-- Oh, I see that everything is back in place now, and the Blade has remembered the promise.
-- First of all, Her Majesty has decided to fire Riya... Um, Alaria. Doran. I am ashamed that I became an unwitting catalyst for this decision, as we went to the audience together during the day, and I... missed something. -- pause for realization. -- She was a valuable ally to us and finding a replacement will not be easy; no, in fact, it will be completely impossible, but I'm afraid nothing can be done about it now. In the future, except, I believe, for Count Chegver, all contacts with the Suzerain are through me. We won't cut off initiatives, but I will be filtering them.
-- The security of pockets and the headquarters is the second important topic for all of us. A thief effortlessly deprived me today of a useful artifact, one given to me by Milady Nayera, and then (or perhaps before that) went and cleaned out the safe. I believe the events are connected—at the very least, they acted together, as there is a sense of particular audacity coupled with professionalism. Amamius Okikot is still on the trail, but regardless of how this story ends, we need to think of protective measures. I think the easiest thing is to hire servants for permanent guard duty at the headquarters. We could also design special protection—although I would leave the latter for a future fortress—but I have an idea for a safe that cannot be opened without triggering a special trap, where the burglar's skill and equipment would play practically no role.
-- We should also come up with something against spies. And pickpockets. In general, looking at Craig's creations, the thought occurs to me that I am not exploiting various technical possibilities well enough, but let's discuss it; maybe someone has a ready-made solution in mind? By the waaaay, -- the redhead takes out one of the paired attraction compasses and, using the Baldur school of metalwork, carefully disassembles it (in order to reassemble it later).
-- Aha, -- she spoke after a detailed study. -- I see. Well, then a simple solution: markers like the ones inside the compass, which the needles point to, can be placed on valuables and purses. This will allow us to track stolen items, or even the thief themselves in a crowd, if we react quickly. The downside, of course, is obvious: you can't get enough of these compasses, nor do I have the AP to keep assembling them. Although, could it be done with several needles instead of one? Mmmm.
-- As for spies—nothing comes to mind except singing floors, but I think we'd go crazy from them.
—As for the temporary headquarters... A permanent person should be here day and night, that's true. And not just a cleaner—let's be honest, the villa suffered from that in its time—but someone with stats above 10. —he curled the first finger. —Limit guest visits to individual permission from leadership, especially for random strangers; everyone else must undergo a trait scan, mandatory and without exceptions. Fortunately, we have experts in this. As they say in my homeland: "The wider the soul, the easier the pocket." —second finger. —The problem with the champignons is that the perception check fails a centimeter from the target, even if it's standing right in front of your face waving its arms. You probably noticed it yourselves during the tourney. In the long term, we could experiment with photo cameras, somehow set them to spot invisibility and record constantly, but of course, you can't build that overnight. I can teach you the Kridear way, then definitely no one except "our own" will eavesdrop. And if we're being serious... we need to dig into ways to dispel stealth. Surely the capital's masters or secret services have their own developments, otherwise anyone with a scouting skill could crawl into the imperial vault at night. —third finger. —Regarding the preservation of valuables, we really can turn to Craig. A rune that binds an item to a specific person in the world definitely exists, and while the solution isn't optimal, it certainly helps me "sleep" easier. —remembering that he hadn't seen dreams since July, he curled the penultimate finger. —And of course, don't keep all the rems in one envelope. He who is stingy with personal safes pays many times over. That way, losses are lower, and there's a higher chance the burglar will blow their cover during another check. Creaking boards and water jars under the ceiling are funny ideas, of course, but in the context of this game mechanic, they hardly work. So, that's how I see it from my mountain. —he adjusted invisible glasses.