The Life of the Blessed Hand

Book Three · The Walkthrough · 10

The Magician

The open world · the quarry, the drafting room and the moving house

Hic occidunt eum.

NewcomerStreamerSpoiler-light; deeper secrets sealedskeleton · the house is built in graybox
The moving house
The moving houseIn-game, clean pixels, under the book's CRT

At a glance

Where
the quarry face and the foundation, the drafting room, the moving house
Earns
unbuilding (he cannot be spared)
Rule taught
the house is a machine
Lieutenants
the Twin Architects; the Master Mason (a word, and a hidden door)
Boss
the Lord President of the Builders’ Guild
Order
either of the two houses left may come first

Why you are here

With the King fallen, the guild’s cordon on the north-west road is lifted: the Foundation day is done. The kalendar’s fourth feast is the Foundation: a stone marked at every new house, by the guild.

The rule

THE RULEThe house is a machine

Floors slide and turn on a schedule, driven by counterweights. Load a pan and a floor moves. The labour-levy men work the capstans: bend one, and the machine’s schedule changes. Seams crush whatever stands on them as they close.

The route

  1. The quarry. In from the gutter’s north-west road. The levy’s camp under the face.
  2. The crane yard. A counterweight pan lowers the lift: the rule. A teaching seam. Free the levy men if you can.
  3. The mask. On the upper terrace, the foundation stone laid at a new house’s corner, watched from the verge.
  4. The drafting room. The President’s plans lie open on the table, with the final setting of the capstans drawn. The Master Mason has a word and a hidden door. The guild’s crypt is the checkpoint.
  5. Down the lift to the moving house.
  6. The Twin Architects. Plated in the guild’s stone: your sword barely marks them. Lure each onto a closing seam. When one dies, the other runs to the body.
  7. The machine. The President is untouchable in the gallery, dropping stones. Set the three capstans to the plans and his gallery stair comes down.
  8. The President on the floor. See the boss below.
SHOT W10-01phase B: to capture
The quarry face with its cranes and counterweights, the switchback road up the terraces. Map mg_quarry.
SHOT W10-02phase B: to capture
The drafting table in the drafting room with the plans open, the final setting drawn. Map mg_hall.
CLIP W10-03phase B: to capture
A twin lured onto a closing seam in the moving house and crushed; the other twin running to the body. About 10 s.

The boss: the Lord President

Panel. From the gallery he drops stones on a ring that fills on your spot. Set the capstans to the plans to bring his stair down; on the floor, he swings a setting-maul, and the maul stuck in the floor is your opening. He cannot be spared: try, and Wick refuses you.

THE LORD PRESIDENT
Enough. Before you choose, look at the haven. I built it to the priest’s measure. Let me see it paid for.
gb-magician.js

Backtrack

Unbuilding. Every guild-laid wall carries a mason’s mark, and now Wick can see them. Mason-marked walls in the gutter, the Tower, the Empress’s house and the exchange come down as shortcuts. A fall only ever adds a way.

SHOT W10-04phase B: to capture
A mason’s mark glowing gold in a wall of the gutter, Wick casting unbuilding, the stone cracking. Map: the gutter. Play field only.

Secrets

Sealed · Mid-gameIn the quarryBreak the seal to read
  • The men under the face. An aside in the levy’s camp says where the labour levy goes.
  • The plans are left open on purpose. Wick thinks the guild is careless.
  • The haven. The President built it, “to the priest’s measure”. Every keystone in the city carries his mark, the haven’s included.