We used the invisibility spell on Lilastheria. Then she led us towards the lab. Thankfully we could all move pretty fast, if we wanted to. The lab was located mostly underground. The entrance was a warehouse. That allowed them to transport supplies without raising any suspicion. Then again, the whole thing might have been legal anyway. Beira probably hid it mostly from political rivals and not the authorities themselves.

“What defences do they have?” I asked Lilastheria.

“There are wards against scrying and teleportation. There are also magical alarms for unregistered people. Guests would usually get a token that allows them inside. I do not know where those tokens are.” She paused, thinking. “I have to add that my information might be out of date. They used to have some guards inside the warehouse. The true entrances to the lab are either the freight elevator or the stairs in the back. Once you go down, there is a checkpoint with much stronger guards. From that point on there are much more serious wards. The guards there will also check for illusions and such.”

“Hm. I presume they have an easy way to raise the alarm? Is anyone monitoring them from inside? Could we just take them out quickly?”

“I do not know if they are monitored. Nobody ever explained the whole defensive measures they have to me. I only know what I witnessed in my time there. It might be possible for you to overwhelm them. But I would expect them to have items that counter the most common spells, like sleep.”

While I contemplated our options Lilastheria spoke again: “Mistress, how can you use magic in that form? That… is not common.”

Lucy grinned at her. Of course grinning as a fox involves showing a lot of teeth. Lilastheria shuddered a bit.

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“We are simply awesome!” Lucy proclaimed.

Meanwhile, I was still pondering our entry. “Do you think freezing the guards would work?”

“Possibly.” Lilastheria answered. “Ice is not the most common element. They might not have too many defences against it.”

“Can’t we just overpower their protections anyway?” Lucy asked.

“Yes. But they don’t need to completely resist our magic, just delay it long enough to trigger an alarm. Or worse, they could have an item that automatically triggers an alarm when a guard is affected by a spell.” I explained.

“How are we going to escape if the empire’s soldiers show up?” Lucy asked. “Thanks to our animal forms they won’t recognize us but we still need to get away to transform back.”

“I have been pondering that for some time to be honest.” I said. “They will have people who can see through illusions and invisibility. I have a ring that will make it harder for them though. Combined with my power we might be able to fool them. Additionally I have large scale obscuring spells. I could summon magical darkness, or a fog. We are also quite fast. Further, they won’t send all their powerful people to investigate. They still have to protect the palace, the emperor and the guests. I am confident we can disable whoever they send long enough to slip away, if needed.”

There were certain risks involved with our plan. I had planned to discuss this some more with Loriel and Elnora after scouting the base. But the opportunity right now might just be too good to pass up. In the end, we did have a lot of power and a few surprises for the empire.

When we arrived at the warehouse it was already closed for the day. No workers were around and no guards were visible. As we moved to the side entrance I realised that my lockpicking skill was of little use with paws. Thankfully Lilastheria was proficient as well and opened the door for us. We carefully snuck inside.

The warehouse was mostly empty but we saw a few crates and barrels. There was also a table where four guards were playing a card game. They did not pay attention to anything. Maybe they did not care because of the true security downstairs? We decided to simply bypass them for now. At the back of the warehouse we found the way downstairs.

We descended and found ourselves in a square room with a big metal door. Next to the door was a table where two people sat. They were equipped with chainmail and swords. Behind them was another door. It was only wood and did not look very secure. I assumed it was for the guards, possible with a bed and a bathroom. Maybe there was someone else inside, like a guard captain.

We were currently still on the stairs peeking into the room. The guards had neither seen nor heard us yet. It would be easy to freeze them both. The question was, would that alert someone nearby? Well, there was one way to find out.