Adv Log, Session 46: The Shardmeet at the Meadow

General Summary

Lifesday, Colding 13, 879 AFE
The Shardparty at Dain’s Tailoring shop had been the previous day. Following Taid and Eykit home had been uneventful; no one had even attempted to assault them and take their Shards.
It was morning. Almë and Ruby were at the Mountainstream Inn, Elitheris and Taid were at the Cellar Keg, and Eykit was at the Silver Blossom Caravanserai. This was their pattern, and had been for the last several days, all in an attempt to throw Kallia off their trail. And as far as they could tell, Kallia didn’t know they were in town, or, if she did know, wasn’t making any moves.
This was frustrating. She was keeping her head down, and not doing anything to draw attention to herself. She wasn’t flaunting her undead minions, nor was she digging up corpses and turning them into zombies, Shard-enhanced or otherwise.
Elitheris rolled out of her hammock. She dressed, getting into her layered linen armor. It was still a little chill in the morning, which she was actually grateful for. There had been too many days in the last several eightdays that were really too hot to wear such thick clothing. She left the jacket unbuckled.
When she did, Taid rolled out of his, as well. He must have already been awake. He dressed, getting into his gambeson and buckling it tightly. That gave him a whiff of the garment, a heady, cloying scent of stale sour sweat. He grimaced. Laundry wasn’t his favorite task, but the linen garment was nearing its peak stinkiness. She hadn’t commented on it, verbally or not, but he suspected that Elitheris’ clothing wasn’t in much better condition. He buckled his steel corselet on top of that; after all, he was going to see Almë, and he wanted to be ready for anything.
Elitheris noticed he was “on a mission”. “What’s the plan?” she asked him.
“I thought it would be wise to go talk to Almë and Ruby about our next steps. I assume Eykit will show up at some point too.”
“Alright, I’ll tag along.”
Taid nodded, and finished pulling on his boots.
They met at the Mountainstream Inn. Almë was already in the tavern, eating a breakfast of porridge and fruit. Ruby was still up in her room.
Almë saw them walk in. Taid immediately went upstairs, heading for the room that Almë and Ruby shared. Elitheris ordered an ale, and got a small plate of bread and cheese. She munched on that for a little while, as Almë went upstairs. After finishing her breakfast, she went to the room as well.
Elitheris used her Shard to contact Eykit and tell him where they all were.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Eykit muttered as he walked through Lower Dwarfchat. “I hear ya.” Elitheris couldn’t hear him, but he didn’t care. He eyed the switchback road, following its sloped path back and forth up the cliffside, and sighed. At least he was developing some good muscle tone in his legs and butt.
The bruise he had gotten from the falling rock had blossomed into a large multicolored splash of color on his buttock. It still ached, especially when he moved his leg. He sighed again, not looking forward to the long climb ahead.
The others had already started discussing their plans by the time he got to Almë and Ruby’s room. He said hi to the dogs, giving each one a nice scratch.
“…I think that there might have not been enough Shards there at Dain’s place to be effective,” Taid was saying.
Almë nodded. “I like the idea of using the excitement caused by Dain’s little Shardparty as a marketing idea to get more people to join. We just had too few high-Shard owners last time.”
“Yeah, we need to go bigger,” Taid replied.
“Also, we only showed a few Shards, so we need some people with lots of Shards. And the second mistake was that we went home too early. It was afternoon; it wasn’t dark. The robbers only came out in the dark. I think the goal should be to do some promotions for a larger, more public Shardmeet. The question is where. Would Dain want to host another one?”
Taid chuckled, remembering the state of Dain’s shop. “I doubt he wants anything to do with Shards for a while. It will take him a while to repair his shop, assuming the damage doesn’t bankrupt him. No, I don’t think we can count on Dain.” He paused, considering. “What we need is a public place, somewhere they would perform plays or something. Someplace outside, so when things blow up it doesn’t blow up buildings.”
“Maybe talk to the Awakeners?” Almë asked. “They would know the best places to organize a meet.”
Taid volunteered to talked to the Awakeners. He sort of knew Sunim Mychele a bit. They would be a good place to start. “When do we want to arrange the meet?”
“Let’s ask the Awakeners. They know how to do this stuff.” Elitheris said.
Eykit spoke up. “Once we figure out when this Shardmeet is happening, I can go from place to place and talk it up.”
There were nods around the room. Eykit was good at chatting people up.
So it was decided. Taid would go to the Awakeners, and try to arrange for a Shardmeet. Once he came back with the relevant information, he’d come back and Eykit would start his publicity campaign.
Taid headed out to talk with the Awakeners. It didn’t take long to walk there, maybe twenty minutes. It wasn’t a large building, nor was it a tiny one. It seemed just about like any other storefront. There were no windows; it appeared as if the existing windows of the building had been bricked over. He opened the heavy wooden door, carved with angular geometrical motifs that tiled repeatedly across its surface.
There was a small lobby, with several doors that likely led off to some offices. The door at the back of the room was ajar, and beyond the doorway Taid could see a large room filled with rows of chairs. He could hear voices just beyond the door; one of them sounded like Sunim Mychele. She was talking with a Dwarven man, judging from the voice.
He looked to the side; there was a coat closet next to the door, and the wall from about waist height to the ceiling was simply a metal grate. Inside were coats, cloaks, and several weapons, mostly in sheaths, but there were some spears leaning up against the back corner. They were covered in cobwebs, and hadn’t look like they’d been moved in months.
He walked across the lobby to the door that was ajar, gripped the edge in one hand, and fully opened the door. At the far end of the room was a raised dias or stage. Inside were Sunim Mychele and a Dwarf, the same man that Taid had seen once proselytizing on a street corner. It was Ayya Ajahn Reese, head of the Awakeners in Dwarfchat.
They both turned to look at Taid when the door opened. “Oh, hello,” they both said, then looked at each other and chuckled. Sunim Mychele held her hands out to Ayya Reese, indicating for him to take over.


“Ah, hello there,” Ayya Reese said, greeting Taid.
Taid was carrying Maggie, and he held the halberd at an angle to not gouge the ceiling. Ayya Reese nodded to Sunim Mychele, and she hurried over to the coat closet, pulling out a key which she used to unlock it. She opened the door for Taid. He put his halberd in there, and the woman locked it up.
No one was going to be able to steal it without some effort, but it also meant that they would have to unlock it for him when he wanted his halberd again. I’ll turn this place into hell if I can’t get to it, he thought grimly.
Taid turned to the Sunim. “How is your Shard hangover doing?”
The lady smiled, saying, “Well. I was outside of the area of the stones, so I didn’t really get hurt. I did bruise my ankle when I was trying to step through the three or four layers of stone balls all over the floor, though. The footing was quite treacherous.”
“Oh boy, that was something, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was. Unfortunately some people got hurt.”
Taid nodded, and said, “It’s unfortunate, but it happens.”
Despite the Sunim “handing over” the conversation to the Ayya, Taid seemed to want to talk to Sunim Mychele. Ayya Reese let it happen, smiling. Sunim Mychele was coming along nicely, and would likely be an Ayya soon. Where the Awakeners sent her when that happened, he had no idea. But it wouldn’t be here; Dwarfchat was too tiny for two Ayyas.
“So, speaking of,” Taid said, “you know, our little Shard meet was kind of a small thing. And then it got a bit bigger organically. So we thought we would like to have a big Shardmeet on purpose. So we were wondering if you guys had any ideas of when we could have one?”
Ayya Reese and Sunim Mychele exchanged glances.
But Taid wasn’t done. “Is there a better location and day for this to happen? We were kind of crammed in there in that tailor shop, and that’s one of the reasons why so many people got affected when the rocks rained down on them. There was no place to get out of the way. So if we have more of an open space, maybe make it a little festival, talk to the Civil Patrol so that they are happy about it….You know, since things seemed to have calmed down recently. And people are likely wanting to play the game of Shards. It would be fun.”
Ayya Reese stroked his beard. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “Couple of things…yes, there are some areas that we could go to that would be outdoors and give us enough space to do that stuff. So that’s definitely doable. As for when, we could probably do it as soon as tomorrow, but that wouldn’t give people time enough to learn about it and make plans to actually show up. So I’m thinking maybe 3-4 days from now. That would give the town criers enough time to alert everyone.”
He took a deep breath. “Second, have you informed the Civil Patrol yet?”
Taid shook his head. “No, I wanted to come and talk to you guys first. But I was thinking that they would probably need to be involved if we’re going to be out there.”
“We don’t want to be doing anything illegal.”
“Right. I figured they would have questions, and so I wanted to get some of the answers before we went and talked to them.”
“Ah, I see. That makes sense. You show wisdom.”


“Good,” Ayya Reese continued. “Well, tentatively, let’s say four days. I will contact you in a day or two to let you know where.”
“Okay,” Taid replied.
“It’ll probably be later today, actually. We need to give the criers time to do their thing. Where are you staying? So we can send a runner to you.”
“I’ve been staying at the Cellar Keg.”
The Ayya and Sunim both nodded. “That is a good inn,” Sunim Mychele said.
“Well,” Ayya Reese said, “if this goes according to plan, it would be a great start towards getting things back to normal. And I would like to thank you, Taid, for coming to us for our help.” He grinned, his teeth white behind his beard. “You’d be a great asset to the Awakeners, if you are interested. Here, have some literature.” He pressed a thin volume into Taid’s hands.
Taid took his leave, and went back to the Mountainstream Inn. He flipped through the pages of the book on the way back to the inn.
“…And there are some who say that One will come, and that One will be called the Gate and the Key, entwined and inseparable. It will be the opener of the way, and the way itself, a garden path and the garden itself. It is both analogy and basic truth, a duality-that-is-not….”
“…And the One said unto me, ‘you shall be my crier, my mule, and my self.’ And I was much confused, for I was unenlightened, and I questioned. ‘Be not afraid,’ the One said, in the voice of multitudes. ‘For I shall be with you always, indivisible.’ And I was filled with much joy, such that I burst into spontaneous song, and I sang the praises of the One….”
“…Let me tell you of the parable of the fish. The fish swim in water, and to them it is normal. Were we to be immersed in it, we would find it heavy and thick, and difficult to move in. But to the fish, it is life, and support, and movement. But were you to take the fish, and bring it into the air, it would writhe helplessly, for the air is too thin, and it cannot breathe, nor move, nor be supported. It will just lay there, flapping helplessly, suffocating until it died. Were we to be removed to a place with no air, we too would suffocate and die, just like the fish….”
…The Shards are life. And like life, they are to be treasured, and nurtured. Gather them. Make them whole. Of the many, create the One. Encourage those that partake of the gathering, and rejoice in the work. The One has given us this holy task, and we shall not be found wanting….”
He didn’t get any farther before he got to the courtyard of the Mountainstream Inn. He pocketed the pamphlet, and went inside.


Taid let the rest of them know that the Awakeners were on the case, and would find a venue fairly soon. Then, it was just a matter of going to the Civil Patrol, and convincing them that a Shadmeet was a good thing. Once that was done, he was free to go back to the Cellar Keg, to await the Awakeners’ messenger.
That messenger arrived around midday, and passed a missive on to Taid. The short message simply gave the location of the Shardmeet, a set of clearings not too far down the road from South Upper Dwarfchat. Apparently, it had been used before as a meeting place for various functions, including town fairs.
The Awakeners expected this Shardmeet to attract a lot of people, for the simple reason that it had been a while since the last “official” Shardmeet, and there was pent-up demand. As was usual with large public gatherings, a host of attendant services would also be there: food and drink vendors, trinket sellers, and anyone else whose business could benefit from a setting with a large crowd of people.
Seeing the letter made Taid remember that his first meeting with the Order of Aheru-Mazda was that same evening. He swore; he’d have to break off from the Shardmeet early in order to go to it. He made his way back from the Cellar Keg to the Mountainstream Inn, grumbling the whole way. But he’d make it work, somehow.


