act17mini

Ermi Ermi, if you read me, please respond.

Ermi...? It's not working?

Young Djall, could you please unbind my hands? I promise I won't run. At least let me have a smoke?

No can do! I'm not letting you go until I get you back to the Furnace.

I told you, you've got the wrong guy. I've been meaning to drop by the Furnace, but I really didn't escape from the thing.

I have a Columbian ID in my shirt pocket. I could show you right now—if you unbind my hands.

It's a long trip from Columbia to Kazdel, isn't it?

If you'd told me you were from Rim Billiton, I probably would've believed you.

Ermi, can you hear me? Hey? Hello...?

The box's comm Arts structure has been ruined. You can slap it all you want, but that isn't going to fix it.

How dare you?! It's your fault my box got crushed in the first place!

If I fix your little box thing for you, will you free my hands?

Can you really fix it?

Don't you pull any tricks or anything! I-I have my own methods to deal with you!

I got it, little Djall. Relax. I'm not going anywhere.

Hold on. Are you actually buying this, Nymph? The guy gets possessed by a re—by the ancestors and you're ready to unbind him?

You sure love getting your word in, kiddo, but you don't seem to know a thing about revenants or Djaj. Djaj are the only ones that can't be influenced by revenants.

I'll free just one of your hands... Hey! How'd you break yourself out of that? You tricked me!

I knew you were up to no good!

I hope you can appreciate how much it hurts to have my hands bound for so long.

It hurts, even though you've got iron skin?

It's not iron. It's tin. And it doesn't exactly hurt. It's just...

Between his metallic fingers is a single cigarette; it seems to have appeared out of nowhere.

The odd man takes it to his mouth, takes a puff, then spins the cigarette around between his fingers before carefully smothering every spark of flame in his palms.

Huff—Ah, that's good.

You can't buy cigarettes this nice in Kazdel. I have to ration them.

Hey, you promised you'd fix my box.

I lied.

A Lich created the Arts in that box, and those prideful bastards never think about repairability when they design things. That's not to say none of them earned their pride, though.

Come on, you're just going back on your word!

Let me finish. You're looking for someone, aren't you? I can't fix the box, but I can help you find the Lich who made it.

H-How come you know who I'm looking for?

I don't, but I think I don't need to.

The strange man leans back as a puff of gray-whitish smoke gradually floats from his mouth.

The smoke disperses into a rippling cloud, like a stone being thrown into a pool of stagnant water. The revenant's trace fluctuations sweep across the area, drowning all of Kazdel in silence.

A brief moment later, the noise has reemerged, and the puff of smoke has completely dispersed.

Who are you exactly?

Just... who are you, mister?

They call me the Tin Man.

Tin Man...?

Look, the one you're looking for is here.

One can count all the revenants that walk the lands on one hand. Who might you be?

He says he's the Tin Man.

He says he's from Columbia.

...Kazdel is not ready for your return yet.

Hard to blame you. I never thought I'd ever come back here when I left.

What did you come back for?

He says he wants to go to the Furnace.

Nymphy!

Okay okay. I won't interrupt again. Go ahead and ask.

Then allow me to... Never mind. I suppose there's nothing else to ask.

Normally, a guest of your pedigree would be received by my master, but...

Your master? That stubborn old man? Let's not tell him, save my vacation from going completely down the drain.

If you'd like to visit and take a look beneath the Soul Furnace, I could bring you there, without telling anyone.

(Shakes head) Not beneath it. I want to go <i>inside</i> it.

Who do you want to visit there?

Who else?

Nymphy, have you gathered all the revenant fragments yet?

They're all inside my box. Here!

The young Lich nods and nonchalantly throws the slightly misshapen box into the shadows behind her.

Her gaze shifts back and forth between the Djall and the revenant, then finally lands on the Soul Furnace that stands in the distance.

Then let's go.

Nymphy, I'll find another time to give you your reward. And here's the surprise I promised you—Do you want to go into the Soul Furnace for a walk?

Can I really?!

Can I bring friends?! So many kind people have helped us along the way! I could never have collected all the fragments so quickly without them!

Ahem, to tell the truth, I've always wanted to go inside, ever since I was a kid, just to see how it works.

Well... As it stands, we've already broken multiple rules today. so...

Give me just a minute! I'll gather everybody up!

<i>Everybody?</i> Hold on...

Right, for my reward, can I get some scrap Oriron...? Pohl, help me explain it to Ermi, okay?

Uh, alright.

Ah, youth. So motivated. Already sprang away like an arrow from the bow.

I never introduced myself. I'm from down below, the slums, as people call it.

They call me <i>the Consultant</i> there, and I speak for them. Mr. Tin Man, and the Lich lady. Please, call me Pohl.

Don't call me a lady. Don't you think that's very improper?

Oh, kiddo... In certain ways, you're still far too young.

One, two, three, four... and me. Five! All of us are here!

Nymphy, the Furnace is a dangerous place. Why did you bring this many people? And that little girl behind you...

One child ticket, please.

This is not a sightseeing spot, and we don't sell tickets! No children, either!

Sorry, Cherie. I tried my best... Maybe next time?

There's no next time!

It's okay, Nymph. I was thinking that maybe the big furnace is full of flatbread like the little one we have. Turns out, it's all dark and dirty and lame!

What flatbread? We <i>never</i> bake anything with the furnace nodes! Your grandpa is still waiting outside, right? Quick, go find him!

There are still so many people here. Now what am I going to do with them?

They all helped me, a lot, and you promised me just now! They won't give you any trouble at all!

Everyone, I need all of you to give me your own words, not just Nymphy's.

It doesn't matter to me. All I want is to take a look at the work of that legendary designer. I've heard her signature is on the Soul Furnace's blueprints, too. Is that true?

Since when has the Soul Furnace had blueprints?

You can look all you want, but no touching. What about you, Gargoyle? What are you looking at?

If there's a wide enough pipeline that leads straight out of the city...

Gargoyles tend to be into complicated constructions like this. Don't worry. She's just checking whether the pipelines are sturdy enough.

Right. I'm trying to see if we can crawl through them.

What about you, Consultant? Trying to live your childhood dream? Like you said before?

(Shrugs) Is that not good enough of a reason?

Hmph.

I didn't expect to see you here, Qalaiša. What is a Nachzehrer who left her tribe doing here?

<i>Left</i> my tribe? No, we just hold different ideals.

As for what I am doing here... Hm, mainly, I couldn't bring myself to refuse such a sincere invitation from this cutie pie.

And if I manage to learn a few extraordinary witchcraft rituals while inside the Soul Furnace, that's all the better.