And so we begin.
Part I:
y
[Great! If you need a refresher, flip to the Help tab. On with the show.]
You smell copal incense, machine oil, rosemary, alcohol, and blood.
{Pleasant.}
Creaking, bending steel
beams… no, that’s not an odor. Why did you think the bulkheads were crumpling in on you?
What would that even smell like?
You’re pretty sure it’s not your own blood, anyway.
{Pretty Sure?}
The secondary alchemy lab is your duty station this shift; where you were, before – before now.
Before you woke up on the floor. Smelling copal, oil, rosemary, and – well, alcohol is right. You
were scrubbing the workbench. Enjoying your shift, swabbie? Not any more, Sarge.
The lamps shouldn’t be flickering like that. And His Majesty’s Marcher The Unanswerable Retort
really, really shouldn’t be this quiet.
Hadean Lands
Overdue Interactive Fiction by Andrew Plotkin
Copyright (c) 2014 by Andrew Plotkin
Release 4 / Serial number 141017 / Inform 7 build 6G60 (I6/v6.33)
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.
To the east is the lab’s supply closet. Except… the entire east side of the room is filled with clear
crystal. That’s not so familiar. That’s downright strange.
You notice a heap of alchemical supplies piled on a table. Next to the table, an iron panel is set
in the floor.
{Time to break the X key on my keyboard.}
x me
Not the most promising Ensign in His Majesty’s Navy.
{Thanks for the vote of confidence, game.}
i
You are carrying nothing.
x crack
It’s not crystal. It’s more as if the air has cracked, right across the room, leaving a plane of
cleavage which is visible only in refraction.
x hatch
You’ve seen the iron panel before, of course. It’s some kind of service hatch. But it’s apparently
been shut since forever and a quarter. It’s faintly rusty around all its edges, and the steel bolts
that hold it down are worse.
x door
The door is closed.
{I figured.}
x bench
The workbench is a broad slab of bluestone, chipped and scarred. A bound is incised in its
surface – the circular arc that contains and constrains works of alchemy.
The workbench bound is empty.
You notice a worn steel bolt lying under the workbench.
x table
Lying on the flimsy table are a sheet of instructions, a sprig of rosemary, two impets of essential
oil (peppermint and ginger), a pair of tarnished calipers, and a brass pin.
x pin
It’s a short, straight bit of brass, no longer than your thumb-joint.
x calipers
These are standard Naval chart calipers; you see the astrographers using them every time you
walk past the tower. But the brass is badly tarnished, particularly around the hinge.
x rosemary
It’s a long twig of pale green rosemary needles.
x mint
It’s a standard Navy alchemical aromatic impet, designed to fill a lab with odor without spilling
essential oils all over the place. The peppermint impet is closed.
x ginger
It’s a standard Navy alchemical aromatic impet, designed to fill a lab with odor without spilling
essential oils all over the place. The ginger impet is closed.
x bolt
A single steel bolt, somewhat worn in the thread.
{Lots of fancy toys…I mean ingredients to play with here.}
x paper
You pick up the sheet, and find Sergeant Brooks’ familiar scrawl. “Ensign Forsyth: When you’re
finished scrubbing, get these calipers freshened up. You should be able to handle the ritual. See
me afterwards.”
The other side is printed in the familiar smudgy blackletter of Navy receipts.
“FOR THE
CLEANSING OF BRASS TARNISH: Prepare an atmosphere of fiery principles. Place a brass
token within the bound, and seal it. Speak a word of essential nature, so that the properties of
brass may be evoked. Compound the atmosphere with a resinous note. Then intone the Lesser
Phlogistical Saturation to complete the token’s investment. Place token directly on tarnished
item.”
The syllables of the Saturation formula are spelled out below. And scrawled beneath that:
"Resinous note – wave the rosemary, swabbie."You memorize the instructions, including the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation. You also pick up the
sheet. Just in case.
[To list what you’ve memorized, type “RECALL” or “REMEMBER”.]
