Scars of Mirrodin: The Quest for Karn
| Scars of Mirrodin: The Quest for Karn | |||||
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| Author(s) | Robert Wintermute | ||||
| First printing | April 2011 | ||||
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-7869-5774-3 | ||||
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Scars of Mirrodin: The Quest for Karn is the block novel corresponding to Scars of Mirrodin block.[1][2] It was written by Robert B. Wintermute and released in April 2011.
Overview
| Title | Author | Publishing date | Set | Setting (plane) | Featuring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scars of Mirrodin: The Quest for Karn | Robert B. Wintermute | April 2011 | Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, New Phyrexia | Mirrodin | Venser, Koth of the Hammer, Elspeth Tirel, Malach (mentioned), Vadi, Geth, Ezuri, Ranglif, Nagel, Lyser, Kamath, Karn, Glissa, Tezzeret, Nyrad, Melira, Maalan, Afus |
Featured events, characters, and cards
Featured events
Featured characters
Featured cards
Blurb
At the edge of Mirrodin's metallic fields lies the toxic morass of the Mephidross, a vast swamp whose power feeds the world's blackest souls. Rumors of strange and deadly creatures emerging from the dark fen are spreading faster than its corroded borders. Few who have seen these abominations believe them to be a new order of the undead Nim. Fewer still understand that they are the harbinger of a great corruption—an impending Phyrexian invasion.
Venser—former apprentice and friend of the Planeswalker Karn, Mirrodin's creator—and his allies Elspeth Tirel and Mirrodin native Koth, know of the Phyrexian contagion and search for a way to contain it. Having first consolidated their power in the plane's hollow interior, the Phyrexians are found on every part of the surface now, from the Razor Fields to the city of Lumengrid—and larger numbers are beginning to mass around the centers of civilization.
The would-be Father of Machines, Karn, lost to creation, is the only planeswalker who can potentially stop the Phyrexians on Mirrodin and throughout the rest of the Multiverse. He must be found.
Story
The novel follows the three planeswalkers Venser of Urborg, Elspeth of Bant, and Koth of the Hammer as they set out to defeat the Phyrexian infestation of Mirrodin. They start their mission in the Oxidda Chain, where Venser handily disables a leveler. They head for Koth's Hammer village and his mother. However, when they get there, everything is eerily silent and depopulated. In his hovel, Koth meets his mother, but she has become compleated and attempts to kill them. They destroy her, and flee the settlement. Along the way, they pass the hut of the shaman Vadi, a mad hermit according to Koth. Koth is horrified to find that the Mephidross has heavily encroached upon the Oxiddas, and they actively spot one of the mountains collapsing and sliding into the swamp even as necrogen mist billows further up the range. They are attacked by nim, and then a huge Phyrexian zombie. They manage to fend the attackers off, but Elspeth has a panic attack and leaves.
Elspeth heads back to Vadi's hut and is invited in, receiving soup, warmth and conversation. The shaman is not as bad as Koth made her out to be, but when Elspeth reveals she felt reluctance to face her former captors, Vadi grabs her spear and threatens to kill Elspeth for cowardice. Elspeth does not resist, but Vadi holds off her attack and explains that the only good Elspeth can do now is to face her fears and end the Phyrexian threat.
Meanwhile, Venser had revealed to Koth that he is actually seeking Karn. He does not believe they can defeat the Phyrexians alone - the only chance they have to end the occupation of Mirrodin by the intruders is to have the plane's creator by their side. Koth refuses to acknowledge this, instead focusing solely on seekout of the Phyrexians in their lair and destroying them. After they enter the Mephidross, they are attacked by a Phyrexian snake and incapacipated, taken capture and brought into their lair at Ish Sah. They wake up and find themselves about to be experimented on. Koth escapes by melting his manacles, but Venser is stuck, the toxin still in his body preventing him from teleporting. Then a wall collapses and Elspeth steps through, killing the Phyrexians and freeing Venser. Her talk with Vadi convinced her that she had to face the demons of her past.
