“This is neat!” Quinny said as they stood in the hall, looking at the doors that linked every home. “We are all living in the same space now.”
“It does feel odd,” Breanne agreed as she studied the hall, taking in ornate statues and several fierce-looking tiger men standing guard. “Rajeen wants us all to treat her inn as part of our lairs.
“We should go see the harem,” Quinny suggested.
“Is that what interests you most?” Breanne asked with a roll of her eyes.
“Oh, please,” Quinny laughed. “You and I are part of Frank’s harem.”
“It isn’t a harem,” Breanne corrected. “We are a family.”
“You call it whatever you want,” Quinny said as she turned to the goblin woman standing by a doorway. “I bet Umtha isn't afraid to call it what it is.”
Umtha looked startled that her name had been used and quickly turned her attention to the two women.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” she said.
“It wasn’t worth paying attention to,” Breanne was quick to say as Quinny made a frown at her. “So, what were you thinking about?”
“I was thinking about this hall and all the doorways. I don’t know that this is a good idea,” Umtha replied as she looked through an archway that went to a space she didn’t recognize. “Anybody can use this to get into our lairs.”
“I understand your concerns,” Breanne replied. “You have been working hard to build a fortified base to protect Heather. I imagine that a magical door to bypass all your defenses sounds like a terrible idea. But don't forget, Gwen moved her door to a secure and fortified location in the castle. Heather has put hers behind the magic door in the hall, and yours is in the fortress. Both of those doors are guarded by a small army of your minions.”
“But Blackbast’s is in her temple,” Umtha said. “She has no guards, and people are encouraged to wander about and use its services.”
“I am sure hers is behind a secret door or two,” Breanne insisted.
“Roric's goes right into the rooms they use as bedrooms,” Quinny said as she stepped through to look around. “It's like we're all living in the same house.”
“Which means anyone who can get into this hall can get to any of us,” Umtha argued.
“Rajeen said the statues and guards in this room would repel anyone who doesn’t belong here,” Breanne pointed out. “She also said it was magically protected to prevent intrusion by other means. I can’t even walk through the walls here.”
“It still seems like a way to avoid our security,” Umtha said and looked through the doorway to the goblin stronghold. “But I suppose this makes it easy for us to do our various jobs and still be together.”
“Yeah,” Quinny said and came up behind her to put an arm around her waist. “Now you don’t have to spend an hour walking back and forth to the fortress. You can spend a lot more time with us.”
Umtha smiled and shrugged as they turned back to Breanne. The three of them wanted to see the strange hall and surrounding rooms, unable to believe it would work so easily. Now they were here, and it was as if this was a part of their home, just more rooms off one of the halls. Despite her concerns, she did appreciate its magic and desired to explore the inn and other rooms beyond the doors.
“We should go,” Breanne pressed. “Heather is insistent we do more guild quests. She refuses to let that woman beat us to the guild council.”
“They should just change the rules,” Quinny insisted.
“Frank would agree with you,” Breanne said as she led the way down the hall. “But Heather has a strange need to play by the rules in this case. She doesn’t want the challenge taken out because it would go too quickly then. I think she is using this as a distraction to keep her mind preoccupied.”
“You think she doesn’t want to think about the whole polymorph thing,” Quinny replied. “I guess I wouldn’t want to think about that either, but what can she do about it?”
“She can wait while Chandice level's up. Sooner or later, she will be high enough to learn more about the effect,” Breanne said as they reached an open doorway that would take them to Heather’s cave tunnels in the swamp.
“Why not have Gwen contact somebody more powerful?” Quinny asked. “I bet she knows a few high-level enchanters who could tell what that effect is.”
“Because of the risk involved,” Breanne countered. “If Heather is put under scrutiny by a high-level caster, her nature might raise suspicion. It might draw unwanted attention and cause some questions to be asked. We need to do this privately with the people we trust. We will just have to wait for Chandice.”
“Actually, Legeis is working on something that might help,” Umtha cut in.
“He what?” Breanne asked as she and Quinny looked at Umtha. They paused at the doorway as Umtha looked about nervously before telling the story.
“I spoke to him the other day,” Umtha began. “He is building a machine based on what we saw in the north. He has dozens of my engineers working on it and based the design on a goblin scanner, only much bigger. He is trying to blend magical detection with goblin power sources to boost the effect well above the level it normally would have been.”
“And you think this might work?” Breanne asked.