{Or I could just switch tabs to the handy journal interface but that won’t show up in the transcript, sadly.}
take all
steel bolt: You reach down and pluck the bolt from the floor.
sprig of rosemary: Taken.
impet of peppermint oil: Taken.
impet of ginger oil: Taken.
tarnished calipers: Taken.
brass pin: Taken.
recall
You have learned one ritual: (* marks rituals you have not yet completed)
• basic tarnish cleansing inscription (*)
After months of diligent practice, you have memorized several common alchemical formulae:
• the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation
• an elementary word of binding
• a word of essential nature
• a simple sealing word
• an unsealing mantra
You have picked up assorted facts:
• the work assignment
• the resinous note
• a lecture on aromas
{Yes, I’m gonna go through all of these.}
recall aromas
You dimly recall taking notes on the uses of aroma in alchemy. Perfumes influence a ritual by
adding elemental principles of the atmosphere. You might open an impet of ginger essence for a
fiery ritual, or mint essence for a cooling effect. Citronelle is strengthening, seaweed has…
something to do with breath… it was a tedious lecture.
recall resinous
The Sergeant left you a scrawled note along with the tarnish recipe: “Resinous note – wave the
rosemary, swabbie.”
recall assignment
“Ensign Forsyth: When you’re finished scrubbing, get these calipers freshened up. You should
be able to handle the ritual. See me afterwards.”
recall cleaning
“FOR THE CLEANSING OF BRASS TARNISH: Prepare an atmosphere of fiery principles.
Place a brass token within the bound, and seal it. Speak a word of essential nature, so that the
properties of brass may be evoked. Compound the atmosphere with a resinous note. Then
intone the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation to complete the token’s investment. Place token
directly on tarnished item.”
recall mantra
The unsealing mantra isn’t an alchemical formula. It’s just a way to divert your mind from a ritual
in progress, breaking open the bound and dissipating any energies.
recall sealing
The simple sealing word creates a boundary circle around a ritual space. Most alchemical
procedures begin with a sealing word.
recall lesser
The Lesser Phlogistical Saturation is a knot of breathy syllables. It has to do with reversing
processes of tarnish and rust.
recall essential nature
The word of essential nature is used in rituals to invoke the principle of sympathy.
{I hope you were taking notes on all that.}
smell
You smell the usual mixture of alchemical reagents – mostly rosemary and copal – over a reek
of spilled alcohol. The undertone of blood has faded.
{That’s good, I think?}
smell rosemary
The sprig retains its piney, resinous scent.
smell ginger
The impet has no residual odor while it’s sealed.
{I probably should’ve known that.}
open it
You pop open the impet, and the ginger aroma rolls out, stinging your nose.
smell it
You take a snort from the impet. Ginger fire flares in your sinuses. That’ll clear your head,
possibly for the rest of the week.
smell
You smell the usual mixture of alchemical reagents. The air is overlaid with a strong aroma of
ginger.
open peppermint
You pop open the impet, and the peppermint aroma rolls out, making your nose ache.
The new aroma clashes unpleasantly with the ginger.
smell it
You take a snort from the impet. The intense peppermint aroma makes your head hurt.
smell
The air is a jarring mix of aromas.
close ginger
You snap the ginger impet closed. Its aroma fades.
The mix of aromas clarifies, leaving the room smelling of peppermint.
smell
You smell the usual mixture of alchemical reagents. The air is overlaid with a strong aroma of
peppermint.
close mint
You snap the peppermint impet closed. Its aroma fades.
{Now that we got high on essential oils, let’s see if we can complete this ritual. Can’t disappoint the Sarge, after all.}
open ginger
You pop open the impet, and the ginger aroma rolls out, stinging your nose.
{Fiery aroma, check.}
put pin in bound
You put the brass pin into the workbench bound.
speak sealing
You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word.
The arc begins to glow orange around the brass pin.
{The color seems to change based off of the atmosphere and the type of seal used but I haven’t figured out the pattern.}
speak essential
You intone the word of essential nature. The metallic nature of the brass pin rises to the surface.
{I’m trying to picture what this would look like.}
wave rosemary
You wave the sprig, and inhale its fresh, resinous aroma. The fiery reek of ginger seems to shift
to a cleaner, more gentle scent.
speak lesser
You begin the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation. The sounds try to bend and smear on your lips,
but you are on your guard, and you hold clearly to the formula.
The energy slowly converges. The orange light flares, 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.
