The Butcher of Gadobhra

A frosted teleport stone greeted Caldrius as he arrived in the courtyard where Rastfian coordinated the arriving and departing groups. Currently, the people leaving were forming a long line that wasn't moving. Rastfian was taking no chances with a malfunctioning stone. Several people had arrived shivering and covered with snow or ice. Other than possibly catching a case of the sniffles, they were unharmed, but the frost on the stone was getting thicker.

"Well, this isn't good at all. Are other stones experiencing this phenomenon?"

Rastfian nodded and replied as politely as he could, falling back on protocol and courtesy. The gulf between a Tier 6 mage and a lowly Tier 4 was far greater than that between Rastfian and his lowest apprentice. Caldrius had a reputation for being a little odd in his ways. Rastfian didn't quite know the details and didn't want to find out, so courtesy was the best choice.

"Yes, sir, they are. The chilling effect seems to be linked to the size of the stone."

"Ah, so the smaller stones are barely affected, yet your stone here shows obvious signs of Ice-Tainted mana leaking from it. This gives me a working theory. But before I get into that, I need you to send messages to every Mage managing a Tier three or smaller stone. Order them to shut down immediately and indefinitely. Tier four or higher stones will require mages with the appropriate skills to clear the foreign mana from their stones. If they don't have anyone, they should shut down as well. We can't take a chance on stones becoming aligned with Winter and under their control, and the small stones won't have the trained personnel with Fire and Heat spells to keep them clear."

Rastfian gave the orders to his junior mages to begin contacting the mages running the smaller stones but hesitated to send orders up the chain. Caldrius had been expecting this to happen. He was a veteran of Guild politics, for as much as he tried to avoid them.

"Nervous about sending orders up the chain to people above your level? That's fine. But send them anyway and be firm about it. No apologies for disturbing them or other waste of words. Just give the orders. Any Mage entrusted with running a teleportation stone should know to understand a dangerous situation and have the courage to make the right choices. Keeping to a schedule is of little value if someone is tampering with the teleportation system. You're a powerful and knowledgeable mage, Rastfian, and that doesn't change because the person on the other end is at a higher level. Send the orders with the confidence that you'll be listened to! But...If you get any pushback, feel free to tell the idiots I'll put a flaming boot up their backsides for not following emergency protocol."

Rastfian sent the messages, only having to reinforce his orders twice and noting the names. It was a refreshing feeling. That done, he walked back to where Master Caldrius had his hands on the teleport stone, now devoid of the frosty layer. "This is quite a puzzle, but I'm figuring it out. Somewhere, there is a corrupted stone that is pushing the tainted mana into the system. Normally, this couldn't happen. A small stone could never handle this volume. So, someone has either constructed a large stone or found and tampered with one. Both situations are unlikely, but we need to consider all possibilities."

Rastfian's thoughts went to Gadobhra. "The Baron of Gadobhra constructed a new stone without the aid of the Mage's Guild. Do you think he could be responsible?"

Caldrius nodded, "Good thinking, as the ability to construct a stone is certainly suspicious, but we could tell if this mana was coming from the new stone at Rowan Keep. I suppose it's possible that he could have made another stone, but highly unlikely. I have recent information on what is going on in Gadobhra that makes me doubt the Baron is behind this. And he had enough trouble getting the first one made, let alone constructing another. I will be investigating Gadobhra further, but I think we have another possibility here."

He straightened up and pointed to where a small spot of frost had formed. "Clear your mind and pull that small piece of tainted mana into yourself. Keep it separate, and play with it a bit. Roll it around on your tongue and see what it tastes like."

Rastfian felt as if he was back in his first class at the academy, learning to sense mana but did as the older mage suggested. The icy mana was easy to keep separate from his own, and he slowly formed a tight ball that he rolled between his palms and then popped into his mouth, getting a better feel for it. Cold, Ice, and...was that Draconic mana? Along with the faint taste came a sense of outrage.

"An Ice Drake. Another one? Or the same that attacked the tower?"

"The same, I think. It's tapping into the mana vent beneath it, tainting the mana, and then pushing the energy into what is left of the Empire's teleportation system. There are several reasons they could be doing this, but I think the obvious one, based on today's attack, is an invasion into one or more cities using our teleportation stones."

Rastfian had a horrible thought. "How big of a stone would it take to teleport a dragon?"

Caldrius' eyes grew wide. "Oh, dear. I was thinking of a swarm of Rime Knights coming through the stones, but that is certainly a possibility. It hadn't occurred to me that a Drake would do so instead of just flying here, but that would be a terrible surprise that few cities would be prepared for, even the Imperial Capital—well done, sir, to consider such a horrendous event. Send out more warnings immediately about the possibility of invasion and mention your theory. That will scare the hell out of them. It certainly scares me. And send out one of the apprentices for a pot of strong coffee and sandwiches. The two of us have to keep this stone warmed up and we'll be here until the crisis is over."

"Of course, sir. But I know little of Fire Magic. My specialty is in Earth."

