Wildhorn
This too shall pass.
Osterley approached Newkirk as he placed a sheet of waxed canvas on the floor and unscrewed the cap from a small metal cylinder. She didn't say anything, but smoothed out her skirts and knelt down with him.
The wizard handed her the canister, which she peered into.
"Iron filings?"
"A good trick. Magic distorts the local magnetic field. If you shake them out, we should see a disturbed pattern."
She did so, spilling the tiny metal shavings as evenly as she could. As Newkirk had promised, there was a pattern on the canvas - overlapping ripples, sequences of larger and smaller waves going in different directions. The wizard studied them with a frown and got to his feet, drawing his wand once more.
"Find Beckton. Bleecker is already under attack, as are a small number of people defending him. There is not a moment to lose."
She took his arm and stood without hesitation, drawing her gun and running for the doors.
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Comments (3 so far!)
HSAR
@RQ: Yes, indeed, there are many ways in which I would tweak my writing were I to make this long-form. As you note, interesting and three-dimensional characters are extremely difficult to portray within the character count. But one has to embrace their chosen format, rather than consider its shortcomings!
- #3898 Posted 6 years ago
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Robert Quick
Is the iron filing trick something you came up with? Because it's pretty cool.
- #3900 Posted 6 years ago
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Inspired by (sequel to):
The spell took them to a much larger, high-ceilinged room. Beckton could instantly see that they had…
Gunnerside- Published 6 years ago and featured 6 years ago.
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HSAR
There are, indeed, spells like Detect Magic and other such magical techniques that could have revealed much more precisely (and reliably) the locations and status of magic in the vicinity. However, that would also have revealed Newkirk to anyone watching, and he wanted to preserve the element of surprise. The downside, however, is that much less information can be extracted - even to Newkirk, who has clearly used this trick before.
Operation Wildhorn III was a secret operation conducted by the British Special Operations Executive to find and recover parts of the German V-2 rocket in an attempt to sabotage its guidance and control systems.