Jaeson looked over the texts of the engineering for what felt like the hundredth time, and yet he was still no closer to cracking the code of what mysterious force drove the mighty siege engines. There was a downward pull, that much was easy enough to grasp but it was the translation into motion and the release of the destructive energy, if possible, could be used to re-harness as motion for the tram.

He closed the book and rubbed his eyes. He was definitely getting well ahead of himself in this, and he needed to slow down. He collected the books and slowly walked under their weight to re-shelve them in their proper places.

“Look at the Sorcerer who thinks he’s a Wizard!” One of the other students said in a teasing tone. Jaeson grinned at the other student and stuck his tongue out, after quickly making sure that there were no senior lecturers present.

“You’re just jealous that I’m able to go on the expedition out into the wastes with others,” He said. The looks on their faces told him he’d scored a hit with his return jibe. He finished shelving the books and walked over to the student who’d done the taunt.

“Now you’re coming to rub my face in it?” The student asked. Jaeson clapped his arm on the other student’s shoulder lightly and smiled winningly.

“Look Elris, You’ve got one up on me with having people teaching you different knowledges…” He said. The other student relaxed a little under the charm offensive. “I’ve got to do it myself. And I’ve been given a challenge - help understand why the tram just stops. And to do that, I need to understand engineering better than I do now.”

“So that’s why you’re in here more than other sorcerers?” Elris asked. Jaeson nodded.

“Pretty much,” he said. “Anyway, I’d better get moving. Can’t afford to be late for packing.” The other student and those with him turned back to their studies while Jaeson headed off to his chambers, one hand lightly patting his belt pouch to make sure it was still there.

Jaeson carefully daubed his cut lip with the washcloth once more, before sitting back in his chair. The bowl of chilled water was soothing to his still sore face from where he had taken that head ringing blow from the goliath. He knew he could have had one more potion to heal himself, but it was something he didn’t want to waste when his own body would heal it naturally. Plus, it gave him a reminder of his first real battle. He wet the washcloth and placed it over his eyes and exhaled slowly. The sound of footsteps alerted him to the presence of someone else and he sat up, letting the cloth fall off his face. Five other apprentices stood there, looking at him

“So, you went and did the bidding of the archmage himself?” The speaker, a young woman with hair seeming like spun gold, was clearly impressed, respectful and a little envious it seemed. Not being a good judge of words, or intentions, Jaeson simply grinned in reply and nodded. The young woman turned and looked at the others.

“See? I told you he’d tell the truth if you just came and asked him,” she said.

“But what was it you did?” another asked. This young man was in robes and had more of a scholars bent than Jaeson knew he himself did. More likely to be an arcanist or a wizard, Jaeson thought to himself.

“The Archmage needed something investigated in the Tundra,” he said quietly, making the five of them draw closer. “Suffice to say, the experience was a very dangerous one, even though I was with others, I think only a couple of us escaped injury from what we encountered.”

“And what was it?” a nervous young woman asked, her own voice low.

“A Goliath that had been tainted. Two of the others with me were Frostwardens… and they peppered it with arrows while another of us shot it with a pistol. I hit it first with a ray of enfeeblement then Magic Missiles along with another Sorcerer.” The five apprentices were duly impressed. Jaeson exhaled slowly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m still recovering from the headache from that brute’s punch. The others nodded and headed off. The golden haired apprentice stayed however and gently took the cloth.

“Let me help and have a look at that,” she said gently and lightly began to press the washcloth over Jaeson’s face with a delicate touch. Jaeson’s eyes closed and he relaxed. That was the good thing about apprentices in the Academy, he thought, we look out for each other.

It was another day of self appointed study and Jaeson was pouring over A tome that detailed the inner planes in general while touching on the outer planes. It was knowledge that Jaeson sucked up eagerly, seeking to embed the knowledge in his mind so that he would be able to better research against whatever might be needed.

He had managed to grasp the basics of engineering and while he knew he wouldn’t be as good as the masters that worked the tram, another set of ideas as to working on the tram issue he knew would hardly be turned away. The possibility that corruption of a sort had occurred to him, and he worked diligently to make notes as to what the possible sources of the corruption could be - if they were mechanical, planar, natural … or tainted.

