They were supposed to be done by nightfall Thursday, but the six reverberating tones that came through the Tunnel at Greyshott Applied Magicks & Engineering told Silas Greyshott it was six a.m., Friday morning. It amazed him he was still awake. He had pulled a few longer nights to finish papers and present lectures, though none of it involved what may have been the hardest work of his entire life.
Even Aberth, as hard of a master as he had been, had always let the young Mage relax when he needed it... Silas was his own master now, in charge of G.A.M.E., the first subsidiary of DeMuer Exports, and responsible at least in part for the rushed and back-breaking work, most of which had to be completed by 5:30 a.m. for the alignment and anchoring of the Tunnel.
The "RhyDin-side" half of the new firm was housed in a tall and almost absurd-looking building on the west side of the Old Market district, only a short walk from Seaside; from the Occidian one could see over the city walls into the next district, and all the castles and manors that creeped up the coast along the blue sea. The building had once been a stately manor with beautiful lawns and gardens, but as the city grew, the grounds shrank, and no well-to-do noble family wanted to be so close to all the shops, business, traffic, and all the racket from the Marketplace. The stones had been carefully enchanted by the pair of dwarven Geomancers that Silas had found in Noirmont and since hired to work for him, and the stones would crumble no more as long as the enchantments held, but moss and ivy still made its home among the sandy white rock.
The Occidian, somewhere between a keep and a library for the powerful family that once made their home here, was a tall tower only twenty feet in diameter, but more than ideal for many of the experiments in Aeromancy and Leymastery that young Mr. Greyshott had in mind. The large ballroom on the first floor had been stripped clean, effectively cannibalized to turn it and the adjoining sitting rooms into a garage and workshops for their heavier equipment, complete with large sliding oak doors, again operating only with the aid of no small number of enchantments.
The upper stories provided more workshops, storage space, and even quarters for some of the firm's employees, but the basement, the old wine cellar, was what Silas firmly believed to be their coup de gr?ce:
A broad stone ramp (again, thanks to the Geomancers) in the brick garage led down into the cellar, shifted and broadened to the appropriate dimensions by their combined magickal efforts, now wide enough to accomodate a cargo truck. The tolling bells did not come from anywhere within this building, but through the cellar (what they called the Tunnel), through the transitional gate into the basement of an old brick chapel in the Barony's Estmore, now home to a workshope and the foundations of a new astronomical clock.
Silas leaned on his staff and heaved a long, tired sigh, because he knew they would have to be back at work soon - creating and installing Carolus engines, long-lasting miniature powerhouses fueled by carolmagnium slugs, would be their first task, and they were expected to complete three by Sunday evening for integration in the House's merchant fleet...
Because it was one crazy Baron's idea to take his sailing ships, already modified beyond recognition to the average shipwright, and give them the ability to fly.
Even Aberth, as hard of a master as he had been, had always let the young Mage relax when he needed it... Silas was his own master now, in charge of G.A.M.E., the first subsidiary of DeMuer Exports, and responsible at least in part for the rushed and back-breaking work, most of which had to be completed by 5:30 a.m. for the alignment and anchoring of the Tunnel.
The "RhyDin-side" half of the new firm was housed in a tall and almost absurd-looking building on the west side of the Old Market district, only a short walk from Seaside; from the Occidian one could see over the city walls into the next district, and all the castles and manors that creeped up the coast along the blue sea. The building had once been a stately manor with beautiful lawns and gardens, but as the city grew, the grounds shrank, and no well-to-do noble family wanted to be so close to all the shops, business, traffic, and all the racket from the Marketplace. The stones had been carefully enchanted by the pair of dwarven Geomancers that Silas had found in Noirmont and since hired to work for him, and the stones would crumble no more as long as the enchantments held, but moss and ivy still made its home among the sandy white rock.
The Occidian, somewhere between a keep and a library for the powerful family that once made their home here, was a tall tower only twenty feet in diameter, but more than ideal for many of the experiments in Aeromancy and Leymastery that young Mr. Greyshott had in mind. The large ballroom on the first floor had been stripped clean, effectively cannibalized to turn it and the adjoining sitting rooms into a garage and workshops for their heavier equipment, complete with large sliding oak doors, again operating only with the aid of no small number of enchantments.
The upper stories provided more workshops, storage space, and even quarters for some of the firm's employees, but the basement, the old wine cellar, was what Silas firmly believed to be their coup de gr?ce:
A broad stone ramp (again, thanks to the Geomancers) in the brick garage led down into the cellar, shifted and broadened to the appropriate dimensions by their combined magickal efforts, now wide enough to accomodate a cargo truck. The tolling bells did not come from anywhere within this building, but through the cellar (what they called the Tunnel), through the transitional gate into the basement of an old brick chapel in the Barony's Estmore, now home to a workshope and the foundations of a new astronomical clock.
Silas leaned on his staff and heaved a long, tired sigh, because he knew they would have to be back at work soon - creating and installing Carolus engines, long-lasting miniature powerhouses fueled by carolmagnium slugs, would be their first task, and they were expected to complete three by Sunday evening for integration in the House's merchant fleet...
Because it was one crazy Baron's idea to take his sailing ships, already modified beyond recognition to the average shipwright, and give them the ability to fly.