Alex and his guest materialised inside the courtyard of the Research Castle. They made an odd duo, one broad shouldered, tall and powerfully built, the other short, slight, and looked at least five years younger than his actual twenty years.
Saint rzhin looked around the courtyard with a lancholy expression. So this is where you and the others would train. This was where Carey lived and worked, wasnt it? It feels strange, and even a little lonely, finally coming here after so much ti.
The atmosphere around the two Heroes beca a bit more awkward for a while, both knowing very well why rzhin hadnt been permitted in Greymoor. Neither wanted to acknowledge the reason out loud.
Alex cleared his throat. It'll be good to have you here, he said, uncomfortably. He could probably count the number of tis on his two hands that hed spent alone with the Saint of Uldar since hed first t him, though theyd beco friendlier over the past few weekswhen Alex had started eting with the other Heroes to help battle Ravener-spawn, and train Cedric, Drestra, and his cabalmates near the Heroes encampnt. Even now, Alex would still hesitate to call himfriend.
They were allies, to be sureand the archwizard empathised with the Saintbut there was a distance between them that had yet to be crossed.
If it ever would be crossed.
The General shook away feelings of discomfort. This wasnt the ti for that. They had important work to do.
If youll follow , Alex said, Ill take you to the lab. Were in the final stages of a few projects in the research building, and you might be able to help us.
Understood, rzhin said. Lead the way. Where are your other companions?
My cabals back at school, and Theresa and Claygon went to hunt dungeon cores, Alex said, leading him toward the Research Castle.
I see. The small Hero followed, his eyes hardly leaving his feet.
The pair walked through the courtyard in the cold drizzle, ignoring the weather.
Carey worked with you here, didnt she? rzhin asked.
Yes, she did, Alex said, opening the door to the outer laboratory. She helped a lot.
was she happy working here? rzhin asked.
Yeah, she was, Alex said, rembering the young womans enthusiasm. At least that's the way it seed to . She was troubled after we found out what we did about the dungeon cores, butI think she was still happy with our work. She wanted to give her all when it ca to defeating the Ravener, and thats what she was doing here. Every day.
I see, rzhin said, going quiet, even as Alex was showing him how to put on his safety equipnt.
Alex watched him closely.
There was alistlessness to the Saints movents. A dullness in his eyes and a lack of vigour in his expression. Hed lost weight too; in so ways, he reminded the young wizard of the skeletons wandering the ruins under the Barrens of Kravernus.
rzhin had seed to beco more despondent since theyd listened to Uldars journal.
That was obviously another shock for him, Alex thought, leading rzhin through the outer labpassing curious researchers, busy exploring the capabilities of dungeon corestoward the inner lab, where Uldars notes waited and asures against the Ravener were being hamred out.
It'll just be two of us for now, Alex said. Baelin, Professor Jules and Isolde will be joining us shortly, but for now, we can use the ti getting you up to speed on what weve been doing, and what well need your help with.
I am at your disposal, rzhin said, his voice sounding dead.
Alex glanced back at himeting his eyes through the lenses of his maskbut neither he nor the Saint said anything further.
rzhin didnt say a single word until they had entered the secret lab and closed the door behind them. Alex activated the magical lights, andfor a montthe Saint blinked against the sudden brightness.
His eyes flew wide when he spotted the object in the centre of the room.
What is that? he cried.
Alex followed his gaze. Oh that? It doesnt have a na yet. But the best way I can describe it isinsurance. No, thats not quite rightprotection.
The archwizard approached the device.
It was sizableabout five feet tall and just as wideand looked to be an odd, tallic tree forged of zinc, copper and other alchemical materials. At the bottom of the trees trunk was a mana generator that powered the device, which floated on a forcedisk.
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Each of the machines tallic branches were tipped with familiar black orbs: dungeon cores, emitting a low hum, and a barely detectable growl.
Are those all dungeon cores? rzhin asked, then shook himself. A foolish question. What do you intend to do with all of those dungeon cores? That is the question I should be asking. What is this machine supposed to be protection from?
The Ravener, Alex said. Or at least one of the Raveners abilities.
He pointed to the wall nearby: pasted across it were the schematics theyd taken from Uldars notes. Over a dozen cutaways were on display, each showing a different configuration of the Raveners inner magic circuitry. Beneath the diagrams were an assortnt of notes: so were Uldarstranslated into modern alchemical symbolswhile others were the research teams own hypotheses and notations.
See that diagram there? Alex pointed to a sheet in the centre of the rest. That seems to be mana circuitry responsible for restoring the Ravener.
What? rzhin looked at him sharply. Drestra was telling us that you were looking for sothing like that in Uldars notes. So you have found it!