He told the others. “So, the Shardmeet will be on Jyprasday, the 17th of Colding, at The Meadows. Apparently, this Meadows has been used before for gatherings, like town fairs or outdoor theater or whatever.”
“Where is this Meadows?” Elitheris asked.
“Near South Upper Dwarfchat, just down the east road a bit, across from where the crops start.”
“We’ve gone by there,” Eykit mentioned. “I remember seeing some open spaces around there that would make a good place. A bit of a slope, though.”
“Now all we have to do is get the Civil Patrol on board with this,” Taid said.
“What do you think our chances are of having them okay with this?” Almë asked.
Taid shrugged. “Don’t know, really. They okayed the one at the tailor shop, maybe they will okay this one too. We won’t know until I talk with them.”
“Need Eykit to sweet talk them?” Almë suggested, as Eykit shook his head vehemently.
Taid chuckled. “Eykit can’t really help us when it comes to the law enforcement community. “
“Ah, you’re right,” Almë admitted.
Eykit gave a sigh of relief. The last place he wanted to be was in the Civil Patrol headquarters.
“Anyway, I should probably go talk to the Civil Patrol,” Taid stated. He turned to leave, but hesitated. He gazed at Maggie, looking the halberd up and down, then set it in the corner of the room. He started unbuckling his corselet as well. “I’d best go into this as non-threateningly as possible.” He set his plate armor and helmet down in the corner as well. He knew that Almë’s and Ruby’s room would be safe enough; he was almost certain that no one in the room would sell the items behind his back. He fluffed out his helmet-matted hair, scratching his scalp. He even unbuckled his gambeson jacket, and untied his leggings, folding them and putting his layered linen armor in the corner.
Under his gambeson, he wore a pair of light linen pants and a tree silk shirt, wrinkled and sweaty from being worn under his armor. There wasn’t much he could do about that. The air in the room felt cool, a product of his damp clothing and evaporation. Perhaps, if he was lucky, they’d be dry by the time he walked through the Walled City to the Civil Patrol headquarters.
He almost buckled the baldric that held his short sword, but decided that he should keep that off. Dwarfchat didn’t seem to have a city ordinance that stated that sidearms were illegal to be carried, although many cities and towns did. He did fasten his belt around his now-unarmored waist, if only to make sure he had his knife and his various miscellaneous items and pouches.
“If I get attacked by Kallia while I’m not wearing my gear, make sure you guys get revenge for me, okay?”
Almë chuckled, nodding.
“We’ll avenge you,” Eykit said, with a wicked grin. “I’d rather that you avoided a fate such as that, however.”
Taid eyed him seriously. “Yeah, me too.” He really didn’t like being out of his armor. He felt vulnerable, and he didn’t like that at all. But he also didn’t really have much of a choice. If he was to convince the Civil Patrol, he didn’t want anything to give them a reason to deny him.
He looked down at his beard, which was a mess. It had been days since he done more than finger-comb it, so he spent a good fifteen minutes with a brush and comb, and did what he could to straighten out the mess.
Once that was done, and he looked respectable, he set out to the Civil Patrol headquarters, located in the Walled City, not far from the city hall building. The gate guards barely even looked at him as he passed, unlike every other time he’d gone through the gate. He wasn’t armed for war, so they didn’t give him a look. It didn’t take him long to get to the headquarters; Upper Dwarfchat wasn’t really very large.
He went into the building. He looked around the lobby, hoping to see the familiar face of the guard who’d been at the tailor’s shop. Unfortunately, Taid didn’t see him. He did see several desks, each with a Dwarven patroller seated at it, in most cases writing something either in a ledger book, or on sheets of paper. Some looked up at his entrance, but none paid much attention after a second or two before going back to what that had been doing. One desk was taller than the rest, sitting on a dias in one corner of the room, likely to be able to see everyone in the room more easily.
Okay, then, plan B, he thought, as he approached the main desk. Seated there was an imperious-looking Dwarf civil patroller, and judging from the necklace with the series of badges, was likely the commanding officer. Or at least the officer in charge. Either way, that Dwarf was the one he wanted to talk to.
He laid an arm on the high desk in a nonchalant manner. “I’d like to talk to the Shard-permitting office,” he said with a grin.
The officer at the desk jerked his head back. “What?” the Dwarven patroller asked. “We don’t have a specific office for that.” His voice intonation indicated he was a bit confused about this line of questioning.
“We’re looking to have a Shard event, and we want to include the Civil Patrol, to make sure it all on the up and up. We had a little Shardmeet the other night, and it was really fun. It was also nice to have a civil patroller there, to keep things from going too badly. The patroller made us all feel much safer.”
“Uh huh,” the desk officer said.
“Anyway, he and I worked together to make sure the event was as safe as possible, and everything was cool and very fun. We, uh, did have some rock manifest out of nowhere, and this time, you see, we would like to have it at an outside venue. This time, we’re looking to hold it out at Southern Dwarfchat Meadows.”
The desk officer just stared at Taid, not sure what to say. So Taid continued.
“You know, people have been really stressed out with all the events going on recently. And since a lot of that seems to have died down, we’d like to bring a little fun and excitement and entertainment back into the town. Get everyone together to have a good time.”
The desk officer found his voice. “You know that Shardmeets are currently not allowed.”
“Yes, I do. So how do we get them allowed again?”
The officer scratched his chin through his blue-dyed beard. Little silver bangles woven into it jangled and tinkled as he did so. “I suppose I could talk to my superiors.” As it turned out, he was getting tired of all the complaints and whining of the townsfolk about the curfew and the lack of Shardmeets. If it were up to him, he’d eliminate the curfew, let the Shardies play, and let them meet their own fates. Besides, it would be good to send the rented patrollers back to the Undercities. They were expensive, and although he wasn’t the one stuck doing the books, he knew that they weren’t cheap.
Taid perked up, not expecting it to be that easy that fast. “That would be awesome! We think it would be a great event for the city!”
“Hmmmph. Really.”
“Positive. Uplifting. Fun! People love a good Shardmeet. And you never quite know what’s going to happen.” Taid could read the doubt on the officer’s face. He went on, “That’s why we would like you guys there in case, you know, the Shards go a little nuts or whatever.”
“Well, we did hear about the rock fall. Dain the tailor was pissed. Ruined his shop.”
“Yeah, that’s why we are having it outside this time. We’ll have some tents set up for food and festivities and stuff like that.”
“Huh. How much are you spending on this?”
That question took Taid aback. “You know, I’m not sure, actually. Someone else is working on that. The idea is having fun, and having people bring their Shards. There is a lot of pent up demand for this. So I would like everyone to have a good time.”
“Well, like I said, when I get a chance, I’ll talk to my superior.”
“Okay. We’re aiming for this Jyprasday, Colding 17.”
“Okay,” the Dwarf patroller said noncommittally.
“In the Southern Dwarfchat Meadows.”
“Okay,” the officer said again.
Taid was beginning to suspect that there was something more that was needed. Something shiny and valuable. “When can I come back to discuss this with your superior?”
The Dwarf shrugged expansively. “I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to talk to him about it.”
Taid resigned himself to having to pay a “fee”. With a deep breath, he asked, “Since we want to do this on the 17th, what’s the accelerated process look like?”
The Dwarf smiled. “I go talk to my superior soon.”
Taid pursed his lips. “And do we need a permit for this? To get this done sooner, rather than later?”
“Yes.”
Taid sighed. “And what is this rush charge?”
“Sixty marks.”
Sixty marks was about one seventh the average monthly income for a freeman. It wasn’t a huge sum, but it was significant. Taid said, “We really want to see this happen for the people, so I’m willing to do that. Wish I had my master negotiator with me. Is there a form I need to fill out?”
“I’ll waive the paperwork; just hand over the fee. No form to fill out.”
“Fine,” Taid said, as he dug into his coin purse. He extracted the sixty marks, counting out the denominated coins onto the desk. “There’s the rush fee.”
The Dwarf officer smiled, and slid the coins into the top drawer of the desk. “Thank you,” he said.
“You’re welcome.” He really wasn’t, in Taid’s mind. It was just another sign of a corrupt system. They seemed to be everywhere. That sense of vulnerability flooded into him again. He was in civilian clothing, in the midst of a bunch of corrupt law enforcement officers. All of the Dwarves; stocky and strong and trained to take down criminals. “Uh, should I wait here, or come back later?”
“Oh, just a second,” the Dwarf said, as he tapped a bell on his desk.
A patroller came to the desk. “What’s up, boss?”
“Take over my station for a bit.”
“Sure,” the patroller said, climbing up to the desk after the officer came down. The officer then left through a door at the rear of the lobby area.
Taid waited for a few minutes, and when nothing had happened, he looked around for somewhere to sit. Along the front wall of the lobby was a bench, built into the wall and extending most of the wall’s length. A couple of townsfolk were already taking up a couple of the spaces on it. Taid sat down, and made himself as comfortable as he could.
Twenty minutes later, the officer came back out to the lobby, and took his place at his desk, dismissing his surrogate. Taid rose and walked up to the desk.
“Talked to my boss,” the officer said to Taid. “He says he’s going to allow it.”
“Ah! Good,” Taid replied.
“But if you want more than two patrollers around, there will be an increased fee for that.”
Taid remembered the Meadows. They were fairly large, and he was expecting a fairly decent sized crowd. How large, he couldn’t be sure. But it had been a month or more since the last Shardmeet, or anything like a town fair. Two patrollers wouldn’t be enough.
“How much would it cost?”
“Per patroller, ten marks.”
Too many patrollers would keep any shenanigans to a minimum, and Taid and his friends were looking for shenanigans. But he had to make it look like he wanted the people protected.
“We’ll take an extra patroller. Three total.”
“Okay, ten marks.”
Taid paid the money. “Thank you very much.”
“You are very welcome. To be perfectly honest, I’m sort of glad the Shardmeets are happening again.”
“Excellent. Hope to see you on the 17th.”
With that, Taid left, feeling relieved once he was out of the building. On the way back to the Mountainstream Inn, he stopped by the Awakeners’ office, and relayed the info.
Sunim Mychele was there, and smiled when she heard the news. She even gave Taid a hug, surprising him. “Thank you for doing that!” she said. “Having a few patrollers there will make things so much easier, and give the Shardmeet more legitimacy. People won’t think that it’s an illegal meeting! Thank you again for arranging that!” Her bubbly enthusiasm was a bit infectious, and Taid couldn’t help but smile in return.


After that, Taid told his companions about the plans for the patrollers once he got back to the inn.
“Now we wait,” Almë said.
“Well,” Eykit said, “I need to go hit the bars. Spread the news and all.”
“And get some beer,” Elitheris said.
“Oh, hell yeah. Talking is thirsty work!” He cracked the door open, then shut it again. Someone was walking down the hall, and Eykit didn’t want to be seen leaving the room. He waited for a minute or so, then checked again. It was clear, and he waved to his companions and left.
“Elitheris, Ruby,” Almë said, “shall we learn more about meditation?”
They spent some time trying to meditate. Taid put his armor back on. It was hot, but he was used to that, and felt more comfortable being protected. After a couple of hours, the others wanted to learn more about the spell Apportation, which Taid had been teaching them. So the spent a couple of hours on that, as well. Taid had them trying to move coins around with their minds; sometimes successfully. But it was hard, frustrating work, as most of the time their minds couldn’t even “grip” the coins, let alone move them.
But they were getting better.


