By It’s Cover

From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki

By It’s Cover

Journalist

Dealthagar rolled his eyes. “You must be joking.”

The mayor of Moonglow set his jaw and leaned forward on his desk. “I have never been more serious.”

“It’s a book. I’m even granting that it is a powerful one, but it is still a book.” Dealthagar shifted in the uncomfortable chair. “To even insinuate that it is intelligent is…”

“The truth.” GreyPawn straightened himself. “All of the artifacts are powerful, but the book dwarfs the other two. I have conducted extensive research on it, and I believe my findings to be sound.”

Dealthagar and Anna looked at each other. No words were needed. Neither of them saw his statement as remotely conceivable. The magics of Sosaria simply did not contain the power levels needed to create magical intelligence. The few objects of such power on the orb did not originate from this plane of existence, and the book was innately tied to Sosaria. “My readings will tell me what I need to know.”

“That is, if the book allows itself to be gauged in the manner you speak of.” The mayor of Moonglow steepled his fingers. “The book may not allow itself to manifest out of the Lycaeum.”

“Ah, yes. The Lycaeum. You believe it to be an extension of the book? Myself, Rune Artisem and a few others have entered the Lycaeum and suffered no effects. We are obviously not of the virtues. Why would it allow it?” Dealthagar was beginning to grow impatient.

“No, I believe the Lycaeum is part and parcel of the book. An expression of the truth contained within. The book does what it does and allows what it allows for its own reasons. I have studied it, but I would deign not to assume I know its intentions.”

“Regardless, I need not even touch the book.” The Technomancer looked over to his companion. She shared his frustration. This was their second visit to the mayor’s headquarters about seeing the book, and he still seemed hesitant. “My equipment will take all the readings needed in a few minutes and we will be done. The process is easy and not invasive in any way.”

GreyPawn sat back in his chair and pursed his lips. “I am still not comfortable with the idea. I do not know how the Book will react to being poked and prodded. The concept of making a duplicate is ludicrous.”

“Never-the-less, I will try. Technomancy is capable of far more than anyone imagines. As I said the book will not be touched in any way. The readings will be taken remotely and no harm will come to the book. I assure you of this.” He was beginning to lose his temper.

“Your assurances are unneeded. No harm CAN come to the book, but fine then. I will allow you to take these readings, but I must be present when you take them, and I want a full report of anything you discover.”

“Of course!” Anna smiled. “We would be honored to share our findings with an ally.”

“When would you want to do these…readings?” GreyPawn looked over his allies nervously.

“What better time then now. It will only take a few minutes and then you can put your nervousness behind you.” Dealthagar stood. “Shall we?”

GreyPawn’s mouth went tight. “Hrrmph. Very well. Follow me.” They were led on a short jaunt to the teleporter in the south, taking them to town. Another few steps and they were in front of the majestic Lycaeum. GreyPawn led them to the hiding spot of the book, and opened it. “Now what?”

Dealthagar began to set up the crystals to receive the data they would be scanning and powered the arcane gem begin recording. He handed his general a golden cylinder covered in runes and sprouting dozens of wires. “Anna, would you be so kind as to place the collector next to the book?”

As she placed it, GreyPawn became very visibly nervous. “Collector? I thought you were just taking readings? What will you be collecting?”

The technomancer chuckled. “Nothing to worry about. It will be collecting the energy that the book gives off and sending the readings to the control crystals on the ground.” He tapped the sequence on his hand to begin the recording process. “Hmm. Odd.”

“What?” Anna looked up with a look of concern.

“Check the collector and set the band feed to the high range. This is odd.”

Looking over Dealthagar’s shoulder, GreyPawn tried to get a better look at the dials on the technomancers arm to see if they made any sense to him. “What’s odd?”

“The first two artifacts were a conforming pattern. The power output was immense, but it made sense. This is all over the chart and I’m not seeing any pattern at all.” He adjusted a dial on his wrist. “Anna, boost the feed from the collector, I’m going to change to a low-band sweep.” Anna nodded and moved a small slide on the golden object.

“Feed? I’m not sure I understand.” The mayor crossed his arms and began to look worried.

“Worry not, I’m just trying a slightly different scan to see if I can get a better reading. Damn. Nothing. Anna come look at this.” He held his arm out and showed her the dial.

She looked for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. “It looks like nonsense. What does it mean?”

Dealthagar smirked to GreyPawn. “It means it’s more than just a book. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not just a book.” Dealthagar rubbed his chin scrambling mentally. The crystals only had so much power left, and he still didn’t have a clear reading. Suddenly an idea gripped him. “Both of you step back if you have any magical items on you. They might get a little hot.” He reversed the input and output feeds on his hand and began to send direct feed from his own bio-systems into the crystals and collector. He hoped the reverse signal would get him a reverb effect. He may not be able to see the pattern itself, but the process should have been able to give him a footprint of where the footprint wasn’t. “Yes! Excellent! Finally something I can work from.” The crystal’s “ding” echoed in his ear as it finished recording. The pattern was far too complex to fully record, but it would give him months of research material. “Damn!” As he shut down the unit, Dealthagar jumped in pain. One of the capacitors in his hand had blown from the residual charge, causing it to go limp.

GreyPawn jumped as well. “What happened.?”

Dealthagar removed the hand and peered inside. “Faulty capacitor. The entire unit is fused. Damn.”

“I can help you make a new one when we get home. Did you lose the data?” Anna took the hand and looked it over.

Dealthagar removed the arcane gems from his forearm and handed them to Anna. “No, they look fine. Just the hand.”

“I’d be interested in your findings once you have them.” GreyPawn closed the hidden chamber.

Dealthagar waved him off. “Of course. It may take a bit of time, but anything we find we will make available to you.”

As the Mayor recalled away, Anna opened a gate. As he stepped through, a wave of exhaustion covered the Dealthagar. Perhaps building a new hand could wait until the morning.