Volkanenborg

[Graybeard]

Reverend Hammersmith watched proceedings with quiet interest and even the hint of a smile. When the banter subsided, he cleared his throat and said, "Well. Thank you for your generous donations to our holy work. Now, would you like to see the Artifacts?"

He led the onlookers (such of them as decided to join him, anyway) to a doorway at the back of the chapel, pausing for a brief prayer -- "Praise the Dwarves, for they are coming again to save us" -- and then assumed a reverential pose as he stepped through. "Most of these Artifacts were taken from the Lost Veracian Mine Itself, although I must confess that this one at the door is a replica." He indicated a hollow pipe about six inches in diameter and three feet long, festooned on the outside with an array of feather-like protrusions. "The original resides in a museum in Tsuirakushiti where it was studied by the finest minds of a generation of mages. Of course, they missed the fundamental truth of the Artifact: its meaning lies not in what it does, but in the Dwarven Plan to return to show us how to use it, in our moment of direst need."

His prepared introduction finished, he paused to let the visitors take in the contents of the display cases...

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OOC: I would like to call a very brief pause to events at the Temple of the Divine Dwarf, maybe 24 hours or so, for reasons that will be clear when the pause ends. If there's anything to be done outside the temple (not all of the characters are there, after all), by all means go ahead and do it. I think that if and when I go public about the reasons for the pause, you'll all like it ...

[Sareth]

[OOC No problem. I shall consider Jamie's butt (which has not been ogled as much as some people's, it seems) paused.]

[AdamZero]

ooc: Marcus's arse (which may or may not be ogled in the near future) is also set to pause)

[Graybeard]

OOC: Here is the reason for the pause. Let your imaginations run wild, and we can resume play in the Temple of the Divine Dwarf as soon as there are a reasonable number of entries, or later this weekend if interest peters out. Again, Volkanenborg venues other than the Temple are still wide open for play.

[Graybeard]

OOC: OK, we're un-paused. Go ahead and include your "Artifacts" here if you wish, but again, PM me with what they are...

[AdamZero]

As I walked with Jamie, I noticed a strange frame, with odder animals, bounty hunting? It seemed natural during the old days... I guess.. Looking around there was a lot of stuff that didn't really register.

Then I saw it.

IT. Was about four feet long, end to end. IT had a strange headpiece that seemed was topped with glass on both ends. IT had uniform sized crystals set into a long strip of cloth that hung down from a sort of curved shaped portion at the top.

IT reeked of death.

"Ancient Dwarven Scepter of knowledge" was the only information displayed on the case's tiny plaque.

[Sareth]

I eyed the curious device labeled a wand of knowledge, and smirked. I leaned over to Marcus and whispered, "Yeah, ancient wand of knowledge my ass. That thing looks like the only knowledge it would teach involves leather suits and bonds." I glanced over my shoulder. Both the elf and the supposed elf were bumbling along, though the actual elf looked... surprisingly still bouncy. "What do you think his story is, anyway? That was my best pistol whip to the noggin, and he's still... skipping."

[Graybeard]

Reverend Hammersmith stepped over to a display case with the label "Dwarven Musical Instruments(?)" and cleared his throat. "Here are some of our more interesting Artifacts. We know that the Dwarves were intensely musical, and what divine, unearthly music they must have made! It is speculated that what you see before you are examples of their sacred musical instruments, although in general, we have not learned how they could have been played."

The case contained four Artifacts. One was a box a bit less than a foot square, with four slots in one surface containing spring-like wires, and a short length of some kind of rope emerging from another surface. Controls of some sort had apparently been broken off the surface opposite the one with the rope. Another was a cylinder about a foot high and two or three inches in diameter, flat on the bottom and tapering to a point at the top, with a small orifice at the top hinting at hollow space within that, however, could not be seen. A third was a broadly cylindrical object with a handle along one side and displaced toward one end, a rope emerging from the end opposite the handle, and several small perforations on the side away from the handle. The fourth was most mystifying of all: an oval-shaped network of wires that bulged into a two-dimensional, convex shape. Brackets on the sides suggested that some manner of strap or hauling device had been attached at one time, but had decayed away with age. "This may have been a ceremonial mask," the Reverend remarked. "It seems to have been about the same size as a Dwarf's face. The wires suggest that it may have produced a percussive sound when plucked with the fingers. And that is all we know -- or think we know."

[Viking-Sensei]

Lucas came out of the inn and, noting that everyone who had been hanging around earlier like they'd just had been waiting for a fight to break out (which he thought odd, since there was no obvious sign of any overt antagonism), pulled out his pocket watch and opened it. He usually did not pull 'tricks' such as this, however there had proven sufficient cause with the past few stops to pull such heavy-handed methods, so it was with a mostly free conscience that he'd carefully magically bugged all of his travelling companions the evening before in their foot. The tracer pellets only lasted a few days and were completely non-harmful, so it wasn't like it was an overt ethics violation, after all - it was his job to keep track of them, he had just taken it a step above and beyond normal.

Two of the needles were pointing back at the inn still - that would most certainly be Johnathan and Roger (Roger was still not feeling very well at all and had not left bed for some time), with a small needle flitting rapidly back and forth bring Winston. Another cluster was coming from up the road... Jamie and Marcus, maybe? Lucas set off in their direction to find out.

[Drannin]

Did blondie just come on to me?

It was a very pressing question to Selvay, because if blondie was in fact female, and he could get her(?) away from the pale guy, he might just be getting some. The pain in his head suggested a taste for S&M, and Selvay was always willing to experiment.

Actually, pale guy suggested a definite taste for S&M, so never mind that question.

Okay, so blondie had probably just made a pass at him. But was blondie a male or female. Because Selvay didn't really go for men. Not enough orifices. A little shy on them, honestly.

Selvay's attention was drawn to an odd rectangular gizmo with some sort sort of... hook or something... sitting on top of it, with some sort of rope trailing out. Weird. He hadn't seen one of those babies since...

Ouch. Head hurts. Think of boobies. Boobies. Better now.

Having just lost interest in the dwarf thingie, Selvay turned to the task of figuring out blondie's gender, and the odds of some good old-fashioned romping tonight. Or earlier. Possibly right now.