A New Approach

The City of the Sun
Lamaenor
Posts: 96
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:05 am
Guild: Enchanters

A New Approach

Post by Lamaenor »

The elf sighed. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, leaving a black smudge of oil. Frowning, he looked at the structure in front of him. It was a slender bronze 'pylon' (as he'd heard them called in various tomes he had read) and, while reaching almost to the ceiling, was barely wider than himself. Several others just like it littered the floor around him. If one were not observant, one might mistake them as being part of the heap of miscellaneous metal contraptions and spare parts laying around what should have been the sitting room of his small house in Devardec. It made for a messy maze that would be difficult for any visitors to navigate, and made life difficult for the various spider-like automatons clinking about on the floor. They were designed to avoid obstacles as best they could, but the combined mess of the large pylons, combined with the smaller, denser mess of bits of scrap metal in the form of wire, battered plates, tubes, gears, and the like made for quite the challenge. Whether it was intentional or not, though, was anyone's guess.

"Yes, yes, Harry. That should do it." The elf mumbled. The small construct he was speaking to was slightly larger than the rest and had a faint red glow on its underbelly. Unlike the rest, it skittered rather clumsily climbed the pylons that were too big for its brethren to climb over.

Lamaenor had been charged as representative of the guild in Devardec to place runes of protections at the docks. What exactly to cast had been troubling him for some time. There were all sorts of runes he could cast, but where would he place them? How could he make them so they didn't harm or impede innocents? It wouldn't do to have Gigawatt Death unleashed on a poor civilian unlucky enough to step on the wrong sigil. So he had devised something...different. A marrying of his magical knowledge with the mechanical.

He inspected the pylon, frowning. It was tall but thin and made entirely of polished bronze. The square base was about one cubit on each end. A strut rose vertically from each corner and the four converged into a peak which was capped by a steam whistle. A drum hung from below the whistle, within the frame made by the four struts. Engraved onto the middle of the base between the struts and below the drum, a sigil was artfully embossed. To the untrained eye, it would look like a strange embellishment. But those familiar with runecraft would recognise that it was indeed some sort of rune, although not a sigil one would find in any tome or scroll...
anerausa
Posts: 227
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:03 am

Re: A New Approach

Post by anerausa »

With a sudden displacement of air, a Saurian appears in an alley off the road. Summoning the energies that radiate his aura, the lizard pulls the shadows of the alley around him and vanishes from sight. His boots click gently as he walks a short distance down the street before entering the structure. He approaches a strange pylon, but stands a short distance away from it, so as not to set it off. Gazing at the rune carefully placed on the structure, he remembers the plans for construction that Lamaenor had spoken to him about. Nodding his head in appreciation, he silently slips from the building and makes his way back towards the alley. Anxious to see the progress as it is made.
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Runescribe Anera
Erilaz of Dragons
Lamaenor
Posts: 96
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:05 am
Guild: Enchanters

Flashback

Post by Lamaenor »

He plopped down beside his newest creation but immediately sprang back up in a howl of pain. With a grumble of frustration, he snatched the coil on which he had sat and tossed it into a nearby pile of scrap. He'd really have to do something about this mess. His living area was large enough, but one could easily confuse it for a scrapyard in its current state. Shaking his head, he looked down and made sure there was room on the floor before sitting down with an audible groan.

He ran his fingers over the rune one the pylon and thought back to when he first came up with the idea for this particular sigil, indeed the first such original rune he had ever tried his hand at...



He had been walking down Port Street accompanied by a pair of the Enchanters' Guard. The two were on their scheduled patrol of the area, so he had taken this opportunity to inspect the docks while in their company. The sun was setting, thus most of the din from the usual hustle and bustle of the docks had died down. Some ships were unloading or loading goods, but most of the day's business was through.

His pace had been slow, his hands clasped behind his back as he ruminated. The two Enchanters' guards in front of him were silent as they surveyed the area for threats. The duo looked unassuming enough- they were clad in their cloth uniforms and only lightly armed- but he knew for a fact that the pair was as deadly as any halberd-wielding infantry. Each were protected by myriad enchantments and had their respective spells readied: one of holding and one of destruction, as per their training.

His brow furrowed in concentration as he considered the current state of the docks. The city guard presence here was greater than ever before. He noticed a pair of city guards on their patrol, gripping the hafts of their spears perhaps a bit too tightly, keen eyes surveying the drunken sailors and dockworkers alike. The patrols here had been increased once after the fire, and then again after the most recent debacle involving the stolen ships. The tightening of the patrols, the increased numbers of guardsmen, the special training- none of it had stopped a band of cutthroats from taking two trade vessels from right under their noses. Each and every guard disarmed in unison. The attack was a well-coordinated effort that had shown the city just what they were up against. The city couldn't keep going on with business-as-usual. More would have to be done to ensure its protection. His frown deepened and he quickened his pace.

