suzette was looking worried and kept staring at the shrine of Hermes, then pacing along a path of damaged stone. Titania walked over to her. "You feel it, but I can see it. My mana sense is a little better than yours, and I can see the flaws and weak points in that crazy shield you managed to get working. It's running out of power while the shrine behind you is bursting with it from 'prayers'."

Suzette pointed to where the floor was cracked and shattered from Bobby-Chuck and Ozzy's fight. "I think the runic lines underneath the stonework have been cracked. They carried the power from the shrine to the walls and connected it to the teleport array. Each of the wall sections has the runes for the Hermetic Shield buried deep in them. I'm not sure how it can be fixed without tearing out this whole courtyard and doing the work over. It's a weak point in the design."

Titania pointed a thumb at the crowd of people finishing the work on the teleport stone. "You've got a bunch of people who like to solve problems and show how smart they are. Put those brains to work. They're done with the main part of the work and are at the 'bragging and patting themselves on the back' stage of the project. I'm sure we can jury-rig something. Let's get this done so we can go get drunk and relax." Both being done with this huge project and sitting down to a large glass of wine, or something stronger, sounded good to Suzette.

"Excuse me, Professors, Engineers, and all-around smart people, I have a problem. I need a way to link the Shrine to the runes in the walls. Everything worked fine originally, but the damage to the floor where the rune work is only a foot under the stone has cut the lines. Any thoughts?"

There were many thoughts, not all of them good. Senior Engineer Milo began peering at the Runic Teleportation Array, and scratching his head. "Vladimir, how does one teleport array send mana to another? Mana is shifted between them depending on which end needs the power, correct?"

Vladimir sat up straight. Smiled, began to speak, and then said, "No, that won't work." And sat back down.

Damien was disappointed. "Dammit, I was hoping you'd figured out how to directionally send mana without the network. Wouldn't that be fun! I'd leach off those bastards and power all of my laboratories that way. Are you sure you didn't...?"

The half-dwarf shook his head. "I thought I had. Then, all the calculations whirled in my coffee-soaked brain before collapsing into nothing. Less than nothing I proved 2 = 3. The stones can share power, but they know where they are sending it, just as they know where items and people should show up. There would need to be a link between the stone and the Shield or Shrine that was unique. I had thought of carving similar runes at both ends of the transfer, but the mana would be dispersed to any structure with that rune. As much as I wish my runes were unique and special, they are based on older runes and styles. There would be an instability coefficient so high that we'd drain any bit of power and send only a little to the shield."

Johannes was sipping his coffee, trying to follow along. His mind was like a pile of huge, rusty gears that slowly ground out problems. Today he was thinking faster, his brain jerking forward in spurts as the coffee in his mug provided cranial lubricant. He'd spotted a plain, cracked mug in the brownies pile and asked for it. Rory was horrified. That old mug was used to scoop out the grounds from the samovars and was hardly fit for a customer to use, but the large Professor had pointed one of his big-knuckled fingers at it and pronounced it perfect. He also preferred the thick sludge that was the last pourings of a pot of coffee, with none of the fancy ingredients. Now he looked at his mug and looked at Titania's empty mug nearby. "Rory, if you would be so kind, are all your mugs made from the same source of clay?"

Rory wasn't sure how that mattered, but he answered happily. "Aye, my 2nd cousin thrice removed by marriage has a fine clay pile in the Troll Fens and we use only his clay in our pottery."

Johannes smiled, "Thank you. And could I have a refill?" He hastily sketched a small cantrip and concentrated on Titania and Damien's mugs."

"Coming right up!" Rory began to pour, then poured more, and finally poured the last of the pot into Johannes' mug. "What the deuce?" Titania and Damien noticed their mugs filling up and looked at Johannes.

"I believe I have the answer. Just as the coffee pot filled three mugs by pouring into one, we can use the Law of Contagion to craft mana transference circuits that will connect the Shrine, the Shield, and the Stone, moving mana between them."

Volminous slapped his colleague on the back. "Brilliant, now all we need are a dozen matched coffee cups to carve runes into."

Damien rolled his eyes, "The mana would blow them to small shards. Clay is a terrible conductor."

