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When examined through the planetary lens, the thread displays a Hadean association.
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#31
08-23-2015, 04:39 PM
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>recall invisibility
"ROYCE'S INSCRIPTION, to RENDER ONE'S AURA INVISIBLE: Invoke an environment of spiritual peace. Begin with a quartz token in the bound; this represents the ka soul. Invoke the Ka Sealing. Sprinkle copper percalcinate over the token, representing the ba soul. Invoke an idempotent structure. Pour sublime spirit over the token; this represents the evanescence of the soul's name. Close with an elementary word of binding. This inscription will render the subject's aura indetectable to malign forces, though only briefly." >create sublime You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You take the nickel rod from the counter. You draw the nickel rod out into wire. The phlogisticated gold rod became the plain gold rod, which you're holding. You don't know where to get another one. (While trying to create sublime spirit.) (You are now in the Mechanica Lab.) Uh-huh. So, we're gonna go visit Syndesis next, but we can't make another dose of sublime spirit without orichalcum. So! >reset You make your way back to the Void. Void You drift outside the world again. *** You awaken again *** (You hurry through the saturation ritual, un-rust the hatch, and open it.) Secondary Alchemy Lab The lab is unsettlingly dim, but familiar enough: rough wooden walls, the broad stone surface of the workbench. The lab door is to the north; it's closed. Some kind of fracture blocks the east side of the room from you. On a side table, you see a sheet of instructions, two impets of essential oil (peppermint and ginger), a pair of tarnished calipers, and a brass pin. Next to the table, an iron panel stands open; you can see a crawlway below. You can also see a sprig of rosemary here. So the only major issue with the aura invisibility ritual is the copper percalcinate. We don't have a full-on ritual for exactly how to make this. But let's get the other components first.
Right, we've got everything we need now. As for the percalcinate... >recall percalcinate "Percalcination: to repeat the calcination procedure. (Typically produces a more stable and potent reagent.) First, calcine a metal. Then seal the retort (Hermetic) and invoke the Crystalline Tempering to clarify the salt's structure. Add more acid to redissolve, and continue heating until a second crystallization occurs." >recall copper demonstration "Lab demonstration #5: Calcinate of copper. Place muriatic acid and quickcopper (orichalcum) in the retort. Heat to dissolve, and continue heating until the green salt crystallizes. Note: product is unstable! Flush retort directly after demonstration; do not extract calcinate." Connecting these two bits of info is a bit tricky, but not very (and it's more intuitive than the wood temperatures puzzle if you ask me). Anyway, on to that. >go to orichalcum The orichalcum rod is in the Main Store, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Main Store. Main Store This is the general storeroom for the Retort's laboratories. Shelves begin here and extend to the east and west. However, a fracture to the east blocks a large part of the room. The door to the south is open. You recognize a figure to the east, beyond the fracture. It's Ensign Ctesc. He is moving towards you -- or would be, if he were not frozen in place. A steel safe is set into one wall. The safe is closed and locked with a heavy combination lock. The nearest shelves are mostly empty, but a rough diamond, a length of silk cord, and a length of silver chain are within reach. >open safe You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You open the safe, revealing an orichalcum rod. >take all orichalcum rod: Taken. rough diamond: Taken. length of silk cord: Taken. length of silver chain: Taken. >go to muriatic The flask of muriatic acid is in the Chymic Lab, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. Chymic Lab This wide room is dominated by a huge glass retort. You've practiced many chymical rituals in this apparatus. Hanging above the retort is an instructional sign. The lab door to the east is closed. The only other exit is the hatch in the floor, which is open. A supply rack holds three chymic flasks (sand, vinegar, and muriatic acid), neatly lined up. Two papers, a folded sheet and a wrinkled sheet, are lying here. You can also see a flask of mineral oil, a plain gold rod, a dried mushroom, a brass coin, and an impet of citronelle oil here. >take all flask of mineral oil: Taken. plain gold rod: Taken. dried mushroom: Taken. wrinkled sheet: The paper contains the copper calcination demonstration, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. folded sheet: The paper contains the word of culmination and the word of entension, both of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. brass coin: Taken. impet of citronelle oil: Taken. flask of sand: Taken. flask of vinegar: Taken. flask of muriatic acid: Taken. >put muriatic, orichalcum in retort flask of muriatic acid: You pour a measure of muriatic acid into the retort. orichalcum rod: Done. >turn on burner You twist the knob. The gas burner hisses, and then bursts into flame. The gas flame heats the muriatic acid. >wait Time passes. The gas flame heats the muriatic acid. >wait Time passes. The muriatic acid bubbles over the flame. >wait Time passes. The orichalcum slowly dissolves into the acid, lending it a lovely grass-green tint. >wait Time passes. The grass-green acid bubbles over the flame. >wait Time passes. The green acid solution is noticeably reducing in volume. >wait Time passes. The green acid is now a thick pool in the bottom of the reservoir. >wait Time passes. The green acid thickens to a paste, and then rapidly dries, leaving a residue of coarse, dark-green crystals. >turn off burner You twist the knob. The gas burner goes silent, and the blue flames die. >speak hermetic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Hermetic Sealing. The retort's equator begins to glow pearl-grey around the reservoir of dark-green crystals. >speak crystalline You recite the Crystalline Tempering. The crystals darken further, while also taking on a lucent green clarity. >put muriatic in retort You add a quantity of muriatic acid to the retort. The crystals dissolve, forming a brilliant viridian acid. >turn on burner You twist the knob. The gas burner hisses, and then bursts into flame. The gas flame heats the viridian acid. >wait Time passes. The gas flame heats the viridian acid. >wait Time passes. The viridian acid solution is noticeably reducing in volume. >wait Time passes. The viridian acid is now a thick pool in the bottom of the reservoir. >wait Time passes. The viridian acid thickens to a paste, and then rapidly dries, leaving a residue of green-gold powder. This must be your percalcinate. You extract it into a fresh vial, and switch off the gas flames. >x percalcinate Copper percalcinate is a vivid green powder with golden highlights. Yay, percalcinate! Now to get that invisiblity aura thingy up and running. > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. A mural has been defaced with more of those twisted black marks. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. >put ribbon on shelf You put the Chinese amulet on the gestalt shelf. >put long in bound You put the long quartz prism into the pedestal bound. >speak ka You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Ka Sealing. The arc begins to glow indigo around the long quartz prism. >put percalcinate on long You empty the vial of copper percalcinate onto the long quartz prism. The green-gold grains adhere to the quartz prism, slowly losing their color, and are absorbed into the crystal. >speak idempotent You begin reciting the formulae that make up the idempotent group. After a rigorous chain of axioms and lemmas, the group elements resolve to a singleton. >put sublime on long You dribble the vial of sublime spirit onto the long quartz prism. It forms a rainbow sheen, which quickly evaporates. >speak elementary You intone the elementary word of binding; the syllables snap cleanly away. The indigo light flares through the clear crystal. When the light fades, a symbol shines on the surface of the long quartz prism. >take all long quartz prism: You pick up the long quartz prism, careful of its inscribed invisibility symbol. Chinese amulet: Taken. And now we should be able to get into the Birdhouse. This ritual also works to get into the Medical Wing, but as it requires sublime spirit, it's more expensive than impermeability. > You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Top Two hallways intersect beneath an elegant vault of brick-red tile, which sweeps around to follow a grand staircase down to the lower levels. The garden is visible to the north. To the west is the ornate door of the Birdhouse, which is closed. The hall to the south is blocked by yet another fracture. The side corridor to the east is much the worse; its far end seems to be on fire. You see someone caught beyond the fracture: Lieutenant Powes. He appears to be walking towards the Birdhouse door. >touch long to self You press the long quartz prism against your hand. The invisibility symbol discharges with a nerve-grating whine. You feel a sudden sense of distance, as if you were a very long way behind your own eyes. The world seems colorless and still. >open door The handle is solid in your fingers now, although your hand doesn't exactly feel like part of your body. You twist and pull, and the door opens just like any ordinary door. The sense of distance fades away. The reality of the world reasserts itself. Man, these aura modifiers are a trip. And not really a good trip, either. >w Birdhouse The Birdhouse is a circular chamber with no roof. It's not open to the sky; it just goes up forever. The door to the east is open. You also see a cracked flagstone with a gap leading to a crawlspace below. The name comes from a ring of metal pylons that take up the center of the room. You can see the fanciful resemblance to a birdcage, although they don't imprison anything. The dragon Syndesis is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the curving wall. This one, too, looks lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies to one side. >take paper (the partial sheet) You don't recognize the handwriting. "...to combine an aitheric vibration -- the transitory structure -- with a spark of animation. This is a well-understood technique to create a self-sustaining aitheric form, e.g. memory daimons. But if the supra-aither or soul-aither exists, suggests Gopinathan, then the same technique may be applied..." You memorize the information, and also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. And there's Syndesis, in just as bad a state as Pneuma. Got an idea, though... >x syndesis Circles of grey-glimmering runes hang on the Birdhouse wall. This is Syndesis, one of the marcher's four dragons. Syndesis is responsible for the Retort's travel between worlds and its coherence within itself. Something is wrong, however. By all accounts, the circles of runes should be rotating, eternally reading themselves. The color is wrong too. Syndesis can't be dead (or you'd be stuck in a doorless room), but it clearly isn't working correctly. >x syndesis through oculus The oculus reveals Syndesis as a web of occult relations running throughout the Retort. It doesn't look good. The architecture of the marcher is full of holes. The worst are by the secondary alchemy lab, the chymic lab, the opticks lab, and the deck suite. So that's proof positive that Syndesis being damaged is the cause of the fractures. Those four locations, you may recall, are where the fractures also led into hostile lands. >d Birdhouse Crawl This space must have been a crawlway, but it's entirely fallen in now. You barely fit, and there's no space to wriggle in any direction but back up. Nothing down here, but hey, gotta be sure. Anyway, with that being the state of things, I think we're gonna try the Great Marriage. I mean, who even knows what's gonna happen, but it might help us fix the dragons. And worst case scenario, we can always just reset and everything will go back to... well, not normal, but status quo, I guess. >u Birdhouse The Birdhouse is a circular chamber with no roof. It's not open to the sky; it just goes up forever. The door to the east is open. You also see a cracked flagstone with a gap leading to a crawlspace below. The name comes from a ring of metal pylons that take up the center of the room. You can see the fanciful resemblance to a birdcage, although they don't imprison anything. The dragon Syndesis is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the curving wall. This one, too, looks lifeless and inert. >reset You make your way back to the Void. Void You drift outside the world again. *** You awaken again *** (You hurry through the saturation ritual, un-rust the hatch, and open it.) Secondary Alchemy Lab The lab is unsettlingly dim, but familiar enough: rough wooden walls, the broad stone surface of the workbench. The lab door is to the north; it's closed. Some kind of fracture blocks the east side of the room from you. On a side table, you see a sheet of instructions, two impets of essential oil (peppermint and ginger), a pair of tarnished calipers, and a brass pin. Next to the table, an iron panel stands open; you can see a crawlway below. You can also see a sprig of rosemary here. So, we need the elements, an orderly environment, the rosemary, and a signifier of the marcher's location, i.e. the ephemeris billet.
Right, we're here at the Nave and have everything. Here goes nothing. >put block on shelf You put the measuring block on the gestalt shelf. >recall marcher's The Marcher's Sealing creates a boundary circle. You recall it from the great rituals that launch the Retort and bring it home. >speak marcher's You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >put billet on shelf You put the ephemeris billet on the gestalt shelf. >wave rosemary You wave the sprig, and inhale its fresh, resinous aroma. The air seems to sharpen. So far, pretty boring... >put air in bound You twist the bubble's valve, and carefully vent the elemental air into the bound. It whisks around the arc, and slowly thickens into an indistinct haze in the circle. >put fire in bound Which do you mean, the torch-lighter or the flaming phlogisticated gold rod? >gold The grey light ripples as you push through the arc. The elemental fire leaps from the rod; you pull the cold rod back. The flame whirls unsupported in the center of the arc, slowly dimming into the thickening haze. >put earth in bound The grey light ripples as you push through the arc. The shard of elemental earth does not fall. It hangs in the center of the circle, spinning and spinning, until it blurs into the thickening haze. >put water in bound You crack open the capsule, and pour the elemental water into the bound. The sparkling drops never land on the workbench surface. Instead, they whirl around the arc, and slowly fade into the thickening haze. The whirling haze seems to expand and thicken. You sense a ripple in the air -- outside the bound, which is impossible. You look around. The black marks on the wall are... moving, flowing, coming free... being drawn towards the pedestal. That's bad. You hear the walls creaking. You smell blood and copal incense. You feel the whirling force of the ritual against your mind. This is bad, you think. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way to the Chymic Lab, brew the fungicide, and open the Mechanica Lab door.) Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. To one side, some supplies are lying on a counter: two metal rods (platinum and nickel), an iron bead, and a lump of rock salt. Something glitters on the floor. It looks like a circle of fine glass thread. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the door. Hm? That wasn't there before. ...What did we do. What the hell did we just do?! >take sheet The paper appears freshly written, but you don't recognize the script. "A homunculus is not a daimon or a servant. It is a seed of animation without volition, a quickening spark. It cannot act or move on its own; but in combination with other works, it may become something greater." You memorize the information, and also pick up the sheet. Just in case. Well, we did one thing. Something changed after a reset. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned thirty-two rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
 Only problem is... what else changed? Next Time: scribble Last edited by Kalir; 08-24-2015 at 01:46 PM. |
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#32
08-24-2015, 03:39 PM
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>create oculus
You take the glass loop. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the silver coin from the rack. You enchant the resonant oculus. (You are now in the Pyrics Store.) >take all silver coin: Taken. lead rod: Taken. >create lens Which do you mean, the concave glass lens, the convex glass lens, or the planetary lens? >planetary You make your way to the Opticks Annex. You take the convex glass lens from the storage bin. You take the concave glass lens from the storage bin. You make your way to the Chem Lab Crawlspace. You take the flask of lubanja. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You enchant the planetary lens. (You are now in the Secondary Alchemy Lab.) >take all flask of lubanja: Taken. sprig of rosemary: Taken. impet of peppermint oil: Taken. impet of ginger oil: Taken. tarnished calipers: Taken. brass pin: Taken. >create brush You make your way to the Opticks Annex. You take the plain white feather. You make your way to the Secondary Lab Crawlspace. You take the flask of rubbing alcohol. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You enchant the dispersal brush. >take all flask of rubbing alcohol: Taken. We're no fighter, not as a swabbie, but I want to be fully prepared for what's going on. And... hang on, thought I saw something different... >d You drop through the hatch into the crawlspace below. Secondary Lab Crawlspace You are in a low, dimly lit corridor that runs from east to west. A hatch by your (ducked) head opens to the laboratory above. Lt Anderes has vanished. Only a shadow remains within the fracture. To the east, the crawlspace is interrupted by another fracture -- or perhaps the same one you saw in the lab. >x shadow You see a faint trailing shadow where Lt Anderes was standing. Huh. Did she break free somehow? That could be good news for us, she might help. >x shadow through oculus This is very strange. Through the oculus you do not see a shadow, but words: "I must bring to your attention certain discrepancies in the storage records. Significant quantities of reagents have vanished -- always those rare and most dearly sold on the black markets at home. The records have been skillfully obscured, but the evidence implicates Lt Anderes." Or she might be really dangerous. Great. Let's check up on the rest while we're at it, then. > You make your way to the Main Store. Main Store This is the general storeroom for the Retort's laboratories. Shelves begin here and extend to the east and west. However, a fracture to the east blocks a large part of the room. The door to the south is open. Ensign Ctesc has vanished. Only a shadow remains within the fracture. A steel safe is set into one wall. The safe is closed and locked with a heavy combination lock. The nearest shelves are mostly empty, but a rough diamond, a length of silk cord, and a length of silver chain are within reach. >x shadow through oculus Again, strangely, the oculus renders the shadow in words: "I am concerned about Sydney. Diligence is commendable, but I fear that his thirst for alchemical lore may lead him down dangerous byways. He has made shrift to get hold of textbooks not normally available to students, at least." Well, he might also be dangerous, but not through intent, probably. Bleh. Better check the state of the Nave, though. >s Lab Hall Northwest The laboratory hallway runs east and south from this junction. Another corridor runs west, towards the rest of the marcher. To the north, the door to the Main Store is open. Graffiti has been scrawled on the wall here. The black marks are curiously twisted; they hint at meaning, but you cannot read them. >w Lab Wing Hallway This hallway runs east and west. However, the fire door to the west is locked, sealing you off from the rest of the Retort. A smaller door to the north leads to the Primary Alchemy Lab; it is open, but blocked by another fracture. An archway to the south leads to the Library. You see Lt Anderes here -- no longer isolated by any fracture, but still unmoving. Whatever has the Retort in its grip, it has not let her go. She seems to be peering at the fracture to the north, as if contemplating the Primary Lab. Another standard glass chime lies in the middle of the hall. This one is a glass G-flat. >x anderes Lt Anderes is a tall, sour-faced officer. She is no longer behind the fracture, but she still seems to be frozen in place. Small mercies, then. Guess whatever the fractures did is pretty long-lasting, and under the circumstances I really don't feel like trying to drag her to the Medical Wing. Not least due to that aura cloud. >w (first opening the heavy fire door) You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of saline. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You brew a bottle of fire-resistance potion. You drink the potion of fire resistance. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You reach into the kiln and take the thick key. You make your way to the Lab Wing Hallway. The fire-resistance potion has worn off. You open the heavy door. East Side Hallway This broad hall runs from the Nave, to the west, through a fire door to the east and on towards the laboratory wing. A smaller hallway heads south towards the medical wing. To the north, an enormous circular doorway leads to the Retort's main airlock. The inner airlock door is open. >w Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. Something has happened here. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. The black markings have disappeared from the broken mural. No, they've been replaced. Rewritten? You now see a dense cluster of silvery lines on the ceiling, directly above the pedestal bound. They do not resemble the black graffiti you saw before; this is a random scribble of silver. Well that's bizarre. I don't know if it's hostile or not... >x scribble Is this the homunculus that the ritual promised? You have no idea what a homunculus is supposed to look like, outside of the doll-figures of medieval art. You suppose this silvery scrawl might be a distant cousin of the dragon-mandalas that you've seen. But it is entirely disorganized, chaotic. Although if you squint, you could imagine that the scribble has a mousey outline. The scribble seems to have changed position slightly. The more you look, the less it stays the same. One minute mousey, the next horse or doglike. It doesn't seem like it's reacting very much to our presence, though. More importantly: passageway! >sw You twist yourself through the crack. Nave Crawlway This was once the north end of a crawlway, but the passage has collapsed, leaving only this small space. Debris is heaped up to the south. Light slants in from a gap in the ceiling. You see a vial of white powder lying in the rubble. It's labelled "highlime". >take highlime Taken. >l through oculus You peer through the oculus. Everything acquires a colorful, hazy fringe. The oculus reveals a lavender spark floating in the air. >x spark You focus on the lavender spark through the oculus. A new memory comes into focus. It concerns a potion. "MULDOON'S POTION, for SURVIVAL in VACUUM: This potion is a staple of marcher work, for it permits one to walk freely in Hadean lands for up to six hours. Fortunately the procedure is simple. Prepare an exhilarant environment and a measure of saline. Begin with a sealing word of passivity. Add highlime to the beaker; follow with the Anodyne Evocation and the Greater Phlogistical Saturation." You consider these memories. The vacuum survival potion, eh? And here I was just gonna try the breath potion for the exoscaphe bay once we actually bother to use glass permeability. >ne You pull yourself back out into open air. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. The black markings have disappeared from the broken mural. No, they've been replaced. Rewritten? You now see a dense cluster of silvery lines on the ceiling, directly above the pedestal bound. They do not resemble the black graffiti you saw before; this is a random scribble of silver. The scribble shifts slowly across the ceiling. >x scribble through oculus You peer through the oculus at the silvery scribble. It has a more symmetrical, intricate cast from this vantage. You can make out the blend of fire, water, earth, and air that went into its making. >x scribble through lens You peer at the silvery scribble through the planetary lens. Its associations are incomprehensible. So elementally speaking, the thing is stable enough. Planetarily speaking, who even knows. Anyway, I want to see if that did anything to the dragons, and we may as well check up on a new one in the process. While doing so, I'll also keep an eye out for the other crewmembers, and read their shadows. >recall gaian "THE SYNTHESIS of GAIAN PRECIPITATE: This reagent is of great value in rituals pertaining to the Earth. Prepare your retort with a measure of vitriolic acid; place orichalcum therein. Invoke the sealing and raise the heat. When the metal dissolves, recite a symmetric sequence (the symmetry induces a positive connection to the Earth). Measure in alum until the solution turns violet; then add pure elemental earth and reduce to a powder." >go to orichalcum The orichalcum rod is in the Main Store, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Main Store. Main Store This is the general storeroom for the Retort's laboratories. Shelves begin here and extend to the east and west. However, a fracture to the east blocks a large part of the room. The door to the south is open. Ensign Ctesc has vanished. Only a shadow remains within the fracture. A steel safe is set into one wall. The safe is closed and locked with a heavy combination lock. The nearest shelves are mostly empty, but a rough diamond, a length of silk cord, and a length of silver chain are within reach. The scribble slides into the room behind you. Huh, it's following us. Well, that's fine, long as it leaves us alone, I'll let it be. >open safe You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You open the safe, revealing an orichalcum rod. >take all orichalcum rod: Taken. rough diamond: Taken. length of silk cord: Taken. length of silver chain: Taken. > You make your way to the Library. Library This library serves the laboratory wing. You haven't spent much time here -- the trainees have their own study room -- but you have often admired the rows of fat musty tomes on their elegantly-carved shelves. The archway is north. Two papers, a neat sheet and an untidy sheet, lie unregarded on the floor. You notice a rotor card sticking out from between two books. The scribble drifts into the room. >take all untidy sheet: The paper contains the syllable of counterbalance, the fire-resistance synthesis, and a lecture on potions, all of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. neat sheet: The paper contains the resonant tone, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. rotor card: Taken. >turn card to windy You turn the rotor until the windy day is visible. Just in case we find the Greater Phlogistical Saturation, I want to get that vacuum potion working. >go to alum The flask of alum is in the Under Ward, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Under Ward. Under Ward This closet-sized room is reserved for the rest and relaxation of the ensigns. Normally a few of you are about, studying or eating or (commonly) both; but these are not normal times and the room is abandoned. Someone has left a tiny recipe sheet on the floor. You notice somebody's torch-lighter here. Not that any ensign would ever sneak an illicit roll-up. You can also see two chymic flasks (vitriolic acid and alum) here. The scribble slides in along the wall. >take all tiny sheet: The paper contains the word of anaphylaxis, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. flask of vitriolic acid: Taken. flask of alum: Taken. torch-lighter: Taken. > Deck Suite This looks like a comfortable place to drink tea. It must be a lounge set aside for the deck officers -- the three important enough to rate private staterooms. The three doors are marked with the symbols of Venture (north), Alchemy (south), and Aithery (east). All three are closed. You see Ensign Ctesc here, in the middle of the room, but still unmoving. A locked cabinet hangs on the wall. You notice another aromatic impet nearby. It's labelled "kelp". The scribble slides into the room behind you. The scribble slides past the Ensign's frozen form. As it does, you hear his voice: "How can I get those books from the Rector's quarters?" You peer at Ensign Ctesc. No, he has not moved, not even his lips. But the words echo in your ears nonetheless. Wait, hold up. Where'd that come from? >x ctesc Ensign Ctesc is a round-faced young man who always looks slightly unkempt. He is peering at the doors with unnerving intentness. ...Huh. Well, he's not getting into there, and that's good enough for me. Maybe the scribble can also help me learn what Anderes is thinking... > You make your way to the Lab Wing Hallway. Lab Wing Hallway This hallway runs east and west. To the west, beyond an open fire door, is the rest of the Retort. A smaller door to the north leads to the Primary Alchemy Lab; it is also open, but blocked by another fracture. An archway to the south leads to the Library. You see Lt Anderes here -- no longer isolated by any fracture, but still unmoving. Whatever has the Retort in its grip, it has not let her go. She seems to be peering at the fracture to the north, as if contemplating the Primary Lab. Another standard glass chime lies in the middle of the hall. This one is a glass G-flat. The scribble drifts into the room. The scribble slides past the Lieutenant's frozen form. As it does, you hear her voice: "How can I get the stuff out without being seen?" But she has not moved. So Anderes is smuggling and Ctesc is trying to get data beyond his rank. Wonder if the other two are up to no good? >take all glass G-flat chime: Taken. > You make your way to Officer Country. Officer Country It is widely rumored that an ensign walking this far up the hall will instantly combust. You still might, you suppose. The officer's mess is somewhere up there, but a fracture prevents you from going any farther. The senior officers' quarters are east, and the juniors' are west. Captain Hart has vanished. Only a shadow remains within the fracture. The scribble slides into the room behind you. >x shadow through oculus Again, strangely, the oculus renders the shadow in words: "I suspect that the Captain has been fraternizing with an officer under her command. I realize the seriousness of this charge, and I have no direct evidence to offer. However, I am sure that she has been adjusting duty schedules to this end, and to the detriment of the Retort's good conduct. Please look into this. --N" Well, while I'm sure Ensign Jimenez would love to hear about the spicy details of whatever's been going on, I'm more worried that with three or four people doing significant things to the Retort's functionality, they may have been to blame for the dragons breaking. > Scaphe Arcade You are in a pleasant red-brick gallery edged by a row of wooden columns. A heavy steel portal in the west wall is the access to the marcher's exoscaphe. It's currently closed. A valve wheel is mounted next to the portal. The arcade runs north towards an overlook window. There is a corridor to the east. You also see a crawlway hatch in the floor; it's open, but it seems to be flooded. You see the Captain here. She is still frozen stiff -- caught still while peering around the room. You notice a small brass cube lying by a column. The silver scribble skitters into the room. The scribble slides past the Captain's frozen form. As it does, you hear her voice: "How can I clear out that crawlway without alerting anyone?" But she has not moved. >x hart Captain Hart is a burly woman with a clean-shaven head and one gold earring. She is looking around with a discontented air. The hell did you do to collapse the crawlway?! > You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Top Two hallways intersect beneath an elegant vault of brick-red tile, which sweeps around to follow a grand staircase down to the lower levels. The garden is visible to the north. To the west is the ornate door of the Birdhouse, which is closed. The hall to the south is blocked by yet another fracture. The side corridor to the east is much the worse; its far end seems to be on fire. Lt Powes has vanished. Only a shadow remains within the fracture. The silver scribble skitters in. It is slightly distorted in the direction of the engraved door. >x shadow through oculus Again, strangely, the oculus renders the shadow in words: "I am certain that Lt Powes has been covertly compromising alchemical supplies. What is less clear is his motivation. The contaminated reagents are not in Powes' area of oversight, which suggests that he is setting up another officer for blame. Please permit my discretion in investigating this further. --M" >e Burning Hall West This hall runs west to east, from the grand stairs to the high wing. Except the high wing is on fire at the moment. The entire east end of the hall is enveloped in flame. You can't tell what's burning -- the walls? the floor? But the heat is intense; you can't go any further. Lieutenant Powes stands here. His eyes are narrowed, fixed on the flames -- or the door at the far end of the corridor. You have to reassure yourself that he is frozen in place, like the others, and not merely stilled by intense concentration. The scribble slides in along the wall. The scribble slides past the Lieutenant's frozen form. As it does, you hear his voice: "How can I ensure that the blame falls as it should?" But he has not moved. And Powes is trying to get someone fired. Great. I almost miss the Sarge now. >go to earth Which do you mean, the shard of elemental earth or the lodestone of centrality? >elemental The shard of elemental earth is in the Opticks Lab, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Opticks Lab. Opticks Lab This chamber is dedicated to experiments involving rays of light. A solid block of bluestone forms an immense workbench in the center of the room. Whatever mirrors, prisms, and lenses are supposed to be arranged on the bench are there no longer. The equipment lies shattered on the floor -- all just an inextricable heap of broken glass, now. The lab's door stands open to the west. A closet door to the east is closed. To the south is a storage annex. A scrawled sheet lies next to the glass disaster. The scribble silently arrives. >take earth You enchant the lodestone of purity. You use the purity lodestone to recover the elemental earth. > You make your way to the Chymic Lab. Chymic Lab This wide room is dominated by a huge glass retort. You've practiced many chymical rituals in this apparatus. Hanging above the retort is an instructional sign. The lab door to the east is closed. The only other exit is the hatch in the floor, which is open. A supply rack holds four chymic flasks (sand, vinegar, muriatic acid, and mineral oil), neatly lined up. Two papers, a folded sheet and a wrinkled sheet, are lying here. You can also see a dried mushroom, a brass coin, and an impet of citronelle oil here. The scribble drifts in through a wall. >take all dried mushroom: Taken. wrinkled sheet: The paper contains the copper calcination demonstration, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. folded sheet: The paper contains the word of culmination and the word of entension, both of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. brass coin: Taken. impet of citronelle oil: Taken. flask of sand: Taken. flask of vinegar: Taken. flask of muriatic acid: Taken. flask of mineral oil: Taken. Right, let's get that precipitate made. Feel free to watch, scribble. >put vitriolic, orichalcum in retort flask of vitriolic acid: You pour a measure of vitriolic acid into the retort. orichalcum rod: Done. >speak hermetic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Hermetic Sealing. The retort's equator begins to glow pearl-grey around the orichalcum rod and the reservoir of vitriolic acid. >turn on burner You twist the knob. The gas burner hisses, and then bursts into flame. The gas flame heats the vitriolic acid. >wait Time passes. The gas flame heats the vitriolic acid. >wait Time passes. The vitriolic acid bubbles over the flame. >wait Time passes. The orichalcum slowly dissolves into the acid, lending it a lovely sky-blue tint. >speak symmetric You begin reciting the values of the symmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the same as the beginning). The sky-blue acid bubbles over the flame. >put alum in retort You pour a gentle stream of alum into the retort. At first nothing happens; the powder simply dissolves into the sky-blue solution. Then the color begins to darken. You pull back your hand, and watch the solution turn to a clear violet. The violet solution bubbles over the flame. >put earth in retort You drop the shard of elemental earth into the retort. The bound's pearly light ripples. The elemental earth dissolves. The violet solution boils more vigorously, now releasing a thick cloud of steam. Slowly, the solution is reduced, growing darker and more opaque. You coddle the gas valve as it thickens. After several careful moments, you have dried the solution to a purple-grey dust. Excellent. You shut off the heat, and tap the Gaian precipitate from the retort into a fresh vial. >x gaian This vial contains a small quantity of Gaian precipitate -- an impalpable dust in a odd shade of purple-grey. So with this, we can make the lead weight increasing thing. No time like the present.