“I have no idea,” Umtha admitted. “Neither does he. All I know is he took engineered parts to Chandice to have them enchanted and was assembling the machine just yesterday.”
“I hope it works, but I wonder what it will say,” Quinny commented. “I would hate for it to tell her something that makes her upset again. Poor Heather has too much going on.”
“She could certainly use some solid answers,” Breanne agreed. “But you're right; we might not like what we learn.”
“If she had her memories back, we would probably know this already,” Umtha suggested.
“Yes,” Breanne said with a nod. “And yet something is preventing her from remembering.”
“So the goblin crown was supposed to bring back her memories?” Quinny asked.
“She told me herself that it would,” Umtha replied.
“Which means she knew she was going to lose her memories,” Breanne said.
“All of this assumes she is Hathlisora,” Quinny retorted. “I know she keeps doing things only Hathlisora could do, but Hathlisora also wrote Heather a letter. That has to mean they are two separate people.”
“You can’t just hand wave away the fact that Heather can do thing’s only meant for Hathlisora,” Breanne countered.
“I’m not hand waving it away,” Quinny said. “But maybe she set everything up to work for Heather so she could begin the work while Hathlisora respawned. Heather might just be preparing the way so that when the real Hathlisora respawns, the work will already be started. It would explain why her memories didn’t come back because the crown isn’t meant for her.”
“I am sure she is Hathlisora,” Umtha insisted as they lingered in the hall. She pointed out that she had never heard of Heather, but then she had never heard of Viylah either. It was obvious that Hathlisora had friends she hadn't met, and many of them were now in hiding. Still, if Heather had been meant to do all this to prepare the way, then surely Umtha would have been told to look for Heather and help her.
“Oh, hello,” came Chandice’s voice as she stepped through a doorway. “Have you come to explore? You really should try the food. Rajeen serves some of the best food I have ever eaten.” She wore a black dress trimmed with red that hung below her shoulders, leaving them bare. Her long blond hair was tied back by a red ribbon, and she walked with a dark wooden staff.
“Yeah,” Quinny replied as she noted the outfit. “You look nice.”
“Oh, I love the outfits you can buy from other players. I could shop for hours every day, picking out new things for myself or my little pets,” Chandice said with a smile. “And I am so grateful for the doors Heather gave us. You have no idea how much this has simplified our lives.”
“I am sure it helped,” Breanne said as the human woman approached.
“I owe you a little debt as well,” Chandice said to Quinny. “We learned about forest portals because of you. It turns out Evalynn could make them all along but never delved into that part of the options.”
“The builder is so needlessly complex,” Quinny agreed. “I still keep finding things I didn't know were there.”
“Well, thanks to you, I can step from the camp to my shop in seconds,” Chandice explained, then looked at Umtha. “You know, I heard about your crown and how it was supposed to help restore Heather's memories. Do you think I could take a look at it? Maybe I could learn something that would help make it work?”
“I would be grateful for that,” Umtha replied with a hopeful tone. “But you will have to ask Heather for it.”
“Speaking of Heather,” Chandice said and looked to the group. “I was just on my way to see Legeis. He should have his machine assembled, and I wanted to be on hand to see how it worked. It might need some magical tweaking to get good results.”
“Oh, so it’s done?” Quinny asked.
“As far as I know,” Chandice shrugged. “He’s been back to my shop three times for additional enchantments. I had to add two quests to the adventurers guild to get people to help restock some of my components.”
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“Hmm, does Heather know about the machine?” Breanne asked as she looked at Umtha.
“I have no idea,” Umtha said defensively. “I assumed Legeis was going to tell her.”
“Let’s go tell her,” Quinny suggested. “Then we can all go to Legeis’s workshop and see if it works.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Breanne grumbled but agreed to find Heather and tell her.
They traveled down the hall, using the doorway that took them into the treasure room hidden behind the magic door. They used it to get into the hall and worked their way to the kitchen, where they found Heather's cook busily making a cake.
“The mistress said she was going for a walk on the balcony,” the woman answered when asked.
Quinny took a moment to steal cookies from the fridge, then headed for the balcony, where they found Heather and Frank leaning on the railing as they watched players battle below.
“Something interesting to see?” Breanne asked as they approached.
“Just some kind of ninja warrior who keeps using smoke puffs to retreat from combat,” Heather answered as she turned around. “Oh, hello, Chandice.”
“Hello,” Chandice replied with a wave. “I found the rest of your family in the hall of Rajeen's inn, so I brought them with me.”
