Irritating
The man glanced at the red notebook to the right of his food. It was cheap, purchased from a gas station about ten miles back for under a dollar. But with, the right enchantments, it served its purpose suitably. That was how he preferred to operate, memorizing all necessary enchantments for the job at hand, then casting them on inconspicuous low cost items when needed. He'd done the same with the map in his back pocket, and the sunglasses resting on his forehead. All might be necessary for locating his target.
But as the notebook was currently showing, his target didn't want to be found. A great deal of power had gone into hiding the artifact, more than he previously thought.
Protective enchantments designed to react to magic and those who use magic.
All magical detection is useless. Attempts at tracking will either fail or be diverted.
Town of recipient is protected from scrying. Will not appear on enchanted maps.
Roads will turn away from town when being traveled by those using magic.
Defenses are autonomous, able to evolve and adapt to threats when necessary.
Of course none of this couldn't be fixed. All magic could be circumvented or even destroyed with the right investment of power and proper resources. But the man had neither the power nor resources to thwart the protections facing him.
It was no matter. Excepting the unusual strength of the magic, this was a ploy he was familiar with. The idea was simple: Magic is difficult to fight, so force your opponent to use slower and more conventional means instead. Then you can easily keep track of -and deal with- said opponent using magic of your own. A very effective tactic when fighting other practitioners.
It was also a tactic he specialized in combating.
Another notebook was placed on the table. The man began to copy everything from the enchanted notebook into the new one at a measured pace. Not too slow, as the autonomous defences might start undoing the enchantment if given time, but not fast enough to be of note. Attention was unwanted in his line of work.
The enchanted notebook was then closed and put into the backpack. This triggered a spell, teleporting the backpack to his colleagues. Hopefully they’d be able to discern more from the information he gave them. The map and sunglasses, both enchanted as well, were stuffed into the now empty food wrapping. They were no longer needed.
The time for reconnaissance was over