Eykit had no interest, or ability, with magic. He left his friends to finger wag and mumble esoteric words to each other. He went downstairs to the tavern. Malram was, as usual, tending the bar, and chatting with a Human customer who was seated at the bar.
It wasn’t very crowded, as it was between the lunch rush and dinner. But there were enough patrons that he had to look a bit to find an open stool at the bar. It was set for someone of Human size, so he spun the seat until it rose high enough to be comfortable for him. He was very glad the Mountainstream Inn was wealthy enough to have adjustable seats. He wished they had more of them in Port Karn.
He climbed up onto the stool, and put his elbows on the bar. “Hi, Malram,” he called. “Can I have a beer? The light one, please. I’m trying to watch my figure.”
Malram glanced in his direction, and nodded. “Just a sec.” He turned back to the customer he was talking to, and said a few words before turning to the rack of mugs. In a moment, he had filled it from the tap, and slid it down the bar to the Goblin. Eykit had been fiddling with a five-mark coin, and as soon as he got his beer, he slid the coin to the back of the bar. Malram could collect it when he got the chance.
It didn’t take him long. He finished his conversation with the Human patron, and moved down to Eykit, where he pocketed the fiver. “Beer’s only four, you want some snacks?”
“Yeah, that’d be great. Something meaty.”
Malram considered. Eykit was a Goblin, after all, and they were decidedly carnivorous. The usual sampler plate of various mushrooms wouldn’t be appropriate. But there was some roasted pork left over from lunch. He’d use some of that.
He came back with a small plate of thinly sliced pork with a spicy honey-based sauce drizzled on them. “Here you go,” he said, placing the plate in front of Eykit.
Eykit gave it a sniff. It smelled delicious. He picked up one of the slices, tipped his head back, and let it fall into his mouth. The sweetness hit him immediately, followed by the savory taste of the pork. Then the heat emerged, giving his mouth a buzzing feeling as he chewed. He swallowed, then said, “Hot! But good.” He took a long pull from his beer. “Still hot.”
Malram smiled.
The heat subsided a little, but Eykit could still feel it suffusing his mouth. “So, how’s it going?” he asked the bartender. Bartenders tended to talk to a lot of people; so bartenders were who he wanted to talk to in order to spread the word as quickly as possible.
“Going all right, I suppose.” Malram reached out and plucked an empty mug off of the bar nearby, setting it in the sink behind him. “Not terrible. Business has been fairly good. Things are starting to pick up a little bit, I think.”
“Any news?”
“Well, we haven’t had any disappearances lately.”
“That’s good news.”
“Yeah. And we just had an interesting...well, some people thought it was interesting. Some people thought it wasn’t so fun, but there was a Shard party, I guess you could call it.”
“Oh, yeah. I was there.”
“Right, you already know about that. Let’s see, what else has been happening?” Malram tugged gently at his beard, first one side, then the other, then back again as he thought. “Huh. Not a whole lot else.”
A customer needed attention, so Malram held up a finger to Eykit. “Just a sec,” he said, as he went off down the bar.
Moments later, he was back. “Something else. There was some kind of mage guild representative or something saying that something had been stolen from them, but they didn’t give any information on what it was, so I don’t know. I guess someone is walking around with an artifact or something.”
Eykit looked interested. Magical artifact? he thought. Could be useful.
“Oh!” Malram exclaimed. “We recently heard that there was an area up north along the river, that is apparently burning or something. Something about some fiery creatures that are kind of wreaking havoc or something. I don’t know for sure. The tales were confusing and contradictory. Looked like a forest fire, would be my guess.”
Eykit pretended to be surprised and confused. He knew all too well what that area was; he’d been instrumental in helping to deal with the problem there. But it sounded like they didn’t finish the job. And didn’t Almë have that hand thing still? He’d have ask the tall Elf about it later.
He changed the subject. “So, I was just wondering if you’d heard anything about the next Shardmeet?”
Malram raised his eyebrows. “No, haven’t heard a thing. There’s going to be another one?”
“I’ve heard that there’s going to be another one, and I was actually coming to you to ask if you’d heard of it.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Crazy. I’ve heard it’s on the 17th at midday.”
“Oh yeah? Hmmm. Do you know where they are having it?”
“It’s out in some field.”
“A field, huh? South Dwarfchat Meadows?”
“Oh! Yeah! That sounds right.”
“Yeah, we’ve had them there in the past, when they weren’t outlawed. We’ve had several Shardmeets out that way. Kind of pleasant. You know, oftentimes they get little food vendors and stuff that show up and it turns into a little fair.”
“You should consider setting up shop out there.”
“Well, it’s going to be outdoors on a hot day, and people get mighty thirsty.”
“That they do,” Eykit said. “You could actually probably make a fair bit of coin.”
“We have in the past. So thank you for letting me know. It takes a few days to arrange for a vendor stall. Uh, is it put on by the Awakeners?”
“I think so.”
“Hopefully, I can get a chance to go talk to them to see if they are allowing other vendors.”
“Well, it would be great to see you there.”
Malram cocked his head, and asked, “You planning on going, then?”
“Oh, absolutely. I’ve got a few Shards that I would love to play with. I haven’t really had a chance to in the past.”
The Dwarf smiled. “Well, you played in the last game that was held.”
“Yeah, but nothing really happened.”
“You lost a Shard, though.”
Eykit grimaced. “Yeah, but nothing happened. If I’m going to have to lose a Shard, I want something cool to happen! The rock thing wasn’t from my Shard. It would have been nice if I had won that pairing, though.”


“But nothing obvious happened when your Shard joined?”
“Yeah. Disappointing.”
“How big of a cluster was it?”
“It was just a pairing.”
“I’ve heard of someone actually having a twelve-Shard cluster before. Didn’t see it myself. But that’s what the guy said.”
“You know, there are a lot of guys out there who will say things are bigger than they really are.”
Malram laughed heartily, throwing his head back in mirth. “Indeed!” he said. “I’ve served many of them!”
Eykit flashed him a responding grin. “I’m just kind of hoping I win one back. But this time, I think I’ll bring more to the table. I had only brought a small number of the Shards I have. But I think, in order to win, I’m going to need to play with more.”
Eykit had been listening to the surrounding areas of the tavern. And when he mentioned that he had a lot of Shards, the ambient noise in the tavern lowered a bit. Without looking, he could tell people were paying attention to his conversation with Malram. His plan, simple as it was, was working.
“So, you’re going to the Shardmeet?”
“Oh yeah.”
“How many Shards did you say you had?”
“Well, I originally brought a dozen to the last game, at the tailor shop. But I think I’ll bring more. You know, I’ve found it very hard to leave them at home. I know they are safer locked up, but I feel better when they are on my person, somehow. Every time I go to one of these Shardmeets I’m all jittery, because I’ve left most of my Shards behind.”
“Weird how they work that way,” Malram said. “People have told me similar things. Most people can’t stand to be away from them. They are like heirlooms, almost. Packed with sentimental value or something.”


Eykit tossed back the rest of his beer, wiped his lips, and thanked Malram for the good brew. He climbed down off of the stool, and left. He had many other taverns to visit. As he left, his keen ears picked up on several conversations about a Shardmeet out in the Upper Dwarfchat Meadows. A smile crept across his face as the door shut behind him, and the sounds of conversation were cut short.
His next stop was the Keg, the tavern that was attached to the inn called “The Cellar”. It wasn’t far from the Mountainstream Inn, and it only took him a few minutes to walk there. It was a bit smaller than the Mountainstream Inn, but a bit more crowded. It was cheaper, overall, than its main competitor in Upper South Dwarfchat, and had a more pedestrian reputation.
There were several seats open at the bar, and Eykit chose one that was about in the middle. He sat between a pair of Dwarves with colorful beards, in the Dwarfchat fashion. The bartender, Rukrurim, nodded as he perched himself on the bar stool. Most of the patrons at the tavern were at the tables, rather than the bar, but Eykit counted thirteen people there.
“Glass of beer, please,” Eykit said.
A moment later, Rukrurim set a glass of amber ale in front of the Goblin. “So, is there anything else I can get for you?”
Eykit smiled and said, “No. Not for now.” Then he added, “Actually, I am wondering if you have any news?”
The Dwarven bartender cocked his head, thinking. “There was a Shardmeet yesterday that some people thought was kind of fun, and other people got wounded. They didn’t think it was fun.”
“Oh yeah. I was there.”
“Wait! Really?”
The Goblin nodded. “I actually lost a Shard in the games. Dammit. And then nothing seemed to happen. Quite anticlimactic, really.”
“Really? That’s disappointing. I’d have preferred a wild story, to be honest.”
Eykit gave him a rueful look. “Yeah, me too. Having nothing happen is pretty rare.”
“It is. Usually something flashy happens.”
“Hey. You haven’t noticed anything different around town, have you?” Perhaps the effect of the Shard pairing hadn’t been “local”.
Rukrurim thought a moment, his right hand stroking his beard, dyed to match the color of a good amber ale, then shook his head and said, “The only weird thing that seems to be all over town is some kind of fiery mess up north.”
“Yeah, I’d heard about that earlier. I’d been at the Mountainstream Inn.”
“I don’t know much about it. Just something about flame creatures lighting things on fire.”
“Well, let’s hope someone takes care of that.” Eykit really didn’t want to talk about that burnt out area of the jungle. He hadn’t been a big fan of trying to avoid balls of fire, and it likely wasn’t a good idea to mention that he’d been there, too. Being at a Shardmeet was one thing. Being in the midst of a fire elemental invasion was another. That kind of thing tended to draw attention, and not the kind that he liked.
He changed the subject. “I don’t know if you’ve heard this or not, but there going to be another Shardmeet in a few days.”
“Huh. Really? And the Civil Patrol is letting this all happen?”
“Apparently.”
“Good. They’re finally relaxing the restriction. That’ll be good for business.”
“It’s going to be in the South Dwarfchat Meadows.”
“Okay, yeah. They used to have Shardmeets there, before the Civil Patrol banned them.”
“I think I’m gonna play again.”
“Glutton for punishment, huh?” Rukrurim grinned.
Eykit shrugged. “I lost one last time, and I’m kind of hoping I win some. And now that I’m thinking about it, I only brought a dozen Shards last time, but I’m going to bring more this time.”
“You’ve got more than a dozen Shards?” The bartender seemed impressed. But then, that could be considered part of his job description. “How’d you manage to find so many?”
“Got them from various places.” Eykit didn’t want to tell them most of them came off of Shard-enhanced zombies. That might lead to some questions he didn’t want to answer.
“Most people, if they have ten, they consider themselves to have quite a few. I did hear of one person that had thirty.”
“Oh, I don’t have that many.”
The Dwarf nodded. “Honestly, most people don’t like to talk about it much because they worry they might have som problems with brigands or something.”
“I’ve acquired a few in non-Shard related gambling.”
The bartender frowned, confused. Most Shards were bought, sold, won, or lost at Shardmeets, or at least during a game of Shards.
Eykit noticed, being the keen observer of social cues that he was. “Sometimes, people get in situations where they have a debt to pay, and Shards are all they have left.”
“Ah. Right. When the Law is breathing down your neck about a debt, you damn well have to pay it somehow.”
Eykit was confused himself for a moment. The Law? What did that have to do with enforcers—then he remembered that Dwarfchat had no thieves’ guilds. There were no enforcers, except for the Civil Patrol kind. He wasn’t sure he was comfortable knowing that the local constabulary had that kind of power in addition to all of the rest of their powers. The amount of corruption that would inevitably entail boggled his mind. He preferred that sort of power to be spread out a bit more. More checks and balances that way.
Rukrurim wasn’t an idiot. The expressions that flicked quickly across the Goblin’s face told a story. He leaned closer, and in a soft voice, asked, “You a leg breaker or something?” He’d heard of them, in other towns, but hadn’t ever seen one.
Eykit looked surprised. “Oh, no!” He grinned. “Look at me. Do I look like a leg breaker?”
The Dwarf looked him over. Goblin, small, pretty scrawny. Some scars on his hands, likely from cuts. With a chuckle, he said, “Oh, you’re about the right height to take out somebody’s kneecaps!” But he didn’t really believe it. The Goblin on the other side of the bar looked too much like a nice guy. “No worries, I’m just messing with you.”
“It’s so interesting about the fire creature thing.”
The bartender frowned. “Yeah, it is.”
“Maybe it’s more than just a rumor.”
“Seems rather odd to me, but there have been a couple of boats that have gone upriver. You know, the wilderness way. And both of the crews said they saw strange, flaming animal things and the whole burned out place had some scattered fires around the edges. All of the trees and plants were burned out in the center of the area according to their description, but there were some fires that were still burning at the edges. I have to assume that it’s the animals that are causing the fires. They are on fire, running around, and lighting everything they touch on fire.”
“The animals weren’t terrified? Squealing in pain?”
“Weird, but no. Whatever had happened to them, it seemed normal, to them. They seem to die like normal animals, according to one of the crews who shot arrows at them.”


“Thanks for the info.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Hope to see you at the Shardmeet.”
Rukrurim shrugged, and said, “Maybe. Maybe not. Got to talk to the boss and find out if we can send somebody out there.”
“You can ask the Civil Patrol, or the Awakeners.”
“The Civil Patrol is allowing it? It’s not a secret thing?”
“No, not a secret.”
“Really!’ It was actually hard for him to believe it, after the Civil Patrol had banned it for what seemed forever, but was only the last couple of months.
“There’s really no way anyone could keep it a secret anyway. People have been wanting it for too long. You think people would be able to keep quiet about it?”
“I suppose not. That would require more willpower than I think exists! It just seems so odd to me that the Civil Patrol is finally loosening its grasp. I think it’s a good thing because, you know, people were getting pretty antsy about not being able to go to Shardmeets.”
“Don’t know if you were able to tell, but I’m not from around here.”
“Well, your accent is slightly different.”
“Maybe it’s just because of the curfew, but this city, for its size, is pretty boring.”
“Well, if you say so.” Rukrurim didn’t really know how to respond to that. It was, after all, an opinion, and his job wasn’t to refute opinions.
Eykit looked a bit despondent. “It’s just that there’s not a lot going on.”
“Did you take the Mushroom Cave tour?”
“What? What is that? Any special mushrooms?”
“Oh, there are several varieties grown down there. The caves are extensively cultivated. It’s where a majority of our mushrooms come from, and a major source of export.”
“How much for the cave tour?”
“I don’t know what the current price is, but it takes about four hours.”
“Okay. Tell me more.” Eykit didn’t really care, but he wanted the bartender to keep talking, and mushrooms seemed to be something that he liked to talk about, considering how many varieties were listed on the menu. To Eykit, mushrooms were only a flavoring for real food.
What Rukrurim told Eykit was that the Mushroom Caves were a series of caverns underneath the Walled City where dozens of varieties of edible mushrooms were grown. Some of the mushrooms were immense, taller than a Human and weighing hundreds of kilograms apiece. The caverns were mostly part of natural caverns, although they had been modified over the centuries to better suit the needs of Dwarfchat. There were multiple levels, and their overall footprint was almost the size of the Walled City district itself. There were entrances at the Market Square, near City Hall, and near the Library. There was even a gallery running along the cliffside, looking over the lake with a series of large glass windows. The view was spectacular, and some of the windows were actually behind one of the waterfalls. The tours cost ten marks per person, and could be arranged through the City Hall Tourism Department.