> You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. The scribble slides in along the wall. >put lead on shelf You put the lead rod on the gestalt shelf. >x lead through lens You peer at the lead rod through the lens, and perceive an association with Saturn. >put flint in bound You put the chip of flint into the pedestal bound. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow slate-blue around the chip of flint. >wave rosemary You wave the sprig, and inhale its fresh, resinous aroma. The air seems to sharpen. >speak essential You intone the word of essential nature. The mineral nature of the chip rises to the surface. >put gaian in bound You empty the vial of Gaian precipitate onto the chip of flint. The purple-grey dust whirls around the pebble for a moment; then the vortex tightens and is absorbed. >speak celestial You begin invoking the Binding of the Celestial Sphere. The sounds seem distant and foreign, but you speak them precisely. The blueish light flares, drawing together the mineral and celestial principles you have assembled. When it fades, a symbol shines on the surface of the chip of flint. Clever work, swabbie. >take all chip of flint: You pick up the chip of flint, careful of its inscribed ponderosity symbol. lead rod: Taken. So if I'm right, it should increase the weight of the object such that it feels as though it was on Saturn. Or something. > You head to the Deck Suite. You take the impet of kelp oil. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the flask of saline. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You brew a bottle of fire-resistance potion. You drink the potion of fire resistance. You reach into the kiln and take the porcelain paten. You take the splinter of elemental wood from the table. You brew a bottle of breath-holding potion. You drink the potion of breath holding. You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. You stash your possessions, swim through the flooded crawlway, unlock the observatory door from the inside, and then retrieve your posessions. You make your way to the Observatory. The breath potion has worn off. You suck in a startling gasp of air. The fire-resistance potion has worn off. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end, but only one of the two is lowered, and that one is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The south-side ladder is folded up under the bridge; its counterweight hangs near the floor. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal with its capsule of elemental water. The scribble silently arrives. It is slightly distorted, stretched upwards. Time to terrify my employers! >touch flint to counterweight You carefully lay the ponderosity symbol against the lead. The symbol flares brightly and transfers to the counterweight. The cable vibrates with sudden strain, and then emits a portentous creak. You jump back just as it snaps. The counterweight, now freed, slams to the floor and lies there like the corpse of Atlas. The shock has evidently been too much for the jammed mechanism. The cable whips up and out of sight; the folded ladder, in reaction, unfolds segment by segment until it reaches the floor. Yaaaaaaaay. >u You climb the ladder. Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. The dragon Aistheta is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed on the dome just overhead. This one, too, looks lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies on the bridge. The scribble slides in along the wall. It doesn't quite stabilize, this time. It seems to be drifting slowly towards the dragon-mandala. Don't really know why Aistheta wasn't visible beforehand, but here it is. And just like Pneuma and Syndesis, it's in a bad shape. >take paper (the partial sheet) You don't recognize the handwriting. "...Chuang argues that the soul exists in an as-yet-undetected medium, a soul-aither as it might be. The echo is then a transitory vibration of this substance. Lacking volition or identity, the vibration is not self-sustaining. Chuang's computation of the characteristic decay time accords with observation..." You memorize the information, and also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. The scribble is drawn towards Aistheta like a bubble to a drain. Whoa, no, bad scribble. Don't touch the dragon. >d You climb down to ground level. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end. One ladder is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The other, thankfully, is now within reach. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal with its capsule of elemental water. The counterweight lies here, looking more massive than usual. The scribble silently arrives. It is slightly distorted, stretched upwards. Still want to get some assessment of Aistheta before we end, but we gotta be mindful that the scribble doesn't do anything weird. >u You climb the ladder. Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. The dragon Aistheta is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed on the dome just overhead. This one, too, looks lifeless and inert. The scribble slides in along the wall. It doesn't quite stabilize, this time. It seems to be drifting slowly towards the dragon-mandala. >x aistheta through oculus The oculus reveals Aistheta as a web of occult relations running throughout the Retort. It doesn't look good. The compass-rule lines throughout the marcher are weak. They are mostly aligned with the architecture, providing your familiar sense of direction. But where the passages twist -- the garden maze, the cracks by the chasm -- the compass lines are snarled and useless. The scribble is drawn towards Aistheta like a bubble to a drain. So Aistheta is not only responsible for external navigation, but internal as well. So if we can't even find our way through the Paper Garden without consuming valuable and limited resources, there's no way in hell we'll even be able to rig this thing to somewhere safe. >d You climb down to ground level. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end. One ladder is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The other, thankfully, is now within reach. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal with its capsule of elemental water. The counterweight lies here, looking more massive than usual. The scribble drifts into the room. It is slightly distorted, stretched upwards. >take weight A team of Hibernian marines couldn't pick up the lead weight right now. So now what? I mean, we didn't let the scribble play with Aistheta, but I don't want to do that with Aistheta or ANY dragon until we're good and sure. Maybe it could help the dragon, or maybe it'd irreversibly destroy it and we'd be lost/dead forever. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned thirty-three rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
One last thing. If we are going to let the scribble do... whatever it intends to do with the dragons, we should decide which dragon it gets to play with. They're all about equally essential to the working of the marcher, if that matters. Next Time: Counter-Gaian precipitate |
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#33
08-24-2015, 04:13 PM
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Now that we have the weight increasing formula, can we rig up a counterweight for the stone hanging off the chasm and get whatever was stuck down there?
Also, I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but could we make multiple silver scribbles by repeating the homunculus ritual? One for each dragon maybe? Not that I'm sure having a conscious entity in charge of your air supply is a good idea. Right HAL? |
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#34
08-25-2015, 04:39 PM
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>w
Exoscaphe The exoscaphe is a vehicle for exploring hostile lands. From the inside, it's more like being in a spherical steel tank. A windowless tank, at that. Presumably there's a better view from the pilot's dome; but the hatch above your head is closed. A circular bench runs around the perimeter, broken only by the dark engine compartment to the west and the exit portal to the east. The portal is open. You see a small emergency lever next to it. A cabinet is fastened to the wall. Its latch is tied shut with a knot of white cord. On the bench are a crumpled sheet and a horn coin. You no longer see the scribble. >close portal You close the heavy steel portal. >drink breath You swallow the clear potion. The liquid burns icily down your throat, and then settles as a cold heaviness in your lungs. Hi, I'm Ensign Forsyth, and this is Jackass. >pull lever You give the lever a quick tug. Air shrieks through the valve, and you feel your ears pop. Gah! You release the lever before the pressure in the exoscaphe can drop further. Suffocating yourself is not on the agenda. (And you can't hold your breath in a vacuum.) Drill! What happens if you try to hold your breath when the air blows out the door? My lungs blow out of my ears, Sarge. Don't you forget it! Dohohohohoh. Okay but really, this update we're just gonna see if we can find and figure out a few loose ends while people decide who they want to pair Chrom the scribble with. Unfortunately, we can't create a second scribble. I guess the invoked Dragon in the ritual was the existing graffiti, which is now gone, and there's no more in the Nave, which is necessary for the ritual.
First, we've had that metal attractor inscription for ages but haven't proper done it yet. Now seems as good a time as any to get that underway, if only to speed up the process for later. > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. The silver scribble skitters in along a wall. >put lead on shelf You put the lead rod on the gestalt shelf. >put b in bound You put the bronze B chime into the pedestal bound. The heavy sensation in your lungs begins to fade. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow slate-blue around the bronze B chime. >put zafranum in bound The slate-blue light ripples as you push through the arc. You strew the zafranum threads around the chime. >ignite zafranum You lack any handy way to set things on fire. The heavy sensation in your lungs is dissipating. >speak unsealing You let the unsealing mantra run through your mind, clearing away the ritual energy. The bound goes dark. Your lungs feel nearly normal again. Blah, forgot the fire. Hang on.
As we were. >take zafranum Taken. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow slate-blue around the bronze B chime. >put zafranum in bound The slate-blue light ripples as you push through the arc. You strew the zafranum threads around the chime. >ignite zafranum (with the flaming phlogisticated gold rod) The zafranum threads flare up and vanish. A puff of pungent yellow smoke rises, and then swirls around the bronze chime. >speak resonant You hum the resonant tone. The bronze B chime vibrates sharply in response. >strike b The bronze B chime rings brightly, as if it were not lying in the bound, but suspended above it. The sound swells to a thrilling intensity, then fades. >speak mediate You raise your voice in the Mediate Anima. The bronze B chime resonates again, this time with a deep vibration that buzzes against the bound's surface. The slate-blue light flares and fades, and you see a symbol gleaming on the surface of the bronze B chime. >take all bronze B chime: You pick up the bronze B chime, careful of its inscribed attraction symbol. lead rod: Taken. The type of chime used determines the metal it can attract, as per musical theory. For our part, though, we only need to attract one metal type. (Besides which, glass chimes shatter when you strike them under this ritual. Not really ideal.) > You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. Chasm Rubble Rubble and fallen rocks litter the ledge here. You can walk north or south alongside the abyss, which waits patiently to the west. But you have an unnerving sense of vertigo. The world seems to sway around you. A particularly massive slab lies at the chasm edge. Half its length rests on solid(-ish) ground; but the far half hangs out over empty space, quite unsupported. You see a bronze chime lying on the far end of the slab. It looks very far away; the idea of crawling out there makes you feel even more unsteady than before. You no longer see the scribble. >strike b The bronze B chime emits a sharp, eager thrum. The bronze F-sharp chime vibrates in response. It rolls across the slab and leaps into your hand. >x f sharp It's a regulation Naval ritual chime -- bronze, F sharp. Hooray, we can get the F sharp chime! That'll let us do... what, glass permeability or something? Still no use without the vacuum survival potion, and we can't make that without the Greater Phlogistical whatever. >reset You make your way back to the Void. Void You drift outside the world again. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way to the Chymic Lab, brew the fungicide, and open the Mechanica Lab door.) Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. To one side, some supplies are lying on a counter: two metal rods (platinum and nickel), an iron bead, and a lump of rock salt. Something glitters on the floor. It looks like a circle of fine glass thread. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the door. But we'll table that for now. Current plan is to do a little bit of experimentation with the lead weight ritual.
Got all we've need. Now then... > You make your way to the Chymic Lab. Chymic Lab This wide room is dominated by a huge glass retort. You've practiced many chymical rituals in this apparatus. Hanging above the retort is an instructional sign. The lab door to the east is closed. The only other exit is the hatch in the floor, which is open. A supply rack holds four chymic flasks (sand, vinegar, muriatic acid, and mineral oil), neatly lined up. Two papers, a folded sheet and a wrinkled sheet, are lying here. You can also see a dried mushroom, a brass coin, and an impet of citronelle oil here. >take all dried mushroom: Taken. wrinkled sheet: The paper contains the copper calcination demonstration, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. folded sheet: The paper contains the word of culmination and the word of entension, both of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. brass coin: Taken. impet of citronelle oil: Taken. flask of sand: Taken. flask of vinegar: Taken. flask of muriatic acid: Taken. flask of mineral oil: Taken. >put vitriolic, orichalcum in retort flask of vitriolic acid: You pour a measure of vitriolic acid into the retort. orichalcum rod: Done. >speak hermetic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Hermetic Sealing. The retort's equator begins to glow pearl-grey around the orichalcum rod and the reservoir of vitriolic acid. >turn on burner You twist the knob. The gas burner hisses, and then bursts into flame. The gas flame heats the vitriolic acid. >wait Time passes. The gas flame heats the vitriolic acid. >wait Time passes. The vitriolic acid bubbles over the flame. >wait Time passes. The orichalcum slowly dissolves into the acid, lending it a lovely sky-blue tint. At this point, we'd speak the symmetric sequence to form Gaian precipitate. But what happens if we flip it turnways? >speak antisymmetric You begin reciting the values of the antisymmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the inverse of the beginning). The sky-blue acid bubbles over the flame. >put alum in retort You pour a gentle stream of alum into the retort. At first nothing happens; the powder simply dissolves into the sky-blue solution. Then the color begins to darken. You pull back your hand, and watch the solution turn to a clear indigo. The indigo solution bubbles over the flame. >put earth in retort You drop the shard of elemental earth into the retort. The bound's pearly light ripples. The elemental earth dissolves. The indigo solution boils more vigorously, now releasing a thick cloud of steam. Slowly, the solution is reduced, growing darker and more opaque. You coddle the gas valve as it thickens. After several careful moments, you have dried the solution to a indigo-blue dust. Excellent. You shut off the heat, and tap the counter-Gaian precipitate from the retort into a fresh vial. >x precipitate This vial contains a small quantity of counter-Gaian precipitate -- an impalpable dust of an improbable indigo-blue shade. Interesting. So if the Gaian precipitate made the inscription increase the weight of lead... > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. On the gestalt shelf is a lead rod. The silvery scribble is visible on the ceiling, where you first saw it. >put flint in bound You put the chip of flint into the pedestal bound. The scribble seems to have changed position slightly. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow slate-blue around the chip of flint. The scribble shifts slowly across the ceiling. >wave rosemary You wave the sprig, and inhale its fresh, resinous aroma. The air seems to sharpen. >speak essential You intone the word of essential nature. The mineral nature of the chip rises to the surface. >put precipitate in bound You empty the vial of counter-Gaian precipitate onto the chip of flint. The indigo-blue dust whirls around the pebble for a moment; then the vortex tightens and is absorbed. >speak celestial You begin invoking the Binding of the Celestial Sphere. The sounds seem distant and foreign, but you speak them precisely. The blueish light flares, drawing together the mineral and celestial principles you have assembled. When it fades, a symbol shines on the surface of the chip of flint. >take all chip of flint: You pick up the chip of flint, careful of its inscribed gossamerity symbol. lead rod: Taken. This should decrease it by roughly the same scale. I bet we could even pick up that counterweight if we were so inclined. But that's not the plan here. > You make your way to the Storage Nook. Storage Nook You are in an awkward nook behind the storeroom's last shelf. The rest of the room is east. You see another hatch in the floor, though it's too small for a person. The cover seems to be solid lead. It is closed. The scribble silently arrives. >touch flint to hatch You carefully lay the gossamerity symbol against the lead. The symbol flares brightly and transfers to the panel. The lead cover somehow looks less massive now. >open hatch The lead cover retains a massy inertia, but you can lift it. The compartment opens in surreal slow motion. You discover a flimsy sheet and a singed sheet inside. Alchemical science triumphs once again! Let's learn stuff. >take all flimsy sheet: This recipe describes a specific solvent. (Which is far more useful than a universal solvent. Universal solvents just destroy your lab and kill you.) "TUCKER'S SOLVENT, which will DISSOLVE ONLY GRANITE: Begin with the Hermetic sealing, and a mixture of muriatic and bamuriatic acids. Add some elemental earth; use a word of anaphylaxis. Add a bit of slate -- this being the symbolic opposite of granite -- and conclude with the Binding of Antipathy." You memorize the instructions, and also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. singed sheet: It's a potion receipt. "THE FIRE-DEVOURER (a potion to extinguish even the greatest conflagration): Prepare a strong fiery environment -- several influences should be combined for this ritual. Place a measure of alcohol into the bound. Begin with a sealing word of passivity to oppose the alcohol's fiery nature. Ignite the beaker with elemental fire; this will provoke combustion despite the passivation. Conclude with the Greater Phlogistical Saturation. The resulting potion is of great strength; one vial, flung into a burning building, often suffices to end the danger." You memorize the instructions, including the Greater Phlogistical Saturation. You also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. Well, that solvent isn't especially useful to us in its normal state. But I bet if we wracked our brains about symbolic opposites, we might come up with a more creative usage. The Fire Devourer is completely awesome and may very well be my favorite item in the game. Naturally, making that will help us get through the Burning Hall without having to leave all our stuff behind. Only issue is getting a strong enough environment. Anyway, one last thing before we leave off: let's go unlock the Barosy. It'll be easy. All we need is the clock tincture.
> You make your way to the Bottom of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Bottom This basement is bare, square, and dank. It has, as far as you are aware, no function whatsoever. (Perhaps every house needs a basement, but the Navy does not stoop to clutter.) The walls are tile; they arch up to join the grand staircase as it ascends to the main levels. The Barosy lies to the east, through a narrow iron gate with a brass lock. An irregular gap in the south wall opens out into a larger, darker space. The chamber has been defaced with more of the illegible black marks. Your eye is drawn to a pale yellow bead lying in a corner. >put tincture in lock You carefully pour the tincture into the keyhole. The dark liquid disappears into the brass lock, leaving no trace... but you hear a series of faint clicks and chimes from within the mechanism. After several moments, the lock emits a satisfying click. According to this universe, the perfect state for a lock is the unlocked state. Discuss this. >e (first opening the iron gate) Barosy This is a long, dim chamber whose walls are immense stone slabs. It's like a burial chamber, but with no smell of decay. There is only a sense of weight and time. The iron gate stands open to the west. You also see a crevice between two slabs to the north; it looks wide enough to wiggle through. The dragon Baros is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the entire end wall of the chamber. This one, too, looks lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies nearby. >take paper You don't recognize the handwriting. "...in the three centuries since Newton and Malamed's first march, the experience of spheric transition has become commonplace. But our theory of the phenomenon remains maddeningly incomplete. The 'echo' is the most familiar mystery: the traces left behind, howsoever briefly, when any entity enters the Higher Spheres..." You memorize the information, and also pick up the sheet. Just in case. >x baros Circles of grey-glimmering runes cover a wall of the Barosy. This is Baros, one of the marcher's four dragons. Baros is responsible for gravity, stability, and orientation within the Retort. Something is wrong, however. By all accounts, the circles of runes should be rotating, eternally reading themselves. The color is wrong too. Baros can't be dead (or you'd be floating off the floor), but it clearly isn't working correctly. >x baros through oculus The oculus reveals Baros as a web of occult relations running throughout the Retort. It doesn't look good. A curved net of gravity lies beneath the entire marcher. It looks patchy and unstable. The crawlway beneath the garden and Barosy is particularly knotted, and the south end of the chasm is oscillating. >x baros through lens You peer at Baros through the lens, but you don't perceive any planetary association at all. It makes sense, you suppose. The dragon is the marcher, and the marcher can never be associated with any single planet. Guess the scribble didn't follow us. Fast travel can be kind of screwy with a few things in the game, namely potion durations and the behaviour of the scribble. But hey, more time to observe Baros, who in complete defiance of all expectations and hypotheses is exactly as screwed up as the other three dragons. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned thirty-seven rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons I will not leave spoilered, because at this point I'm just gonna be straightforward: yes, we need the scribble to contact a dragon, and the one we pick will determine SOMETHING UNKNOWN about the endgame. You could look it up beforehand, but don't spoil it or I'll switch to LPing that game on the 404 error page for Google Chrome. >recall pneuma Pneuma is responsible for light, warmth, and the flow of air. Pneuma is in the Paper Maze Center. Last you saw, something was wrong with it. >recall aistheta Aistheta is responsible for awareness of the Retort's location and environment. Aistheta is in the Aithery. Last you saw, something was wrong with it. >recall baros Baros is responsible for gravity, stability, and orientation within the Retort. Baros is in the Barosy. Last you saw, something was wrong with it. >recall syndesis Syndesis is responsible for the Retort's travel between worlds and its coherence within itself. Syndesis is in the Birdhouse. Last you saw, something was wrong with it. Make a choice and make it stylish, you lot. Next Time: comprehension |
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#36
08-25-2015, 06:22 PM
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I'd say we let the scribble poke Syndesis on the off chance it can fix it. We can't get home without Syn and if the scribble makes things worse, none of the environmental systems get any more hosed up.
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#37
08-27-2015, 02:29 PM
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Cool, I think I managed to put the game in an unwinnable state somehow.
