(March 1)
Silental Tower
Silental Tower
Autumn 82
They investigate the labs and rooms downstairs.
An information storage device, which Esmund takes possession of and figures out the previous builder hadn’t quite mastered it yet either.
There’s a hidden room with a large device and a pedestal at the focal point, with a long row of cloudy liquid-filled jars. Esmund figures out it’s designed to capture a person from a different time and bring them here. He also figures out the jars are full of versions of him at varying ages, and vomits noisily at the realization
There’s a recording device with recordings made in that room, most notably:
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[892] Esmund, maybe early twenties, scarred and whole-handed: “The extractor’s complete, years before I could have done this without his–my–help. The addition of an assistant is going to progress the work more than I can expect; the opportunity to have a protege is exciting.”
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[991] a young Desmun, but a bit older - maybe late 20s - hair tied back, burn marks on his upper arms
- “I’ve extinguished all of the possibilities; I know I can’t be the only one – the only temporal resonance aura the device will connect to is my own. Useless!
- “Unless…
- “Wait.”
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[231] “They call me ‘traitor,’ ‘chronomancer,’ but they don’t understand that I’m advancing the work, they don’t understand the catastrophe that can be avoided. There’s been no one who’s made advances in this field besides Volkskrieg, centuries ago—my chronograph alone could change the very way we think about things to come! I just need to find a proper carrier signal; if only I could have begun sooner.”
- Esmund has heard of Volkskrieg, some ancient wizard involved with early arcane research in a kingdom called Morgas Vul.
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[998] Ava, but not the Ava now, another Ava having apparently pressed some wrong buttons
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[1231] A young adult Esmund: “After all this time, it’s worked. I’ve made contact on the chronophone. It’s just for a moment, and the signal’s shifting, but if I can find the signal again, I can work out a system to account. I-I think this will work.”
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[1423] A scarred and burnt Desmun: “Project Rainbarrel. It works. Anomalistic event. I’ve stored it in the crystal matrix. It’s gonna take some time to research, to figure out how to make the proper alignments, but it worked. A trans-temporal event, free of time. This is what I need.”
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[1882] A bloody, sweaty Esmund: “They’re searching for me now. I was barely able to move the tower in time. Her grasp is growing long. The kingdom is going to cover the entire land soon.
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[2255] An older Esmund, with long braided hair:
Conversation outline
Desmun
Lesson 81: Spectrography strong extra-temporal force polarized by temporal force. Let’s go for it again. Esmund! Are you paying attention? Listen. I know this is a lot. You have to focus, we don’t have that much time. It’s 16 more years. We have to solve this. So tell me. Teach me. Like I don’t know. Strong extra-temporal force.Current Esmund
[looks confused]
This is a recording, right?Desmun
For the last time, no, I can’t hear you. I asked the same questions.Esmund
Are you speaking to me as if you know what I’m saying?Desmun
Only because I know what I would ask. You can listen to these recordings in the past or the future, it doesn’t matter.Esmund
Hey, go fuck yourself.Desmun
All right. I’ll give it to you one more time. It’s clear through the arcane arithmetic. It is the extra-temporal force that is the ambient state of existence. Temporality is imposed on top of it. That’s why we couldn’t get the device to work originally until we made the changes. It’s not that events are ordered, it’s that that order, that polarization of sequences has been imposed onto it.Esmund
So counter this temporal force, this set of events with another set of events? Something with equal or greater strength?Desmun
That will even further disrupt the imposition of temporality. It brings us closer to destabilizing it. That’s what they’re concerned about. But they don’t understand that it can be accounted for, that what they would never accept.
I guess that’s enough for today. I need you to focus. The work, Esmund. You and I get… 16 years? That’s our chance. If we can’t do it, someone else–one of us has to do it. You’ve heard what she said. It all ends. Unless anyone—
- [The last entry] Desmun, 3 or so years older, entire prosthetic arm:
Conversation minimalist
Desmun
Attempt 191 is another failure. We’re close. I’m close to the signal. Another attempt. We can learn. So far, every iteration has reinforced the last. The time we have left is clear. If I fail this time, the boy can carry on. He’s been learning well. We started younger than we have before, but maybe that’ll make all the difference .We’re getting better– I’m getting better–at pinpointing the temporal aura – My temporal aura. What happens if I – no. That’s for another day.
Okay. Let’s begin. Lesson 214–[A rumble, an echoing blast in the recording]
Desmun
What? No. This isn’t how it happens.[The recording flickers and blips, then changes to a different part of the tower; the same version of Esmund is leaning against the side of the wall, burned, one eye closed]
Desmun
It had to be you. You fucking pigeon.[Stepping into the recording is a new figure: a long cloak, boots, kneeling down next to Desmun; gloves, a bird mask, much longer than Ava’s, and a wide-brimmed hat]
Witch Hunter
[A voice, feminine]
Well well. If it isn’t Jack Hallow. You used to be the greatest witch hunter in all the land, before you went soft.Desmun
Fuck you. And tell her fuck you, too.Witch Hunter
[She pulls a knife out of the air, and another voice, different from beneath the mask:] Well. End of the road. Any last words, pardner?Desmun
[sneers]
Yeah. Just three. Activate Metronome Contingency.Witch Hunter
[The witch hunter stabs him through the chest.]
[It comes back in frame; Desmun is at the edge of the frame, and the edge of a boot is in the foreground]
Chronomancer’s been eliminated. Contact the Parel. Let them know the Morel interviews are once again accurate. Let’s return to the city.
There’s a child’s bedroom, from which Aureya takes a toy and Esmund immediately snatches from her with a flare of possessiveness that startles him. He investigates the bedroom and immediately feels its familiarity, and finds a wrench with M+G engraved on it, as well as a hidden lever on the wall that opens a tunnel out to the riverside.
He leaves and has a breakdown about not belonging here, that he was stolen from another time, he wasn’t meant to be here. Ava shepherds him back inside and says there’s a lot of work to do, he can compartmentalize and lose himself in something to do.
Esmund finds one last device with antennae, and manages to figure out the pattern to tune into the correct signal to make contact with an unknown personage. At first they’re talking to Esmund as though they were in the middle of a conversation, but after Esmund expresses confusion and asks about something they just said, they realize this is not who they were talking to and introduce themself as Sav.
They talk for a while, figure out they’re on vastly different continents, and Esmund reveals the continued existence of Sylas and Samsel (which Sav is shocked by); she shares that the White Tower is warping the Weave, but also that there’s something else affecting the Weave that seems to be a reflection of the White Tower’s power, but is located on the far side of the world from where she is. She also says there’s a barrier field surrounding the White Tower no one’s successfully pierced and brought back information, about a 500 mile radius.
They share star positions and figure out the others’ location, and she asks if they can try and figure out what this other source affecting the Weave is, while she tries to figure out the Tower itself. Then the signal dies. It would take twelve years of figuring to try and solve the formula to fix on the signal next.
With a bit more investigation, Esmund and Ava discover an engine of some kind labeled “Airship Drive Core,” that Ava theorizes is how Desmun moved the tower. They also search the crystal storage matrix and find out Desmun was a wizard who worked for Lil’lith about 800 years ago, a Magister on the Magical Council stripped of his position for his incessant research into a field deemed dangerous.
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