“Maybe I’ll check it out,” Eykit said. “But it’s starting to get late, and I need to get moving.”
“All right,” the bartender said, as Eykit finished his drink. “I’ll see you around.”
Eykit left, heading towards the Switchback Road, and thence to Lower Dwarfchat. There were taverns he was aware of in both the Walled City district and West Upper Dwarfchat, but he wanted to be close to his caravanserai when night fell and the Civil Patrol was on the prowl for laggards.
It was something of a long walk, and he had gotten hungry by the time he got to the wharves. He knew of two taverns there at the wharves, the Drowning Fish and Yesterday’s Catch. They were situated at either end of the row of buildings facing the docks, and were busy most of the day, especially towards the end of the day, when most dockworkers were getting off shift.
The Drowning Fish was the one closest to the cliffs, so that was where he went first. It was a dim place, the main floor set about four steps below the level of the street outside. Diamond paned windows let in the late afternoon light, but the dark wood furnishings absorbed most of it, and although there were lanterns and oil lamps lit, the place was dim. The bar took up one of the narrow sides of the room, the rest of the space filled with rectangular tables with benches. All of the tables had patrons; Eykit could see openings between people sitting on the benches. The bar itself was also crowded, with but a single stool open.
Eykit took the stool at the bar. While there were plenty of people in the room, upwards of thirty or more, talking to the bartender would maximize the effect of his news about the Shardmeet. He also ordered a snack.
Belatedly, he realized why this stool was open: the Dwarven dockworker in the stool next to him smelled strongly of fish and bilge water. He wrinkled his nose, relaxing his face with effort when the bartender turned towards him. He got a drink, then engaged the bartender in some small talk before dropping the hint about the Shardmeet in the Meadows in a few days’ time.
His ears, tuned to the room behind him, allowed him to get an idea of how they were reacting to his promotion. He tailored his conversation to maximize this as best he could.
He ate his snack; it wasn’t anything to write home about. It wasn’t as good as the food he’d had in Upper Dwarfchat, but it was at least edible, if a bit on the fatty and overly salted side. The food served was mainly river fish, eels, shellfish, or crustaceans, and none of it smelled all that good. But the patrons around him seemed all right with the fare, so he shrugged inwardly, thinking, To each their own, I suppose.
He moved on to the second tavern, the Yesterday’s Catch. It, like the Drowning Fish, was dark. Being a Dwarven establishment, he wasn’t surprised; Dwarves had some of the best vision in dimness, surpassed only by Orcs, who “cheated” by using infrared. Goblins had good night vision, great, really, but they weren’t as adept as Dwarves. To Eykit, the place was dim, but not so dim as to cause any navigation problems. Humans, of which there were several, likely had some problems. Somehow, he got the impression that the patrons in the Yesterday’s Catch tended to be fishermen, while the Drowning Fish seemed to have an even mix of fishermen and dockworkers. Maybe it was the nets and fishing gear that adorned the walls.
Again, he managed to find a seat at the bar, thankfully not next to someone who stank. Again, he chatted up the bartender a little before promoting the Shardmeet. And again, he noticed that his words were having an effect on the patrons. It was dark when he left, but it was only a short walk to the caravanserai, so he wasn’t terribly worried about the curfew.
Spiritsday, Colding 14, 879 AFE
The following day, Taid and Almë finished their Apportation spell and Meditation lessons; the others now had at least some skill with those disciplines. They weren’t very good, but could manage in a pinch. Cross training was a good way to spend down time, while they waited for the Shardmeet to happen. The rest of the day, Taid started going over the basics of the spell of Missile Deflection, and Ruby started her series of lectures on politics in the Empire.
While she started with examples of various modes of government, she quickly focused on how it was done in the Empire, since that is what she was most familiar with. In a sense, the Empire was a collection of feudal kingdoms, ruled loosely by the Emperor from his seat in Adayn. For the most part, the Archdukes ran their Duchies as if they were the absolute rulers of their domains, with occasional notes from Emperor Kenryth.
Under the Archdukes are Dukes, Counts, Barons, Knights, and finally, the small folk and serfs. Feudal power mainly flows down, but the nobles have their own obligations to those under them as well. Mostly, politics was about interpersonal relationships and fulfilling obligations.
Actual tools and techniques of the politically minded would have to wait for another day. It was enough to give the context and background.
Eykit was again going about town, although this time it wasn’t just to taverns. He spent most of the day just walking up and down the streets, listening more than talking. He was able to overhear quite a few conversations, most of which were irrelevant, but a few were discussing the fact that there was another Shardmeet being put on in the Meadows. There weren’t many people talking about it, but there were enough for Eykit to tell that either his tavern-hopping the night before had borne fruit, or he wasn’t the only one spreading the news.
It didn’t matter. He smiled. It was working. He suspected that with all of the pent up frustration and lack of a Shard-related outlet, the Shardmeet would be well-attended.
Skysday, Colding 15, 879 AFE
They got together in the morning, and spent a few hours with Taid instructing the mages about the spell of Missile Deflection, and Ruby taught them about politics. The latter would come in handy when they got back to their manor. It was highly likely that they had a stack of invitations, requests, and obligations waiting for them.
When that was done, Eykit went out tavern hopping, and mixing with the locals, spreading the word about the Shardmeet. The others hung around the Mountainstream Inn, nibbling on snacks, sipping beers, and generally relaxing.
Ruby entertained a customer’s dog, giving him some treats and scratches. The dog’s name was Darmond, and he was a largish wolfhound, almost a meter high at the shoulder, but much more slender than her own mastiff. His Dwarven companion was Brenn, a young baker’s apprentice. His forearms were huge and muscular, the result of kneading bread all day. One thing that stood out about him was that, unlike most Dwarves in Dwarfchat, he didn’t dye his beard or hair. His hair was its natural auburn color, although he did have quite a few beard beads of glass and fine metals strung into his beard. Norolind and Darmond sniffed each other, but Norolind lay back down and ignored the other dog.

Elitheris stepped out, heading into the local woods. She needed a break from the city.
Eykit was having a nice day. He liked carousing. It suited him. He was in the Walled City district, going from tavern to tavern, and he was at Borr’s Brewpub when he hit the social jackpot.
Borr’s Brewpub was the tavern closest to the mage guilds, and judging from the clothing of the patrons, it was a fairly upscale place. Being the late afternoon, as the work shifts were ending, it was crowded. Just about every seat in the tavern was occupied, and Eykit had to shoulder his way to the bar and squeeze between two stools just to order his drink.
Being the charming, social butterfly that he was, Eykit of course chatted with the bartender about the upcoming Shardmeet. But soon, other customers inserted themselves into the conversation, and Eykit found himself the center of attention in the tavern. The word about the Shardmeet really got out.
He’d also heard the town criers shouting out the date, time, and location of the Shardmeet, which meant that the Awakeners had gotten the word out as well, via more official channels. Eykit was certain that the Shardmeet would be a big affair.
Kynetsday, Colding 16, 879 AFE
In the morning, Taid went to talk to the Awakeners, to make sure everything was going according to plan. He set off, fully armored and carrying his halberd, its blade covered to show that he didn’t mean trouble.
But this morning, it wasn’t enough. He’d made it past the gate guards just fine; he’d been in town long enough for them to recognize him, even if they didn’t know his name. But the two patrollers who stopped him weren’t wearing the terra cotta and grey uniforms of the local Civil Patrol. They were a pair of the reinforcements from Barazinbar, one of the closer undercties. Their uniforms were a grayish blue and gold, and Taid knew that they were stricter in their approach to the law than the local patrollers.
Both were Dwarves, and both had undyed beards. One was a rich deep brown in color, the other was strawberry blonde. Both looked fierce and determined, and not a little put out by the fact that they were out in the sunlight, a fact made evident by the sunburns on their exposed skin. Being out in the sunlight all day wasn’t something that they were used to, despite having been assigned here for over a month.
He sighed. This was likely going to be a problem. Irritated guards filled with their own self importance and burdened by painful sunburns were not people to trifle with.
“Citizen!” one of them said commandingly. “What do you think you are doing?” He was gruff, direct, and firm.
“I’m going to see some people,” Taid replied politely and calmly. He didn’t want to have this conversation turn into anything ugly.
“With that?” the second Dwarf patroller asked, indicating the two and a half meter long halberd. “And wearing that?” he continued, pointing at the steel armor that enclosed Taid’s torso.
“Yeah. She’s very special to me, and I don’t leave her in very many places. She stays with me.”
“‘She’ being who now?” the first Dwarven patroller said.
“My halberd,” Taid said, glancing up at the leather-covered blade, hook, and spike. The boiled leather cover for it was triangular, with a leather thong that tied below the halberd head that secured the cover to the weapon. He’d gotten it here in Dwarfchat, and it was decorated with geometric designs tooled into the leather.
“Ah,” the first patroller stroked his brown beard, as if seriously contemplating the idea that a weapon would be gendered.
“The halberd is special to me, and I don’t let it out of my sight.”
“Do you have the permit for that?” the blonde patroller asked.
“I’ve been here in town for weeks, and I’ve had plenty of interactions with the Civil Patrol. In fact, I just talked to them in the other day.”
“And they haven’t charged you for a permit?”
“No.”
The blonde patroller shook his head, and looked over to his companion. “They are so lax here. It’s ridiculous.” He turned back to Taid. “Okay. We can either go down to the Civil Patrol headquarters and get you one, or we can have one made out right here.”
“Or I could go put the halberd somewhere.”
“Or you could do that.”
Taid sighed again. “How much does the permit cost?”
“Fifty marks.”
“Fine, I’ll go get a permit.”
“We’ll escort you,” the brown haired patroller said matter-of-factly.
Fine, Taid thought, escort me. Because I’ll be meeting with you guys later.
The two foreign patrollers did indeed lead Taid to the Civil Patrol headquarters, so at least it wasn’t a further sign of corruption. It seemed legitimate, if absolutely annoying.
The Dwarf at the supervisor’s desk wasn’t the same one he’d seen before a couple of days ago. He looked at the two patrollers, and Taid, who was between them. “This guy a criminal or something? And if that’s the case, why didn’t you disarm him?”
“No, no,” the blonde patroller said with a placating gesture. “He’s just here for a weapon’s permit, so he can carry…her,” he pointed to the halberd, emphasizing the pronoun, “around town.”
“Oh, I see. Okay. Thank you two for bringing him in.” The desk sergeant opens a drawer in the desk and pulled out a ledger, flipping it open, then flipping through the pages until he got to where he wanted to be. Taid could see it was written wth small text in Dwarven runes, and looked like some kind of local statute list or something. He glanced back up at the two patrollers. “Thanks again for brining him in here. You may go. I’ll take it from here.”
The two patrollers, their duty fulfilled, nodded, turned sharply, and left.
The desk sergeant turned to Taid, looking him up and down. “Okay, why do you wear the corselet and carry that halberd? Protecting the town is what the Civil Patrol does. Carrying those things means that you either don’ t think we can do it, or you are out to cause trouble. Are you out to cause trouble, sir?”
“No, sir. It’s just that Maggie here,” Taid jiggled his halberd, “is very personal to me, and I don’t trust a lot of people with it or storing it places. I’m worried someone will either walk off with her, or damage her in some way.”
“And you feel the need to wear that hard shell of yours?”
“Oh no, not really. I actually feel like the town is fairly safe. It’s just…you know…if I’m going to carry stuff around, it’s just easier if it’s on me. Keeps my hands free.”
“Right.” The desk sergeant didn’t seem impressed.
“I got this weapon here in town, by the way.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“May I see it?”
“Sure.” Taid reached up and undid the leather thong that held the cover over the head of the halberd. Then he lowered the business end and pulled the cover off, making sure to keep the spike out of the other Dwarf’s face.
It was beautifully made, with a blackened head inscribed with Dwarven runes and accentuated with geometric borders. The runes spelled out prayers made to Ahura-Mazda; simple ones, like strength, courage, and determination. The desk sergeant looked at it, starting with the silvery runes and sliding his eyes down the ebony shaft to the butt spike, also blackened. It was…beautiful.
The desk sergeant leaned back in his chair, gesturing for Taid to put the cover back on it. “That is a piece of art as much as a weapon.” The Dwarf grimaced. “Those guys are pretty much sticklers for everything.” He gestured to the ledger on his desk. “Look, there is an actual statute in here, but it hasn’t been enforced in a while. I’ll waive the fee, but I’m going to have to have you register your…uh, Maggie.”
“Okay.”
The Dwarf pulls a second ledger out of the desk, plopping it down onto the desktop. He spun it around to face Taid, and opened it up to the most recent page, which was marked with a cloth bookmark. There were spaces marked for his name, his weapon, his armor, and the location of his residence. “We’ll need you to fill this out and register, and we’ll give you a little medallion to wear that basically says that you are allowed to carry it around.”
“Okay.”
“As long as it’s kept covered, and you don’t get into any trouble.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
“Once you get into trouble, all bets are off.”
“Sure. That’s fair.”
The desk sergeant rummaged in a different drawer, pulling out a slender chain with a disc the size of a large coin, maybe two centimeters across. On the front side it showed a pair of crossed spears with an upright sword between them in front of the city’s seal; the other side was blank. Dwarven runes spelled out in Northern Khuzdûl around the edges of the front side that the bearer was registered. “Wear this around your neck. So you just show it and they won’t get on your case again.”
“Okay, cool.”
“Now, off with you. And stay out of trouble!”
Taid left, and walked the couple blocks to Ashjaw’s Weaponry shop. As seemed usual, there were two people working in the shop: one at the counter, the other putting up some weapon racks on the wall.
The one at the counter nodded to Taid. “Hello, Master Taid.”
Taid nodded back. “So I have a bit of a humorous situation here.”
“”Oh?”
“These two…visiting civil patrollers…dragged me to the Civil Patrol Headquarters and wanted me to register Maggie and my gear.” He thumped his breastplate with his free hand.
“Alright.”
“They gave me this.” Taid pulled the medallion and its chain over his head, holding it out in front of the weapon smith’s face. “Do you recognize this?”
“Oh yeah,” the Dwarf stated.
“I’d like you to engrave a pair of hands flipping the bird on the back side. How long would it take to do that? And how much would it cost?”
The weapon smith looked at the medallion. “Couple hours, and we can do it for thirty marks.”
“Okay. Worth it. Then I’m going to leave Maggie here with you. I’ve got some other business to attend to. Mind if I leave my armor here as well?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Want us to repair those dents in it?”
Taid grinned. “How much for that?”
“Another thirty marks. It looks like it’s been in a landslide.”
“Huh. Not too far off the mark, actually. It was a rain of stones, during a little Shard party.”
“Ah. I heard about that, I think. Was it the one at the tailor’s shop?”
“Yes.”
The Dwarf grinned. “Glad you survived it, and none the worse for wear. Except for the breastplate, of course.”
“Yeah, go ahead and take care of that. Might as well.”
The weapon smith took Maggie and the breastplate to a back room.
That taken care of, Taid headed to the Awakeners temple. Temple was perhaps an overstatement, as they really just had a meeting space and a couple offices. More of a commercial building rather than a dedicated temple. But then, the Awakeners were a bit of an odd religion anyway.
Ayya Ajahn Reese was out, but Sunim Mychele was there, holding down the fort and looking over some parchments. She looked up when Taid entered.