Update today may be slightly delayed for reasons. (Namely, I somehow managed to get the scribble to stay put, so I can't feed Syndesis to it until I figure out how I did that). |
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#38
08-27-2015, 03:33 PM
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NVM FIX'D LOL
> You make your way to the Chymic Lab. Chymic Lab This wide room is dominated by a huge glass retort. You've practiced many chymical rituals in this apparatus. Hanging above the retort is an instructional sign. The lab door to the east is closed. The only other exit is the hatch in the floor, which is open. A supply rack holds two chymic flasks (vinegar and muriatic acid), neatly lined up. Two papers, a folded sheet and a wrinkled sheet, are lying here. You can also see a plain gold rod, a dried mushroom, a brass coin, an impet of citronelle oil, and two chymic flasks (mineral oil and sand) here. >take all plain gold rod: Taken. dried mushroom: Taken. wrinkled sheet: The paper contains the copper calcination demonstration, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. folded sheet: The paper contains the word of culmination and the word of entension, both of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. brass coin: Taken. impet of citronelle oil: Taken. flask of mineral oil: Taken. flask of sand: Taken. flask of vinegar: Taken. flask of muriatic acid: Taken. Today, two things. I want to get the vacuum-protection potion working and put it to use, AND I want to put the scribble to use as well by making it eat Syndesis. I mean, if it fails, we're no more screwed than we already were, right? We'd just be trapped in a room with no exits. Or worse. >x chime You can't see any such thing. >recall f sharp You have not been there yet, but you presume the bronze F-sharp chime is waiting within the slab (at the Chasm Rubble). > You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. Chasm Rubble Rubble and fallen rocks litter the ledge here. You can walk north or south alongside the abyss, which waits patiently to the west. But you have an unnerving sense of vertigo. The world seems to sway around you. A particularly massive slab lies at the chasm edge. Half its length rests on solid(-ish) ground; but the far half hangs out over empty space, quite unsupported. You see a bronze chime lying on the far end of the slab. It looks very far away; the idea of crawling out there makes you feel even more unsteady than before. >take chime You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. You set aside your possessions for a moment and dive for the bronze B chime. You make your way to the Herbarium Nook. You take the pinch of zafranum. You make your way to the Nave. You take the torch-lighter. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the lead rod from the rack. You conjure an attraction symbol onto the bronze B chime. You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. You use the B chime to attract the bronze F-sharp chime. > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. The silvery scribble is visible on the ceiling, where you first saw it. You can also see a measuring block, a splinter of elemental wood, a porcelain paten, an impet of kelp oil, and two chymic flasks (alum and saline) here. >take all measuring block: Taken. splinter of elemental wood: Taken. porcelain paten: You pick up the porcelain paten. impet of kelp oil: Taken. flask of alum: Taken. flask of saline: Taken. The scribble seems to have changed position slightly. The first step for this is the glass permeability ritual. At present, our only access to vacuum areas have windows blocking them off, and while the airlock is nonfunctional thanks to Pneuma being mostly dead, we can bypass it with this ritual. >x brass coin through lens You peer at the brass coin through the lens, and perceive an association with the Sun. The scribble shifts slowly across the ceiling. >put coin on shelf You put the brass coin on the gestalt shelf. >put f sharp in bound You put the bronze F-sharp chime into the pedestal bound. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow yellow around the bronze F-sharp chime. >put sand on f You carefully sprinkle sand over the bronze F-sharp chime. Each grain falls with its own tiny note. >speak resonant You hum the resonant tone. The bronze F-sharp chime vibrates sharply in response. >strike chime The bronze F-sharp chime rings brightly, as if it were not lying in the bound, but suspended above it. The sound swells to a thrilling intensity, then fades. >speak relative You raise your voice in the Relative Anima. The bronze F-sharp chime resonates again, this time with a deep vibration that buzzes against the bound's surface. The yellow light flares and fades, and you see a symbol gleaming on the surface of the bronze F-sharp chime. >take all bronze F-sharp chime: You pick up the bronze F-sharp chime, careful of its inscribed permeability symbol. brass coin: Taken. Nice. The next step, naturally, is the potion itself. >recall highlime You have not been there yet, but you presume the vial of highlime is waiting in the Nave Crawlway. >sw You twist yourself through the crack. Nave Crawlway This was once the north end of a crawlway, but the passage has collapsed, leaving only this small space. Debris is heaped up to the south. Light slants in from a gap in the ceiling. You see a vial of white powder lying in the rubble. It's labelled "highlime". >take (the vial of highlime) Taken. >ne You pull yourself back out into open air. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. The silvery scribble is visible on the ceiling, where you first saw it. >put paten on shelf You put the porcelain paten on the gestalt shelf. >recall saline You're holding the flask of saline. >put saline in bound You locate a beaker in the clutter, pour a measure of saline into it, and place it within the pedestal bound. >speak phlegmatic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the phlegmatic sealing word. The arc begins to glow golden around the beaker of saline. >put highlime in bound You empty the vial of highlime into the beaker. The powder slowly dissolves. >speak anodyne You begin the Anodyne Evocation. The rhythm beats in your chest and blood. The liquid in the beaker shivers and begins to effervesce. >speak greater You begin the Greater Phlogistical Saturation. The tonal vowels and labial stops require all your concentration, but you manage to hold them in place. The bubbling of the solution increases to a rolling boil, and then ceases abruptly. The bound fades. You lift the beaker and gently decant the clear potion into a fresh bottle. >x potion Drinking this clear potion will protect your flesh and blood from the ruinous effects of the airless void. The effect should last for some hours. The effect of this one is a lot longer than either of the other potions we've drunk. Effectively, drinking this means you can explore the Hadean Lands for the duration of that reset. >take all porcelain paten: You pick up the porcelain paten. >drink potion You swallow the clear potion. The liquid feels waxy and thick in your mouth. After a moment, your skin itches furiously, all over -- but only for a few seconds. >n Portico You stand in the foyer of the marcher. It's wide and comfortably appointed, with lounging seats and potted tropical ferns. The Retort likes to look its best for visitors. The main doors to the north are closed, however. A broad window in the east wall reveals the reason: the world outside is a Hadean land, grey and lifeless. The Nave is south, and a narrow dark doorway opens to the west. The scribble arrives a moment later. >strike chime You tap the bronze F-sharp chime. Its bright resonances fill the room -- and then shift to a steady, sustained hum. >touch chime to glass Which do you mean, the window, the planetary lens, or the resonant oculus? >window You press the chime against the window. The glass vibrates, and the bronze sinks slowly into it -- not like metal into tar, but like a knife sliding between infinitesimal layers of glass. When you draw your hand away, the chime remains suspended in the glass. Its vibration continues at a steady pitch. >e You press your fingers against the glass. You feel a steady vibration... and a yielding, as the glass slides through your flesh. It's rather unnerving, and you push the rest of your body through as quickly as possible. The vacuum plucks at your clothing for a moment, but the only other sensation is a nagging dryness in your sinuses. Very strange. Unfortunately, your possessions do not fare so well. In the vacuum, three chymic flasks boil away. Hadean Plain You stand at the edge of a Hadean land now. Grey lifeless dust crunches soundlessly beneath your feet. The sky is black; the stars are glorious. And you have no more protection than the potion you drank. Behind you are the comforting walls of the Retort. The airlock is a heavy circular door in the south wall; it is closed. To the west, you can see the broad window of the portico. But to the north and east, the Hadean plain stretches away towards jagged foothills. Your first Venture walk. You're a real marchman now, aren't you, swabbie? You no longer see the scribble. Now this we aren't used to at all. I'd have figured we'd be in a slightly less... alone? setting. Like, with Ensign Jimenez cracking jokes besides us in the few seconds we could avoid the notice of the Sarge. This is just... I really don't feel like I'm supposed to be here at all. >ne You hike up towards the pass. Your feet kick up dust which falls behind you, never trailing in the nonexistent air. Hadean Land, in Canyon You are working your way through a narrow canyon. Angular grey mountains loom above you, and stars shine down on it all. The canyon zig-zags down to the southwest. To the southeast, it slopes more gradually, opening onto another dusty plain. A twisted metal shape is visible across the plain, but you cannot tell what it is. You also see an opening in the canyon wall to the northwest. It might be some sort of cave, but if so, it is very dark. >se You continue down out of the crags. The shape grows as you approach, becoming a twisted metal hill by the time you reach its foot. Hadean Land, at Wreck You stand at the foot of a wall of metal. It's not a simple construction; it leans inward here, outward there, tracing an irregular shape that looms over the dusty plain. Perhaps it's broken, for debris is scattered around. Mountains rise all around, forming a jagged grey bowl which cups the metal wreck. You can see the canyon pass to the northwest. A hexagonal outline on the wall, to the east, might be a door. If so, it is closed. A small black knot, a tangle of strokes, is drawn on the hexagon. Next to the hexagon, a small circular arc is incised into the metal. A small puddle of mercury gleams in the dust. So... what was this? Another marcher? Was this the Cold Crucible? No, that was supposed to be lost in a Thalassan land. >take mercury You glance around for a container, and settle on a broken saucer-shaped bit of ceramic. You gently scoop up the mercury droplet. >x knot The knot of script is no more comprehensible than the markings you've seen on the Retort. Except that there's something about it... again, that itch of familiarity. You stare harder. It's... comprehension That meant something. You don't know what, except that you're lying flat in the dust and you can't remember falling. The hexagon is blank now; the script is... somewhere in the back of your head... You can remember the glyph now. You roll over and push to your feet, hoping that you've gained something besides permanent brain damage. >recall glyph The glyph is a multidimensional structure -- a surface which is curved back on itself, but with no edges. The glyph burns in your memory like something startling you have always known. I'm almost surprised, but frankly I'm glad that didn't just kill me. >speak glyph You have no idea how it's pronounced, but you visualize the alien glyph as clearly as possible. Nothing seems to result, however. Well it's not killing me, so small mercies. > You push through the glass. You make your way to the Portico. Portico You stand in the foyer of the marcher. It's wide and comfortably appointed, with lounging seats and potted tropical ferns. The Retort likes to look its best for visitors. The main doors to the north are closed, however. A broad window in the east wall reveals the reason: the world outside is a Hadean land, grey and lifeless. The F-sharp chime is embedded in the window. The Nave is south, and a narrow dark doorway opens to the west. The scribble slides into the room behind you. The sound of the bronze F-sharp chime continues. So the other area we can explore with this is the exoscaphe bay, so let's do that. >take chime The chime goes dead as you pull it from the glass, and its symbol dissipates. >perform glass permeability You conjure a permeability symbol onto the bronze F-sharp chime. (You are now in the Nave.) The scribble slides in along the wall. > North Arcade This is the north end of the gallery. A long window in the west wall overlooks the exoscaphe bay. You can see the 'scaphe itself on the other side, hooked up to the portal you saw back south. To the north is a massive door of pale marble, outrageously carved. The door is closed. Perhaps the door has suffered some damage. A chip of white marble is lying loose on the floor nearby. The scribble arrives a moment later. >strike chime You tap the bronze F-sharp chime. Its bright resonances fill the room -- and then shift to a steady, sustained hum. >touch chime to window You press the chime against the window. The glass vibrates, and the bronze sinks slowly into it -- not like metal into tar, but like a knife sliding between infinitesimal layers of glass. When you draw your hand away, the chime remains suspended in the glass. Its vibration continues at a steady pitch. >w You press your fingers against the glass. You feel a steady vibration... and a yielding, as the glass slides through your flesh. It's rather unnerving, and you push the rest of your body through as quickly as possible. The vacuum plucks at your clothing for a moment. Exoscaphe Bay You are in a wide brick hall, or perhaps an indoor courtyard. It is unfurnished and undecorated -- not meant for human occupation. It was built to house the steel bulk of the exoscaphe, which vehicle occupies most of its floor space. The west wall is dominated by enormous steel doors, wide enough for the 'scaphe to trundle out on its missions. The doors are currently closed. A much smaller (and darker) doorway is visible to the north. A long window on the east wall provides a view of the arcade. Fallen bits of brick vaulting lie everywhere. Stars shine in through a jagged gap in the roof, and the dead silence of airlessness fills the hall. A brittle sheet of paper lies on the ground near the window. You no longer see the scribble. >take (the brittle sheet) The sheet is somewhat fragile after its exposure to vacuum. It carries an alchemical formula of the Oriental tradition. The Name of the Tortoise is an elemental invocation of water. (Everyone knows that there are five elements in China, not four, but this is the first time you've seen one spelled out.) You memorize the information, including the Name of the Tortoise. You also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. Hm, not much here, but we can almost perform the variant of the aura imitation inscription. I think we could perform the original as well, but either way. >x exoscaphe The exoscaphe looks like a monstrous steel tortoise on rolling treads. It's parked on the east side of the bay, aligned with its portal, but in fact its bulk fills most of the hall. The 'scaphe has been seriously dented by falling brick. The glass dome on top is definitely cracked. >e You slide back through the vibrating glass. North Arcade This is the north end of the gallery. A long window in the west wall overlooks the exoscaphe bay. You can see the 'scaphe itself on the other side, hooked up to the portal you saw back south. To the north is a massive door of pale marble, outrageously carved. The door is closed. Perhaps the door has suffered some damage. A chip of white marble is lying loose on the floor nearby. The scribble drifts into the room. The sound of the bronze F-sharp chime continues. >reset You make your way back to the Void. Void You drift outside the world again. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way to the Chymic Lab, brew the fungicide, and open the Mechanica Lab door.) Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. To one side, some supplies are lying on a counter: two metal rods (platinum and nickel), an iron bead, and a lump of rock salt. Something glitters on the floor. It looks like a circle of fine glass thread. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the door. So one last thing for today. We're going to go get Syndesis and the scribble to meet up over coffee and discuss how much they enjoy Steven Universe. This is the point at which I managed to temporarily get the game stuck. The details are below for the duration of the transcript, if you care, but honestly you probably don't.
What a mess, huh. Well, in the end, I made a save, restored an older save (from before we encountered Baros), and then restored the initial save, which apparently cleared everything up. Weird, but eh. >w Birdhouse The Birdhouse is a circular chamber with no roof. It's not open to the sky; it just goes up forever. The door to the east is open. You also see a cracked flagstone with a gap leading to a crawlspace below. The name comes from a ring of metal pylons that take up the center of the room. You can see the fanciful resemblance to a birdcage, although they don't imprison anything. The dragon Syndesis is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the curving wall. This one, too, looks lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies to one side. The scribble drifts into the room. It doesn't quite stabilize, this time. It seems to be drifting slowly towards the dragon-mandala. Anyway, now we're going to see what happens when our scribble buddy meets a dragon. >wait Time passes. The scribble is drawn towards Syndesis like a bubble to a drain. >wait Time passes. The scribble spirals around Syndesis -- inward -- inward -- The mandala flares with violet-red light, and it is blinding. You hear the aroma of copal incense; smell the texture of shattering glass. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Hm? That wasn't there before. Well, whatever that did, the scribble isn't here anymore. But we're not trapped in a room with no exits, and just like when we created the scribble, some new information's come up. >take all fresh sheet: The paper appears freshly written, but you don't recognize the script. "It is now clear that the ritual must be performed in the Chancel. I had hoped -- foolishly -- that the Nave bound was sufficient; but my attempts there have provoked no reaction from the Retort at all. I suppose that, in attempting to reanimate the dragons, I am in a sense re-enacting the marcher's original investment. I must therefore maximize the sympathy with the Chancel rituals. "I am not sure whether I can break through the security strictures, but I will have to try. If I fail, then -- whoever finds this -- you will have to try harder..." The Dracon Invocation is spelled out below. You memorize the information, including the Dracon Invocation. You also pick up the sheet. Just in case. The Chancel, huh? That'd be past the inferno and the obsidian door. But first things first. Last time we changed something after a reset, everybody moved around, so let's go track them down. And I want to make sure we didn't destroy Syndesis outright. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned thirty-seven rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
Next Time: Radix Access Glyph |
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#39
08-28-2015, 05:08 PM
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>go to anderes
You make your way to the Lab Wing Hallway. Lab Wing Hallway This hallway runs east and west. To the west, beyond an open fire door, is the rest of the Retort. A smaller door to the north leads to the Primary Alchemy Lab; it is also open, but blocked by another fracture. An archway to the south leads to the Library. Lt Anderes has vanished. Only a shadow remains. Another standard glass chime lies in the middle of the hall. This one is a glass G-flat. That's odd. Where did Lt Anderes go? >x shadow through oculus Again, strangely, the oculus renders the shadow in words: "I must bring to your attention certain discrepancies in the storage records. Significant quantities of reagents have vanished -- always those rare and most dearly sold on the black markets at home. The records have been skillfully obscured, but the evidence implicates Lt Anderes." So the shadows are unchanged in content but the people have moved. Thankfully I remember their locations pretty well from my last game, so. >s Library This library serves the laboratory wing. You haven't spent much time here -- the trainees have their own study room -- but you have often admired the rows of fat musty tomes on their elegantly-carved shelves. The archway is north. You see Ensign Ctesc standing here. His normally placid face is sharpened into expression of feverish avarice. Two papers, a neat sheet and an untidy sheet, lie unregarded on the floor. You notice a rotor card sticking out from between two books. There he is... hang on. >x ctesc Your perspective shifts. Ensign Ctesc looks toward the books. Clearly he has snuck in here without permission. You can understand that, even if he has bent the edges of the rules. You too are on the Retort for knowledge. Weird. And if we don't look specifically at him... >l Library This library serves the laboratory wing. You haven't spent much time here -- the trainees have their own study room -- but you have often admired the rows of fat musty tomes on their elegantly-carved shelves. The archway is north. You see Ensign Ctesc standing here. His normally placid face is illuminated by eagerness -- an intensity that he does not show to others. Two papers, a neat sheet and an untidy sheet, lie unregarded on the floor. You notice a rotor card sticking out from between two books. So I guess we can change how Forsyth sees him, by examining him. >x ctesc Your perspective shifts. Ensign Ctesc looks toward the books. Clearly he has snuck in here without permission. You sense that his desire for knowledge has outstripped his wisdom; he has set foot on some unseen path to self-harm. Gonna toggle everyone twice just so you get an idea of what to expect. Meanwhile, feel free to chime in with your own stances on what they're doing. > You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. You see Lt Anderes here. She is peering at the shelves, her face pinched with greed. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. To one side, some supplies are lying on a counter: two metal rods (platinum and nickel), an iron bead, and a lump of rock salt. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the door. >x anderes Your perspective shifts. Anderes looks toward the shelves. They are her responsibility, of course. She may have been keeping an hand in towards her own needs; but then, haven't you been taking a free hand with ship's supplies yourself, recently? >l Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. You see Lt Anderes here. She is scowling at the shelves -- although, as you recall, she scowls at everything. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. To one side, some supplies are lying on a counter: two metal rods (platinum and nickel), an iron bead, and a lump of rock salt. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the door. >x anderes Your perspective shifts. Anderes looks toward the shelves. They are her responsibility, of course. But you sense that she has begun viewing them as her possessions, which is quite a different thing. Like our choice in dragon, our perspective on each of the four people affects SOMETHING UNKNOWN about the endgame. > You make your way to the Lab Hall Northeast. Lab Hall Northeast This is the northeast corner of the laboratory hallway, which runs south and west. The lab stairwell opens to the southwest, but a fracture prevents entry. The Tertiary Lab is to the east; its door is closed. The Pyrics Lab door to the north is open. The Captain is standing here, gazing moodily off down the hall. The crack in her martial facade is disturbing, and faintly disappointing. >x hart Your perspective shifts. The idea of Captain Hart being moody is nigh-incomprehensible. But you suppose that even a marcher captain can have a human side. Good for her. >l Lab Hall Northeast This is the northeast corner of the laboratory hallway, which runs south and west. The lab stairwell opens to the southwest, but a fracture prevents entry. The Tertiary Lab is to the east; its door is closed. The Pyrics Lab door to the north is open. The Captain is standing here, gazing moodily off down the hall. She looks nearly human like this; it's rather charming. >x hart Your perspective shifts. The idea of Captain Hart being moody is nigh-incomprehensible. You suppose that even a marcher captain can have a human side. But it would be irresponsible of her to let it affect the marcher, of course. >n Pyrics Lab Waves of heat fill this room, radiating from a massive brick kiln and the roaring gas burners that fire it. The lab door to the south is open. A storage area lies to the east. You see Lt Powes crouched over a shelf. His expression is shifty; whatever he is doing, he fears discovery. Within the kiln, half-obscured by rippling heat, you can see a porcelain paten. A table at the other end of the room supports a glass vapor crock. The crock is open and empty. You also see a jar of cedar splints on the table. Next to this are six splints of assorted woods: swamp pith, green linden, blackwood, winter-oak, maple, and elemental wood. >x powes Your perspective shifts. Lt Powes is searching a shelf of supplies, although he has not yet found his goal. His aim is clearly covert, but you sense that his target -- whoever that is -- deserves his ire. >l Pyrics Lab Waves of heat fill this room, radiating from a massive brick kiln and the roaring gas burners that fire it. The lab door to the south is open. A storage area lies to the east. You see Lt Powes crouched over a shelf. His expression is wary, but intent; whatever he is doing, he has no doubts of his aim. Within the kiln, half-obscured by rippling heat, you can see a porcelain paten. A table at the other end of the room supports a glass vapor crock. The crock is open and empty. You also see a jar of cedar splints on the table. Next to this are six splints of assorted woods: swamp pith, green linden, blackwood, winter-oak, maple, and elemental wood. >x powes Your perspective shifts. Lt Powes is searching a shelf of supplies, although he has not yet found his goal. His aim is clearly covert, and you feel a flash of sympathy for his target -- whoever that is. Enough of that. Last time, we may have suffered a very minor case of severe brain damage. > You make your way to the Lab Hall Northwest. Lab Hall Northwest The laboratory hallway runs east and south from this junction. Another corridor runs west, towards the rest of the marcher. To the north, the door to the Main Store is open. Graffiti has been scrawled on the wall here. The black marks are curiously twisted; they hint at meaning, but... wait. LET'S MAKE IT WORSE >x graffiti Twisting, involuted strokes of black are scrawled across one wall. You stare at the black script. It's definitely familiar now; something like an echo in the back of your mind. It's something about the root, the entry point, gaining entry... Comprehension blasts you. You gasp and clutch at your head, but the pain is entirely metaphorical, a shift of context worse than any headache... The black marks represent a sequence of geometrical transformations. They mean radix access, the passage of the root. You stare at them, blinking tears from your eyes, until you have them memorized. That was one. And there was one other bit of graffiti on the ship, right? > You make your way to the Bottom of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Bottom This basement is bare, square, and dank. It has, as far as you are aware, no function whatsoever. (Perhaps every house needs a basement, but the Navy does not stoop to clutter.) The walls are tile; they arch up to join the grand staircase as it ascends to the main levels. The Barosy lies to the east, through a narrow iron gate with a brass lock. An irregular gap in the south wall opens out into a larger, darker space. The chamber has been defaced with more of the involuted black marks. They hint at meaning, but... wait. Your eye is drawn to a pale yellow bead lying in a corner. >x graffiti Twisting, involuted strokes of black are scrawled across one wall. You stare at the black script. It's definitely familiar now; something like an echo in the back of your mind. It's something about a vibrating film of quicksilver... The pain of comprehension is less severe now, but it still nearly drives you to your knees. The black marks describe the activation of machinery. The mechanism of command is a circular mark on a wall -- like the one you saw outside the Retort; but the circle in your mind is filled, or covered, with liquid metal. One concentrates on a sequence of geometric transforms, and the metal resonates in response. Huh. So if we put the mercury in the weird arc out at the wreck, we can work with it, apparently? Good to know. But we'll do that later. For now, I want to check on Syndesis. > You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the long quartz prism from the storage bin. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of muriatic acid from the rack. You make your way to the Main Store. You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You take the orichalcum rod from the safe. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of copper percalcinate. You take the flask of mineral oil from the rack. You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You take the nickel rod from the counter. You draw the nickel rod out into wire. You head to the Materials Store. You make your way to the Storage Nook. You take the rutilum Alchemy File seal. You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the phlogisticated gold rod from the cabinet. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You take the splinter of blackwood from the table. You take the splinter of winter-oak from the table. You ignite the blackwood splint from the winter-oak. You place the phlogisticated gold in the vapor crock with camphrost, and ignite them with the blackwood splint. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of sublime spirit. You make your way to the Study Room. You take the Chinese amulet. You conjure an invisibility symbol onto the long quartz prism. You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. You apply the invisibility symbol to yourself and open the door. You make your way to the Birdhouse. Birdhouse The Birdhouse is a circular chamber with no roof. It's not open to the sky; it just goes up forever. The door to the east is open. You also see a cracked flagstone with a gap leading to a crawlspace below. The name comes from a ring of metal pylons that take up the center of the room. You can see the fanciful resemblance to a birdcage, although they don't imprison anything. The dragon Syndesis is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the curving wall. The circles rotate majestically, shining with violet-red radiance. The dragon has wakened! The presence of the the scribble must have... you do not know what, but something occurred in that moment. A fragment of paper lies to one side. It's alive! IT'S ALIVE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA >x syndesis Orbiting circles of violet-red runes hang on the Birdhouse wall. This is Syndesis, one of the marcher's four dragons. Syndesis is responsible for the Retort's travel between worlds and its coherence within itself. >x syndesis through oculus The oculus reveals Syndesis as a web of occult relations running throughout the Retort. It looks healthy now. The architecture of the marcher is still somewhat fractured. But you can see patches covering the worst holes -- by the secondary alchemy lab, the chymic lab, the opticks lab, and the deck suite. So, for all intents and purposed, we appear to have completely revived Syndesis. Granted, that doesn't mean we fixed whatever rendered it inert in the first place, but baby steps. There shouldn't be any portals to hostile lands scattered throughout the marcher, at least. So that unlocks two new areas for us... > You make your way to the Deck Suite. Deck Suite This looks like a comfortable place to drink tea. It must be a lounge set aside for the deck officers -- the three important enough to rate private staterooms. The Aithery door (east) and the Alchemy door (south) are both closed. The Venture door to the north is open; it appears to be a normal door now. Ensign Ctesc has vanished. Only a shadow remains. A locked cabinet hangs on the wall. You notice another aromatic impet nearby. It's labelled "kelp". >n Master-at-Arms Quarters You know little about the Retort's Master-at-Arms, and this stateroom reveals little more. She must spend a bare minimum of off-duty hours here, in between bruising drill sessions and management of the combat alchemies. Lying by the bunk is a key. It appears to be made of delicately-chipped flint. Thus it must be the key to the Barosy gate -- but what the Master-at-Arms was doing with the Barosy key, you have no idea. Cool, so now we don't have to use the clock tincture to get into the Barosy! That's one bit of help, then. >take (the flint key) Taken. > You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. Secondary Alchemy Lab The lab is unsettlingly dim, but familiar enough: rough wooden walls, the broad stone surface of the workbench. The lab door is to the north; it's open, and the lab hall is reassuringly visible outside. Some kind of fracture blocks the east side of the room from you. On a side table, you see a sheet of instructions, two impets of essential oil (peppermint and ginger), a pair of tarnished calipers, and a brass pin. Next to the table, an iron panel stands open; you can see a crawlway below. You can also see a sprig of rosemary here. >n Lab Hall Southeast The laboratory hallway runs north and west from this corner. The Secondary Lab, where you awoke, is to the south; its door is open. The door to the Opticks Lab is closed to the east. Unfortunately the fractures in the secondary lab were pretty bad. I like how we got caught between two when we woke up and somehow didn't end up like Lieutenant Anderes. > You make your way to the Opticks Lab. Opticks Lab This chamber is dedicated to experiments involving rays of light. A solid block of bluestone forms an immense workbench in the center of the room. Whatever mirrors, prisms, and lenses are supposed to be arranged on the bench are there no longer. The equipment lies shattered on the floor -- all just an inextricable heap of broken glass, now. The lab's door stands open to the west. A closet door to the east is open, revealing a closet. To the south is a storage annex. A scrawled sheet lies next to the glass disaster. >e Opticks Closet This closet is sometimes used for storage, but the whims of marcher scheduling have left it empty at the moment. In one dusty corner you notice a fist-sized glass bubble, which is rather dusty itself. >take (the dusty bubble) Taken. Well that's disappointing. Still, this means that when we go to the Medical Wing to get the elemental air, we can bring two doses. Not that this is immediately useful, but hey. > You make your way to the Bottom of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Bottom This basement is bare, square, and dank. It has, as far as you are aware, no function whatsoever. (Perhaps every house needs a basement, but the Navy does not stoop to clutter.) The walls are tile; they arch up to join the grand staircase as it ascends to the main levels. The Barosy lies to the east, through a narrow iron gate with a brass lock. An irregular gap in the south wall opens out into a larger, darker space. The chamber has been defaced with more of the involuted black marks. Something about a circle filled with liquid metal. Your eye is drawn to a pale yellow bead lying in a corner. >open lock with key Which do you mean, the flint key or the thick key? >flint The flint key unlocks the gate's brass lock with a complicated-sounding cha-lunk. >e (first opening the iron gate) Barosy This is a long, dim chamber whose walls are immense stone slabs. It's like a burial chamber, but with no smell of decay. There is only a sense of weight and time. The iron gate stands open to the west. You also see a crevice between two slabs to the north; it looks wide enough to wiggle through. The dragon Baros is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the entire end wall of the chamber. They still look lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies nearby. >x baros through oculus The oculus reveals Baros as a web of occult relations running throughout the Retort. It doesn't look good. A curved net of gravity lies beneath the entire marcher. It looks patchy and unstable. The crawlway beneath the garden and Barosy is particularly knotted, and the south end of the chasm is oscillating. And Baros is still inactive. Shame we can't really do the Great Marriage again. And WHY did they not give this clearly-essential ritual a better name? But I'm sidetracking myself. Let's open up that weird alien wreck and see what we can find, eh?
