RP:The Architect
Part of the The Capital Bureau Arc
The Tunnel System, Under Gualon Clinic
Boiling Pits of Sludge
An architect had been smuggled down through the clinic to the lavender pools in the network of caves beneath the building under guise of treating him. A nurse escorted him through the clinic and to the back in semblance of giving him some kind of vaccine, though really, he was secreted through the trap door and into the caves, where the pools bubbled with their strange, healing properties.
It was an obvious that an excavation was well underway, goblin miners working tirelessly day and night removing the foundational bedrock from below the clinic, secreting it out via the tunnels that crisscrossed the concealed cave system.
It wasn’t Tristram who greeted the architect, but Jacobo, Tristram’s trusty compatriot and business affairs manager. Jacobo, who was, by all appearances and mannerisms, a mute, required a scribe, of sorts, and Tristram was all too happy to fill that role, disguised of course, to conceal his identity as Governor. After the initial introductions, in which he identified Jacobo as the head of the project, he escorted the architect toward the hollow in the cave that had already been excavated. On Jacobo’s behalf, he asked, “You can understand why a project like this requires utmost secrecy?”
The Architect specialized in building arcane-wards into his constructs, so as to prevent pillaging, pilfering, plundering, and pummeling (acts of gods precluded). He arrived in Gualon with little fanfare, as he’d had a hand in the some of the city’s previous construction, and being called to attend to another project wasn’t anything especially out of the ordinary. Gualon’s coffers were deep. The secrecy surrounding the project was something he was not expecting. “I understand your desire for privacy, Jacobo. I will endeavor to do my work in secret. But I need more information if I’m going to draw up a working blueprint of what you wish to build here.”
Jacobo nodded his acknowledgement and pulled a few scrolls from a pack at his side. He handed these to the architect and stepped away. Tristram, trusting he wasn’t needed in this exchange, remained silent.
The Architect accepted the scrolls and unfurled them. Inside, were rudimentary blueprints, directions and details, along with surveyor’s calculations, all laying out the plan of action, the necessary information required for the Architect to begin his work. The Architect nodded to the pair. “Give me a couple of hours.”
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A few hours later, hours spent overseeing affairs of the state, Tristram and Jacobo returned to the cavern construction site.
Its appearance was completely altered.
In place of the damp, cavernous room, full of debris from excavation and construction, a pristine hollowed-out chamber resided. The newly-designed canvas appeared slightly transparent, suggesting that the incredible amount of work done within such a short span of time was little more than illusion. The Architect stepped forward from a desk he’d imported to the center of the room, revealing a sprawling blueprint. “It’s still a work in progress, but this is what I have so far.” He beckoned over his clients and sketched against a bank of teller stands. “There will be bars here, of course.” Behind him, bars appeared in the illusion, rushing down from the ceiling to meet a new counter where the tellers would be located. “And I have added security measures for the vault, naturally.” He detailed some runes into some of the marble columns within the structure, which alit in the made-to-scale illusion currently covering the room. The Architect warned, “It’s just a template. I still have much work to do.” He stood from his desk and unhooked clips from the corners of its slanted surface, which caused the long parchment there to roll onto itself with little to no outside force. The Architect pulled a band over the parchment and the illusion abruptly shattered. “Gentlemen. I’ll be in touch. You’ll receive a list of materials I require in the mean time.” He dipped his hat, slid the scroll into a cylindrical bag at his side, and returned to the streets of Gualon.