[ We find Our Heroes standing near an Old Dwarf who's just told Istvan something important-sounding that only Istvan understood! Sounds like someone's got some 'splaining to do. ] [ Session Start! ] * Tia stands there, vaguely wagging her tail and looking completely lost. * Istvan has gone ashen, and is visibly shaken. "... there's no way. The Titan's Pick was lost forever. You fucking told me it was lost forever." * Seylin blinks and waits for further explanation. It fell down a fucking bottomless chasm. Bottomless! As in no bottom to recover it from! * Tia pokes Kenji in the shoulder. "Hey, Kenji. Can you understand what they're saying?" She wags her tail. I hear what they are saying, but it means little. You know, nothing's bottomless. [ "Aye, it was deep enough. But no chasm is bottomless, Istvan. Ye know that." ] Maybe you could tell us what this Titan's Pick is? Please? I fucking know that, Uncle! But lost forever is supposed to be lost forever! How the hell did the drow find it? [ "We found it on a mining expedition," says the old dwarf. "We figured we should put it somewhere safer than at the bottom of a mine shaft. So we took it to the great vault in Dumathoin's Deep." ] ... and they got into the vault? [ "Nae. On the way to the vault, they attacked us. They had a huge force, drow, duergar, orcs. It's like they were waitin' for us tae find it." ] * Tia chases her tail aimlessly, having forgotten about the serious conversation still taking place. Oh, by Moradin's tankard... did they get the onyx? [ "Nae. We got away with that. But they'll try to. 'S only a matter of time, if they're workin' taegether. We need everyone we can get tae help fight, we cannae send people to retrieve the main part o' tha pick." ] * Istvan shakes his head. "So they died for nothing then? A few years delay." [ "A few years ain't nothin', lad." He looks at the others. "Will these friends o' yours help ye?" ] * Tia is still chasing her tail. ... gimme a minute, Dunbar. * Istvan turns to the others. "Dais ain't our biggest problem right now." If the drow complete the Titan's Pick, every canyon is in danger of being wiped off the map. What? The Titan's Pick was made centuries ago. Designed to carve out new canyons, and create new, safe pathways between existing canyons. It literally can reshape the earth. Oh, wow. That's incredible. Impressive. * WillS blinks. "Whoa. Carve out entire canyons?" But it was too powerful. It could collapse canyons with earthquakes just as easily as it could make them. And when the completed pick was nearly stolen by drow, its makers split it into five pieces and hid them. * Tia looks up at the mention of collapse and earthquakes. "Huh?" About fifteen years ago, the drow got four of the five pieces together. My uncle and the rest of the Fist of the Tankard stopped them from getting the fifth piece, a fist-sized onyx. Now they have the pick again. * Tia blinks a couple of times. "That's bad, isn't it?" Really, really fucking bad. What do we do? * Istvan looks down at the ground. "Finish what my folks started." * Tia wags her tail. "What's that?" Keep the drow from getting their spider-fucking hands on the pick. We gotta get it back. * Tia nods. "I want to help!" As do I. We'll help you finish it, Istvan. Just tell me what I can do! * Istvan suddenly busts out laughing. * Tia looks a bit confused. "Um, Isty? Are you okay?" * Tia wonders if she has something on her face. Istvan? * Istvan falls to one knee, he's laughing so hard. He holds up a hand as he tries to catch his breath. * Tia looks concerned for a few moments, but then she can't help but giggle along. * Istvan catches his breath a bit. "Irony... just hit me..." [ The old dwarf rubs his face while Istvan laughs. ] * Tia stops giggling. "Irony? What's that?" ...Isty? Spent my whole fucking life hating my folks for dying trying to stop the drow from getting that damned pick, and swearing I'd never end up like that. * Istvan stands up. "And now... here I am. Irony, right between the eyes." * Tia abruptly enfolds Istvan in a tight hug. [ The old dwarf sighs. Istvan's armor complains under the stress of Tia's embrace. ] * Istvan pats Tia on the head. "Down, Tia. I'm okay. Just needed to get that out." We'll help, Istvan. Any way we can. * Tia lets go and smiles faintly. "Okay, Isty. Don't feel bad, okay? We'll get it done!" * Patrick nods to Istvan and smirks. "Well, we very well can't let the Drow have that thing." * Istvan adjusts his armor, and turns to his uncle. "Any idea where they took it?" [ "Aye. A Drow city called... er, Mazabrakkasomethin'. I hate Drow names, I do. But I can point it out on a map," and saying this, he produces a map and lays it out on the cobbled street, his knees creaking and popping as he kneels next to it. ] * Seylin bends down to take a look at the map as well. * Tia bends over to see over Seylin's shoulder. * Patrick looks over Seylin's shoulder. Heavily guarded, of course. Pretty map. * HKenji snorts softly. [ The map shows the drow city that connects to the cavern of the false sun. "It's on it's way tae here. Men-zo-bar-an-zan. Aye, jus' like I