>se You continue down out of the crags. The shape grows as you approach, becoming a twisted metal hill by the time you reach its foot. Hadean Land, at Wreck You stand at the foot of a wall of metal. It's not a simple construction; it leans inward here, outward there, tracing an irregular shape that looms over the dusty plain. Perhaps it's broken, for debris is scattered around. Mountains rise all around, forming a jagged grey bowl which cups the metal wreck. You can see the canyon pass to the northwest. A hexagonal outline on the wall, to the east, might be a door. If so, it is closed. Next to the hexagon, a small circular arc is incised into the metal. A small puddle of mercury gleams in the dust. >take mercury You glance around for a container, and settle on a broken saucer-shaped bit of ceramic. You gently scoop up the mercury droplet. >put mercury in arc You tilt the mercury droplet against the circle. It sticks to the metal, and slowly spreads out until it reaches the edge. There is now a perfect circle of quicksilver, mirror-flat, clinging to the wall. >speak radix You begin running through the radix access geometric sequence in your head. The quicksilver circle vibrates in response; complex ripples refract across it. When the sequence is complete, a metal panel neatly and silently rotates, hiding the quicksilver circle from view. Instead, a small niche is now visible, containing a vial of black oil and another knot of marks. >x marks You glare at the knot, willing understanding. comprehension This symbol resembles the first, but it comes with a new image: the black oil, magnetic oil, flowing over indigo stone. An indigo stone column. A familiar column, in a twisty maze of underground cracks! It must have magnetic properties, which the alien oil will respond to. >x oil This elongated vial contains an opaque black oily substance, which seems to quiver of its own accord. Something in the back of your mind tells you that it is polar, like a liquid magnet. >take all vial of polar oil: Taken. Okay cool. Take the ferrofluid down to... > You push through the glass. You make your way to the Confusing Cracks. Confusing Cracks You are lost in a maze of claustrophic cracks. You've stopped in a fairly wide space, but planes of basalt close in all around you. You could crawl in any imaginable direction; the largest passage heads back west. In the center of this space is a thick column of stone, colored an eye-catching indigo. It runs from floor to ceiling. A chip of basalt lies here. It must have cracked loose from the walls. This thing! And if we pour it on... >put oil on column You splash the black oil onto the column. It drips... upward. The fluid flows up the violet stone, clinging in fine inky trails. The marks slowly resolve into the familiar (if you can call it that) alien script, which spirals up the column. The strokes spread across the roof and disappear into a gap to the southeast -- a passage you had not noticed until now. >x marks A trail of black alien script curls up the column, across the roof, and into a half-hidden passage above you and to the southeast. The marks have meaning now, but you can only see the beginning of the passage. Weird. I don't even think we'd have found this with Aistheta active. >se You follow the trail of script. Dead End Passage The passage ends here. You can return to the northwest. The trail of black marks ends here as well, swirling back on itself across the ceiling. The marks hint at meaning, but... wait. >x marks Twisting black strokes curve up the passage and wrap themselves into an obscure mandala around the ceiling of the dead end. You concentrate on the black script, fishing for the echo of meaning. Something about the core... travel to the center, or from the center... Understanding hits like a migraine. You memorize caudex access, the passage of the spine -- another sequence of geometric transformations. So that's probably another command we can use at the wreck, but that'll be after a reset on account of the existing radix command. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned thirty-seven rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
Once again, I'd like you to all chip in on your perspectives with the mishaps of the four crewmembers we've encountered if you can. We are actually getting right up in the endgame's business, as that dragon reanimation attempt from last time and our exploration into the Hadean land proper have indicated. So no pressure! Next Time: Aura Imitation |
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#41
08-31-2015, 01:22 PM
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>create bamuriatic
You head to the Under Ward. You take the flask of vitriolic acid. You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the fluorspar crystal from the storage bin. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the flask of saline. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of bamuriatic acid. (You are now in the Chymic Lab.) >take all flask of saline: Taken. flask of vitriolic acid: Taken. flask of mineral oil: Taken. plain gold rod: Taken. flask of muriatic acid: Taken. dried mushroom: Taken. wrinkled sheet: The paper contains the copper calcination demonstration, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. folded sheet: The paper contains the word of culmination and the word of entension, both of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. impet of citronelle oil: Taken. flask of vinegar: Taken. So Mogri wanted me to dissolve some slate, but uh... there isn't any. Like, on the entire marcher. And literally the only bit of granite I've seen is that one chip, so making a slate solvent wouldn't help either. >recall periodic "We are familiar with earth as a pure element in the Greek system. However, minerals need not be considered as imperfect approximations of a Platonic ideal; each has an alchemical structure, and we may discern relations between them. Thus, marble and obsidian are opposites -- white versus black, crystalline versus glassy, pelagic versus volcanic. Soapstone and basalt are another light-dark pair. Other opposing pairs rely on different relations. Chalk and flint are found together, but with different qualities. Granite and slate are formed by opposing geologic processes; so too sandstone and malachite. Porphyry and quartz are an interesting case..." But we HAVE seen two massive locked doors composed solely of marble and obsidian respectively. Unfortunately, we've consumed the elemental fire this reset, and I doubt the solvent would survive the trip into the inferno, so we're gonna make the marble solvent first. >go to obsidian The chip of obsidian is in the Materials Store, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Materials Store. Materials Store You are in a small storage area. The Mechanica Lab is back to the east. To one side stands a heavy table, upon which is another ritual bound. This one is adjustable; it is currently empty. There's another cabinet here. It is open but empty. An untidy storage bin contains three stone chips (obsidian, granite, and sandstone), a moon-metal rod, and a broad quartz prism. A crumpled recipe sheet is lying by the ritual bound. Someone has dropped a standard glass chime, the sort used in musical rituals. It's marked as being in the key of H. You can also see a rutilum Alchemy File seal here. >take all rutilum Alchemy File seal: Taken. crumpled sheet: The paper contains the universal tarnish cleansing inscription (with the brass pin), the catalytic environment, and the categorical imperative, all of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. glass H chime: Taken. chip of obsidian: Taken. chip of granite: Taken. chip of sandstone: Taken. moon-metal rod: Taken. broad quartz prism: Taken. >go to earth shard The shard of elemental earth is in the Opticks Lab, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Opticks Lab. Opticks Lab This chamber is dedicated to experiments involving rays of light. A solid block of bluestone forms an immense workbench in the center of the room. Whatever mirrors, prisms, and lenses are supposed to be arranged on the bench are there no longer. The equipment lies shattered on the floor -- all just an inextricable heap of broken glass, now. The lab's door stands open to the west. A closet door to the east is open, revealing a closet. To the south is a storage annex. A scrawled sheet lies next to the glass disaster. >take earth You make your way to the Main Store. You take the length of silver chain from the shelves. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the silver coin. You enchant the lodestone of purity. You make your way to the Opticks Lab. You use the purity lodestone to recover the elemental earth. > You make your way to the Chymic Lab. Chymic Lab This wide room is dominated by a huge glass retort. You've practiced many chymical rituals in this apparatus. Hanging above the retort is an instructional sign. The lab door to the east now opens onto the hallway, as it used to. The only other exit is the hatch in the floor, which is open. This ritual requires the elemental earth and bamuriatic acid, both of which are limited (we only have the one flourspar crystal, after all). Even so, that's pretty lightweight as far as rituals requiring rare reagents go. >put muriatic, bamuriatic in retort flask of muriatic acid: You pour a measure of muriatic acid into the retort. vial of bamuriatic acid: You empty the vial of bamuriatic acid into the retort. The acid mixture fumes acridly, and turns slate-grey. >speak hermetic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Hermetic Sealing. The retort's equator begins to glow pearl-grey around the reservoir of grey acid. >put earth in retort You drop the shard of elemental earth into the retort. The bound's pearly light ripples. >speak anaphylaxis You intone the word of anaphylaxis; it makes your mouth itch. The shard of elemental earth fizzes and dissolves. The grey acid solution darkens and thickens until it is black as ink. >put obsidian in retort You drop the chip of obsidian into the retort. It dissolves instantly into the black reagent. >speak antipathy You begin invoking the Binding of Antipathy, forcing out the bitter phrases. The black reagent seethes, and then begins to bubble slightly. By the time you have finished choking out the formula, the black solution has quieted. It seems less viscous now. You tap the solvent into a fresh vial -- which doesn't dissolve, you are happy to see, so you've probably gotten the ritual right. Nice work, kid. Good, that worked. So the inverse will probably work too. But I'm getting ahead of myself. > You make your way to the North Arcade. North Arcade This is the north end of the gallery. A long window in the west wall overlooks the exoscaphe bay. You can see the 'scaphe itself on the other side, hooked up to the portal you saw back south. To the north is a massive door of pale marble, outrageously carved. The door is closed. Perhaps the door has suffered some damage. A chip of white marble is lying loose on the floor nearby. >x solvent This is an inky liquid which should corrode marble -- no other mineral, just marble -- like it was sugar in hot tea. >put solvent on door You pour a drop of marble solvent onto the door. The dark liquid soaks instantly into the pale stone, leaving a rough scar. Perfect! You concentrate on the area around the handle, corroding deep grooves into the door's substance. After some careful work, the entire locking mechanism falls away, leaving the door swinging loosely. >n (first opening the marble door) Dressing Room The side chamber is reserved for marchmen to change into protective suits, before boarding the 'scaphe. It is rather less sumptuous than the carved door led you to guess. The only exit is south through the marble door, which is open. A row of persy suits are lined up along the wall. You don't see any helmets, though. Someone has left a greasy sheet of paper here. Sorry guys, no locker room scenes. Ever. Not in this game and not in any of yours. They were all in that door handle and now they are dissolved. >take (the greasy sheet) It's a reagent receipt. "THE SYNTHESIS of SCHEPLER'S OIL, or YANG OIL: Place a measure of mineral oil into a catalytic environment. Seal with a passive (phlegmatic) sealing. Compound the atmosphere with a sweet floral element; speak a word of essential nature. Then add a bit of reed pith to the bound, and ignite it. While it yet burns, recite the Phlogistical Catalysis. The resulting oil will ease the flow of phlogiston through certain metals." You memorize the instructions, and also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. >x suits These suits let a man walk out into a Hadean land and return alive. They look fearsomely complicated, and the helmets are all missing -- an odd omission. >wear suit (first taking the persy suits) The suits are too bulky to drag around. They're meant to be worn, and you don't know how to wear one. >x suit through oculus Through the oculus, the suits shine with markings of mobility and healthful environment. They're incomplete, though, without their helmets. The suits are fancy, but we have no reason to use them when we have a vacuum protection potion. Maybe if we were headed into an Erebian or Thalassan land we'd need them, but the Hadean land is doable with what we have. >reset You make your way back to the Void. Void You drift outside the world again. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Woop woop let's get ourselves ready to break into the Chancel! ...and by that I mean make some yang oil because I'm bad at math, but we'll explain that later.
> You make your way to the Materials Store. Materials Store You are in a small storage area. The Mechanica Lab is back to the east. To one side stands a heavy table, upon which is another ritual bound. This one is adjustable; it has been fitted with a length of platinum wire, but the arc is empty. There's another cabinet here. It is open but empty. So as you recall, making a catalytic environment needs an arc of platinum. And at present, none of our items are capable of imparting a catalytic environment via gestalt shelf or aroma. >put mineral in bound You locate a beaker in the clutter, pour a measure of mineral oil into it, and place it within the adjustable bound. >speak phlegmatic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the phlegmatic sealing word. The arc begins to glow green around the beaker of mineral oil. >wave honeysuckle You wave the honeysuckle, but it's not very aromatic. >speak unsealing You let the unsealing mantra run through your mind, clearing away the ritual energy. The bound goes dark. Oh wait, another problem I just remembered and want to demonstrate here without needing several billion undo commands. > Before you leave, you tidy away the beaker and its contents. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. Pyrics Lab Waves of heat fill this room, radiating from a massive brick kiln and the roaring gas burners that fire it. The lab door to the south is open. A storage area lies to the east. You see Lt Powes crouched over a shelf. His expression is shifty; whatever he is doing, he fears discovery. Within the kiln, half-obscured by rippling heat, you can see a porcelain paten. A table at the other end of the room supports a glass vapor crock. The crock is open and empty. You also see a jar of cedar splints on the table. Next to this are three splints of assorted woods: green linden, maple, and elemental wood. You can also see two wooden splints (blackwood and winter-oak) here. >ignite pith with lighter You hold the torch-lighter to the splinter of swamp pith. The swamp pith goes up in a bright flare; you snatch your hand away. Within instants, the swamp pith has been entirely devoured, and its flame winks out. >undo Pyrics Lab [Previous turn undone.] It's the reverse of the blackwood problem. Most flames are simply too hot for the swamp pith. >ignite linden with lighter You hold the torch-lighter to the splinter of green linden. The green linden catches quickly, and burns with a dim red flame. >ignite pith with linden You hold the splinter of swamp pith to the burning splinter of green linden. The swamp pith catches quickly, and burns with a barely visible flame. And the solution is the same idea, too: use an intermediary flame to get the results needed. The lighter will work for the linden, as well as a previously-lit cedar splint.
> You make your way to the Materials Store. Materials Store You are in a small storage area. The Mechanica Lab is back to the east. To one side stands a heavy table, upon which is another ritual bound. This one is adjustable; it has been fitted with a length of platinum wire, but the arc is empty. There's another cabinet here. It is open but empty. >put mineral in bound You locate a beaker in the clutter, pour a measure of mineral oil into it, and place it within the adjustable bound. >speak phlegmatic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the phlegmatic sealing word. The arc begins to glow green around the beaker of mineral oil. So, the other problem is we need the floral note. As you noticed earlier, I figured trying to wave the honeysuckle about might work as the rosemary did for the resinous note, but it's not quite strong enough. The solution here is the same as with the pimecone. >crush honeysuckle The dried flowers crumble and sift from your fingers, releasing a burst of astonishing honey-sweetness into the air. The perfume lingers. >speak essential You intone the word of essential nature. The pinguid nature of the oil rises to the surface. >put pith in bound The green light ripples as you push through the arc. You lay the splinter of swamp pith next to the beaker. >ignite linden (with the flaming phlogisticated gold rod) You hold the flaming phlogisticated gold rod to the splinter of green linden. The green linden goes up in a bright flare; you snatch your hand away. Within instants, the green linden has been entirely devoured, and its flame winks out. >undo Materials Store [Previous turn undone.] >ignite linden with lighter You hold the torch-lighter to the splinter of green linden. The green linden catches quickly, and burns with a dim red flame. >ignite pith with linden You hold the burning splinter of green linden to the splinter of swamp pith. The swamp pith catches quickly, and burns with a barely visible flame. >speak catalysis You begin murmuring the Phlogistical Catalysis. It takes some time to run through all the permutations. As you do, the ripple of heat from the swamp pith begins emitting a thin vapor, which swirls around the arc. The surface of the oil shimmers. Slowly, the oil reduces and darkens. By the time your formula is complete, the beaker contains just a thin film of orange-tinted oil. The bound fades. You lift the beaker and gently decant the yang oil into a fresh bottle. >extinguish linden You blow on the splinter of green linden until the flame goes out. >extinguish pith You can't see any such thing. >take all length of platinum wire: You extract the length of platinum wire from the groove. >x yang This vial contains a few drops of orange-tinted oil. So, we have yang oil, which will let us perform the electrum regium phlogistication ritual. Only problem is, we need a catalytic environment for that too, but the ship has no electrum regium in stock. We can make it, but only by combining the platinum and moon-metal, which in turn destroys our only way of creating a catalytic environment. Whoops! Anyway, our next plan is to make the fire-devourer. In order to do that, we'll need a strong fiery environment. Thankfully, we already know of at least a few ways to influence an environment that way. >x linden through oculus When viewed through the oculus, the splinter of green linden displays a fiery nature. > You make your way to the Pyrics Store. Pyrics Store This is a tangle of storage racks, mostly empty. The Pyrics Lab is to the west. On one rack you notice a jar of camphrost lumps. A stack of firebrick in back serves as a crude ritual bound, complete with gestalt shelf. >go to ginger The impet of ginger oil is in the Secondary Alchemy Lab, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. Secondary Alchemy Lab The lab is unsettlingly dim, but familiar enough: rough wooden walls, the broad stone surface of the workbench. The lab door is to the north; it's open, and the lab hall is reassuringly visible outside. Some kind of fracture blocks the east side of the room from you. On a side table, you see a sheet of instructions, two impets of essential oil (peppermint and ginger), a pair of tarnished calipers, and a brass pin. Next to the table, an iron panel stands open; you can see a crawlway below. You can also see a sprig of rosemary here. >take all sprig of rosemary: Taken. impet of peppermint oil: Taken. impet of ginger oil: Taken. tarnished calipers: Taken. brass pin: Taken. > You make your way to the Pyrics Store. Pyrics Store This is a tangle of storage racks, mostly empty. The Pyrics Lab is to the west. On one rack you notice a jar of camphrost lumps. A stack of firebrick in back serves as a crude ritual bound, complete with gestalt shelf. >open ginger You pop open the impet, and the ginger aroma rolls out, stinging your nose. >put cedar on shelf You put the splinter of cedar on the gestalt shelf. >ignite cedar with lighter You hold the torch-lighter to the splinter of cedar. The cedar catches quickly, and burns with a dull orange flame. >x bound through oculus You inspect the brick bound through the oculus, taking the shelf into account. The ritual environment has a strongly fiery nature. You need at least four such influences for the environment to be this strong, and this is the most clean way I could think to do it. The background influence of the Pyrics Store, the ginger impet, and a lit splint of cedar to double its fiery influence. >put alcohol in bound You can't see any such thing. >extinguish cedar You blow on the splinter of cedar until the flame goes out. >go to alcohol The flask of rubbing alcohol is in the Secondary Lab Crawlspace, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Secondary Lab Crawlspace. Secondary Lab Crawlspace You are in a low, dimly lit corridor that runs from east to west. A hatch by your (ducked) head opens to the laboratory above. To the east, the crawlspace is interrupted by another fracture -- or perhaps the same one you saw in the lab. A chymic flask rests nearby; it reeks of rubbing alcohol. >take (the flask of rubbing alcohol) Taken. > You make your way to the Pyrics Store. Pyrics Store This is a tangle of storage racks, mostly empty. The Pyrics Lab is to the west. On one rack you notice a jar of camphrost lumps. A stack of firebrick in back serves as a crude ritual bound, complete with gestalt shelf. On the gestalt shelf is a splinter of cedar. >ignite cedar with lighter You hold the torch-lighter to the splinter of cedar. The cedar catches quickly, and burns with a dull orange flame. >put alcohol in bound You locate a beaker in the clutter, pour a measure of rubbing alcohol into it, and place it within the brick bound. >speak phlegmatic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the phlegmatic sealing word. The arc begins to glow crimson around the beaker of rubbing alcohol. >put gold on beaker You dip the flaming phlogisticated gold rod into the beaker of rubbing alcohol. The gold is instantly extinguished, as its phlogiston is drawn into the alcohol. Blue flames erupt, and a red phosphorescence builds within the liquid. As the flames die down, the red light does as well; but the liquid in the beaker remains a brilliant crimson. >speak greater You begin the Greater Phlogistical Saturation. The tonal vowels and labial stops require all your concentration, but you manage to hold them in place. Sparks crackle through the crimson liquid for a moment. The bound fades. Is that all? Apparently that's all. You lift the beaker and gently decant the red potion into a fresh bottle. I do so love a good anticlimax. >x devourer This is an opaque crimson liquid. When poured into a flame, it will consume and extinguish it instantly -- even the most enormous conflagration. Anyhow, I'm just gonna go through the solvent ritual again to make the obsidian solvent. There's no new messages, so I'm spoilerpopping it.
> You make your way to the Burning Hall West. Burning Hall West This hall runs west to east, from the grand stairs to the high wing. Except the high wing is on fire at the moment. The entire east end of the hall is enveloped in flame. You can't tell what's burning -- the walls? the floor? But the heat is intense; you can't go any further. Lt Powes has vanished. Only a shadow remains. Behold, the powers of science and alchemy! TRIUMPH OVER THE CALAMITY OF NATURE! >throw devourer into inferno You pull the stopper, and whip the crimson liquid into the flames. There is a mighty whump as the hallway goes dark. When the green afterimages fade from your sight, the hall looks like -- like a long-dead fireplace. The walls are blackened and the floor is layered with ash. But there isn't a spark left alight, and while the air smells of smoke, it is not intolerably warm. Okay maybe it's not that cool. BUT I THINK IT IS. >e Charred Hall East You are at the east end of the hall, now grey with ash. The hall ends at a door of solid obsidian. You know this door leads to the high wing and the Chancel, but it is closed and locked. A singed sheet of paper has survived. >put obsidian on door Which do you mean, the bottle of obsidian solvent, the chip of obsidian, or the obsidian door? >solvent You pour a drop of obsidian solvent onto the door. The dark liquid soaks instantly into the black stone, leaving a rough scar. Perfect! You concentrate on the area around the handle, corroding deep grooves into the door's substance. After some careful work, the entire locking mechanism falls away, leaving the door swinging loosely. >e (first opening the obsidian door) Antechamber The high officers presumably wait here and prepare themselves for the solemn rituals of the Chancel. That august space is to the north, through a sturdy circular gate, which is closed. The antechamber itself has nothing in particular to offer. The obsidian door to the west is open. A narrow hallway runs south, but a fracture blocks it. Two papers, a neat sheet and a faded sheet, are lying here. New territory. We're very close to the Chancel now! >take all faded sheet: "THE DRAGON FULCRUM: This ritual requires a bound of metallic quicksilver, or a quicksilver amalgam. Place a stone token within, and speak Grendel's Sealing. Pour vitriol onto the stone (for sulphur and quicksilver are the polar principles of alchemy). Invoke the dragon's name, and conclude with the Relative Anima." But the words "dragon's name" have been scratched out. Below them is a smudged knot or tangle of lines -- as if someone had tried to copy a multidimensional structure onto the paper, without much success. You memorize the instructions, and also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. neat sheet: "If one of a marcher's dragons becomes disorganized, the vessel is in serious danger. As an emergency measure, the faulty dragon may be subsumed into an active one, transferring its functions. The composite will be unstable, but may suffice to rig the marcher to a safe berth. "Place a fulcrum in the active dragon's lair." (A footnote here: "Any lair will suffice, in fact; the fulcrum merely provides leverage.") "Prepare an orderly environment and use the Marcher's Invocation. Follow with a symmetric sequence to indicate a forward transition (active dragon consuming damaged one). Conclude with the Dracon Invocation. This will summon the active dragon; one can then translate it to the presence of the other. Warning: do not allow the dragon's presence to cross the fulcrum node!" You memorize the information, and also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. Huh, that's some info. So the dragon fulcrum, we have everything we need... almost. If we can get Grendel's Sealing and get the mercury from the wreck into the bound, we're set. I... think the alien glyphs will work for "dragon's name". And the subsumption is possible once we make it. In fact, using that, we might be able to put another dragon's functions onto Syndesis! It'll strain the marcher, especially if we need to load multiple dragons as I suspect we will, but we'll get it running enough to get back to civilization. >l through oculus You peer through the oculus. Everything acquires a colorful, hazy fringe. The oculus reveals a puce spark floating in the air. >x spark You focus on the puce spark through the oculus. A new memory comes into focus. "Newton presumed that the aither, as a medium, must be everywhere uniform, because physical and alchemical processes were everywhere the same. We now know the contrary: the 'laws' of natural science are properties of the aither, and currents of alien aither flow between certain stars. Marchers rarely venture through these foreign belts, for the slightest shift of chymic law poisons human life..." You consider these memories. Yeah I can imagine a sudden rapid shift in the laws of reality being maybe just a little bit completely deadly. >n (first opening the circular gate) You reach for the bars, but your fingers go numb and slide away. This gate has a psychic security stricture as well. It feels even tighter than the one on the Birdhouse. Hm. Guess we can't get in here with the ol' aura invisibility standby. Not a problem, we've had the tool for the job for ages.
Let's make us an aura imitation! > Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. >put amulet on shelf You put the Chinese amulet on the gestalt shelf. >put long in bound You put the long quartz prism into the pedestal bound. >speak ka You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Ka Sealing. The arc begins to glow indigo around the long quartz prism. >put percalcinate in bound You empty the vial of copper percalcinate onto the long quartz prism. The green-gold grains adhere to the quartz prism, slowly losing their color, and are absorbed into the crystal. >speak isomorphic You begin reciting the formulae that make up the isomorphic group. After a rigorous chain of axioms and lemmas, the group elements fall into a one-to-one relation. >put water in bound You crack open the capsule, and pour the elemental water onto the long quartz prism. The drops sparkle on the crystal for a moment, and then evaporate -- or are absorbed. >speak elementary You intone the elementary word of binding; the syllables snap cleanly away. The indigo light flares through the clear crystal. When the light fades, a symbol shines on the surface of the long quartz prism. >take all fresh sheet: The paper contains the dragon reanimation attempt and the Dracon Invocation, both of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. long quartz prism: You pick up the long quartz prism, careful of its inscribed imitation symbol. Chinese amulet: Taken. So the ritual said to make it work, we'd need to first touch it to the donor, then to the recipient. Let's go pay the Captain a visit, her aura should be clearance enough. >go to hart You make your way to the Lab Hall Northeast. Lab Hall Northeast This is the northeast corner of the laboratory hallway, which runs south and west. The lab stairwell opens to the southwest, but a fracture prevents entry. The Tertiary Lab is to the east; its door is closed. The Pyrics Lab door to the north is open. The Captain is standing here, gazing moodily off down the hall. The crack in her martial facade is disturbing, and faintly disappointing. >x hart Your perspective shifts. The idea of Captain Hart being moody is nigh-incomprehensible. But you suppose that even a marcher captain can have a human side. Good for her. >go to ctesc Library This library serves the laboratory wing. You haven't spent much time here -- the trainees have their own study room -- but you have often admired the rows of fat musty tomes on their elegantly-carved shelves. The archway is north. You see Ensign Ctesc standing here. His normally placid face is sharpened into expression of feverish avarice. Two papers, a neat sheet and an untidy sheet, lie unregarded on the floor. You notice a rotor card sticking out from between two books. >x ctesc Your perspective shifts. Ensign Ctesc looks toward the books. Clearly he has snuck in here without permission. You can understand that, even if he has bent the edges of the rules. You too are on the Retort for knowledge. And before I forget, we'll set these two to positive. >go to hart Lab Hall Northeast This is the northeast corner of the laboratory hallway, which runs south and west. The lab stairwell opens to the southwest, but a fracture prevents entry. The Tertiary Lab is to the east; its door is closed. The Pyrics Lab door to the north is open. The Captain is standing here, gazing moodily off down the hall. She looks nearly human like this; it's rather charming. >touch long to hart You press the long quartz prism against Captain Hart. You feel nothing, but the symbol distorts, absorbing the imprint of her aura. > You make your way to the Antechamber. Antechamber The high officers presumably wait here and prepare themselves for the solemn rituals of the Chancel. That august space is to the north, through a sturdy circular gate, which is closed. The antechamber itself has nothing in particular to offer. The obsidian door to the west is open. A narrow hallway runs south, but a fracture blocks it. >touch long to self You press the long quartz prism against your hand. The imitation symbol discharges with a thrum. You feel a sudden dissociation, an estrangement, as though your thoughts belonged to someone else. Ugh, not again. >n (first opening the circular gate) The bars are solid in your fingers now, although your hand feels like part of someone else's body. Chancel The Nave may be the heart of the Retort, but the Chancel is its soul. The Master Rector performs the marcher's most crucial rituals here. The ritual bound is a low pedestal of chased rutilum, with a shelf beside it. The rest of the room is rather emptier than it looked from outside. To the north is the writ screen, and the Nave beyond it. To the south, the circular gate stands open. A crisp sheet of paper is pinned next to the screen. So you've made it to the center of the universe. Good job -- if you know what you need to do here. The sense of estrangement fades away. The reality of the world reasserts itself. Well, at least we're here. According to the notes from earlier, we need to perform the Great Marriage here to get the marcher going. Naturally, we'll probably want as much dragon functionality as we can manage before then. >take (the crisp sheet) The paper is headed "GRENDEL'S SEALING", and a phrase is spelled out in phonetic symbols. You memorize the information, including Grendel's Sealing. You also add the sheet to your bundle of paper. So let's get on that. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned forty-one rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
Okay then. We can do this. We can actually work on fixing the marcher! We can also explore the alien wreck some more. I think we'll do that first before we reset. Next Time: Aither |
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#42
08-31-2015, 02:50 PM
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I'm curious what that second alien command phrase we got from the chasm will do at the ship.
Also, since grafting dragons together is unstable, we probably want as few as possible running when we wake up the marcher. Can we fix up those exo suits with the air bubbles somehow so we don't need the environmental systems when we jump? |
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#43
09-03-2015, 02:12 PM
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You make your way to the Nave Crawlway. You take the vial of highlime. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the porcelain paten. You brew a bottle of vacuum protection. You drink the potion of vacuum protection. You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. You set aside your possessions for a moment and dive for the bronze B chime. You conjure an attraction symbol onto the bronze B chime. You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. You use the B chime to attract the bronze F-sharp chime. You make your way to the Nave. You conjure a permeability symbol onto the bronze F-sharp chime. You strike the bronze F-sharp chime and set it into the window. You push through the glass. Unfortunately, your possessions do not fare so well. In the vacuum, five chymic flasks boil away; the torch-lighter shatters. You make your way to the Hadean Plain. Hadean Plain You stand at the edge of a Hadean land now. Grey lifeless dust crunches soundlessly beneath your feet. The sky is black; the stars are glorious. And you have no more protection than the potion you drank. Behind you are the comforting walls of the Retort. The airlock is a heavy circular door in the south wall; it is closed. To the west, you can see the broad window of the portico. But to the north and east, the Hadean plain stretches away towards jagged foothills. So yeah we blew up a bunch of flasks. Oh well, if we need them we can reset. >ne You hike up towards the pass. Your feet kick up dust which falls behind you, never trailing in the nonexistent air. Hadean Land, in Canyon You are working your way through a narrow canyon. Angular grey mountains loom above you, and stars shine down on it all. The canyon zig-zags down to the southwest. To the southeast, it slopes more gradually, opening onto another dusty plain. A twisted metal shape is visible across the plain, but you cannot tell what it is. You also see an opening in the canyon wall to the northwest. It might be some sort of cave, but if so, it is very dark. >se You continue down out of the crags. The shape grows as you approach, becoming a twisted metal hill by the time you reach its foot. Hadean Land, at Wreck You stand at the foot of a wall of metal. It's not a simple construction; it leans inward here, outward there, tracing an irregular shape that looms over the dusty plain. Perhaps it's broken, for debris is scattered around. Mountains rise all around, forming a jagged grey bowl which cups the metal wreck. You can see the canyon pass to the northwest. A hexagonal outline on the wall, to the east, might be a door. If so, it is closed. Next to the hexagon, a small circular arc is incised into the metal. A small puddle of mercury gleams in the dust. >put mercury in arc You aren't holding the droplet of mercury. >take mercury You glance around for a container, and settle on a broken saucer-shaped bit of ceramic. You gently scoop up the mercury droplet. >put mercury in arc You tilt the mercury droplet against the circle. It sticks to the metal, and slowly spreads out until it reaches the edge. There is now a perfect circle of quicksilver, mirror-flat, clinging to the wall. So if we try that other word we got... >speak caudex You begin running through the caudex access geometric sequence in your head. The quicksilver circle vibrates in response; complex ripples refract across it. When the sequence is complete, the panel silently slides up, hiding the quicksilver circle from view. Then, more slowly, the hexagonal door begins to move. It only slides about halfway open, but that is enough to enter. >e Strange Airlock This chamber is not hexagonal, but it reminds you of a hexagon in all directions, if that makes sense. Perhaps it doesn't. Strange as the architecture may be, an airlock is clearly an airlock. The outer door to the west is open; the inner door to the north is closed. A small knot of black marks is drawn in the center of the inner door. Next to the door is another small circle. This one contains a film of black liquid. How quaintly non-Euclidean! >x marks You stare at the knot, willing understanding. comprehension This third symbol brings you a new image: a sheet of paper, buried in rubble. Again, the scene is familiar... a crack in a wall... the crawlway under the Nave. You do your best to memorize the paper's exact location. >speak radix You begin running through the radix access geometric sequence in your head. The black circle vibrates in response; complex ripples refract across it. When the sequence is complete, the inner door begins to slide aside. Simultaneously, behind you, the outer door closes. Both move in silence -- of course -- and in moments the way inward is clear. No vapor rushes into the airlock; you are still in vacuum. But an intangible strain seems to pervade the space from the open door. Your bones and teeth ache. Well... that's sort of bizarre and terrifying. Maybe it's another aura cloud? >n Bent Chamber This chamber has odd angles, but you're pretty sure they're not all intentional. The walls look crumpled and the ceiling is bent downwards. Hallways may have once run in several directions, but the only one that remains wide enough to pass is to the east. The airlock door to the south is open. The ache in your bones becomes worse -- horribly worse -- and the lights go dim and red. Or a dim red vapor is bleeding into the world. Perhaps your sight is failing. Perhaps everything else is. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Well! Not in a hurry to go back there. But we DID get some more info from the place. >sw You twist yourself through the crack. Nave Crawlway This was once the north end of a crawlway, but the passage has collapsed, leaving only this small space. Debris is heaped up to the south. Light slants in from a gap in the ceiling. You see a vial of white powder lying in the rubble. It's labelled "highlime". >take paper You can't see any such thing. >x debris You locate the correct slabs and dig between them, trying to disturb the earth as little as possible. After a few moments, the corner of a dirty sheet of paper becomes visible. You work your fingers in and yank; the sheet falls to the floor. >take sheet You pick up the sheet. It's a potion receipt. "A POTION to RESIST FOREIGN AITHER: The most hostile lands are those where the very processes of life alter. This potion allows your body to adapt to these conditions -- for a time. Like many life-sustaining concoctions, this begins with an exhilarant environment and a beaker of saline. Use the Hermetic sealing. Add a measure of zafranum to the arc. Ensure that the atmosphere is filled with an exhilarant aroma; tinct it by igniting the zafranum. Speak the Anodyne Evocation; place a sample of salt on the gestalt shelf; close with the Chi Binding." You memorize the instructions, and also pick up the sheet. Just in case. Huh, so that should take care of that weird room, I think. Let's gather up the stuff to make that.
