“Nobody likes bureaucracy, however without it nothing would get done.”~High king of the undermountain, shortly after taking the throne.

The morning wasn’t going great. The bed had been lumpy, the complimentary breakfast had been spiced with salt, and there was crick in her neck. Bernin tried to wipe the scowl from her face as she walked towards the tower in the centre of the town. It wouldn’t do to make a bad impression. Especially to a mage in their tower.

The tower had a door at least. That might not seem like a victory, however small it might be, but there were reclusive wizards that felt a door was an invitation for the rabble to speak to them. So, what simple solution was there for this? Simply remove the door. A simple stone shape spell could make a door after all and while one would have to make sure to be able to actually enter their own tower as well, most found this a worthwhile sacrifice. The issue came when she arrived and actually had to knock on stones enough to get the attention of the residing wizard.

Luckily Halsin had chosen the more normal approach. A knocker on the door. It was a simple design. The knocker consisted of a metal band that was attached with a loop to the wood. There was also a small plate where the handle would swing and hit the door. Bernin couldn’t even detect any magic on the knocker, this relieved more than anything its utilitarian nature.

She checked herself one more time. Uniform, check. Briefcase, check. Wand, check. Focussing brooch, check. Emergency knife, check. She was ready and she had to stop putting it off. She knocked.

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Right, it was pretty early after all. Was she too early? Was he even up? It was a small town, maybe he woke up a lot later here? She should ask around. But then maybe he would arrive the moment she left. She just decided to wait, it couldn’t be that long right?

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5 minutes later, Bernin was trying to figure out if she had waited enough, when the door let out an audible click. She pushed the door open and walked inside. It was time to go to work.

The entry hall was a small round chamber. It held a wooden floor and some basic amenities such as a coat hanger and umbrella drier. Walking inside she heard someone, supposedly Haspal, call out from above.

“Sorry, for the late reaction. I was finishing up an experiment. Please, make your way up, I'm still in the lab.”

“Thank you, I’ll be right up.”

Bernin was suspicious. She was already in the tower though. That was one step done. She just hoped Haspal responded well to the news. A mage in their tower was a lot more dangerous than most people realised, especially here without the more complicated parts of her arsenal. She had charged the wand up with spells attuned to the area. She knew she wouldn’t be fast enough yet due to the axial shift.