Barringstone mines [Westibule mountain chain], local time [1793.11.09]
Zeph suspected the people here used some kind of enchanted tool to boot up the enchantment on the ceiling.
And yes, they were sure there was an enchantment. The ceiling was a good 5 to 6 meters high, but Aisha was able to jump almost 3 meters up, even in her armor. She wasn’t able to reach some places, but Zeph gave her a leg up.
On a side note – she was heavy as hell. But please, hide that knowledge in the depths of your minds. For the greater good.
By touching the red stains on the rocks above, she was able to sample them in search of the hidden enchantment. With her proficiency in using them, she could immediately tell when her Mana found a construct to power up.
As it turned out, the enchantment required constant feed.
As so, Zeph was now in the middle of transferring his Mana through a tendril to the still-growing Mana lump near the spot.
“We better prepare for more guards or a trap,” he said while preparing his crossbow and going down to one knee.
“I am always ready,” she said nonchalantly. Her warhaxammer was resting on her shoulder, as she was looking sideways at the hidden doors.
“This should be enough. I am starting,” he warned after a moment, before using his Willpower to push his Mana into the red stains.
Nothing happened at the beginning. Zeph was pumping more and more of his Mana, slightly worried the amount he prepared wouldn’t be enough.
Finally, after almost half a minute, part of the wall started to slowly move in their direction.
The sliding plug doors were opening in absolute silence. Firstly, a polished and flat rock face was exposed – the area of contact between the doors and wall. Light started to pour into the dim chamber, creating long beams visible in the dusty air.
The doors slowly slid away along the wall, exposing a verdant forest in a multitude of colors. The cave was vast, but every surface was covered by mushrooms or plants. Some were growing naturally, some from metallic contraptions, similar to long flowerpots, set on the walls. A body of turquoise water was sneaking between the rocky pillars, set in depressions created by the flowing walls. Water was dripping down from everywhere in huge drops, reflecting a light coming from small glowing motes also raining down from above.
Marvelous, was Zeph’s first thought. It’s the most fantasy thing I have seen so far…
The same enchantment that blocked the sounds of the moving doors was preventing the air migration. Probably. They still couldn’t smell anything new and that was the only reasonable explanation.
Aisha glanced at him, she seemed surprised. He just nodded and got up to his feet.
After they stepped inside, the doors started to slowly close up. Zeph could see a complicated gear mechanism on this side. He was sure it didn’t work on enchantments – the pipelines, valves, and the overcomplicated gear setting looked like a mechanism from a steampunk picture book. Only, everything was made from silver metal instead of bronze.
They turned away from the gate – Aisha was looking at the contraption with the same curiosity as him – and moved along the simple walkway made from smoothed rock slabs.
Their steps were echoing in the caverns. Zeph dropped all his Spells before going through the gate, to not disrupt the barrier. Meanwhile, Aisha decided it was time for a more direct approach. Whatever was going on here, she would rather face it.
Zeph already deducted why she behaved like that. If he understood it correctly, she just declared she would attack with the intention to kill. If what she said earlier about killing other sapient and intelligent species was true, at least.
After a few minutes of following the path, they found a rectangular opening in one of the cave walls.
They entered the lighted tunnel, their steps echoing loudly inside. They could see five big doors lining the right wall.
“What do you want Zewa?!” a high-pitched, hoarse voice suddenly called out from one of the rooms. They could hear quick steps approaching. “Don’t you have enough, you pippilin, sadistic jævla bitch,” the person said, swearing in a few different dialects while opening the doors. “I already expla—" it paused.
“Who are you?” the creature asked in a low tone, almost growling.
Is this… a gnome? was Zeph’s first thought. But… Maybe just a badly deformed person with dwarfism? he asked himself after taking a better look.
Maybe 1.2 meters tall, wearing a full work outfit made from thick leather, a hunched and balding caricature of a humanoid stood before them. His upturned nose was disproportionally big for the face, and the chin was too long and protruding forward. Zeph was sure that in profile, his head had to have a shape of a crescent moon. His small eyes were hidden between folds of wrinkled skin. Long white hair growing on the sides of his head were tied back. Only under his chin, some remnants of beard could be spotted.
“A Gremling? What are YOU doing here little fella,” exclaimed Aisha, smiling widely and relaxing her posture.
“Don’t call me that, mazga!” he hollered in a high-pitched voice, pointing at her while jumping from foot to foot. “We are Leprechtuangremolls! The proud Leprechtuangremolls! Don’t foul our proud name with your dirty, plugwy mouth! Learn to speak properly, you…”
“As if any normal person would be able to pronounce that,” she said with a deadpan face, ignoring his ramblings. She moved closer to the Gremling in two big steps. “Stop throwing the filth at me and explain what is happening here, would you?” she said, smacking his pointing arm away and grabbing him by the shoulder to ground the hyperactive guy.
