âACH!âme jimmysâŚâ lamented the dwarf, shifting uncomfortably in the reclining chair. He let out a low, pained groaned as his bruised muscles failed to relax.
âReally Mister Runebraid, you must sit still and relax! Youâll ruin your bandages and cast if you keep trying to get up!â Wailed the matron, her haughty high pitched tones indicating the human nurse of the Kirinâtor to be more than a bit vexed with her patient.
âQuite, indeed, I concur! Sit still and drink some tea.â Assented Gallabrox, immediately pouring some of the sweet smelling brew into a fine cup, the air instantly filled with hints of cinnamon.
âooftâDinnae yaâ start witâ yer medicinal tea clap-trap! It be yerâ fault Iâm like this! Makinâ a wizard sneezeââ
âDonât be preposterous, how can anyone POSSIBLY make anyone sneeze?â retorted the gnome with a roll of his eyes, placing the small cup of tea into the bruised hands of the Dwarf.
âNow, Iâm going, thereâs an enchanter at the citadel that blocked a fireball with their face. Ensure he takes his medicine and stays in that chair, Mister Fugwinkle! or there will be Fel to pay for!â Bemoaned the matron, before disappearing out the door to the office in a whirlwind of shifting skirts, cloak and a slam of a door.
Gallabrox began to fiddle with a wooden box he had earlier placed on the table upon his arrival, while the Dwarf wizard did his absolute worst to try and look beyond the pain of his broken left arm and bruised body in an attempt embrace ârelaxationâ. Though this mostly consisted of rummaging around for his smoking pipe with his sole semi-functioning arm.
Upon discovering that the ornate carved pipe was in fact the source of the prodding pain in his lower back, he quickly filled and lit before taking a hearty puff. Now this, this is how you relaxed.
âI never understood your obsession with being a walking, bearded chimney.â
âACHâ⌠Yaâ would if yaâ tried it.â
âIâll pass, filthy habbit. Besides, considering how long you was unconscious Iâm amazed you still feel the needâ
Hruroth coughed, squinting his eyes to narrow slits of suspicion.
âWhaâ ya mean⌠âhow longâ I was âoot? Was two days.â
âTwo weeksâ Nodded the gnome, taking a wand from a pocket in his robes, the end tipped with a spinning cog.
âACHâtwo weeks!? OwhhâŚâ He groaned inwardly, the pain in his left fore-arm flaring. The explosion had, for want of a better way of putting it, literally knocked his socks off. Or him out of his boots, depending on your point of view. Fortunately he had his fall broken quite majestically by the ground, via a boulder.
âAt least tell me yaâ recovered somethinâ from thaâ debris oâtha staffâ.
âOh, yes, about that. Itâs more or less been vaporizedâthe staff anyway. The core we recovered, marvelously odd thing too.â Beamed the gnome, tapping the wooden box with his wand, its outer panels quickly becoming transparent with the aid of magic. Within shimmered an array of miniature spell-circles, shielding and protecting. Within those, sat a small yellow gem that glowed unnaturally bright. But not the Gem Hruroth had seenâŚ
âThaâ heck is that thing?â Quizzed the Dwarf, leaning forward before thinking better of it. He quickly sat back, be it out of fear of blocking another explosion with his face or the pain in his spine is anyoneâs guess.
âA superb question! With many complicated answers⌠you see, what you found was extremely unstable, so we immediately had to get to work transferring it to a more suitable host anchor, by which I mean⌠a more suitable Gem.â The gnome nodded sagely.
âAye, so thaâ staff was so volatile because thaâ power source was nay housed properly? Right, go âanâ Nodded the dwarf, just about following.
âIndeed! Movement of energy is simple enough, usually. But this was not simple, we had trouble working out what exactly this âstuffâ was, and set the laboratory on fire twice in the meantimeâ
Hruroth stifled a laugh, he knew how much the gnome loved his Lab. Gallabrox glared.
ââŚâIn the end, we had a chance meeting with a member of the Sinâdorei, now a member of the Sunreavers, but formerly of the Scryers. He mentioned heâd seen something like this in the Netherstorm. Youâre aware of the place, I take it?â
Hruroth scrunched his eyes, memories of violet lightning streaking across a chaotic skyline, the fury of the nether whirling above a broken realm. It had been years since he ventured there, but even now the recollection filled him with awe and horror. Mostly horror. The battle with the void apparition on the edge of realityâŚ
âAye, Iâve heard enough of âet, whaâ did thaâ former Scryer say?â
âWell, while Kaelâthas siphoned off energy from the region and the nether beyond to feed his peoples addictions, they encountered âthingsâ. Unusual anomalies of arcane energy, blistering void wounds manifesting horrors⌠and other such curious occurrences.â Gallabrox paused, pouring some tea before sitting himself down in the small chair opposite.
âHe informed me that they had begun a process of attempting to draw arcane energy directly from astral sources, but with limited success as you can imagine, such is impractical by our understanding of the physics involved. Then they decided to set their sights a little higher, and try Solarâ.
The aged wizard squinted, puffing away on his pipe. He knew full well the immense arcane forces that worked between Celestial bodies such as planets and that astral bodies generated a low resonance of energy, but it was nominal or impossible to draw upon. Unless of course you were an Orc shaman and liked splitting planets in halfâŚ
âYaâ cannae harness solar energy, everyone knows thaâ. Be thaâ realm oâplants, druids anâ those witâ lobster-tone sunburn. Noâ mages.â He quipped, tapping his nose knowingly.
âQuite, a blunt and uncouth way of putting it, but correct. Not our bag so to speak. But evidence seems to point to the contrary! What if those Blood elves somehow exploited the open atmosphere, the direct facet into the nether, and drew solar-charged arcane energy from outlands own sun?â Gallabrox sipped from his tea looking to one side with an expression of calm dignity, patiently waiting for an answer.
Hruroth sensed a verbal trap. The Gnome always sat quiet like that when laying one, and much to his annoyance he almost always fell into them. But for once, he opted to show him up.
âYaâ thinkin âem hijacked some Naaru crystal technology from thaâ veesels them stole and tha âem didânae understand and jammed thaâ energy in to a crystal nayâ suited for thaâ jobââ The dwarf breathed out, before puffing on his pipe prior to resumingâŚ
ââŚ-and then it wasâ stolen or taken by thaâ crazed elf thaâ me anâ me lads bumped into who âad turned it intoâ some makeshift solar-laser-doom-staff?â
âYes quite. Glad you kept up for once.â The gnome sipped, nodding sagely. Hruroth grimaced, fell for it again, but followed with a prompt smile.
âAh! Good. Dibs.â
â-what?â Gallabrox coughed, nearly dropping his cup.
âDibs lad. I be envokinâ tha right oâdibs.â
âPreposterous!â
âFinders keepers.â
âYou canât wield some childish term of rights when referring to a potential scientific find of this magnitude! The ramifications of this discovery are enormous and as yet unclear!â
âMaybe, but still, dibs.â The dwarf nodded sagely, sipping his tea.
âAfter all that effortâyouâre not going to employ it in another of your hair-brain-bearded shenanigans are you?!â Gallabrox simmered.
âWha, me? Never. Drink yer tea, be goinâ cold.â
