"Runes?" Hobnob heard Morek ask "That's a hard wrought magic. Where'd you get rune skills? Do ye mean glyphs?".
"No Morek, I mean runes" Hobnob said in response to Morek's question "But now that you've reminded me, we have cooked up a few glyph based home defense contraptions in the past". The table quickly became even more cluttered as a veritable mountain of blueprints was placed on the table by Hobnob's crew. "And in response to your other question" Hobnob continued "We picked up rune skills back in Cutterstone and improved as we went along".

It was then that Lis spoke. "There's a number of things that his fellow could be" Lis said "All are dangerous possibilities, but if we're wanting a worst case scenario..." He voice paused to eye the table before continuing. "Then there is some signs in what Lord Pembrook told us that this may be a vampire".
"V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-Vampire?!" Tiny exclaimed as Hobnob and his crew became very nervous "She said vampire, Hobnob! We didn't sign up for vampires!".
Calm down! Calm down!" Hobnob said.

"If I may contribute" Nuva asked politely "I wonder if it's not more likely that Strater is simply a mage of some power. It seems more probable, given that vampires aren't usually seen this far north, and may in some ways be the more dangerous option. We can fend off more direct attacks with our own physical ability; on the other hand, a powerful illusion spell may mean we completely fail to notice the caster sneaking in and out with the book. We'll still need to prepare any which way, obviously, but focusing on just one possibility is probably not going to work out so well for us".
"See?" Hobnob said to his crew "There's nothing to worry about. There's no vampire, only a powerful mage who will probably just sneak by us using illusion magic before being caught in 1 of the traps we'll place about the house". It was then that Kayden spoke.

"I don't think Pembrook would appreciate his house being booby trapped" Kayden said "But all in all, you might as well ask him if you're allowed to. Under these circumstances, you might have the reasoning behind him allowing it. Perhaps I can ask him, as long as you don't go too crazy on that. Let's not hang up a dog, if you catch my drift".
"Not hang up a dog?!" Hobnob choked "But the canine counterweight is an integral part of every trap that would be effective against this menace! It's removal would raise the malfunction rate by 60% [i]at best[/i]! You need only look at the blueprints to see that my words are true!". Hobnob gestured to the mountain of blueprints that now covered the table and spilled off the side. To anyone who could understand gnomish blueprint, there would be page upon page of logical explanation on why the canine counterweight was necessary. But to those who couldn't understand gnomish blueprint, there would be nothing but page upon page of drawings of trap and dog with the occasional smiley face doodled on the side of the paper.
"Also, get that Steam Tank running as soon as you can" Kayden continued when Hobnob finished speaking "When we guard the Safe, you can be outside at the ready with it".
"It's a [i]Steamroller[/i], Kayden. Not a Steam Tank" Hobnob said for what felt like the 1000th time that week "But either way, we can do that".
Hobnob's crew murmured in agreement. They enjoyed the thought of being in the safety of The Obstacle Flattener Mark 4 rather than outside alone and exposed to possible vampire attacks. "We'll go get it ready now" Hobnob said. Hobnob and his crew then left to go prep The Mark 4. Soon after they left, a glyph on each of the blueprints the gnomes had left behind began to glow. A few seconds later, the blueprints were gone too.