¶ Experimental Notes
¶ Project Lazarus:
Administered Alchemical Elixirs of Extended Vitality (see recipe pg. 112). Recently uninterred subject displayed extended life signs for 72 hours before succumbing to cellular degeneration and exanguishment. Further alchemical refinement required. Consider inducing longer rotovaping time and temperatures for extract purity. Artokus Kirran: Citadel of the Alchemist; Merab, Thuvia.
¶ Project Umbra:
Project shows promise. Subject X-23 (Osirian dissident) exhibited invisibility for 30 minutes following ingestion of Nightshade Essence (see recipe pg. 98). Further testing needed to achieve permanent effect. Side effects involve short term blindness. Recommend procuring Midnight Tears from the Darklands (risks outlined in report, pg. 101).
¶ Project Chimera:
Successful integration of intellect devourer DNA with humanoid test subject (BF-V109). Subject displayed enhanced sensory development and ferocity but uncontrollable aggression. Test subject terminated after devouring lab assistant cranium pan. Further refinement of genetic splicing technique required.
¶ Dr. Snow Correspondence
¶ From the Sub-Catacombs of Mertlinger
Dr. Snow, Keeper of the Murmuring Jar
To: the Fifth Fold of the Black Paper
Most Venerated Fold,
The Lazarene has exhaled a name. It was not his own. This is promising.
The Rite of Recollection has entered its second veil—he now responds to incantations drawn from the Pre-Cataclysm Lexicon. The Voice of the Black Margins was recited over him during the third waning, and he convulsed in perfect rhythm with the glyph of obfuscation.
He no longer dreams. He remembers.
And the memory is not his.The runes buried in his spine bloom when the incumbent speaks on the aetheric current.
With proximity, I believe the Lazarene will respond ritually. His pulse mirrors the cadence of the Spell Lord’s public communiqués. We are close to resonance. Yet, I remain without the Lake’s Edict.
I dare not guide him to speech without knowing the Fold’s intent: Shall he be vessel or verdict?
May the Ink Drip from Unseen Wells,
Dr. Snow
¶ From the Scriptorium Below
Beneath the Folded Glyph To the Pale Lexicant of Whispered Remnants,
The Lazarene breathes, but he is not yet bound.
That he echoes a name not his own pleases the Fold, but the name must be followed by purpose.The Second Seat is stable, yet the parchment it rests upon is brittle.
We observe fractures.
One false verse in the right tongue could dissolve the scribing that holds him in place. However, the Lake remains clouded. The Hand of Redirection has not surfaced.
Until the Mirror Ink settles, you are instructed to prepare the Lazarene for witness but not recital. He shall hear, remember, and wait.Let him be the Black Quill’s vessel—empty, uncapped, poised.
We expect next confirmation at the Ink-Sanctioned hour of Umbralflux.
In the Service of the Hollow Draft,
The Fifth Fold