> You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Let's make us an aither-resistance potion! Ike won't know what hit him! >open kelp You pop open the impet, and the kelp aroma rolls out, salty and faintly rotten. >put saline in bound You locate a beaker in the clutter, pour a measure of saline into it, and place it within the pedestal bound. >speak hermetic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Hermetic Sealing. The arc begins to glow golden around the beaker of saline. >put zafranum in bound The gold light ripples as you push through the arc. You strew the zafranum threads around the beaker. >ignite zafranum You lack any handy way to set things on fire. ...Pfffff I forgot the lighter guys.
>ignite zafranum (with the torch-lighter) The zafranum threads flare up and vanish. A puff of pungent yellow smoke rises, and then swirls around the beaker. The aroma of zafranum melds with the smell of the ocean, provoking images of sea-travel and distant lands. >speak anodyne You begin the Anodyne Evocation. The rhythm beats in your chest and blood. Slowly, the liquid in the beaker turns a deep, sparkling blue. >put salt on shelf You put the lump of rock salt on the gestalt shelf. >speak chi You begin the Chi Binding, paying proper attention to your tonality. The sparkling light within the solution brightens, and then disperses. Its color deepens to a startling indigo. The bound fades. You lift the beaker and gently decant the indigo potion into a fresh bottle. Now what's an apprentice going to do with that, I wonder. Right now? Nothing. And here's why. > You make your way to the Nave Crawlway. You take the vial of highlime. You make your way to the Nave. You brew a bottle of vacuum protection. You drink the potion of vacuum protection. You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. You set aside your possessions for a moment and dive for the bronze B chime. The pinch of zafranum is gone; you used it in a ritual in the Nave. You don't know where to get more. (While trying to create the metal attractor, to retrieve the F chime from the slab, to acquire the bronze F-sharp chime, to create the glass bypass, to pass through the portico window, to reach the Hadean Plain.) (You are now in the Scaphe Arcade.) We need the zafranum to make the aither-resistance potion, but we also need it to get the chime. So until we can get that chime some other way, the Bent Chamber is a dead end. And we're gonna need that mercury that we used to open up the wreck for the next step of our genius plan, so! >reset You make your way back to the Void. Void You drift outside the world again. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Let's get progress on that dragon fulcrum thing. We need a quicksilver bound, so let's snag that first. >create oculus You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You take the glass loop. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the silver coin from the rack. You enchant the resonant oculus. (You are now in the Pyrics Store.) >go to mercury The droplet of mercury is in the Hadean Land, at Wreck, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of saline. You make your way to the Nave Crawlway. You take the vial of highlime. You make your way to the Deck Suite. You take the impet of kelp oil. You brew a bottle of vacuum protection. You drink the potion of vacuum protection. You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. You set aside your possessions for a moment and dive for the bronze B chime. You make your way to the Herbarium Nook. You take the pinch of zafranum. You make your way to the Under Ward. You take the torch-lighter. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the lead rod from the rack. You conjure an attraction symbol onto the bronze B chime. You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. You use the B chime to attract the bronze F-sharp chime. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of sand from the rack. You take the brass coin. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You conjure a permeability symbol onto the bronze F-sharp chime. You make your way to the Portico. You strike the bronze F-sharp chime and set it into the window. You push through the glass. You make your way to the Hadean Land, at Wreck. Hadean Land, at Wreck You stand at the foot of a wall of metal. It's not a simple construction; it leans inward here, outward there, tracing an irregular shape that looms over the dusty plain. Perhaps it's broken, for debris is scattered around. Mountains rise all around, forming a jagged grey bowl which cups the metal wreck. You can see the canyon pass to the northwest. A hexagonal outline on the wall, to the east, might be a door. If so, it is closed. Next to the hexagon, a small circular arc is incised into the metal. A small puddle of mercury gleams in the dust. >take mercury You glance around for a container, and settle on a broken saucer-shaped bit of ceramic. You gently scoop up the mercury droplet. Fun fact: as a kid, I had a puzzle that was a little sealed plastic maze, which you had to navigate a drop of mercury through. Don't worry, it was exceptionally well-sealed and it did not horrifically poison me. > You push through the glass. You make your way to the Materials Store. Materials Store You are in a small storage area. The Mechanica Lab is back to the east. To one side stands a heavy table, upon which is another ritual bound. This one is adjustable; it is currently empty. There's another cabinet here. This one is clean, but locked. An untidy storage bin contains three stone chips (obsidian, granite, and sandstone), a moon-metal rod, a broad quartz prism, a long quartz prism, and a fluorspar crystal. A crumpled recipe sheet is lying by the ritual bound. Someone has dropped a standard glass chime, the sort used in musical rituals. It's marked as being in the key of H. >put mercury in arc You put the droplet of mercury into the adjustable bound. >put mercury in groove You try to coax the mercury droplet into the groove, but it just rolls off. Surface tension! You give up and scoop the droplet back up. Hm... well, the ritual said an amalgam would work too. Maybe we can put the mercury on a rod of something? >take all crumpled sheet: The paper contains the universal tarnish cleansing inscription (with the brass pin), the catalytic environment, and the categorical imperative, all of which you already know. You pick up the sheet. Just in case. glass H chime: Taken. droplet of mercury: Taken. chip of obsidian: Taken. chip of granite: Taken. chip of sandstone: Taken. moon-metal rod: Taken. broad quartz prism: Taken. long quartz prism: Taken. fluorspar crystal: Taken. >e Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. You see Lt Anderes here. She is peering at the shelves, her face pinched with greed. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. To one side, some supplies are lying on a counter: two metal rods (platinum and nickel), an iron bead, and a lump of rock salt. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the door. >take all fresh sheet: The paper contains the homunculus definition, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. platinum rod: Taken. nickel rod: Taken. iron bead: Taken. lump of rock salt: Taken. >x rod Which do you mean, the nickel rod, the platinum rod, or the moon-metal rod? >put mercury on platinum Tilting the saucer, you dip the platinum rod into the mercury. The rod comes out clean; the mercury does not cling. >put mercury on moon-metal Tilting the saucer, you dip the moon-metal rod into the mercury. The rod comes out clean; the mercury does not cling >put mercury on nickel Tilting the saucer, you dip the nickel rod into the mercury. The rod comes out clean; the mercury does not cling. No luck. We might just need the right metal, wasn't the lead rod also somewhere around here? >go to lead Which do you mean, the lead rod, the lead Aithery File seal, the lead Venture File seal, or the counterweight? >rod The lead rod is in the Pyrics Store, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. Pyrics Store This is a tangle of storage racks, mostly empty. The Pyrics Lab is to the west. On one rack you notice a jar of camphrost lumps. A stack of firebrick in back serves as a crude ritual bound, complete with gestalt shelf. You can also see a lead rod, a torch-lighter, and a silver coin here. >put mercury on lead Tilting the saucer, you dip the lead rod into the mercury. The mercury coats the metal, forming a white amalgam. You twirl the lead through the droplet until all the mercury is absorbed, and the rod is entirely white. That did it. Shame, we could still potentially need that, but for now we'll be okay. Probably. >take all torch-lighter: Taken. silver coin: Taken. > You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. You see Lt Anderes here. She is peering at the shelves, her face pinched with greed. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. >put amalgam in drawer You slide the white amalgam rod into the groove, ready to be drawn into the device. >turn crank You begin hauling on the crank, and the white amalgam rod is slowly drawn into the device. Soon wire begins spooling out onto the counter. After several minutes of sweat, sore hands, and metallic creaking noises, the rod is entirely consumed. The white amalgam wire falls free, into a loose coil. >take all length of white amalgam wire: Taken. >w Materials Store You are in a small storage area. The Mechanica Lab is back to the east. To one side stands a heavy table, upon which is another ritual bound. This one is adjustable; it is currently empty. There's another cabinet here. This one is clean, but locked. >go to granite You're holding the chip of granite. >go to vitriol The flask of vitriolic acid is in the Under Ward, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Under Ward. Under Ward This closet-sized room is reserved for the rest and relaxation of the ensigns. Normally a few of you are about, studying or eating or (commonly) both; but these are not normal times and the room is abandoned. Someone has left a tiny recipe sheet on the floor. You can also see two chymic flasks (vitriolic acid and alum) here. >take all tiny sheet: The paper contains the word of anaphylaxis, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. flask of vitriolic acid: Taken. flask of alum: Taken. > You make your way to the Materials Store. Materials Store You are in a small storage area. The Mechanica Lab is back to the east. To one side stands a heavy table, upon which is another ritual bound. This one is adjustable; it is currently empty. There's another cabinet here. This one is clean, but locked. And let's get that ritual started. Hopefully the lead element doesn't throw it off too much. >put wire in groove You carefully press the length of white amalgam wire into the groove. It forms a complete circuit around the arc. >put granite in bound You put the chip of granite into the adjustable bound. >speak grendel You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone Grendel's Sealing. The arc begins to glow silver-grey around the chip of granite. >put vitriol on stone Which do you mean, the chip of granite, the chip of sandstone, or the chip of obsidian? >granite You carefully drip vitriolic acid onto the chip of granite. The stone hisses and spits, and seems to absorb the acid. It's a good thing we already broke our minds with one of these alien marks, no? That should cover the dragon's name quite nicely. >speak first You visualize the first alien glyph as clearly as possible. The stone does not visibly change, but you have a peculiar notion that it has changed shape inside. >speak relative You raise your voice in the Relative Anima. The chip of granite seems to revolve in place without moving. The silver-grey light flares and fades, and you see a symbol gleaming on the surface of the chip of granite. >take all chip of granite: You pick up the chip of granite, careful of its inscribed leverage symbol. length of white amalgam wire: You extract the length of white amalgam wire from the groove. Okay, so this is a dragon fulcrum. With this, we can perform the subsumption. > You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of muriatic acid from the rack. You make your way to the Main Store. You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You take the orichalcum rod from the safe. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of copper percalcinate. You take the flask of mineral oil from the rack. You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You draw the nickel rod out into wire. You head to the Materials Store. You make your way to the Storage Nook. You take the rutilum Alchemy File seal. You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the phlogisticated gold rod from the cabinet. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You take the splinter of blackwood from the table. You take the splinter of winter-oak from the table. You ignite the blackwood splint from the winter-oak. You place the phlogisticated gold in the vapor crock with camphrost, and ignite them with the blackwood splint. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of sublime spirit. You make your way to the Study Room. You take the Chinese amulet. You conjure an invisibility symbol onto the long quartz prism. You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. You apply the invisibility symbol to yourself and open the door. You make your way to the Birdhouse. Birdhouse The Birdhouse is a circular chamber with no roof. It's not open to the sky; it just goes up forever. The door to the east is open. You also see a cracked flagstone with a gap leading to a crawlspace below. The name comes from a ring of metal pylons that take up the center of the room. You can see the fanciful resemblance to a birdcage, although they don't imprison anything. The dragon Syndesis is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the curving wall. The circles rotate majestically, shining with violet-red radiance. A fragment of paper lies to one side. As you enter, the chip of granite begins to shine with a silvery light. >drop granite Dropped. There you go, Syndesis. Let's see about adding some functionality to you. > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. You can also see a Chinese amulet, an impet of kelp oil, and a flask of saline here. >recall block Which do you mean, the measuring block or the counterweight? >brass The measuring block is still in the Scaphe Arcade. > Scaphe Arcade You are in a pleasant red-brick gallery edged by a row of wooden columns. A heavy steel portal in the west wall is the access to the marcher's exoscaphe. It's currently closed. A valve wheel is mounted next to the portal. The arcade runs north towards an overlook window. There is a corridor to the east. You also see a crawlway hatch in the floor; it's open, but it seems to be flooded. Captain Hart has vanished. Only a shadow remains. You notice a small brass cube lying by a column. >take What do you want to take? >cube (the measuring block) Taken. > Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. You can also see a Chinese amulet, an impet of kelp oil, and a flask of saline here. >put block on shelf You put the measuring block on the gestalt shelf. >speak marcher You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >speak symmetric You begin reciting the values of the symmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the same as the beginning). >speak dracon You rumble your way through the Dracon Invocation. A sense of pressure builds in the air. You feel something move, in the distance. The bound slowly dims. Whirling violet-red runes slide into the Nave from the western hallway. You recognize the dragon Syndesis, come in answer to your summons. The mandala drifts across the murals and settles on the ceiling. Yay, Syndesis buddy! (I can bring Syndesis to the other crewmembers to read their thoughts again, but they haven't changed. Quite sad.) > You take the impet of kelp oil. You take the flask of saline. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the impet of ginger oil from the side table. You take the impet of peppermint oil from the side table. You brew a bottle of fire-resistance potion. You drink the potion of fire resistance. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You reach into the kiln and take the porcelain paten. You take the splinter of elemental wood from the table. You brew a bottle of breath-holding potion. You drink the potion of breath holding. You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. You stash your possessions, swim through the flooded crawlway, unlock the observatory door from the inside, and then retrieve your posessions. You make your way to the Observatory. The breath potion has worn off. You suck in a startling gasp of air. The fire-resistance potion has worn off. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end, but only one of the two is lowered, and that one is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The south-side ladder is folded up under the bridge; its counterweight hangs near the floor. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal with its capsule of elemental water. Syndesis slides in along the wall. >u You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the sprig of rosemary. The orichalcum rod is gone; you used it in a ritual in the Chymic Lab. You don't know where to get another one. (While trying to create Gaian precipitate, to create the lead weight increase, to lower the Aithery bridge ladder, to reach the Aithery.) (You are now in the Secondary Alchemy Lab.) Syndesis silently arrives. Aw, I wanted to revive Aistheta first, just to see if I could. But we already consumed the orichalcum, so that's a no-go. And that means Pneuma is off limits too, thanks to the viridigris for the centrality lodestone. Thankfully, one option is way easier for us to reach than the rest. > You make your way to the Master-at-Arms Quarters. You take the flint key. You make your way to the Bottom of the Grand Stair. You make your way to the Barosy. Barosy This is a long, dim chamber whose walls are immense stone slabs. It's like a burial chamber, but with no smell of decay. There is only a sense of weight and time. The iron gate stands open to the west. You also see a crevice between two slabs to the north; it looks wide enough to wiggle through. The dragon Baros is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the entire end wall of the chamber. They still look lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies nearby. Syndesis drifts into the room. >wait Time passes. Syndesis is being drawn towards Baros. >wait Time passes. Syndesis slides towards Baros, faster and faster. At the last moment, Baros seems to crumple, break apart, and be drawn into the violet-red heart of Syndesis. You hear, smell, see a confusion of smells and sounds and colored light. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Hooray, we killed Baros! >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned forty-two rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
So now that Syndesis is running Baros' functions, we have a few new areas to access. So that's what we'll do, by gum! Next Time: Lieutenant Michael Powes |
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#44
09-04-2015, 01:23 PM
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You make your way to the Chasm at the Bridge. Chasm, at Bridge The ledge is narrower here; to the south it ends abruptly. To the east you see the entrance to the deep library -- a padlocked wooden door set into the canyon wall. To the west, a naked stone span bridges the canyon. The area seems stable now. >w Canyon Bridge Span You are standing on a stone bridge that crosses the canyon. The span feels very narrow now. A little light reaches you from lamps along the canyon wall, but none penetrates the depths below. The east end of the bridge debarks at a ledge. The west end dives into a narrow gap which opens directly into the canyon wall. With Baros absorbed by Syndesis, the gravity of this area works just fine now. It's still kind of terrifying, but not impassably so. >w Deep Lab This chamber looks like a natural cavern, squared and smoothed with the crudest of tools. Stalactites hang from the roof; flowstone drips down the walls. An uneven passage runs east. In the center of the chamber is a boulder. It is inscribed with a ritual bound in an archaic, almost crude style. A smaller slab serves as a gestalt shelf. This is the end of the line, though. The Deep Lab has a unique ritual bound, with an extremely stony environment, but right now we have no rituals that make use of it, so it's a curiosity for now. > You make your way to the Master-at-Arms Quarters. You take the flint key. You make your way to the Bottom of the Grand Stair. You make your way to the Barosy. Barosy This is a long, dim chamber whose walls are immense stone slabs. It's like a burial chamber -- an empty one, now that the dragon is gone. The iron gate stands open to the west. You also see a crevice between two slabs to the north; it looks wide enough to wiggle through. Lt Powes is sitting in a corner, back to the wall, arms around his knees. He is staring into the dimness, a narrow smile on his face. A fragment of paper lies nearby. In order to get to the other spot, the fastest way is through the Barosy, which isn't quite as empty as expected. >x powes Your perspective shifts. Powes has the look of a man whose plans are moving out of his control. He has committed himself to someone's destruction. You sense that it was only a game to him, up until this moment. Well, let him stew in the reality. >l Barosy This is a long, dim chamber whose walls are immense stone slabs. It's like a burial chamber -- an empty one, now that the dragon is gone. The iron gate stands open to the west. You also see a crevice between two slabs to the north; it looks wide enough to wiggle through. Lt Powes is sitting in a corner, back to the wall, arms around his knees. He is staring into the dimness, wide-eyed, as if struck by a shock. A fragment of paper lies nearby. >x powes Your perspective shifts. Powes has the look of a man whose plans are moving out of his control. He has committed himself to someone's destruction. Did he know what he was doing, when he began? But it's too late now for him to change course. Fascinating stuff, but I think we'll keep him set to "you are a jackass" for now. >n You squeeze into the crevice. Barosy Crevice You are crawling along a tight passage through the bowels of the Earth. Or some world, at any rate. Some light leaks in from the Barosy, behind you, to the south. To the north it only gets darker. The gravity feels normal now. >n You push forward until the crevice widens. You see light ahead. Garden Crawlway You are at the west end of a low corridor, but the way east is fracture-blocked. Light spills down from an opening above. There's a wide crack in the south wall, although it looks like it narrows ahead. The gravity feels normal now. And we can now easily reach Pneuma without expending any materials, rare or otherwise, too. > You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. Chasm Rubble Rubble and fallen rocks litter the ledge here. You can walk north or south alongside the abyss, which waits patiently to the west. A particularly massive slab lies at the chasm edge. Half its length rests on solid ground; but the far half hangs out over empty space, quite unsupported. You see a bronze chime lying on the far end of the slab. It looks very far away. >x slab The slab is at least fifteen feet long, and more than a foot thick. The upper surface is worked flat; it must have been part of a bridge or balcony, somewhere above you, before the catastrophe. Now it lies precariously balanced on the edge of the chasm. You see a bronze chime lying on the far end of the slab. It looks very far away. >w Only if you want to jump in. I still don't think we can get the bronze chime here without zafranum. Shame, I guess reviving Baros didn't actually do a whole lot for us aside from getting the marcher closer to takeoff. Well, at least we can check out Powes' new shadow. It might have new stuff, right? > You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. Pyrics Lab Waves of heat fill this room, radiating from a massive brick kiln and the roaring gas burners that fire it. The lab door to the south is open. A storage area lies to the east. Lt Powes has vanished. Only a shadow remains. Within the kiln, half-obscured by rippling heat, you can see a porcelain paten. A table at the other end of the room supports a glass vapor crock. The crock is open and empty. You also see a jar of cedar splints on the table. Next to this are six splints of assorted woods: swamp pith, green linden, blackwood, winter-oak, maple, and elemental wood. >x shadow through oculus The shadow forms words when viewed through the oculus. But the text is longer than before: "Powes' depredations, we find, have been calculatedly random -- not so localized as to implicate any particular superior officer. Instead, the result has been a steady decrease in the Retort's overall operational efficiency. The Ministry has not yet acted, but if this continues, they will. "Lacking evidence of wrongdoing, the blame will inevitably fall upon Captain Hart. Thus we must assume that the Captain is Powes' target. She would not face marchcourt for running a 'scruffy ship', but she would likely be transferred to a lesser command. "I extended my search, and discovered lengthy correspondence between Powes and Captain Mehta of the Lightfire. Captain Mehta is in the offing for a favorable command, and so we must assume..." Huh. So Powes was trying to wreck the Captain's day, then? I don't think a "scruffy ship" would be enough to cause the sudden failure of all four dragons, though... we'll need more info. > You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the long quartz prism from the storage bin. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of muriatic acid from the rack. You make your way to the Main Store. You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You take the orichalcum rod from the safe. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of copper percalcinate. You take the flask of mineral oil from the rack. You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You take the nickel rod from the counter. You draw the nickel rod out into wire. You head to the Materials Store. You make your way to the Storage Nook. You take the rutilum Alchemy File seal. You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the phlogisticated gold rod from the cabinet. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You take the splinter of blackwood from the table. You take the splinter of winter-oak from the table. You ignite the blackwood splint from the winter-oak. You place the phlogisticated gold in the vapor crock with camphrost, and ignite them with the blackwood splint. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of sublime spirit. You make your way to the Study Room. You take the Chinese amulet. You conjure an invisibility symbol onto the long quartz prism. You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. You apply the invisibility symbol to yourself and open the door. You make your way to the Birdhouse. Birdhouse The Birdhouse is a circular chamber with no roof. It's not open to the sky; it just goes up forever. The door to the east is open. You also see a cracked flagstone with a gap leading to a crawlspace below. The name comes from a ring of metal pylons that take up the center of the room. You can see the fanciful resemblance to a birdcage, although they don't imprison anything. The dragon Syndesis is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the curving wall. The circles rotate majestically, shining with violet-red radiance (and hints of brown-gold). A fragment of paper lies to one side. >x syndesis through oculus The oculus reveals Syndesis as a web of occult relations running throughout the Retort. It looks healthy now. The architecture of the marcher is still somewhat fractured. But you can see patches covering the worst holes -- by the secondary alchemy lab, the chymic lab, the opticks lab, and the deck suite. Syndesis has absorbed Baros; you can see its associations as well. These include stabilization in the chasm and in the crawlway beneath the garden and Barosy. Oooh, pretty. So unfortunately, getting Baros "fixed" didn't do a whole lot for us. But it does mean we can now absorb Pneuma into Syndesis as well, since we don't need to expend viridigris to get into the center of the Garden Maze anymore. So hey, may as well do that. The worst that could happen honestly already did.