“We don’t have much time,” Zeph chimed in, looking at the creature. “I suppose he isn’t what you were expecting?” he asked her.
“Why would I explain anything to two pla—” Aisha smacked his bald head before he could continue, then grabbed the back of his collar and lifted him without effort.
“No, I expected a drug manufacture of some kind. Let’s go inside,” she said, carrying the not-so-silently protesting guy back to the room he came from.
The place was filled with wooden bookshelves buckling under the weight of their load, and three big tables. Metal and glass apparatus were scattered everywhere. It looked like the messiest chemical laboratory Zeph has ever seen.
Aisha removed a few books and some glassware from one of the wooden chairs before placing the Gremling on it. Zeph helped to tie him when she asked. Evidently, something had to keep the guy in one place by force, otherwise, he would just move around randomly.
“So, Mister Gremling,” she started after finding a seat for herself. The guy was murmuring to himself for the last few minutes but reacted immediately after hearing that name.
“Just call me P’pfel, for Gods’ sake!” he shouted into the ceiling, wiggling his whole body in the constrains.
She smiled, but her face quickly became serious. “I am Aisha Zora a Warrior Priestess. People of this village set an ambush on us with the intention to kill,” she said succinctly.
P’pfel stopped squirming as his blue eyes finally freed themselves from the shackles of his loose skin. “Are they mad?! The Head has definitely gone mad! What are they doing? Those Brainless fools?!” exclaimed the totally sane alchemist. “Not only a war prisoner but also a felon?! I REFUSE! I DON’T WANT TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS! I was framed! I don’t HAVE anything to do with this, You hear me?! I—” he started shouting, redoubling his efforts to squirm away with newfound vigor.
“STOP shouting!” she shouted and bonked him in the head with the shaft of her weapon. That actually managed to make him dizzy enough to shut up.
Aisha, the perfect mugger, thought Zeph in fake admiration.
“What war? How long you have been here?” She asked, but continued when he stayed silent. “The war for Serra mountains ended five years ago.”
That seemed to catch his full attention. P’pfel blinked a few times and his body visibly relaxed.
“That cursed bitch…” he growled and something in the surrounding changed. “How did it happen so fast? And what is the status of Leprechtuangremolls?” The question was spoken in an arctic tone. Zeph could almost physically feel as the tornado of rage inside P’pfel collapsed into a thin, sharp strand of solid fury.
“Seventeen Onjis sent a warning of a coming genocide. Your people wouldn’t survive without access to the natural resources of the mountains, as so—”
“Wasn’t that what we were telling everyone from the beginning?” he said quietly, glaring at Aisha.
She frowned. “You people were talking nonsense for decades. Only Onjis’ intervention could have convinced other races to back off, after all those lies,” she paused, stopping him from interjecting by threatening him with her weapon. “I will NOT discuss this topic with you. I don’t care what were the reasons and details. The important fact is that we are no longer at war,” she said seriously, putting her weapon down. “All war prisoners were released. Your people have gained access to the whole mountain chain, but are now under a strict resource-sharing contract dictated by the second and third Stratum,” she finished, crossing her arms.
“So, he was a part of their army?” Zeph asked confused. “I don’t really get the ‘war prisoner’ part.”
“Their people are proud, just as he said,” Aisha explained. “After their country declared war, almost every Gremling living abroad tried to subvert the economy and stability of surrounding nations. There was no other way than to bane them all,” she said and this time, she was glaring at P’pfel. “You, people, are allowed a supervised pass through the counties, you don’t have to worry about being detained or executed anymore,” she said to him, her eyes softening.
P’pfel was silent and deep in thought, his body inert.
They sat for a minute in silence. Zeph was lost as to what to do, the situation was alien to him.
“So, here is a deal for you,” she started again after a moment. “You go with us and pose as a witness and a victim, and I will make sure your freedom will be guaranteed. It’s clear to me, you were forced to work for them, no responsibility for their actions should be placed on you,” she declared.
P’pfel laughed ruefully after hearing that. “To fuck that woman would be the highest fy faen pleasure for me. But if I could escape just like that, I would be back in Trechtuankrahalla long ago,” he said slowly, looking in their eyes. “Untie me, brahs, I will cooperate. I have to show you something,” he said seriously in his screeching voice.
They looked at each other and shrugged. Zeph untied the Gremling.
