"When I cast a spell, it has to be on an object - or part of an object, or more than one object, but for the purpose of the spell, whatever I pick to cast on counts as a single thing. If that object is damaged, like a crack or something, the spell might break, and if any part of the object is removed from the rest, it definitely breaks. I can adjust how sensitive it is to the first kind of damage when I cast the spell - on the most forgiving end I can get a spell to stay on a pool of water for several hours if it's not disturbed too much, and anything solid will be fine indefinitely - but the item having to stay in one piece is a hard limit. So string works fine for me, but you'll want something you can handle without having to worry about it fraying or anything."

"Tell me more about trigger conditions. What sort of range do they come in? Ideally, I'd want this device to be usable by only myself, with conscious intent to do so."

"I can use anything or any combination of things that physically affect the enspelled object as triggers, including sequences of things. I can't have the spell directly detect if it's you trying to activate the spell or what your mental state is, but I have a couple other more minor kinds of magic that might help with that - I can make things glow faintly in different colors, and enspell things to detect the presence of magic and a few basic things about it at sight range, so if I cast a spell on you to make your fingers glow when you wanted to activate the portal, and then have it check for your kind of magic, my kind of magic, and a specific pattern of touches with glowing fingers, that should be pretty secure - my kind of magic doesn't break when cast on living things, so that's not an issue, but you do need to know that if your kind of magic can detect mine, you'll noticeably have that spell forever, even when you aren't using it."

"Hm. Can your magic make more specific observations beyond the fact that I have Force potential? There is a way in which my Force signature is unique that I would be confident in using as an identity verification measure."

"I can tell you have five of something that seem different from the background magic, if that's what you mean. If having them at all is unique enough, that will be easy; if five in particular is the thing to check, I think I'll need to watch you for a while longer to make sure I have a clear enough idea of how to do it."

"Having them at all is unique. I think combining their presence with a specific touch sequence will be sufficient. I will go requisition the an appropriate vessel from Bar, and determine if she has the final piece of the map I need."

Occlus gets up and walks over to the bar. After some discussion, she returns with a simple durasteel hoop and a largish stone tablet.

"I will need to consult with my other references, but I believe I can find what I seek with this. How much will you be charging for your services?"

"So that's the portal to your archive, and then portals to and from the place the map is to - I can cast several spells on the same object if you'd like quicker access to a few things you use most often or would want in a hurry, too, using different touch patterns, and there's a question of how long it will take to get to those places; I can pull some tricks with the door here that might help with that, but what it'd be without that is a good starting point."

"In that case, I will ask for two additional spells on the archive portal, one where I enter a different sequence and one where someone other than me enters the original sequence. I will have to verify, but my research suggests that the end location should be less than a day of travel away from where I was before I came in here."

Bar produces an itemized bill with all the services discussed listed. Occlus glances at the total and deems it acceptable.

The kobold nods. "Great. I'll go grab my gear; are there any particular risks I should be aware of?"

"As long as you stay close to me, no. If you wander off and touch things at random, I will not be able to guarantee your continued mental and physical integrity. I cannot vouch for the safety of the ruins, but a portal just outside will suffice and should not be unduly dangerous. It also occurs to me that you probably do not speak Basic, will the translation effect persist outside of the bar or should I make alternate arrangements?"

"I can see magic on things just as easily as on people, if that's what you're worried about with touching things, but I'll stay close unless that seems like a bad idea. If I do end up teleporting away, check for me at the last place we rested; I'll either be there, or be here watching through a portal - if it's too dangerous to meet up there I'll try previous ones, but I might not remember all of them. And the translation effect doesn't carry over, but I have a thing for that."

"Very well." Occlus will just sit here and wait for the kobold to be ready.

She's only gone for a few minutes. When she comes back, she's wearing a slightly different set of pouches on her belt, two necklaces, and a pair of fingerless leather gloves. "Ready when you are."

Occlus goes over to the door and opens it. Outside the door is a featurelessly boring grey hallway. She steps through, and holds it for the kobold.

And the kobold goes through.

Assuming Occlus isn't already walking away, the very first thing she does is check what the area looks like to her mage-sight, so she can teleport back here if she wants to later.

There is not a whole lot of interesting going on in this hallway.

The door they came out of was supposed to lead to the lift, so once it closes Occlus will open it up again. No bar this time, so she gets in and waits for her companion.

There's plenty interesting in the place-signature of a new world, even a boring part of it.

Looking at it doesn't take long, though; she follows Occlus into the elevator promptly and with only a moderate spike of nervousness/curiosity.

Occlus types something into a console set on the wall, and the lift moves smoothly downward. When the door opens again, there is a short hallway with a heavy door set into the far wall. Occlus goes over to the desk that's about halfway between the lift and the door and confirms her identity with the guard there. The heavy door swings open. She beckons the kobold to follow her inside.

Follow follow.

The next room looks similar to the first, but the door at the far end is bigger and heavier. There is no desk or living guard, but three droids stand in front of the door, carrying what the kobold may or may not recognize as weapons. Occlus does not approach the droids, but walks over to one wall and indicates an area on it.

"I would like the other end of the portal to be here."

And focus. Can she see what the kobold is doing when she casts the spell?

Focusing doesn't help; Occlus is simply not getting enough detail in the first place.

She only has a handful of seconds to look, though, before the kobold's attention shifts away from the wall, and then a moment later she's startled out of her trance entirely.

"Can I see the hoop?" She composes herself before asking; the startlement barely made it to her body language at all. "And do you have codes in mind?"

Alas. It was a long shot.

Occlus passes over the hoop and demonstrates the first code. Tap tap tappitytaptappity tap.

Enspelling the hoop takes longer than anything the kobold has done yet, and involves tapping it both with her finger and against the ground and walking a short distance from Occlus and then back, focusing the whole time. After a couple of minutes, she offers it back: "There's the first spell; the rest will be quicker. Give it a try?"

Tap tap tappitytaptappity tap. Portal?

Portal!