[GM Post]

Being rudely awakened in the middle of the night was not a nice feeling, but at least it had proven that the warding construct worked as intended. Three of them were set up, each ridiculously complicated, but the customer had generously met Asevor's equally ridiculous price tag. And he of course delivered, just as it was proper.

The outer layer was a powerful scrying mask, an ingenious design traded from a Tretagor archmage many years back. The most rudimentary masking was a simple tug of war, where a strong enough attempt will punch through like an arrow through a sheet of parchment. This one instead deflected the scry, rebounding and dispersing potential result into a much larger potential area that an accurate pinpointing was nothing more than a pipe dream. The downside was that it's less effective the closer the distance involved were, but it was not an insurmountable barrier to someone of his intellect.

Then the second and third constructs came in play. By utilizing part of an object or a person, Asevor was able to create a decoy that'll mislead predictive magic to its position. Meanwhile, the third construct was an illusory one that replay the one-day happenings in a certain room, overlaid with the second ward. The entire thing was fragile enough, and with the rigged explosives it'll be irreparably damaged from the concussive blows and the shrapnel. Finally, once it's gone the paired construct would sounds an alarm to alert Asevor that the trap had been sprung.

Thus the garrison was alerted and prepared for combat, that brute Ragnar couldn't even be bothered to conceal his lust for violence. Thankfully the archmage held the highest command in this clusterfuck of an organized treason when the client weren't present, thus he kept the northlander in leash. For now.

[i]"Lord Asevor? What's that?"[/i]

[b][color=#778da9]"Just a little spy, my good baron. If my amulet wasn't faulty, it's an undead of some sort."[/color][/b] A nondescript black blob floated in the air, isolated and compressed within a glowing sphere of arcane energy. His amulet said it's an undead, and a short cast of detect undead indeed pointed at it yet again. Did another one of these triggered his room's warding just now? Troubling. [b][color=#778da9]"I'll take care of this one, and any that happen to be in this fort. But outside my presence, always assume that you are under watch."[/color][/b]

Let's see. Wrinkled hand reached into the silken nightrobe, taking out a small leatherbound book. Flipping to a certain page, Asevor cleared his throat before making some gesture in the air.

[b][color=#778da9]"Koriloth's purge undead should do, I believe. Let's see. This goes here..."[/color][/b]

It started with a line, then quickly grew into some sort of cantellated tesseract. Carefully adding one last line, Asevor injected mana as the spell construct rapidly collapsed into itself. From the center it pulsed outward, barely a small gust of wind to unintiated mortals but easily felt by those attuned with magic... or to undead, specifically, the feeling that something was trying to dismantle their very existence.

The shade in the prison quietly dissipated. Any other in the fort itself also lost capability to maintain themselves, though the walls broke the spell from affecting the outside. But this should at least deter the necromancer from sending more minions inside. Intangible spies really were the most annoying to deal with.

Trouble didn't end there, of course. Mere minutes later there's report that the bridge to the north collapsed in an explosion. Then the men sent to check on it was stopped at the gate, where apparently some throny bramble grew and blocked the gate from opening. It's still growing quickly, even. And since it's a magical phenomenon, of course they call upon the magic expert. Asevor took his time getting dressed, of course. As a professional he had to be presentable. Besides, he need to retrieve all of his rings and trinkets and whatnot.

[b][color=#778da9]"Interesting."[/color][/b]

The growth weren't just outside the gate. It's surrounding the entire wall, all but trapping them inside the premise. Two of the pearls on his amulet glowed, this... druid and undeath. What an odd combination. Asevor performed a series of gesture over his right eye, and soon enough a circle filled with geometrical pattern formed like a fancy glowing monocle.

[b][color=#778da9]"Ah, yes. I see, so that's how it is."[/color][/b] He turned, pointing at one of the adept mages. Of course he's not going down there himself, that's what underlings were for. [b][color=#778da9]"You there, can you use detect magic? Yes? Good. Bring five men down and break apart the druidic influence around the overgrowth, and be quick about it. Comes sunrise we'll be neck deep in thorns, and we cant have that can we? I'll deal with the caster."[/color][/b]

The foe was underground somewhere, if the flow of magic was accurate. That'll render most of his offensive arsenal moot, how annoying. But thankfully it was an undead creature, then Koriloth's workings should still be effective even if it's only an approximate imitation. Leisurely he formed the same spell construct, though this time directed in a wide cone downward instead of an indiscriminate pulse.

Asevor released it once. Then another. The growth stopped halfway through the third attempt, though from his observation the enemy had fled instead of truly purged. Well, that was to be expected. No sense just standing there taking attacks while fueling such a large workings. It simply wont work.

[b][color=#778da9]"He had fled, I will keep watch to ensure he'll not return."[/color][/b] Again, there's no way Asevor's getting down there. He's far too important for a henchman job. [b][color=#778da9]"Well, what are the rest of you standing around for? Clean up the bramble outside the gate, and check on that bridge!"[/color][/b]