After massaging his wrists, he looked up and gestured for them to follow.
He guided them to the adjacent room, a biological laboratory. Strange fungi of different kinds were growing from silvery soil in the pots placed all over the walls. Big glass vats filled with light-green water were standing in the middle. Zeph could see something resembling algae floating inside.
P’pfel took out big glasses from a side pocket and placed them on his overdeveloped nose. He straightened as much as it was possible and cupped his hands behind his back, walking slowly.
Stolen story; please report.
“Zewa, the Head of the village, has lost all of her post-hundred people to Netherlings awakening inside of them,” he started in a low voice, looking into a vat with silvery microbe colonies growing on its glass walls.
Huh… Is he bipolar or something? Zeph thought, surprised at the change. Even his voice is different… And he looks just like an old scientist? What’s going on here?
“Or so I heard,” the Gremling continued, closing his eyes. “She found me near this cave after fourteen of her people died that way, supposedly. It was an unfortunate event, she forced me to give away the location of this place,” he said, correcting his glasses. “Back then, she was already obsessed with finding a possible detection method or a cure for the infected. That was her reason to detain and not outright kill me.”
He turned around, eying both of them. “The situation became much worse after a specialist from a Landlord scouting squad, that they have captured, blabbered about some lost method of detecting the infection. A method that, supposedly, was a Hydrargyrum-based medicament,” he said, turning away.
“That doesn’t make much sense,” Zeph noticed. “If such a method existed, the System would have already propagated it to purge the Netherlings.” He still remembered Aisha’s history class.
She nodded with approval at that statement.
P’pfel shook his head, turning to look at the pots on the walls. “She reasoned that the System Onji reevaluated the whole problem and is now regarding it as unimportant. Thus, hiding the necessary knowledge behind standard requirements for gaining access to the ‘Ancient Civilizations’ General Skill. The same the captured specialist had,” he said, looking at the ground in shame. “Remember, she was already desperate. And even now, I still can’t reject this possibility entirely…” He hesitated.
“You see… The people killed by my medicament,” he stated slowly, wary of their reactions, “were always infected.”
Aisha snickered hearing this. “You really believe people of a higher stance wouldn’t inform us about this method as soon as it was found? These are just empty speculations. The Onjis would never allow for such knowledge to stay hidden – Nether is a threat even to them,” she said with conviction. “I am sure your results are fake. Influenced by the scheming of more intelligent Netherfolk ordering the Netherlings. You have no idea how many examples of such machinations the temples have. In the end, your empty belief is just a perfect opportunity for them to take more Souls.”
“No, I have already thought of that. This is why I evaluated this experiment as a failure,” he said in a calm tone. “I am unable to prove that the people not influenced by my medicament, or rather not killed by it, aren’t infected. I can’t verify for how long the influenced were infected. In other words, I can’t tell if it works at all. In the end, this method is useless and just allows for the Souls of the dead to be taken away.” This honest confession surprised them both.
But Zeph was expecting the counterargument coming. It always was, that’s what made one a scientist.
“But I also cannot evaluate this method as nonfunctional if the symptoms of the medicament show up only on the infected. In the first place, what do you know about the Gods?” the Gremling asked, looking straight in her eyes. “For all I know, they just care about Mana we provide, not the—”
“Was every person in the village exposed to your… medicament?” Zeph interjected, he knew how to end this dispute immediately. They didn’t have time for this, either way.
“Yes,” P’pfel nodded. “The symptoms only occu—”
“Sorry for being rude, but was Xim one of those people?” He could see a light bulb flashing above Aisha’s head at that moment. Her approach to the discussion was flawed from the beginning – she should have evaluated his results instead of presenting her own counterarguments.
“Yes?” the Gremling said hesitantly. “I packed her with quite a dose even, because she was—”
“Close to level 100,” finished Aisha, glancing at Zeph. “She died today. The Netherling inside was old enough to force the transformation. So, it somehow broke its orders? Why though?”
“That isn’t important right now,” Zeph chimed in again. “This is an example confirming that your medicament isn’t influencing Netherlings, at least not all of them. Next, I have a Tier 3 Ancient Civilizations Skill,” Zeph continued, sending him the ‘screenshot’ of the Skill.
The Gremling’s eyes showed up for a second time that night. He continued before P’pfel could say anything. “Nothing I could read even indicated that the knowledge of how to deal with Netherers is present in the Skill. Sure, I don’t have enough Mana generation to read all of it, but by this point, I should have at least known such knowledge exists inside. Your informant was lying, not so strange if they were tortured,” he could see both of them cringing from the sheer idea that it really happened.