Yes, recently, and thats one of the reasons why you're here today. The General of Thaland fixed his attention on the diagram in disgust. Our dead god rzhin winced. Alex ignored him. was, I have to admit, pretty brilliant. We nearly missed the correct section. But, fortunately, Baelin noticed a very old notation for a restoration glyph. Apparently, so ancient societies used to use them to make self-repairing buildings. The practice fell out of favour because of how expensive it wasits a lot easier to just hire a mason to carve more stone, than it is to set up the glyph. But, Uldar made a version that works with other circuitry to reconstitute the Ravener.
So you can shut it off? rzhin asked excitedly. Can you change its innercircuits to stop it from reforming?
Alex grimaced under his mask. Were working on that. Uldar was very thorough: thats only one restoration glyph. One of twenty weve found so far: he put a lot of redundancies in the Ravenerprobably to stop anyone from doing what were trying to do right now.
Oh rzhin said, looking at the dungeon core-tree device. And that machine is supposed to help with that?
Not really, Alex said, approaching the device again. He ran a finger along one of the dungeon cores attached to it. But we figuredif were going to try and change functions in the Ravenerwe should practise on the next best thing we have: dungeon cores. Drestra, Carey and I already controlled somaking them do what we wantedbut we thought that if we could make permanent changes to the cores, wed have a better chance of making permanent changes to the Ravener.
I see, rzhin said. So are you trying to make the dungeon coresgood? Non-threatening? Helpful, like so of the Ravener-spawn have been? The Saints voice grew quiet. Could we do the sa to the Ravener itself?
Alex shook his head. We don't think that'll be possible. There's a big difference between trying to make a small change to one of its systems, and trying to change its entire purpose. At that point, it becos easier just to break the whole thing. No, we're not trying to change the dungeon cores to make them helpful. We're trying to change them to stop the Ravener from killing us in its dungeon.
What do you an? rzhin asked.
Well, it makes sense thatwherever the Ravener isits going to be hidden in so deep dungeon sowhere. Andunless I get really lucky and can teleport us right into its facethat ans we're going to have to fight our way to it. At which point, whats to stop it from just crushing us in one of its tunnels?
Oh mythat makes sense rzhin said. So this tree is supposed to stop that?
When it's finished Alex said. it'll send out a field that'll make it more difficult for the Ravener to control the earth around us. The inside of the trees trunk is covered in earth-magic glyphs, theyre ant to empower the dungeon cores ability to alter the terrain of a dungeon. We changed the function of the cores, and made them capable of controlling the earth in anydungeon, not just their own. Then we set them to counter attempts to alter the ground: that should prevent the big black ball from just caving in the ceiling on our heads when we're in its dungeon.
Ah, that does sound important, rzhin said. And what else have you worked on?
Well, theres this. Alex pointed to another device sitting on a pedestal off to the side of the room. It was made of bane and looked like a hollowed out dagger with a cage of twisted tal as its hilt: inside the cage was a container made of mana-reinforced glass. That's an injection device, its made of bane, and other parts I scavenged from Keldas machine, the one I used to remove the Fools Mark. It should work together with a poison to attack the Raveners essence, that we're almost finished developing.
Oh my! rzhin peered at the machine, sounding fascinated. And all youll have to do is just stick that into the Raveners surface?
Maybe Alex said. The poisonand this devicewould work a lot better if the toxin was injected directly into the Raveners mana generators and nodes where a lot of its magic circuitry cos together.
Inside the Ravener? rzhin asked. How are we going to get inside of it?
We're working on that, Alex said. Anyway, thats not what we needed your help with.
Alex approached a table scattered with page upon page of alchemical formulae and conjecture. We need your help with a divinity problem.
I see. so what sort of problem? rzhin asked.
You have a much deeper knowledge of Uldar and faith than the rest of us do, the General of Thaland said. And we're hoping that your knowledge will help us solve the last two parts of our plan. We suspect that the Ravener draws power from fear in a similar way that a deity draws power from faith; we also suspect that the Ravener is innately connected to Thaland. Were thinking that the sa way people praying to Uldar creates divinity, peoples fear of the Ravener gives it a way to co back.
The General of Thaland pointed to a diagram of sothing resembling a mana vacuum. When golems lose control in a workshop, the quickest way to stop themwithout destroying themis to use a mana vacuum to syphon away the energy.
Alex tapped the diagram. The idea is that part of the device will attach to the mana circuitry on the inside of the Ravener, while the other part will be attached to the outside. That should funnel away its energy; we know for sure that this device will work on mana, but, the problem is that we don't know if it's going to syphon away fear.Our poison will damage the Raveners essence, but we want to make sure it can't just draw on more energy and revive itself. So, the first thing we wanted to ask youis if we'll be able to turn this device into sothing that can work on fear.
rzhin shook his head. I do not think you can. As a matter of fact, I think you are looking at this incorrectly. Your approach is wrong.
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