Utterly Mad

Haralus reached out, taking the device from the mage, and rolling it around on his palm pensively. I hadn't expected that. The sight of his brother, near, yet long lost, and so unexpected, brought forth a sense of loss he had not been completely prepared for. For some time, he stood there, lost in thought, before remembering he was not alone. When he spoke, it was in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

"This weapon - I assume it presents a great threat to the beasts we now face below. If the mages who accompanied my brother could attach such an enchantment to it to facilitate his message with no ill effects, then can I safely assume the magic it uses is fairly well understood among your people? Could we perhaps find a way to reproduce this object and arm the... 'innately talented' in our midst?"

---

((Short one for now while I reread this a bit. Since we've left this off for a while, I figured I should give a heads up so that you can re-read stuff if required - next (or close to next) questions from the king will be in regards to how the mages and engineers have made out with the various alternative plans.))