He was supposed to apply runes of protections at the docks, which sounded easy enough. But which runes? A rune of fire would certainly incinerate any miscreant, but how would he make it to where it didn't also conflagrate any innocent passers-by? How to apply the rune so that it didn't become activated by an innocent?
Last edited by Lamaenor on Mon May 21, 2018 4:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Lamaenor
Posts: 96
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:05 am
Guild: Enchanters

Flashback, pt. II

Post by Lamaenor »

The trio of Enchanters passed by a wharf where the dock workers were unloading a shipment from a recently-arrived vessel. The sweaty, tired lot was in the process of taking the goods from the ship to a nearby loading dock. Some crates were carried individually, others were hauled by the burly stevedores in pairs or small groups. After the goods were inspected by the port officials, carts and workers would be sent from the nearest available warehouse, to where they would then transport the goods.

"Looks heavy. Guess I picked the right profession." One of the Enchanters, a gnome by the name of Wolkom remarked with a grin as he eyed the stevedores unloading their cargo.

Lamaenor couldn't help but smirk as he noticed the low hem of the gnome's robe. Lamaenor knew that Wolkom always maintained a spell of levitation while he was on patrol. The gnome
said that it was because the height advantage kept him prepared for any situation, which, if true, was certainly admirable. But the last time Lamaenor saw the gnome off-duty, he had heard him bragging to a pair of female gnomes about his height. Despite his womanizing ways, the gnome was known for his quick thinking and reflexes. He made a valuable addition to the Guard.


Lamaenor knew that, as the subordinate, Wolkom would be the one of the duo with a spell of holding ready. Probably an Ensnare spell, if he had to guess; the gnome was not very proficient in Sorcery spells. Like Lamaenor, Magic spells were his specialty.

"Stop thinking about the work you aren’t doing, on focus on the work you are," retorted Viessa, the superior of the two. As the ranking officer, she would be holding the destructive spell. Lamaenor could be certain only that it wasn’t a fire spell- those were strictly prohibited within the on-duty ranks of the Enchanters’ Guard after the riot and resulting fire at the docks.

That reminded him. He should be casting a spell of his own; he had, after all, promised to harden the duo’s armor. The ambassador began to mutter the necessary incantation. He had perfected his mastery of that particular spell to the point that even a mere tunic made of cloth (the likes of which he currently wore) would completely absorb the blow of even the most bloodthirsty orc. Not to mention it kept him safe when his experiments decided to backfire; electricity and even the occasional burst of flame were (usually) completely absorbed by the enchantment, with the added bonus that the cloth he usually wore did not catch fire as easily. As such, it was invaluable to both himself and the guards alike. Lamaenor stopped mid-step and frowned.

If it prevents my clothes from catching fire...what about…?

He cocked his head to the side and mumbled something to himself. The two Enchanters turned around and regarded him curiously. As he opened his mouth to explain, his eyes grew wide at what he saw. A half-giant dockhand had tripped and was struggling to gain his balance. As he did so, the large crate toppled out of his hands. Lamaenor reflexively snapped his hand at the crate and released his spell. If his hypothesis was correct, the crate should withstand the fall, the spell protecting the wood from breaking. He eagerly anticipated the crash, hoping to confirm his theory. He was surprised, however, when the previously falling crate levitated weightlessly in the air, just above the ground. Had he somehow cast the wrong spell? He looked over to the gnome, who was grinning at the bemused dockhand. Of course! Lamaenor was not the only one who had thought to intervene.

The gnome winked at the bewildered stevedore, who looked in confusion from the floating crate, to the gnome, back to the crate, which he regarded with the look of someone who is looking at a cursed tome or hex. He stood there, perplexed, as he looked at the floating crate. As if he were afraid to grab it. Wolkom grumbled something about "ungrateful oafs" and cast another spell that made the crate plummet down to the ground. The bewildered half-giant picked it up and carried it off, although at a slower pace than before. Curious. Lamaenor assumed he would have dispelled the levitation spell. Instead, he had...

"Recruit," Lamaenor began, narrowing his eyes as comprehension dawned, "did you just cast a--"

"Levitation spell? I know, I know. It seemed like it, didn't it? But I actually, well...inverted it a little bit! It's my specialty! Gonna use this baby to get promoted to Spellweaver one day." He winks at Viessa. "Instead of making things light as a feather and all that, it weighs 'em down. I think of it like this: it makes things float, yeah? Just in the wrong direction." He grins. "Use it with my arcana experiments when I don't wanna wait for slime to run down to the bottom of the beaker."

Lamaenor laughed maniacally and slapped the gnome on his back appreciatively. “Wolkom, old boy! Splendid work! I daresay you're a genius!”




Lamaenor smiles. His fondest memories were 'eureka' moments in which he'd suddenly found the solution to a problem long unsolved. He'd have to remember to give Wolkom a commendation for that. Or at least recommend him to Anera for advancement. He looks up at the pylon in front of him.

Now to test it out.

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