{That was surprisingly easy.}
take pin
You pick up the brass pin, careful of its inscribed basic saturation symbol.
x symbol
The brass pin is charged with the alchemical sign for basic phlogistical saturation. When you
touch it to something, the symbol will discharge.
touch symbol
You experimentally press the basic saturation symbol against your own skin. Nothing happens,
however. (If you were made of brass, the effect would no doubt have been salutary, or perhaps
fatal.)
put pin on 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.
{Do I get a cookie?}
x calipers
These are standard Naval chart calipers; you see the astrographers using them every time you
walk past the tower. The brass gleams.
perform tarnish
You conjure a basic saturation symbol onto the brass pin.
put pin on calipers
You carefully lay the basic saturation symbol against the calipers. The symbol discharges with a
faint pop. The calipers seem to glint even more brightly than before, but it’s probably your
imagination.
{It was worth a try.}
close ginger
You snap the ginger impet closed. Its aroma fades.
{Wonder what would happen if I swapped the atmosphere?
open mint
You pop open the impet, and the peppermint aroma rolls out, making your nose ache.
put pin in bound
You put the brass pin into the workbench bound.
speak sealing
You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word.
The arc begins to glow blue-white around the brass pin.
speak essential
You intone the word of essential nature. The metallic nature of the brass pin rises to the surface,
though with an indistinct shimmer.
wave rosemary
You wave the sprig, and inhale its distinct resinous aroma. The icy smell of peppermint seems to
gain a more complex herbal note.
speak lesser
You begin the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation. The sounds try to bend and smear on your lips,
but you are on your guard, and you hold clearly to the formula. Nonetheless, something must be
wrong; the words seem to fall flat.
{Oh well.}
close mint
You snap the peppermint impet closed. Its aroma fades.
take pin
You reach into the workbench bound and extract the brass pin. The blue-white light ripples.
speak mantra
You let the unsealing mantra run through your mind, clearing away the ritual energy. The bound
goes dark.
{Let’s see about this fracture.}
e
You try to push through the fracture, but the surface is impenetrable. The east side of the room
– and the supply closet – are inaccessible.
x closet
You can’t see well into the supply closet – not through this fracture in the air.
{The door?}
n
You pull the door open. Then you nearly fall down, so sharp is your disorientation. Only your grip
on the door convinces you that you are still standing upright.
A Hadean land lies outside the lab door.
I’m sure this wasn’t in the regs. The east-side corridor is missing. Or most of it is missing. A foot
or so of ordinary tile floor is at your feet; but beyond that, the corridor is cut away as if by a knife.
Beyond is a barren grey wasteland – a Hadean land, deadly to any breathing life. Unweathered
grey rocks and dead dust rest under bright, unwinking stars.
{…Damn}
x land
Most Hadean lands look alike – dead rocks, night sky – and you can tell nothing about this one,
except that it very definitely shouldn’t be where the Retort’s east-side corridor usually is.
x crack
The fracture looks like the surface of faintly-warped crystal… although you cannot truly tell
whether you are looking into it, or out of it. The far side of the room distorts slightly as you shift
your position.
{Ok, so not only can we not go out that way, it’ll probably be instant death.}
d
(first opening the iron panel)
You twist at the steel bolts, but they’re rusty and they probably haven’t turned since the Retort
was built. The panel isn’t moving anywhere.
{Seriously?}
kick hatch
[That’s not an action I understand.]
hit hatch
You see no reason to start a fight with the iron panel.
{Besides trying to get out?}
hit crack
The fracture feels like slick, hard air.
smell it
The fracture is odorless.
taste it
The fracture is as tasteless as glass.
{Delicious.}
taste hatch
You taste nothing unexpected.
smell me
You smell nothing unexpected.
shit
[That’s not an action I understand.]
xyzzy
[That’s not an action I understand.]
{Ok, enough fooling around, limited resources and the fact that I’ve done this already tells me what we need to do.}
put bolt in bound
You put the steel bolt into the workbench bound.
open ginger
You pop open the impet, and the ginger aroma rolls out, stinging your nose.
speak simple
You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word.
The arc begins to glow orange around the steel bolt.
speak essential
You intone the word of essential nature. The metallic nature of the steel bolt rises to the surface.
wave rosemary
You wave the sprig, and inhale its fresh, resinous aroma. The fiery reek of ginger seems to shift
to a cleaner, more gentle scent.
speak lesser
You begin the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation. The sounds try to bend and smear on your lips,
but you are on your guard, and you hold clearly to the formula.The energy slowly converges. The orange light flares, drawing together the blended aromas and
the words that you speak.