“Hi,” she said, smiling.
“Hey. How are you doing?” Taid replied.
“Oh, I’m doing fine. Thank you for asking.”
“How is everything going for tomorrow?”
She glanced down at the various papers scattered on her desk. “Looks like we’ve got everything arranged. It seems we’ve got the space we wanted, and we’ve even arranged for some pavillions.”
“Oh, that’s great.”
“Yeah, for shade purposes, and it turns out that there are several people wanting to sell food and drink.”
“Excellent! Is there anything else you need from me?”
“Oh, I can’t think of anything.”
“Perfect. Then I’ll see you tomorrow. Starts around noon, you said?”


“Yes, around midday. Oh, in addition to the vendors, we’ve also managed to get some musicians. I think it’s going to feel more like a fair than a typical Shardmeet.” Sunim Mychele seemed quite happy about that.
“Excellent,” Taid said, just before he turned and left.
He was hungry, and had some time to kill before his gear would be ready. He went to the Market Square. It was a market day, so there were crowds of stalls and carts, selling all sorts of things. He found a wagon that was making skewers of meats and mushrooms, roasted on a grill, and purchased a couple of them. He wandered around the market while he ate, seeing what they had for sale.
It was the usual types of things, textiles and spices, foods and tools, furniture and artwork. Nothing really jumped out at him, except for a set of jewelers’ tools that looked finely made and of high quality. They were too expensive for him at the moment, but it did make him think about his old job as a jeweler’s apprentice, before he joined the Retreat of St. Euclase. It had been a while since he’d done any of that fine, detailed work. While a part of him missed it, and missed the feeling of creation, it had been a long time, and he wasn’t even sure how much his skills had degraded from non-use.
It had been enough time, so Taid went back to Ashjaw’s Weaponry to get his halberd, medallion, and armor.


The medallion had a good representation of a pair of hands flipping the bird. Taid smiled. “That’ll do, thanks!” he said to the Dwarf at the counter. The assistant came out of the back room then, carrying Taid’s corselet and Maggie.
After donning his armor and gathering his things, Taid headed back to the Mountainstream Inn. It was around midday. It was time to teach the spell of Deflect Missile and to learn about the intricacies of politics. At least, the theoretical intricacies; only through their application and exposure to them in real life in real situations would anything really be understood.
Eykit was excited. Finally, someone was training them in something that wasn’t a dumb spell. Something actually relevant to him. As he made his way from the caravanserai to the Mountainstream Inn in Upper Dwarfchat, he could hear random snippets of conversation, and many of them were focused on the upcoming Shardmeet.
“…finally, they are allowing Shardmeets again!”
“…and they’ll have food and drink there…”
“…everyone is talking about it. I think there will be a good turnout….”
“…there has been so many people wishing for there to be Shard games again….”
“…you going? I’m going!”
“…I’m going to bring some of my hats. It’ll be a great place to sell them….”
And so it went, all the way up the Switchback Road and into Southern Upper Dwarfchat. Where he was going to learn something about politics. Ruby had been immersed in court politics for years. She had to know something useful about dealing with people. It would be interesting to see what she knew about people and how they work that he didn’t already know….
Elitheris had gone out to scout out the Meadows in the morning, looking for a convenient place to perch in order to keep an eye on things. She arrived before midday, and watched the various groups of people there erect pavilions and park wagons. She noted the locations of the vendor stalls, the canopies for shade, and the latrines. In the area of vendor stalls, there were also stakes placed in the ground, with colored ribbons on them, likely denoting reserved spots. Once she had a sense of how the area was to be laid out, she could search around for a tree tall enough to hide in.
The South Upper Dwarfchat Meadows were actually three meadows, separated by relatively thin areas of forest. Thicker forest surrounded all three as the ground sloped down the hillside that was a cliff in the town proper. Here though, the slope had lessened a bit. The Shardmeet was set to take place in the first meadow, closest to the road; an adjacent meadow was overflow for vendors, a place to park wagons and supplies, and the latrine trenches with their large tents. The third meadow, farthest from the road and the most sloped, was unused.
Most of the first meadow was to be covered by tables with benches, although those had yet to arrive.
Elitheris looked around, seeking a good tree to climb. She found one situated between meadows one and two, and not too far from meadow three. That was good, in case something happened in that meadow. Just because nothing was being set up there didn’t mean no one was going to use it on the morrow.
She wandered into the strip of woods between the two meadows, to get a better look at the tree that looked promising. Looking at the branches and trunk, she traced several climbing paths up into the canopy. She nodded to herself; this tree would do.
Just in case, she checked two other trees that stood taller than most of the others, in order to have backups. She also checked the canopy of the tree cover, checking to see if the branches would be big enough to support her weight if she had to travel along them. For the most part, they were. If she had to take the high road, there would be a few places where she would have to leap across a gap. It was non-ideal, but doable.
Jyprasday, Colding 17, 879 AFE (Day of the Shardmeet)


Elitheris, Taid, Eykit, Ruby, and the two dogs arrived at the Meadows a couple hours before midday. Ruby had woken up a bit early to ensure she had enough time for breakfasts. Almë would show up later, when it started to get dark. He wasn’t interested in the actual games. The morning was, at the moment, pleasantly cool, and would likely get uncomfortably warm later in the day. Taid had left both Maggie and his steel armor in Almë’s and Ruby’s room at the Mountainstream Inn. He wanted to look more normal, and not stick out like a sore thumb. To that end, he only wore his gambeson armor. Eykit’s sense of self preservation made him not care if he stood out; he wore his usual chain shirt over gambeson armor.
Two of the three meadows were occupied by the pavilions and tables that made up the Shardmeet. Supply wagons were parked off to one side in the second meadow, out of the way but within reach. A few apprentices stood about them, keeping watch and preventing theft. Nearby someone had set up a paddock, filled with horses, both draft and riding.
The first meadow had most of the tables, each with a tablecloth pinned to it for the games, both because it was more festive, and because the cloth would prevent Shards from slipping between the planks of the tables. A row of pavilions and vendor stalls ran along the edge near the trees that bordered the second meadow. There was a second row of pavilions and stalls set up in that meadow, along with a few tables without tablecloths. As most of the food and drink vendors were in the second meadow, it seemed like the tables there were for sitting down and eating.
Ruby picked out a few food vendors she wanted to try later on.
Everything was bustling as the vendors made last minute preparations and started up the grills, griddles, and ovens. And speaking of ovens, one of the vendor stalls was a wagon with a large earthenware oven built into it, in essence, an oven on wheels. The scent of fresh baked bread emerged from it. They had started baking rolls hours earlier.
There were other vendors as well, selling non-food items such as purses, pouches, hats, belts, scarves, goblets, and other easily carried, useful or decorative goods. There was even a person selling knives with natural looking wooden handles, working blades, rather than combat knives. None had a blade longer than fifteen centimeters in length.
Under a canopy, a quartet of musicians tuned their instruments, or played little riffs, warming up.
People were starting to arrive, even before it was supposed to start. They wandered around the tables a bit, but most clustered around the vendor stalls, looking at the items on display while they had the chance, before the games took all of their attention. Shard games had that effect on people. Even though joinings rarely happened, people were still drawn to them.
Ruby looked around at the people, and her hand went into her treat pouch. She fed Norolind and Mister Wiggles a treat unconsciously as she catalogued the various people. As far as she could tell, they were all commoners, likely freemen, but she noticed several that could have been serfs. She couldn’t remember if the Dwarves kept with the standard feudal hierarchy or not, although she suspected they did. Serfs would have needed permission to be at the Shardmeet, away from the land they worked.
Several of the people arriving were of the more mercantile class, and a few were likely local nobility, judging from their clothing and demeanor. Many were likely members of caravans passing through the area, or waiting for their travel passes.
But nothing jumped out at her or seemed out of place.
Eykit had brought eighteen Shards to play with. Taid had brought six of his. The rest were tucked away: Eykit’s in his pants, and Taid’s were in a small pouch hanging around his neck, under his corselet. Ruby had her four, that she had gotten from the Manticores’ cave.
Elitheris had wandered off, into the trees, and made her way to the trees that she had scouted out the day before. Examining the layout, she chose the tree that would give her the best view of the primary meadow, but also gave her a decent view of the secondary one. She didn’t really worry about the third meadow; nothing was set up there, and she didn’t think too many people would be over there, mainly because of the slope. But she could see parts of it from where she was.
She got herself in position, then cut some branches to place around her to form a sort of naturalistic blind, to make her more difficult to see. Not fully satisfied with the natural camouflage, she also prepared her mind to use a spell of Simple Illusion, imagining the illusory branches and leaves just in case she needed to use it. Once cast, it would last several minutes before she became too tired to maintain it, but a few minutes wasn’t all that long when she was planning on being up in the tree all day long. She’d have to reserve the spell for an emergency.


As midday approached, more and more people started showing up, often whole families. This Shardmeet was more like a fair than just a group of people gambling their Shards. People really seemed to need the social interaction. It was not entirely normal for the average Shardmeet.
Both Ayya Ajahn Reese and Sunim Mychele were there, moving around the tables, talking to people.








At precisely midday, bells could be heard, ringing in the city. Ayya Reese stepped up onto a table, looking over the crowd of people, which numbered over two hundred. Not everyone had come for the games of Shards; some came because it was like a faire, some came simply to be social. The Awakener could even see children, some holding onto their parent’s hands, some running around the periphery of the crowd. Usually people didn’t really bring children to Shardmeets, but there was no rules against them; children just didn’t have Shards. When they found them, their parents took them away from them or some bully took them. It was rare for a child to hold onto a Shard for very long. And when they did manage to do so, their young minds got very excited about playing a game of Shards, and eventually they lost them. The urge to keep playing was too great for them to resist.
But sometimes, like this time, the Shardmeet wasn’t just a Shardmeet. He and Sunim Mychele had planned it like a festival, aided by the pent up desire to get out and meet with people. The Civil Patrol had necessarily kept a tight lid on people’s comings and goings, what with all of the disappearances and muggings. But muggings hadn’t happened in eightdays, and it had been over an eightday since the last disappearance, so the Civil Patrol had reluctantly agreed to this Shardmeet. They had even agreed to send three patrollers to keep things safe. At least, as safe as they could. Shard joinings could get…complicated.
Shardfair, Ayya Reese corrected, in his head. This is way more than just a Shardmeet. I think the next few Shardmeets we have won’t have this kind of attendance. He cleared his throat, and clapped several times to get people’s attention.
“Welcome, all of you!” he said loudly, his voice carrying. “It’s been a while—a long while—since we’ve had a chance to have a Shardmeet here in Dwarfchat. It’s nice to have something like this happening again, and it’s great to see all of your eager faces! We’ve made today’s festivities more of a Shard Faire! So enjoy the games, the food, the drink, and the music! And let the games begin!”
There was a roar of the crowd as people cheered and applauded. They had been needing this for a while. The gaming tables were mostly full, and more people filled the empty seats or crowded around games to take part in any joinings that might happen.
The games of Shards began.


