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Q. I found a ritual for making a 'dragon fulcrum'. How do I make one of these, and how do I use it?
A. This page is gonna be kinda long, because making a dragon fulcrum is one thing, but how you use it
depends on which dragon you revived with the homunculus. So to kick off, let's review what we found in
the Antechamber:
> recall facts
> recall emergency dragon subsumption
"If one of a marcher's dragons becomes disorganized, the vessel is in serious danger. As an
emergency measure, the faulty dragon may be subsumed into an active one, transferring its
functions. The composite will be unstable, but may suffice to rig the marcher to a safe berth.
"Place a fulcrum in the active dragon's lair." (A footnote here: "Any lair will suffice, in fact; the
fulcrum merely provides leverage.") "Prepare an orderly environment and use the Marcher's
Invocation. Follow with a symmetric sequence to indicate a forward transition (active dragon
consuming damaged one). Conclude with the Dracon Invocation. This will summon the active
dragon; one can then translate it to the presence of the other. Warning: do not allow the
dragon's presence to cross the fulcrum node!"
What this is telling us is that (once we make the fulcrum) we can place it in any dragon's
lair *except* the one we are currently trying to subsume. Also, this is another ritual that you can alter
by substituting the antisymmetric sequence for the symmetric one (like you did to make counter-Gaian
precipitate instead of Gaian precipitate). If you do that, it reverses the effect of the ritual and the
active dragon will be subsumed by the inactive one, which will then become the active dragon. It's of
little practical use to 'swap the active dragon' (my, but does this game make for some weird esoteric
discussions :-) unless you decided that your choice of which dragon to lead the homunculus to wasn't a
'good' one. That may be a valid concern, as we'll see below. Though you can get to the endgame with any
of the active dragons, some choices make it more... complicated. Anyway, let's make the fulcrum first,
a process which can have its own complications:
> recall dragon fulcrum
"THE DRAGON FULCRUM: This ritual requires a bound of metallic quicksilver, or a quicksilver
amalgam. Place a stone token within, and speak Grendel's Sealing. Pour vitriol onto the stone
(for sulphur and quicksilver are the polar principles of alchemy). Invoke the dragon's name, and
conclude with the Relative Anima." But the words "dragon's name" have been scratched out.
Below them is a smudged knot or tangle of lines - as if someone had tried to copy a
multidimensional structure onto the paper, without much success.
Since we don't know of any ritual bound around the place made of quicksilver (i.e. mercury), that
means we have to make an amalgam out of the mercury we find at the alien wreck, and... something. That
something has to be a metal, because we need to draw it into wire in order to use it in the adjustable
bound. You can try to get the mercury to bind to all the different available metals on board the marcher,
but I believe you will only have success with: orichalcum, gold, and lead. The orichalcum is too brittle to
be drawn into wire, and we need the gold to make elemental fire with. So that leaves us with lead. And
therein possibly lies the first complication: if you turned the lead rod into a File seal for the purpose
of using it as an anchored (i.e. Saturnine) influence in any ritual that was used to get around the marcher
after a reset - or to venture outside to get the mercury - then you're going to be out of luck. You will be
able to get the mercury to bind to the lead, but it won't be possible to pull it through the wire-drawer
because of its shape :-( So... if you are in that situation, as I was, what you need to do is figure out
which ritual you did that in, and re-perform that ritual using the horn coin as the anchored influence
instead of the lead File seal.
Once you have the lead rod available, you can go get the mercury, pour it onto the lead,
and use the wire-drawer to turn it into 'white amalgam wire'. The dragon fulcrum ritual itself can be carried
out in the Materials Store on the adjustable bound there, using any piece of stone to serve as the fulcrum
(except, ahem, one you might need to get you through a door). But there's another complication:
what to use for the "dragon's name" in the ritual? :-) Click
here to show/hide ritual steps
> put wire in groove (of the
adjustable bound)
> put granite in bound (any of the stone chips will do, except for one you
might need to get through a door ;-)
> recite grendel's sealing (found in the Chancel)
> pour vitriolic acid on granite
> recite first alien glyph (found by examining knot on door of alien wreck,
but second or third glyph will work as well. In fact, each time you make the fulcrum you will need to use another
glyph)
> recite relative anima (found in Deck Suite, locked cabinet)
> take granite
> take wire Just one little glitch to observe: when you make the fulcrum the second and third time, 'perform dragon
fulcrum' only gets you as far as fetching the mercury from outside the wreck. You need to head back inside and
make the white amalgam wire yourself. Then you can continue with 'perform dragon fulcrum' to finish the ritual.
Now here comes the fun part. Remember which dragon you revived by bringing the homunculus to it, and
follow the instructions in the corresponding section below... but only if you're really stuck! Because this is
one of the most challenging parts of the game, and you obviously get the most satisfaction by figuring out what
to do yourself, based on all the neat alchemy tricks you've learned so far.
(Note: 7th June, 2015 - I had originally overcomplicated the solutions to the Pneuma and Baros sections
below. But thanks to a hint I solicited from the game's creator, I have reworked those sections accordingly.
Many thanks, Zarf! :-)
Click here to show/hide
instructions for subsuming the other three dragons if you revived Pneuma
Ideally, we want to place the dragon fulcrum in the room where the
active dragon is, then open up the room where the dragon we want to subsume is, and lead the active dragon there.
But it looks like just getting to Pneuma in the first place requires: orichalcum, elemental earth, and elemental
fire. If we use those resources, then it's impossible to visit another dragon without doing a reset. However...
there is a way to get into the Aithery that is only available when Pneuma is active, which is the case here. Can
you spot it?
