Dragons of Despair, Chapter 1: The Tower of High Sorcery
Location: The Workshop, The Tower of High Sorcery, The Forest of Wayreth
Date: Shiarai, Afternoon, 26th Reorxmont 351 AC

Ayrron made his way towards the workshop, hoping to find his old master present.  From the smell as he approached, not only was Ormorn present, he was working on something.  As Ayrron approached, there was a muffled explosion accompanied by an acrid sulfurous smell, and a series of violent coughs, and a cloud of smoke the colour of sand billowed out from the open door.

Ayrron couldn't help but smile at the reaction of what happened as he approached. He had seen this a few times from his master - though most his experiments were a success, some did fail from time-to-time.

He came to teh door, swatting away the smoke. "New delivery system for your explosive smoke receptacles?" He muttered to Ormorn with a smile. He was happy to see him, and though he had a great respect for the gnome, he always insisted to keep things casual (though in times of serious conversation, you could tell who was master.)

"What?!  Who's there?!"  A waving have preceded the little gnome out of the workshop.  He was absolutely covered in a fine brown soot.  The little gnome lifted his soot-blackened goggles and stared.  "Ay-ayrron?  What-- what are you doing here?"  Suddenly his eyes widened and helf clutches at his waist, feeling around for his belt pouch.

Ayrron stood up from the door jam and smiled as he came to Ormorn. "Y'know...was in the area, thought i'd visit." He took a serious look at him and started dusting his master off. "Seriously....what was that?"

When he was done, he looked at Ormorn. "In all seriousness, i came here because myself and my friends found something, and we needed the masters input. They are helping us, but in the meantime....Aelina and i are doing our trial - tomorrow"

As was habit, he took out the bronze sphere, he had been working on the last few weeks. "...kinda a surprise, but the master said if we pass, then we can claim what we came here for as our project - that way no other members can take it from us."

"That," Ormorn said with a sigh, "was a waste of a good set of a ankheg intestines.  Useful for filtering nutrients from fertilised soil.  Still tastes like crap, but it creates a nutritious edible slime if you let it sit there long enough.  I call it the Last Ditch Canteen -- or I will, if I can ever get the mixture right."

He batted Ayrron's hands away, checking for his belt pouch again -- and checking all his other pockets in the process.  he slapped his leather apron, trying to brush down the soot, but only succeeded in smearing it around.

"So you're up for your Test, are you?  Bit early if you ask me, but no one ever does, really."  He started walking back into the workshop, waving a hand through the tan-coloured smoke, which was starting to settling onto every surface.  "And you've come to tell me where your next of kin are, so I can deliver your body?"  The old gnome's sense of humour had not improved with age.

Ayrron listened to his latest 'idea' and crinkled his nose. "Sounds....appetizing" he sighed and shook his head....some of his master's ideas were unusual even for his lateral thinking.

When he mentioned the test he chuckled. "Your not the only one who think's it's early - i can tell you i'm proper nearly soiling my armor at the thought." He looked at the Gnome. "Don't worry old man - i've left you all my good stuff - my lint ball, the hollowed out boar tusk....even the collection of dehydrated rations you made me last year." He in truth hadn't eaten them because he feared what they would do.

He then fell silent. "How old were you when you went through the trial Ormorn?" he said with a serious tone - one not heard often by the kender

"I don't rightly remember," Ormorn said.  "Maybe 50?  But enough about that!  Show me what you're working on, boy!  You've always got some contraption or other going."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:39, Fri 21 July 2023.

Ayrron smiled as he held out the sphere. "Remember that egotistical twit of a wizard, thinking he was all that because he summoned the crow familiar - cocky human. Well, I decided to make one of my own."

He frowned. "Mostly ready - I just need a arcane focus for its heart...like a gem." He sighed, then looked at him.

"You always said I needed to make new friends - well, this time I did!"

"Let me see that," Master Ormorn said, reaching up to sake the small spherical object.  The old gnome looked closely at the inner workings, turning it this way and that to get a better angle at something.

He pause, took off his goggles, and put on a pair of spectacles.  He blinked, took off the soot-covered spectacles, frowned at them, and muttered a word under his breath, and called "Clancy!"  On a worktable nearby, a tiny mechanical rat came scurrying out, hopping over fallen vials, under and over books until it stood nearby Ormorn's shoulder, waiting patiently.  The gnome reached up with the spectacles, and the rat took them, washing them quickly before handing them back.

"Thank you, Clancy, you may go."  The rat gave a courtly bow, then scurried off back to where it had come from.

"That's better," Master Ormorn said, taking another look at the unfinished sphere.  "Hrm.  Harmonic resonance.  Got a good feedback loop happening.  Tension's right in all the articulated points.  This is good work, boy.  You might make something of this yet one day..."

He handed the sphere back.  "Why don't you have a power source yet?"

The kender sighed. "I was in tbe process of sourcing one when this thing happened - and things happened so fast that I didn't get it. I've been on the road and had none available."