said." ] Mmm. *turns to Kenji* Ideas? Strategy ain't my area'a expertise. Leave that to us. We'll come up with a plan. Good. Because as much as I need to kill some drow right now for the sake of my sanity, I'd rather not just walk up to an army head on. * Patrick takes a good look over the map, trying to mark easy entryways, probable guard posts, and the like. * Tia returns to following her tail. * Istvan turns to his uncle. "Have the others heard?" [ "Aye," says the old dwarf, "But they're too old tae do anythin' abou' it, now. Jus' like I am." ] * Istvan shakes his head. "Hell, I'm getting too old for all this. You aren't dead yet, Istvan. * Istvan grins tightly. "No, but there're some drow and orcs that're gonna be real soon. No way my folks died for nothin'. Not gonna let it happen." * Tia cheers. "We'll get 'em, Isty!" * Patrick hmms, rapidly moving his finger over the map, tracing back and forth and around the various buildings that can be seen. * Seylin watches Patrick plan. * Max pushes up his glasses. "Indeed. Such a weapon in our foes' hands is obviously unacceptable. Do not worry; we will solve this as we did the linnorm, and Sherincal." * Patrick refers to the Dwarf. "How hard did they try to get the onyx?" [ "I don' think they realized it was missin', at first. But they're bound tae have realized it by now." ] Are you sure? [ "That they didn't know it was missin'? Aye, I am. They made no attempt to go after the dwarf who had it, when he ran. He's safe still, last I checked." ] * Patrick frowns. "Max, what purpose would an onyx like that serve in Titan's Pick?" Hm. My guess - totally a guess, mind you - is that it's some sort of power source, or focus. I would have to see the item itself, either portion, onyx or pick, or read the original plans, to make a more educated presumption. How possible do you think it is that the Drow were capable of producing another one, with or without the aid of whatever deities they worship? I hesitate to study it directly with arcane sight, as being blinded by artifacts does little to yield their secrets. I shall have to develope a better means of analyzing dweomers. I have been constructing a mathematical modelling system that might allow simulation of powerful magics in a purely illusory manner, allowing tests to be more safely run. Hm? Producing another onyx to replace the one that's missing? Yes. That depends... without deific aid, they'd have to find or create a power source at least on par with the onyx that's missing from their construction of the pick. Very few means exist to create power from nothing. I believe even the so-called gods have to draw from somewhere. The equations seem to bear out this hypothesis, as well. So, gather enough power, and know exactly what piece you're ... ...missing, and you can conceivably duplicate any required component. * Istvan turns to his uncle. "Onyx thing had runes and carvings on it, right? It's not just a chunk of rock." Assuming they have a god or goddess who at least matches the power of the missing onyx, a dedicated enough mage or cleric could conceivably adapt a portion of the god's power - with or without his willing aid, though certainly easier and more doable with - to perform the function. * Max continues to ramble for a bit, clearly caught up in the theory as he scribbles some notes to himself in a margin on his current page in his Book. So you're saying it is possible. I don't need to know how you think it could be done, I just want to know how likley you think it is. That depends entirely on a couple of factors I have no way of knowing. *pushes his glasses up his nose* How likely is it they have a non-god source of sufficeint power? Not terribly. I doubt any of them have a knowledge needed to change one artifact's function to serve another; I haven't made much progress on my own researches in that direction at all, and sympathetic theory states two goals being simultaneously sought should work However, if they've a willing god, it might be highly probable. Assuming the god is capable of mimicing the required power. I could, given access to the piece we still have, attempt to construct a resonance detector which might enable us to see if any such replacement piece is being made. Similarly, the postulate of incomplete seperation would theorize that the onyx could be used to track the position of the rest of the pick, especially as the near-complete pick must feel the gaping lack left by its final piece. Istvan's uncle, may I ask, does the Onyx have any function without being installed in the pick? Or is it merely a powerful raw bit of contained magic? Stop. Back up. * Max pushes his glasses up his nose. "Yes?" You said something important, I think. But you passed it up too quickly. What is a postulate of incomplete separation? Simply that any item of sufficeint potence to be considered a singular entity, once fully formed and activated, is more than the sum of its physical components. Hm... What does that have to do with tracking the rest of the pick? Essentially... what it means is anything that is worthy of a capital letter in its name, like a