Tommaso nodded, "Correct. I suggest we make a lovely set of teacups from the silver alloy bubbling in the cauldron."

"Ooooh, I know just the thing. The teahouse has a lovely set of cups with twining branches, we can use that pattern."

Vladimir stamped his foot down hard and clapped his hands while whistling. Sometimes you needed a lot of noise to get their attention. "Not teacups. We have no way of casting identical teacups to take advantage of the Law of Similarity, and the Law of Contagion alone won't suffice. We are talking about mana streams, not delicious brewed beverages. But the idea of using a smidgeon of the Celestial-imbued metal is good. Adding a rune of transference to the objects will connect them."

Titana pulled an old, dog-eared primer from her coat. "Madame Frothington, of the School for Delinquent Sorceresses has a lovely spell in her beginning magic book. Each person holds a similar item in a circle around the mage who is marking an object. We used watercolor paints in her class since they didn't dare give us sharp objects to carve runes. We'd have killed each other with them. Competition was fierce in those days. The exact markings will appear on each object."

Vladimir took a look at the spell. "So intriguing and basic. I will have to be perfect in my execution, and each of you will be drained of a significant chunk of your mana, but we are on the right track. What do we have that would be an appropriate material? Damien?"

"Nope, I took a few choice items and every Magitech component I could fit in my satchels, but in a town where Butchers carry enchanted metals in their pockets and non-stick cauldrons are just sitting around in the woods, I'm willing to bet that someone here will suddenly pull something out of the air that you can carve. All the professors began digging in their pockets, hoping to find something.

"Copper wire? Slightly melted."

"Sassafras Candy, hard as a rock. It will break your teeth!"

"What about my teeth? They're a matched set, except for the cavities."

"Thirteen matched crow beaks, all from the same nest!"

Vladimir was considering taking Damien's teeth suggestion seriously. He was looking for a pair of pliers when his fellow Engineer tapped him on the shoulder. "The crystals in my chest were all from the same Gneiss Lurker nest. The Queen of the nest secrets a substance that hardens into the crystals. They absorb and redirect mana into the nests to help the eggs hatch. Would those do?"

Vladimir smiled at Damien who shook his head and threw up his hands in disgust. Then he brightened, hoping for another look in that chest. Milo snapped his fingers and the chest appeared, opened, and he pulled out a dozen crystals, all a foot long and an inch thick. Vladimir examined them, "Oh, these will do. Let me have six of those. We can link the Shrine, Stone, and each Shield quadrant." Damien was disappointed at the rest of the contents of the chest. "Why do you have seventeen types of cheese in here."

"Because I started with thirty-nine varieties, but Sir Larry and I have traveled far and are low on supplies. But we can eat Sedgewick Stinky Cheese on the journey home. It will tax our willpower to carry so much, but to be Master of the Cheese you must first be Master of your soul. We will be stronger because of our journey." He said it so earnestly that everyone but Damien nodded at the wisdom of the statement.

"Whatever. It's time for Science!"

Titania scowled at him, "You mean High Sorcery!"

"Leave me the illusion that I know what the hell we are doing, woman."

Each person took one of the crystals, held it up, and Titania began her chant. Vladimir carefully carved the rune on his crystal and the other crystals gained a matching rune. Each mage felt their mana draining. Then, taking the small ladle, Vladimir poured far too much molten metal into the crystal he was holding, and the grooves of the other crystals filled as well, just as the coffee cups had filled all at once. The professors and Damien were tired, but Milo seemed on the verge of collapse. He waved off any need for help but did accept a plate of butterscotch cookies from a helpful brownie.

An hour later, four of the crystals had been inserted into places on the walls, equidistant from each other. The Shrine had one attached to the altar, and Damien was connecting the last crystal with a capacitor of the teleporter. As he finished, there was a blue glow that spread from the Shrine to the Teleporter, and the Shield brightened. The runes on the stone grew brighter and brighter as it warmed up, absorbing mana. Billy danced a small jig he was so happy. A moment later, the first group of contract workers lined up to start the process of filling the mana reserves, pouring thousands of mana each into the stone.

As everyone started to relax, Squire Squeak faded into a shadow, and skulked his way out of the keep, unnoticed by everyone. A handful of glowing crystals in his pocket.