He had heard about the goblins attacking the Caravan from the caravaneers who had survived, and it led him to thinking - perhaps an underground race might be interfering with the lines? That of course would point to sabotage but such wasn’t obvious otherwise it would have been countered. Which of course led to alchemical, arcane, or divine interference if it wasn’t taint.

He exhaled slowly and set his ink pen down. The possibilities that he had were myriad and he would need to go and investigate the tramlines himself, if nothing else, to eliminate the possibilities that might already have been overlooked or discounted by the craftsmen themselves. The power source of the trams was another detail he had to consider as he had yet to examine the schematics for them. But that was setting the sled before the dogs - he knew he would have to improve his engineering skill before he would be able to properly decipher a tinker's musings. And he was no tinker, nor did he desire to become one.

After rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands, Jaeson then yawned and stood, collecting his things, packing them up, before making his way to the shelf where the tome had been collected from. Once it was shelved, he shouldered his backpack once more and made his way to the apprentices dorms. He yawned once more before changing and climbing into bed.

Jaeson sat at the table in the Library, looking over the details he had looked at for the trams. They were starting to make some semblance of sense now, but he knew that it would be a while before he had the full understanding of them. Even so, the mention of aid from the foreman had been encouraging, and he was determined to make things work in their mutual favour.

He looked at the tome, researching more into the denizens of the underground, seeking to see what else could be hindering the progress of the tram. The Giant rats had been a nasty surprise, and he was determined to be able to get the jump on them more effectively in the future. Or, for that matter, anything else that might be lurking in the subterranean caverns.

There were tales of a lizard type folk, that were extremely xenophobic, that might cause problems if a lair of them was encountered in the tunnels. Jaeson carefully made notes about them, even as he continued to research about the workings of the tram itself. He paused when he heard light footsteps behind him and he looked up. The golden haired apprentice who had tended his cuts was looking at him quietly.

“I’m sorry to bother you Jaeson,” she said, “but it’s meal time, and the others were wondering where you were, so I volunteered to find you.” Jaeson looked at the light cast on the windows and realised he had been pushing himself a lot harder than he had intended. With a rumbling stomach he looked at the other apprentice and grinned.

“I’ll be right there. Save me a seat, will you Eloise?” he asked. Eloise nodded and headed out and Jaeson started packing up his belongings, mentally cataloguing what he had learned and what he should send to the foreman as suggestions and ideas to help with the running of the Tram. Now that he had managed to gather a sense of what was going on, he felt a little more confident with making his suggestions. With the tomes back on the shelves, he made his way to the mess hall with a grin.

Jaeson carefully and deliberately turned he page of the planar knowledge book, reviewing, not for the first time, what he needed to understand and consolidate his message to the Archmage. He felt more than a little presumptuous doing it, but with what had been learned, he felt that this theory needed to be sent to the archmage as swiftly as possible.

He turned and started writing his theory with what he had been able to piece together, using the rat example he had said to Jeff and Pirith, highlighting how he believed that whatever was on the other side of the portal would be the corruptor and twister of the beings that went through to the world.

He worked calmly, keeping his senses open to people moving through the library to ensure that he was not being spied upon, even as he wrote deftly and quickly. Finally, he looked over the writings and details and nodded and let the ink dry before rolling the scroll up and sliding it into his backpack. As he did so, he was aware of a few of the other apprentices approaching. He noted Jeff wasn’t among them, but Eloise was. She seemed to be the spokesperson for them.

“Jaeson, we heard that the Archmage pulled you aside for another secret meeting,” she said winningly, her own charisma shining through. Another apprentice, this one with ebony hair, Kara, looked at him and Eloise.

“Look, we know if you’re meeting with the archmage, that’s your business,” she said diplomatically, “But we’d also appreciate not being kept in the dark when you can let us know.” Jaeson nodded.

“Look, I can’t talk about the meeting right now,” he replied and some of their faces fell. “But when I can, I will.” That seemed to satisfy the others and they headed off to leave him to what he was focused on. Jaeson exhaled slowly once they had left. Eloise was charismatic, sure, but Kara was exceptional at getting her way. At least neither of them had pushed the matter. He stood and headed to where he could deliver the message to the archmage, ensuring his thoughts were passed on without interruption or interception.