“Brought them with you for what?” Heather questioned.
Chandice smiled and explained she had been helping Legeis with a project. She then spilled the details about how he was building a machine meant to provide more information about the magic around Heather. She described his trips to the magic shop and the level of detailed enchanting he needed on precision parts.
“He’s been doing all that in secret?” Heather balked.
“Well, he hasn't been adventuring with us,” Breanne reminded. “He's had a couple of weeks all to himself. Men do things like this when you give them too much free time.”
“And he has dozens of my engineers helping him,” Umtha added. “When last I visited his shop, he had teams of goblins assembling it.”
“Did you know about this?” Heather asked Frank, who shook his head. “Huh, well, maybe we should go see him.”
“He told me the other day it would be assembled by now,” Chandice said. “He should be testing it on mundane magical items.”
“I want to see it,” Heather pressed as she took Frank's hand. “Let's go.”
They made the trip into the lower tunnels, working their way down the stairs to the massive goblin workshops. It was just as Umtha described, with a flurry of activity as goblins worked at a dozen tables and stations. Some kind of machine filled an entire side room, buzzing and blinking as massive cables ran across the floor and out the door to another room. This room had a platform of what looked like glass with a beam of light rising from below. It was surrounded by curved arms of metal that hung down from tracks above it so they could rotate about the middle. These arms were covered in cables, wires, and strange probes, all pointing toward the beam of light. The wall to one side was devoted to what looked like a massive computer system complete with magical displays.
“Wow, he built all this?” Quinny asked as they stood in the doorway. “It's like a mad scientist's lair.”
“That disk must be meant for you to stand on,” Frank said as he pointed to the pillar of light. “I bet that other room is the power source.”
“It took a whole room to power that thing?” Heather asked.
“Actually, there are two rooms beneath it also powering it,” Legeis said as he looked down from a metal walkway above. “I am glad you hear. I was about to test it.”
“When were you going to tell me you were building a machine to study me?” Heather asked.
“I didn't want to say anything until I knew it would work,” Legeis replied. “You got enough going on without me getting your hopes up. I hate it when you think you're going to get answers, and then that hope is snatched away.”
“Yeah, that does tend to happen,” Heather agreed as she leaned on Frank. “I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
“Let him test it and see what happens,” Frank suggested as he rubbed her arm.
“I suppose I have nothing to lose by watching a test,” Heather agreed.
“Good,” Legeis called down and motioned them to get closer. He took them to the machine and explained how it was meant to work. The arms all contained components enchanted by Chandice with various detection spells. The platform itself was a powerful antimagic field meant to strip away any magic trying to prevent the reading.
“Is it safe to stand in an antimagic field?” Heather asked as she looked a the device warily.
“It's a simple magical effect,” Chandice explained. “Though this one should be boosted by goblin know-how.”
“It won't cause any harm,” Legeis said from a workstation above them. He then barked an order in goblin, which Heather fully understood. He was telling one of the others to put the test item on the platform so they could begin.
A goblin in red overalls and at least five belts walked up to the machine and placed a wand in the center of the beam of light. Chandice explained that she had given them a basic enchanter's wand to use as a test object but not told them what enchantment it held. If he could read the right enchantments, she would confirm it, and they would move on to the next test.
“I see,” Heather replied as Legeis instructed everyone to hold on. He then pushed a button causing the lights to dim and a loud hum to come from the side room. They watched in fascination as the arms of the machine began to rotate at different speeds, and an image of the wand came up on a screen to the right.
“So far, so good,” Legeis said as he pushed another button. “Now, let's lower the wand's defenses.”
The beam of light turned red, and the wand gave off a flash of light. There was a smell of ozone as one of the arms of the machine began a back-and-forth dance.
“Is it supposed to do that?” Quinny asked as the machine almost appeared to be stuck.
“Yeah, it's testing the magic field around the wand to see if it can find a defense,” Legeis replied. A moment later, that arm lifted away, and a green light began to blink. “And that worked too. On to the detection then.”
With the push of a button, the arms began an elaborate dance, some tracing magical lines in the air. Chandice explained they were going through gestures necessary to cast a reveal magic spell. This was a higher-level form of detect magic that provided much greater detail of a spell. The colored lines were magical circles drawn with goblin engineering power to hopefully boost their effect.
“This is amazing,” Breanne remarked as the screen to the right began to fill with information.
