To the Prepared Stronghold

Kana was actually dressed, for once, but she likely had nothing on under her robe, and had brought them all together. Her show of display clearly meant she had something to show everyone; she had likely been waiting for the right time for this sort of thing. Sabriel could tell that much. Thankfully, everyone else was properly dressed, even though the wolf seemed to display some measure of discomfort having to wear pants and a tunic.

“And the reason you asked us to get dressed, despite it being optional the past few days,” inquired Sabriel; she was thankful the tower was kept clean and properly running with various enchantments instead of with whatever staff could be rounded up, aside from the gathered group, the tower was pretty empty, and would be that way for a few more months before staff, and students started filtering back into the complex.

“Because we will be going out,” said Kana, “What we’ve been doing in the tower could get compromised in the foreseeable future at some point; I’ve been secretly been working on something more appropriate,” she started leading them to the magic transit circle, “that place isn’t on our network, even in my personal space as the head of the school, primarily to keep things secure for that place.”

“So,” said Nilhord, “we’ll be transporting to one the nearest communities and hoofing it from there?”

“Yes,” said Kana as they came up on the chamber; she gestured the circle, “I have everything set; we’ll be arriving at a waypoint I helped establish a few decades ago, one that requires a few extra steps to get to, I’m the only one with the full knowledge for that particular ritual. Once we have everything set up at where we are we are headed, I’ll be taking the waypoint off the tower’s network. But since we will be out in the open, being dressed for a short trip is a necessity.”

Everyone’s attention panned over to Beta; she was dressed in only pants with a translucent green bra and signs of an actual top. “Well,” said Nilhord, “we would have been attracting attention if she wasn’t dressed in the barely acceptable manner she is. Not to mention, beastkin races have a reputation for being eccentric in ways the more common races usually aren’t used to seeing.”

Sabriel took a look at her own partially armored form for a quick moment before saying, “Well, that’s not well-deserved, and most beastkin races being pretty isolationist compared to the majority of other races doesn’t help with things.”

“True enough,” said Kana as the group got into the circle; she then did a series of arcane gestures and chants once she was in the circle with the rest of the group. A moment later, there was a bright flash of greenish-blue light that flashed in everyone’s eyes for a brief moment. A moment later, the party was in a circular chamber made of dark gray with a white birch door secured with bronze braces and adornments.

The group made their way out of the chamber, opening the door to the chamber on their way out. On the other side of the door was a thirty-by-twenty-foot room with a modestly-sized table, six or so chairs, and open space for larger items. The other side of the chamber had a door that looked as if it were some kind of wood made of silver. Mythril Wood was exceedingly hard to find, and even harder to both properly harvest and craft into anything in particular. The stone of this chamber was the same as the ones that made up the other chamber.

Nilhord suddenly realized what the stone was, “You had this complex made from blocks of Baked Mythril Stone, impressive.”

Sabriel looked from the drake-kin and kitsune a few times before saying, “I’m a little lost.”

“Mythril Stone,” said Kana, “as it is commonly referred to, is a rock with traces of mythril ore scattered throughout it but in such a way that refining the material will yield a poor return on investment, but by heating the stone and ore as you would in a forge you can ‘bake’ the material to enhance the material’s physical properties; it won’t yield the kind of protection you would get from pure Mythril, but it will definitely be stronger than steel. I managed to get all the blocks for this facility by negotiating trade with mining communities, especially those under the jurisdiction of dwarves and gnomes, that had a surplus of the material; in return for supplying the Mythril Stone, they were given access to enchantment for their tools, and a few magical items the academy produced that they thought might be useful, it’s why our budgets when dealing with those communities are so favorable.”

“I was wondering why when we did business with those communities, we got such good hauls,” said Sabriel.

“I take it the facility has its own series of defenses erected,” said Nilhord.

“Yes,” said Kana, “among which are some carefully crafted illusions that are interwoven with spells to redirect anyone or thing that doe not have appropriate authorization away from the facility; I went a little overboard at the time it went up and put so much defense into things that even local weather patterns can seemingly avoid the facility most of the time. Now, if you will follow me”

“If this what she did for the waypoint,” said Sabriel, “I’m not sure I want to know the extent she went for a keep, fortress, or stronghold.”

“I’ve had a considerable amount of time to work on these special projects discreetly,” said Kana as she led them out of the facility, “our destination is a good half-hour or so by foot. That said, only the bare essentials necessary have been stocked there, for the time being. It will noticeably change after we get to where we are going.”

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Almost two hours of walking later, during which time only Kana and Sabriel seemed to be not exhausted, the group came to what looked like an ordinary mountainside. The surrounding environment told everyone this was Heaven’s Guard mountain range, the tallest and longest range of mountains on the continent. And judging by where they seemed to be, they were surprisingly near the mountain with the tallest peak in the range, Mount Sovereign. Kana led them to what looked to be the foot of the mountain, then walked right through it; after taking a moment to process what just happened, the rest of the group followed her lead.

On the other side of the illusion was another set of Mythril Wood doors, this time adorned with platinum pieces that gave the door an artistic flair, especially since the platinum had gold tints complimenting its outline. “These are the doors to the stronghold I have prepared for the new lord,” said Kana, “it is equipped with dozens of rooms to house your loyal membership, with the master bedroom being particularly impressive, along with several kitchens and chambers for recreational activities.” She gestured for Nilhord to open the doors by handing him an ornate key made out of a composite of platinum, gold, silver, and bronze.