People here had problems with killing each other, the thought of torturing someone probably was another piece of hell for them.
The people here are kind of soft… I think I like it, he thought, hoping their society created a better environment than people on Earth. Aisha already gave him some indicators, but he wasn’t ready to believe in them until he sees the world by himself. But let’s leave the philosophical questions for later.
“And for the final argument. I know how and why your medicament is killing people. It has nothing to do with Netherlings.”
They both looked at him in surprise, but Aisha quickly gathered her wits.
“He is a Fullangrarian,” she said to the Gremling.
“Oh, that explains a lot!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I didn’t want to impose, bu—”
“Can we leave that for later?” Zeph disrupted him, frowning. “We really don’t have much time?”
“Right, right. Please continue,” P’pfel said, correcting his glasses again and leaning forward.
“I believe all of these”—Zeph started, waving his hand at the biological arsenal in the room—“are fed with Hydrargyrum?”
“Yes,” the ‘professor’ nodded.
“What they produce is an organic… version of Hydrargyrum,” he said, trying to find proper words in Rui. The ‘organomercury’ and ‘methylmercury’ words didn’t exist in the Cir language, after all. “The difference between this one and the… pure Hydrargyrum is that it can be assimilated directly from the bloodstream into the brain. I believe the System-inflicted Passive Enhancements are able to keep the damage to the organs at a minimum but aren’t able to forcefully help with the brain. As so, the critical dosage of the organic version is much smaller than for the pure version…”
“But I didn’t find any concrete dosage being toxic? And Pure Hydrargyrum not only has one, but the damage can be easily detected by Healers,” he protested.
And that is why the System is fucking your results, dear professor, Zeph thought with resignation.
“If not for the Enhancements, all of the symptoms would slowly show after much smaller doses of the pure version. Just, they would be delayed in time as the… molecule congregates within a body. Don’t ask me how it was measured, but for a body without ‘physical’ Enhancements, the mercury is toxic at a concentration of 1 to 1 000 000 within the blood.”
Both of his listeners paled at that. They were in the middle of the Hydrargyrum mine and evidently believed in his expertise.
“The hard threshold of the toxicity, the one you have observed, is only possible thanks to the System. But it’s different for the organic version. The effects won’t show up immediately. The symptoms will surface with time as more and more of the… compounded Hydrargyrum builds up in the body. I am actually confused why you aren’t influenced…” he paused after looking at P’pfel.
The Gremling was gripping his head with both hands. Then, he fell to his knees. “If that is true… What have I done?!” he mumbled before he started to cry silently.
At that moment, Gru sent him a very ominous picture.
“I know the cure!” Zeph shouted immediately, trying to placate the scientist. The Soul wound wasn’t the purpose of disclosing this knowledge. Not at all. “It can’t clear the brain, yet. But you can experiment in that direction!” he exclaimed, thinking about the Succimer, also called DMSA. It should help with some symptoms at least.
The mad alchemist slowly raised his head. The tears were streaming down his uneven cheeks, a hope visible in his eyes.
He tried to say something, but in the end, he just sniffed with his overflowing nose.
The glasses fell from his face.
A high-pitched scream resounded in the room right after.
“Uaaaaaaa! I am stupid! STUPID! What is this dritt?!” he started screaming, repeatedly hitting the floor with his head. Aisha had to lift the crazed Gremling again, this time by the head, as she didn’t want him to kill himself by accident.
Blood and tears streamed down his face as he held his head in a tight grip and howled.
Zeph and Aisha exchanged glances. He gestured to her to continue.
She hit P’pfel in the head with enough force to almost knock him out and the dizzy fella fell silent, convulsing slightly.
“You are System-disturbed, aren’t you?” Aisha asked, lifting him up to her face.
He sniffed. “Ye, what of it? Are you going to kill me right here and now? DO IT! I be—” he started, earning himself another bonk to the head.
His impressive collection of bumps increased by one.
“STOP SCREAMING!” she yelled right into his big ear. Zeph could swear he heard the sound of a bursting eardrum. The guy spasmed and stopped moving altogether, the tears still rolling down his face.
“Now,” she said quietly after taking a deep breath and turning him around, to have his other ear near her mouth.
Fuck, she did burst his eardrum! he thought, intimidated.
“As long as you controlled yourself up until now, I don’t care. But this discussion has to wait. We will take what you need,” she said in a fake-calm tone, “and inform the government of the closest city about what is happening here. Do you understand?” she asked in a rasped voice.
“I… I c-can’t,” he answered, curling up midair. “I will show you… Just, place me down,” he said as the tears finally stopped flowing down.