When the light fades, a symbol shines on the surface of the steel bolt.
take bolt
You pick up the steel bolt, careful of its inscribed basic saturation symbol.
put it on hatch
You carefully lay the basic saturation symbol against the steel bolts. The symbol discharges with
a loud, crackling buzz. Sparks fly across the surface of the iron panel, and the bolt-heads rattle
as their rust sublimes away.
The display of alchemical energies slowly dies away, leaving the hatch and its bolts bright and
clean.
x hatch
You’ve seen the iron panel before, of course. It’s some kind of service hatch. You’ve never seen
it open, but the bolts are now sparkling-clean.
d
(first opening the iron panel)
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.
To the east, the crawlspace is interrupted by another fracture – or perhaps the same one you
saw in the lab. But this is different: you can see a figure caught behind the fracture. You peer
closer in the gloom…
That’s Lieutenant Anderes, apparently frozen mid-step. What’s she doing down here? And why
is she carrying an alchemical reagent jar?
A chymic flask rests nearby; it reeks of rubbing alcohol.
{BINGO!}
x anderes
Jana Anderes is a pinch-faced lieutenant in the Lumber Department – or, as it’s officially named,
Stores and Supply. You’ve occasionally dealt with her when you’re sent to fetch this or that from
the marcher’s storerooms. Now she’s sneaking around in the crawlways… or she would be, if she weren’t frozen in a
fracture. Escaping, like you, from the Retort’s catastrophe? But her attitude is somehow furtive,
rather than uncertain.
{I get the feeling we got along great.}
Anderes is carrying a reagent jar. You can’t make out its label, however.
x jar
Anderes is carrying an alchemist’s jar. Not an ordinary flask, like the ones you use every day,
but a full-size reagent jar from stores. Why…? Unfortunately, the way she’s holding it, you can’t
see the label or the contents.
x crack
It looks just like the fractures in the lab above: a plane of cleavage, cracked through the air,
blocking the crawlway to the east.
e
You try to push through the fracture, but the surface is impenetrable.
take all
flask of rubbing alcohol: Taken.
x flask
You are tediously familiar with this alcohol solution; you’ve scrubbed enough things with it.
{I need a drink.}
drink it
It’s not the drinkable sort of alcohol. It’s the cleaning sort, and, if you’re too stupid to read labels,
the puking and going-blind sort.
{We’re not a heavy drinker, I see.}
w
Mech Lab Crawlspace
The crawlspace runs west and east from here. There’s another closed hatch above you. It’s
even rustier than the last one.
To the south, a few steps lead down to a dark doorway.
s
You step through the doorway, feeling blindly downward with your foot for the invisible floor…
Void
Something is wrong. Something is missing.
You are adrift, without referents. You never found the floor. You can’t remember where it was
supposed to be.
Something is drawing you in.
*** You awaken again ***
{Here we go again.}
Secondary Alchemy Lab
The lab is unsettlingly dim, but familiar – in fact, exactly as it was before: rough wooden walls,
the broad stone surface of the workbench. The lab door is to the north; it’s closed.
Some kind of fracture still blocks the east side of the room from you.
On a side table, you see a sheet of instructions, a sprig of rosemary, two impets of essential oil
(peppermint and ginger), a pair of tarnished calipers, and a brass pin. Next to the table, an iron
panel is set in the floor.
A worn steel bolt is lying half-hidden under the workbench.
…You fight off deja vu. Everything is back as it was when you first awakened in the lab. The
hatch is rusted shut, the supplies on the table are untouched. What in the name of… what has
just happened?
take all
steel bolt: You reach down and pluck the bolt from the floor.
sprig of rosemary: Taken.
impet of peppermint oil: Taken.
impet of ginger oil: Taken.
tarnished calipers: Taken.
brass pin: Taken.
x paper
The paper contains the basic tarnish cleansing inscription (with the brass pin), the Lesser
Phlogistical Saturation, the resinous note, and the work assignment, all of which you already
know. You pick up the sheet. Just in case.
{All our memories intact and we get dumped back at the beginning. This totally isn’t going to complicate things at all.}
d
(first opening the iron panel)
You conjure a basic saturation symbol onto the steel bolt.