The reunited trio then follow the streams of Phyrexians near the Vault of Whispers and find a grate that Geth and a pod of his vampires use. The vampires are afflicted by phyresis, and Venser thinks Geth might have spotted the trio, but appeared to ignore them. While they wait for the hordes of Phyrexians to pass by, Elspeth shares some of her past with the other two. She tells them she was complicit with the Phyrexians who tortured prisoners on her plane. Though they left her without blemish, she repeatedly pointed out other prisoners, weak, old, even children, to torture and kill, so that she herself would be spared. This makes Venser uneasy. Elspeth notices he irregularly gets shakes and needs to drink some glowing liquid to stop his fits. After a huge amount of Phyrexians have passed by, the trio force themselves through the grate, and there encounter the Mirran resistance, led by the renegade elf, Ezuri.
Meanwhile, Geth returns to report on the intruders to Glissa and the Father of Machines, Karn. Karn has gone mad and keeps dripping glistening oil, but Glissa mentions it cannot corrupt him fully. Tezzeret is also there, an envoy supposedly sent to assist Karn. Glissa is interested in Elspeth's apparent immunity to the phyrexian corruption, and sends Tezzeret to bring her to Glissa.
On an upper level, the trio have almost come to blows with Ezuri's rebels, but Venser defuses the situation and they continue descending, and arrive to a brightly-lit and stifling hot layer where they are attacked by a huge Phyrexianized crusher. After failing to defeat it, they are aided by Tezzeret, who shows up and handily dispatches the creature. He then says he will help the trio descend, although they do not trust him. Elspeth recognizes the etherium in his arm and correctly assumes he is from Esper. Tezzeret leads the others to the Surgical Bay, where they find a wounded Melira being experimented on. After killing her tormenters, Tezzeret explains that Melira is immune to phyresis, and thus cannot become Compleated. The Phyrexians were studying this immunity in order to subvert it, but Tezzeret wants Melira in the hands of the resistance instead. This act of defying the wishes of Glissa instead serves Bolas's interests, though he does not share his reasons with the group.
Tezzeret tells the others he will leave them, but first explains the system of passages from layer to layer, with toothless mouths leading upwards and toothed mouths leading downwards. The larger the teeth, the deeper the tube leads. With Melira in tow, the trio start to ascend again, heading the the Furnace Layer. On the way, they encounter a Blinkmoth Well, where many blinkmoths still swarm despite being almost extinct elsewhere on the plane. When she is touched by the blinkmoths and exposed to their serum, Melira's eyes start to glow blue, and she feels different, like her whole body has been attuned to the serum. Venser, conversely, feels far worse. After being harrowed by Phyrexians through several layers, they come to the Furnace Layer, where they are approached by a loxodon named Maalan and a small band of warriors. At this point, Venser is almost out of his elixir, and thinks back to Afus, a friend and fellow artificer in Urborg who was exposed to the same kind of corrupted artifacts that Venser had handled, and who had died wasting away, his organs dark and shriveled. Venser feels certain he will suffer the same fate when his elixir runs out.
Maalan brings the party back to his village, which turns out to be an encampment led by Ezuri. Ezuri greets them with suspicion, but with less hostility than the previous time, and when Melira sees the amount of villagers infected with phyresis, she starts curing them with her powers. Although Koth wishes to remain behind in the village, an attack by Phyrexians trailing the trio causes Ezuri to blame Koth, and the trio is forced to leave together, seeking the core of the world, where Karn is located. Melira and a guide joins them, and they start descending. At one point Tezzeret shows up again, leaving the party with a huge army of Phyrexians, and disabling a nearby portal, but Venser manages to open it using his powers. His bottle is now empty and he fears the repercussions.
Fleeing more Phyrexians, the trio and Melira finally arrive at the core, where they are confronted by Glissa and Karn. Karn barely recognizes Venser, and rambles about killing them, but Melira uses her power to cleanse his body, making him sweat glistening oil. A furious Glissa attacks with a large band of Phyrexians, but is suddenly stopped by a surprise betrayal by Tezzeret. As he keeps Glissa's forces at bay, Venser realizes he is about to die from his radiation poisoning, and decides to sacrifice his heart to save Karn, donating his spark to the golem, who instantly reignites and regains his memories and personality. Karn vows to stop the Phyrexians even no matter the cost.
References
- ↑ Monty Ashley (April 25, 2011). "Mirrodin Book Releases". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (April, 2011). "Magic Novels:The Quest for Karn". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29.
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