“It says the wand is a magical focus of tenth level,” Legeis said. “It is also attuned to no one and has the extra enchantment of a spell called crystal bolts that can be used three times a day.”
“All of that information is right,” Chandice said with a pleased smile. “I think you did it.”
“Yeah, this might just work,” Legeis said right before a red light appeared on his screen. “Wait a minute, something is wrong.”
“What?” Heather asked as she looked up.
“I am getting some kind of feedback,” Legeis said. “Like the device is getting too much data.”
“Too much data?” Frank repeated as Legeis began to frantically push buttons.
“Shut it down!” he barked to the goblins, who started throwing levers while smoke began to billow from the center of the platform. The wand burst into flames a moment later and fired sparkling balls of light in all directions.
“Get down!” Frank yelled as he carried his family to the ground, narrowly avoiding being struck by a flashing ball of light. A loud pop echoed in the room as the wand disintegrated, leaving behind a few splinters and a pile of ash.
Slowly they got up to survey the scene as goblins stood around the platform using various tools to try and get a reading. Chandice approached the platform and took out her own wand, waving a quick spell over the pile of ash.
“I can’t detect anything,” Chandice said. “The magic is completely destroyed.”
“But it wasn’t supposed to do that,” Legeis insisted. “It doesn’t do anything but try and detect the magic.”
“Maybe it’s the antimagic field?” Frank suggested.
“I don't see why that would matter,” Chandice replied. “I could cast that spell on the wand in my hand, and it wouldn't be destroyed.”
“I am not getting in that machine,” Heather stated firmly as she brushed off her dress.
“Something we didn't expect went wrong,” Legeis explained. “Once we figure it out, we can recalibrate to avoid it.”
“I am not being burned into a pile of ash,” Heather insisted as she pointed to the smoldering pile.
“It won’t do that once I get it figured out,” Legeis insisted.
“Hmm,” Chandice said as she took up a pinch of the ash. “It’s almost as if the magic was broken and released all at once. I wonder if it could break Heather’s polymorph and return her to her true form.”
“In a fiery explosion,” Breanne pointed out. “I think we will wait until he has some successful tests.”
“Thank you,” Heather agreed as she cautiously eyed the black soot.
“And you don’t think this has anything to do with the antimagic field?” Frank pressed.
“Well, under normal circumstances, I would say no,” Chandice began. “The spell turns the magic off temporarily, not eliminates it, and I have never heard of it damaging a magical item. But we are casting it through a machine of technomancy and boosting it with a significant amount of power. Maybe it is possible to overwhelm an item with so much antimagic that the bonds that hold it together come apart.”
“I could try adding a power control,” Legeis suggested. “Give us a way to start at low power, then dial it up if we're not getting good readings.”
“It might be worth a try,” Chandice agreed. “I will get a few cheap magical items while you modify the machine.” She went to go but paused before turning her gaze to Heather. “I hope you don't mind my asking, but I heard about your crowns from Jaina. I am told you were supposed to regain memories when you put the goblin crown on, but it didn't work.”
“I guess it didn’t,” Heather replied with a shrug. “I certainly don’t have any new memories popping up.”
“Would you be willing to let me see the crown?” Chandice asked. “I have an upgraded enchanting table in my shop. We could all go over there while Legeis modifies the machine, and I could see if I can learn anything from the crown. Maybe I can figure out why it didn’t work.”
“Huh,” Heather said as she turned to Frank. “What do you think?”
“You know I will support any decision you make,” Frank replied as he looked concerned. “But what if you do remember, and it changes things?”
“Between us, you mean,” Heather said and then stepped up to him to plant a kiss. She stepped back with a smile and took his hands, sharing a tender moment. “I promise no matter what I remember, I will always love you and be grateful that you're my husband.”
“Ohhhh,” Chandice said with a broken smile. “I wish Jaina said things like that to me.”
“Heather can be a sweet talker when she wants to be,” Quinny said.
“Well, let’s try it,” Heather said and took Frank’s hand firmly. “What harm can it do?”
They agreed to return in a few hours and headed out, using the magic door to return to the Jade temple. Chandice took them down the hall and through another door into Roric's rustic camp.
“Umm, I might need to run ahead and ensure you don’t see anything,” Chandice said with a smile.
“I don’t mind seeing,” Quinny said and got a firm slap on her rear from Breanne.