You lay the steel bolt on the hatch.
You pull the hatch open.
{Wonder what this would look like on a larger scale.}
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.
To the east, the crawlspace is interrupted by another fracture – or perhaps the same one you
saw in the lab. But this is different; you can see Lieutenant Anderes caught behind the fracture,
holding a reagent jar.
A chymic flask rests nearby; it reeks of rubbing alcohol.
take flask
Taken.
{Let’s do this real quick.}
perform tarnish
You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab.
You conjure a basic saturation symbol onto the brass pin.
(You are now in the Secondary Alchemy Lab.)
put pin on 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.
d
w
Mech Lab Crawlspace
The crawlspace runs west and east from here. There’s another closed hatch above you. It’s
even rustier than the last one.To the south, a few steps lead down to a dark doorway.
x hatch
It’s another service hatch, leading to another lab. But if the last hatch was rusty, this one is a
disaster – the bolts are indistinct lumps of corrosion.
If you have your bearings right, the Mechanica Lab is above you.
u
(first opening the iron panel)
This hatch is even rustier than the first one. The bolts won’t turn at all.
{It worked last time…}
perform rust
You make your way to the Secondary Alchemy Lab.
You conjure a basic saturation symbol onto the steel bolt.
(You are now in the Secondary Alchemy Lab.)
d
w
Mech Lab Crawlspace
put bolt on hatch
You carefully lay the basic saturation symbol against the iron panel. The symbol discharges with
a muted buzzing sound. Sparks fly from the bolts, and a bit of rust sifts down, but the charge
doesn’t seem to be sufficient this time. This hatch is going to require something stronger.
{…Shit.}
w
Crawlspace Bend
The crawlway bends here, running from east to north. Another hatch is set into the floor; this
one is already open.
A moldy sheet of paper is lying here. It looks like another alchemical recipe.
take paper
(the moldy sheet)
“REDOUBLED TARNISH CLEANSING: Deeply corroded metal may not yield to the basic
tarnish removal ritual. In such cases, one must locate a more potent resinous element. Rather
than the common rosemary or lavender twig, try a branch or cone from an evergreen tree. It
may be necessary to crush the element to release its full effect.”
You memorize the instructions, and also add the sheet to your bundle of paper.
{Wonder where we can find that?}
d
You climb down through the hatch.
Herbarium Nook
You are in the Retort’s herb-house. (Odd to reach it from the sub-basement; you usually come
here through the upper laboratory floor. But that’s a marcher for you.) A short ladder leads up to
the ceiling hatch through which you entered.
You seem to be trapped in the east corner of the greenhouse. The main space, with its trays of
sun-lit herbs and vines, is blocked off by another fracture. Only a few bits of herbage remain
within reach.
A shelf holds a small bin labelled “mustard seed”. Next to the bin are a pinecone, a dried
mushroom, and a sprig of honeysuckle.
You notice a few orange threads lying in a crack in the floor.
x threads
These look like – yes – it’s a small quantity of orange zafranum, an extraordinarily expensive
spice. Whoever spilled this was very careless.
x honeysuckle
It’s a sprig of dried, pale yellow honeysuckle flowers.
x cone
This cone was collected from the rare bristlecone pine. It’s rather old and dusty.
x mushroom
A shrivelly dry brown mushroom. You have no idea what species – one dried mushroom looks a
lot like another.
x seed
A small bin of mustard seeds rests on the shelf.
take all
pinch of zafranum: You gather up the orange threads.
pinecone: Taken.
dried mushroom: Taken.
sprig of honeysuckle: Taken.
take seed
You take a pinch of mustard seed from the bin.
smell it
The mustard seed doesn’t have much aroma.
taste it
You select a mustard seed and pop it into your mouth. It’s got some sting to it.
smell mushroom
It smells like musty dirt.
taste it
There’s no reason for an arbitrary mushroom in the alchemical stores to be poisonous, but
you’re just nervous enough to skip trying.
x threads
A few threads of rare orange zafranum. The spice is used in a few obscure rituals – and
expensive dishes.
smell it
The zafranum has a powerful, pungent aroma.
taste it
The zafranum would certainly taste good, but you’re not sure where you could find any more. So
you’d better not.
x honeysuckle
It’s a sprig of dried, pale yellow honeysuckle flowers.
smell it
The honeysuckle retains a bit of its sweet aroma.>taste it
You pull off a dried honeysuckle petal and chew meditatively. It’s more bitter than you expected.
smell cone
The cone has a faint resinous aroma.
smell it
The cone has a faint resinous aroma.
taste it
You taste nothing unexpected.
x crack
Like the other fractures you’ve found, this looks like a faintly-distorting crack in the air.
w
You try to push through the fracture, but the surface is impenetrable.