Within the first half hour, there were four joinings. But although there was some initial excitement over seeing the crystals connect with each other, none of the effects of the joinings had anything visible happen. It left crowds of people looking back and forth at each other, trying to see if anything had happened at all. It resulted in a series of confused looks, and not much more. Many of those people felt disappointed; they came to Shardmeets for excitement, and the chance to experience magic, something most people never got to experience.


Off at one of the tables at the periphery, Eykit heard a soft bang! noise, followed by some screams. He hoofed it over in that direction, to get a better look. He had to stand on the bench of a nearby table to get a view over everyone’s heads. The tabletop glinted, as if covered in tiny pieces of glass. People around the table, some sobbing, some swearing, were pulling small shining fragments out of their faces, arms, and bodies. They were covered in spots of blood, which seemed to be their own. Many of the surrounding people seemed rather stunned, as if they couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Eykit listened in to various places around the stricken table. What he could hear didn’t make any sense. The best anyone could figure out was that two Shards joined, then exploded into fragments. At first, the Goblin understood that to mean that the joining had set off some kind of explosion; like perhaps a spell of explosive fireball perhaps, but without the flame. He’d heard of some spells that did something similar.
But as he listened, what the people were saying amongst each other seemed to disprove that. The Shards themselves had shattered. But that made no sense whatsoever. Shards were, as far as anyone knew, absolutely indestructible. Alchemy couldn’t hurt them, fire and heat couldn’t melt them, the strongest blacksmith’s hammer couldn’t crack them.
Rumors abounded about people seeing Shards break, but no one took them seriously. Not even the circle of necromancers, with all of their experiments using the Shards, had ever mentioned breaking any in any of their letters. But it seemed to have happened. People had climbed under the table, looking for the newly joined pairing, but they had found nothing. No one around the table could find it, and Eykit could see a dozen people looking for it.
A Shard had been broken. Somehow. Shattered, actually, into tiny, inert pieces that had flown into the crowd, causing a myriad of tiny injuries.
As the news of this spread out amongst the crowds of people, it caused a delay as people tried to digest the idea that Shards could be broken. Games paused, as many started to closely examine their Shards, peering at them for any flaw or crack, worried that the Shards they used might shatter as well.


In addition to the talk about the apparent shattering of the Shards, which a lot of people didn’t believe, Eykit, Taid, and Ruby heard people talking about having vision problems. The most common words they heard describing this phenomenon were “weird”, “odd”, and “strange”. Colors seemed off, things seemed very bright, and people seemed like they were in the sun, even when the viewer knew they were in the shade. Several people described them as “rainbow colored”, although most people said that the people didn’t change their colors at all. Many thought they were going blind. After a minute or so, their vision returned to normal.
So apparently, at least one of the initial joinings had something happen after all.




About a quarter of an hour later, both Eykit and Ruby were close enough to hear sudden yelling from a table not too far from them. Ruby glanced up from the white and rust colored dog she was petting, seeing a table nearby enclosed in what appeared to be a cloud of pebbles, sticks, torn leaves, and ripped up flower blossoms. They were being blown back and forth in an area not much larger than the table itself. Everyone had fled the immediate area, many clutching onto items at their belts or the clasps of their cloaks.
Eykit likened it to some kind of tornado variant, although he could tell that the debris wasn’t swirling around, it was bouncing. Or at least, that is what it looked like. From what he could tell, being closer to the event than Ruby, was that the sticks and pebbles and whatnot were being magically hurled from one side of the area to the other, over and over again. His hearing, now tuned to the crowds surrounding the table, could hear them saying things like, “…it kept pulling at my dagger, and my purse, and my cloak…”, “…it took my hat! Look! It’s still bouncing around in there!” “…felt like it was grabbing my necklace!” And other, similar statements.
People were out of the area now, but in a circle surrounding the now-empty table, as sticks, pebbles, leaves, wildflowers, and a hat flew back and forth for the next thirty seconds or so. Then everything simply fell down, leaving the table, with its loosened but still-attached tablecloth, a mess of debris. Several people started sweeping the material off of the tabletop as best they could.
Several people had some small cuts, likely from the pebbles, but none of them seemed serious. After a short while, the people in that area calmed down, and another game started on that table.
Five minutes later, on the other side of the group of tables, Taid heard screaming, both angry and terrified. Eykit and Ruby heard it too, as did everyone else at the Shardmeet, but they were on the far side of the meadow. The terrified screaming vastly outweighed the angry ones.
Peering past other people, Taid could see something weird and alarming. The people who had been gathered around one of the tables were undergoing…changes. Their faces would shift, their features changing, getting wrinkled, then smoothing out again, only to become wrinkled once more.
After about a minute, their faces stopped changing, although most people still clutched at their faces, crying and screaming, as if their faces weren’t their own, and their features were someone else’s. Some of the victims looked smug, and were smiling, but most were very distraught. Many of the victims were exclaiming, “What happened to my face?” There were looks of confusion mixed in with the looks of despair. No one really knew what had just happened.
None of the fearful people were deformed, they just looked different. In most cases, their friends looked at them as if something bad had happened. Noses were lopsided, or mouths wider than they used to be, or eye color changed. Subtle facial bone structure had shifted. Several people pulled out hand mirrors, checking their faces. Most were shocked by what they saw, and few people liked what must have been their new faces. A few got compliments on their looks, but most didn’t.
Several people were crying, and a lot of those left the Shardmeet to go home.
Ruby wandered over, and asked some of the witnesses what had happened.
The Dwarf she was talking to shook his head. “Don’t know, miss. From what I could tell, it was some kind of face shifting effect. Permanent, as it turns out. A lot of people ended up with different faces on their heads.”
A nearby spectator spoke up. “I don’t think that’s it. I was watching. The changes were subtle. It wasn’t like people were exchanging faces or anything like that. More like their own faces were adjusted in some way. A couple of people were actually pleased with the results, but most people ended up with faces they weren’t used to, and didn’t want.”
She looked around, seeing a Human woman, crying, while sitting on a bench. A man, perhaps her husband, knelt in front of her, trying to console her. He kept trying to grab her hands and move them away from her face, but she kept resisting him. While stronger than she was, he didn’t force her. He just put his hands on her shaking shoulders.
Ruby walked over to them. She could hear the woman saying, “Sorry I’m not as pretty as I was…”
“It’s okay, honey, I love you,” he replied. “It’ll be all right.”
“No it won’t! I’m ugly! I’ve got someone else’s face! What happened to my face?”
He just held her.
Ruby’s knowledge of magical theory and history gave her a potential answer. There was a necromantic spell, outlawed in just about every civilized nation, that allowed a mage to steal someone’s beauty. That spell must have gone off when the Shards connected, hitting everyone at that table, repeatedly. A few got lucky, getting more beauty than they lost, but most weren’t. According to what she understood about the spell, which, admittedly wasn’t much, magic like that was rarely permanent. Its duration was normally on the order of hours, or perhaps a day. So it was possible that the traumatized people would wake up the next morning with their own faces again. Maybe. But who knew, when it came to the magic wielded by the Shards?


She was very interested in this Shard pair. “Excuse me,” she said to one of the spectators, “can you tell me which two people were playing when this all happened?”
“Uh,” the Dwarf said, looking around. “I think it was that one,” he pointed at an orange-bearded Dwarf, “and that one.” He indicated another Dwarf, this one with a bright yellow beard with green tips. The orange-bearded Dwarf’s face was wet from tears. The yellow bearded Dwarf didn’t seem too fazed at all.
Ruby went over to the distraught Dwarf. When she got closer, she noticed that his orange beard was patchy, which, she knew, wasn’t something a Dwarf would be proud of. Beards were a sign of status, pride, confidence, and honor among the Dwarven people. Only sickly Dwarves or Dwarves so down on their luck that depression and suicide were reasonable risks had patchy beards.
In addition to the patchy, unkempt beard, the Dwarf’s face was a mess, as was the skin of his hands. Rashes and boils had flared up like red welts. His nose was misshapen, and one eyelid drooped. Wrinkles crisscrossed his face. His lips were cracked, and his teeth were so uneven it looked like if he spoke, he’d chew his lips. One cheekbone was slightly higher than the other, giving his face a lopsided look that only accentuated his drooping eyelid.
He glanced up at her upon her approach. He was wall-eyed.
“So, the Shard is yours? You won it?” She asked him.
“Yeah. I won it. Some prize.” He didn’t sound thrilled about the results of the game. But then, given what had happened to him, who would?
“Should I take the Shard off your hands?”
“I’ve already lost my looks. I’m not giving you my Shards.”
“But I could research it, and possibly reverse its effects.”
“How would you do that?” The Dwarf didn’t seem like he had much faith in her claims.
Ruby cocked her head. “I have my own Shard laboratory. I’ve been researching them for a while now.”
“Huh. If the price is right, I might consider giving it up.”
“Yeah,” Ruby said, looking closely at the Dwarf’s face, “I can probably reverse it. I saw something similar, and I can try if you want me to. So after a day or something you will get better, but I will need the Shard that caused it, and there is a chance it might get destroyed. I’m not sure of that, but I really want to help you.”
The man looked at her with his wall-eyed gaze.
She went on, “It’s horrible, what happens with these Shards. That is why I research them, to help a lot of people.”
He wiped tears from his eyes. “How much do you wanna pay for it?”
“I’m paying with my research and your beauty. It will probably get destroyed in the process of researching it, but you’ll get your face back. Like, have you seen what you look like right now?”
“Well, you said it yourself. There are a bunch of maybes in there. So there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to fix my face, so I at least want some kind of monetary compensation for it.”
“I can promise to try my best. That’s all you get. Or you will look like this for the rest of your life. I think I saw some people where it got worse over time, so you will just get uglier. But it’s your decision.”
The man shook his head. He wasn’t sure whether to believe what he was hearing or not.
Ruby pressed the attack. “I can try to help you, that’s my offer, but it’s your decision. You can stay like this. Probably. Hopefully you have a wife already and some money.”
The ugly Dwarf shook his head, mumbling, “I’m still young, haven’t found anyone yet.”
“Yeah. Good luck then. So it’s up to you. The only thing I can offer is help with it. It’s expensive enough for me.”
The Dwarf dug in his heels. “I’m not letting my Shard go unless I get paid for it.”
“What do you want for it?”
“I’d like a thousand marks, but I’m willing to give it up for two hundred.”
“No. Then good luck with your life. I really tried to help you here. Buy yeah, I’ve seen a lot of selfish people here.” And with that, Ruby turned her back on him, and started to go back over to the white and rust colored dog she had been giving treats to. The dog appreciated her. Then she turned back, looked him in the misaligned eyes, and said, “Okay, I will give you a hundred and fifty, but that’s everything I can give you because of the research costs. Equipment and reagents don’t come cheap. Stay like this or give me a chance to solve your problem.”
The Dwarf sighed. “One seventy five. That’s the deal.”
Ruby gave him a look. But she wanted that Shard. She reached into her purse, and gave him 175 Imperial marks. He gave her the Shard pair. “Thanks.”
The Dwarf stood up, wandering off. Ruby watched him for a while, as he made his way back to the road towards town, his head hung low.
The effect of several people leaving early was starting to ripple through the crowds. The story about what had happened wasn’t too far behind, and Eykit was able to overhear several people saying that it might be good to leave, as all of the Shard games had been having horrible outcomes.
There was a slight lull in the games, as people assessed whether or not they wanted to continue being there at the Shardmeet. After a moment of contemplation, almost all of them stayed.
Twenty minutes later, an entire table erupted into a brawl. Not only the two players, but all of the spectators that had been around them. Fists were flying, as were bodies. Those just outside of the fight quickly moved away, seeking safety from the mindless flailing of fists and feet. So far, no one had pulled a knife; it was an unarmed brawl.
An Orc, standing with his arms crossed by Eykit, said, “Hah! Reminds me of my favorite tavern back home!”
The combatants seemed infuriated and nearly mindless, attacking anything that got within their field of vision. There didn’t seem to be any sides or allegiances, just a mass of people fighting for no apparent reason. Fists cracked against jaws, elbows slammed into stomachs, and feet lashed out at anything that moved.
All for about thirty seconds. Then they all basically stopped, looked around with confused looks on their bruised and bloodied faces, and wiped blood from their noses. Many were wounded, with contusions, some cuts, and some even had broken bones.