Caldrius clapped him on the back. "It's never too late to learn something new. You may specialize in Earth Magic but that doesn't mean you can't learn to use a little Magma Calling as well. It's like rock, just sticky and hot. This will be fun."

A polite knock on the door to the storage areas under Sedgewick alerted Delbert to his visitor. He liked people who knocked first, as it gave him a chance to focus on the outside air and keep it away from his facility. Outside air contained dust, mold, and heat; things that were not allowed in his storage areas. He opened the door to find Suzette waiting patiently.

"Greetings, Lady Mayor. What can I do for you today?" He'd always been happy with Suzette. The Mayor told him what needed to be done but not how to do the job. She left the details of where and how to store their excess apple wine, cider, beer, preserved meats, vegetables, and grains up to him and appreciated his precise inventory system. All of his requests for additional storage areas had been granted, making his job easy and efficient. Normally, he only saw her at their monthly meetings or when they both showed up for butchering in Gadobhra. He was curious about her visit today.

"There is a small problem up at the keep. The Empire is having problems with the Ice Mages doing something to the teleportation stones, and they need me at the fortress to move mana around and deal with the Ice-tainted mana filling up the stone. I thought that you would know more than me about this sort of thing."

"Oh, indeed. I recently acquired one of their grimoires, and it's been fascinating reading from a one-sided view. I would be glad to help thwart their schemes. Very annoying people! They sent envoys to Sedgewick to try and bribe me into betrayal. Very vexing. As if I would sabotage my own system of storage to cause a food shortage! I was going to tell you about it at the next meeting."

Suzette could see that Delbert had upgraded his robe and staff. "I had some of them come into the tavern to talk to me as well, and the Baron had to deal with a powerful group that attacked him. Did they cause you any trouble?"

Delbert sighed, still annoyed at having to clean up the mess. "Quite a bit of trouble, actually. Things started off splendidly with a discussion of temperature dynamics, but they became quite argumentative when I tried to expand the conversation and show them the broader picture. They didn't want to admit that the concept of cold was actually just negative heat. And they completely dismissed me when I tried to explain the concept of absolute zero. They loved the term 'Heat Death" but failed to understand it in the least. Very one-sided in their thinking. I had to turn down their offer and ask them to leave eventually."

"And they left?"

"Oh, no. They attacked my character and my dedication to my craft, insinuating that I didn't understand 'The True Cold of Winter.' Then they began tossing spells around to intimidate me. They hit two barrels of preserved meat, freezer burning most of it, and went as far as to scatter my inventory papers. That was when I became angry and may have acted hastily."

Suzette hadn't seen Delbert act in haste even when being charged by a Charnel Daemon. He had held his ground until the monster froze solid with its claws six inches in front of his face, then carefully butchered it into frozen cutlets. "I see, and what happened then?"

He beckoned with a finger and opened a locked door to a storage room with a caution sign on it. Inside were three ice sculptures. Waves of cold air rolled out of the room, making her shiver. "Careful, you can lose a hand if you touch them. I mentioned they argued about the validity of absolute zero. I decided to give them a lesson on the subject and showed them how close I could get to it. I still have a long way to go, but I'm slowly getting there." In the room, the three perfectly frozen men had the same look of utter surprise on their faces.

"Doing that drained all of my mana and gave me quite a headache. A literal Brain Freeze. I couldn't use my magic for a full day. It was a good lesson in acting too hastily. But now I'm wondering what to do with them. They take up space and I am down a good storage room. Don't worry, I'll find a spot for them. Let us be off to the Keep. I'm very happy to be of service. Dealing with strange magic is, after all, what Wizards do."

Decurion Gervais was relieved when the messenger he had sent to Sedgewick returned with the local Courier, a Wizard, and the Priestess of Hermes. While he had training in Air Magics as a support mage to the legion, his knowledge of the teleportation system was limited. Especially this new stone and its connection to the shrines in the keep. He'd noticed a coolness to the stone earlier, but not the frost that the messages had warned about.

The General had decided not to take any chances. "Get Benjamin and the local Priestess up here. We need expert opinions." Now, Themis met with the three of them at the Teleportation Stone.

Delbert touched the stone and drew away a handful of mana he had formed into a snowball. "Interesting stuff, and it has a nice flavor to it. But there isn't a lot in the stone."

Suzette could feel the mana entering the stone, but it was being siphoned off into the Hermetic Shield. "The mana system is filtering out the foreign mana. There is a flow from the stone to the shield and back, constantly filtering out the cold. But without it, we'd need a way to heat the stone or draw off the cold."

Delbert was continuously draining the ice-tainted mana into his hand. After a minute, he smiled. "I always loved ice sculpting. I've been getting better at it, look. Here's where the mana is coming from."

The snowball in his hand turned into a replica of a flying ice drake that looked shockingly familiar to Ben and Suzette.

Themis cursed as only a soldier could. "Keep that stone heated and under control. I'll be back after I send some messages."