{Lots the sniffing, chewing, and examining done here. Time for more exploring.}
u
n
Chem Lab Crawlspace
The crawlspace ends here. The only way back is to the south. You’re pretty sure that you’re
under the Chymic Lab now.
You see one last hatch in the ceiling. This one is not rusted in the slightest. In fact, it looks like
someone recently oiled it. Unfortunately, whoever it was also affixed a heavy brass lock.
Another stray flask is sitting on the ground. This one is labelled “lubanja”.
x flask
(the flask of rubbing alcohol)
You are tediously familiar with this alcohol solution; you’ve scrubbed enough things with it.
{Cragne Manor vibes, much?}
take flask
(the flask of lubanja)
Taken.
x it
Lubanja, or Java spirit, is an essence distilled from the resin of certain Indonesian trees. It is an
excellent solvent of substances which resist water.
drink it
Don’t eat the chymical substances. You don’t know where they’ve been, but you do have a good
idea what they’ll do to your insides.
x hatch
The brass lock is a common planetary combination affair. It’s jammed through a hole drilled in
the hatch coaming, though, and that can’t possibly be Service standard. Somebody added this,
and fairly recently, it appears.
x lock
The brass lock is a common planetary combination affair. It’s jammed through a hole drilled in
the hatch coaming, though, and that can’t possibly be Service standard. Somebody added this,
and fairly recently, it appears.
set it to pluto
This is a cheap lock, with only the eight old-fashioned astrological planets. (Of course really new
locks wouldn’t have Pluto either, not since the Imperial Society got through with it. But really new
locks wouldn’t be cheap eight-setting models anyhow.)
{I legit thought this game was ten years older than it actually is.}
set it to io
The lock has no “io” setting.
set it to ceres
The lock has no “ceres” setting.
{Cheapskates!}
hit it
You see no reason to start a fight with the iron panel.
s
e
e
u
{I’m gonna try using the go to/find commands because I really don’t want to wander from room to room and chop it all out of the transcript afterward.}
smell
You smell the usual mixture of alchemical reagents – mostly rosemary and copal – over a reek
of spilled alcohol.
open ginger
You pop open the impet, and the ginger aroma rolls out, stinging your nose.
put bolt in bound
You put the steel bolt into the workbench bound.
speak simple
You take a breath, trace the bound in your mind, and intone the simple sealing word.
The arc begins to glow orange around the steel bolt.
speak essential
You intone the word of essential nature. The metallic nature of the steel bolt rises to the surface.
{Moment of Truth.}
crush cone
The old pinecone crumbles into dusty flakes, which sift from your fingers. A blade-sharp,
resinous aroma bursts into the air. The fiery reek of ginger goes clean and harsh with it.
speak lesser
You begin the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation. It’s harder this time – more intense – but you hold
clearly to the formula.
The energy pulses and converges. The orange 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 steel bolt.
{You better be watching this, Sarge!}
take bolt
You pick up the steel bolt, careful of its inscribed redoubled saturation symbol.
x symbol
The steel bolt is charged with the alchemical sign for redoubled phlogistical saturation. When
you touch it to something, the symbol will discharge.
d
w
put bolt on door
You carefully lay the redoubled saturation symbol against the doorway. Nothing happens; the
symbol does not discharge.
x door
The doorway is dark. Very dark. Pitch-dark. The crawlspace is poorly-lit, but beyond the
doorway no light seems to fall at all.
{…I meant the hatch but I did forget to examine this.}
put bolt on hatch
You carefully lay the redoubled saturation symbol against the iron panel. The symbol
discharges. Orange sparks crackle everywhere, nearly singeing your fingers. For a moment you
think this inscription will fail as well – but rust rains down, and the bolts slowly emerge from their
corrosion. By the time the energy has cleared, the hatch is as good as new.
u
{I appologize for any formatting issues.}