> You make your way to the Airlock. Airlock The airlock is a stumpy cylindrical chamber, ten feet long and ten feet across. It is used whenever the Retort is rigged into a non-Gaian land. The chamber walls are bare steel. At each end is a circular slab of a door. The inner door to the south is open; the outer door to the north is closed. The pressurization lever on the wall is pushed down. >close inner The inner door is massive but well-balanced. It swings shut with a muffled whoomp. >pull lever The lever seems to be locked in place. You're not sure what's wrong with it. >x lever The airlock's master pressure control is a clunky iron lever set in the wall. The shorthand symbol for Pneuma is engraved above it. The lever is currently pushed down. You know that pulling it will depressurize the airlock. Not that you've ever been allowed to do anything that interesting. If we get Pneuma fixed, we can at the very least go into the Hadean Land through the normal means, rather than through the window like some sort of hooligan. So that'll save us some zafranum we could need later. >s (first opening the inner airlock door) East Side Hallway This broad hall runs from the Nave, to the west, through a fire door to the east and on towards the laboratory wing. A smaller hallway heads south towards the medical wing. To the north, an enormous circular doorway leads to the Retort's main airlock. The inner airlock door is open. > You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. You see Lt Anderes here. She is peering at the shelves, her face pinched with greed. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. To one side, some supplies are lying on a counter: a platinum rod, an iron bead, and a lump of rock salt. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the door. >create amalgam wire You do not know how to proceed. (While trying to create white amalgam wire.) >stupid dog [That's not an action I understand.] >create amalgam Which do you mean, the length of white amalgam wire or the white amalgam rod? >rod You have not made the white amalgam rod, yet. For some stupid reason, the game kind of falls on its face with most things involving the mercury and can't autocomplete them. I dunno why. >put mercury on lead Tilting the saucer, you dip the lead rod into the mercury. The mercury coats the metal, forming a white amalgam. You twirl the lead through the droplet until all the mercury is absorbed, and the rod is entirely white. >create amalgam wire You draw the white amalgam rod out into wire. >w Materials Store You are in a small storage area. The Mechanica Lab is back to the east. To one side stands a heavy table, upon which is another ritual bound. This one is adjustable; it is currently empty. There's another cabinet here. It is open but empty. An untidy storage bin contains three stone chips (obsidian, granite, and sandstone), a moon-metal rod, a broad quartz prism, and a fluorspar crystal. A crumpled recipe sheet is lying by the ritual bound. Someone has dropped a standard glass chime, the sort used in musical rituals. It's marked as being in the key of H. You can also see a rutilum Alchemy File seal here. >put wire in groove You carefully press the length of white amalgam wire into the groove. It forms a complete circuit around the arc. >perform fulcrum The length of white amalgam wire is already in the bound groove. You take the chip of granite from the storage bin. You make your way to the Under Ward. You take the flask of vitriolic acid. You make your way to the Materials Store. The length of white amalgam wire is already in the bound groove. You conjure a leverage symbol onto the chip of granite, using the second alien glyph. Huh, it automatically switches to the second. I know if you do the ritual manually and try the first again, it says that it "doesn't seem as interesting anymore", which signifies you need to use the second alien glyph to make it work. Likewise, once we use this and move onto Aistheta, we'll use the third. > You make your way to the Birdhouse. Birdhouse The Birdhouse is a circular chamber with no roof. It's not open to the sky; it just goes up forever. The door to the east is open. You also see a cracked flagstone with a gap leading to a crawlspace below. The name comes from a ring of metal pylons that take up the center of the room. You can see the fanciful resemblance to a birdcage, although they don't imprison anything. The dragon Syndesis is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed across the curving wall. The circles rotate majestically, shining with violet-red radiance (and hints of brown-gold). A fragment of paper lies to one side. As you enter, the chip of granite begins to shine with a silvery light. >drop granite Dropped. > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. You can also see a torch-lighter, an impet of kelp oil, a flask of saline, and a Chinese amulet here. >perform subsumption You don't know any such ritual. Likewise, we can't autoperform the subsumption despite having everything we need and having done it before, because it's under facts and not rituals. Yeah that's a bit dumb too. > Scaphe Arcade You are in a pleasant red-brick gallery edged by a row of wooden columns. A heavy steel portal in the west wall is the access to the marcher's exoscaphe. It's currently closed. A valve wheel is mounted next to the portal. The arcade runs north towards an overlook window. There is a corridor to the east. You also see a crawlway hatch in the floor; it's open, but it seems to be flooded. Captain Hart has vanished. Only a shadow remains. You notice a small brass cube lying by a column. >take cube Taken. > Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. You can also see a torch-lighter, an impet of kelp oil, a flask of saline, and a Chinese amulet here. >put cube on shelf You put the measuring block on the gestalt shelf. >speak marcher You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >speak symmetric You begin reciting the values of the symmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the same as the beginning). >speak dracon You rumble your way through the Dracon Invocation. A sense of pressure builds in the air. You feel something move, in the distance. The bound slowly dims. Syndesis silently arrives. Okay, to the Garden Maze! And since we're gonna pass by Powes on the way... > You make your way to the Barosy. Barosy This is a long, dim chamber whose walls are immense stone slabs. It's like a burial chamber -- an empty one, now that the dragon is gone. The iron gate stands open to the west. You also see a crevice between two slabs to the north; it looks wide enough to wiggle through. Lt Powes is sitting in a corner, back to the wall, arms around his knees. He is staring into the dimness, wide-eyed, as if struck by a shock. A fragment of paper lies nearby. Syndesis arrives a moment later. The dragon slides past the Lieutenant's frozen form. As it does, you hear his voice: "The Retort is limping already. A few more 'mistakes' and the Captain will be blamed..." He has not moved. What a jerk. And short-sighted too. >n You squeeze into the crevice. Barosy Crevice You are crawling along a tight passage through the bowels of the Earth. Or some world, at any rate. Some light leaks in from the Barosy, behind you, to the south. To the north it only gets darker. The gravity feels normal now. You no longer see Syndesis. >n You push forward until the crevice widens. You see light ahead. Garden Crawlway You are at the west end of a low corridor, but the way east is fracture-blocked. Light spills down from an opening above. There's a wide crack in the south wall, although it looks like it narrows ahead. The gravity feels normal now. >u Paper Maze, Center You have found the heart of the hedge maze: a circle of paper screens. A single opening to the west leads back to the labyrinth. You also notice an open hatchway which leads to a crawlspace below. The dragon Pneuma is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed on the screens. They still look lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies by the hatchway. Syndesis slides into the room behind you. >x pneuma through oculus The oculus reveals Pneuma as a web of occult relations running throughout the Retort. It doesn't look good. Sophic lanterns are everywhere, of course, drawing meager streams of phlogiston. Deep beneath the marcher, the nexus points that supply air and warmth all seem healthy. However, the control paths that rise to the marcher proper are another matter. The air-pumps in the airlock and exoscaphe bay have no power at all. Syndesis is being drawn towards Pneuma. We either die here or become SUPER GENIUSES. >wait Time passes. Syndesis slides towards Pneuma, faster and faster. At the last moment, Pneuma seems to crumple, break apart, and be drawn into the violet-red heart of Syndesis. You hear, smell, see a confusion of smells and sounds and colored light. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. >x lamps Sophic lanterns are set high on the walls, as they are throughout the marcher. They're ivory disks, engraved with runes to draw phlogiston from Pneuma and disperse it as light. Now that the dragon is awake, the lanterns burn with a steady cool glow. WE ARE SUPER GENIUSES. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned forty-two rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
Lot of stuff we can do now, but at the same time we're pretty clearly reaching the end of the line, one way or another. Next Time: Lieutenant Jana Anderes |
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09-05-2015, 02:36 PM
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You make your way to the Exoscaphe. Exoscaphe The exoscaphe is a vehicle for exploring hostile lands. From the inside, it's more like being in a spherical steel tank. A windowless tank, at that. Presumably there's a better view from the pilot's dome; but the hatch above your head is closed. A circular bench runs around the perimeter, broken only by the dark engine compartment to the west and the exit portal to the east. The portal is open. You see a small emergency lever next to it. A cabinet is fastened to the wall. Its latch is tied shut with a knot of white cord. On the bench are a crumpled sheet and a horn coin. >e Scaphe Arcade You are in a pleasant red-brick gallery edged by a row of wooden columns. A heavy steel portal in the west wall is the access to the marcher's exoscaphe. It's standing open. A valve wheel is mounted next to the portal. The arcade runs north towards an overlook window. There is a corridor to the east. You also see a crawlway hatch in the floor; it's open, but it seems to be flooded. Captain Hart has vanished. Only a shadow remains. You notice a small brass cube lying by a column. >x wheel The valve wheel is marked "Emergency Bay Pressurization," and is also marked with the shorthand symbol of Pneuma. Reviving Pneuma means that these devices, which formerly wouldn't have worked in any way whatsoever, are now functional. >turn wheel The valve turns stiffly. You hear air whistling through the pipes -- faintly, and then louder, as the pressure in the bay increases. After a time, the whistle drops to a hiss, and then stops. >w Exoscaphe The exoscaphe is a vehicle for exploring hostile lands. From the inside, it's more like being in a spherical steel tank. A windowless tank, at that. Presumably there's a better view from the pilot's dome; but the hatch above your head is closed. A circular bench runs around the perimeter, broken only by the dark engine compartment to the west and the exit portal to the east. The portal is open. You see a small emergency lever next to it. A cabinet is fastened to the wall. Its latch is tied shut with a knot of white cord. On the bench are a crumpled sheet and a horn coin. >u (first opening the small hatch) Exoscaphe Dome If you were piloting the 'scaphe, you'd sit in this seat and work the controls, peering out through the glass dome around you. The vehicle looks to have fallen on rough times, however -- or vice versa. The dome is cracked and the controls look dead. The only exit is the hatch in the floor, which is open. A dessicated sheet of paper and a thin key are visible under the console. So among other things, we can reach the helm of the exoscaphe. We can also use the airlock to venture outside, as mentioned. >take all dry sheet: "A DIAMOND PURGED of EVERY FLAW: This ritual requires an environment influenced only by living stone; the deeper and purer, the better. Place a diamond within the bound and employ a phlegmatic (passive) sealing word. Sound a note in the mode of ostension. Place elemental earth upon the gestalt shelf, to serve as a template. Speak the Crystalline Tempering. This will bring the structure of the diamond as close to perfection as mortal substance can sustain." A note on the back says, "While elemental earth is essential for many procedures, a perfectly flawless diamond may sometimes be substituted. This is particularly true in the synthesis of caustic reagents." You memorize the instructions, and also pick up the sheet. Just in case. spare lab key: Taken. > You make your way to the Lab Hall Northeast. Lab Hall Northeast This is the northeast corner of the laboratory hallway, which runs south and west. The lab stairwell opens to the southwest, but a fracture prevents entry. The Tertiary Lab is to the east; its door is closed. The Pyrics Lab door to the north is open. The Captain is standing here, gazing moodily off down the hall. She looks nearly human like this; it's rather charming. >open tertiary (the spare lab key) That's not something you can open. >open tertiary door (first unlocking the pine Tertiary door with the spare lab key) You open the pine Tertiary door. This indirectly lets us get into the Tertiary lab! >e Tertiary Alchemy Lab This is the Retort's fanciest lab, all shiny and new. Of course, the rectors usually have it reserved for fancy shiny work. The center of the room is a dais, built with a ritual arc in bright platinum inlay. The door to the west is open. You notice two vials here: a blue vial labelled "anti-Tellurian distillate" and a pale-gold vial labelled "nickel". >take all vial of shaved nickel: Taken. vial of anti-Tellurian distillate: Taken. So the arc is important because it means we no longer need the platinum rod to make a catalytic environment. The two vials will let us duplicate existing ingredients. The nickel is obvious, and we can use it to make a second helping of sublime spirit if we so choose (though I'm currently not all sure what takes sublime spirit). The anti-Tellurian is a bit trickier to figure out, though. >create yang oil You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of mineral oil from the rack. You make your way to the Herbarium Nook. You take the sprig of honeysuckle from the herb shelf. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You take the splinter of swamp pith from the table. You take the splinter of green linden from the table. You make your way to the Under Ward. You take the torch-lighter. You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You take the platinum rod from the counter. You draw the platinum rod out into wire. You lay the length of platinum wire in the bound groove. You brew a vial of yang oil. (You are now in the Materials Store.) >take all torch-lighter: Taken. splinter of green linden: Taken. flask of mineral oil: Taken. crumpled sheet: The paper contains the universal tarnish cleansing inscription (with the brass pin), the catalytic environment, and the categorical imperative, all of which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. glass H chime: Taken. length of platinum wire: You extract the length of platinum wire from the groove. chip of obsidian: Taken. chip of granite: Taken. chip of sandstone: Taken. moon-metal rod: Taken. broad quartz prism: Taken. long quartz prism: Taken. fluorspar crystal: Taken. >e Mechanica Lab This workshop features two of the more mundane devices of the alchemist's life: a hand-cranked wire-drawer, and the wire-splicer wheel. The lab door to the north is open. The crawlway hatch is open. You also see a small storeroom to the west. Lt Anderes has vanished. Only a shadow remains. An extremely corroded cabinet is fastened to the wall. It is closed. To one side, some supplies are lying on a counter: a nickel rod, an iron bead, and a lump of rock salt. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the door. Anyhow, no reason not to get the electrum regium set up, but while we're here... >x shadow through oculus The shadow forms words when viewed through the oculus. But the text is longer than before: "I have evidence that Jana Anderes is guilty of graft. She has been slowly removing rare reagents from storage, transporting them off the Retort when in home port, and profiting from their illicit sale. "This much I knew weeks ago. It has taken me much longer to confirm who Anderes is working with... for I required the hardest of proof. I am now convinced that Captain Hart is involved in the crime. She must have discovered it -- and rather than bringing Anderes to marchcourt, decided to let the business continue under her own thumb. "Needless to say, we cannot bring this to light until the Retort reaches home port. But we are becoming critically short on certain supplies, and I fear for the safety of the marcher." So the Captain is collaborating with, or at the very least not impeding Anderes in her theft... while Powes is already trying to get her demoted. Huh... >put moon-metal in drawer You slide the moon-metal rod into the groove, ready to be drawn into the device. >turn crank You begin hauling on the crank, and the moon-metal rod is slowly drawn into the device. Soon wire begins spooling out onto the counter. After several minutes of sweat, sore hands, and metallic creaking noises, the rod is entirely consumed. The moon-metal wire falls free, into a loose coil. >put moon-metal, platinum in wheel length of moon-metal wire: (first taking the length of moon-metal wire) You feed the moon-metal wire's end into one of the holes. length of platinum wire: You feed the platinum wire's end into one of the holes. >turn wheel You begin turning the wheel, and the platinum and moon-metal wires are pulled into the splicer. Back and forth they are folded, in thinner and thinner layers, as you turn the wheel. After several minutes, the metals are fused into a single rod of electrum regium. The rod rolls tidily out onto the counter. >take all fresh sheet: The paper contains the homunculus definition, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. electrum regium rod: Taken. nickel rod: Taken. iron bead: Taken. lump of rock salt: Taken. Well, we have the electrum regium, at least. If what that ritual says is true, this should support phlogistication, which in turn will let us get a second dose of elemental fire. > You make your way to the Tertiary Alchemy Lab. Tertiary Alchemy Lab This is the Retort's fanciest lab, all shiny and new. Of course, the rectors usually have it reserved for fancy shiny work. The center of the room is a dais, built with a ritual arc in bright platinum inlay. The door to the west is open. >put electrum in bound You put the electrum regium rod into the catalytic bound. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow green around the electrum regium rod. >put yang on electrum You empty the vial of yang oil onto the electrum regium rod. The oil sinks into the metal, giving a flush of richer gold to the electrum's sheen. >speak elementary You intone the elementary word of binding; the syllables snap cleanly away. The green light flares, focusses, and bursts as a shower of sparks from the electrum rod. When your eyes clear, the rod looks no different, but its sense of imbued energy is palpable. >take all phlogisticated electrum rod: Taken. Easy. And to get it lit, we need but an existing source of elemental fire. > You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. Pyrics Lab Waves of heat fill this room, radiating from a massive brick kiln and the roaring gas burners that fire it. The lab door to the south is open. A storage area lies to the east. Lt Powes has vanished. Only a shadow remains. Within the kiln, half-obscured by rippling heat, you can see a porcelain paten. A table at the other end of the room supports a glass vapor crock. The crock is open and empty. You also see a jar of cedar splints on the table. Next to this are four splints of assorted woods: blackwood, winter-oak, maple, and elemental wood. >perform ignition You make your way to the Materials Store. You make your way to the Storage Nook. You take the rutilum Alchemy File seal. You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the phlogisticated gold rod from the cabinet. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You take the splinter of blackwood from the table. You take the splinter of winter-oak from the table. You ignite the blackwood splint from the winter-oak. You place the phlogisticated gold in the vapor crock with camphrost, and ignite them with the blackwood splint. >ignite electrum with gold You hold the flaming phlogisticated gold rod to the phlogisticated electrum rod. The electrum begins to glow -- not the dull red of heating metal, but with an inner lucence. The golden light seems to throb, and unfurl, and expand, all at once. Heat presses against your face as you peer into the flame. You pull the gold and electrum rods apart. Golden elemental flames now burn steadily on each of them. Nice. Next up, let's make that perfect diamond.
> You make your way to the Deep Lab. Deep Lab This chamber looks like a natural cavern, squared and smoothed with the crudest of tools. Stalactites hang from the roof; flowstone drips down the walls. An uneven passage runs east. In the center of the chamber is a boulder. It is inscribed with a ritual bound in an archaic, almost crude style. A smaller slab serves as a gestalt shelf. This is what we can use the Deep Lab for. And as mentioned, the perfect diamond can serve as a substitute for the elemental earth, namely in the solvent rituals. >put diamond in bound You put the rough diamond into the stony bound. >speak phlegmatic You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the phlegmatic sealing word. The arc begins to glow gloomily around the rough diamond. >strike g The glass G-flat chime rings sweetly, and you let its resonances fill your mind. The diamond darkens, absorbing light. >put earth on shelf You put the shard of elemental earth on the gestalt shelf. >speak crystalline You recite the Crystalline Tempering. The diamond darkens further; the elemental shard begins to vibrate on its shelf, emitting a faint, high-pitched hum. Then, with an almost audible shock, the ritual closes: the diamond emits all its stored light in a blinding flash. You blink away tears, to find that the cloudy crystal is now flawless and bright. Now that's a nice trick, swabbie. Our next trick is, incidentally, not to use the perfect diamond, but to get an alternate means of getting the chime at the chasm. Even with the gravity fixed, that slab is in a precarious state. >take all perfect diamond: Taken. shard of elemental earth: Taken. >x diamond The diamond is still irregular in outline, but absolutely flawless -- a glittering bit of transparent crystal. >perform lead weight increase You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the sprig of rosemary. You make your way to the Under Ward. You take the flask of vitriolic acid. You take the flask of alum. You make your way to the Main Store. You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You take the orichalcum rod from the safe. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of Gaian precipitate. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the lead rod from the rack. You conjure a ponderosity symbol onto the chip of sandstone. (You are now in the Pyrics Store.) > You head to the Deck Suite. You take the impet of kelp oil. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of saline. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the impet of ginger oil from the side table. You take the impet of peppermint oil from the side table. You brew a bottle of fire-resistance potion. You drink the potion of fire resistance. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You reach into the kiln and take the porcelain paten. You take the splinter of elemental wood from the table. You brew a bottle of breath-holding potion. You drink the potion of breath holding. You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. You stash your possessions, swim through the flooded crawlway, unlock the observatory door from the inside, and then retrieve your posessions. You make your way to the Observatory. The breath potion has worn off. You suck in a startling gasp of air. The fire-resistance potion has worn off. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end, but only one of the two is lowered, and that one is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The south-side ladder is folded up under the bridge; its counterweight hangs near the floor. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal with its capsule of elemental water. >touch sandstone to weight You carefully lay the ponderosity symbol against the lead. The symbol flares brightly and transfers to the counterweight. The cable vibrates with sudden strain, and then emits a portentous creak. You jump back just as it snaps. The counterweight, now freed, slams to the floor and lies there like the corpse of Atlas. The shock has evidently been too much for the jammed mechanism. The cable whips up and out of sight; the folded ladder, in reaction, unfolds segment by segment until it reaches the floor. We also need to get to the Aithery to perform the final subsumption, but that's an ancillary benefit to what we're currently doing. Remember how to get rid of unwanted symbols? >create brush You make your way to the Opticks Annex. You take the plain white feather. You make your way to the Secondary Lab Crawlspace. You take the flask of rubbing alcohol. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You enchant the dispersal brush. (You are now in the Secondary Alchemy Lab.) Yep, the dispersal brush. But for this plan to work, we also need the gossamerity symbol, but we've already spent the elemental earth to make the counter-Gaian precipitate. The trick is that the anti-Tellurian distillate will serve much the same purpose. Apparently, "Tellurian" is an adjective in the same vein as "Gaian". The ritual doesn't change any, so I'll throw that in the spoilerpop.
> You make your way to the Observatory. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end. One ladder is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The other, thankfully, is now within reach. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal with its capsule of elemental water. The counterweight lies here, looking more massive than usual. >touch brush to weight You brush the feather across the counterweight. The ponderosity symbol blurs and fades away. You see no other obvious difference, but the weight shifts just a little on the ground. >touch sandstone to weight You carefully lay the gossamerity symbol against the lead. The symbol flares brightly and transfers to the counterweight. The counterweight shifts a little against the ground. It no longer seems as immovable as it was. >take all counterweight: You lift the counterweight. It's still heavy, and it retains a massy inertia that makes it feel like it's floating in molasses. But you can carry it. capsule of elemental water: You pull the elemental water away from the compass. It resists for a moment, then comes free. And just like the lead hatch, we can now almost effortlessly carry the lead weight. > You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. Chasm Rubble Rubble and fallen rocks litter the ledge here. You can walk north or south alongside the abyss, which waits patiently to the west. A particularly massive slab lies at the chasm edge. Half its length rests on solid ground; but the far half hangs out over empty space, quite unsupported. You see a bronze chime lying on the far end of the slab. It looks very far away. >put weight on slab You put the counterweight on the near end of the slab, where it won't unbalance anything. >touch brush to weight You brush the feather across the counterweight. The gossamerity symbol blurs and fades away. The counterweight shifts slightly, settling into the slab with renewed force. >take chime (the bronze F-sharp chime) You step out onto the slab, and kneel at the balance-point. The counterweight seems to be holding it steady, so you slowly stretch forward... You are keenly aware of the empty abyss directly below you. But as you crawl forward, the slab does not shift. You keep your movements steady, and after what seems like hours, your fingers meet bronze. You grasp the chime, crawl backwards, and roll off the slab onto solid ground. Whew. So we can now retrieve this without spending zafranum on the metal attractor. That's two ways we can bring the aither-resistance potion into the Bent Chamber, at least. >perform fulcrum You make your way to the Nave Crawlway. You take the vial of highlime. You make your way to the Nave. You brew a bottle of vacuum protection. You drink the potion of vacuum protection. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of sand from the rack. You take the brass coin. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You conjure a permeability symbol onto the bronze F-sharp chime. You make your way to the Portico. You strike the bronze F-sharp chime and set it into the window. You push through the glass. Unfortunately, your possessions do not fare so well. In the vacuum, two metal rods are extinguished; the flask of saline boils away; the torch-lighter and the capsule of elemental water shatter. You make your way to the Hadean Land, at Wreck. You take the droplet of mercury. You do not know how to proceed. (While trying to create white amalgam wire, to set up an appropriate environment, to create the dragon fulcrum.) (You are now in the Hadean Land, at Wreck.) >put mercury on lead Tilting the saucer, you dip the lead rod into the mercury. The mercury coats the metal, forming a white amalgam. You twirl the lead through the droplet until all the mercury is absorbed, and the rod is entirely white. >perform fulcrum You push through the glass. You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You draw the white amalgam rod out into wire. You lay the length of white amalgam wire in the bound groove. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of vitriolic acid. You make your way to the Materials Store. The length of white amalgam wire is already in the bound groove. You conjure a leverage symbol onto the chip of sandstone, using the third alien glyph. (You are now in the Materials Store.) But I'll do that later. Right now I want to get Aistheta absorbed. > You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. Scaphe Arcade You are in a pleasant red-brick gallery edged by a row of wooden columns. A heavy steel portal in the west wall is the access to the marcher's exoscaphe. It's standing open. A valve wheel is mounted next to the portal. The arcade runs north towards an overlook window. There is a corridor to the east. You also see a crawlway hatch in the floor; it's open, but it seems to be flooded. Captain Hart has vanished. Only a shadow remains. You notice a small brass cube lying by a column. >take cube (the measuring block) Taken. > Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. >put cube on shelf Which do you mean, the measuring block or the fluorspar crystal? >block You put the measuring block on the gestalt shelf. >speak marcher You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >speak symmetric You begin reciting the values of the symmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the same as the beginning). >speak dracon You begin rumbling your way through the Dracon Invocation. A sense of pressure builds in the air, centered on the chip of sandstone. It's like balancing a ball on itself, though, and it slips almost immediately. The bound goes dark. Oh right, I have to actually put the fulcrum in the necessary room. > You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of muriatic acid from the rack. The orichalcum rod is gone; you used it in a ritual, here in the Chymic Lab. You don't know where to get another one. (While trying to create copper percalcinate, to create the aura invisibility, to open the engraved door, to reach the Birdhouse.) (You are now in the Chymic Lab.) Slight problem, though: we can't actually enter the Birdhouse anymore. What we CAN do, however, is enter the Barosy. As you recall, the dragon fulcrum ritual stated that any lair would work in a pinch. > You make your way to the Master-at-Arms Quarters. You take the flint key. You make your way to the Bottom of the Grand Stair. You crawl through the Barosy crevice. You make your way to the Paper Maze Center. Paper Maze, Center You have found the heart of the maze: a circle of paper screens. A single opening to the west leads back to the labyrinth. You also notice an open hatchway which leads to a crawlspace below. With the dragon gone, the illusion of a hedge maze has faded. It's just a paper room. Lt Anderes is here, poised as if stepping out of the maze. Though she is still caught in mid-movement, her stance crackles with energy. A fragment of paper lies by the hatchway. As you enter, the chip of sandstone begins to shine with a silvery light. Oh hello. >x anderes Your perspective shifts. Lt Anderes and her partners have managed to put the entire marcher at risk. Well, if the Retort is going down, at least they'll be dragged down with you. >l Paper Maze, Center You have found the heart of the maze: a circle of paper screens. A single opening to the west leads back to the labyrinth. You also notice an open hatchway which leads to a crawlspace below. With the dragon gone, the illusion of a hedge maze has faded. It's just a paper room. Lt Anderes is here, poised as if stepping out of the maze. Her body is tense, her stance pugnacious. A fragment of paper lies by the hatchway. >x anderes Your perspective shifts. Lt Anderes and her partners have managed to put the entire marcher at risk. You're astonished that they could plan so well, and so poorly, at the same time. Yeah you're staying in your old mode too. >drop sandstone Dropped. > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. On the gestalt shelf is a measuring block. >speak marcher You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >speak symmetric You begin reciting the values of the symmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the same as the beginning). >speak dracon You rumble your way through the Dracon Invocation. A sense of pressure builds in the air. You feel something move, in the distance. The bound slowly dims. Syndesis slides in along the wall. Let's go see what Anderes' thoughts about things are, shall we? > You crawl through the Barosy crevice. You make your way to the Paper Maze Center. Paper Maze, Center You have found the heart of the maze: a circle of paper screens. A single opening to the west leads back to the labyrinth. You also notice an open hatchway which leads to a crawlspace below. With the dragon gone, the illusion of a hedge maze has faded. It's just a paper room. Lt Anderes is here, poised as if stepping out of the maze. Her body is tense, her stance pugnacious. A fragment of paper lies by the hatchway. You can also see a chip of sandstone (with leverage symbol and glowing) here. Syndesis drifts into the room. Sudden electricity arcs between the dragon and the glowing chip of sandstone! The runes whirl out of control; the pebble goes dark; and -- oh dear -- everything else goes dark as well. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Whoops, we broke it. Yeah don't let the dragon and the fulcrum ever meet, or that happens. Let's just mash undo a couple of times... > The ritual energy disperses when you turn your attention from it. The pedestal bound goes dark behind you. You make your way to the Barosy. Barosy This is a long, dim chamber whose walls are immense stone slabs. It's like a burial chamber -- an empty one, now that the dragon is gone. The iron gate stands open to the west. You also see a crevice between two slabs to the north; it looks wide enough to wiggle through. Lt Powes is sitting in a corner, back to the wall, arms around his knees. He is staring into the dimness, wide-eyed, as if struck by a shock. A fragment of paper lies nearby. >n You squeeze into the crevice. Barosy Crevice You are crawling along a tight passage through the bowels of the Earth. Or some world, at any rate. Some light leaks in from the Barosy, behind you, to the south. To the north it only gets darker. The gravity feels normal now. >n You push forward until the crevice widens. You see light ahead. Garden Crawlway You are at the west end of a low corridor, but the way east is fracture-blocked. Light spills down from an opening above. There's a wide crack in the south wall, although it looks like it narrows ahead. The gravity feels normal now. >u Paper Maze, Center You have found the heart of the maze: a circle of paper screens. A single opening to the west leads back to the labyrinth. You also notice an open hatchway which leads to a crawlspace below. With the dragon gone, the illusion of a hedge maze has faded. It's just a paper room. Lt Anderes is here, poised as if stepping out of the maze. Her body is tense, her stance pugnacious. A fragment of paper lies by the hatchway. You can also see a chip of sandstone (with leverage symbol and glowing) here. >take all chip of sandstone: You pick up the chip of sandstone, careful of its inscribed leverage symbol. partial sheet: The paper contains the soul mirroring fragment, which you already know. You add the sheet to your bundle of paper. Let's just move this into the Barosy. Don't worry, if we fast-travel through the Barosy, Syndesis won't have time to go in there and kill itself and us. > You crawl through the Barosy crevice. You make your way to the Barosy. Barosy This is a long, dim chamber whose walls are immense stone slabs. It's like a burial chamber -- an empty one, now that the dragon is gone. The iron gate stands open to the west. You also see a crevice between two slabs to the north; it looks wide enough to wiggle through. Lt Powes is sitting in a corner, back to the wall, arms around his knees. He is staring into the dimness, wide-eyed, as if struck by a shock. A fragment of paper lies nearby. >drop sandstone Dropped. > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. On the gestalt shelf is a measuring block. >speak marcher You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >speak symmetric You begin reciting the values of the symmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the same as the beginning). >speak dracon You rumble your way through the Dracon Invocation. A sense of pressure builds in the air. You feel something move, in the distance. The bound slowly dims. Syndesis arrives a moment later. > You crawl through the Barosy crevice. You make your way to the Paper Maze Center. Paper Maze, Center You have found the heart of the maze: a circle of paper screens. A single opening to the west leads back to the labyrinth. You also notice an open hatchway which leads to a crawlspace below. With the dragon gone, the illusion of a hedge maze has faded. It's just a paper room. Lt Anderes is here, poised as if stepping out of the maze. Her body is tense, her stance pugnacious. Syndesis drifts into the room. The dragon slides past the Lieutenant's frozen form. As it does, you hear her voice: "I can't sell the stuff off when the Captain is watching me. But why hasn't she nicked me yet?" She has not moved. Huh... so Anderes knew the Captain was watching, but didn't know WHY she hadn't acted yet. If I didn't know better, I'd say the Captain was distracted by something, or someone, else. > You make your way to the Observatory. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end. One ladder is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The other, thankfully, is now within reach. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal. Syndesis silently arrives. Enough foreplay, though. Time to combine ALL THE DRAGONS. >u You climb the ladder. Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. The dragon Aistheta is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed on the dome just overhead. They still look lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies on the bridge. Syndesis slides in along the wall. >l through oculus You peer through the oculus. Everything acquires a colorful, hazy fringe of symbolic association. Syndesis is being drawn towards Aistheta. >x aistheta through oculus The oculus reveals Aistheta as a web of occult relations running throughout the Retort. It doesn't look good. The compass-rule lines throughout the marcher are weak. They are mostly aligned with the architecture, providing your familiar sense of direction. But where the passages twist -- the garden maze, the cracks by the chasm -- the compass lines are snarled and useless. Syndesis slides towards Aistheta, faster and faster. At the last moment, Aistheta seems to crumple, break apart, and be drawn into the violet-red heart of Syndesis. You hear, smell, see a confusion of smells and sounds and colored light. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Well, the marcher's still holding. I mean, if the state of it was brought about by the unchecked theft and sabotage, then we'll need to do something about that, but here's hoping we can hold out until then. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned forty-four rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