Well, when Pneuma is active, you can turn the valve wheel in the Scaphe Arcade to pressurise the
Exoscaphe Bay. That gives you access to the Exoscaphe Dome, where you find a key to the Tertiary Alchemy Lab. In
there is a vial of anti-Tellurian distillate. If you know your earthly adjectives, you'll realise that this is
in fact the equivalent of counter-Gaian precipitate, which can be used to make lead weight decrease. By applying
lead weight decrease to the counterweight in the Observatory, the cable holding the counterweight is slackened.
And then, if you apply dispersal brush... :-)
Once we can get to the Aithery without consuming any vital resources, the rest becomes quite simple:
- Create the dragon fulcrum and make your way to Pneuma's lair using lodestone of centrality. Drop the
fulcrum there. Then go to the Nave and perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual to summon Pneuma. The ritual
is not that complicated, so it's not giving anything away by showing it here:
> put thick key on shelf
> recite marcher's invocation
> recite symmetric sequence
> recite dracon invocation
When Pneuma arrives in the Nave, lead Pneuma to Aistheta (gaining access to the Aithery as outlined above).
- When you awaken again, create the fulcrum and drop it in Pneuma's lair (which you can now access freely as Aistheta
is functional). Then go to the Nave, and perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual to summon Pneuma again. This
time, lead Pneuma to Baros.
- Same as above (place fulcrum in Pneuma's lair), but lead Pneuma to Syndesis. And we're done.
Click here to show/hide
instructions for subsuming the other three dragons if you revived Aistheta
Turns out this choice makes it the easiest for you, because
having Aistheta functional automatically opens up the Paper Maze, Center so that you can reach Pneuma's
lair without consuming any precious resources. So you just do the following:
- Create the dragon fulcrum and make your way up to the Aithery room. Drop the fulcrum there. Then go
to the Nave and perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual to summon Aistheta. The ritual is not that
complicated, so it's not giving anything away by showing it here:
> put thick key on shelf
> recite marcher's invocation
> recite symmetric sequence
> recite dracon invocation
When Aistheta arrives in the Nave, lead Aistheta to Pneuma.
- When you awaken again, create the fulcrum and drop it in Pneuma's lair. Then go to the Nave, and
perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual to summon Aistheta again. This time, lead Aistheta to Baros.
- Same as above (place fulcrum in Pneuma's lair), but lead Aistheta to Syndesis. And we're done.
Click here to show/hide
instructions for subsuming the other three dragons if you revived Baros
Choosing to revive Baros first makes things a little bit complicated.
At first it looks like this is going to be easy, because when Baros is active the crawlway between Baros' lair
and Pneuma's is accessible. So you make the loadstone of centrality to visit Pneuma's lair, then head through
the crawlway to Baros' place and drop the fulcrum there. Then perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual in
the Nave to summon Baros. The ritual is not that complicated, so it's not giving anything away by showing it here:
> put thick key on shelf
> recite marcher's invocation
> recite symmetric sequence
> recite dracon invocation
When Baros arrives in the Nave, lead Baros to Pneuma. Great stuff in itself, but now you're apparently
stuck. After you've awakened again, you'll need to place the fulcrum in either Pneuma or Baros' lair next, and
the resources expended in doing that won't allow you to visit another dragon's lair without having to do a reset
in between. However... there is a way to get into the Aithery that is only available when Pneuma is active, which
is now the case here. Can you spot it?
Well, when Pneuma is active, you can turn the valve wheel in the Scaphe Arcade to pressurise the
Exoscaphe Bay. That gives you access to the Exoscaphe Dome, where you find a key to the Tertiary Alchemy Lab. In
there is a vial of anti-Tellurian distillate. If you know your earthly adjectives, you'll realise that this is
in fact the equivalent of counter-Gaian precipitate, which can be used to make lead weight decrease. By applying
lead weight decrease to the counterweight in the Observatory, the cable holding the counterweight is slackened.
And then, if you apply dispersal brush... :-)
Once we can get to the Aithery without consuming any vital resources, the rest becomes quite simple:
- Create the dragon fulcrum and make your way to either Pneuma or Baros' lair. Drop the fulcrum there. Then
go to the Nave and perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual to summon Baros. When Baros arrives in the Nave,
lead Baros to Aistheta (gaining access to the Aithery as outlined above).
- When you awaken again, create the fulcrum and drop it in Pneuma's lair (which you can now access freely as Aistheta
is functional). Then go to the Nave, and perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual to summon Baros again. This
time, lead Baros to Syndesis. And we're done.
Click here to show/hide
instructions for subsuming the other three dragons if you revived Syndesis
Once you revive Syndesis, have a good look around the place and you will
discover that the following fractures have been mended:
- Secondary Alchemy Lab door
- Chymic Lab door
- Opticks Lab (can now access Opticks Closet)
- Deck Suite, door to Master-at-Arms Quarters
This puts a very important object at your disposal: the key to the Barosy gate (flint key you find in Master-at-Arms
Quarters)! Once you have that key, this is what you need to do:
- Create the dragon fulcrum and make your way to Syndesis' lair. Drop the fulcrum there. Then go
to the Nave and perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual to summon Syndesis. The ritual is not that
complicated, so it's not giving anything away by showing it here:
> put thick key on shelf
> recite marcher's invocation
> recite symmetric sequence
> recite dracon invocation
When Syndesis arrives in the Nave, lead Syndesis to Baros (just open the Barosy gate with the flint key).
- When you awaken again, create the fulcrum and drop it in Syndesis' lair again. Then go to the Nave, and
perform the emergency dragon subsumption ritual to summon Syndesis again. This time, head through the crawlway
between the Barosy and the Paper Maze, Center - which is now open because Baros has been subsumed - and lead Syndesis to Pneuma.
- For the final subsumption, place the fulcrum in the Barosy. Then lead Syndesis to Aistheta and we're done.
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