Mark of the Fool

Chapter 816: The Saint in the Lab

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 Merzhin looked around the courtyard with a melancholy 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 time.

The atmosphere around the two Heroes became a bit more awkward for a while, both knowing very well why Merzhin 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 times on his two hands that hed spent alone with the Saint of Uldar since hed first met him, though theyd become friendlier over the past few weekswhen Alex had started meeting with the other Heroes to help battle Ravener-spawn, and train Cedric, Drestra, and his cabalmates near the Heroes encampment. 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 time for that. They had important work to do.

If youll follow me, 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, Merzhin 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? Merzhin asked.

Yes, she did, Alex said, opening the door to the outer laboratory. She helped a lot.

was she happy working here? Merzhin asked.

Yeah, she was, Alex said, remembering the young womans enthusiasm. At least that's the way it seemed to me. 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 came to defeating the Ravener, and thats what she was doing here. Every day.

I see, Merzhin said, going quiet, even as Alex was showing him how to put on his safety equipment.

Alex watched him closely.

There was alistlessness to the Saints movements. A dullness in his eyes and a lack of vigour in his expression. Hed lost weight too; in some ways, he reminded the young wizard of the skeletons wandering the ruins under the Barrens of Kravernus.

Merzhin had seemed to become more despondent since theyd listened to Uldars journal.

That was obviously another shock for him, Alex thought, leading Merzhin through the outer labpassing curious researchers, busy exploring the capabilities of dungeon corestoward the inner lab, where Uldars notes waited and measures against the Ravener were being hammered 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 time getting you up to speed on what weve been doing, and what well need your help with.

I am at your disposal, Merzhin said, his voice sounding dead.

Alex glanced back at himmeeting his eyes through the lenses of his maskbut neither he nor the Saint said anything further.

Merzhin 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 momentthe 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 name 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, metallic 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 metallic branches were tipped with familiar black orbs: dungeon cores, emitting a low hum, and a barely detectable growl.

Are those all dungeon cores? Merzhin 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 assortment of notes: some 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? Merzhin looked at him sharply. Drestra was telling us that you were looking for something 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 Thameland fixed his attention on the diagram in disgust. Our dead god Merzhin 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, some 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? Merzhin 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 Merzhin 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 somemaking 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, Merzhin said. So are you trying to make the dungeon coresgood? Non-threatening? Helpful, like some of the Ravener-spawn have been? The Saints voice grew quiet. Could we do the same 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 becomes 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 mean? Merzhin asked.

Well, it makes sense thatwherever the Ravener isits going to be hidden in some deep dungeon somewhere. Andunless I get really lucky and can teleport us right into its facethat means 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 Merzhin 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 meant 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, Merzhin 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 metal 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! Merzhin 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 comes together.

Inside the Ravener? Merzhin 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? Merzhin asked.

You have a much deeper knowledge of Uldar and faith than the rest of us do, the General of Thameland 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 Thameland. Were thinking that the same way people praying to Uldar creates divinity, peoples fear of the Ravener gives it a way to come back.

The General of Thameland pointed to a diagram of something 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 something that can work on fear.

Merzhin 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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