As long as we can get all four elements into the Chancel, we can attempt the Great Marriage (still stupid though) there. But I don't want to do that without learning as much as I can about what caused the problem in the first place. Next Time: Ensign Sydney Ctesc |
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#47
09-09-2015, 04:54 PM
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You make your way to the Library. Library This library serves the laboratory wing. You haven't spent much time here -- the trainees have their own study room -- but you have often admired the rows of fat musty tomes on their elegantly-carved shelves. The archway is north. Ensign Ctesc has vanished. Only a shadow remains. Two papers, a neat sheet and an untidy sheet, lie unregarded on the floor. You notice a rotor card sticking out from between two books. >x shadow You see a faint trailing shadow where Ensign Ctesc was standing. >x shadow through oculus The shadow forms words when viewed through the oculus. But the text is longer than before: "The situation is most disturbing. It appears that Sydney Ctesc has indeed been reaching for advanced alchemical knowledge. But worse: he is gathering it by means of a subtle chi-ritual, extracting knowledge directly from the mind of another. And worse yet: his target is Captain Hart! "Such rituals are of course dangerous to both parties. I do not believe that Ctesc has yet lost control of his alchemy. But a failure could occur at any time. I must insist that Ctesc be taken into custody." So the first thing we do is find out that Ctesc isn't just reading any old books, he's doing some pretty seriously dangerous stuff. And between that, Powes' sabotage, and Anderes getting away with whatever she's doing, the Captain would have to be on the ball to keep the marcher intact, let alone running. Kind of a perfect storm, here. > You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. Chasm Rubble Rubble and fallen rocks litter the ledge here. You can walk north or south alongside the abyss, which waits patiently to the west. A particularly massive slab lies at the chasm edge. Half its length rests on solid ground; but the far half hangs out over empty space, quite unsupported. You see a bronze chime lying on the far end of the slab. It looks very far away. >take chime You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the chip of granite from the storage bin. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the sprig of rosemary. You make your way to the Under Ward. You take the flask of vitriolic acid. You take the flask of alum. You make your way to the Main Store. You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You take the orichalcum rod from the safe. You make your way to the Opticks Lab. You make your way to the Main Store. You take the length of silver chain from the shelves. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You enchant the lodestone of purity. You make your way to the Opticks Lab. You use the purity lodestone to recover the elemental earth. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of Gaian precipitate. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You conjure a ponderosity symbol onto the chip of granite. You head to the Deck Suite. You take the impet of kelp oil. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of saline. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the impet of ginger oil from the side table. You take the impet of peppermint oil from the side table. You brew a bottle of fire-resistance potion. You drink the potion of fire resistance. You make your way to the Pyrics Lab. You reach into the kiln and take the porcelain paten. You take the splinter of elemental wood from the table. You make your way to the Under Ward. You take the torch-lighter. You brew a bottle of breath-holding potion. You drink the potion of breath holding. You stash your possessions, swim through the flooded crawlway, unlock the observatory door from the inside, and then retrieve your posessions. You make your way to the Observatory. You apply the ponderosity symbol to the counterweight, breaking the cable. You take the chip of granite. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the sprig of rosemary. You make your way to the Scaphe Arcade. You repressurize the Exoscaphe Bay. You make your way to the Exoscaphe Dome. You take the spare lab key. You make your way to the Lab Hall Northeast. You make your way to the Tertiary Alchemy Lab. You take the vial of anti-Tellurian distillate. You conjure a gossamerity symbol onto the chip of granite. You make your way to the Observatory. You apply the gossamerity symbol to the counterweight, and pick it up. You take the counterweight. You make your way to the Opticks Annex. You take the plain white feather. You make your way to the Secondary Lab Crawlspace. You take the flask of rubbing alcohol. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You enchant the dispersal brush. You make your way to the Chasm Rubble. You use the counterweight to retrieve the bronze F-sharp chime. The breath potion has worn off. You suck in a startling gasp of air. The fire-resistance potion has worn off. >create aither You make your way to the Nave. You take the flask of saline. You take the impet of kelp oil. You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You take the lump of rock salt from the counter. You make your way to the Herbarium Nook. You take the pinch of zafranum. You make your way to the Nave. You take the torch-lighter. You brew a bottle of aither resistance. (You are now in the Nave.) Anyway, to fully explore the wreck I want both of these things. I don't really NEED the permeability charm per se, but it's nice to have. > You make your way to the Observatory. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end. One ladder is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The other, thankfully, is now within reach. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal with its capsule of elemental water. You can also see a chip of granite here. >u You climb the ladder. Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. With the dragon gone, the windows of the dome seem like pointless scenery. Ensign Ctesc is leaning against the handrail. He should not be up here. Of course, neither should you; but Ctesc made it here first, and perhaps for better reasons. A fragment of paper lies on the bridge. Plus, it makes for a good excuse to check on our newest saboteur. >x ctesc Your perspective shifts. Ctesc must have found what he was looking for. You can't help but envy him that. But you also can't help regretting the tragedy that it has led him into. >l Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. With the dragon gone, the windows of the dome seem like pointless scenery. Ensign Ctesc is leaning against the handrail. He should not be up here; but, of course, neither should you. And trespass is the least of Ctesc's sins. A fragment of paper lies on the bridge. >x ctesc Your perspective shifts. Ctesc must have found what he was looking for. You can't help but envy him that. Whatever crimes he committed along the way, he was reaching for the stars. Searching for knowledge is all well and good, but brain piracy? That's maybe a bit much. But as with the others, we'll leave him to his old setting until further decisions are made. > You make your way to the Paper Garden. Paper Garden The garden is the marcher's refuge of meditation and calm. Paper paths wind among beds of paper flowers; the walls are hung with paper trees beneath a calm blue-painted ceiling. A tiny brick-lined pool lies at the garden's center. The place isn't large, but it doesn't feel small. You've always liked it. An opening to the north leads back to the Retort's main corridor, and another south to the lower reaches. To the east, a paper arch gives entry to the paper hedge maze. The observatory door to the west is open. >e Paper Maze, Interior The hedge-maze is just a few symbolic forks and blind alleys. You can see the center to the east, and the exit archway to the west. >e You easily trace the path to the center. Paper Maze, Center You have found the heart of the maze: a circle of paper screens. A single opening to the west leads back to the labyrinth. You also notice an open hatchway which leads to a crawlspace below. With the dragon gone, the illusion of a hedge maze has faded. It's just a paper room. Lt Anderes is here, poised as if stepping out of the maze. Her body is tense, her stance pugnacious. A fragment of paper lies by the hatchway. Anyway, Aistheta does two things for us. First, the Garden Maze no longer requires the lodestone to navigate. And second... > You make your way to the Confusing Cracks. Confusing Cracks You are in a wide space within a maze of basalt blocks. Claustrophobic cracks lead in many directions, but the most promising ones run west and east. In the center of this space is a thick column of stone, colored an eye-catching indigo. It runs from floor to ceiling. A chip of basalt lies here. It must have cracked loose from the walls. >e The layout of the passages seems obvious now. You pick your way forward. Dead End Pit You've come to a dead end, a shallow pit of basalt. The only way out is west. A pale green bead is lying at the bottom of the pit. It looks like jade. Is this. The Confusing Cracks don't have much chance of you getting lost normally, but now there's a bit more explorative room. This jade bead is the last bit we need for the alternate aura imitation ritual, and since it uses air rather than water, we can conserve one of the elements we'd need in order to perform the Great Marriage at the Chancel. >l through oculus You peer through the oculus. Everything acquires a colorful, hazy fringe. The oculus reveals a hyacinth spark floating in the air. >x spark You focus on the hyacinth spark through the oculus. A new memory comes into focus. "...and when she looked into their shadows..." That's all you overheard. You consider these memories. Way to be a kajillion years late to the party, spark. Anyway, to the Bent Chamber!
Strange Airlock This chamber is not hexagonal, but it reminds you of a hexagon in all directions, if that makes sense. Perhaps it doesn't. Strange as the architecture may be, an airlock is clearly an airlock. The outer door to the west is open; the inner door to the north is closed. Next to the door is another small circle. This one contains a film of black liquid. >perform glass The bronze F-sharp chime is already inscribed with the permeability symbol. >drink aither You swallow the indigo potion. The liquid seems to boil in the back of your throat. Your vision hazes blue, and you feel somewhat distant from your feet. Bizarre. Not really bad, just... different. >n (first opening the inner door) You invoke the radix pattern to open the inner door. The blue haze in your vision darkens; your teeth feel numb. Bent Chamber This chamber has odd angles, but you're pretty sure they're not all intentional. The walls look crumpled and the ceiling is bent downwards. Hallways may have once run in several directions, but the only one that remains wide enough to pass is to the east. The airlock door to the south is open. Okay, not too bad. I don't feel like undergoing total existence failure here, we're doing okay. >e Ruined Hallway This hall runs east and west, but to the east the walls are crushed together like a paper sculpture. A wide trapezoidal window is set into the north wall. It looks like ordinary glass, although you suppose one never knows. >strike chime You can't see any such thing. >recall f sharp The bronze F-sharp chime is now within the window (in the Hadean Plain). Aha, we DID need the chime. And because AUTOSOLVE, we already jammed it in the Portico window as before. No biggie, we can undo that.
>strike chime You tap the bronze F-sharp chime. Its soundless vibration runs through your fingers. >touch chime to window You press the chime against the window. The glass vibrates, and the bronze sinks slowly into it -- not like metal into tar, but like a knife sliding between infinitesimal layers of glass. When you draw your hand away, the chime remains suspended in the glass. Its vibration continues at a steady pitch. >n You slide through the vibrating glass. Ruined Chamber This chamber is empty and derelict -- cracked, crooked, uneven. The only exit is a dark gap to the east; you can't tell if it's the remains of a hallway or just a hole in the wall. A wide trapezoidal window is set into the south wall. The F-sharp chime is embedded in the window. A small knot of black marks is drawn on one wall. >x marks You gaze at the knot, willing understanding. comprehension This fourth symbol brings you a new image: the black magnetic oil flowing over ceramic shards. You recognize the debris which lies outside the wreck. The vibration of the bronze F-sharp chime continues. Since we don't have anymore dragons to subsume, the fourth symbol isn't too useful. It will let us summon Syndesis to check help us get the thoughts of the crew, and I'll be doing as much to get Ctesc's thoughts before we finish the game, but that's about all it does. It also gives us something new and exciting to do with the polar oil, which... >recall polar oil The vial of polar oil is still in the panel (in the Hadean Land, at Wreck). >go to polar oil The vial of polar oil is in the Hadean Land, at Wreck, as you recall. You head that way. You push through the glass. You invoke the caudex pattern to open the outer door. You make your way to the Hadean Land, at Wreck. Hadean Land, at Wreck You stand at the foot of a wall of metal. It's not a simple construction; it leans inward here, outward there, tracing an irregular shape that looms over the dusty plain. Perhaps it's broken, for debris is scattered around. Mountains rise all around, forming a jagged grey bowl which cups the metal wreck. You can see the canyon pass to the northwest. A hexagonal door to the east has slid partway open. >take oil You can't see any such thing. >speak radix You begin running through the geometric sequence in your head. When you reach the end, you feel slightly dizzy, but there is no other result. ...We can't currently get since the mercury is gone. Well, we might be able to do something else before resetting anyway. >x door The door has slid partway to the side, permitting entrance. >go to dusty Which do you mean, the dusty bubble or the pinecone? >bubble The dusty bubble is in the Opticks Closet, as you recall. You head that way. You close the outer door and pressurize the airlock. You make your way to the Opticks Closet. Opticks Closet This closet is sometimes used for storage, but the whims of marcher scheduling have left it empty at the moment. In one dusty corner you notice a fist-sized glass bubble, which is rather dusty itself. >take (the dusty bubble) Taken. > You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the long quartz prism from the storage bin. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the impet of citronelle oil. The orichalcum rod is gone; you used it in a ritual, here in the Chymic Lab. You don't know where to get another one. (While trying to create the aura impermeability, to pass the aura cloud in, to reach the Medical Wing.) (You are now in the Chymic Lab.) Or not. We used it to make the Gaian precipitate, to be specific. But now we shouldn't need to head back out to the wreck anymore: if all goes well, the Great Marriage will work with Syndesis the Frankensteinian alchemy monster. Let's get that polar oil thing resolved.
Hadean Land, at Wreck You stand at the foot of a wall of metal. It's not a simple construction; it leans inward here, outward there, tracing an irregular shape that looms over the dusty plain. Perhaps it's broken, for debris is scattered around. Mountains rise all around, forming a jagged grey bowl which cups the metal wreck. You can see the canyon pass to the northwest. A hexagonal outline on the wall, to the east, might be a door. If so, it is closed. Next to the hexagon, a small circular arc is incised into the metal. A small puddle of mercury gleams in the dust. >take oil You can't see any such thing. Continued adventures of the parser completely failing whenever the mercury gets involved. >take mercury You glance around for a container, and settle on a broken saucer-shaped bit of ceramic. You gently scoop up the mercury droplet. >put mercury in arc You tilt the mercury droplet against the circle. It sticks to the metal, and slowly spreads out until it reaches the edge. There is now a perfect circle of quicksilver, mirror-flat, clinging to the wall. >speak radix You begin running through the radix access geometric sequence in your head. The quicksilver circle vibrates in response; complex ripples refract across it. When the sequence is complete, a metal panel neatly and silently rotates, hiding the quicksilver circle from view. Instead, a small niche is now visible, containing a vial of black oil. >take oil Taken. >pour oil on debris You look for a large bit of ceramic, and pour the black oil onto it. It flows off in inky streams, which branch and ramify in the Hadean dust. For a moment you are looking at familiar -- that is, familiarly strange -- twisted black markings. They refer to calyx access, the flowering of knowledge... not a physical transition, but a pathway of communication. It has the odor of dragons about it. Then the oil sinks into the dust, all at once, and is gone without a trace. Calyx access, eh? Wonder what that does. Anyway, since our mercury is gone AGAIN, we can't get Syndesis to go say hi to Ctesc, so we're going to get all our ducks lined up to finish off the Great Marriage proper. So!
First up: the alternate aura imitation. > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. >put ribbon on shelf You put the Chinese amulet on the gestalt shelf. >put iron, jade in bound iron bead: Done. jade bead: Done. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow indigo around the jade bead and the iron bead. >ignite cedar (with the torch-lighter) You hold the torch-lighter to the splinter of cedar. The cedar catches quickly, and burns with a dull orange flame. >put cedar on shelf You put the burning splinter of cedar on the gestalt shelf. >speak tortoise You call out the Name of the Tortoise in a firm voice. The splinter of cedar flares up and is abruptly quenched. The smoke whirls into a vortex around the iron and jade; the beads roll towards each other. >put dusty in bound You twist the bubble's valve, and carefully vent the elemental air over the iron and jade. The beads are now clinging tightly together. >speak chi You begin the Chi Binding, paying proper attention to your tonality. The balance of the five elements comes into focus in your mind. Spectral voices are chanting in unison, somewhere in the distance. (Song Dynasty rituals always unsettle you.) Slowly, the iron melts into the jade. When the binding is complete, the bound snaps into darkness; but a small symbol shines on the jade bead. >take all jade bead: You pick up the jade bead, careful of its inscribed imitation symbol. splinter of cedar: Taken. Chinese amulet: Taken. Cool. Spooky, but cool. So that consumed one dose of elemental air, but we have two, so that's fine. And we won't need elemental water for anything else, so the capsule in the Observatory is set. So we'll need a second source of elemental fire for the FIRE-DEVOURER...
And a perfect diamond to replace the elemental earth in the solvent.
> You make your way to the Paper Maze Center. Paper Maze, Center You have found the heart of the maze: a circle of paper screens. A single opening to the west leads back to the labyrinth. You also notice an open hatchway which leads to a crawlspace below. With the dragon gone, the illusion of a hedge maze has faded. It's just a paper room. Lt Anderes is here, poised as if stepping out of the maze. Her body is tense, her stance pugnacious. A fragment of paper lies by the hatchway. >touch jade to anderes You press the jade bead against Lt Anderes. You feel nothing, but the symbol distorts, absorbing the imprint of her aura. And just to show I can: anyone but Ctesc should work as a valid aura for getting into the Chancel. That's not a huge problem for us since Ctesc is the least accessible at the moment, but details. > You make your way to the Secondary Lab Crawlspace. You take the flask of rubbing alcohol. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. You take the impet of ginger oil from the side table. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You brew a bottle of fire devourer. You make your way to the Burning Hall West. You extinguish the fire with the bottle of fire devourer. You apply the obsidian solvent to the obsidian door. The jade bead is already inscribed with the imitation symbol. The jade bead is already imitating Lt Anderes. You apply the imitation symbol to yourself and open the gate. You make your way to the Chancel. Chancel The Nave may be the heart of the Retort, but the Chancel is its soul. The Master Rector performs the marcher's most crucial rituals here. The ritual bound is a low pedestal of chased rutilum, with a shelf beside it. The rest of the room is rather emptier than it looked from outside. To the north is the writ screen, and the Nave beyond it. To the south, the circular gate stands open. A crisp sheet of paper is pinned next to the screen. >recall water You have not been there yet, but you presume the capsule of elemental water is waiting on the compass (in the Observatory). >x air Which do you mean, the scratched bubble or the dusty bubble? >scratched This is a glass bubble, slightly scratched, with a valve attached. The odd fisheye effect within indicates that it is charged with elemental air. >x fire Which do you mean, the flaming phlogisticated gold rod or the torch-lighter? >gold Phlogisticated gold is a rare alchemical resource. This rod is half the length of your finger. One end burns with the deep golden incandescence of elemental fire. >x earth A shard of elemental earth -- colorless crystal with a milky translucency -- set in a fine crystal bezel. So yeah, we can make it to the Chancel with all four elements! Pro as HELL. >rooms Since the accident, you have visited these notable locations:
>things Since the accident, you have found (or created) these (portable) items:
>doors You have yet to deal with the following locked doors and barriers:
>rituals You have learned forty-five rituals: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
>formulas You know an impressive list of alchemical formulae:
>facts You have picked up assorted facts:
People:
Dragons:
Last chance to change what you think of everyone, by the way. Next Time: Captain Ashe Hart Last edited by Kalir; 09-09-2015 at 11:41 PM. |
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#49
09-09-2015, 11:09 PM
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Really, everyone sucks here except the Captain herself.
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#51
09-13-2015, 01:54 PM
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The orichalcum rod is gone; you used it in a ritual in the Nave. You don't know where to get another one. (While trying to create copper percalcinate, to create the aura invisibility, to open the engraved door, to reach the Birdhouse.) (You are now in the Paper Garden.) >reset You make your way back to the Void. Void You drift outside the world again. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. Hi! What? So, today we're gonna try to run the Great Marriage, but before we do, we need to have a few words with Ctesc, and also get a few words out of him. This means getting Syndesis into the Aithery a second time, but that won't be hard.
> Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. You can also see an impet of kelp oil, a flask of saline, a torch-lighter, a splinter of elemental wood, and a porcelain paten here. >put block on shelf You put the measuring block on the gestalt shelf. >speak marcher You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >speak symmetric You begin reciting the values of the symmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the same as the beginning). >speak dracon You rumble your way through the Dracon Invocation. A sense of pressure builds in the air. You feel something move, in the distance. The bound slowly dims. Syndesis silently arrives. Okay, we've got Syndesis. Before I forget, I want to see if that calyx sequence we used does anything, and since it was linked to dragons... >speak calyx You run through the calyx access sequence in your head. Syndesis's runes quiver in response. You have a sudden sense of the Retort's operation: the routine maintenance of coherence and integrity, air and light, structure and position, weight and gravity. A thought flows from the dragon to you: "Marcher systems are alive; transition may now be possible. Please attempt reanimation procedure in the Chancel. Extended status report via memory dump, dragon nest location." Well that's promising! If you don't have enough dragons revived, the message is more frantic and demands you to fix them first. But we'll have to swing by the Birdhouse later. First things first though. > You make your way to the Observatory. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end, but only one of the two is lowered, and that one is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The south-side ladder is folded up under the bridge; its counterweight hangs near the floor. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal. Syndesis arrives a moment later. >u You make your way to the Opticks Annex. You take the chip of flint from the storage bin. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the sprig of rosemary. You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the flask of vitriolic acid. You make your way to the Under Ward. You take the flask of alum. You make your way to the Main Store. You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You take the orichalcum rod from the safe. You make your way to the Opticks Lab. You make your way to the Main Store. You take the length of silver chain from the shelves. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the silver coin. You enchant the lodestone of purity. You make your way to the Opticks Lab. You use the purity lodestone to recover the elemental earth. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You brew a vial of Gaian precipitate. The lead rod became the white amalgam rod, which became the length of white amalgam wire, which is still in the groove (in the Materials Store). (While trying to acquire the lead rod, to set up an appropriate environment, to create the lead weight increase, to lower the Aithery bridge ladder, to reach the Aithery.) (You are now in the Chymic Lab.) Syndesis slides in along the wall. Pfff, fine. Stupid order of events. Well I'm not going to undo everything I did, just go back to Syndesis' report. >perform imitation Which do you mean, the aura imitation inscription (with quartz) or the aura imitation inscription (with jade)? >jade You make your way to the Dead End Pit. You take the jade bead. You make your way to the Mechanica Lab. You take the iron bead from the counter. You make your way to the Opticks Closet. You take the dusty bubble. You make your way to the Materials Store. You take the long quartz prism from the storage bin. You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the impet of citronelle oil. You make your way to the Main Store. You recall the combination, and unlock the safe. You take the orichalcum rod from the safe. You make your way to the Study Room. You take the Chinese amulet. You conjure an impermeability symbol onto the long quartz prism. You apply the impermeability symbol to yourself and stride through the cloud. You make your way to the Medical Workroom. You take the scratched bubble. You fill both bubbles. You take the crusty scalpel. You aeroclave the scalpel clean. You conjure a prophylaxis symbol onto the clean scalpel. You strike the gong and wave the scalpel. You make your way to the Nave. You take the torch-lighter. You take the Chinese amulet. You conjure an imitation symbol onto the jade bead. > You make your way to the Lab Hall Northeast. Lab Hall Northeast This is the northeast corner of the laboratory hallway, which runs south and west. The lab stairwell opens to the southwest, but a fracture prevents entry. The Tertiary Lab is to the east; its door is open. The Pyrics Lab door to the north is also open. The Captain is standing here, gazing moodily off down the hall. She looks nearly human like this; it's rather charming. Syndesis arrives a moment later. The dragon slides past the Captain's frozen form. As it does, you hear her voice: "How can I clear out that crawlway without alerting anyone?" But she has not moved. >touch jade to captain You press the jade bead against Captain Hart. You feel nothing, but the symbol distorts, absorbing the imprint of her aura. > You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Top Two hallways intersect beneath an elegant vault of brick-red tile, which sweeps around to follow a grand staircase down to the lower levels. The garden is visible to the north. To the west is the ornate door of the Birdhouse, which is closed. The hall to the south is blocked by yet another fracture. The side corridor to the east is much the worse; its far end seems to be on fire. Syndesis silently arrives. >touch jade to self You press the jade bead against your hand. The imitation symbol discharges with a thrum. You feel a sudden dissociation, an estrangement, as though your thoughts belonged to someone else. >w (first opening the engraved door) The handle is solid in your fingers now, although your hand feels like part of someone else's body. Birdhouse The Birdhouse is a circular chamber with no roof. It's not open to the sky; it just goes up forever. The door to the east is open. You also see a cracked flagstone with a gap leading to a crawlspace below. The name comes from a ring of metal pylons that take up the center of the room. You can see the fanciful resemblance to a birdcage, but the cage is empty now; the dragon is gone. A fragment of paper lies to one side. The sense of estrangement fades away. The reality of the world reasserts itself. Syndesis drifts into the room. It whirls contemplatively, and then settles back into its original location. So, an extended status report via memory dump... I think that means another spark, right? >l through oculus You peer through the oculus. Everything acquires a colorful, hazy fringe. The oculus reveals a colorless spark floating in the air. >x spark You focus on the colorless spark through the oculus. A new memory comes into focus. "The pylons in the Birdhouse exhibit traces of oxidation. Marcher transit in this state is risky. Recommendation: inscribe an intensional ballast and place it below the Birdhouse." And then: "An intensional ballast may serve to support a failing alchemical construct, though only in the direst emergency, for the results are uncertain and of limited duration. The ritual is simply a refinement of the universal tarnish cleansing. Add zafranum after the lubanja spirit, and conclude with the Greater Phlogistical Saturation instead of the Lesser. The brass token will then be able to infuse phlogiston, at need, directly into the nearest construct." You consider these memories. Ah, so this is another problem to worry about, and a significant one. I don't know what all the pylons do, but given their link to a dragon they've got to be pretty important. Let's make the ballast for the sake of practice, even though we'll be resetting once more.
> You make your way to the Tertiary Alchemy Lab. Tertiary Alchemy Lab This is the Retort's fanciest lab, all shiny and new. Of course, the rectors usually have it reserved for fancy shiny work. The center of the room is a dais, built with a ritual arc in bright platinum inlay. The door to the west is open. You notice a pale-gold vial labelled "nickel". We never did find a reason to use the nickel here. Oh well. Perhaps if we instead revived Pneuma it'd see use. >put pin in bound You put the brass pin into the catalytic bound. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow green around the brass pin. >speak categorical You intone the categorical imperative. The metallic nature of the brass pin extends smoothly and clearly into a general class. >put java on pin You carefully drip lubanja onto the brass pin; a cleansing solvent quality adheres to the metal. >put zafranum on pin The green light ripples as you push through the arc. You sift the zafranum threads onto the brass pin. They dissolve into the metal, lending it a clear green tint. >speak greater You begin the Greater Phlogistical Saturation. The tonal vowels and labial stops require all your concentration, but you manage to hold them in place. The energy pulses and converges. The green light goes blinding-bright, drawing together the blended aromas and the words that you speak. When the light fades, a symbol shines on the surface of the brass pin. >take all vial of shaved nickel: Taken. brass pin: You pick up the brass pin, careful of its inscribed fixation symbol. Hooray, we made a metaphorically heavy thing! Let's reset and actually go read Ctesc's thoughts. Fair's fair.
>u You climb the ladder. Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. With the dragon gone, the windows of the dome seem like pointless scenery. Ensign Ctesc is leaning against the handrail. He should not be up here. Of course, neither should you; but Ctesc made it here first, and perhaps for better reasons. A fragment of paper lies on the bridge. >x ctesc Your perspective shifts. Ctesc must have found what he was looking for. You can't help but envy him that. But you also can't help regretting the tragedy that it has led him into. Perhaps not the scathing condemnation people were expecting, but ah well. Moving along.