"Well, we can't have that.  I might have something around here." Ormorn sighed and head over to a desk in the corner, where a small lockbox sat, covered in tan brown dust and soot.  The old gnome produced a key and inserted it into the strange lock built in the to be box.  The lock shivered, shuddered and began to twist impossibly outward, growing in size until it covered the entire workbench.  Lifted the lid, the old gnome practically climbed inside, muttering to himself the entire time as he did so.

"Now where did I put the--?"

"Oh, that's where that thing went!"

"No, not that."

"Fire and Ashes, where is it?  All this space and I can still never find anything--"

A moment later, master Ormorn righted himself and stood up, holding a small gemstone between his thumb and forefinger.  It was a bright yellow and green colour, with one large and one small stripe of brown through it at slightly different angles through the stone.  "This here's chrysoberyl," Master Ormorn said, holding it up to the light.  "Not much sought after, but it's extremely tough and brilliant, so it should hold up to the stresses you'll put it under, and still generate enough power to do what you need it to."

The old gnome waddled over and placed the gemstone in Ayrron's hand.  "I'll not have one of my apprentices go into the Test underprepared on my watch.  Besides, I'll just get it back off your body when you die."

OOC: You now have a chrysoberyl in your inventory on your character sheet.

Master Ormorn pointed towards a small well-lit table in the corner, where the afternoon sunlight was strong.  "You can work over there until it's time."

OOC: Make a Sleight of Hand check for me.  You may roll with advantage, since you're in favourable conditions (a workshop with all the appropriate tools close to hand).

Ayrron watched as he opened the lock and entered his 'storage space'. He had seen this once and though it still amazed him, he hid it well. In truth, his first created item - the bag was fashioned as a smaller version of this, he marveled at his master's handiwork.

when he came out holding the stone, Ayrron was truly speechless - a rare thing for him. His hands trembled as he took the stone, looking over it. "Ormorn....thank you. This will be perfect." Then when he mentioned his death and he'd take it back, his astounded look became less of awe. "....and there's the Ormorn i know."

He smiled as he took out his bronze contraption and went to the table he once worked on so often. He sat there, and felt familiar.

...and went to work.

---

<OOC: Ayrron rolled 24 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 20.  sleight of hand check.>

The gemstone was too large to fit naturally into Ayrron's sphere, but Ormorn had gemcutter's equipment on hand.  For the next several hours, Ayrron sat meticulously shaving the stone down, polishing the facets until they gleamed.  The yellow was the most predominant colour was that bright gold colour, with a strong backing of green, but the streaks of brown that came from the elements of iron within the crystal started to shine as well -- a twisted core of strength running the length of the gem.

Ayrron agonised over the cut of the gem for a while, before finally settling on a shield cut.  He cut the gem down and started to slot it into the center of his mechanical sphere, pushing it through the metallic grips he'd designed to hold the heart in the focal point.  With the heart in place, Ayrron pulled on a tiny little metal arm in the chest cavity.  The arm was held under tension, and when Ayrron released it, it sprang back into place, striking the heart.  There was a ringing sound as the crystal vibrated with the impact.  Ayrron watched as the vibrations spread throughout the device, triggering mechanisms all through the sphere.  The chest cavity started to close, and over the next few seconds, all that could be heard was the repeated ticking of the arm against the cystal inside, like a tiny heartbeat.

Then there was a twitch.  A number of metallic burrs emerged from the surface of the sphere, curling into tiny little feet.  Two yellow eyes opened, and the ball rolled over until it could stand on all four feet.  Two wings peeled off the back like sheets of thin metal, and a metallic tail detatched from around the flank to provide balance.  The construct shook itself all over like a small dog and yawned, showing a smooth barrel inside the throat, glowing with a yellow-green light.

"Well done, boy," Master Ormorn said quietly at Ayrron's hip.  "If you can keep working like that, you might make a fine mage yet one day."  It was the closest to an actual compliment the gnome had ever come.

Ayrron smiled as the item he had worked so painstakingly over the last few weeks came to life. He had dreamed this would happen, and seeing it in action made him smile. When Ormorn complimented him, he smiled even more. "I learnt from the best....master."

He held out his hand as the mechanical beast tilted it's head towards him. "Come." The thing took a few steps gingerly and stopped to look at the hand, then leapt onto it ad crawled up his arm to his shoulder. The metal, that was once cold had a warmth to it.

The kender looked at him. "Well - we have to think of a name for you i guess." It sat on his shoulder, the tail wrapping behind his neck. He looked at the mechanical marvel. "Bronze would be too obvious.....how about shield?" The Homunculus reared its head and snorted, causing the kender to smile. "No...not shield. Cogs?" It almost let out a metallic snarl.

Ayrron looked around the area and spied something that was used eveyday - something that without it, many things with metal would not be. Small, unassuming, but binds things together.

"Flux." He said, and the metal dragonling sat up with a hum.

Ayrron looked at Ormorn and nodded. "Well, Flux will help with what's ahead - Who knows, you may yet have a apprentice who survives!"

Flux looked at Ormorn and snapped his maw and Ayrron nodded. "Come.....lets show the others." He looked at Ormorn and bowed. "If i may, master Ormorn.....I have some preperation to do, and Flux needs to meet some friends."