Shadowcast

Later That Day: Part 3

Liza beamed the whole rest of the way to the outpost. An entourage of little lights followed her, sometimes lining up against her wand like a ballet ribbon, sometimes darting ahead to gently bop Wren or Wendy on the nose. Wendy's little button nose produced a tiny, squeaky sneeze from the tickling of the orb. Wren chomped down on the light after it bopped him. Its glow shone through his cheeks.

At last, they reached their destination: a culturally-themed mom and pop shop. Through the window, they could see a group of wizards gathered toward the rear of the establishment, all wearing blue cloaks with the Sigilspear University logo. Liza pushed open the door, ringing a little bell on the doorframe. The three of them crossed the shop, brushing past display stands full of little katana letter openers and coasters bearing the magically-engraved image of a famous oil painting. The Brighthands were huddled around a small stone slab bearing indecipherable runes. One of them, a young gnomish fellow with a pointy blue hat, walked across the table to them.

"Is this what we ordered?" he asked in a surprisingly deep adult voice.

"Only one way to find out," Liza said, sliding the package to the gnome. The gnome took a knife out of his robes and sliced off the strings binding the paper together. Under the wrapping was a metal tin. Upon opening the tin, Liza saw that the "crucial materials" Professor Garon was talking about turned out to just be four bowls of noodles.

The gnome stuck his finger into one of the bowls and tasted it. "Still hot! Excellent!" He dropped some silver into Liza's hand, and the other wizards chipped in a bit as well.

"Is that how shipping works in this city?" Liza asked.

"You always tip the delivery service," the gnome told her, "It's just polite."

Liza turned back to her friends with the money in hand. She handed the money to Wren- "Let's split it. Evenly!" -and turned back to the Brighthands. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Figuring out what spell this tablet is inscribed with, and how to use it," said the gnome, "We've almost cracked the code. It seems to be some sort of two-point teleportation spell. When we've figured it out, we'll take it upstairs to test it out."

"Can I watch?"

"You want to watch?"

"You want to watch?" asked Wren and Wendy.

"I want to learn everything I can. This sounds cool. I want to see it."

Wren put a hand on Liza's shoulder. "Then I guess we'd better stick around, too. Just in case something happens, we can..."

Liza saw the look in his eyes. "Don't you dare."

"...babysit Liza."

Liza slapped Wren's hand away and swatted at him.

"I guess," Wendy said.

The Brighthands picked up the tablet and moved their operation upstairs. Liza bounded after them, taking two steps at a time. The room above the small shop looked a lot bigger than the floor plan of the place itself. It must have been at least the size of the grand hall. High above the hardwood floor, a sea of wispy blue fog spilled out in every direction. A soft light came from no particular source, bathing the space in an even glow.

"So, what's this place?" Liza asked the Brighthands, gazing upward into the endless abyss.

The gnome hopped up onto a table and waved his hand to the four corners of the room. "This is our outpost," he said, "One of them, at the very least. This demiplane is where we test our more dangerous discoveries."

"What stuff have you discovered here?"

"I can't speak for my colleagues, but I've perfected my banishment spell cleaning up after them." The gnome rubbed the skull on his necklace.