person, kingdom, or artifact, has an energy form that is nearly independant of its physical. You can break a piece of a person off, and that still has ties to the original person. Scrying, for example, is easier if you have a lock of hair or a drop of blood of the subject. * HKenji frowns at the mention of blood. In the case of the Pick, the fact that it can be reconstructed indicates its power signature has a fully formed sense of identity. Explain it in terms that Tia can understand, Max. This means, among other things, it will 'heal' its fractures when brought back together. This is why artifacts are so easy to reassemble. Basically, the artifact, even broken, remembers that it's really one piece. So, when the pieces are put together, they seal up and reform. Likewise, if you have one piece of the artifact, you have a tie to the whole. * Max stops. "Hm. Still too complicated?" The Pick is in two pieces, right? What you are saying is that since we have one piece of the pick, we can use that piece to find the rest. So. Because the--exactly! More importantly, we might be able to use that connection more strongly, but htat would take time and research. Hm... theoretically, a teleportation spell could be altered and combined with a summoning... Maybe if we use the onyx as a beacon and make the resonance stronger here rather than there we can *goes back to making notes and little crude drawings of lines and diagrams* We lack the time for this, Max. If only I had perfected my modelling method, we wouldn't have to risk the onyx for longer htan it would take to model it. We might, if I did it well enough, manage to even trick the drow into thinking the model is the real deal for long enough... but for now... We must get the onyx and give chase as soon as possible. Hm? Time? You're not seriously suggesting taking the onyx with us as we hunt it, are you? * Max pushes his glasses up his nose. "That's tantamount to giving it to them. If nothing else, we should create a simple relay tracing system. " * HKenji makes a show of examining his fingernails. We don't have time for much. Find them. Kill them. Get the pick. First things first, I should attempt to use the Onyx to scry out the Pick itself. That requires no risk save that of detection of the scry, for which there's little anything can do about. *ahem* Prevent them from using the incomplete pick against us? We can do that on the way. Even without the onyx, enough of the signature might be in the physicality of the majority of the device to make a potent weapon on our tactical scale. * Patrick seems pretty absorbed in planning a way to infiltrate the area. Although... if the scry is successful, I might be able to teleport us all in, grab the pick, and teleport us all out. Assuming they haven't any dimensional barriers in place. If they're smart, of course, they do. We have to assume they're very smart. And my (admittedly limited) experiance with drow and the other dark races indicates a slight advantage in the planning and pattern- recognition areas of cognitive thought over most of our own. Fortunately, there are glaring weaknesses in their own belief patterns which can be exploited at least once. I shall attempt to calculate any we can abuse in this situation. Don't assume they're very smart. They're drow, they *are* very smart. Very arrogant, too. Arrogance is a tremendous weakness, if its assumptions can be made apparently correct. But Kenji is right about one thing. The sooner we get access to the onyx, the sooner we can begin to track the artifact, as well as embark upon the studies into its function and perhaps find means of manipulating it or otherwise exploiting the link. So let's stop talking and go. * Max looks to Istvan and his uncle. "If you'll lead the way? I fear I have no knowledge of this area and where it's being held now." * Tia wakes up from her nap and jumps to her feet. "Did someone say go?" * Istvan nods. "The drow aren't gonna just die all by themselves." [ The old dwarf hums. "Ye wan' me ta take ya ter th' onyx, then?" ] First, the onyx. THEN, the drow. After we know which drow to go to and where. Otherwise, we might walk in entirely the wrong direction, and that'd do no good at all. *looks to the old dwarf* Yes, please. It will make any further endeavors in recovering the remainder much easier. * Max pulls out his crystal ball. "Hm. Let me check something..." He looks through it studyingly. [ The dwarf nods and heads for the exit to the campus, which, fortunately, is only a few meters away. ] * Max looks up, notices their guide is heading off, and hastilly puts away his toy to follow him. * Patrick takes up the map and follows as well. * Tia trots off after the old dwarf. * Seylin follows. * HKenji follows the old dwarf, lost in thought. * Max pulls out his little crystal ball as he follows, idly studying it some more. * Istvan mutters. "Lotsa someones are gonna die for this..." * Max snerks a bit at something he sees, then waves his hand over it, presumably to change the view. [ And so they ventured out in search of onyx! That is, a very particular piece of onyx. Session End! ]