>u You climb the ladder. Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. With the dragon gone, the windows of the dome seem like pointless scenery. Ensign Ctesc is leaning against the handrail. He should not be up here; but, of course, neither should you. And trespass is the least of Ctesc's sins. A fragment of paper lies on the bridge. Syndesis silently arrives. The dragon slides past the Ensign's frozen form. As it does, you hear his voice: "If the Captain senses my probe, it'll be the death penalty." He has not moved. The implication here is that it would be possible to sense such brain piracy. And Ctesc is still fairly new to alchemy, so it's not like he'd be hard to miss unless you were really distracted, which at this point we are pretty sure the Captain was. That does not absolve him by like a MILE. But enough about this loser! We have a Great Marriage to perform!
> You make your way to the Paper Garden. Paper Garden The garden is the marcher's refuge of meditation and calm. Paper paths wind among beds of paper flowers; the walls are hung with paper trees beneath a calm blue-painted ceiling. A tiny brick-lined pool lies at the garden's center. The place isn't large, but it doesn't feel small. You've always liked it. An opening to the north leads back to the Retort's main corridor, and another south to the lower reaches. To the east, a paper arch gives entry to the paper hedge maze. The observatory door to the west is open. Syndesis slides in along the wall. So, one significant problem with the ballast. We can't, uh, actually get to the expected area of the Birdhouse Crawlspace as is. We don't have the orichalcum we need to get into there AND into the Medical Wing for the elemental air. But we might be able to ballpark it. >d You take a deep breath and jump into the chilly water. Garden Pool You are floating in a well, eight feet across and perhaps ten feet deep. The water is cold and still. The water's surface is a sheet of light above you, and the base of the well is a circle of darkness below. In the center of the darkness you see a darker hole. It's an opening in the floor below you, a narrow shaft running downward out of sight. You no longer see Syndesis. As you enter, the brass pin acquires a hazy glow. >d You kick downwards until your lungs heave in your chest. But the channel's end is still nowhere in sight. You flip around and stretch for the surface. You can't hold your breath much longer. Hm... not promising, but I don't know that we can do much better. >u You break the surface, blow out breath, and pull yourself from the water. Paper Garden The garden is the marcher's refuge of meditation and calm. Paper paths wind among beds of paper flowers; the walls are hung with paper trees beneath a calm blue-painted ceiling. A tiny brick-lined pool lies at the garden's center. The place isn't large, but it doesn't feel small. You've always liked it. An opening to the north leads back to the Retort's main corridor, and another south to the lower reaches. To the east, a paper arch gives entry to the paper hedge maze. The observatory door to the west is open. Syndesis slides into the room behind you. The brass pin is no longer glowing. >d You take a deep breath and jump into the chilly water. Garden Pool You are floating in a well, eight feet across and perhaps ten feet deep. The water is cold and still. The water's surface is a sheet of light above you, and the base of the well is a circle of darkness below. In the center of the darkness you see a darker hole. It's an opening in the floor below you, a narrow shaft running downward out of sight. You no longer see Syndesis. As you enter, the brass pin acquires a hazy glow. >drop pin Dropped. >u You pull yourself out of the water. Paper Garden The garden is the marcher's refuge of meditation and calm. Paper paths wind among beds of paper flowers; the walls are hung with paper trees beneath a calm blue-painted ceiling. A tiny brick-lined pool lies at the garden's center. The place isn't large, but it doesn't feel small. You've always liked it. An opening to the north leads back to the Retort's main corridor, and another south to the lower reaches. To the east, a paper arch gives entry to the paper hedge maze. The observatory door to the west is open. Syndesis silently arrives. Here's hoping that'll hold it. Now let's get ready to marry it up old-school.
Oh, and one last thing. If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it all the way. >perform basic tarnish You make your way to the Paper Garden. You set aside your possessions for a moment and dive for the brass pin. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the sprig of rosemary. You conjure a basic saturation symbol onto the brass pin. (You are now in the Pyrics Store.) Syndesis silently arrives. >go to calipers The tarnished calipers is in the Secondary Alchemy Lab, as you recall. You head that way. You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab. Secondary Alchemy Lab The lab is familiar enough: rough wooden walls, the broad stone surface of the workbench. The lab door is to the north; it's open, and the lab hall is reassuringly visible outside. Some kind of fracture blocks the east side of the room from you. On a side table, you see a sheet of instructions and a pair of tarnished calipers. Next to the table, an iron panel stands open; you can see a crawlway below. You can also see an impet of peppermint oil here. Syndesis arrives a moment later. >touch pin to calipers You carefully lay the basic saturation symbol against the calipers. With a loud crackle, the symbol discharges. Sparks dance over the calipers; the tarnished brass flakes and vibrates. Within moments, the calipers are gleaming brightly. The alchemical energies fade, leaving a perfectly polished instrument. Take that, Sarge, you think, with some smugness. >take all impet of peppermint oil: Taken. gleaming calipers: Taken. As it just so happens, these calipers have the same orderly influence that the measuring cube we've been relying on has. And this just seems more fitting for Forsyth, no?
> You make your way to the Chancel. Chancel The Nave may be the heart of the Retort, but the Chancel is its soul. The Master Rector performs the marcher's most crucial rituals here. The ritual bound is a low pedestal of chased rutilum, with a shelf beside it. The rest of the room is rather emptier than it looked from outside. To the north is the writ screen, and the Nave beyond it. To the south, the circular gate stands open. A crisp sheet of paper is pinned next to the screen. You no longer see Syndesis. Nothing else to do but get this started. Hopefully this time it won't kill us like the last time we did it. >put calipers on shelf You put the gleaming calipers on the gestalt shelf. >speak marcher You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >put billet on shelf You put the ephemeris billet on the gestalt shelf. >wave rosemary You wave the sprig, and inhale its fresh, resinous aroma. The air seems to sharpen. >put earth in bound The grey light ripples as you push through the arc. The shard of elemental earth does not fall. It hangs in the center of the circle, spinning and spinning, until it blurs into an indistinct haze. >put water in bound You crack open the capsule, and pour the elemental water into the bound. The sparkling drops never land on the workbench surface. Instead, they whirl around the arc, and slowly fade into the thickening haze. >put air in bound You twist the bubble's valve, and carefully vent the elemental air into the bound. It whisks around the arc, and joins the thickening haze. >put fire in bound The grey light ripples as you push through the arc. The elemental fire leaps from the rod; you pull the cold rod back. The flame whirls unsupported in the center of the arc, slowly dimming into the thickening haze. The whirling haze in the bound slows. It is more difficult to see, now; not dissipating, but developing an aching lucent clarity. The space above the pedestal seems more transparent than air. >speak dracon You rumble your way through the Dracon Invocation. A sense of pressure builds in the air. The bound slowly dims; Syndesis slides into the Chancel, through the writ screen; across the ceiling; towards the pedestal. It seems to move slowly, but you have no sense of time to react. The dragon is above the pedestal now. The whirling haze rises to meet it. Then the rotating violet-red runes begin to descend, one by one, loosed from their circles, free in the darkening air. Blood, incense, ruin, screams. *** You had awakened *** You were buried in wreckage Weight pressed down on you. You could not make out what had fallen -- broken beams, chunks of ceiling tile -- but it hurt. You hurt. You tried to shift; the only way out was up. >u You pushed debris aside. A chill bled into stale, hot air. You bled too, and wrenched your body free. You have crawled into a ruined corridor The light has nearly vanished. The dimness and vertigo have rendered the laboratory corridor of the Retort nearly unrecognizable. Your cleaning work in the alchemy lab... no. Not important. Where could Ashe... could the Captain be? Not looking for you; whatever you've shared, whatever she's thought of you, the marcher takes precedence. She'll have gone for the Aithery, or for the Chancel. You've seen the way out of here. >out You have made your way along the corridor, scrambling over fallen debris. And a few human forms, but none of them breathe. You've recognized the hand of Sergeant Brooks protruding obscenely from under stone. You've passed it by. You will reach the Nave The Nave will be as dark as the rest of the Retort; moth-flickers of phlogiston will dance in the lamps. The floor will be clear now, the ceiling whole; but the walls will be dense with black, alien markings. You will not recognize them. You will not understand how they got there. The marcher will be abandoned, as far as you will be able to see. You will barely have learned the rudiments of alchemy, but the ritual bound will be unscathed. Surely there will be something you can try. >recall Your spinning mind will only be able to catch the simple sealing word. >speak simple You will have no assurance that this can possibly work. An apprentice bringing a marcher back to life... but still. *** You will begin *** [In the course of this game, you reset the world 20 times -- 3 involuntarily.] Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, QUIT, or UNDO the last command? So... that's the ending. Or the beginning, perhaps. It's not quite clear. But we did it, right? We restored the marcher and returned to civilization, and saved everyone! Did Anderes, Ctesc, and Powes get properly tried for their crimes? Did they survive? Did the Captain survive? Did we? >quit Next Time: Memory daimon |
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#53
09-14-2015, 02:26 PM
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It doesn't keep bouncing; it starts past-tense, then switches to future-tense when he will have reached reaches the Nave
I can't help but think that's important. |
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#54
09-21-2015, 03:10 PM
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So... did we win?
...Yeah, we did. Kinda. That's the ending of the game. It feels like it came clean out of left field, and honestly it kind of did. But yeah, that's how it ends! But there's just one problem: we didn't get the best ending. But before I discuss that... How to Revive your Dragon Remember how I said the dragon we revive and our outlook on the characters would both affect SOMETHING UNKNOWN about the endgame? Let's start with the dragon first. Obviously, the order you subsume the other dragons is determined by which dragon you start with. That said, you can revive any dragon and still finish the game. In my first run of the game, I revived Baros first. And if you don't like your initial choice, congratulations: there's a way to change your choice! > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You can see a Chinese amulet, a torch-lighter, an impet of kelp oil, a flask of saline, a splinter of elemental wood, and a porcelain paten here. >put cube on shelf Which do you mean, the measuring block or the fluorspar crystal? >block You put the measuring block on the gestalt shelf. >speak marcher You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the Marcher's Sealing. The arc begins to glow smoke-grey. >speak antisymmetric You begin reciting the values of the antisymmetric sequence. After a few minutes and a bit of counting on your fingers, you reach the end (which is of course the inverse of the beginning). Just like with the Gaian precipitate, reciting the antisymmetric sequence here will reverse the polarity of the subsumption. Which is to say, the damaged dragon will consume the active one and all its functions. There's no real in-lore reason for us or anyone to do this, but meta-wise... >speak dracon You rumble your way through the Dracon Invocation. A sense of pressure builds in the air. You feel something move, in the distance. The bound slowly dims. Syndesis slides in along the wall. > You make your way to the Observatory. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end. One ladder is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The other, thankfully, is now within reach. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal with its capsule of elemental water. The counterweight lies here, looking massive. Syndesis silently arrives. >u You climb the ladder. Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. The dragon Aistheta is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed on the dome just overhead. They still look lifeless and inert. A fragment of paper lies on the bridge. Syndesis slides into the room behind you. This is my savefile from before we subsumed Aistheta. >wait Time passes. Syndesis is being drawn towards Aistheta. >wait Time passes. Syndesis slides towards Aistheta, faster and faster. At the last moment, Syndesis seems to crumple, break apart, and fly into the heart of Aistheta -- which flares to yellow-white life. You hear, smell, see a confusion of smells and sounds and colored light. *** You awaken again *** Secondary Alchemy Lab (You make your way back to the Nave.) Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. You notice a fresh sheet of paper by the pedestal. >recall syndesis Syndesis was responsible for the Retort's travel between worlds and its coherence within itself. Syndesis is gone. Its function has been absorbed by Aistheta. >recall aistheta Aistheta is responsible for awareness of the Retort's location and environment. It has also absorbed Pneuma, Syndesis, and Baros. Aistheta is in the Aithery. Last you saw, something was wrong with it. And that's how you can switch dragons. Just to confirm that it worked as intended...
Aithery This bridge crosses the upper span of the observatory dome. There's nothing at either end except a ladder. This is a place to stand and watch the Cosmos, and the Retort's place in it. The dragon Aistheta is a mandala of alchemical runes inscribed on the dome just overhead. The circles rotate majestically, shining with yellow-white radiance (and hints of sea-green, violet-red, and brown-gold). The dragon has wakened. A fragment of paper lies on the bridge. Yep, that's an Aistheta all right. But what does switching around the dragon after the fact even do for us? Who Killed Mr. Boddy? In our run of the game, Captain Hart was the focus of the backstory. Yeah, Ctesc and Anderes and Powes all were doing assorted types of shenanigans that might impair the workings of the marcher, but ultimately the responsibility is supposed to lie with the Captain. Well, that's one possibility. Naturally, most of us didn't see it that way, and we were inclined to look favorably on the Captain. If we were instead critical of her, the ending would change to reflect it. I don't have the text on hand, but basically the endgame Forsyth (?) would hold no delusions that she actually had feelings for him. But the dragon that you end up with by the Great Marriage also determines who the focus in the endgame is. For example, going with Aistheta would have us focusing on Ctesc. This would change a few things with the others, too: Anderes would be working with Ctesc and Powes would be trying to sabotage him, and the Captain's affair would be with Ctesc. And the endgame would have a character who might be Forsyth wondering if one of Ctesc's experiments was to blame for the catastrophe. And in this case, whether we admired Ctesc's quest for knowledge or frowned upon him for his lack of caution would color the endgame text too. This changes for the other characters too, of course. Reviving Pneuma makes Anderes central, and reviving Baros makes Powes central. In all instances, anyone who isn't the central character is working with, having an affair with, or attempting to sabotage the central character. And the central character would in turn be focused on our endgame character... Just Who the Heck Is This Forsyth Guy Anyway? The safe assumption is that Forsyth is both our current character and the character in the endgame. The temporal logistics of it all are fuzzy, but we have some clues as to what may have happened available ingame. >x self Not the most promising Ensign in His Majesty's Navy. Look at this nerd. Who'd have guessed they were so important? Not just anyone can catch the Captain's attention (and then completely forget about it, apparently). ...Why did they forget about it? Amnesia from the crash? Well, Forsyth isn't a doctor, but maybe some of our informative tools might help. >x self through oculus You peer through the oculus at your hand. Your aura is a recurving, symmetrical mesh of fire, water, earth, and air. Lovely -- but perplexing. You know from your lectures that human bodies are indeed a balanced meld of the elements -- in the Greek model, at least. But this pattern is far more intricate than old Lieutenant Shoftig's diagrams. Something about the crash must have affected the oculus's vision. (Or... yourself. You hope not.) Now that's curious. Examining any other human with the oculus provides the expected result, a combination of the four Greek elements. But they're not quite as intricate as this, so that's our first clue that Forsyth isn't quite himself. >x self through lens You peer at your hand through the lens. Okay, that's not what you looked like the last time you played with this sort of lens. The human body is Gaian, or it should be -- you don't recognize these associations at all. Something about the crash must have affected the lens's vision. (Just like the resonant oculus? Maybe it is you, after all.) And there's our second. There is a third clue too, if you touch the dispersal brush to yourself, where it starts crackling painfully against you, which definitely isn't meant to happen to humans. The safe assumption here is that this Forsyth is some kind of alchemical duplication of Forsyth from the endgame, somehow divorced from the normal flow of time and space in order to repair the marcher. This doesn't really mean anything during the game, but it does tell us stuff. Unfortunately, in our game, Forsyth technically failed. The reason for this is... The Birdhouse Sucks > You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Top Two hallways intersect beneath an elegant vault of brick-red tile, which sweeps around to follow a grand staircase down to the lower levels. The garden is visible to the north. To the west is the ornate door of the Birdhouse, which is closed. The hall to the south is blocked by yet another fracture. The side corridor to the east is much the worse; its far end seems to be on fire. This is my save just before entering the Chancel for the final marriage, where we have the ballast and everything we need to enter. There's just one problem. >w (first opening the engraved door) You make your way to the Chymic Lab. You take the flask of muriatic acid. The orichalcum rod is gone; you used it in a ritual in the Nave. You don't know where to get another one. (While trying to create copper percalcinate, to create the aura invisibility, to open the engraved door.) (You are now in the Chymic Lab.) Getting into the Birdhouse to place the ballast requires orichalcum. But in order to get the elemental air, we need the orichalcum to enter the Medical Wing, and the only duplicated thing on the entire ship is, arguably, Forsyth. And as you saw from our endgame, we have to place the ballast in the Birdhouse. > You make your way to the Bottom of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Bottom This basement is bare, square, and dank. It has, as far as you are aware, no function whatsoever. (Perhaps every house needs a basement, but the Navy does not stoop to clutter.) The walls are tile; they arch up to join the grand staircase as it ascends to the main levels. The Barosy lies to the east, through a narrow iron gate with a brass lock. An irregular gap in the south wall opens out into a larger, darker space. The chamber has been defaced with more of the involuted black marks. Something about a circle filled with liquid metal. Your eye is drawn to a pale yellow bead lying in a corner. We get no reaction at the bottom of the Grand Stair, sensible though that would be. >u You climb the grand staircase. Grand Stair, Top Two hallways intersect beneath an elegant vault of brick-red tile, which sweeps around to follow a grand staircase down to the lower levels. The garden is visible to the north. To the west is the ornate door of the Birdhouse, which is closed. The hall to the south is blocked by yet another fracture. The side corridor to the east is much the worse; its far end seems to be on fire. >x door This door leads to the Birdhouse, the lair of one of the Retort's dragons. It is engraved with a moiré geometric design -- something Moorish, no doubt symbolic of the dragon's function. The Birdhouse door is closed. >speak calyx You begin running through the geometric sequence in your head. When you reach the end, you feel slightly dizzy, but there is no other result. The door itself is unresponsive to everything except aura invisibility or aura imitation of a superior officer. >n Paper Garden The garden is the marcher's refuge of meditation and calm. Paper paths wind among beds of paper flowers; the walls are hung with paper trees beneath a calm blue-painted ceiling. A tiny brick-lined pool lies at the garden's center. The place isn't large, but it doesn't feel small. You've always liked it. An opening to the north leads back to the Retort's main corridor, and another south to the lower reaches. To the east, a paper arch gives entry to the paper hedge maze. The observatory door to the west is open. >create breath You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the impet of kelp oil. You take the flask of saline. You take the porcelain paten. You take the splinter of elemental wood. You brew a bottle of breath-holding potion. (You are now in the Pyrics Store.) > You make your way to the Paper Garden. Paper Garden The garden is the marcher's refuge of meditation and calm. Paper paths wind among beds of paper flowers; the walls are hung with paper trees beneath a calm blue-painted ceiling. A tiny brick-lined pool lies at the garden's center. The place isn't large, but it doesn't feel small. You've always liked it. An opening to the north leads back to the Retort's main corridor, and another south to the lower reaches. To the east, a paper arch gives entry to the paper hedge maze. The observatory door to the west is open. >drink breath You swallow the clear potion. The liquid burns icily down your throat, and then settles as a cold heaviness in your lungs. >d You jump into the chilly water. The potion is still working -- you feel no urge to breathe. Elemental fire burns underwater, it seems; the phlogisticated gold rod bubbles and sputters away furiously. On top of that, the bundle of paper dissolves. Garden Pool You are floating in a well, eight feet across and perhaps ten feet deep. The water is cold and still. The water's surface is a sheet of light above you, and the base of the well is a circle of darkness below. In the center of the darkness you see a darker hole. It's an opening in the floor below you, a narrow shaft running downward out of sight. As you enter, the brass pin acquires a hazy glow. The hazy glow here indicates a proper spot for the ballast... assuming we revive Pneuma. The root of the problem changes with the revived dragon, too. In all instances, we'd need to place the ballast under the dragon's nest (or in the case of Baros, in the crawlway north of it). > You make your way to the Master-at-Arms Quarters. You take the flint key. You make your way to the Bottom of the Grand Stair. You crawl through the Barosy crevice. You make your way to the Garden Crawlway. Garden Crawlway You are at the west end of a low corridor, but the way east is fracture-blocked. Light spills down from an opening above. There's a wide crack in the south wall, although it looks like it narrows ahead. The gravity feels normal now. >s The crevice grows narrower as you advance. But you eventually see light ahead. Barosy Crevice You are crawling along a tight passage through the bowels of the Earth. Or some world, at any rate. Some light leaks in from the Barosy, ahead of you, to the south. Behind you is only darkness. The gravity feels normal now. As you enter, the brass pin acquires a hazy glow. Like so. And for Aistheta... > You make your way to the Observatory. Observatory This is the observatory, the Retort's guiding eye. The dome overhead is set with windows, and each window shows a different sky and a different array of stars. One level above you, an ironwork bridge crosses the dome, north to south. A ladder descends at either end, but only one of the two is lowered, and that one is obstructed by a fracture that cuts off the north side of the dome. The south-side ladder is folded up under the bridge; its counterweight hangs near the floor. The door to the east is open. Open alcoves to the north and south house additional equipment, but again, the north side is fracture-blocked. You also see the flooded crawlway hatch at your feet. In the center of the chamber, beneath the bridge, stands the compass pedestal. The brass pin is no longer glowing. >d You jump into the chilly water. The potion is still working -- you feel no urge to breathe. Elemental fire burns underwater, it seems; the phlogisticated gold rod bubbles and sputters away furiously. Observatory Crawlspace, Flooded You are floating in the submerged crawlway, which runs back to the north. Another collapse blocks further passage south. A hatchway above gives access to the open air. As you enter, the brass pin acquires a hazy glow. The Observatory Crawlspace is the spot to go to. And there's no way to clear out the collapse, which would theoratically take us to the Birdhouse Crawlspace necessary to place the ballast at. >s The crawlway to the south is blocked by fallen beams. >x beams The crawlway to the south is blocked by another collapse. Since the game is quite unhelpful as to how to remedy this, I can only assume they don't intend for us to be able to get through here. Which means that in order to get to the Birdhouse to place the ballast, we'd have to answer the door. So What Else Can We Do? >put coin on shelf You put the brass coin on the gestalt shelf. >put b in bound You put the bronze B chime into the pedestal bound. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow yellow around the bronze B chime. >put sand on chime You carefully sprinkle sand over the bronze B chime. Each grain falls with its own tiny note. >speak resonant You hum the resonant tone. The bronze B chime vibrates sharply in response. The heavy sensation in your lungs begins to fade. >strike b The bronze B chime rings brightly, as if it were not lying in the bound, but suspended above it. The sound swells to a thrilling intensity, then fades. >speak relative You raise your voice in the Relative Anima. The bronze B chime resonates again, this time with a deep vibration that buzzes against the bound's surface. The yellow light flares and fades, and you see a symbol gleaming on the surface of the bronze B chime. >take all bronze B chime: You pick up the bronze B chime, careful of its inscribed permeability symbol. brass coin: Taken. The heavy sensation in your lungs is dissipating. >x b It's a regulation Naval ritual chime -- bronze, B natural. A tiny symbol shines on the chime: the alchemical sign for permeability. Your lungs feel nearly normal again. This is a twist on the glass permeability ritual, one of two possible. In this case, it renders aluminum permeable, instead of glass. I don't think the door is made of aluminum, but hey, worth a shot. > You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. The breath potion has worn off. You suck in a startling gasp of air. Grand Stair, Top Two hallways intersect beneath an elegant vault of brick-red tile, which sweeps around to follow a grand staircase down to the lower levels. The garden is visible to the north. To the west is the ornate door of the Birdhouse, which is closed. The hall to the south is blocked by yet another fracture. The side corridor to the east is much the worse; its far end seems to be on fire. >strike b You tap the bronze B chime. Its bright resonances fill the room -- and then shift to a steady, sustained hum. >touch b to door You carefully lay the permeability symbol against the engraved door. Nothing happens; the symbol does not discharge. The sound of the bronze B chime begins to fade. >recall aluminum "TO RENDER GLASS PERMEABLE TO MATTER: Select a chime in the key of F sharp. Invoke a Helian environment (the aspect of the Sun). Place the chime into the bound; speak a simple sealing. Sprinkle pure sand onto the chime; vocalize a resonant tone; strike the chime, and conclude with a Relative Anima. Once the chime is invested, one need merely strike it again and embed it into a pane of glass. The chime's vibrations will permit it entry, and the entire pane will then be semi-fluid for as long as the chime resonates. But only attempt this with simple, flat sheets of glass -- curved glass has irregular vibrational modes, and the tuning will fail." (You substituted the B chime, resulting in a charm to render aluminum permeable.) The sound of the bronze B chime ceases. >touch brush to b You can't see any such thing. >create brush You make your way to the Opticks Annex. You take the plain white feather. You make your way to the Pyrics Store. You take the flask of rubbing alcohol. You enchant the dispersal brush. (You are now in the Pyrics Store.) >touch brush to b You brush the feather across the bronze B chime. The permeability symbol blurs and fades away. The other such variation... > You make your way to the Nave. Nave The Nave is the marcher's heart, though the rows of benches are empty now. The seats face a pedestal, on which is a ritual bound and shelf. The side walls boast symbolic frescos; the south wall is a high, ornamented metal mesh -- the writ screen -- which separates the Nave from the Chancel. The murals are badly cracked. One to the southwest has collapsed entirely, leaving a ragged gap which leads down into a crawlspace. The main corridors run east and west from here, and the Retort's entry hall is north. >put b in bound You put the bronze B chime into the pedestal bound. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow palely around the bronze B chime. >speak unsealing You let the unsealing mantra run through your mind, clearing away the ritual energy. The bound goes dark. >put coin on shelf You put the brass coin on the gestalt shelf. >speak simple You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word. The arc begins to glow yellow around the bronze B chime. >put sand on b You carefully sprinkle sand over the bronze B chime. Each grain falls with its own tiny note. >speak resonant You hum the resonant tone. The bronze B chime vibrates sharply in response. >strike b The bronze B chime rings brightly, as if it were not lying in the bound, but suspended above it. The sound swells to a thrilling intensity, then fades. >speak major You voice the Major Animus, trying not to choke. The bronze B chime resonates again, this time with a deep vibration that buzzes against the bound's surface. The yellow light flares and fades, and you see a symbol gleaming on the surface of the bronze B chime. Is the decoherence symbol. What this does is, rather than rendering it permeable, destroys the substance outright. Naturally, doing this with either window kills you, either from the vacuum or the glass shards. >take all bronze B chime: You pick up the bronze B chime, careful of its inscribed decoherence symbol. brass coin: Taken. > You make your way to the Top of the Grand Stair. Grand Stair, Top Two hallways intersect beneath an elegant vault of brick-red tile, which sweeps around to follow a grand staircase down to the lower levels. The garden is visible to the north. To the west is the ornate door of the Birdhouse, which is closed. The hall to the south is blocked by yet another fracture. The side corridor to the east is much the worse; its far end seems to be on fire. >strike b You tap the bronze B chime. Its bright resonances fill the room -- and then shift to a steady, sustained hum. >touch b to door You carefully lay the decoherence symbol against the engraved door. Nothing happens; the symbol does not discharge. The sound of the bronze B chime begins to fade. >touch brush to b You brush the feather across the chime. Its sound instantly mutes, and the decoherence symbol blurs and fades away. This does us no good, of course. The material of the door isn't mentioned. (I bet it's rutilum just to make it fireproof too.) >recall key Which do you mean, the flint key, the spare lab key, or the thick key? >flint You have not been there yet, but you presume the flint key is waiting in the Master-at-Arms Quarters. >get key Which do you mean, the spare lab key or the thick key? >spare You already have that. >open door with key Which do you mean, the spare lab key or the thick key? >spare That's unlocked at the moment. Anyway yeah. Not only do I not know the way to solve this problem... nobody else does either. All my research via Google on any site mentioning this has provided me with no answers save that placing the ballast in incorrect spots is supposed to work, and as I displayed in this very thread, it clearly does not. Here's some notes I took to cap this LP off, so you guys can try to deduce your own solutions.
But for now, I think this LP is done. Hadean Lands is a pretty good textventure! Try it sometime why don't you, perhaps with another dragon or another outlook. Next Time: Birdhouse Crawlspace |