"What? Transian engineers came asking to join our Mechanicus? Are they crazy? This organization is about to fall apart. Who'd jump aboard a sinking ship at a time like this?
Go!
Tell them to get lost!
Stop wasting my time. I'm in a foul mood."
In the central area of Chardo Port's maze-like sewer system, inside what had once been the Mechanicus's headquarters, the Mechanical Grand Sage Marvin was packing up his belongings in his laboratory, looking ready to leave on a long journey.
When one of his followers came running to tell him the news, the somewhat world-weary Grand Sage looked thoroughly displeased and brusquely dismissed his servant.
His anger and discontent had good reason behind them.
His private dealings with Minx had already made him realize that keeping the Mechanicus's influence in Chardo Port was utterly impossible. That meant he himself would have to become one of the exiles.
For a halfling who had lived three hundred years, that was a hard thing to swallow. At his age, he still had to suffer the misery of being driven out.
But Marvin's own life was nothing short of legendary.
During his earlier confrontation with Old Bach, Master Minx had revealed a glimpse of Marvin's past.
He, Minx, and Old Flywheel had all been engineers of the same era, though he was much older than those two geniuses. And while they had both shown extraordinary brilliance in engineering, Marvin, though a master in his own right, had fallen short of their talent. To make matters worse, he had contracted an incurable disease in the prime of his life.
He had searched nearly every treatment available on the continent, and had even considered joining the Avalon Church for a time. But divine power could not fix the illness he had been