Tabi: "I could try."

Walking over to the coffin slot, she digs through a bag and pulls out a spool of some sort of clear wire and a roll of sticky cloth strip. Sticking a length of wire to each node and connecting them to her interface brick, she pushes a few buttons on the brick and a large array of characters scroll down its screen.

Tabi: "It's still working, whatever this is."

She stares at the interface brick for a few minutes, the screen flashing a few times, signal readings appearing and vanishing, character sets swapping.

Tabi: "Ooh, I got a word. 'Oubliette'."

____________________


After knocking on the door, you enter and, seeing the armored figure sitting in a padded chair, deliver your questions.

He stares at you for a good long time.

Torrent: "All are related. Now get out."

:I
Well I guess I earned that.

"...Sorry to bother."
> Leave. Let's try that a bit less spazzy. Go up to the walls where the spotter is.

Leaving the room and quietly closing the door, you exit the building and head over to Vranhal's east wall, which is quite a distance away.

A tower containing a staircase is connected to the wall, which you can make out a sort of wooden hut-like structure on top. Looks like where the spotter was supposed to be.

Heading up the spiral staircase of the tower, when you reach the top you're met by a mage in a black cloak with a golden emblem of an arrow stitched into the upper arms. He has a set of earmuffs on, and he hands you a pair.

Uh, you're supposed to put them on, you guess, which you do and he gives you a thumbs up.

The man steps out of the way, and you step up on the roof of the tower.

The wooden hut is a small platform elevated on some stilts with a chair and a roof over it, only enough space for a single person really, and the platform is only about as high as your head.

In the chair is a woman with short, messy brown hair in a black cloak, the emblem of a hollow circle on her shoulder. She's facing towards the east, her back to you. Two blue mages stand at the left and right sides of the "hut," and a duo of black mages are behind. On the wall are numerous groups of six black mages, spread out over quite a distance. Periodically they pull a metal rod out of a quiver on their belt and fire it off in an explosive blast that you can feel in your chest - the earmuffs are probably to protect your hearing.

You walk to the eastern side of the tower roof, getting a better view of who you assume is the spotter. Her sleep-deprived bloodshot eyes are partially covered with pair of round-framed glasses with the left lens missing. Hovering in the space in front of her are circles of moving images, panning across fields. Occasionally a man will appear in one of the images, one of the black mages on the wall fires, and the man in the image explodes into a spray of gore.

Spotter: "You a spotter in training?"

Spotter: "I'm a light mage. I see stuff far away. When I see a target, I pick a sniper to shoot it by sending the sniper the target's bearing, elevation, the wind, temperature, and when I need that shot fired, and then the sniper does it. Or,"

There's the sound of a war machine firing somewhere in the city, and a little later, a group of men in one of the images are consumed in flames.

Spotter: "I have 'ol mailguy deliver a package for me. You should be a spotter - high demand for 'em right now. I'm managing twenty two sniper teams at the moment, you can imagine how much bank I'm making."

Spotter: "No, they're all dead. The Second had a telepath lurking around taking out spotters before the war declaration. I'm the last one alive that's capable of doing the job, there're some newbies in training right now, though.

Don't feel bad if you try to shake my hand and one of these fellows here snaps your neck, just makin' sure I'm kept safe."

Spotter: "Couple of months? They can barely make a blink of light at the moment and they've got a mess of number crunching training ahead of 'em. The sooner the better, but better to make sure they're adequate than to throw 'em in the chair and have 'em miscalculate every shot."


Horoma: "I'll come along. Not every day you get to see gate magic being taught. Miimas isn't exactly doing anything interesting, either."

The two of you leave the inn and locate Bauen's dwelling, a large stone dome with an orange banner across the entrance. You knock on the wooden door, waiting a bit before it opens. The twisted form of the gate walker greets you and you and Horoma enter.

It looks like a normal lupus house - the main room, which is right past the door, serves as the dining room, with the kitchen to your left and a living room to the right. The only thing abnormal is the large array of strange rocks and substances that decorate the walls and a few shelves, some looking organic, others are intricate glassy sculptures.

Bauen offers the two of you to take a seat, which you do.

Bauen: "So, you are on the path to learn gate magic. What do you already know of spirit magic?"
____________________


Tabi: "I can try."

There's a pause as Tabi works the brick.

Tabi: "Something about a 'false casket'. Maybe it knows my brick isn't the real thing."