The Collateral Code

The mechanism that keeps Hump Town un-bombed. Each morning an alarm sounds on Henrik's pocket-watch; he opens it to a mirror showing Commandant Kane, who makes a finger-symbol. The hostage Wynne supplies a time, Henrik sets the watch hands, and because Kane owns the watch's twin (movements mirrored), the matching time appears on Kane's clock, an unbreakable code proving Wynne lives and buying another day. Periodically the gnome ambassador Leon visits to cast a changeling-detection spell on the hostage. The whole apparatus is the storyline's built-in path onto the Wasteland, and the watches turn out to be pieces of the Gate.

Book 4 appearances

• Chapter 10 — Henrik explains the watch code and the ambassador inspections to a charmed audience.
• Chapter 12 — Carl realizes the three faction watches are the three pieces of the Gate of the Feral Gods.

Related entries

• Henrik (Character)
• Commandant Kane (Character)
• The Gate of the Feral Gods (Item)
• Leon the Commissar (Character)
• Wynne (Character)

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