Elitheris had the best view of what happened ten minutes later. She actually saw the glint of light as the Shard slid across the table to connect with its mate with a flash of light. Then everyone within three meters, some sixteen people, flew into the air at quite a rapid velocity. The player, as he started rising, grabbed the Shardpair, almost fumbling it, but managed to stuff it into a pocket before soaring upward. Elitheris made sure she could find him later.
There was a collective gasp and oohs and aahs from the spectators. The fact that so many people were now high in the air made the event visible to just about everyone at the Shardmeet.
Some people looked like they were scrambling to get down, their arms and legs flailing helplessly, their floating body moving jerkily in random directions. Others, braver perhaps, stretched their arms out like the wings of soaring birds and rose at the speed of a galloping horse.

“I can see all of Dwarfchat from up here!” cried out one of the fliers. He was zooming around in a great circle, seeing the land laid out before him like the best map ever.
Others screamed delightedly, playing a form of aerial tag, skimming across the tops of the trees at speeds few of them had ever experienced.
And then it ended, or, rather, the effect faded. Not immediately; there was about three seconds where the magic diminished over time, the fliers first slowing, then lost altitude. Most of them reached the ground without too much trouble, landing clumsily but without too much injury.
Five of the fliers had been…excited. They had rocketed upward. They wanted to see everything, experience what it was like to be a bird, and hadn’t thought about the usually-limited time the Shard effects lasted. Or they had gotten caught up in the experience, and hadn’t realized how much time had passed. Their speed slowed, and they started to lose altitude, but the flight effect lapsed while they were still high up in the sky.
Three fell into the woods, the branches of trees insufficient to arrest their fall, their screams cutting off when the impacts became too much for them. One fell onto the third meadow, far enough away that no one heard the sickening crunch as they hit the ground.
But one person, a Human, had gone straight up, over the meadow with the gaming tables. He’d wanted to get a view of the landscape from as high as he could. The feeling of flight was incredible and overwhelming, and his grin had made his face hurt. But he could not get rid of that smile no matter how hard he tried, even when he flew through a cloud of bugs. It hadn’t mattered. He was flying. Until he wasn’t.
He crashed down onto a gaming table with such force that the table broke beneath his lifeless, broken body, which bonelessly slid off the wreckage and onto the matted grass and wildflowers. Those at the table, and several of the spectators that had been watching the game being played out there, were splattered in gore.
The handful of Shards had been scattered, and people scrambled to recover them, the body laying amidst the wreckage of the table ignored. Some volunteers with a stretcher collected his body, moving it to one of the pavilions, where the other bodies, and the wounded who needed care, were being brought.
Elitheris, from her vantage point, swore. The man on the stretcher was the owner of the Shardpair that had granted flight. That pair could be anywhere, scavenged by those at the table where he fell, or taken by the stretcher bearers. Or by the attendants at the first aid pavilion, who would routinely go through the pockets. But maybe they could get lucky….She sent a message via her communication Shard cluster to Eykit about the guy and his Shardpair. Maybe Eykit could get it off of him first.
Eykit sidled over to the first aid pavilion, where the stretcher with the man lay. He watched as the pair of bearers looked over his body for a moment, making sure he was dead. The Goblin went over to one of the other bodies and lifted the sheet. He didn’t know the guy, but he was only looking at him to make it seem to the attendants that he was looking for someone he knew.
“I heard that my friend got hurt,” he said to no one in particular, “and I’m trying to find him.” He knew they could overhear him.
“Well, I hope that he’s not one of these guys,” one of them said, “They didn’t just get hurt, they earned themselves a trip to the catacombs.”
“Do you know any of them,” Eykit asked, as he went from one to the next. He grimaced as he saw one victim who looks like he’d landed face first. Another had some protruding lumps that Eykit suspected were compound fractures.
The Dwarven attendant shook his head. “No. We just have them here to get them out of the way and so we could potentially find out who they were. Someone has to know them.”
“What about the injured ones that aren’t here?”
“Oh, none of them have any really serious injuries. Just some bruising, mostly. Some scrapes.” The attendant looked around at the bodies lying under sheets. Eykit noticed that the sheets were tablecloths, taken from some nearby tables. “These guys…I guess they got a bit too exuberant in their flying abilities and came down hard.”
“Well, thanks anyway.” The Dwarf nodded, and turned towards one of the other bodies. Eykit did a quick frisk of the body, under the cover of moving the sheet back over the dead man’s head. He didn’t find anything.
Disappointed, Eykt moved back into the gaming area.
Taid had left early in order to get to his Chivalric Order of Aheru-Mazda meeting. He passed Almë on the road going the other way. They exchanged greetings, but didn’t stop to talk.


Shortly after “the man who fell to earth”, another Shard pairing happened. Or, rather, didn’t, as this one seemed to create a dud. Nothing happened when the two Shards joined; no light, no sound, no effects at all. Just a bunch of people standing around a table looking disappointed.
Eykit was standing next to Taid. “I’m gonna play that guy,” he said, pointing at a Dwarf with a beard that was dyed a light blue, with dark blue glass beads in it.
The Goblin sat down across from the Dwarf, and pulled out his bag of Shards. “Let’s do this!” he said, and the game of Shards began.
They played their Shards, setting them down mostly one by one, alternating between them. But there were no matches.
Taid then sat opposite Eykit. “I’ll play you,” he said, both of them knowing that there would be no matches. But they played it to make it look good, and it reinforced the idea that they didn’t really know each other. Which was good, although they didn’t know it. Someone was looking for them, and having a hard time finding them.
Eykit had been busy, playing Shard games and not making a secret of the fact that he had eighteen Shards, which was far more than the average number most people had. The average in Dwarfchat seemed to be about six, with most people having four or less.
The sun dropped behind the mountains; it was the latter half of the afternoon. The Shardmeet wasn’t over yet; there was still time for people to play the games. And they did. In quick succession, there were eight joinings.
The first happened at a table near the center of the gaming space. There were yelps of surprise, then laughter as people scrambled back from the table.
Almë had arrived, as planned, late in the day. Just in time to see the area around the table, about four meters in diameter, suddenly turn into a jungle of weeds as they overgrew the table and benches. He grinned.
Eykit saw it too, and laughed as the matted vegetation of the meadow sprang back to life, reaching heights of almost two meters. It drew the attention of many of the people at the surrounding tables. Some of them cheered, some simply applauded, especially when the flower blossoms opened, lending their color to the varied shades of green.
Trees were growing there too, amongst the weeds. One tipped over a bench, another shifted the table itself. Almë looked at the overgrowth more closely, seeing several species of plants that weren’t native to the area. Jungle plants, in a temperate forest. None of them were the dangerous kind, as far as he could tell. While a part of him thought that it would have been funny to have a bunch of spike vine grow there, he was actually glad that nothing dangerous was growing in that patch.
As he watched, berries grew ripe on vines, and fruit swelled on one of the trees. People picked the fruits, eating them. The table and benches were no longer visible, completely overgrown.
The hubbub from the growth of the plants, and the loss of the table, until it could be recovered, had barely died down when Ruby heard a quick cheer from a nearby table. She was close enough to hear the clack! as the Shards joined. The elation dissipated when none of the spectators could see any effects. Nothing noticeable had happened.
Shortly after that, Almë was near a table when he heard something strange. The conversation from the table up ahead of him suddenly started speaking in tongues. It didn’t sound like any language he’d ever heard, and when he looked over at the people around that table, they all had confused expressions on their faces. They were all babbling, and starting to panic, thinking their ability to talk had been taken away. Some of them, likely the more experienced gamers, realized that the Shards, when they combined, usually had temporary effects, not permanent ones. So they weren’t terribly concerned that their ability to speak was compromised. They just grinned, and babbled, and pretended like their babbling word salad was completely normal speech.
After about half a minute, the effect faded, and their garbled babbling reverted back to Imperial or Northern Khuzdül. Most of them laughed then. It had been a bit of harmless fun.


Not too long later, Almë witnessed another Shard joining. The Shard skittered over the tablecloth, and with a flash of light connected with its mate. Almë could see the people’s faces as they all smiled when they realized something was going to happen, their gazes filled with expectation. Then he saw their eyes widen. Both players scooped up their Shards, stashing them in their pouches, and stood up. By this time, the spectators around the table were already moving away from the table, some at a run, towards the row of vendors along the side of the meadow.
They piled around the food vendors, struggling to order food, the whole group of them shouting their orders to the cooks who tried, as best they could, to fulfill their customer’s orders. It was more chaotic than it seemed to have to be; Almë had seen when he first arrived orderly lines of people waiting their turns to order and get their food.
But this was not organized at all. There was no line, only a mob of people. Several, actually, as those near the back of the mob moved to other vendors who had fewer people waiting. Almë frowned, and wondered at the customers’ lack of patience. He made a quick estimate: there had been two dozen people affected by whatever had happened at that table. He noticed that the table they all had been clustered around was now refilled by others who wanted to play a game.
A few minutes later, Ruby was kneeling next to a cute little dog, feeding it treats and scratching its head. A couple tables over, a horrible racket suddenly started up. She couldn’t identify what the sound was; it was like a bunch of people shouting incoherently mixed with some kind of metal on metal gears meshing together, or the noise from the biggest, busiest smithy she’d ever heard of.
She stood, her hands over her ears, seeing that everyone around her was doing the same thing, and all looking over at the table where the noise had come from. All of the people around that table had their hands over their ears, and many of them were doubled over, trying to keep the loud noises at bay. Everyone in both meadows were looking in the direction of the noise, trying to figure out what the hell it was. As the noise continued, more and more people were getting annoyed at the loud noise coming from the area around that table.
The racket went on for about a minute before ceasing as suddenly as it started. It was a very long minute.
Those closest to the table where the sound emanated had ringing in their ears for over an hour. People were still talking about it when Almë was walking towards a table and something happened.
A glowing, wavering oval appeared over the center of the table, two meters tall and one wide, with fuzzy, magenta colored edges that sparkled and flashed. It seemed to be like a window, looking into a bare white room. From what Almë could tell, the room had no windows, and the light seemed to be even and without source.

“Well,” he said, “that’s odd.” Grinning, he moved closer. Those already at the table were looking up at the image suspended over them, trying to figure out what it was, and whether it was safe to touch it. Some brave souls waved their fingertips through the glowing edges, but felt nothing. Their fingers were fine.
Almë shouldered his way past some of the spectators, and put his hand through it. The only thing that changed was that his hand had some magenta colored light on it. He waved it around; there seemed to be no difference in temperature or pressure on the other side of the plane of the image. His hand wasn’t obscured, so he figured it wasn’t an illusion.
Other people now were trying to touch it, and several were actually climbing up onto the table to try to go through it. People were assuming that it was some kind of portal or door. Almë stepped through.
He looked around. It was a blank room, not too large, maybe three meters on a side. Other people started appearing, popping into existence. Some he recognized as being fellow spectators. They looked around too, seeing the same thing he did. A blank white room, with no doors and no windows. The portal wasn’t visible from this side. They were trapped.
More people appeared; it was getting crowded. In that small room half a dozen people stood, gaping, the realization that they were trapped in there with no way out just starting to make them panic.
“Where are we?” someone asked.
“I don’t know,” another said, although most people just shrugged, unable or unwilling to speak. Muttered conversation continued.
“We could be anywhere.”
“Or nowhere.”
“Are we even still in the Empire?”
“Maybe? We could be on the other side of the world.”
“We might never see our families again!”
Whoever said that had not helped the situation. Now people were really beginning to worry.
“I think we are in a Shard.”
“Wait, really?”
“Dunno, but it seems logical. This place was the result of a Shard pairing.”
“And we were stupid enough to be curious and come in here. What the fuck was I even thinking?”
“You and me both, brother.”
“We’re going to die in here, aren’t we?”
“Hey, is there any food or water in here?”
“No, it’s an empty room. Well, except for us.”
“Nothing in here,” someone said, contemplatively. “Not even any bait, and it managed to trap what, six of us?”
“You think it’s a trap?”
“What else could it be? Do you see a way out?”
Almë ignored them, and looked more closely at the walls, ceiling, and floor. It was a very light grey stone, and the right angles where the surfaces intersected implied it was built, not natural. It was a perfectly cubical space, about three meters on a side.
He took a few steps closer to one of the walls. He cast the Spell of Earth Shaping, and while the subliminal magenta glyphs that only mages could see flowed around his fingers as he cast the spell, nothing happened to the wall.
“Well, that’s boring,” he said.
People were looking at him now. “Uh,” one said, “can you get us out of this?”
“Maybe,” Almë replied. “Not sure.” He thought about what he had just seen. He was certain that the spell had been cast properly, and well, so it likely wasn’t a failing on his part. Which meant that the wall wasn’t stone, as it appeared. It felt like stone, and sounded like stone when he thumped it with a finger. “Huh.”
Suddenly the room disappeared, and all six of them fell sprawling in a heap onto the table where the image had once hung. Several fell off the pile of people with a thump to the ground, as spectators quickly leapt out of the way. For a moment, it was a chaotic, churning mass of arms and legs, until everyone sorted out whose limbs were whose and managed to stand up.
Almë managed to bang his elbow on the edge of the table as he slid of the squirming pile of bodies. But the momentary pain sparked a memory. What happened seemed most like a Spell of Sanctuary, which was a spell in the College of the Gate. He didn’t know it, and had never really studied Gate spells, as they were rare and hard to find teachers for. And, if he remembered correctly, his magic teacher had also mentioned that the Empire regulated Gate spells. If you knew any, you ended up on a List. And usually as an employee of the Empire. There were few freelance Gate mages. They were too valuable.
Almë looked around, but he couldn’t remember who was playing the game when the portal opened. He would have liked to have been able to get a chance to get that Shard. He shook his head in disappointment.
Things were fairly quiet for the next twenty or so minutes, with no joinings during that time. The games progressed, and people started to leave, as the day was edging towards evening.
Eykit was wandering between tables, casually watching one game for a while before moving on to the next. As he made his way from one side of the collection of tables to the other, he saw the telltale flash of light of a Shard joining out of the corner of his eye. The people around that table looked around, trying to see what had changed and what the Shards were going to do. But they saw nothing.
Some of the spectators noticed something, though. At least, the ones who were currently eating their dinners did. Some had roasted meat on a stick, others had sausages, and still others had bread or meat pies. All of them stared at their food, stunned.
“This is the best meat pie I’ve ever tasted!” one said, sounding surprised. He was halfway through his meat pie.
“Damn, this is the best roasted fowl, too. Man, I’ll have to hit that guy’s stall again!”
A third person said, “And have you tried Marko’s bread? Here, have a taste!” He pulled off a corner, handing it to his companion, who took it and popped it in his mouth.
Eyes wide, his companion said, “Oh wow, that’s good.”
People farther from the table were looking at them with confused expressions. Some of them were eating the exact same foods as those closer, but they hadn’t noticed how incredible the food was. It tasted the same as it had—decent, but greasy in the case of the roasted meat, yeasty but slightly dry in the case of Marko’s bread. They just looked at their food, and each other, and shrugged helplessly.
Not too long after that, just before the Shardmeet wrapped up, one more joining happened. Ruby was about three tables away from it when it happened. She heard a tinkling noise as the Shards came together, then everyone was diving out of the way, away from the table. There was screaming and yelling.


