Editing Setting:Tabula Gloria/Benalor/The World Engine (section)

=At Wits' End=
Slowly but surely, the World Engine continued on its course. Slowly but surely, so did Scyld, Rickol, and their soldiers continue on theirs. The trek was long and arduous, and indeed some of the soldiers perished in the push, but Scyld would not relent until the abomination was stopped. They made their way through the maze of old mine shafts, finally reaching Siev at a bridge connecting the two peaks of the Engine. Though the Shaper had become rugged and more experienced in survival, a crashing shot from Scyld's rifle was more than enough to take him down. As Scyld stayed with the injured Siev, Rickol and some of the remaining soldiers went into the chamber beyond the bridge. What awaited the fellow Shaper was beyond his wildest imagination. Lines and lines of carefully structured and meticulous spellwork was etched all along the walls of the chamber, from ceiling to floor. The complexity of the spell language and its syntax almost made Rickol dizzy. But he had to get to work now, for there was no time to waste.

Hours seemed like an eternity as the World Engine trundled ever closer to civilization. The golems were pushing against the remaining shields holding them at bay against the bridge, knocking one more of the soldiers over to his death. Frantically, Rickol flipped through his own journals, tracing the steps of the spellwork, putting each piece together. But there didn't seem to be a weakness in the construction of the spell, no word or phrase which could make it stop altogether. Frustrated, he looked around the room for any other clues. He looked to Scyld, who woefully shook his head - he had tried to force the answer out of Siev earlier, who resisted until he passed out. Furthermore he looked in the room until he found another journal in a dark corner of the chamber. He looked through it and got right to work, for Siev had documented the details of the spell. He was determined to gain recognition one way or another.

A word here, a phrase there. Filing out a portion here and moving it elsewhere. After another hour, the mountain shuddered to a halt, only to move again but in another direction. To fully stop the mountain, Rickol would have to perfectly imitate Siev's voice, which was nigh impossible. But the keywords as to the mountain's task, laden all throughout the spell, could be rearranged to change its course. So to the wild north the World Engine went and the party was picked up to return home. No one will know exactly how it is still going after such a long time, for golems of any size usually lose their ability to move after long enough. Siev died on the way back to Benalor from blood loss and exhaustion, his secrets relegated to his journal, though even that did not explain the deeper secrets of his work. It was work which may haunt this generation of people, for sightings of smaller golems have been made spreading ever farther away from the Rickol Valley in which the World Engine roams.

[[Category: Tabula Gloria]]