Bab 187: Send Them Packing

The artifact reminded me of Aladdin's lamp which also happened to look like a teapot. The old man had left me with an indecipherable scroll, his words and the inscriptions on the teapot itself. 

I picked up a core from the undercity monsters and held it to the nozzle. Nothing. I tried rubbing it and still nothing. Then my eyes were drawn to the circular design on the top and I encouraged qi to the end of my finger, a tip from the old man, and then I traced the circle with my finger. 

I started anticlockwise, which was a mistake because the darn thing rattled and protested. It was empty and that was a clue. When I traced it clockwise it wisps of blue floated from the core to the open mouth of the long nozzle. It began to suck the qi from the core and into its reservoir.