“Just give me a second,” Chandice said and went through an animal skin curtain. She returned a moment later and led them on, taking them down a stone hall and into a large round chamber with a bone fire burning in the middle. It was decorated with wooden furniture and paintings in a rustic tribal style. It looked comfortable, with cushions along the walls and plenty of room for people to stand before the master of the camp.
“Roric is out with Evalynn making changes to the forest,” Chandice said as they passed by a large throne-like chair made of intricately carved dark wood and leather. “So we shouldn't run the risk of stumbling on anything.”
“Thank goodness,” Heather sighed in relief.
Chandice took them outside into a wonderous tribal camp of leather tents and wooden lodges. It was decorated with vibrant reds, yellows, and other earthy colors, with giant feathers adorning everything. Gnolls of every shape and size prowled the camp, going about various chores as if living out their lives. The whole camp was high on the cliffs, with several mesa-like pillars rising to add to the camp. It was all connected by sturdy rope bridges with solid planks. They were led across two until they reached a small area where a clump of the forest grew. Chandice took them between the tents and then to two slender tree trunks that crossed at the top.
“Here it is,” Chandice replied and stepped through, vanishing from sight.
One by one, they passed through and came out in a small clearing surrounded by dense trees. Behind them, the same two slider trees grew, but nothing gave away their magical nature. A small path led out of the clearing and down a short flight of stone steps. They arrived at a massive tree root well over ten feet tall, barring their path.
“This is a secret meant to hide the path to the door,” Chandice said as she walked up to the root.
“Nobody would ever see this little path,” Frank said as he looked up to see the dense foliage turned the path into a narrow green tunnel.
“That's the point,” Chandice said, putting a hand on the root. “A friend has come. Open and show me the path.”
The bark of the root shimmered and started to fade away, leaving a tunnel inside. Chandice explained it would work for any of them if they wanted to visit the shop. Inside, the root was hollow, forming a tunnel that took them up. They eventually arrived at a thick metal door that had a simple hidden button to open. It slid away to reveal a small garden tucked between the roots, with a round cafe-style table sitting at the center. All around them was something to see as Chandices shop was built into the trunk of a gigantic tree. The massive trunk rose into the sky to rival a mountain, its great canopy spreading across the sky as clouds passed around it. The shop was on several levels and full of windows glowing with a yellow light. Small areas of slate roof ran around lengths of the structure and were hung with little lanterns that filled the gloomy space with magical light. Walkways ran across the roots, leading to hidden gardens, sitting areas, or other places they couldn't quite see. Moss, ferns, and broad-leafed plants grew everywhere, helping to blend the shop into the woods. Several metal pipes acted as chimneys poking out, with two venting a fine mist of smoke.
“Wow,” Quinny said as she tried to take in the scene. “That tree is so big it turns the forest here into perpetual twilight.”
“It is a big tree,” Chandice admitted, taking them to a large blue door trimmed with gold and embossed with glowing letters.
“Chandice's shop of wonders,” Heather said as she read the sign hanging above. “I like it.”
“Oh, come inside and see it,” Chandice urged and took them in.
If the outside was a delight to the eyes, the inside was so much more. The main room was an open space, but every wall was covered with shelves, glass cases, or cabinets. It was lit by magical light, giving the space a warm, vibrant feeling as they moved to the center.
“Sorry, the shelves are so bare,” Chandice said as she headed for a dark counter by the far wall. “I am kind of low-level for a shop this size. It will take me a while to build an inventory that could fill this space.”
“It looks amazing,” Heather said as she stopped to look at a glass case full of magic wands. They were labeled with fantastic names like Nemestor or wand of blazing bugs. She wanted to ask a dozen questions but lost focus when a glowing ball of light streaked around a corner and began to spiral over the blue rug.
“What is that?” Heather asked as she watched the light dance.
“A cleaning spirit,” Chandice explained. “Basically a magical Roomba.”
“We need one of those,” Quinny said.
“We need ten of those,” Heather interjected. “Because somebody insists on playing in the dirt.”
“I’m a zombie. I am supposed to play in the dirt,” Quinny protested. “Besides, I use the cleanse ability to clean up now.”
“I am so grateful, Jaina, and the girls have that,” Chandice laughed and took them around the counter and up a flight of steps that curved around the tree trunk. They passed through room after room full of things to see but finally arrived at a room with a large black stone table on which was etched runes of magic. Spheres of light glowed to one side while various symbols flashed in the air to the right.
“Welcome to my enchanting room,” Chandice said as she motioned them to the table. “Now, let’s see what we can learn about that crown.”