Back on the ground, he started to undo the many straps of his leather outfit. His small eyes were hollow as he proceeded, his moves mechanical.
Finally, he managed to lower the top of his clothes, showing them his naked back.
Zeph would be flabbergasted at the emaciated body, if not for the angry-red mark that stole all of his attention. Deep under the skin, some kind of black tattoo was visible. Irritated skin surrounded it, flakes of dead cells were slowly separating from the area, some falling down even as he was looking.
“Hmmm,” Aisha thrummed, looking closer. “So, those are the fabled bodily drawings your race is so proud of?”
Zeph looked at her with a questioning look.
“His race is immune to metal poisoning, so they can use solid Hydrargyrum to directly place enchantments on their bodies,” she explained. “In the first place, they require certain metals in their diet to function.”
“And that is the second problem,” P’pfel said, turning his head to the side. “The bitch is the only source of the Auric I have. For years, she gave me the fucking minimum to survive. I am on the brink of starvation! If our little tour would take more than a week, I am dead. Also, this tattoo here will pack me full of energy if I leave this place. The light enchantment above is sending magnetic waves disrupting its functionality. I will be cooked from inside,” he explained, surprisingly coherently, before putting his clothes up. “I am dead,” he declared, hunching over and looking at the ground. “Just take my written statement… It shoul—”
“Grrrraaaaa!” suddenly, Gru called loudly, its greed leaking through the innocent vibrations.
The Gremling looked at him with curiosity while Aisha smiled.
“Ugh… Gru, I don’t think it’s a good idea. We don’t know if you can clear mercury from my body,” he argued.
“What is ha—” started a certain midget.
“Gree! Gree! Gra!” it exclaimed happily, ignoring and cutting off the unimportant weenie.
Well… I had to admit, that certainly shoots down all my arguments…
“Are you sure it won’t make it into my bloodstream?” he asked.
“Gra!” it answered with certainty.
“Can anyone sane explain to me w—” He couldn’t finish. Aisha grabbed him by the neck and exposed his back again, keeping the protesting Gremling on the floor.
Zeph removed his glove and hesitantly placed his hand on his back, right at the strange tattoo. He could feel as something wormed its way through his skin and started to drill itself into the Gremling’s body.
The guy wasn’t even able to feel it.
Gru’s arm… Let’s call it an ‘arm’, ok? …followed the lines of the complicated construct inside the body. It destroyed the construct with the first, deep slurp. The arm wasn’t thin enough to slurp all of the mercury without widening some paths, but the process was painless. Like an anteater clearing out a termite mound, Gru sucked all of the residues inside.
Finally, Zeph removed his hand.
“Your tattoo was removed,” Aisha informed the struggling Gremling and backed off.
“What?! There is no”—she lifted her weapon—“noooo waay you are this kind to me!” he finished, bowing gracefully.
“Leave the theatrics for the tribunal, just shut up,” she said, cracking the pavement’s brick as she unwarily brought her weapon down. “Zeph, any idea for the other problem?”
“Depends,” he started. ‘Auric’… That sounds familiar… The translation during the learning process wasn’t literal enough, I suppose?
“Describe… No, that will take too much time. What are the components to create this Auric you spoke of?” he asked after a moment.
“Wha—yes, yes,” he said, looking at Aisha’s hand. “It’s complicated. Outside the natural sources, it can be created by Hverium decomposed into Hvarium by using the Rhua…”
“Stop, stop. This is useless…” Zeph interjected, shaking his head. “Hmmm… What resources in the Serra mountains were necessary for your race, again?”
“Oh… The veins of Hverium, Halite, Sylvite, Rhualin, Gold, Carnallite…” he started listing the names. Zeph could recognize some of them and a theory quickly formed in his mind.
Gold is the only metal I recognize in this mess… If that’s the case, then the most common gold compound should be the Gold chloride… But let’s check it first.
“The Gold you were talking about – do you know how to change it into the Auric?”
“Eh,” he shrugged. “Of course, I do. You just need a special machine that heats and compresses the air. Then you need one of the minerals I mentioned to be processed properly and then burned into a gas to fuel the change. It’s not easy at all. I can feed on the pure Gold for some time if that helps?” he declared with total resignation, abandoning any reasonable thoughts.
Bingo! “Do you have any acid here?” Zeph asked, smiling widely. He finally placed the last piece of the puzzle in the right place.
Auric chloride wasn’t that hard to make at all.
Well, his past fascination with aqua regia was the only reason he managed to (dis)solve this problem, but let’s not talk about it.
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Interface: without changes, but here it is.
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