"What do you mean it won't work? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get this thing?"

Baron William, his Baroness, and the esteemed Professors of the College of Practical Alchemy and Experimental Magics were clustered around a twenty-foot-wide slab of stone that occupied the center of the ACME building foyer. Nearby, two stone masons worked to convert the hole where the old doors had been into a set of twenty-one-foot-tall castle doors.

Voluminous rapped his knuckles on the stone and laughed, "Think of it this way; you have a wonderful chance to create an unbreakable table. It will be fabulous on poker night!"

The Baron wasn't amused. "Explain to me, without dithering and going into long and complex side stories, why we can't copy the runes on the old teleport stone and turn it into one."

Several people yelled, "Not It!" with Johannes caught pondering the situation and speaking last.

"I will try, your excellency. It really is a magnificent piece of stone. Red Granite is an ideal Tier 3 material that lends itself to Runic Formations. I commend you on your choice of material and acquiring it." He paused, thinking of a way to say the next part. "There is a complication, though; this stone is already enchanted and dedicated. And before you ask, no, we can't just erase the work that has been done; that would be a desecration that the power this stone is dedicated to would object to."

Billy stepped up on the stone. "Lots of big words. But you admit you can clear off the old magic. What did the ghoul do to it, and why should we care about pissing off whoever he dedicated it to?"

Titania cackled. "Not the ghouls. Johannes is just beating around the bush. Suzette did this! The stone was used to form a Hermetic Seal—nice job on the rune work and good penmanship. Oh, the original writing is gone, if that's what you're wondering about, but it was burned deep into the stone. I'm feeling Fae Magic, Holy Fire, and the cleansing of hundreds of undead. If we try to clean off the incantation, we'll piss off Hermes something fierce and maybe someone else, as well." She touched a finger to the stone, and the smell of burning meat filled the room. She held up a blackened fingertip. "See this? This is the finger I point at people to cast curses. Just touching it to the stone burns me. What sort of ritual was used to burn in the runes?"

Layla was sitting back, keeping company with a bottle of wine. "Ritual? Like we had time for that. Ben was in the middle of the rock trying to keep the wounded fairy knight alive and called down a huge blast of fire. Scared the piss out of me, and Billy screamed like an intern caught stealing the office snack fund. And then he did it again. And again. I'll never get the smell of burning ghouls out of my hair."

The faculty cast several looks at each other and Titania took two steps back from the stone, just in case. "Yep, if all that power came from just a couple of spells, those runes are burned in deep."

"Shit. Shit. Shit. I need a teleporter here and at Rowan Keep. For that, I need big magical rocks. And now you say this is useless?"

Voluminous grinned. "It is a terrible loss but a huge win for Poker Night."

Johannes was looking at the runes. "It cannot be used here in Gadobhra, that is true. But I think this is a wonderful start for the proposed teleporter at Rowan Keep. Aren't the walls there being dedicated to Hermes and reinforced with his magic? Suzette and I went over the plans many times."

The twins looked at each other, nodded, and yelled out, "Sympathetic Resonances! Twin Circles of Magic dedicated in a similar fashion. It will be splendid, and both will benefit from the same storage enchantments! Can we do this? Please! I have theories I want to test!" All the professors began talking fast in multiple languages and sketching diagrams in the air with magic. Billy had seen this before and let them drone on until they tired themselves out and came to a conclusion. One hour later, the academics started to quiet down, having argued until they agreed on a consensus. Billy and Layla were on their second bottle of wine. Ozzy, Rolly, and Squirmie were snoring in a corner.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"We have come to a consensus, your excellency." Johannes smiled and nodded his head. "We believe that with the proper tools and craftsmen, the runes of the current stone in Rowan Keep could be copied to this stone as part of the process to create a Tier 4 Teleportation stone. Further, if placed in the geographic center of the keep such that the enchantment on the walls and the teleporter matrix share a common central point, the resulting enchantments will support each other."

"Meaning what?"

Titania clarified. "Big battery for both walls and teleporter. Enough that you may never have the mana to fill it."

Layla raised a hand. "Excuse me; I heard some weasel words in that proposal. 'Part of the process' and 'proper tools and craftsmen.' What don't you have yet?"

Enthusiasm cooled. Voluminous pulled a sandwich from his robes and focused on eating; Titania looked serious, and Johannes was wringing his hands. The tall man stuttered, then pressed on. "As we mentioned in our earliest meetings, we need certain magitech components and someone with the expertise to head up the project and pull all the pieces together. The Empire keeps careful track of such technology and those who use it. There are only two people we know of who would be both skilled enough to have a chance of success and not currently working for the Empire."

Layla gave the mage a quick nod of approval and a curt order. "Good, hire them, and let's get started."

Titania shook her head. "Can't. The one I'd like to have is Damien Franklin—Mad as a fething hatter and tens times as dangerous. If there's a magical disaster in the last hundred years, he had a hand in it. He hasn't been heard from in a decade, and only then because the fight between him and Harmonia spilled into the street. He's got a huge price on his head, and the Inquisition spends a quarter of their budget looking for him. He's not for hire, and it's not like one can just stroll up to Franklin house and ask to see his notes and experiments. Scary crazy people, all of them."

Rolly stretched and scratched Squirmie on her back as she dozed. "Yeah, Ben said Harmonia got crazy mad just thinking Damien was back. But the family sounds like fun."

Everyone's eyes swiveled to Rolly, the professors all confused. Billy grinned. "Good point. I have a Franklin on my staff already."

"Ben, the courier. Ben...Franklin? Oh, shit, he's in the main line." Titania and the rest were suddenly interested. "We need to talk to him, see if he can intercede with Harmonia and get us into their library! Where is he?"

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The Summer Lord cleared the last of the three goats from the bridge with his lance, knocking it into the ravine. Mudhead thundered across the flimsy affair of entwined roots and branches. From behind came a swarm of Redcaps, eager for blood to stain their hats.

"You people need better roads! How does anyone get around this place." Ben steered Mudhead down a twisted path in the Forest of Sharp Teeth, turning aside from the well-paved path that led to a delightful-looking candy village.

The Summer Lord laughed, exhilarating in the danger. "Most of us discourage visitors. But we are making good progress. Only eight realms separate us from our goal!"