keys

[from_scratch]

The dragon is kept as comfortable as can be safely arranged. The mages regain mana; Ice goes to Prime's house to put him under. The dragon is eventually needled into revealing that he used a small invisible monster from his "monster bin" to spy on the sphinx and learn the password to the mysterious portal. The small invisible monster is caught and caged and fed millet and offered to Idania to poke at. The dragon is mirrored, on his medallion and his eye both, and allowed to shift from out of his restraints and go home. He makes a perfunctory request to use Phix and Max's bathroom first and doesn't stop to wait for their reply before he does so, then leaves without further ado. Cam makes some additions to the robot army, less their network connections; an existing robot comes to the Belfry, describes the parts it needs to add the new ones to the network, receives same, installs them, and takes the new additions home except for one that is set to watch over twin surveillance mirrors in a disused Belfry corner.

And then Phix asks:

"So, what could be done to portals to make them less vulnerable to small invisible monster spies?"

Comments

[darkest_evening]

"You have a few days to talk about it. Or you can put your campus in space or something, we have Cam."

[shesepankh]

"A space campus would be cool, but the shuttle would be noticed. I guess we could hide it under the Avalon, if Adana knows how to hollow out space under a small town without it collapsing?"

[ask_nicely]

"I can, but I'm worried about plumbing or electrical wiring."

[from_scratch]

"Go deep before you go sideways."

[ask_nicely]

Adana giggles. "Thanks, Cam, but I'd still want a map of plumbing and wiring and sewage and such."

[shesepankh]

"It's probably available, I'll look into it. Anyway, our portal is on a door. We can unhinge it and put it in the underground campus with its revisions when the campus exists."

[ask_nicely]

"That works. Let me know when you want an underground campus, then."

[shesepankh]

"Will do."