Ruby was able to see what happened. From the center of the table came an explosion of icicles, shooting out in all directions. The icicles were about thirty centimeters long, and flew outward into the massed crowd, impaling several of them, arcing over the heads of others to impact people farther out. Some people managed to duck out of the way, but many were injured by the sharp knives of ice. There was a choir of moans and cries, and volunteers rushed to provide what assistance they could.
Most didn’t have medical skills, but they did their best, usually by holding wadded cloth against the wounds.
That event pretty much stopped the Shardmeet. Ayya Reese and Sunim Mychele cut it short about a half hour earlier than they had originally planned, but the dozen or so people with new stab wounds precluded continuing. They even assisted the first aid responders, doing what they could. Both of them were distraught, both about the damage people suffered, and at the generally lousy results of the day. Few of the joinings were of the fun kind. Most were dangerous, and some, like the explosion of ice shards, caused injuries or death.
Neither of them had wanted anyone to get hurt. Sunim Mychele was visibly crying. Ayya Reese comforted her as best he could, but there wasn’t much he could say or do.
The vendors were packing up their wares, and taking down their stalls. Ayya Reese directed some hirelings to start collecting the tablecloths and getting the wagons hitched to carry the tables and benches. The Shardmeet was over, ending with something of a bang.
Taid had left earlier, in order to go to his first meeting of the Order of Aheru-Mazda. He stopped by Almë and Ruby’s room to get his armor and Maggie.
The meeting was held above a general store called “Longbeard’s Shop of Needful Things”, on Warrior’s Path Street in the Walled City district. The proprietor of the shop was a Dwarf by the name of Tighe Longbeard, who was also one of the members of the order.
The Gate Guards had tried to halt Taid, as he wore his armor and carried his halberd, but Taid was ready with the medallion. The two guards nodded, and stood back at attention on either side of the gateway. He made his way through the crowded streets, dodging around horses, carts, and wagons as needed. He could see several street sweepers, cleaning up after the horses. They were efficient. The road apples hadn’t been on the streets for more than a few minutes before they were cleaned up.
Longbeard’s shop had a sign in the window that said “Closed”, but the door was unlocked. Taid went inside. The shop was a good sized store, with three floors above it that contained living spaces. Like many Dwarven homes, there were ramps instead of stairs that led up to the second floor. The ground floor was the general goods shop, mostly housewares, tools, and various sundry items. A ramp at the back wall led up to the second floor.
Tighe was puttering around at the back of the store. “Ah, Taid!” he said, straightening up some items on a shelf. “So glad you could make it. Everyone else is here already, and are up on the second floor. That’s where we have our meeting space.”

Knight Banneret Tighe Longbeard
“Great. Lead the way,” Taid said.
Some of the second floor rooms, Taid noticed, were storerooms for supplying the shop below. But about half the space was an open space, with a table against one wall, and a circle of chairs. The table had a small keg of beer, a few mugs, and a spread of bread, cheeses, and charcuterie. A small stack of plates and some folded napkins were there too.
“Get yourself a snack, and then join us in the circle,” Tighe said, moving over to stand behind a chair.
Taid collected a plateful of food, poured himself an ale from the keg, then went and sat down in the last open chair. Once he was seated, Tighe sat down in his chair as well.


Four strangers sat in the other four chairs, and they were all looking at Taid.
Tighe started the meeting, looking around to all of the members. “We have a new guest with us today. He is the newest member of our order. I’d like to introduce you all to Taid Lasu.” He looks back at Taid. “As you already know, I am Knight Banneret Tighe Longbeard. I am the Supply Master for the Order.”
He goes around the circle, introducing the others to Taid. “This is Knight Banneret Schist Longbeard, my brother-husband.”

Knight Banneret Schist Longbeard
Schist nodded, his eyes sparkling as his face crinkled into a smile. “You done nabbed another one! Good on ya, brother!” He turned to Taid. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Taid nodded in return.
Tighe continued, “This is Knight Bachelor Calcite Rockheart. He’s our mage.”

Knight Bachelor Calcite Rockheart
Calcite also nodded towards Taid, although he didn’t speak or smile.
After a short awkward pause, Tighe said, “That is Squire Sargon Sharptongue.”
Sargon was Human. He was also grinning, and seemed very personable. In a way, he sort of reminded Taid of Eykit. That little Goblin was also always grinning. Sargon gave a little salute, and said, “Welcome to the club, my friend.” His voice had a smooth, slightly raspy tone that carried a certain intensity and charisma, and the man gave the impression that he took nothing seriously.

Squire Sargon Sharptongue
“And this is our leader,” Tighe went on, “Knight Champion Serandite Godshammer. He’s our chaplain.”

Knight Champion Serandite Godshammer
Serandite nodded gravely, but cracked a smile. “Welcome,” he said, in mellifluous tones. His smooth baritone voice sounded like honey.
Tighe continued. “Actually, he was a priest, but felt a more martial calling.” He turned again to the group as a whole. “Based upon our interview, I have given Taid the status of Squire. So let’s all welcome Squire Taid!”
There was a cheer, and applause.
Serandite said, “I suppose we had better hear your story, Taid. Tell us why you are here, and how you got here.”
Taid told his story, about how he spent time at the Retreat of St. Euclase, and how that didn’t seem fulfilling. He told them about his stint in the Tondene Imperial Army, and how he moved on to mercenary work, which subsequently led him to go up against a slaver cult and a servitor of the Dark Gods, a group of cannibal Goblins led by a Ogre masquerading as the Goblin goddess of food and hunger, and how he found out about a circle of necromancers who were experimenting with Shards.
None of the others knew anything about any necromancers, besides the usual rumors that they exist, and are often blamed when the real source of the problem isn’t known. They did express some concern about the necromantic uses for the Shards, and asked a battery of questions that Taid tried to answer as best he could.
He told them that he’d been having dreams lately about Aheru-Mazda calling to him, and asking him to “come back”. “At least,” Taid admitted, “that’s what I think he is saying. And something happened with my halberd.” He nodded at Maggie, who was propped up in the corner by the door.
“Oh?” Serandite asked. “How so?”
“Well, I took it to Ashjaw’s Weapons to get a new shaft for her…uh, her name is Maggie, by the way…and Ashjaw himself took it and worked on it. Out of the blue, he just…did things to her.” Upon seeing concern on their faces, he backpedaled a little. “Good things, he did good things. They were just unexpected, even by his employees. He worked on it all night, without a break, as if possessed. And maybe he was, I don’t know.”
Schist looked over at the weapon, still in its sheath. “May we see it?”
“Sure.” Taid stood up from his chair, strode over to Maggie, and untied the leather case that sheathed the blade, hook, and point. He carried Maggie over to the circle of chairs.
Maggie shaft and halberd head were black. The shaft because it was ebony wood, the head because Ashjaw had blackened the steel so he could incise some Dwarven runes into the blade, which shone silver in the lamplight and stood out very visibly from the darkened steel.
Serandite’s eyebrows lifted. “‘Even in darkness, the sun shall shine’. That does sound like something Aheru-Mazda would say. Definitely his sentiment.”
“Yeah,” Taid said. “So I think…I think I’m on a mission. Or missions. Hells, I don’t know. Gods can be confusing.”
Serandite laughed. “Oh, most definitely! That’s their whole job! To confuse us mortals. Taid, if you would like to discuss these dreams of yours, I am willing to listen.”
After Taid told his story, the meeting basically devolved into a social get-together. At the moment, they didn’t have a mission to undertake, although Taid’s story gave them the impression that would likely change soon.
Taid told them what he’d seen at the Shardmeet earlier that day. “I saw a Shard blow up.”
Sargon scoffed. “Eh, Shards create explosions all the time.”
“No, the Shard itself blew up. Shattered into hundreds of little pieces.”
“What?” Sargon, and the rest of the group, to be honest, weren’t quite sure what they’d just heard.
“You’re saying,” Tighe asked, “that the Shard itself cracked? Exploded?”
“Yeah. Weird, isn’t it?”
“Odd,” Calcite mused. “Shards are indestructible. They don’t blow up.”
“This one did. Left little splinters of crystal everywhere: in the table, in people. Everyone around the table was bleeding from a bunch of itty bitty wounds.” Taid shrugged. “And no, I don’t get it either. But I think it’s going to draw a lot of interest from different organizations.”
“Yeah,” Calcite agreed, “the mage guilds will be all over this like flies on shit.”
There was a bit more chatting, and Taid left to get back to what was left of the Shardmeet. It was time for Eykit to walk the street of Dwarfchat, and Taid expected him to get accosted. And he wanted to be there to offer his support when they found the scoundrels that were mugging people for their Shards.

Rewards Granted

3 CP
Ruby got a Shardpair of Steal Beauty
Taid joined the Order of Aheru-Mazda

Character(s) interacted with

Various bartenders, including Malram and Rukrurim.
Members of the Order of Aheru-Mazda

Report Date

03 Aug 2024

Primary Location

Dwarfchat

Secondary Location

The Tondene Empire

Related Characters

• Almë
• Elitheris
• Eykit the Eel
• Mister Wiggles
• Norolind
• Ruby Smallburrow
• Taid Tehoredor Lasu

GM’s Note: I thought that Elitheris would be able to maintain Simple Illusion for free. Not the case. She still needs to spend 1/2 mana each minute to maintain it (which basically means she maintains it for 2 minutes per 1 mana). When she gets the spell to skill 15, that will drop the maintenance cost to 0 for a 1 hex Illusion.

Gm’s Note: Regarding lowering mana cost for casting spells, Blocking spells DO NOT reduce in cost. They are unaffected by cost reductions. So you can never just auto deflect for free.

GM's Note: Erin expressed interest in having Elitheris start focusing on Illusion spells. In Dwarfchat, that would involve either Blue Sapphire, or Iron Mountain, both of which have some (not all) Illusion spells. I’ll have to check on Port Karn. Something there would likely be more focused, given its size and population. Their first step would be to teach her Thaumatology before she learned any spells. They would likely also talk to her about the dangers of self teaching via books without proper training, in much the same way that a trained nuclear scientist would chastise a DIYer who started messing with a nuclear power plant. Yes, it would be something of a dressing down. Not only is it horrendously dangerous to mess with those kinds of powers, but it’s also an economic/political issue because it’s a person who ISN’T in the guild paying their dues.