In the meantime, Lorrie pulled something from the package on the bar before her, showing it to Kari.
“This is a wand-pistol. It’s an invention I designed with some collaboration with a friend from Crassia.”
Kari looked at it with a raised eyebrow. Pistols and guns he had seen before. They were useful for hunting, but in combat against other people, only the highest quality ones were reliable. Guns had to be protected by Universal Law, right down to the ammunition. There were many tales of would-be bandits dying to their own bullets, which had prematurely exploded due to the influence of another’s Gift.
This weapon that Lorrie was holding bore a similar silhouette to a pistol, but its barrel was far longer than usual. It had a carved wooden body and brass metal fasteners along its length, giving the impression of a particularly thick wand that someone had attached the hollow grip of a pistol onto. The grip of the wand-pistol itself was made of transparent glass supported by brass struts.
Kari lowered his head to look down the barrel of the weapon, curious about whether or not it had a hole as other guns typically did. It didn’t.
“I would normally recommend against putting your head – or any of your body parts for that matter – at the end of the operational end of the device,” Lorrie advised dryly.
Kari cleared his throat in embarrassment.
Lorrie then splayed four coloured glass vials out on the bar. Red, green, blue and yellow. Peering through the glass, one could see small cubes and spheres of material placed in tens of scaffolding-like layers.
“Unlike a normal wand, the wand-pistol does not store any sort of magical energy in the actual wood. That’s one of the design flaws my baby was intended to overcome. Too many mages have lost their legs to carelessly sitting on their own sticks.
These vials are the magical equivalent of a magazine in a typical gun. Instead of bullets, these contain harmless meaning-rich materials placed on arcisponge layers. Then, in the firing chamber, my patented smart-alchemical process will automatically turn the materials into a combination of appropriate magical reagents. The layers each have partial magic circles drawn onto their surface. When you pull the trigger, the wand will suck the arcisponge up. The arcisponge will complete the magic circle. The reagents will be consumed, and the wand will fire a spell out the tip.”
“I see…” Kari said. He was feeling a bit lost.
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“Just point and shoot. Now, I must reiterate that you won't be in any danger if someone interferes with the material inside your ‘bullets’. Reagents are harmless on their own. They’re only dangerous when they’re put into a magic circle, which can only happen if the wand is about to fire. So just be careful with what you point it at.” Lorrie explained.
Kari had no idea that Apolaphia’s weapons technology had come so far. He was more used to things that were simple and effective. Like swords and knives. Had he not been Giftless, he might’ve made a comment about academics always complicating things.
“…I want you to have this,” Lorrie added.
Kari was stunned. “Why?”
“While you crazy oafs are off to Al Dherjza, I’m staying right here in Sarigold. This is what I’m good at, not fighting. Worst comes to worst, perhaps the Incandestine will take an interest in my work and let me live. Especially once they hear that I co-invented a weapon that killed thousands in Al Dherjza, am I right?”
Kari eyed the weapon contemplatively. “Alright then.” He couldn’t deny that he was pleased. Honoured, even, though he didn’t say it.
Lorrie paused, monocled eye staring deep into Kari’s own. She was halfway through the motion of handing the device over. “Don’t get me wrong, Karl. I’m giving this to you because my intuition tells me you, of all people, will put it to good use. You better, do you hear me? I’m giving you my baby, so you better save the world with it.”
“Alright, okay, I get it. I’ll do you proud.” Kari said placatively, gesturing reassuringly with one open palm.
“Good.”
Lorrie handed the wand-pistol over.
“Because this wand-pistol uses harmless, meaning-rich materials as ammunition. You can even try refilling the magazines with whatever you find if you think it will carry some significance with ADAM… but don’t risk it unless you absolutely have to. You might break something. The vials here contain substances that I’ve tested. Runakite in red, sedimentary rock in blue, a mix of birdseed in yellow, and copperflowers in green.”
“What powers the alchemical converter?”
“Oh. Just some typical alchemical catalyst. There’s enough in there for a hundred thousand uses. Don’t worry. You won’t run out.”
After that, Franklin served lunch. The most talkative Lorrie explained what spell each vial produced while Franklin disappeared to recruit volunteers for their mission.
Miraculously, everything after that went to plan. Kari was far more used to having to improvise whenever he tried anything. He supposed it was the merit of working together with other people for once, instead of relying on his own unreliable self.
And so it was, that Kari was now standing in a room full of three dozen or so sweaty Sarigold citizens armed with all sorts of weapons and equipment. Knights, rogues, adventurers, mages, and simple opportunists. People of all walks of life had somehow been gathered up in such a short time. It should have been no surprise to Kari; the protestors had finally been presented with an opportunity to put their long-stated words and desires into action.
Franklin was staying behind, ready to send more people through the next day, so long as their little operation wasn’t busted.
“Well. Best of luck to you all.” Lorrie said.
“For Apolaphia!” Franklin shouted.
“FOR APOLAPHIA!!” Sarigold’s citizens shouted in reply, disappearing in a flash of white light.