I distinctively remember the guard teleporting. Aha! Here it is:
Pbartender said:
OOC: Another miracle of modern magic. A message from Joe, and a teleport from the town guard HQ to the Red Dragon Inn, and you've got instant police service.
It was more like a 30 second response time. Joe tipped them off while you were all still back in the bar.
This threw me off:
Pbartender said:
...a squad of town guards come striding purposefully up the street. They must have already been on their way.
So! We have at least one instance of A) magical communication from a business owner to the guard and B) short range teleportation of five watchmen (four guards and one mage).
In my Pie Parade, an escaped criminal also managed to incur the Watch's teleportation magic. I also had four guards and one mage. Admittedly, I didn't look up the rules because there was already precedent. So that's two instances.
Can anybody think of any others? If those are the only two, it's a pretty rare occurrence. I doubt that many prisoners manage to escape, and the patrons of the RDI are mostly peaceable. However, I'll bet that if Joe has trouble with adventurers, the Watch is quick to act because adventurers are notorious in cities for their hot tempers and uncontrolled power.
Perhaps at some point in the recent past, some adventurers got out of hand and destroyed a building or something, so the City Council commissioned the creation of an emergency teleportation device, only to be used in extreme circumstances. It could have severe limitations on its uses (once per week, per month?), and perhaps require several mages' energies to fuel it (Circle Magic with a focus).
Like I said, the item is only used in emergencies, when immediate response is necessary. The RDI, though a huge source of income (adventurers spend a
lot of money!), is also a curse, and when adventurers get out of hand, they can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. And subduing an escaped convict is extremely important: Gotta keep the population's faith in the prisons up and the prisoners morale low (so they don't try to escape).
How does that sound?